Death, Love and all the in between

Mary Jane · Stripped T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Death, Love and all the in between

Mary Jane · Stripped T-R-O-U-B-L-E

A ding of her computer. Aztec gold eyes glanced to the plain black machine. Fingers turned the screen to face her. The MP3 player was done. There was a conformation e-mail from Orbitz about her trip. She checked it, unplugged the MP3 player, then turned off the computer. That had to go too. She thought silently. Feet moved around the apartment. It was a tiny place. One bedroom one bath place with enough space for a dinning room/kitchen. It was enough for Jane. The flash of light from the fridge door opened as she took out a small bottle of Everclear. Unscrewing the cap, lips pressed to the opening. Eyes closed when the first splash of the grain alcohol touched her taste buds. The wince was instant. Cap was replaced, with a grimace.

Back to the bag she went. Bottle with the unmistakable corn ear dangling from her fingers. A present from Lili for Jane's promotion on the force. She had passed her Fed Marshall's test. Got herself a nice big fat check. The check helped paying for her sudden trip. Phone grabbed again as she called the office. The night secretary Vivian picked up.

"Viv, Ah gotta get outta town fo ah few days. Will ya tell da capt? It's family business."

Jane took a spot not taken over by her stuff on the bed. A nod of her head.

"Ah dunno. Its ah death, Ah gotta do preps. Yeah, just give me 'bout ah week or so. Thanks Viv. Ah'ma keep mah cell wit me."

Jane stood to grab the charger of her cell. The phone was flipped and she hung up. Tossing it in the case with everything else. Dress was put in one of those suit bags to prevent wrinkles. There was already a real suit in the bag, a black one she never wore either. Nails pushed hair from her face, as she tucked the brown locks behind her ears. Plain silver hoops on her lobes. Ruby drop dangling from her neck. It looked much like a drop of crystallized blood. Boots were packed in a smaller bag with her good heels. The only heels Jane even owned that weren't boots.

Tickets were waiting for her at the airport. Calling a taxi from her cell she told the company her address. All the while Jane spoke she was packing, grabbing keys wallet and making a small toiletries bag. Hanging up again. She sighed. Trying to figure out what else she needed. Files. Her files. Computer was packed, charger and all. Divorce files, a stack of folders that she kept in a box under the bed. Dropping to her knees she pulled the one containing her divorce papers, and a back-up copy of Scott's birth certificate. Pads of her fingers traced his name. She had Keller's too, his birth and death ones. Tyler's flag, his death and birth. Same with her little girls that never had the chance. So many deaths piled up in a box. Closing the folder, she gathered what she needed. No time for memory lane.

There was a plane to get, there was stuff she needed to do. Hawaii again. A place she didn't think she'd ever see. Hawaii. A deep breath of the stale air that came from the box in front of her. Closed again, she shoved it under the bed once again. Gathering a pair of jeans. The files were pushed in the case of her laptop. She'd carry that into the plane. Damn anyone if they wanted to take it from her. The jeans she brought to her nose, smelling them. They smelled like smoke and beer. It was from the bar she and the boys went to. They all thought she was a boni-fide lesbian. Jane didn't correct them any. The jeans would have to do. She tossed her shorts in the hamper, and pulled the jeans over her bikini white underwear. The tank top was gone in an instant. Replaced by a bra and plain white shirt. The bra was red, and she didn't give three shits if people could see her bra through the shirt. Sitting on the bed, she pulled

on her boots. The familiar black rattle snake ones.

She pushed her hair back, and placed that beat up black leather hat on her head. It fell perfectly like an old lover. The double shoulder holster was pulled on, belt slipped through her jean loops and the ones for her hostler. It fit snug against her chest, framing her breasts in the bra. Brownie was removed from the safety box, she placed it on her right side for a left handed draw. The other brownie was put in her left side for a right handed draw. Three boxes of bullets, one of silver the other iron. Most things died with iron. Just in case she put silver in her right side and iron on her left. Whatever Jane shot was gonna die. In her boots she placed her favorite knives. Her badge, was pushed in her back pocket with her wallet. Ash's picture, and that of Scott where grabbed tossed in her bags. Her gloves grabbed from the kitchen counter along with her keys as she shut off all her lights. Locking the doors behind her.

Bags banged down the steps, dragging them behind her. Her neighbors didn't much care for Jane. They were all sound asleep while she walked out the gated front door. The taxi just pulling up. Jane waved him away. She was carrying her own bags. None of that pussy shit with her. Lack of sleep, the suddenness of her departure was making her grumpy. Climbing to the taxi, she slipped her ear plugs in her ears. Music played in her ears. She could sleep on the plane.

