Maverick was fidgeting when he started, but as soon he got into the story he stopped. Interestingly, he is embarrassed by a joke. He said it was at my expense but... I would have thought he would know I don't care about that kind of thing.

He read quietly for quite a while before he closed the book. "Tia I have a couple of questions."

I closed my book and put it to one side. "About the book?"

"About you."

I smiled. "You don't need to ask permission to ask me something." Was he thinking about this whilst reading?

He watched the screen for a moment. "You call him your husband. Do you still think of him that way?"

"Weather I like it or not he was my husband. I call him my husband because he will always be my husband."

He frowned at me. "I see. Are you sad he's dead?"

"I'm sad that the world has lost a large intellect. If he had put his mind to it he could have done a lot of good in the world. He was a selfish narcissist, so he would never have used his brain for the benefit of mankind. The best answer is yes and no."

He smiled slightly "Well I'm happy he's gone. I know he can't hurt you now he's dead. Will you tell me about the scar you gave him?"

I smiled at him. He's being so careful, it's really sweet. "He married me and it was less than three hours after the vows were said before he showed his true colours. He told me to get him a drink I thought he was joking with me and he wasn't. He attacked me and I defended myself. I broke a glass over his head and used a shard of it to cut his arm while he tried to strangle me. Once he realized I wasn't as weak as he thought I was, he backed down and was all apologies. At least he can't do that to anyone else now."

Maverick watched me looking both angry and sad by my tail. "At least he got what he deserved."

"I don't think anyone deserves to die like that. Not even him."

Maverick sighed and shifted. "Do you... I mean now he is gone do you think you could contact your child?"

I shook my head. "You know my feelings on that."

He took my hand and sighed. "I do but I just wanted to know if this changed anything." I shook my head. "What about Tobin?" I stared at him. "Please don't do that."

"What are you asking me?"

He shook his head. "What is he to you?"

What is he to me? He's... he's a boy alone in the world. He like me and Rose understand the pain of living with sky. We are wounded in the same way. Even Rose has the scars of living with sky.

He squeezed my hand drawing my eye's back up to his face. "You don't need to answer me."

"I want to give you an answer. I wasn't expecting the question and don't have a good one for you."

He smiled sadly at me. "The answer to the question doesn't need to be good. If you can't give me one I understand."

I looked at the screen flicker between the images of the forest around my home. "I understand his pain." I rubbed the scar on my chest. It always feels tight when I think of sky. "There are things I couldn't stand putting in the book. Those things may not even come out in my lifetime. He shares those things and understands them in a way only people from sky can. I find I need that now. I can help him while he helps me."

"How can he help you?"

I looked Maverick in the eyes. He was full of a need to understand what I'd been through. "Have you ever experienced something so strange you're not sure it was real? Well in sky there are things that you accept as normal, but they aren't and it's not until someone else remembers it, saying it out loud it becomes real. In voicing it happened you can process it as a real thing."

Maverick was silent for a long time then he moved towards me and held me. "I knew you had to have suffered something when you were so deadpan, but to not even know if the things you experienced are even real... that is even worse."

He let me go and I smiled at him. "There are evils in this world that are beyond your imagination. Be grateful they remain that way."

"I have one more question if you are up for it?" I nodded to him and he took my hand again. "Why do you have a car like theirs?"

I laughed making him jump. "Rose is not like one of theirs, she was one. I took her and re-registered her in my name. It was easy to do as I had all the paperwork for the cars that sky owned in my home office."

He sat stunned for a moment. "Why take a car from them?"

"The answer is looking you right in front of you Maverick. I had about 8 children to get out of sky and the compound was in the middle of 26 acres. I had to get out fast. She was the car that drove us to freedom and she still has the scars of that, just like me."

He frowned. "What scars?"

"Her scars are not visible to the world, only to the people that maintain her. There are chips in the gearbox housing from the rocks and a dent in the sump from a tree. that kind of thing."

He chuckled letting my hand go and sitting back. "That explains why you found it amusing when I called her your pride and joy." I nodded. "So you care for her because she protected you?"

"Yes, she protected me so I will continue to protect her. She deserves respect." Maverick nodded and picked up his book again.

"What about your wife?"

Maverick closed the book and looked at the ceiling. "She wasn't nasty like your husband, or abusive in any other way. When I met her, she was funny and beautiful. We got married and then I realised I knew nothing about her. She became disinterested in anything I liked and only wanted to talk about what she was interested in. She quit her job and sat around at home all day. She was fat and lazy when I left her. She wasn't who I thought she was."

