Just Being Friendly

What followed was brutal. I had little doubt that the Marquess of Queensbury would have been crying foul. I just mentally thanked Sergeant Logan for his attention to detail when it came to hand to hand combat lessons.

This guy was good; he knew moves that only come from the street. Although I saw a shadow out of the corner of my right eye, my mind couldn't do anything but absorb the information. With the knowledge that Hannah was free and safely out of the room and I was left with her ex, that's when I stopped delaying the inevitable.

When Ernie kicked the bedroom door open and came through, wheezing like the forty-seven-year-old he was, gun in shaking hand and screaming the word, "FREEZE," it was the closest I've seen that man come to losing his lunch.

The ex was dead. He stood little chance really. What kept him alive so long may have been his street smarts.

What killed him was me snapping his neck. But to do that I took a chance, and it sort of paid off. I just didn't see the knife he had hidden until I got him close enough for me to kill him. That's why poor Ernie was shaking.

I had just enough time to say "hi" to Ernie. Then my knees buckled and I hit the floor with Hannah's ex's knife buried to the hilt in me.

*******

The pinging noise was annoying. The warmth of someone's hand in mine confused the hell out of me. When I opened my eyes, little Casey was the culprit. Her head was resting on the bed, soft sleeping noises came from her. I had to hide with all my might was the laugh as her open mouth dribbled onto the bed.

"She won't leave. The head of admin had to get involved to authorize her being here, even though she's not family. I have to bring food and clothes for her, and take over holding your hand when she needs a potty break."

Hannah sat on the couch the other end of the room, a fold up bed was parked in the corner.

"How long?" was all I got out before the soreness of my throat made me stop.

Casey stirred and looked up at me before bursting into tears. She then climbed onto the bed. Judging by the fact that I was off center in bed, it didn't take much to figure out that, although she wasn't supposed to, she slept on my bed in the evening.

This little angel pulled air into her lungs and said, "Four hours on the operating table. I'm not supposed to know but your heart stopped once in that time. They wouldn't let me see you in intensive care. That was ten days and you've been here for a week so far."

Ever the pragmatist I said, "Casey, you can't stay here like this. You're missing a ton of school."

"No I ain't," came her exasperated reply.

Hannah giggled from her position on the couch. It seems the town pulled together and every evening the teachers would take turns bringing Casey her school work. Hannah would sit with me while teacher and pupil held impromptu school lessons on the couch. The mayor asked Lionel Becks to take his old job back in an advisory capacity until the town's sheriff was once again back on his feet.

This much-needed catch-up information came to a crashing halt when one of the nurses came in and spotted me awake. She turned on her heels and left the room.

My hand held Casey's a little tighter when I said, "I figure I know what comes next, sweetie. You may have to give these folks room to do their job now."

I looked imploringly at Hannah and she understood, quickly nodded to me and stood over Casey, placing her hand on her daughter's shoulder as a gentle reminder that it was time for something to eat while I was seen by the doctors.

The gang arrived five minutes later. The man in front was clearly the boss. He looked over at the now vacant couch and I caught his smile as he turned his head to speak to me.

"You're a very lucky man, Mr. Carter."

He paused then looked towards the bathroom door, nodded to himself and now knowing perhaps that Casey wasn't going to come out of there, he once again looked at me. One of the nurses handed him my chart and he flipped over a couple of pages before stopping and looked over his wire glasses. A part of me did wonder if he played Santa at the hospital's Christmas celebrations. All that seemed to be missing was the beard.

"You came to us with a knife in your chest, Mr. Carter. I was under the impression that you come from Maple Grove? Stuff like that doesn't happen over there."

For now I remained tight lipped. He sure picked up on that real quickly.

The surgeon coughed once and then once again as he scanned the chart before saying, "The blade went in about four inches. It nicked a major pulmonary artery, causing an extensive amount of bleeding." He looked directly into my eyes and smiled. "You started to cause us all sorts of trouble over that."

He sat on the chair by the bed, ignoring the entourage that followed him in.

