Rainey grinned over at Ernie just as she turned the key in the ignition. She depressed the accelerator several times, making the big engine rumble. She winked. "I don't."

Ernie examined Rainey for a moment before she spoke. "I really am happy for you and I'm sure your father would be too..."

Rainey pulled the car out of the parking place and headed for the street. "I hear a 'but' in there."

"You're moving really fast, Rainey. You went from broke down and worn out to rapture pretty quick, don't you think? You're a behavioral a.n.a.lyst, how would you advise someone like you?"

Rainey turned the car out onto the street, heading for the Wake County Sheriff's Department offices, in downtown Raleigh. She thought about what Ernie was asking her before answering, "I a.s.sume you're talking about the baby thing."

"Not just the baby thing, and good lord that's enough, but you're also building a house. You changed your s.e.xuality about a minute ago and you and Katie haven't even had time to deal with that. You were both traumatized when you found each other. That's not usually a recipe for a long-term relationship. These are life changing steps you're about to undertake and they are happening at a record pace, in my humble opinion."

"Ernie, you've never had a humble opinion in your life," Rainey said, laughing, unable to be offended by the older woman's prodding.

"Don't be a smarta.s.s. You know I'm right," Ernie shot back.

Rainey reached over and patted Ernie's leg. "Okay, okay, I know you're just worried. Look, I appreciate that this all appears very fast and I do recognize that Katie and I met under less than ideal circ.u.mstances. This whole falling for a woman thing took me by surprise, too." She shook her head and chuckled. "I mean, come on, this was the last thing I thought was going to happen to me."

Ernie's voice came out softer when she said, "Is it because of what that man did to you? I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted another man within a mile of you."

Rainey returned her hand to the wheel and gripped it a little tighter. She rarely thought about the attack, but when she did the rush of emotion would often overwhelm her. Not this time. She held the flashing pictures in her mind at bay. She took her eyes off the road just long enough to make eye contact with Ernie, who looked sincerely worried.

"No, Ernie, that is not why I'm with a woman. I'd be foolish to say that having a relationship with a man after that would not have had its challenging moments, but I hold no animosity towards men in general. A man didn't do what happened to me; a monster did. Believe me, there is a distinct difference. My being with Katie has more to do with who she is than what s.e.x she is. I don't know that I would be attracted to other women like I am to Katie. It just feels right. It feels permanent."

Ernie didn't let up. "Okay, but this having a baby is a huge step."

Rainey considered her response carefully. "I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I haven't had moments of doubt. Not doubts about Katie and me, but I've worried that we were rushing into this, that I was caught up in glow, and so eager to please her that I said yes without thinking."

"That's what I'm saying," Ernie interjected.

Rainey waved a hand and cut her off. "Wait, I'm not finished. I fully believe whether she was with me or not Katie would still be doing this. Losing the baby last year just made her want a child even more. If this is that important to her, how could I not say yes? I promised to support her in this decision and that's what I'm going to do. Katie is a package deal."

Ernie turned in the seat to face Rainey. "How do you feel about becoming a parent?"

"Katie is just going through the process of preparing for the procedure. The actual attempts to get pregnant will come later. The doctor just wants to make sure she's fully recovered from all the trauma she went through last year."

"Rainey, that's not what I asked you. Are you ready to be a parent?"

Rainey smiled at Ernie. "This is going to surprise you, but yes I am. I can't imagine anything more satisfying than having a family with Katie."

"It's a lifelong commitment," Ernie said, adding, "You do realize you can't just put food on the floor and let it in and out a doggie door?"

"I was thinking of using a shock collar and an electric fence. Is that too much?" Rainey grinned and winked, making the turn toward the Capital. She wasn't looking at Ernie when she casually added, "Besides, Katie's the mother."

Ernie burst into loud howls of laughter. "You think Katie is going to handle all the child stuff and your life is going to go on just like it is. You think about this moment when you're rocking a screaming child at two a.m., smelling like vomit and dirty diapers, while Katie is pa.s.sed out trying to grab just a few minutes of sleep. Honey, your life will never be the same."

The image was too real for Rainey. She shook her head and tried to make a joke. "I'll have to use all those great parenting skills I learned from my mother."

It only egged Ernie on. She started a different tack. "And you're going to build a house this year, too. Which comes first, the baby or the construction?"

"We meet with the architect next Monday. Should start building in a month or two. In a perfect world, it will be done by the end of summer, but I'm guessing fall probably. I don't know how long it will take for Katie to get pregnant." She paused and glanced at Ernie, before continuing, "Hey, I was going to build a house on that land anyway. That's what Dad and I talked about."