"They rarely are. So you left her because she lost interest in you or because she became fat and lazy?"

He looked at me frowning. "I wanted to be with someone in an equal relationship. Mine turned unequal very quickly."

"I have been watching you. I've seen you are kind and intelligent, how could anyone not see that you enjoy your things?"

He chuckled. "I don't know. I know some of your interests are writing and taking down cults, what else do you like?"

I smiled looking into his eyes. "Reading, walking in nature, shooting and helping my charity. What about you?"

Sliding down the bed a bit he looked at me. "I like reading too, I love puzzles, and I enjoy painting."

He paints? Interesting. "What do you like painting?"

"Landscapes mostly."

I clapped my hands making Burt jump. "Sorry Burt. Would you show me sometime or are they something you keep to yourself?"

He smiled warmly at me and nodded. "This is the first time I've seen you excited. I have to show you now don't I? Maybe you would even like one to hang. I have a woodland I think you would like."

I could feel myself beaming. "That sounds perfect. I even know where to put it."

"You should see it first."

I shook my head and looked at the screen. "I don't need to see it to know where to put it. I'll put it in the bedroom. Then I can wake up in a forest every day."

He chuckled again and took my hand. "You're the first person to get excited about my paintings."

"Why?"

He sighed and rolled onto his side shifting until he was comfortable up on one elbow. "I started after I was stabbed. So people associate it with that. It's a good release for my emotions. I take photographs of the place I want to paint. If I'm in a dark place I paint rainy scenery, if I am happy I might paint a sunrise."

"It's the same with writing, only if I'm angry a character gets hurt or dies. If I'm happy maybe they fall in love, or have a windfall. If I'm sad then something bad would happen."

He picked up the book he had been reading. "You were sad and angry a lot in this then."

"Yes very. I never intend to publish that story."

He looked at the cover that had a gloomy street with blood running between the cobbles and a shadowy figure with glowing red eyes to one side. "Why not?"

"It's brutal. I don't usually write brutal stories but I needed to get my anger out. It's legal to do nasty things to a fictional person. I felt guilty about what I did to them so I started writing a sequel."

He put the book down. "Can I read it?"

I blushed. "Yes.. it's a first draft at the moment so it's not going to stay like that. The main story will but some of the little things in it will change and there are placeholder names."

He stroked my cheek. "Why would that make you blush?"

"Well... it's like seeing me naked... you read the first draft it's the draft others don't get to see. Not even my editor."

"You would let me see it?"

I squirmed. "Yes."

"A high honour"

My cheeks felt like they were on fire. I picked up my book and tried to hide behind it. Maverick took the book from my hand. "You are cute when you blush."

"Hush or I'll set Burt on you."

He smiled and handed the book back. "Well, I don't want to be licked to death."

He went back to his book and after a few hours, he started drifting off. I looked at the screens that had changed to black and white for the low-light images. "Hay Maverick." He jumped and looked at me. "I don't think they are coming tonight. Do you want to eat then take this stuff off and go to bed?"

He stood and started to take the gear off. "Sleep yes food no. I'm not hungry."

"You sure?" Nodding he took the last of his gear off. I stood and started to take the gear off. "Maverick I have a question for you."

He put the gear to one side and looked at me. "What question?"

"Did you leave your wife before or after you were stabbed?"

He sat on the bed facing away from me. "After... I realized that I was unhappy in the relationship. She didn't come to visit me or even send a card. All that time away from her showed me that I was alone already. When I got home she accused me of having an affair."

"Most men in your situation would have."

He turned looking at me over his shoulder. "I didn't. It's not my way. I told her I'd been injured at work and she complained about not being able to afford the things she wanted because the joint account was low." He shook his head. "I couldn't believe she would care so little about me. I was a meal ticket nothing more."

I walked around the bed and knelt in front of him. "Well her loss is my gain."

He looked slightly started by that. "So you are considering being in a relationship with me?" I nodded and undid my coat.

I put it to one side and started to unbuckle the padding. He stood and started helping me get the gear off. He folded each piece and put them with his. I picked up my coat and he took it from me. "Can you leave this off?"

"As you wish."

I smiled as he put it with the rest. He straightened and saw me smiling. "You're amused by me asking you not to wear your coat."

