Diablita II by Mariann musingscsm@aol.com Part 4 See part 0 for header information. When he made it back to the house, his mother was still in Katherine's room and his father had not come home yet. He silently went into his room and went to bed. Jeffery tossed and turned for what seemed like hours before he finally fell asleep and dreamt of watching the stars with two dark haired angels. *** "Mom!" It was the first thing Cassandra heard when she woke up the next morning. For a moment she thought it was little Katherine, that she had somehow come back and the whole thing had just been a huge mistake. But the thought was fleeting and reality came back to her quickly. "Mom...there's someone here!" Cassandra wearily climbed out of bed, still wearing the clothes she had changed into after the funeral. She walked down the stairs, wondering who could possibly be coming to the house at this time of morning, though she wasn't even sure what time it was. Jeffery was standing at the open front door. She came up behind him and looked over his shoulder at the caller. The postman on the other side thrust a clipboard at her unceremoniously. "Sign here please, Ma'am." She scrawled her name at the bottom of the document, grumbling slightly under her breath. The postman handed her a big envelope, turned on his heel and quickly walked away without a second word. It seemed a little odd to her, but she figured it was probably something for Charles. "Rude." Cassandra growled, turning the envelope over. It was addressed to her, and she didn't waste any time opening it. The trauma of the past few days had taken most of her usual paranoia away, at least temporarily. Inside the envelope was a legal document of some sort, at least ten pages thick. Cassandra plopped down on the floor, trying to make sense of the legal mumbo jumbo. And when she finally did, she dropped the papers like a hot iron. Charles had not come home the night before, and now she knew why. In short, the document explained that when she signed for the papers, she had agreed that her marriage had legally ended. It was an unorthodox method of divorce, but it would hold up in a court controlled by her husband...ex-husband's colleagues. "That BASTARD!" She yelled, slamming her fist into the floorboards. "Mom?" Jeffery's voice made her realize he hadn't left the room. "What's wrong?" Cassandra looked up at her son, holding back tears. She couldn't lie to him, there had been too many lies told already. "Your father, Jeffery, is not coming home." "Never?" Jeffery didn't seem quite as upset as most children would've been in the same situation. "I don't know," She took a deep breath to try and calm herself. "According to these papers, he divorced me." "He can't do that, can he?" "He can do anything." Cassandra replied bitterly. "Your father and his colleagues are above the law." She wanted to tell her son that everything would be okay, but she couldn't. Things would never be okay with the Spender family again. Over the course of one summer the family had been destroyed. Now Cassandra didn't know if she had it in her to pick the pieces and start over. The only reason she was going to try was for Jeffery. But for now the mixed emotions came to head and she started to cry. "What now?" Jeffery said, sat on the floor and hugged his mother. "I don't know..." Cassandra held her remaining child tight. "I just don't know." *** Thursday - 3:00 PM 900 West Georgia Street Washington, DC C.G.B. Spender knocked on the door of the apartment his colleagues had arranged for him. The building was kind of shabby, but as long as there was enough room for him and Katherine to live comfortably, it would do. He had always been a bit of a minimalist anyways. "You're right on time." Hutton greeted him when he opened the door. "The directions were adequate." The Smoking Man stepped into the apartment and looked around. The room he was standing in, which he assumed to be the living room ran parallel to a small kitchen. A tiny hallway towards the back, led to two bedrooms and a bathroom. It was small and dank, but at least it was furnished. "Is there anything I should know?" He finally asked, turning back to Hutton as he lit a cigarette. "Complications? Revelations?" "There were none." Ronald smiled just slightly. "Everything went to plan, just as we told you it would." "And Katherine?" "She's doing quite well." Hutton paused for just a moment. "But she doesn't answer to "Katherine" anymore." "Oh?" The Smoking Man raised an eyebrow and exhaled a cloud of bluish gray smoke. "What does she respond to now?" "Kit." He handed the smoking man a folder before going on. "She is now Kit Morgan, social security number 428-98-1013, born on February 10th, 1976 to one Carrie Morgan, deceased. Birth certificate, social security card and some other papers are in the folder." "And she knows all this?" "No. That's for you to tell her, as she grows older." Before Spender could reply, the well manicured Englishman came out into the living room, carrying Kit. The little girl was wearing a red dress and was clutching the stuffed dog she had been attached to in her other life as well. She smiled brightly at her father, looking healthy and happy. "Look who's here." Calvert smiled as he set little Kit on the floor. "Daddy!" She ran over and hugged her father around the knees. "I missed you, Daddy!" Charles was taken aback for a second. Displays of affection towards her father had not been common in Kit before, and he hadn't know whether to expect her to recognize him or not. Then he picked up his daughter and looked into her big blue eyes. "I missed you too, Kit." Calvert nudged Hutton and motioned toward the door. The two men nodded their respects to Spender and quietly departed. The father and daughter needed time alone to get used to their new life. After all, their happiness in this new surrounding was important to project in a round about way. Spender sat down on the couch, Kit sitting in his lap. She smiled and watched her father with pale blue eyes nearly identical to his. "Where you a good girl?" He asked his daughter. "Yes." She nodded. "I was good." An awkward silence hung over the two. Perhaps parenting on his own was going to be more difficult then he had expected it would. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now, and just sat there staring at his child. Hopefully he would figure things out along the way and not make too many mistakes in the meantime. "Where's Mommy?" Kit asked, interrupting his train of thought. The Smoking Man looked at his daughter in silent surprise. He had not expected her to remember her mother at all, but apparently she did. Someone had not done a good enough job reprogramming her. Now he had to think of a lie and hope she wouldn't question it in the years to come. She might believe almost anything at three, but that would change someday. "She's gone, and she's not coming back." "Why?" Little Kit's chin began to tremble. "'Cause of me?" "No, of course not." Spender tried to soften the blow a little. "She went on a trip and she's never going to come back...she's dead." Apparently Kit did remember what death was, judging from the tears and sobs that followed. Spender held his daughter awkwardly and let her cry it out. For awhile it seemed like it would never end, but eventually sobs broke down into sniffles, then silence. "Daddy?" Kit rubbed her red, wet eyes. "Yes?" "You aren't going to leave me too, are you?" "Of course not." He tried his best to sound reassuring. "Promise?" "I won't leave you, Kit." Spender meant those words more then any others he had spoken before. But he couldn't make a promise that might be broken. ------------------- To Be Continued... ### The End ###