Brigitte studied Ori’s face intently for a moment, but didn’t say anything. Tara kissed Ori’s hand.  “Well, I’m sitting right here and you can close your eyes and just relax. Nothing for it tonight. We’ll figure out everything tomorrow.  You’re safe. We’re together. That’s all that matters.”

Ori squeezed Tara’s hand and closed her eyes as instructed. 

Brigitte picked up the bag from the table by the bed where Tara had put it down.  Tara looked to Brigitte. “What are you doing?” Tara asked.

“Collecting for Ori and… going to find out who I’m hunting down for you.”

“Brigitte, you’re not doing that…”

“Yes I am.  You’re hiring me.  I expect to be paid at some point.  I sure as hell am not going to go back to Philly and wait around for you to eventually lose your temper and go hunting these bastards down on your own.  If you’re hell bent on making them suffer for hurting Ori… let someone who doesn’t have a pony in it do the job.”

“No one’s getting revenge,” said Ori. “I killed their leader. This isn’t a revenge scenario. Just… professional differences.”

Tara turned her attention back to Oriana, giving her hand a squeeze, “Don’t worry about it.  No one is running off tonight. Brigitte is just…”

“Taking care of you both, like a good sister.”  Brigitte inserted.

“These guys are Ohio-based. Talk to Konnor at the Gomorrah. Maybe we get involved with a move with allies. Rival biker gangs or whatever. But Brigitte, there were dozens of these guys, and they were sticking together. It’d be suicide to go after them now.” 

Tara glared at Oriana, but didn’t say anything, instead she turned to Brigitte.  “You can take the patch back to Konnor at the Gomorrah. Get Ori’s payday.”

“And the papers. Don’t know what they are, but he might pay extra for them.”

Brigitte nodded.  “They’re in here.”  She said.

“Then meet us tomorrow at Hollowpoint.”

“Hollowpoint?”  Brigitte arched an eyebrow.

“Less stairs while she’s recovering.  Peaceful. Good place to recover. I’ll have Jo get some of our things and bring them by.”  Tara said quietly, squeezing Ori’s hand.

Ori interrupted. “Can you give Tara my guns before you leave please? And my knives?”

“Yeah.”  Brigitte said fishing out the papers and the patch and putting them into a pocket of her purse, then giving the bag to Tara.  “Before I go I’d like to talk to Oriana… alone.”  

Tara hesitated, “I’ll go get a bite to eat and then come right back.  Eric is with me, we’ll only be a few minutes.” She stood then and touched Brigitte’s arm, “I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.”  Brigitte said and she watched Eric and Tara leave before she turned on Oriana.  “I don’t make it a point to yell at people so close to their graves but today I’m making an exception for you Oriana Montini.  What were you thinking?!? Rushing a job like this… you said it would be suicide and you try to push for a bonus based on time?”

“Suicide for you. And Tara needs the money. I thought I could do it. Might’ve gotten away fine if I didn’t crash the damn motorcycle.”

“You’re a damn idiot if you think Tara needs the money.  What Tara needs more than anything in this world is you and you damn near cost her that today.  I’ll go get this bonus for you but I want your word that you won’t do anything as foolish as this again over something as stupid as money.”

“This is my job, Brigitte. I can’t just sit in a room and look pretty for Tara and stay locked up and safe…” Ori spat, before sighing. “But… I’ll try to me a little more conservative in my estimations of what I can do and less… financially motivated.”

“For the record, I’d never ask you to not do what you do.  I know what it means to you - she does too. She could no more ask you to stop being who you are than she could convince the sun not to rise and she was willing to watch you die to protect your right to do it.  She loves you that much.” Brigitte shook her head, “But me? I know better, or more importantly, I’m not stupid enough to keep my mouth shut about foolishness when I see it. There’s retiring to be a pretty doll in her house and then there’s being tactical in the field.  I think we both know you pushed things on this one. I saw it in your eyes when you were talking about that bonus. You’re smarter than that.”

“Yeah…. okay.”

Brigitte leaned down and hugged Ori gently.  “I’m glad you’re not dead, Orin, and not just because I don’t want to help my sister through that sort of pain.  I like you. We’re sisters. I don’t want to lose you either. Now… I’ll go get your money. Get better, okay?”

“250K. Plus bonus. And Brigitte… thanks.”

“We’re family.  It’s what we do.”  She said, making her way out the door.

“Yeah…” said Ori, her words seeming to reverberate in the empty room, as a small smile hit her face and she leaned back. “Family.”

