SERIES/UNIVERSE: SG-7
DISCLAIMERS: M7 characters belong to Trilogy, et al. Original characters are all mine ... don't mind if you borrow them, just ask first, give them back intact and give credit where credit is due.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is something that's been going around in my head, ever since I saw a man who closely resembled my real-life James Sherwood at work. I finally wrote it, so I could turn my attention back to my other projects.
It really was her. He couldn't believe his eyes. It had been almost ten years since he had seen her. But here she was, in a Colorado mall, of all places. She had grown up, changed ... her features were thinner, more mature. The face of a twenty-seven year old woman, instead of a nineteen year old girl. She was still very, very slender. He always hated that about her. How slender she was. It was so ... deceptive. Her slim body made her look fragile.
Fragile. Defenseless. As if he could snap her into pieces with his hands. But he had learned, the hard way, that she was anything but fragile. Breakable. You couldn't snap iron ... or steel. And there were times, in the two years he had known her, when he could have sworn she had a backbone of pure steel. She was strong for a young girl ... too strong. He had grown up with strong women. Surrounded by them, imprisoned by them. He needed someone who was weaker than himself ... someone whom he could control.
This woman, he could never control ... could never predict what she would do next. And so he dealt with her the only way he knew how. The same way as his sisters, with insults and putdowns. And if he had to, he got management to deal with her for him. He could always count on management to do what he wanted. Regardless of what was right, and James Sherwood knew what he had done to get this girl fired from her job, so many years earlier, wasn't right.
And there she was, sitting at a table in the indoor cafe with two men. Laughing with her companions ... running her hand through her dark hair, as James had longed to do so many times. He had hated her for that, too. Not just for being so much stronger than he was. But he hated her for the way she made his heart jump when she smiled. The way he couldn't seem to breathe when she touched his hand, thanking him for helping her. And for some reason, watching her rake her hand through her hair always made his knees weak.
He was moving toward her before he realized what he was doing. She wasn't alone ... approaching her was just plain stupid, especially since both of her companions looked like they could beat the shit out of him without breaking a sweat. Even if one of them was a good ten years older than James. That wasn't the point. James found himself hating her anew as she threw back her head and laughed at something the older man had said. The younger man, a black man, just shook his head, grinning.
And then he was beside her ... the black man's face changed, became harder, and he asked softly, "Ya know this fella, Drina?" Drina? What the hell? She turned toward James ... and he had the pleasure of seeing her face go ashen. But only for a moment. In the very next moment, she regained control of her emotions, and the familiar mask she wore in the last few weeks she worked at Tapestry slid into place as she rose to her feet and faced him more fully.
"James Sherwood. Been a long time ... what, eight, nine years?" she asked tonelessly. The two men immediately rose to their feet and closed ranks, the older one giving a low whistle. Then he put his arm around Adriana's shoulders protectively. A message was being sent and received. Distress her in any way, and you'll be leaving on a stretcher. Oh yeah, James got that message loud and clear. And then, he got the message even more clearly.
Because suddenly, instead of two men closing around Adriana and himself, there were seven. Two in particular were glowering at him. One was at least as tall as the first two men ... a few years younger than James, with black hair and dark blue eyes. Which now looked almost black in their fury. James had no idea who this was ... wasn't even sure he wanted to know. And the other one looked more like a woman than a man, with his shoulder length brown hair.
This one would be easy to take in a fight. He was several inches shorter than James, and at least half his weight. The older man ignored the dangerous light in the bright blue eyes of the newcomer. Ignored the way his arms wound around Adriana's waist, the quiet statement of the gesture telling James that this was his woman, and if James did anything to harm her, there would be hell to pay. What could a scrawny nobody like him do?
And then the man spoke. His voice was soft and rough, asking, "This ... person ... a friend a' yers, Drina?" James Sherwood was no highfalutin' dandy, like the man standing off to one side, the one whose very clothes shouted 'I'm better than you.' But that question, that tone, that dialect, made it clear that the speaker wasn't nearly as cultured as his girlfriend. Well, he'd have to be beneath her. Woman like that would take any man who would have her, James thought, conveniently ignoring all the times when she had taken his breath away. No, he wasn't. Because pretty as she was, no man wanted a woman as strong as she was. No self-respecting man.
"This is James Sherwood. I worked with him at Tapestry," came the clipped answer. And James could read the hatred in her dark hazel eyes, still potent after all these years. For some reason, that hurt. The long-haired man's arms tightened about her waist, and he pressed his cheek against her hair. The intimate gesture made James sick. Sick with jealousy, because of all the times he had wanted to touch her hair. Adriana went on, her dark hazel eyes flashing with fury, "But I wouldn't say we were friends. I wouldn't say that at all."