"The knife in your chest wouldn't leave without a fight. It was the cause of your lungs collapsing."

He watched me go a little green and I think it was then he decided to have a little more fun at my expense and continued in even more detail.

"With the air escaping from your lungs and into your chest cavity, it pushed everything to the left, causing what we call a tension pneumothorax. Fortunately for you, the medics on the scene dealing with both ladies were able to stick a needle into your chest to release the air pressure."

He again flicked through the notes now resting on his lap before continuing.

"They did a very nice job, getting you packaged up and over to us at the trauma center."

This time he handed my notes of to one of the students, who then placed it back where he found it. The hospital had notice of an incoming stab victim; they weren't expecting the two police cruiser escort for the ambulance. Fortunately for me I was still out. They made sure of that of course when they got me in OR so they could get the knife out.

That's when they set to work on the still-bleeding pulmonary artery. With the knife now gone, the artery was sewn up and they finally got a tube placed into my chest so they could re-inflate my lung and get me to breathe without the aid of machines.

"Yes, you gave us quiet a scare, sheriff, and continued to do so. Despite having two large-bore IVs pumping blood into you and me standing back to admire my work, your heart stopped, not once but twice that night. You sure made my trauma team earn their money that night, I have to admit."

His demeanor seemed too change then. His hand rested on my wrist and gently squeezed it.

"I'm sure what I've said so far hasn't been all that pleasant for you either, young man. But you are recovering and I have daily reports of those two angels watching over you day and night. We took you off the ventilator yesterday. It's why your throat is so sore. The chest tube is still draining a bit, but from what I've seen in your file we can remove that sometime tomorrow. I have the chest X-Rays in my office and when I see the blood work tomorrow and hopefully see what I expect to see, then we start the countdown to getting you and those two angels out of here."

He smiled and something in the back of my thoughts expected him to say, "Ho Ho Ho."

I fought hard to keep from smiling; instead I opted for thanking him and watched him stand up. His people all took a step back and it was then I noticed Hannah holding Casey's hand in the doorway. Both had smiles that put the corridor lights to shame.

Casey let go of her mother's hand and rushed through a gap in the crowd of people to hug the surgeon, and that Santa smile came to his lips as he bent down so he could be as close to level with Casey. He then looked into her eyes.

"When we send him home, you have to make sure he does as he's told, ok?"

Casey nodded. She took a moment to wipe the tear from her eye and said. "I will. I promise."

He leaned in and whispered something in her ear. Her eyes watered up and her smile almost split her mouth in two. She then gave him another hug before the surgeon and his team left the room.

Both Hannah and I watched them leave and then turned our attention to Casey, who just carried on smiling as she turned and walked over to the couch and sat on it, not saying a single word.

Between Hannah and I we even managed to get Casey back home that evening along with a promise to go to school tomorrow. What spooked both of us was that she agreed way too quickly for us to take her seriously. Hey, how was I to know that today was Friday?

Lionel Becks came by the next day to bring me up to date on things happening in Maple Grove. That was a three minute talk. God I love small towns with nothing happening but everyday life. He told me the inquest was pretty much an open and shut affair. Hannah sat and recounted what she could remember of that evening. Her ex's past record of domestic abuse and continual violence and harassment of his ex-wife and daughter was entered into evidence and finally, poor Ernie.

Ernie told the inquest everything that happened outside by the sidewalk and up until Hannah came running out of the house. He looked at Hannah across the courtroom and they both blushed. It seems it took Bernadette to pull her own jacket off and cover her, since all she did was free herself and run from the house. Bernadette wrapped her jacket around her so she could get a blanket from the cruiser. It seems poor Ernie was crimson when he talked about that part.

Lionel was of the opinion that Ernie figured his wife was going to kill him when she found out he had stared at a naked Hannah, so he just thought it best to die anyway. He pulled his gun out and went against my orders into the house, after the sheriff. As he spoke his crimson color slowly turned a shade of green as he told the coroner about kicking open the bedroom door and the battle ground that was once Hannah's bedroom. Seeing the dead body of what was once Hannah's ex and the standing (but not for much longer) sheriff.