***

Two Days Later

Tara watched as the city disappeared and suddenly a forest seemed to appear from nowhere.  The stories of Bella and Gavin and the Race Street Company were legends to her - but this was something straight out of a fairytale.  It seemed impossible that such a place existed inside the city limits and yet here it was. The road was shaded by tall, thick, oaks and 1evergreens leaving a needle covered floor with little undergrowth.  It was the very sort of magical place she’d known as a child and as the car turned through the wrought iron gates bearing the heads of the dragon and the wolf (the same tattoo she’d seen upon her mother’s body growing up), she began to understand why Aurora longed to return.

As the car came to a stop Tara gave a smile to Oriana and climbed out first, not hearing what Brigitte then would say to Eric.  “My father’s men apparently did some work on the inside. It … seems like they might have fixed it up to look like it used to.”

Brigitte gave the older man a sympathetic look as he froze, then he nodded and climbed out of the passenger seat to come back to Ori’s door.

Tara stood in the drive staring at the house she’d only ever read about, this place where so much of the lives she sought to honor had taken place.  In some ways it was everything she imagined and in others - well, it was just a house in the woods. It was pretty, the grounds were kept up, but it wasn’t a magical palace.  Of course, the simple cabin that she’d grown up in wouldn’t be considered much by most people either and to her it would always be beautiful.

“There are apples on the tree still,”  Tara said nodding towards the old apple tree in the backyard.  

“I wonder if Uncle Will’s old fort is out there still.”

“It is,”  Brigitte said coming up alongside her sister. Tara looked to Brigitte, “I stayed here two days after mom and dad…”

Tara nodded and put her arm around Brigitte, glancing back at Eric helping Ori out of the car.  Brigitte unlocked the door and the two sisters entered the foyer that looked into the kitchen in one direction and the den in the other.  The stairs was almost immediately to their right leading up to what she knew used to be the bedrooms.

The walls of the house were restored, all the flooring as well.  Pictures were everywhere Tara looked. Photos of her mother, her uncle, and her Grandparents at various points in their lives.  There were faces she didn’t know, many of them and Tara found herself wondering whose eyes were looking back at her - what people smiled so brightly beside her mother as girl?

“Woah,”  Tara said softly.  “I didn’t expect it to be so… put together.”

“Papa,”  Brigitte said softly.  “He had a note left for mom.  I… put it away.”

“A note?”

“Not that sort.  It was supposed to be a surprise that he fixed the place up, so I gather.  Nothing sensitive or about what happened. Just… that loved her and hoped she felt he’d done a good job trying to fix the place up really.”

“Oh my God…”  Tara said rushing to a photo on the wall.  “This is Grandma and Grandpa’s wedding in Paris!”

“La ville des lumières ... et de l'amour.”  Brigitte muttered.

“Beautiful patterns,”  Tara said touching the photo staring at the woman who so looked like her mother.

“You know, I never could see it before but I think Malcolm might look a bit like Grandpa Gavin.  I mean, look how young he is in this picture. Not like the one Mama had at the cabin.” Brigitte said looking at the wedding photo.

“He couldn’t be thirty in that photo,” Tara said shaking her head.  

“Thirty-one maybe, if the math works the way I think,”  Brigitte said quietly.

Tara walked away to look at more photos, “Mom had to be like six in this?  Oh my gosh, she’s so cute in that damn tutu! Would you look at her!” Tara laughed and Brigitte walked over nodding.  

“Grandma is smiling like a cat who caught a mouse… though Grandpa looks like he’s had better days.  Wonder what’s up with him.” Brigitte shook her head. “He looks in pain.”

“Oh, baby Will!”  Tara said in a voice that spoke volumes about her affection for babies.

“The one with the ice cream is good, the kid has it matted in his hair.  Of course, I think my favorite one is mom trying to eat grandpa’s poker hand.”  Brigitte chuckled.

“Are you kidding me?”  Tara laughed. “This explains why she was shit at poker - no one ever told her you’re supposed to play cards instead of eating them!”

The sisters laughed as they walked into the den and froze, looking up at the moose head hanging over the fireplace.

“I thought of Bob at first,”  Brigitte said, remaining in the doorway as Tara walked into the room, her feet echoing loudly on the hardwood.

“Mom and dad danced here…”  Tara said softly. “Grandma was in the kitchen.  She didn’t want them to be together, but Dad danced with mom anyway.”

Tara stared up at the moose.  “I’ve always wondered if it was the actual moose he punched or if Grandma Bella just bought a moose and had it stuffed.  I mean, how long would that thing have been dead before she got around to having some guy stuff it?”