The dandy said, his Southern accent obvious, "James Sherwood. Is that not the Neanderthal who persisted in attacking you to management? To the point that you had to quit your job, because every time your paths crossed, he would be in your manager's office less than fifteen minutes later?" Lord, the man couldn't say 'Neanderthal' properly, it came out 'Neandertal' instead! Where the hell did she find these losers? A long-haired nobody as her boyfriend, this Southern dandy ... what about the others?
And then James realized what the dandy had said. The Southern jackass made out like he spent all of his time, whining to Stevie about how Adriana wouldn't leave him alone. And then, he realized that was the least of his worries, because the man holding onto Adriana's waist had released her and the tall dark-haired man with the mustache grabbed her by the shoulders, drawing her against his body.
"Vin, no!" Adriana breathed as the long-haired man grabbed James by his shirt and backed him up. They hit something solid ... the big, older guy, who steadied them both. The ex-fork truck driver stared into the blue eyes of his current captor and gulped. Uh-oh. He had just gone too far. Not only had he done exactly what the Southerner said ... he also got her fired from her job at the prosecutor's office. And ... he made the mistake of underestimating this man.
"Ya listen," the man rasped out, "and ya listen good. Drina is m' lady. Ain't much I kin do 'bout what ya done to her while y'all worked at Tapestry. Didn't even hardly know her then. But I sure as hell kin do somethin' about now. Take a good, long look at m' friends. One of 'em is m' brother ... another one is Drina's brother. That's the big guy, holdin' her now. Now, Bucklin hates ugly, and what I'd like to do t' you is just plain ugly."
The man paused, then added, his voice dropping further, "But reckon the fact that ya hurt his baby sister makes ya even uglier to Bucklin. Don't imagine he would stop me, if I decided to take a pound or two of flesh outta yer hide." James swallowed. But his captor wasn't finished, and James wondered why he ever thought this man would be easily dispatched ... or easily cowed. The man whom Adriana had called 'Vin,' went on, "But I ain't 'bout to upset m' lady any more. So I reckon ya'd be a lot healthier, if ya got the hell away from her ... and stayed away."
James shifted his gaze from the slim but wiry young man who had issued the warning. His eyes made contact with Adriana's ... and he realized she would do nothing to stop her boyfriend. In part because she was trying to hold back her brother. In that way she had ... wrapping her arms around his waist. Not physically holding him back, because she didn't have the capacity for that. But holding him back from attacking James, with her love for him, and his love for her. And James hated her anew.
But there was one thing he didn't understand. Not at first, at least. Why had no one stepped to his defense? They were in the middle of a mall, the food court surrounding them was packed. James drew his eyes from Adriana's brother and her man ... and realized that he was surrounded. Not just by the other five men, but by several women as well. A blonde young woman stood beside the blond man, who had been indicated as his captor's brother.
And the blonde was staring at him, as if he was a bug she had found mashed to the bottom of her shoe. It was beyond contempt. What did this blonde woman know, that the others didn't? Did it matter? And the blonde woman beside her? What did she know? Why were they looking at him the way they were? What could they possibly know that the men didn't? He found his answer in the eyes of the third woman. She looked somehow familiar to him, but he couldn't place her. She never worked at Tapestry, that much, he was sure of. He studied her intently, mentally matching her face against the millions he had seen in his nearly forty years of life.
He had seen her once before, though she looked different now. That was why he hadn't recognized her at first. When he saw her, her hair was darker and longer. It was at a distance, as she and a man talked to Adriana after work one day. Her hair didn't quite reach her shoulders now, and her eyes flashed with rage. She said quietly, "There's something else you should know, Vin. He cost Adriana her job at the prosecutor's office."
Oh ... shit. James stared at her in disbelief. How could she know that? The woman continued, biting out the words as if they made her sick to even speak them, "He went to the chief prosecutor, the man responsible for dumping Adriana, and told him a pack of lies. I found out years later, after you had disappeared and Adriana went to Germany. You should be grateful that my husband isn't here, Mr. Sherwood. He'd rip you apart limb by limb."
"He ... did ... what?" rasped out the man still holding James by his collar. The blue eyes, which were only cold a moment earlier, had become icy. And for the first time, James began to comprehend that Adriana's boyfriend could readily rip him apart, limb by limb, if he thought it was necessary. The man continued, "Charlotte, how did ya find out 'bout this, and why didn't ya say nothin' 'fore now?"
