"She's still out." The bodyguard commented, letting the dark head fall forward again.

"That's a little too long for a tap to the skull, especially for one with such a hard head. Come on, Tessa...I know you're awake." Meridio's voice said evenly and Tessa knew she could no longer play possum.

"You bitch." Peter muttered as Tessa looked up and winked at him.

Meridio slowly came forward until he was standing in front of the seated woman. Tessa had her wrists and ankles handcuffed to the heavy metal chair. She'd seen plenty of these chairs in the days when torture was an every day occurrence. The dark-haired woman smirked up at the man above her.

Meridio hit the woman hard with his fist. It connected with her jaw and the man heard the satisfying sound of pain come from the woman. The blow rocked Tessa's head back, but she tried to act unaffected by the powerful strike. She locked her pale blue eyes on the man and spit the blood in her mouth down on his shoes. Punishment for the willful act was swift and three more punches followed in quick succession. She now had blood coming from her mouth and trickling from her nose. It wasn't broken yet, but a few more hits like the last one and she knew it soon would be.

Tessa knew that she was gone. She'd tried, but at least she would die with honor, she had repaid the hahré in her attempt. Now all she had left was to die, but she was never going to give Meridio the satisfaction of thinking he'd won. He might kill her, but he'd never succeed at breaking her.

"All this because I fucked your daughter?" Tessa commented dryly.

All three of the hired men looked up at Meridio. When they saw the look on his face, they knew what Tessa said was the truth. Alex tried to look as surprised as the others did, but he knew what had been going on all along. Peter and Stefano looked at the ground instead of up at Meridio. Andreas looked around in embarrassment. Tessa grinned as she hit her mark. The man was losing face in front of other men and that was never a good thing for a mángas.

"She spread her legs so damn fast for me...she never even knew I was using her." Tessa felt her head snap back two more times as Meridio punched her, then crossed the floor to a sink and began to wash his hands.

The older man obviously felt his control of the situation was beginning to slip. The longer he stayed here, apparently the more Tessa would embarrass him. He suspected that the enigmatic woman had seduced his daughter and now he had the confirmation. Cassandra was about to realize, however that there would be consequences for her actions. As much as he loved his daughter, he would still have to show her that disloyalty came with a price...a very high price.

Meridio put his suit coat back on and walked toward the door.

"Meridio!" Tessa called and the older man stopped and turned.

"Casey was the best fuck I ever had." Tessa grinned up at him.

The man's eyes narrowed and his gaze went cold. "Kill her...make it last a very long time. By the way, make sure she tells you where the invoices are before she dies." Meridio smiled back at the dark-haired woman and walked out the door.

The sunlight glared in their eyes as Meridio stood there, half in and half out the door. His attention seemed caught by something outside. He looked back at Tessa and if looks could kill, the dark-haired woman would already be lifeless. Meridio glowered outside again and, raising his hands slightly, backed into the warehouse.

Casey held her Beretta in front of her and kept it leveled at her father's chest as the man continued to back up. Tessa had to blink her eyes to figure out if her mind was playing tricks on her or not. Oh, Casey...baby, you're going to get yourself killed. Please don't do this.

"Cassandra, do you really expect me to believe that you would kill me?" Meridio asked his daughter as Alex, Peter, and Stefano all three pulled their guns.

"Father...knowing the things that you've done in your life...I'd just be a chip off the old block wouldn't I? Besides, I really don't think you're prepared to say, with absolute certainty, that I won't shoot you, are you?"

Meridio looked in his daughter's eye and damn if he couldn't tell for sure. That dyke bitch had brainwashed the girl but good.

"Cassandra, you don't understand who Tessa is--"

"I understand that you killed her father! I was there...I saw it!" Casey tried to calm the tremor in her voice.

"Yes, I did, but that is what she wants revenge for. She has only been using you to get to me. Casey," Meridio rarely used his daughter's nickname, but the man honestly wanted to get through to his child. "Even if you kill me, one of them will put a bullet in Tessa's head. She'll still be dead. Ask her...ask her now. She knows she is a dead woman, she has nothing to lose."