Brigitte came down into the den, “She was a smart one.  Maybe it’s the actual moose.”

“Maybe,”  Tara said, her eyes drifting down, across the photos on the hearth towards the set of french doors which lead out onto the tiles which made the back patio.  

Brigitte followed her sister as she walked to the glass panes and stared outside.  “Our parents met out there. I like to think of the patio that way … rather than the other.”

Tara drew a breath and nodded.  “Mom not coming back here was a good thing.  We didn’t even grow up here and I can feel the eyes in the walls.  It’s like… the place is haunted.”

“Not haunted.” Brigitte said softly, putting a hand on Tara’s shoulder, “They’re just glad we’re home, together.”

“They?”  Tara said.  “I thought you said it wasn’t haunted.”

“Haunted makes it sound bad.  I like to think that they're more like ancestor spirits.”  She smiled at Tara. “But you’re probably right, Mom wouldn’t have been good here.  I can’t imagine her trying to deal with it. It’s a lovely house. A home really, but it would only have reminded her of things she wouldn’t ever have.  While you… and me… Gavin and the kids, it’s a connection to our family. It’s a good thing, Tara.”

“It had better be.  Ori won’t be set to go up and downstairs at the loft for a while.  She’s got a lot of healing to do. We’re pretty well stuck here for the time being.  Hopefully, she likes it.”

Brigitte put her arm around Tara and pulled her in for a quick kiss on the cheek, “You’re here.  She’ll love it.”

Tara hugged her sister back and then headed back to the foyer and smiled at Oriana.  “Shall we set you up on the couch here downstairs then or maybe take you up to pick a bed?  I can whip us up something to eat if you like.”

“I think we’ll go now.”  Brigitte said putting a hand on Eric’s arm.  “Call us if you guys need anything.”

“I… won’t intrude,” said Eric, still stunned. “But could I just have a few more minutes to walk around?” He was staring out at the patio. 

“Don’t be silly, stay as long as you like.  This place is huge, you’re hardly an imposition to us.”  Tara said giving Eric a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.  

“It feels like yesterday and a million years ago, simultaneously. Hollowpoint. Your Grandpa and your mother always called it that. I suspect that your Grandma hated it, initially at least… and by suspect I mean she complained about it all the time.” He rested a hand on the doorway, running it over the wood. “Maybe I’ll come back later, walk around more. For now, I’ll head back with Brigitte. Keep an eye on her. Check on Shots.”

“I’ll have a million questions for you by then, I’m sure.”  Tara said with a smile for Eric. Then she opened the door and watched him and Brigitte heading toward the car before looking back to where Oriana had sat down on a bench in the foyer.  

“And then there were two.”  She smiled at Ori and walked over to her, sitting down beside her.  “What’s your pleasure? Couch or bed? One is infinitely more comfortable I’m sure, though I’d understand if you have no real desire to go to bed for a bit.”    

“Why wouldn’t I?” asked Ori.

“Just… well, I mean, I’m happy to take you up there.”  She stood up. “I mean, it’s not like I mind. I do have something I’ve been itching to show you.  Literally. I just didn’t want you to think I was making some sort of statement about your health or whatever.  I mean, you can be a little … competitive at times. I didn’t want you to think you had something to prove if I only suggested taking you up to the bed … or worse for you to think I had something naughty on my mind.  I most definitely do not.”

Ori frowned, thoughtful.

“Not because you don’t turn me on… but you know… you’re injured and I don’t want to hurt you.  And I’m trying to take care of you, not hurt you.” Tara babbled.

“I know. I appreciate that.” Ori smiled at Tara. “I don’t care where I am. I’m stuck anyways, for weeks. What’d you want to show me?”

“Upstairs.  Then I’ll show you.  Put your arm around me.  We’ll go slow and locate the master bedroom to get you settled.”  Tara helped Oriana put her arm around her shoulder and very slowly helped her naivate the stairs.  

“Finally, me being short pays off.”  She chuckled.

“I like your height,” said Ori with a smile. The pain medication she’d been on had led to more than a few dopey smiles.

“Well, let’s see here… door number one.”  She said reaching out and throwing open the door to a room that was clearly a girl’s room.  Tara smiled at the twin-sized bed and various items that spoke of a teenage girl’s presence.

“Mom’s room obviously…”  

Tara pressed onward opening another door that looked as if it were an office.  “Nona Bella’s office I’m guessing.” She glanced at the maps on the walls, including one of Detroit as well as the map of Philly still laying atop the desk with pencil marks on it.