"Because it was in the past, Vin. I never thought she would see him again. I found out from Detective McCoy. He was keeping an eye on Sherwood, for what he called a personal matter, and I ... convinced him to tell me why. He told me that he had found out from one of the prosecutors that this turd pile lied about Adriana, and that's the real reason she was dumped. Not because she was a teenager, and it looked bad for the prosecutor's office to have a teenager working in the office during the summer," the woman named 'Charlotte' replied.
"Well, now," the blond man drawled, "that's real interestin' news. What do you think, boys? What should we do to someone who lies about another person, and costs her a job she liked? A job which helped her to keep an eye on my baby brother, and helped him to keep an eye on her?" The blond man left the woman's side and started walking slowly around the small circle which shielded them from prying eyes.
But it was the blonde woman, his previous companion, who answered, "You shouldn't do anything. And not just because General Hammond would get very put out with you for starting yet another fight, regardless of how justified you were. And in this case, it would be a justified fight and justifiable homicide. No, I think you should leave it to us. Let us take a pound of flesh from his hide, Chris." She folded her arms over her chest, her green eyes seeming to bore a hole right into his very soul. Her blonde companion responded with a smile which could be best described as evil, actually rubbing her hands together in glee.
"I think that's a great idea, Mary! You seven always talk about how you watch each others backs ... and we all know what would happen to someone who messed with one of you. What one of the other six would do," she replied, "I think it's time y'all found out what happens to someone who messes with one of ours. Especially those of us who knew Adriana in Texas, and watched her pick up the pieces of her heart after this piece of shit was finished with her." Oh ... shit. He was so screwed!
"That's right ... the nights she would come back from the warehouse, close to tears because she spent nearly an hour in Stevie's office after this whiner threw another fit, because her attempts to do her job brought her into contact with him. The way she tried so damn hard to figure out what she had done wrong to get fired from the prosecutor's office. I think an accounting of some kind should be held. He should pay for what he did to her," the woman named 'Charlotte' put in.
"And what's more," the first blonde woman, the one named 'Mary,' said, "I think I have just the idea. Why don't we give him a taste of his own medicine, ladies? Let him find out what it feels like to have something innocent turned into something ugly. Let him find out what it feels like to lose something that meant a lot to him. Now, to achieve the second ... we may need to involve Orrin. Or General Hammond?"
"Why do that, Mary?" Charlotte asked, shrugging her shoulders and looping her thumbs through the belt loops of her jeans. James turned startled, fearful eyes back to the woman, who continued with a decidedly evil grin, "I can think of something that would mean far more to him to lose, than his job, his good name or anything else. And this, my friends, is actually attached to his body."
James stared at the woman in shock and horror. The man holding him upright rumbled, "Now, ladies ... you have every right to be angry with this overgrown toad. But I'm sure he's learned his lesson ... because if he hasn't, there's always another option." Another option? James wasn't sure he wanted to hear this. He was right. The man behind him went on, "I could always go Old Testament on him. Who knows how much trouble Vin could have avoided, if Drina was in a position to watch his back?"
"Now, Josiah ... ya don't wanna be goin' Old Testament on him! I mean, sure, he deserves it ... ain't no question of that! But, remember the last time ya got Old Testament on somebody? Remember the mess it caused? We don't want another mess like that? Now, c'mon. We're seven smart men and seven smart ladies. I'm sure 'tween the fourteen of us, we could come up with somethin' fittin' for him," the black man said in a conciliatory tone.
"Much as I hate to agree this time ... I fear Nathan is quite correct. I'm sure, too, that the lovely Dr. Wilmington should have, as they say, first dibs on dealing with this cretinous Neandert'al. After all, she's the one whom he hurt," the dandy said. Dr. Wilmington? Did he say 'doctor' when he mentioned Adriana a moment ago? The dandy smiled broadly, clapping James on his shoulder and said, "But you wouldn't have known that, would you, good sir? This lovely young woman is an archaeologist, with her PhD no less."
PhD? As in ... doctor? As in a college professor? Like she always talked about? James felt his legs start to tremble. He had gone to the prosecutor out of pure spite. Adriana had quit after putting up with his ill treatment of her for nearly a year. And he was angry with her for that ... wanted to ruin her life, for walking out of his. And so he had gone to the prosecutor's office and lied about her. It worked in the short run. Yes, he got her fired ... but he was starting to learn that he ended up hurting himself more than he hurt her.