Ernie shook her head. "I'm just worried about you... and Katie, for that matter. I hope beyond hope that all your dreams come true, but be careful." She stopped talking and stared ahead. Then she added softly, "I don't know that you can take another heartbreak."

Chapter six.

It had been a very wet fall and winter in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. The lakes and rivers swelled beyond their banks, receding slowly back to normal levels only recently. The drought stricken region needed the moisture. The barren trees of winter siphoned the water into their roots, filling out with new growth, as the warm spring days grew longer.

Today was just such a day. The cool of morning gave way to temperatures in the low seventies. Although it was overcast, the warm air brought people outside for their first forays of the spring. While Rainey and Ernie ate lunch in downtown Raleigh, a young couple decided to take a canoe ride along the Eno River, northeast of Durham.

The students, from the nearby university, escaped the cramped walls of dorm life for fresh air and sunshine. The previously high waters left behind fishing lures, odd items of clothing and trash, among other things, tangled with logs and branches bunched against the bank. Paddling along the sh.o.r.eline, the couple came upon a large object, tied in thick black plastic, and partially submerged beneath a logjam. The young man poked it with his paddle. Not satisfied, he pulled out his pocketknife, and began to cut the plastic.

"Stop it, Jeremy. It's probably a dead animal, a deer carca.s.s or a dog... just leave it," the dark haired coed said to her boyfriend.

"I want to see what it is. It could be a body or something," her companion answered.

"Great. If it is a body, you're destroying evidence and if it isn't you're going to get deer guts or some c.r.a.p on you and then want to get back in my car. No way!"

The boy inside the young man would not let him leave a potential glorious find. He sliced at the wrapping, pulling back several layers.

The girl covered her mouth and nose. "Oh my G.o.d, it smells horrible."

The boyfriend turned to look her, his left hand still gripping the last layers of plastic.

"Are you ready to see what I've discovered?" he asked in a mock mad scientist voice.

He started to chuckle, but swallowed the laugh when his girlfriend's face went pale. He turned back to the plastic coc.o.o.n and nearly fell backwards out of the canoe from the shock, before he started slapping the water frantically with his paddle, backing the boat away as quickly as he could.

Shriveled black fingertips, protruding from hands wrapped in duct tape, extended out from the blackness of the package. A primal scream finally left the girl's mouth after seconds with no sound but the panicked paddling efforts of her boyfriend. The young man paddled faster, leaving the horror behind them. Neither would soon forget what they had seen.

Rainey clicked on the blinking box at the bottom of the monitor screen. The news alert distracted her from the mundane paperwork that occupied her afternoon. Rainey had been at it since she and Ernie got back from lunch, around one o'clock. Being in the bail bond business was not all "Dog the Bounty Hunter" excitement. There was far more desk duty involved than would make for a good reality show. She spent the hours since arriving back at the office trying to put a dent in the files piled on her desk. She made phone calls, sent emails, did a bit of cyber searching, and filled in the blanks of countless forms, which was quite a feat since she hated sitting still. She was ready for a distraction when the alert caught her eye. She clicked on it.

When the page loaded, the headline read, "Body of Woman Found on Eno River."

Remembering her morning conversation with Katie, she scanned the story. The headline said all there was to say at the moment. The body was discovered by some college students and reported to the police a little after noon today. Other than the couple's story of being a bit shaken by the experience, the article had few details. The body was recovered and transported to the Medical Examiner's Office. The police spokeswoman did say they were not ready to link the body to the missing woman from Durham.

Rainey looked at the digital clock in the corner of the screen. She had fifteen minutes to shut down the office for the day and be home for dinner by five. Rainey glanced out the wall of windows overlooking the docks and the lake beyond. There were still a couple of more hours of sunlight left. Maybe Katie would go fishing with her after supper. She closed the open files on her screen and shut down the computer. Last spring she would have stayed in the office and then gone out with Mackie to track a bail jumper, arriving back at the office in the early morning hours to collapse on the couch and drink herself to sleep. Katie changed all that.

Rainey had the rules of the FBI to live by for the past fifteen years. Before that, she had a demanding college career and her father to keep her on track. When she lost both her father and her career, all that structure disappeared. Although Ernie and Mackie tried their best, they could not stop the train wreck that was Rainey's life before Katie.