“Uncle Will’s was at the end of the hall so that means that’s either a bathroom or the master bedroom,”  Tara said nodding to the next door she could see. Pushing open the door she smiled at the large bedroom suite.  The massive four-poster bed, the couch under the window, the set of double doors that matched the ones in the den that went out onto the patio.  The vanity with all sorts of perfume bottles and make-up set upon it under a thin layer of dust.  

“Place could use some spring cleaning I think…”  Tara remarked.  

“Yeah… but it’s nice. It would have been so strange for your mother to be here.”

“I don’t know if she ever really thought about what coming back would mean or really look like.  I think sometimes when we want something so badly, we just… imagine it to be the way we want it and not the way it really is.”  She helped Oriana to the bed and then smiled at her as she settled upon it.

“It is a lovely house though.”  Tara agreed. “There’s so much history here.  I have to admit that’s why I didn’t come here when I first came to town.  It was … intimidating. I mean, the lofts are still important to my family’s history but it’s not the same as Hollowpoint.  It’s like… holy ground for the Byrnes.” She smiled. “Let me help you get comfortable. We’ll put some pillows behind you.”

“I hate being hurt. I hate it.”

Tara worked to help Ori get situated and then she said, “Well, you won’t be like this forever.  Just have to swallow your pride and let me help for a little while.” She moved a pillow behind Ori.  “Now, with the hard part out of the way, right? I guess I can show you your surprise. I’d thought about waiting for Christmas, but I couldn’t make myself wait.  Not once I’d decided.”

Tara began to undo the button at the waistband of her pants. Ori raised an eyebrow.Then carefully she began to pull down her pants, just over her hip and peeling back the hem of her underpants a tattoo became visible.  A small fox, done in black ink, curled up upon itself, nose tucked under it’s fluffy tail. There was flowers framing it in almost a heart shape. The ink was still fresh and her skin still red and healing.

“Ta-da!”  She said smiling brightly getting close so that Ori could examine it.

Ori’s mouth dropped open as she stared.

“Tell me you don’t hate it.”  She said hopefully.

“I love it. I’m just… surprised.” She smiled.

“Well, hold on to your hat… there’s more to this than meets the eye.  I know you read mom’s journal so you know her ink meant things.” She said fondly.  “Every member of my family has an animal. I mean, no one really picks there own… Nona Bella sorta picked hers though there is a case for the fact that Grandpa Gavin did give her a Dragon of sorts early on… but most everyone’s name came from someone else.  Usually someone they loved observing they had traits or qualities like the animal they’re associated with. It’s a rite of passage in the family, sorta. To get a name, an animal, is to be claimed by us. To be one of us. Gav is a Bear and Brigitte is Ange and has been forever.  Mom was the Lioness, of course.”

“But I thought you were a tiger, not a fox…” Ori blinked before it hit her. 

Tara smiled.  “I’ve been trying to think of yours since Iceland.  Originally I thought about cats, I wanted you to be like me, but I couldn’t see it.  You have some traits of a cat but… no. Then I thought about a deer. You share a lot of strong qualities with deer.  And I leaned heavily into it, but it never felt right. Not exactly.”

I don’t want to be prey, thought Ori.

“I even considered that maybe it was because like Nona Bella your more … mythic.  I considered, briefly, a unicorn. Which didn’t work either.” She laughed and let go of the waist of her pants and sat down beside Oriana and offered her left hand to her lover.

“This is what made me decide.”  She let Ori take her hand and turned it in her grip so that the pinky was facing up towards Ori’s face.  The meat of her palm just under her pinky bore the tiniest scars, barely noticeable unless pointed out as Tara was doing now.  “I thought maybe part of the reason why I wasn’t scared of you was that someone helped me understand you a long time ago. It was a painful lesson, but an important one and like you, she marked me.”

“I… love it,” said Ori, looking she’d say more before she was distracted by another thought. “Who’s the person that helped you understand me?”

“Oh, she was a sassy little vixen.”  Tara smirked and took her hand back, rubbing the scars.  “I loved her dearly, but she was only a part of my life very briefly.”

Ori leaned back, smiling. “That sounds like a story.”

***
Thirteen Years Earlier
 

Tara raced along through the woods trying to show up Brigitte and Gavin.  Gav was easiest to show up, he was bulky and slow. He moved through the woods like the Bear mom always compared him to.  He didn’t move out of the way of things, things moved out of the way of him… or not. Which was why he didn’t move fast at all.