Poor Ernie was excused at that point into the loving arms of his wife, who took him home. Bernadette recounted much the same story, except when Ernie went into the house. She called for medical backup and kept the women company until the medics arrived so she could join Ernie inside the house. I'm told Bernadette's seat on the witness stand wasn't even cold when the coroner ruled everything legal and congratulated everyone on their professionalism.

*******

I stayed in the hospital another week before being released into the care of Hannah and Casey, who took me home. It came as a bit of a shock when I noticed that they had moved in as well. Unbeknown to me, it seems Lionel declared Hannah's house, or rather her bedroom, a crime scene, so Lionel's wife, with Hannah and two of the neighbor's wives and their husbands simply walked into Casey's room, stripped it down and moved it all into one of my spare rooms.

When I looked at what they had done with that old room in the time I had been in hospital, I was really impressed.

Turning to Hannah, I naively asked, "So, where are you sleeping?"

Hannah looked me up and down before that smirk came to her. "Oh come on, you can't be that dumb. But I will give you a hint, I sleep on the left side."

Knowing Hannah as I did, I actually thought she was spinning my wheels, since I wasn't going to rise to the bait. They told me to sit down and relax while they both set about putting things away and then pizza arrived. It felt odd and yet kind of comfortable finally sitting down to eat with these two. Hannah took on the mantle of mother hen while her backup smiled and helped when told to. I remembered that all sentences for the rest of the evening made by me finished with "yes dear" and that kept the smiles on both their faces for what was left of the day.

Casey tried to hide her yawn around eight that evening. She failed miserably and that's when we got her to bed, along with a promise to at least try to sleep in since tomorrow was Saturday. Her body's fatigue overrode her wanting to stay awake and we both heard the last words to leave her lips. "Love you both."

We both checked the other to see if we had dust in our eyes (we did) before leaving Casey's room as quietly as we could. It was then I stood in the hallway, not sure what to do. Hannah rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand before pulling me into OUR room. She'd had time to make the bedroom less of a man-cave.

While I was mentally working at playing catch-up, she was already in the process of stripping off and folding her clothes, then placing them on the chair by her side of the bed before walking past me and into the bathroom.

A stone statue had nothing on me at that moment, Hannah was naked and in my/our bedroom and I mean naked, right down to the birthmark on her left hip. My eyes did their best to keep looking at that birthmark, but just too much naked Hannah kept getting in the way. If she wasn't a C-cup then all that homework during my college and army years have gone to waste. Her breasts were full and I seemed to spend a lot of time watching them move on her body when she did.

Her smirk reminded me I was staring way too much. Yes it was my house, but she was a guest and standing with your mouth hanging open and drooling in front of your guest is not considered a polite thing to do. The sight through the bathroom door kept me rooted to the middle of the bedroom as she cleaned her teeth and performed the other bathroom rituals that women get up too. She used the excuse that she was talking to me as a pretext for why the bathroom door remained wide open.

"It took Joan Becks and me a while to figure out. We did that internet search thingy as well." More splashing water could be heard from the bathroom; I was still watching that tight body and oh-so-tight ass of hers. "I mean, I was set to run again once the inquest was over, her ex almost killing the sheriff had woke the town up. Hannah wanted to leave before they were both run out of town. But Joan, bless her, pointed something out, it's part of a Chinese proverb."

By this time, I had found motor function and tried so hard to stop staring at Hannah's ass. Hannah for her part turned her head to look at me with toothpaste around her lips, smiling when she noticed what I was staring at.

Her toothbrush was waved at me as she said, "You saved Casey's life when you found her in that locked closet and then got her out of the house. You then saved my life, twice, once when you cut me loose and again when you killed my ex."

I'm sure she was waiting for me to connect some far-off dots. When I looked just as confused as I had minutes ago, she rinsed and put her toothbrush away before walking towards me in ALL her glory. I'm sure I was hard by the time she got fully into the bedroom. Hannah walked right up to me and a fair exchange was made, I felt her chest squash again mine and I'm sure she felt a very solid penis pushed against her mons.

