Chapter 5

As Bryan became aware of his senses and dim light began to filter between his eyelids, he also became aware of the tiny arms wrapped around his bicep and the wet feeling on his shoulder.

Opening his eyes, the tiny red pigtails poking into his line of vision were plain and easily identified. Amy had crawled into bed sometime in the night, wrapped her arms around his right arm and laid her head on his shoulder. From there she had proceeded to drool and snore lightly.

Finding the situation both endearing and repulsive at the same time, he gently moved her, wiping the drool on her purple nightgown. It looked as if it needed washing anyway, and judging by the stains on her face she had raided the kitchen on her way to snuggle with him.

Turning his head to the left he found that the weight on his left side was Silver. She had pressed herself against him and laid her head on his other shoulder, sans the drooling. Over her shoulder came the sound of a sleepy yawn followed by the unmistakable sound of Jake passing gas. He heard a sleepy giggle then snores. "Should bottle that boy and we could heat the house all year," Bryan muttered.

Silver's eyelids fluttered open at the sound of Bryan's voice and made an awful face, wrinkling her nose. "Jake is behind me isn't he?" she said.

"Yep," he replied. "That would be his calling card."

She sighed. "It's a wonder he ever gets a cold. You would think nothing could survive in a body where that's made."

Bryan chuckled. "At least he sleeps on your side of the bed."

"Thanks you Ass," she retorted, smiling. "I am glad to know how important I am to you."

"Oh you're very important," Bryan smiled, pausing for effect.

"I feel a 'but' coming on," Silver interjected.

"Oh, no 'butts'," he replied. "It's just nice you can take one for the team. After all, he is like your little clone."

"So what, I'm immune?" she laughed. " ... To that biological warfare?"

On the other side of Bryan Amy, whose eyes were still closed wrinkled her nose and made a disgusted face before burying her face in the pillow. Bryan and Silver both laughed.

He met her eyes. "Thanks for last night," he said.

"Oh no," she replied. "The thanks are all mine." She smiled and sighed as if reliving a moment or two, then kissed Bryan on the chest. "If we didn't have company..." Her fingers brushed below his mid-rift as if by accident and she raised an eyebrow.

He sighed. "Oh well, we probably need to get up and get the day started anyway. What time is it?"

She reached for her phone on the nightstand, careful not to smother Jake in the process. Bringing it to her face, she squinted at the readout. "Looks like ten till six," she replied.

Silver sighed. "I'm not ready to leave you for the day," she said. "Oh," she added. "Did I tell you about the cars at the bank with Federal plates yesterday?"

Bryan Cocked his head, "No I think you forgot to tell me," he answered. "What did I miss?"

"It's just weird," she replied. "There have been three black Suburbans parked in front of the bank for the last two days. They have Federal Government plates." She paused and squinted, as if trying to access some thought just beyond the periphery of her reach. "I wonder if they are being audited," She mused. "Should we think about transferring our money to another bank?"

Bryan lay there silently, his mind racing with the possible scenarios taking place. "Why don't I check it out and see what I can find out before we do anything that drastic," he answered at last, in as calm, soothing of a voice as possible. "I'm sure it's nothing," he added, as much to steady his own nerves as to reassure Silver. He nodded toward her phone, "We'd better get up, it's not getting any earlier."

She nodded her head at him. He reached over his head and grasped blindly for a moment before locating the shorts that he had left on the headboard with this type of situation in mind. He slipped them on beneath the sheet and scooped up Amy, making room for Silver to slip out of bed. She slid out from beneath the sheet, grasping her robe off the bedside chair, and threw it over her shoulders, tying her sash as she strode through the now open doors and into the bathroom.

Bryan woke the kids quietly and sent them on their way. They wandered down the hallway rubbing their eyes, weaving from side to side as they went.

Bryan lay in bed for a few minutes reflecting on the possible implications of having federal inspectors or worse at the local bank. Whatever was going on or had gone on, there was a serious operation if it took three SUVs to haul them there and they had been present for at least two days. He shook his head, listening to the sound of the running water shut off in the distance. "I hope what I think isn't what is going on," he said quietly.

Knowing she was out of the shower, Bryan crawled out of bed and made his own way into the shower. He pressed the button which turned the water to his preset temperature, and stood there soaking in the heat. He stood still, letting the heat burn through to his core until his flesh screamed for relief, then turning to repeat the process on another area of the body. He wet his face with the scalding water and slowly, with surgical precision began to peel the stubble from his face with a multi-bladed razor. Working by feel he removed the hair from the heat softened flesh inch by inch until he was satisfied that there weren't any rough patches remaining. He washed his hair and scrubbed himself clean, then shut the water off, letting the chill of cold penetrate the skin for a minute. He wrapped a towel around himself and stepped through the door into the dressing room to the sound of a hair dryer.

Silver sat perched at her make-up table blow-drying her hair, a look of absolute concentration upon her face. "My hair hates me today," she said.

"I love you!" he called out, on his search for clothes.

"Doesn't matter," she murmured while fluffing her bangs with a pick. "Cause my hair hates me!"

"Does anyone's opinion matter besides mine?" he called from behind a rack of pants.