Somehow, his coworkers found out what he had done and he became a pariah. One or two of the native Texans actually threatened to shoot him, because that was just something you did not do. In time, the only people who would talk to him were the ones who started working at Tapestry after Adriana quit. At thirty-nine, he was alone. Things eventually boomeranged and hit him in the ass. He was fired from his job after he pulled that stunt one time too many. And he had no friends outside work.
And Adriana ... Adriana made her dreams come true. She was an archaeologist. She had her PhD. She had a man who loved her, friends and a brother who would kill for her. James had it all wrong. Her boyfriend wasn't the nobody ... James was. All these years, he had hated her for the way she made him feel. Because she was pretty and smart. And strong. He hated her because she was strong and made him realize how weak he really was.
He had a chance, then and there. But he was too afraid. Instead, he looked away from the mirror, and the discovery made him hate Adriana Wilmington all the more. Why should she have everything she had ever wanted? Because she's worked for it came an unwelcome voice in the back of his mind, one which he ignored. Instead, he snarled, "I'll go. But this isn't finished yet, little girl. It will never be finished!"
His captor released him at the same time the man behind him stepped away, and hissed, "That's where yer wrong. It is finished. And if ya don't leave Drina alone ... y'all be the one finished. Richmond, do us a favor, and es-cort Mr. Sherwood here to the exit. Wouldn't want him havin' an accident and all." James turned to see the man who had been with Charlotte, all those years ago. And he didn't look pleased. Which meant this wasn't over at all.
"Okay ... that was just plain weird, and that's putting it mildly," Casey Welles said. None of the others answered. Vin and Buck gently steered Adriana to back to their table. 'Weird' wasn't the word for it. 'Weird' was too mundane. Vin was still trying to figure out how things had gone from a fun afternoon at the mall to a tense confrontation with a man from his lady's past.
Vin had seen the man's eyes change for a moment ... before the old fear and anger set in. It reminded him of another time and place. Ella Gaines, in the Travis cabin, up in Montana. For one brief moment, before she attacked, Vin had seen sanity flicker in Ella's eyes ... sanity and horror at what she had become. And then, that discovery finished off the last bits of sanity she had ... and she tried to kill Mary. Vin, however, got in the middle. So many years later, Vin saw that same expression in the eyes of the man who had hurt his lady.
Well, there was nothing he could do for Sherwood now. The man had made his choice, and he would have to live with the choice, with the consequences. Vin had other concerns right now, not the least of which was the still trembling woman beside him. Lord, he hadn't seen her this shaken in a long time. Mary sat down beside Adriana, just opposite Vin. The blonde woman took her friend's hand and asked softly, "Are you all right?"
"I'm not sure ... give me a minute while I get my head on straight here. I think I'm still in shock," Drina whispered. Vin put his arm around her waist. No one coulda blamed her for bein' in shock. She hadn't seen this asshole in 'most ten years, then he pops up outta the clear blue. Then, she finds out he got her fired from the prosecutor's office, and not because of the fact that she happened to be a teenager at the time.
As if reading Vin's mind, Charlotte said contritely, "I'm so sorry for dumping that on you, Adriana. It just popped out. I'd forgotten about it, until I heard his name, and remembered what Detective McCoy told me. See, Sherwood did that to other women. The detective's niece was one of them, and the detective figured if he had done it once, he had done it other times. Detective McCoy started working his way backward."
"But why? What he did was low, but I'm not sure if it was illegal," Adriana asked. Vin glanced over at Buck ... receiving a positively evil grin in response. Drina evidently saw it, for she sighed, "Okay, dumb question, my mind still isn't working. I didn't know Detective McCoy that well, but I do remember that you didn't mess with his family, not if you were smart at least." Vin kissed her temple.
Drina rolled her head in his direction, saying softly, "I've only told you guys parts of this story. I met James when I was seventeen. I had just started at Tapestry, after quitting the all night truck stop where I met Will and Charlotte. My first night, I was feeling overwhelmed and nearly walked into the path of a fork truck ... it was driven by James. You gotta understand. In a lot of ways, James is a lot like Will."
"I could tell that right away," Chris muttered and Vin nodded his agreement. The first clue was the attitude. He just hoped Richmond didn't kill him while he was escorting him to the entrance. Vin would really love to know, though, where the security guards were during the whole situation. Last time he checked, what they'd done to James Sherwood was a little on the illegal side.
"In case you are questioning why we were not accosted by the security personnel of this establishment, the answer is quite simple. During our ... session ... with Mr. Sherwood, one of the aforementioned security personnel did stop and question what we were doing. I provided her with the truth ... adding that if things should turn unpleasant, we would of course retire to the parking lot," Ezra put in.