Brigitte had met a boy.  Allegedly he’d stolen kisses from her, Tara suspected he’d left the forest with more than kisses, but Brigitte would not say (likely for fear that Tara would tattle, she realized.)  

Still, the hunter’s cabin presented a great opportunity for the young Mastrosimones to get out of the weather and out from under their parents' eyes for a while.  Allegedly it was full of all manner of distractions from cards, to a record player, and even alcohol. Brigitte said her young lover had even left her food that would not go bad so they could be in the cabin all day and not have to trek back home.  

Under the guise of hunting, the three eldest children had trudged off on a dreary day in the early part of March, the year following Tara’s ninth birthday.  A short time in to their travels Gavin heard a noise and upon investigating, Tara found a wounded vixen rolling about under some brush and shrubbery. The poor thing’s belly had been rent open by another predator and it was sure to die.  Tara quickly determined the only thing to do for it, was to put it out of its misery.

Gavin, however, was having none of it.  The young man tried to stop Tara and the two of them argued about what was the best course of action.  When Brigitte stepped in to stop Gavin from trying to take Tara’s bow from her, Tara seized upon the opportunity and shot the fox ending it’s pain.  Gavin was clearly bothered by the action, and deeply annoyed with Brigitte for having allowed it. Gavin ran off into the woods and Brigitte, feeling bad for him, went after.  Tara, however, had an arrow to retrieve and so she got down on hands and knees and crawled into the brush. Leaves and sticks crunching under her, nettles tangling into her hair, she finally reached the fox and got a better look at it.

The Vixen had swollen nipples.  Tara pulled the arrow out of its body and stared at it a bit longer until she was certain.  The young fox had kits somewhere. Likely nearby. Sighing, realizing the kits would die a terrible death without their mother, Tara knew she had a responsibility to do the humane thing.  Cleaning her arrow she crawled back out of the brush and began to track the fox back to the place from which it came.

The blood trail was easy to follow.  The place where the vixen had been attacked was easily distinguishable and the tracks seemed to indicate a coyote had gotten the better of it.  From there, Tara had to work. She wasn’t unfamiliar with tracking, but in the end it wasn’t her skill with following a nearly invisible animal in the woods that helped her find the den - it was the chirps made by the kit calling out to its mother.

The hole in the ground was obscured but Tara cleared a path to it easily enough.  Tara went down into the dirt again and reached inside the den blindly fishing around before finding the scruff of the kit and lifting it out in the way it’s mother would carry it.

The tiny fox was not much bigger than her hand, a ruddy color, and for lack of a better term - painfully cute.  Tara put it on the ground and considered it for a moment. It would be a small target to hit with an arrow, she might be able to break its neck or smash it with a rock but… the longer she looked at it the more she realized, she didn’t want to.  The little thing was sure to die, weak and alone as it was and she knew what she should do… but she couldn’t. 

Tara sighed watching the little kit tugging on her lace, growling playfully.  She smiled at it and picked it back up. Tucking it into her jacket she began walking in the direction of this hunter’s cabin that was supposed to be out there somewhere.  If she was going to keep a fox kit, she’d need a place for it, somewhere away from her younger siblings so they would not be hurt by this dangerous beastie she was choosing to play house with.

The cabin was dark and had been untouched for months now.  For the duration of the long winter, it had stood empty but it was a solid-looking building and certainly no animals would get in or out easily.  Tara jimmied open a window and climbed inside, closing the window behind her. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the small box of matches that Brigitte had instructed her to swipe from the kitchen this morning.  Using that she lit the oil lamps around the room.  

The furnishings were sparse.  None of them matched one another, as if they were grabbed from a dozen different homes.  The building was one large room. A bed on one end of the room, a table near the middle and then a kitchen on the far end of the room.  A small cast iron wood stove was the sole source for heating, but despite the chill in the air, just being out of the wind instantly felt warmer to Tara.  There would be no need for a fire today.

“Alright,”  Tara said pulling the small fox out of her coat and putting it on the floor.  “You should be safe here.”

The little fox timidly looked around and Tara smiled at it as it explored all the nooks and crannies, finding a dried up mouse corpse that it devoured before Tara could even realize what it was.  Tara took this as a very good sign. It meant the kit wasn’t just eating it’s mother’s milk - that meant it might survive. Settling down onto the floor, Tara waited patiently until eventually, the little thing seemed to work up the courage to come back to her.  Sniffing her, licking her, exploring her the same way it had the room.  