Getting to the airport, the line, and she gave thanks for small miracles there wasn't a screaming kid. Grabbing her ticket, the woman gave Jane a fearful look with the guns just beneath a thin cotton flannel dress shirt. Flashing her badge, a little metal detector and she was on the plane. The bottle of Everclear had been slipped in her bag. She took a juice from the stewardess, and mixed a tall glass of Apple Juice with her drink. Less of a wince when she drank it. Sunglasses over those abnormal Aztec hues.

Mary Jane · Stripped T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Between Music, a little flirting, a change of flights and the bottle of her everclear, Jane finally reached Hawaii. She just wanted to get a bed. The sun was raising. Jane wanted to scream. There was that bright blazing sun. The one that made this damn island like a sauna. Jane was cranky beyond repair. The Ahola from a woman who wanted to put one of those flower things on her, was giving a sunglassed covered glare.

"No."

All she said as she walked by. Jane went to collect her luggage and she prayed that it wasn't misplaced. Or she was going to rip someone a new one. There is was. The bags smelled like her, and she grabbed them. Pulling the handle up. Boots thudded her way to the automatic doors. She grabbed a taxi, got in. Told the man where she wanted to go. He gave her a funny look through the review mirror. Jane ignored it. She didn't look like any of the tourists that came around. She was here on business. Put Scott in the ground and go back to that small apartment of hers. Go back to her fat boss, with his cigar breath and Charlie with his funny mustache that tried to hit on her a little to much even though he was married. Silently Jane prayed that she didn't have to go back. That something would keep her for more than a week. Something, anything. She hated that small town. Hated it because he wasn't there. The tears threatened to fall again. Lucky for Jane she was already at the morgue where Scott's remains were.

She would sign for Scott, do the necessary paper work, get a taxi get to her rental and then her hotel. Then she could sleep for three or so hours before having to make more preparations for the cremation. Bags were removed and she rolled them along after her. Jane walked through the automatic doors swooshing open. The scent came at her first. Her beast didn't like it. The smell of dead. Not just dead it was the chemicals they used on the dead. Click claky clank, thudding of boots and those wheels of her bags hitting the title floors of the morgue. She walked up to the counter.

"Mary Jane Bradshaw. Ah'was called hours ago ta identify ah body."

A flash of her badge and ID. The woman nodded, pushed some numbers into the phone at her side. Sunglasses were removed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt a migraine building. Could they get them? Jane didn't know but she felt the stirring of one. It was building, she felt it. That's when the woman told Jane that she could pass. Jane nodded her thanks, grabbed the directions and headed down, bags an all.

Elevator taken down, and she closed her eyes, sunglasses back on. Jane's eyes were more cat like than anything. She had been forced in her tiger form by Tyler a million some times. He said the night vision was worth it. Jane had agreed, it was worth not coming back all the way. She could see with the glasses on just fine. In that moment she didn't need to see. She felt. The world around her, the smells. The elevator jerked, doors opened with a ding. Jane stepped out, bags rolling, boots thudding. She was heading down the corridor. The smells of chemicals, death, living. It was enough to make anyone not like her sick if they could smell what she did right now. Faintly she smelled him. Why she smell the highlands? Why after all this time? She ran from him, ran because she loved him. Stupid, but Jane was stupid sometimes. She was plain stupid cause she loved a man she knew she couldn't have again. Tears threatened again. She was distracted once again by a man with glasses asking what she was looking for. His eyes glanced to her guns, and she smirked.

"Look darlin', Ah need ta get ah bed, get some sleep before Ah'ma rip somebody's pretty' lil' head off. But before Ah can do that, Ah gotta look at ah body and see if it belong ta me. Now, ya could help me find this room, or Ah'ma use mah nose and sniff it out."

The man didn't know what to make of that but after Jane told him the number of the room, he lead her to it. She thanked him, cause a little thank you didn't hurt. When Jane finally got to see Scott's body she knew him by smell. Knew that tattoo on his chest, knew the superman on his shoulder blade. Her heart stopped. His body, no his remains were just that. Remains. No more will he lift things with his mind. No more will he smile at some random woman. No more. He was gone. Just a pile of body parts. A nod of her head.

"That's Scott Masters."

She told the woman. Eyes looked away. She was moving to sign the papers she needed to release the body to her name. She was in charge of Scott's remains. That's what they were, just remains now. Lifting her cell phone she hit the number that belonged to Ash. He was number 2, never changed that. The first number was set to her voicemail otherwise he would have taken that slot. She called him again, let it ring once, then twice and closed her cell phone. She hadn't contacted him in months. Months. Now she needed him the most. Needed the feel of his arms around her and to hold him close. Ruin another of his suits. Ball her hands into his hair and kiss him just one more time. Jane placed her hand on her forehead when she finally finished all the paper work. It was okay to cry as soon as she got to her hotel room. Jane knew she wouldn't. She would plan the funeral, the cremation and be on her way back to South Dakota before her week was over. She would put this behind her like she had done when Scott wanted the divorce.