"And she bought it?" Richmond asked, sitting down beside Charlotte with a distinctly satisfied grin on his face. Okay, now that was frightening. Not that Will was back, as such, but the fact that he was grinning like a loon.
Kinda reminded Vin of Jack's expression, after he had pulled off a particularly clever trick against Maybourne or some such fella. Ezra sniffed, obviously annoyed with the question, "Of course she, as you so eloquently put it, bought it! I further informed her about the developments regarding Mr. Sherwood's part in Adriana's dismissal from the prosecutor's office, and that if anything, that vile miscreant was harassin' us, not the other way around."
"In other words," Josiah put in, resuming his own seat, "the lady in question was wise enough to see the truth, and ignore the bullshit." Vin fought back his own smile, at least until he saw his lady's expression. She was trying very hard to keep from laughing, he saw. Josiah winked at her, continuing, "You were fond of him at one time, weren't you, sister?" The smile left her face and she nodded.
"Yes. Remember, this was before I met Vin. I didn't know ... I didn't know how things like that worked. He was so ... nice ... at first. Things didn't start getting ugly until his friends noticed that I ... well ... was fond of him. They started teasing him about me. And he turned against me. I never understood that. They were teasing him, I wasn't. I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong," she said softly, shaking her head in bewilderment.
Mary's hand tightened around her own. But to everyone's surprise, it was Will who spoke next, sitting forward, "You had my shining example on the dig ... you had your father ... and you thought that was how family behaved to each other. Then you met Tanner, and that threw everything into a tailspin, didn't it? I was so busy being a jackass, I never even noticed that you were bothered by things going on at work."
Vin noticed his brother mouthing, 'being a jackass?' Vin found it a struggle not to laugh. At least, until he looked at the sadness in Adriana's eyes. Vin put his arm around her shoulders, saying softly, "Ya didn't do nothin' wrong, Drina. It were his problem. Always been, always will be, 'cause that's how he wants it. Look at me, Drina." She raised bewildered hazel eyes to him, and for a moment, he saw the ghost of a nineteen year old girl he knew once.
Vin cupped her face in his hands, saying softly, "Ya had no control over him, Drina. It ain't yer fault. Ain't sayin' ya didn't make mistakes ... I weren't there, I cain't say. But I know ya. And I knew ya then. And I know the only mistakes ya made with that stupid ox was mistakes from not knowin' no better. Not 'cause ya wanted to make his life a livin' hell ... he done that all by himself. And ... ya learned from yer mistakes."
"Listen to him, honey," Buck counseled, wrapping his arms around his sister from behind, "that sorry son-of-a-bitch ain't worth your tears, he ain't worth your breath, he ain't worth a moment's thought. Understand? You're better than he is, DeeDee ... you always have been, you always will be. He had one helluva gift ... and he threw it away. He made that choice. You didn't make it for him, and neither did his friends."
"I just ... I want to know what I did wrong," Adriana whispered, tears forming in her eyes, "I wanna know what I did wrong, so I can ... make up for it. How can I avoid that from happening in the future, when I don't even know what I did wrong?"
Vin saw Buck close his eyes as he pressed a kiss to the top of his sister's head, lovingly. Protectively. He saw the grief in the other man's face. And he could guess at the source. Once more, Buck hadn't been able to protect his sister. At least, that was how Buck would see it, even if that wasn't the case. Chris said softly, "Sometimes, little princess, the hardest lesson we can learn isn't what we did wrong."
"You heard the man, angelface," Buck said softly, opening his eyes once more, "We could change a thousand things about the things we regret. Sarah and Adam dyin' in that explosion. Your problems with that pile of manure. Sure, there are things you coulda done differently. But in the end, the choice was his ... just like the choice belonged to Ella Gaines to kill Sarah and Adam, and Cletus Fowler to carry out those orders."
"I know ... I guess ... what I'm really having a hard time with ... it isn't just the mistakes I made. I can live with those. But ... the way I reacted when I saw him. I hated him, Bucklin. After all these years, Buck, I still hated him. And I still wanted my pound of flesh," Adriana whispered. Vin ached for his lady, understanding how that had to hurt her. She was usually an easygoing woman ...
And here again, the greatest comfort came from Chris, who said softly, "I think you got that, little princess. He gave you a flesh wound ... but he gave himself a mortal one. And he'll be punishing himself for a long ... long time to come." Vin looked over at his brother, who had spent three years punishing himself for not being there to save Sarah and Adam, and saw the compassion in the green eyes. Adriana swallowed hard, then nodded. She would be all right. Vin would see to that. And maybe that would ease his own desire for a pound of James Sherwood's flesh.
Finis
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