Katie quickly determined she didn't like spending so many nights home alone. They couldn't plan anything, because Rainey would tear off after a bail jumper at a moment's notice. She put her pretty blond head to work and came up with a solution. Rainey smiled, remembering that she was holding Katie against her naked body, at the time of the conversation that changed the way they ran the business.

"Rainey, I realize that you do not have a nine to five job, but you have to set aside time for your personal life," Katie said, about a month after they settled into their new life together. "You need to get on some kind of regular schedule. It's not healthy to work the hours you do with no breaks."

"Criminals don't take breaks. I have to go when I know where they are."

Katie rested her chin on Rainey's chest, her blue eyes locked on Rainey's.

"Why can't you and Mackie let Junior do more of the staking out? Put him on full-time. He can use a few of those contract guys and then call you and Mackie if he can't handle it. You wouldn't have to sit in the car all night just waiting."

Rainey ran a hand through Katie's hair, brushing the stray strands from her face. She asked Katie, "What would Mackie and I do then?"

"Concentrate on catching them in the day time."

It sounded simple enough, but Rainey thought Katie was just being naive. Even so, Rainey would have agreed with anything said by the woman in her arms, but Katie had turned out to be wise, too. They added Junior to the staff. Rainey and Mackie worked out a schedule that suited everyone, including Katie. Ernie was the only one of them that kept a regular schedule up until that point. Since the new hours went into place Mackie and Rainey's health and att.i.tudes had improved dramatically, not to mention how much their significant others were enjoying them being at home more. The business had not suffered at all. Rainey had to admit she liked this arrangement much better. It was the closest thing to regular job hours Rainey ever had.

Ernie's head popped into the doorway, breaking Rainey from her thoughts. "You about ready to call it quits, today?"

Rainey took one last look at her desk, cut off the lamp, and stood up. "Yeah, I better get moving. Can't be late for supper."

"Boy, she's got you wrapped around her finger," Ernie said, poking fun at Rainey.

Rainey started for the door, laughing. "It's not that. She cooks these amazing meals and she times everything out. If I'm late it won't be perfect and she'll be disappointed."

Ernie patted Rainey on the back as she pa.s.sed through the doorway and followed her into the main office. "Well, bless your heart. Aren't you just the sweetest thing?"

Rainey answered, laughing, "Yes, yes I am."

Rainey took the daily ribbing from Ernie with the intention it was meant. Ernie loved her and she thought the world of Katie, but she earned the right to poke at Rainey. Ernie had nursed Rainey through some of her darkest days and any perverse pleasure she got out of tormenting the now gloriously happy Rainey was well deserved.

Rainey stopped at the exit to wait for Ernie to grab her purse and turn out the lights. She glanced up at the cottage. Her heart quickened just knowing she would see Katie in a few minutes, for what appeared to be an important dinner. She forced herself not to go home when Katie called earlier to say she was back. It was hard to concentrate on work when Rainey knew Katie was so close. Most days Katie came down to the office and helped Ernie with filing and things. Rainey discovered she liked having Katie at work with her. They even did a few stakeouts together. When she wasn't around, Rainey counted the minutes until she would see her again. Ernie had every right to pick on Rainey. She was "love-struck."

Rainey often wondered how long she was going to walk around in this state of perpetual bliss. It had to end. Rainey was a realist. It would be impossible to sustain this level of romance forever. In the future, the chemicals that surged during the beginning stages of a love affair would settle back to more reasonable levels. It was nature's way of a.s.suring procreation and then maturation. Rainey knew all the science of it, but never having experienced a love of this magnitude, she had been unable to predict how it would change her. After all those years of hiding emotions, Rainey was delighting in just letting go for once.

Rainey pulled the office door closed and locked it. She walked Ernie to her car door. "If I didn't know better, I would think you are secretly excited about getting that concealed carry permit," she teased Ernie.

Atypically, Ernie snickered before saying, "You know, I really am. I'm now a legal pistol packing momma."

Rainey held the car door while Ernie climbed in. "Not quite yet, but your license should be here in about a month."

Ernie smiled up at Rainey. "Well, what they don't know won't hurt them."

Rainey leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "I guess you'll have to be nice to me, so I don't tell on you."

"I'll skin you alive, if you do." Ernie started her car. She looked back up at Rainey and said, "Goodnight, sweetheart. See you in the morning."

"See you tomorrow. Drive safe," Rainey added.

Just before the door closed, Ernie got in her last little jab. "I still say she's got you wrapped."

"She does, Ernie. That she does."

