*Yeah, watch over me,* Kermit thought as he remembered. *She made it happen! She wanted it to happen!! She's completely psycho.* It was something Kermit had made every effort to avoid becoming.

"JULIA! Stop it. Right now." Kermit was fighting to keep control of himself, despite the rage he felt at Julia for revealing such vile secrets. Especially in front of Savannah...and his son! Kermit tried not to flush with shame as he wondered what Jim was thinking.

Julia was beyond his reasoning at that point. Trapped in her own vile desires and hatred of humanity. "Why would you want THEM, Kermit? *WHY*?!!"Julia screamed at him. "They're just like Miss Number One. Calley was such a coward." Julia's face wore her disgust at the inferred weakness.

"Calley?" Kermit asked, his face ashen. He hadn't even spoken to Calley in years. *She didn't....*

Julia's grin verified his fear. "The whole time I was tying her up in that suburban hell of hers, she just begged and pleaded. 'Who are you? Please don't hurt me?' And I never said a word to her." The giggling resumed. "She couldn't stop crying. Poor Calley had no idea why she was going to die. Cried and screamed while I turned on the gas and didn't stop until the whole fucking place blew up."

Savannah gasped as Kermit turned his head, closing his eyes against the wave of pain. His childhood sweetheart. Married one day before he shipped out to 'Nam. Annulled as if it never existed. Destroyed by the ugliness of his life just like his childhood. An innocent life snuffed out of existence because of him. "How could you?" he whispered.

Savannah watched helplessly as the words stabbed into her husband's heart. Poor Calley. Who never knew Kermit or his life after they parted.

Julia basked in the misery that she had caused. "Vanessa...well, we won't have to worry about her anymore, boring aristocratic little bitch that she was. She was just looks and money, that's all." Julia sighed, "Just wanted to twist you into some tuxedo-draped social butterfly. James Bond. Sickening."

Jim saw an opening. Eyes flaring, he stepped forward but Julia merely raised her gun at Kermit. "Do you want to become an orphan, James?"

Jim froze, murder in his eye.

"And this one," Julia continued to Kermit, "So noble. A regular Joan of Arc." Fluttering her eyelashes, she mocked her rival. "Oh, please don't hurt my baby...please...please. MY GOD! What a whiner! You can take one look at her and see middle-aged crisis all over Mrs. Bride Number 4. Don't you know that it will wear off in due time? Kermit...Kermit, don't you see? *I* am the only one that's right for you."

"You're the only one that belongs in hell," Kermit spat.

"I've been there, darling, and it's not bad at all," Julia grinned. "But then, so have you. And I love you for it."

"You were the only one who's ever been there," Kermit conceded softly. Savannah's mouth fell open as he continued. "You were the only one who's ever understood."

"Yes! Exactly!!" Julia grinned. "Don't you see how beautiful that part of you is? How powerful?"

*Embrace the dark side of the Force, Luke,* Jim thought sarcastically but held his tongue.

"Look, Kermit, I have the gun. I'm in control. Remember how that was?"

"Yes...."

"They just want to *change* you. To *fix* you. I know how perfect you really are. Dark and dangerous."

He looked up. "You're right. I can't be with them. I'm just like you. What was I thinking of?" His demeanor was changing. A shroud of anger and darkness settling over his features. A thick, mocking quality to his voice. Julia narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You sure you mean that?!"

"YES! Dammit, Julia, I've been feeling...some sense of restlessness ever since Savannah trapped me into marrying her." Kermit took his glasses off to stare at her intently. "I felt obligated, even changed the kid's diapers if you can believe it!" He turned to Savannah. "Well, no more, lady. You can just keep that shit! I've HAD it!" He savagely ripped off his ring and threw it at her. "Julia's right. The violence is the stronger part of me."

*It's a trick...it has to be a trick,* Savannah repeated to herself as Kermit's maddening diatribe continued.