"Yes. I find it amusing because I told you why I wear it." He looked at the two beds. "Burt won't give up his bed to you. You will have to share."

He looked at Burt and then at me. "Can I share with you?"

"Awww don't you want to cuddle up with Burt?"

He looked at Burt who was watching him. "Sorry Burt but you're a bit too fluffy for me." Burt grumbled and laid back down.

I chuckled and walked back around the bed. Maverick had already laid on his side of the bed. I sat on the edge and took off my socks. I laid down under the covers and picked up my book again. "Tia.. we won't be able to keep everyone on high alert for long."

I looked at Maverick. "I know.. but if the chief deals with his end correctly they will come after me again soon."

He nodded picking up his book. We read in silence until Maverick dropped his book. I picked it up putting it aside with my own. I rolled over and fell asleep.

***

A heavy feeling in my chest woke me up. I looked down and saw Maverick's arm lying across me. I wriggled to get free of him, just to have him shift and pin me more. "Maverick.." I said quietly in his ear. He didn't wake up. "Maverick." I said a little louder. He groaned "Maverick!" He opened his eyes at my yell. "You're pinning me down."

His eyes widened and he sat up. "Sorry."

I smiled sitting up and putting my socks on. "What are you sorry for?"

"Laying on you."

I stood and walked to the kitchen to make tea. "Don't be sorry for that. I didn't mind, other than not being able to move. Now do you want tea before I take Burt out or after?"

"What? You want to go outside?"

I turned the kettle on. "Burt needs to go outside. We can't lock him up down here."

Maverick nodded looking at Burt. "You're right. You wear the gear and don't wander off."

I smiled at him. "As you say, I was going to take precautions."

I made tea and brought him a cup. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I but I must act as they expect me to. That includes letting Burt out."

He sighed. "What would you do in this situation?"

"I'd let Burt run close to the house twice a day then stay in here with the shutters down. This is what they would expect from me."

The proximity alarm went off and we both looked at the screen. It changed to an image of the area where the alarm was set off. There was the man in a long black coat and a white wolf mask. He was talking with two others. "Who is that?" Maverick asked.

"That is a man that should be in prison. He is the son of the leader."

"So he's meant to be locked up and here he is on your land?"

I sighed. "It would appear so."

I looked at the clock and stood. "You not still going out there are you?" Maverick sounded almost pained at the idea.

"I must. If I don't they would assume I know they are there and it will make them change their tactics."

"Tia... he could kill you."

I shook my head. "No, the leaders don't get their hands dirty. They are like the mafia in this way. Why go out and kill someone when you have a hoard of brainwashed and sometimes drugged fools to do it for you?"

I walked over to the gear and Maverick stood helping me into it. Finally, he picked up my coat and put it on me. I looked down to do it up but he tilted my chin up so I could look him in the eyes. "I'll have your back."

"I know you will. I know he won't attack me, but feel a lot better knowing you're there."

He let my chin go after a moment and I looked down to do my coat up. I think he wanted to kiss me again. I lifted the bed Burt had taken up residence in and opened the gun safe. I took out two guns, loaded them and handing one to Maverick.

The alarm went off again and I looked at the screen. "Where is that?"

"East of the house, not far from here." The man had stopped on the edge of the view of the camera. He was looking in the direction of the house.

I looked at the clock and picked up my teacup. "What are you doing?"

I smiled still watching the man. "You've watched me long enough to know what I'm doing. I'm waiting for the time I usually go out. They have been watching me too. I need to not rouse their suspicion."

Maverick frowned at me as I took another sip of tea. "You did this to us didn't you?" I smiled and nodded.

Putting my cup aside I turned to Burt. "Ready to go outside Burt?" Burt barked and started to run about.

I headed up the stairs and waited for Maverick. When he arrived I pointed to a space between two bookshelves. He nodded taking up position silently.

I walked to the panel and entered the code that would only open the shutter on the front of the house. I looked down at Burt as the shutter slid up out of sight. "Burt the nasty are people at out there. You need to listen and hear me OK" He growled. "Good boy."

Retrieving my whisky and a glass I opened the door. Burt darted past me and I put the whisky down on the table. I picked up the gun and sat on the seat watching Burt run back and forth. He peed on his pee rock and barked at the tree he liked.

He stopped suddenly growing and ready to attack. "Burt! Here." Burt ran to my side still growling. I saw Kaleb walk out of the woods to the east.