Tara reached to pet it but the creature ducked and backed away, so she had to try again, slower this time.  Everything with the baby fox, as she’d learn over the course of the next week, had to be done slowly. Despite knowing this thing could hurt her or her siblings, the creature was terrified of her.  Standing up, the fox scurried away and hid under the bed, while Tara looked through the cupboards to find the cans of soup that Brigitte’s hunter had mentioned as well as bags of dried meat. Smiling she pulled one out.

“You’re gonna love this.”  She said settling back down on the floor and opening the bag.  Tossing a bit into her own mouth she gnawed on it a while before the little red-head peeked out at her, sniffing.

“You smell that, don’tcha?”  Tara chuckled. “You’re not going to get any under there.  Come on out.” She pulled out a bit of dry meat and put it down onto the floor between them.  The little fox ran out and snagged it, running back under the bed with its prize. Tara listened to the little thing gnawing noisily upon the meat.  

“Well, someone was hungry.”  She giggled. “I have more.” She reached into the bag and again offered the meat, this time not letting it go.  The fox crept up and began to take the meat. With her off-hand, her left, she reached out to pet the little thing when it turned unexpectedly, growling and snapping - latching onto her hand, putting deep holes into her.

Tara cried out, the fox scampered away, this time without meat.  Tara leaped up from the floor and ran to the sink to treat her wounds.  They were deep, far deeper than was good. “Damn it.” she cursed as she wrapped her hand in a small towel.  “Mom and dad are gonna see this.” She winced.

A scuffing noise drew her attention, and when she looked she found the fox kit attempting to drag the bag of dried meat away.  “HEY!” She cried out and went for the bag, sending the fox running away again. The sight of the small fox trying to steal a bag of meat as big as its own body was laughable.  Despite the pain in her hand, Tara did just that, she laughed.

“What a little bandit!”  And that was how Bandit got her name.  

Tara eventually had to leave Bandit, locked in the cabin.  She didn’t want to leave the baby alone, but being that it was hiding from her more than anything else, she supposed it would be fine.  Besides, she’d be back tomorrow and inside the house no large predators would be able to get to it.

Tara’s parents did notice the wound on her hand, and so she thought up a quick lie to cover for it.  She told them about the cabin that Brigitte and ‘found’ and how they were going to play in it… and the vixen in the bush.  She said that it was still alive when she went for her arrow. Aurora cleaned and put a stitch into each opening to hold them closed.  It was the most painful thing Tara had ever experienced and her father had to hold her down for it to be done. Afterwards, the children were told to stay away from the hunter’s cabin and Tara was used as a cautionary tale for Jack and Izzy.  

“This is why we don’t play with wild animals.”

Despite already loving the little fox kit, Tara knew she could never tell anyone about Bandit, not after this at least.  Surely her parents would want to do what she had planned to do in the beginning and now, she couldn’t let anyone hurt her friend.  And so, she kept Bandit a secret on that day and for weeks and months to follow.

Tara made the trip into the woods almost every day, carrying a new book and sack lunch with her each time.  The only days she didn’t go were those in which the weather was so bad her parents wouldn’t allow it. She hated those days, and worried endlessly about the vixen who was alone in the cabin likely tearing up something else.    

Bandit got bigger and by the fall Tara was allowing the fox out of the cabin knowing that she’d always come back even if she darted off into the woods alone.  On one particularly cold day in early November, Bandit disappeared into the thicket after what Tara was sure was a rabbit. She waited all day, but Bandit did not return.  As the sun was getting low in the sky and she could wait no more she’d tried whistling and calling for her, but still Bandit did not come.

Devastated, Tara walked the mile back to her family’s home arriving after the sun had set to worried and angry parents who gave her hell for staying out in the woods so long.  

***

“I thought she was gone forever, but I did see her again.  At least I’m fairly sure it was her. There was a fox that kept coming around the old cabin and it never seemed too scared of me.”  She smiled. “Brigitte’s boyfriend was pissed as hell at how tore up his cabin was - luckily he never knew it was something we did. They just thought an animal found its way in.” 

She smirked.

“But Bandit changed me.  I think after her I saw the world a little more like Gavin did.  I took care of something for a while and she took care of me. At first, I was really hurt when she ran off, and I told myself that it was what she was … it was in her nature, but that first time I saw her sitting outside the cabin?  I knew she remembered and loved me too. She was still there. She was still in my world and I’d made a difference in hers. She was wild and while I didn’t change her completely, we helped each other. I think that’s how good relationships are supposed to be.  Neither person loses who they are, but maybe they take in a little of the other person… let them mark them.”