Julia's ecstacy rolled through her twisted mind. "You don't know how long I've waited for this day. And," she plunged her hand into the duffle bag at her feet, "I have a gift for you." Flicking the weight, Julia set the metronome in motion. Ticking into the sudden silence around them.

Kermit sucked in his breath sharply. "Julia...no...." Savannah watched in shock as Kermit stood and stared, transfixed by the instrument. Kermit shook his head, closed his eyes, gripped his head in pain....Then, with a shuddering sigh, he looked at Julia, his eyes dead. "Julia. I'm back."

Savannah's eyes were as wide as saucers. She knew that voice; she had heard it before. It wasn't Kermit. It was the voice of the assassin that she heard in the theater when Kermit was under Truong Qui's control. Genuine fear rose up in her and she fought not to hyperventilate. *It's worn off!* she thought, panicked, fighting her tears. *Caine's 'treatment'...it's worn off! Kermit....*

He stepped toward Julia, his eyes glittering. "Let's go."

Julia smirked as she allowed him within arm's reach. "Shoot them first."

"With pleasure." Reaching for the Desert Eagle, he pulled the weapon and leveled it point-blank at his wife's chest.

Julia licked her lips in anticipation of the explosion of gunfire to come. Eyes transfixed on the spot where the bullet would connect with the trembling woman's flesh.

The ticking ringing in her ears, Savannah closed her eyes.

With a reflexive snap, Kermit swung the fisted gun in a circle and hit Julia so hard, Savannah and Jim could hear the crack as bones broke. Julia fell soundlessly to the ground.

"Bitch!" Kermit spat at her.

When he turned, Savannah once again saw the Kermit Griffin she knew and loved. She gasped and fairly leaped into his willing embrace. "Kermit?" she asked, as she searched his mind for signs of the assassin.

"It's okay," Kermit assured her. "I had to slip into it to fool her. I'm sorry I scared you. Can I have my ring back?"

Savannah's smile could have lit up New York all by itself. "Any time, sugar!" She leaped out of his arms to find it and return it to him.

Jim sighed in relief, not sure that it was really over. "What was all that? The metronome?"

"I was programmed to kill when I heard that sound," Kermit explained wearily. "Caine recently broke that compulsion but she didn't know that."'

"When you started to act like that, I thought it had worn off," Savannah told him.

"I know. That's what I wanted you to think," Kermit said, hugging her in apology. "We did it, though. We fooled her. Together." As he put his ring on, he winced slightly.

"What is it, Kermit? Are you hurt?"

He examined his hand. "I think I bruised or maybe broke a knuckle. It was worth it, though." Seeing Jim's face, he added, "We should get back upstairs, anyway, to see how Vanessa's doing. But first, we have to figure out what kind of a hole to dump her into. I don't suppose you'll let me kill her."

"Don't tempt me," Savannah warned. "Maybe your agency friends-"

Kermit nodded. "Since she tried to kill one of their agents, Vanessa, they ought to be so inclined to find a place. Jim, would you-"

Jim hoisted the unconscious Julia over his shoulder as the battle-weary trio made their way back to the hospital.

*****

"Nick nock!" Kat Griffin mimicked as her father tapped on the hotel room door. Adding her little hand to the rapping, the little girl giggled in her father's arms as they both knocked on Jim Hellstrom's door.

Major Hellstrom pulled open the door expecting to find housekeeping. Upon seeing his little sister, the young man brightened and held out his arms. "Hi there, princess! Come 'ere!"

Kat leaped into his embrace and squeezed a greeting around his neck.

A smiling Kermit Griffin followed the happy pair into the hotel room. Seeing them together was a picture he'd cherish all his life.

"What are the two of you doing here? I was just getting ready to go back to the base." Jim flopped down on the bed and transformed himself into a human climbing apparatus for the toddler.

"Had a long weekend and wanted to check in on Vanessa." Peering over the green glasses, Kermit added sarcastically, "What is the death toll on her ward so far?"