Her arms came around me and in retaliation my hands went around her. "That Chinese proverb that I mentioned? You saved both our lives, which makes you responsible for us from now on."

Her lips tasted of mint and, when her eyes once again came into focus, she had a blush about her. "I talked to Casey about this. I practically had to sit on her to stop her dancing around the room. As for me, well, I promise to be a good girl, well, most of the time. But when I'm bad, you need to be really bad as well."

We exchanged mint-flavored lips again. I had the greatest prize a man could wish for in my arms, and I felt that what I was going to say next was going to throw it all away.

"Hannah. I didn't kill your ex to get him out of your life, he was going to die simply because it turned into me or him."

I heard the sigh, just before her forehead nuzzled into my neck.

"I know. When Casey and I were released from hospital Joan Becks was waiting for us. She took us both home and stood to one side as we both started to pack again. She then ordered us both downstairs and poured coffee and soda into us both before she insisted on knowing what the heck we were up to."

Joan simply listened as Hannah told her everything, and then promptly burst out laughing.

"She let it slip. Casey heard it first and dug me in the ribs. When my daughter asked her to repeat what she had just said, Joan didn't even back down."

It was the first time either of them had heard the proverb. It was Joan who offered them hope and, the more Joan spoke of the proverb, the more both of them would look at each other, neither one wanting to be the first to speak in case the small candle of hope would move away from their grasp.

*******

Hannah took hold of my hand and walked me to the bed, she watched me pause and then did that tutting thing before she moved to the middle of the bed and sat crossed legged. It sure took a while stop my jaw from hanging open.

Her hand came out and she patted the bed. "You need to sit down and no, I'm not getting dressed. I've slept naked in bed since I hit puberty and everything on my body has gotten too sensitive to have sleepwear around it."

I sat on the edge of the bed, Hannah glared at me, I remembered those glares and shifted more of my body onto the bed, the glare decreased and I was oh so grateful.

"I see it's truth time." Hannah pulled air into her lungs and, for the first time, she stopped looking at me and her gaze drifted to the ceiling, paused for a moment and continued. "When Casey and I came home from the hospital, we didn't want to leave but felt we had to before we were thrown out. Remember Mitch, this is small town Maple Grove and you killing my ex and almost getting killed in the process woke it up."

What Hannah hadn't counted on was the real side of small towns and Maple Grove in particular. After Barney's visit and handing Hannah the keys to his old house, he phoned Lionel and Joan Becks and told them everything. With me out of town at the conference Barney asked that they keep an eye on them both and do everything they could to hide them.

What Hannah said next came at a whisper. "Can I ask you a question?"

I managed to make eye contact, not easy when you have so much naked Hannah within both sight and touch. "Sure, go ahead."

"Joan told me that in all the time you've lived here, not once have you dated. She also told me that almost half of the single women in the area have thrown themselves at you. Hell from what I've been told, almost the same amount of married women would have done the same if they thought they could hide it from their husbands."

I'm sure she felt me stiffen. "I don't date married ladies."

"That's the point. You don't even date the single ones." Was her quick retort.

The look in her eye reminded me of an old school teacher I once had. I was almost sure she was going to start speaking really slowly and use small, single-syllable words so that I could understand.

"Just remember, small town folks talk. Not all of it is factual of course. After all, when has a good lie ever got in the way of the truth? But I know for sure that what I believe is fact, since it comes from the only people you have trusted since you got here." Hannah paused for a moment, more to catalog her thoughts than to worry about saying what was on her mind. "You left the Army for a reason, has it occurred to you that these last few months may be the reason?"

Her hand held mine as she continued to tell me that she was just a woman, so she was looking at all this strictly from a woman's view.

"Don't forget, I've been on the receiving end of all this for years, it took my ex going after Casey before I realized that even with all his promises, he wasn't going to change. If anything, he was only going to get worse."

Her hand tightened around mine again. I've started to notice she only does that when she feels the need to emphasize something.