Tara shrugged.  “Or in this case, I had myself marked.  My Nona had her wolf tattoo put on so the world would know she was my Grandfather’s… that she belonged to the Wolf and he to her.”  Tara touched where her tattoo was and then leaned over to kiss Ori.

*

2 Weeks Later

Tara sat on the couch reading a book, but she soon had her attention diverted.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

The sounds were spaced out every ten seconds or so, and Tara recognized them instantly and smirked. Looked like Ori didn’t just want to “rest in the backyard” after all. 

When Tara walked outside, Ori was sitting in a chair on the patio, aiming her bow at a nearby tree.

“You’re going to mess up your arrows if you keep doing that,” said Tara. “Let me set you up a real practice target.”

Ori considered, then nodded. “Sure. Thanks.”

As Tara walked back into the house, she imagined Oriana stuck recovering for another month or two… and how many thousands of arrows she’d shoot between now and then if that’s what she decided to focus on. 

Except someone would have to repeatedly fetch all those arrows and bring them back to her… perhaps it’d be better to try to Ori turned on to a book. Or almost anything else.

*

3 Weeks Later
 

Tara woke up sore. It had been a while since she and Ori had been together, not wanting to push things too far as the recovery from surgery continued. Last night, though, she had been awoken by Ori in the middle of the night as her partner had crawled into bed with her- and it had been hours before Tara, exhausted, finally fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Waking up midmorning, Ori had already departed. Tara showered and dressed casually; they’d been spending most days at home. When she went to find Oriana in the kitchen, on the couch, or in the backyard practicing her archery, however, she was gone.

Tara had started to worry when she saw the basement door was open. As she walked downstairs, she heard Ori grunting with exertion. It sounded vaguely similar to the previous evening’s activities, and Tara raised a curious eyebrow as she walked down the stairs.

Ori had cleaned out part of the basement, digging out old weightlifting equipment that must have once belonged to Gavin Byrne. Currently, she was working her arms, and she’d apparently been doing it long enough to build up a sweat.

“Hey,” said Ori. “Sorry. Thought you’d be sleeping later. Look what I found.”

“Don’t push it, Ori, you’re still recovering.”

“Yea. But I’m also training. I need to get back to… me. Ever since I’ve met you I’ve been running around the world getting shot. A few weeks of recovery and training? Just what the doctor ordered.”

“As long you don’t push yourself.”

“Uh huh. Want to spot me?”

Tara grinned as she walked over. When she’d first met her, Oriana had been more muscular. Never beefy or particularly strong, but lean like a swimmer or a runner. 

“I would have thought after last night you really wouldn’t have the energy for this today.  At least night right away.” Tara positioned herself to spot Oriana, nervous about her lover trying to lift any amount of weight while recovering.

“Maybe you just… motivated me. And I feel fine. I won’t push it.”

“Maybe I motivate you or maybe you just don’t know how to take it easy.  You’re always so intense. Granted that’s part of what I like about you - of course if I have to take you in to get stitched up again, people are going to start to question what I’m doing to you behind closed doors.  As it is, I already gave you a fictional abusive biker boyfriend to the last doctor.” Tara shook her head, clearly amused.

“This is taking it easy. And I’ve been enjoying myself. I don’t think we’ve ever had as much time to talk to each other. Or read books. Practice archery. I just want to get back into shape, too.”

Tara nodded, “Fair enough.  And you’re right. In the time we’ve known one another this is the longest stretch of not getting shot at that we’ve had.”

“Don’t jinx us.”

“I think we broke a record this week.  I actually finished four books, I can’t remember the last time I did that.  I have to say, Hollowpoint is growing on me. I wasn’t comfortable at first, but I like this place.  It’s a nice break from everything. It’s peaceful here.” Tara watched carefully as Oriana moved, lifting the weights.  She was ready to take it off her hands the second it appeared too much for her.

“Gavin says that he’s got the kids on a pretty steady routine.  He thinks things are finally settling around the house. Starting to feel normal again.”

“Good. They deserve it. Even if this place is great… I think they should stay where they are.”

Tara nodded, “Agreed.  With the work I’ve been doing for Viktor, it would only put them in the crosshairs again.  I don’t want that. If something happens to us at least I know Gavin has the kids somewhere stable and their won’t have to uproot again.  It’s better this way. I did tell him that we’d come for Christmas though. He seemed to like the idea. Asked me to invite Eric along as well.  He’d like to meet him. Jack and Izzy too. Apparently Jack has really calmed the hell down since they settled into their new life up there. He’s done a lot of growing up.  Izzy is pretty angry still. Gavin’s worried about her but he’s more worried about Malcolm. Apparently he’s pulled inward again. He’s hoping that us visiting at Christmas might help him come back out of his shell.”