"I think three nurses were dismissed for Mother's fashion complaints about their wardrobe and I believe she groped some orderly and he died of shock." Jim's deadpan sidekick to his father was becoming a natural part of their routine.

"She's mellowing."

"So," Jim asked, "Where's Savannah?"

"She's visiting Vanessa. I didn't think Kat would be a good idea on that ward. Too many Griffins in one place is dangerous." Kermit handed Kat his car keys for entertainment, then dove into the uncharted territory he'd avoided for weeks. "Jim, I have a question for you."

Startled at being the focus of serious inquiry from the man in black, Jim steeled himself for the novel experience. "Shoot."

"I've noticed that during this last unpleasantness, you've started referring to Vanessa and I as 'Mother' and...'Dad.'" Kermit smiled slightly at the blush his son involuntarily emitted.

"And this bothers you two?" Jim tried to keep his tone level.

"I can only speak for myself, but no, it doesn't bother me. Just the opposite, in fact, but...well...." Focusing on Kat made it easier to spill the words. "Jim, I *do* feel like your father, but that's selfish of me. Ben is your father. He raised you and deserves the title. I don't."

Jim took in the full effect of his biological father. An intensity that defied explanation. Calm on the surface with a molten river of emotion flowing below. Sharing private feelings was a rarity with this man and Jim wanted to take care in choosing his words. "Yes. He is my father and I love him and Sylvia with all my heart. They couldn't love me more even if I was their natural child. They're my parents. But...now that we - you and me and Vanessa - have started a history, I can't deny my feelings. You are father and mother to me, too."

Struck by the recognition, Kermit could only sit and stare as his son spilled out complicated feelings with Kat draped over his back.

"I'm a lucky guy, actually." Jim smiled at having the full attention of this dynamic man. Having the floor was a new experience. "I have two wonderful parents who taught me to say please and thank you and made sure I was a happy kid. Then, I got two more who care just as much...." The major broke into a sly grin then added, "and they show me how to break out of prison camps on my summer vacation and how to move in spy circles. Quite a family tree, wouldn't you say?"

Having the cards on the table felt liberating. No more wondering. No posturing and supposing and tiptoeing around words and emotions.

The air heavily laden with emotion, Kermit retreated into the armor of male solution. A lop-sided grin spreading over his face, the newly-identified father laughed, "So it is, kid. Glad you've elected to claim all four of us- although I think the Hellstroms were a better influence." Holding out his arms for his daughter, he said, "Glad Savannah wasn't here for all this bonding. We'd be swimming by now."

Grabbing his lead and being quite ready to end the soul-baring of the moment, Jim jumped up to grab his coat and bag. "Why don't we go spoil this kid some down in the restaurant before I go. I believe cramming her full of candy and ice cream is the job of a big brother."

"Hear that, Kitty Kat?" Kermit hoisted the toddler and followed his son out the door. "Another man at your mercy."

The pleased father closed the door, his position clarified, and couldn't resist a fatherly clasp of the young man's shoulder as he passed by. Grin meeting grin, knowing where they stood and that the ground beneath was solid. And that it would hold them forever.

*****

Vanessa wasn't exactly sure which she hated more. The throbbing in her chest or the drab hospital gown she was trapped inside. Daytime television was crammed full of idiots and if she didn't get a decent meal, she planned to raise holy hell with SOMEBODY!

A light tap on the door drew her frustrated attention. *Great! Someone else to prod and humiliate me.* Sighing quite audibly to signal her annoyance, she called, "Come in!"

A welcome blonde head presented itself through the door. "Have I got a surprise for you, sugar," Savannah whispered through the door. She gave a furtive glance back into the hall and came on inside.

"FINALLY!" Vanessa gasped in relief. "A member of civilization coming to my rescue."

"Shhhh!" Savannah cautioned. Visiting hours were a while away and what she was about to gift Vanessa with was against approximately ten hospital rules. "First of all, how are you feeling?" She walked up to stand beside her friend's bed.