She frowned, pulling at a section of hair with her straightener. "That's not the point!" she cried, then watched in her mirror as he appeared in a pair of jeans with no shirt. She watched him, chewing her lip as she enjoyed the view. As he caught her staring, her eyes shot up and she pursed her lips in feigned innocence. He chuckled.

"Well if you need to have perfect hair to pick up a younger model, then best of luck to you," he mocked.

She wrinkled her nose and knitted her eyebrows in a mimicry of anger. "I just might!" she cried. "You are getting old on me. You are almost fifty after all."

He smirked. "Yeah," he agreed. "One year older than you ... So I guess that makes you almost forty-nine."

It was a joke they had shared since Bryan had turned thirty two years prior. He being a year older than Silver, she had always called him the old man, saying that he was nearer fifty than he was near one. He had reprised the insult/flirtation by pointing out that if he were nearly fifty, then she were nearly forty-nine. The joke usually evoked a predictable response.

"Hmmmmph," she huffed. "I want a day-vorce!"

"Well alright," he sighed. "But just for today. Any longer than that and the sexual tension gets too thick."

"Fine," she snapped. "I guess we are just stuck with each other."

"Hateful hair and all..." he agreed with a smile.

She bared her teeth at him in a snarl. "Don't push your luck mister."

He smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, bent over and kissed her gently on the back of the neck. She coyly smiled at him in the mirror, clutching a can of hairspray, poised to solidify her hair. "Do I have any holes?" she asked, gesturing toward the back of her hairdo.

Bryan peered at the back of her head, looking for places where the hair was not a uniform amount of fluff and pointed to one area behind her right ear. "A little one over here..."

She flipped the hairspray to her left hand, and attacked the area with the pick, trying to get the hair to stand up. She stretched her neck up, admiring her handy work and eyed him questioningly in the mirror. He nodded approval and stepped back quickly to avoid the cloud of hairspray that followed.

Finding the shirt that he wanted, he slipped it over his shoulders and began buttoning down from the collar. As the cloud dissipated from around Silver's head, she smiled at him again.

"What do you have on your plate today?" she asked.

"Oh just the usual," he answered. "It's Wednesday so I'm shopping today after the ads come in the mail. I have a couple of things to pick up at the feed store that I ordered." He paused, reviewing his mental checklist. "I need to get the oil changed in the truck. I have about three hours of work to do on the hard drives that I had shipped to me yesterday." He stopped again, frowning. "And I think I have something else that I am forgetting, but I can't think of it at the ... Oh wait..." He said then stopped suddenly, glancing up at the mirror quickly to see if she had noticed the discrepancy.

Her eyebrows shot up in question, her eye shadow brush poised between her fingers to apply the make-up. He smiled back smugly. Slowly she shook her head.

"You know I hate surprises," she said coolly.

"Not the surprises like these," he answered.

She sighed audibly. "Hudson, you suck!"

"Technically, no I don't."

She shook her head, sighing again as she did. "You are awful. Do you not know how much I hate surprises after all this time?!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist there Kitten," he scoffed. "It's not THAT great of a surprise."

She looked down, through the front of her open robe. "What panties?" she laughed, then sighed again, less audibly this time. "Ok, fine. Do what you want."

She paused again. "Is it bling?!"

He sighed. "Guess it and you don't get it."

She closed her mouth, frowning, sucked her lip in to bite it gently so that she wouldn't appear to pout. Bryan recognized the expression and smirked. "Don't worry, you will like it. That's the important thing."

She huffed, conceding that this wasn't a discussion she was going to win and opted to change the subject.

"Will you have time to have lunch with me today?" she asked.

"Possibly, if things work out." He said. "I will make every effort."

"Wait," she corrected. "I have a lunch meeting today. Maybe tomorrow?" The disappointment in her voice was obvious.

"Sounds good, so long as you can share me with my other woman..." he laughed, referring to Amy.

"I guess you can bring your tag-along," she replied, smiling. "Later this week we need some serious time, just us."

"Wouldn't miss that for the world..." Bryan laughed.

Silver stood, her make-up complete, her robe hanging from her shoulders in such a way that Bryan mentally thanked God for answered prayers.

She strode from the make-up table to one of the nearby racks, eyeing the various colors and styles of clothing that she had amassed in the dressing room.

Bryan had built the dressing room to accommodate an immense amount of clothing based on the fact that every place where they had lived before had been crammed with her wardrobe. Sadly, he had discovered that she would utilize every inch of space available, no matter how large. By his last count she had over two thousand items of clothing not counting shoes, socks, and undergarments.

She donned a multi-hued green top and brown Capri pants, found some brown high heels that matched and proceeded to pick out a necklace to go with her outfit.

Silver had no gold in her jewelry box, her favorite precious metal being silver, naturally. She picked out a lengthy necklace which hung down past her collar bone. Bryan took the necklace from her and, while standing behind her, clasped it around her neck. She stood in the mirror, admiring the look, then asked the dreaded question.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"You look awesome." He answered.

"Awesome? What does that mean?"

"It means you look good."

"Just good?"

"No better than good. More like great."