Rainey turned the handle on the front door of the cottage and was disappointed to find it unlocked. How many times did she have to tell Katie to keep the door locked? She walked in ready to deliver a reprimand, but was interrupted by Katie's appearance in the archway to the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel.

"Before you say anything, I saw you coming. I just unlocked it."

Rainey flushed all over. It was impossible to stay mad at Katie, especially when she looked like she did at the moment. All the lights in the cottage were turned down low. She could see the candles lit on the table in the kitchen. They didn't have a dining room, but Katie went out of her way to make the small cottage as romantic as possible on some evenings. "Special Occasions," she called them. Katie was wearing jeans and a Carolina blue, sleeveless mock-turtleneck that fit her form tightly. The blue reflected in Katie's matching eyes. The sparkle in those eyes told Rainey that this was indeed going to be a "Special Occasion."

Rainey put her Glock in the safe and re-armed the alarm. She turned back, crossed the floor quickly, sweeping Katie into her arms and kissed her deeply.

"Wow!" Katie gasped when Rainey finally let her go. "Was that for locking the door or are you just glad to see me?"

Rainey grinned. "Both. So, what did the doctor say?"

Katie went back to the kitchen, answering over her shoulder, "I'll tell you in a bit. How was your day? Did Ernie qualify?"

"Yes, she will soon be legally carrying a weapon, as opposed to her current illegal status."

Rainey entered the kitchen. She saw the table set with Katie's good china and silver serving dishes. Her investigator's mind said either the doctor's appointment went very well or Katie wanted something else added to the architect's plans for the new house. She came up behind Katie, who was busy at the stove, and placed her arms around the smaller woman's waist, nuzzling into her neck. Katie turned off the gas under the pot she was stirring and patted Rainey's hands on her abdomen. She leaned back into Rainey, relaxing into her arms.

"I missed you, too." She turned to face Rainey, smiling. "But hold that thought until after we eat. It'll be ready by the time you wash up."

Rainey reluctantly let Katie out of her arms. "Okay, be right back."

Rainey left the kitchen and went to the master bedroom to clean up. Her shirt smelled like gunpowder, so she took it off and tossed it in the hamper. Her holster went on the bedside table. Rainey was washing her face when she heard Katie's voice in the bedroom.

"Anything exciting happen at work?"

Rainey thought about the news alert. "Did you see they found a body today?"

"Yes," Katie said, now leaning in the bathroom door. "I wonder if it's that missing woman."

"It's hard to tell sometimes. They may have to wait for DNA results. Depends on how long she was in the water." Rainey answered and then thought how detached she sounded. This wasn't someone in law enforcement. Katie wasn't used to seeing the things Rainey had seen. Rainey needed to be more sympathetic to that. She added quickly, "Sorry, you didn't need that graphic image."

"I watch crime shows when you're not here. I can take it."

Rainey dried her face. "Be careful. You're going to become as paranoid as you say I am watching that stuff."

Rainey hunted for a shirt. Before Katie, she would have just grabbed the first tee shirt she happened upon. Now, she cared about how she looked, especially since it appeared Katie planned a special night. Rainey's mind wandered while she looked for a shirt. Rainey began thinking like the FBI agent she used to be. The family dynamics would be the first thing her team would look at in a missing person's case. She wondered if the BAU was involved. A pang of... what was it? Loss, isolation... the knowledge she would never again be what she spent her life becoming.

Katie tapped her on the shoulder. When Rainey turned around Katie was holding the soft white, b.u.t.ton up blouse she bought for Rainey. It was just a casual cotton shirt, but the first time Rainey wore it Katie beamed with delight. She evidently liked the way it looked and Rainey had reaped the benefits. Remembering, Rainey smiled and took the shirt. Although they were talking about a missing woman and a dead body, both their inner thoughts were heading in the same direction. It was all Rainey could do to put the shirt on without just throwing Katie in the bed behind them.

Katie slipped away, evidently sensing how close she was to being the victim of a pounce. She walked toward the doorway. Getting back to the subject at hand, she said, "Didn't another woman go missing about a month ago?"

Rainey b.u.t.toned the shirt. She left the top two b.u.t.tons undone. The small white trail of long healed st.i.tches peaked out of her cleavage. She no longer wore a tee shirt under everything. The scar was just a part of her now. It did not define her. It happened to her, but it didn't hold the power it once did.

She answered Katie's question, "Yes, but she was from Chapel Hill."

"That's not so far from Durham. Do you think they are connected?"