"Just ghastly. I don't understand why I just can't go to a hotel and rest." Twisting toward her visitor as she complained, Vanessa had to bite her lip over the stabbing pain that shot through her chest.

Quirking a concerned but knowing smile at the patient, Savannah answered, "That's why, hardhead. Now, just relax." Jingling the bag in her hand, she teased, "Don't you want to see your first present?"

"Well, of course. I was simply trying to be polite."

"Oh, puhleeeezzzz!" Rolling her eyes, Savannah pulled out the gift and held it up to the woman's chin. "Perfect."

Vanessa actually squealed, despite the pain it caused her. "Oh, Savannah! You are an angel. And RED! Wonderful."

"Here, let me help." Savannah, pleased with her friend's reaction, eased the silk bed jacket around her shoulders.

Grinning evilly, Vanessa said, "Red...you know what Kermit says about red."

"Well, then, I'll just have to make his blue," Savannah giggled at the odd mental picture.

Vanessa laughed and then groaned. "Please don't make me laugh!"

"I'm sorry," Savannah said, eyes twinkling.

"It's beautiful," Vanessa said, grasping Savannah's hand briefly in a thank you. "I'm willing to bet, though, that that's the only beautiful thing about me now."

Savannah shook her head. "I can't believe you! You look ten times better NOW than I ever do! How do you do it? A trade secret?"

Vanessa smiled wanly. "It was my career."

"What?"

"That was my career for the first twenty years of my life," Vanessa explained. "Looking good. It was all I knew. I'd have traded it all for...well, enough of the mopes. What's that one?" She pointed to the wrapped package Savannah held in her hand now.

"I'm dying to find out myself," Savannah admitted. "It's a get-well gift from Kermit. He didn't tell me what it was - said I'd find out when you opened it."

"Open it, please. I'm in no mood to wrestle with wrapping paper."

There was a pause as Savannah unwrapped the package and Vanessa attempted to make herself more comfortable. Savannah studiously looked at the contents. "Audiotapes. I think." She pursed her lips, examining the writing. "In French?" She did recognize the title of one of them.

Vanessa took them. "Yes. How sweet! I always dragged him to every theater production of 'Les Miserables.' It's one of my favorites." She translated the other titles. "A Midsummer Night's Dream in Latin...." She laughed at the last. "Beauty and the Beast in Italian! I wonder who's Beauty and who's the Beast! Please tell Kermit 'thank you.' Speaking of the Beast, what happened to Julia?"

"Kermit asked one of his 'associates' to deal with her. I didn't really want to know," Savannah admitted.

"A man of many talents," Vanessa sighed. "Did you know he arranged to have Jim 'assigned' to the hospital so he could stay with me?"

Savannah started. Kermit had told her that Jim stayed with Vanessa while she recovered for the first three weeks, but she had assumed that Jim simply requested leave time. "Arranged? How?"

"He gave his C.O. some song-and-dance about Jim being needed to interpret information by an injured agent."

Savannah shook her head, smiling. She would have given anything to see Kermit run that scam. "A man of many talents," she agreed. "So, where is Jim?"

"He's getting ready to go back today," Vanessa said. "But...it was so...wonderful to wake up and...see him....Thank you," she said, sniffling, taking the tissue Savannah handed her. She wiped her eyes. "I'm not used to...to....Well, it was very...pleasant."

"You're not used to leaning, are you?" Savannah held the hand of this strong woman who had finally found herself in need instead of control. "Vanessa, you have a wonderful young man for a son and God blessed both of you by bringing you back together. An interesting aside to this mothering biz is that it's not a one-way street. They need you, of course, but YOU need them. I need Kat's little arms around my neck." Smiling at the hug she could feelin her heart, she added, "And you have other people who care about you, too."

Forcing sarcasm over sentiment, Vanessa replied, "Oh, yes. You can see the parade of visitors."