“Sure.” Oriana grunted as she finally set the weights back. “Cerise? Sage?”

“Sage has put on some weight, Gavin said she’s a bit more … well… I think he sees her as clinging to him a bit.  Which is the opposite of the vibe I got when I brought up to Cerise. He didn’t want to talk about Cerise. Just insisted she’s fine and he didn’t know what the hell he’d do without her.  So I gather she’s been really stepping up to help with the younger ones. Victoria is eating solid foods and has become mobile now, so all the kids are helping out with her, keeping her safe.  The woods around the house is pretty dangerous.” She shook her head, keeping her hands near the weights.

“Oh and one of the kids, though Gavin doesn’t know which, carved into the oak on the front lawn, the place where Gavin died.”  She sighed. “No one will admit to it, but I’m pretty sure it had to be Jack or Izzy since it wasn’t Gavin and they’re the only other ones who read Mom’s journal.  The world ‘family’ is in the tree.” She chuckled. “I told him about the rock in Iceland. He said, clearly I’m a bad influence on one of the kids.”

“Family tree. Nice.”

“I like it to be honest.  Gavin is just stressing out.  He wants to do right by all the kids but he’s herding cats.  It’s a lot to ask of anyone, but a guy as young as Gavin? It seems so unfair.  I’m glad Cerise is there… but Gavin is worried he’s not doing right. Worried he’s letting mom and dad down or not doing things like they’d want.  I told him he’s being crazy. Mom and Dad would be proud as hell that he’s stepped up like this. He could have run off, totally left the kids, but he didn’t.  I think Mom and Dad would be nothing but happy with what he’s trying to do in keeping all the kids together.” Tara encouraged Ori, “Up, up, up… don’t forget to keep breathing.  You’re holding your breath. That can’t be good on your lungs.”

Ori bared her teeth, getting in a few more reps before lowering the weights and leaning forward, resting her forearms on her thighs.

“Gavin will be fine, Tara. He’s a nurturer. But maybe we get him some help. Any older family friends who might be willing to relocate? If not, we can hire someone. Normally I’d say we can send Eric, but I need him for Shots- and he has his own family.”

“I’d never ask Eric for something like that, he has his own family and he’s given up more than enough for ours.”  Tara gave some thought to it. “I might know someone though. I’ll make a phone call later today. See what the situation is.”

“If not, hire some nice old British lady as a tutor. I mean, Gavin’s great. And Cerise can teach the kids how to fight. But… I dunno about the academic situation over there.” She grinned.

5 Weeks Later

Tara stepped out of the shower and walked down the hall to find Ori, wearing a short silk robe, with her legs up on Tara’s desk. 

“Am I reading this right?” asked Ori. “Seems like the businesses we’ve been running here have been enough to keep us afloat, but we just need a big influx of cash to get started with your club?”

Tara sighed, “So, there’s this trust.  My father set it up. I have money, but I can’t touch it for the most part.  It sorta feeds itself unless I want to rip it up and I have to get all the other kids to agree to letting me do that if I want to.  Which, I don’t. I mean, I want my club but the cash coming out of that trust residually is helping take care of Gavin and the young ones.  What we’re doing here in Philly right now, that’s basically making ends meet. My work for Viktor, Shots, we’re not doing bad but there’s literally nothing else to work with.  So… yeah. You’re pretty well right.”

Ori nodded. “Well, I’m sure something will turn up. So what’s the plan for today? More business in the city? Want to read something here? Go for a walk? I feel like we’re an old married couple now. Maybe we should spice it up, invite someone into our sex dunge-”

“I should tell you something.”  Tara said sitting down across from Oriana, she drew a breath, “When I went into town last night, I thought I was going to meet with Viktor about another job.  Turns out, that wasn’t why he wanted to see me.” Tara cleared her throat and just came out with it, “He gave me my button.”

Tara waited to see Ori’s reaction and when she didn’t instantly start talking Tara began to babble, “He made it clear he understood my situation, but he wanted to look out for me.  My family. He knows my background and he thinks things are still dicey. His name has a long shadow in the current state of things. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew fucking with me was fucking with him.  So… I’m family. I guess. Which, is weird. Will you say something? It’s sorta a big deal.”

Ori grinned. “I’m happy for you. And I think I know a couple ways we can celebrate…”

“Well that sounds intriguing.”  She smirked, relief in her eyes.