"Dear Miss Bently, I believe you should take quality over quantity." Pausing to assemble the correct words, she continued, "Kermit cares for you a great deal."

"Not that I think you're right, but wouldn't or shouldn't that bother you?" This was getting personal. Personal things that she wanted to hear.

"At first it did. Like that day at the house when after we'd just met. When Kermit hugged you in our living room." Savannah secretly enjoyed the rare blush that flooded Vanessa's cheeks. "Briefly, I considered pullin' your hair out but then it occurred to me that Kermit's caring for the mother of his child only confirmed what a wonderful man he was. How could I be jealous of that?"

"I can see why he loves you, Savannah. I'm glad for him. Glad Julia didn't take this happiness away from him." She hadn't asked about Kermit's feelings. "How did Kermit take the news about Calley?"

"Not well. Silently, but not well. He's just eaten up with guilt that he brought this down on her and you."

"He does like to hang on a cross, doesn't he? Julia was a beguiling lunatic. The 'great protector' couldn't have known she was coming after us." She shook her head at Kermit's need to take blame. Constantly.

"I know." But she understood that he would always take the blame. It was his life's blood to be the champion and to hurt when he fell short. "I'll help him work through it."

Looking deeply into the younger woman's green eyes, Vanessa expressed her heartfelt gratitude. "Who would have ever thought that Kermit's next wife would be so damn smart? And be my advisor on things maternal. And..." she looked away, then continued, "be my friend."

"Not so sure about the smart part, and my advice is kinda 'learn as you go', but I am most certainly your friend, my dear."

The sincere emotions between the women filled the room. Two women from different times who had loved the same man. Two mothers learning the ropes. Odd allies. New friends.

Shaking off the threatening tears, Savannah gasped, "OH! I almost forgot your other *happy.* A manicure!"

As Savannah moved toward the door, Vanessa wondered out loud, "How sweet of you, Savannah. But, I sincerely hope that the manicurist doesn't prattle on the entire time about...."

Suddenly, words failed her.

Smiling gleefully, Savannah patted the arm of her 'gift' and answered, "Hear that, Lars. No prattlin'. Just a gentle, relaxin', comfortin' manicure."

Lars, a tanned and muscular young man with Nordic good looks and a brilliant smile, strolled over to the now deliriously happy gunshot victim. Kissing her hand then cradling it gently in his, Lars said, "Yes, ma'am, Mrs. Griffin. Such lovely hands deserve hours of silence worship."

Never taking her eyes off her new attendant, Vanessa purred, "You are a woooonnnnnderful woman."

"Yes, I know. So are you," she reciprocated and happily left Vanessa to the careful attention of Lars.

*****

Feeling solid ground beneath her feet was disconcerting for the first few moments. She had been flown and driven and dragged by her captors for so long that her knees buckled when first asked to hold her weight. Two rough escorts pulled her from the back of a leather upholstered car seat, clamped down over her arms and began shoving her along over what felt like an old buckling cobblestone walk. A filthy, burlap blindfold remained firmly tied around her eyes, further unbalancing her senses.

Julia had stopped speaking days ago. Her communication had been met with silence and savage blows to her once flawless features. Silently, shenoted the heavy moisture of night air as it brushed soothing fingers over her skin. *I'll wait. An opening will come.* It always had in the past.

Focusing on the information available in her handicapped state, Julia knew from the muffled conversations she'd overheard that her captors had thick Spanish accents. *Narrows it down to half of the planet.*

She was dirty and starving. Only allowed the minimum of food required to keep her alive. The only lifeforce that burned within her flesh was the blowtorch of revenge. *Griffin....I'll kill you for this. Kill that blonde slut you married. Dump Jimmy Boy outta his precious airplane. Choke that little bastard Kitty Kat into a rag doll corpse. Then....*

"Ah...the senora has arrived," echoed the incongruously civil greeting above Julia's battered head.

A hand drove her to her knees beneath the booming Latin American voice. "Just give me a minute to freshen up and I'll be glad to join the party." The dirt was loose under her skinned knees and it wiggled it's way in to the bloody crevices. She was surrounded by six men not counting the one in front of her. Carefully, she catalogued their movements as she heard the shuffling of boot heels and rustle of pantlegs.

"Oh, dear, Senora," a hand shot out from the voice to clamp around her shattered cheekbone. "Do don't concern yourself with your appearance. You are well dressed for the host of our gathering."

"And who would that be?" quipped the captive, who was cuffed quickly on the back of her head. Hands still bound behind her, Julia fought to hold onto her balance in the face of the enemy.

"Oh, my manners," the man reached down to yank the blindfold and a patch or two of bruised flesh from the woman's face. "When you were last in Costa Rica, I was know as Vice President."

Briefly her senses bled one into another. The scenery began to form around her. Large dark trees laden with heavy vines. Headstones. Freshly tilled earth. A cemetary.

A mantle of cool detachment masking her building panic, Julia oozed, "We didn't have the pleasure, sir, perhaps this time you might find my talents useful." The broken lips twisted into a wry smile.

"I am glad to have had the pleasure to finally meet.....courtesy of a mutual friend of ours, senora." Squeezing the battered face once more until the woman released a strangled moan, he hissed inches from her nose, "This mutual acquaintance tells me that you murdered my brother years ago."

"Whatever Griffin told you is a bloody lie!" Julia spat the words unflinchingly into the man's face. "He did it! I'll help you get him if you want!"

"SILENCE!!!!" The man made a conscious effort to choke his rage. "You killed my brother and I have been fortunate enough to have you delivered into my hands."

"NO! I didn't kill him!" she shrieked as the older man snatched her to her feet by a twisted handfull of her hair.

With barely masked fury, the man held Julia teetering over the edge of newly opened grave. The smell of rot and molding earth permeating the scene. "It is too late, senora. I find it only fitting that since you were the last to see my brother alive," he bent her down over the gaping mouth of horror before them, "that you should join him in his final resting place.

On cue, one of his cohorts lowered a long metal hook into the grave and irreverently hoisted open the coffin held below. The stench of death and decay wafted upward from the mass of bones held in the violated coffin.

Terror's icy grip descended on Julia as she began to struggle. A futile effort to postpone her internment. "No...you don't understand...I can help you....really..."

With little regard to his captive's pleading, the man tossed her weakened and tattered body into the mouth of gore at their feet. Smiling slightly at the crumpled mass the once formidable assassin became.

Julia swallowed the billowing shriek. Kicking the bones and rancid cloth. Struggling to find a way to remain on her feet. "WAIT! You don't know what you're doing! I can help you! I know things...people...AAAAAAAYYYYYIIIII!!!!!"

The howling scream echoed through the night as the first shovel of dirt pelted Julia's open mouth. Perilous balance destroyed, the cold-blooded killer toppled over to tangle with the putrid remains of a long ago victim. One after another the scoops of earth fell down to meet the screaming terror cutting the night in the form of Julia's screams. Mirror images of the decades of screaming victims she had left in her wake. Leaving the distasteful scene behind, the well dressed former politician returned to his limousine. Sliding into the sound-proof comfort, he addressed his benefactor. "I am in your debt for this retribution, Senor."

Accepting a drink from the well-appointed bar, the stately man with graying hair, answered matter of factly, "I was happy to provide you with this....opportunity. We will do business again in the future."

"How, my friend, did you come to possess this information? A business associate?" The man loosened his tie and leaned back to bask in his victory.

"Family." Bending one long arm, the older gentleman gulped his drink quickly.

"Then you understand my desire to avenge this affront to my family's honor." Nodding his understanding, the former vice-president poured himself a drink and signaled the driver to move on.

"Oh yeah," mimicked the benefactor, an unexplained smile dancing over his lips.

The End

Next Story: Glass Houses

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