Meridio saw the flicker of doubt in the green eyes and knew he was getting through to her.

"Ask her, Máhtia Mou," Meridio said softly.

Tessa watched in horror as Casey lifted those green eyes to look in her face. Please understand, baby...this is the only way for you to get out of this, Tessa thought to herself.

"Niko?" Casey asked quietly.

"You're a beautiful woman, but that's all you were to me, Casey. You were just a way for me to get closer to Meridio."

Casey's brow knit in confusion at her lover's words. Suddenly she didn't know whom she should believe.

Meridio saw the perfect opportunity presenting itself. How better for his daughter to take her place within his organization and to vindicate herself in her father's eyes? He smiled slightly when he looked into the dark-haired woman's eyes and saw that Tessa was realizing what he had in mind also.

A stab of pain clutched at Tessa's heart when she comprehended what Meridio had in mind. If she hurt the young woman enough, wounded her to the heart, would Casey shoot her? Part of Tessa's brain thought it would be a sweet release in comparison to what Meridio already had planned for her, but the other half of her couldn't let Casey bear the unspeakable pain that would follow from that action. She needed Casey to know that she was only saying those things for the small blonde's own protection.

Tessa caught the flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye and watched as Alex stepped closer to her, giving himself what appeared to be a clean shot at the bodyguard and Stefano, who stood on the other side of her chair. It could be just wishful thinking on her part, but at least if she could get Casey to understand what she was really about, the young woman would be prepared to help Alex and take one of the men standing beside her out of commission.

"Cassandra, I didn't want you to know you had been used in such a vile way by this woman. I know she has humiliated you, but there is a way for you to pay for the hurt."

Meridio was speaking in low dulcet tones that seemed to be having a hypnotic effect on the small blonde. Casey stood looking at Tessa with dismay, then anger etched across her features.

"Who is to say, Cassandra, whose bullet will end your pain."

Tessa watched the young woman and saw the suffering swirling within the green depths, and then she saw Casey's gun hand twitch slightly. She knew she was only going to get one chance and it came to her in a blinding flash.

"Don't tell me you actually believed me all those times I told you I loved you." Tessa said with a sneer.

Casey's brow knit together and Meridio held his breath as he watched the young woman's gun hand raise until the barrel of the pistol was pointed in Tessa's direction. The young blonde's next movement was so quick that if you blinked your eyes, it was over. In a fraction of a second Casey raised her other hand to the pistol, spread her stance open, and pointed the gun at Peter Tsigaris.

The popping sounds the Beretta made echoed in the open warehouse. Casey fired two rounds in rapid succession, one into the bodyguard's kneecap and the other in Stefano's hand as he made a move with his gun. The young man's movements seemed slow in comparison to the precise actions of the small blonde. The bodyguard tried to reach for his pistol and Casey quickly put another round into his other leg. Both men howled in pain as Casey whirled and caught her father standing in exactly the same spot, frozen in place.

"You've sealed your fate, my daughter." Meridio said over the moans of the fallen men. "I'm afraid Alex will have to kill both of you now."

Alex stood with his revolver still in hand, but he seemed to be hesitating, weighing his options. Reaching into his pocket he removed the keys to the handcuffs and released the dark-haired woman.

Tessa's legs were a little shaky when she first stood, but once the blood circulated a bit, she seemed as steady as ever. Casey ran into her arms and the taller woman squeezed her tightly.

"I thought you said you couldn't shoot." Tessa said.

"I said I don't like guns...I never said I couldn't shoot." Casey said with tears in her eyes.

The small blonde ran over to the sink and wet a towel, bringing it back over so Tessa could wipe her face of the blood.

"It's okay," Tessa said softly to Casey's concerned look. "I've been used as a punching bag before. Alex, do you have my gun?"

"Here," Casey reached to the small of her back where she'd tucked the Glock into the waistband of her jeans.

Tessa accepted the pistol and slowly walked over to where Meridio was still standing. The dark-haired woman raised the gun and the man never flinched, only closed his eyes as the barrel was pressed against his temple. She stood there like that until he opened his eyes and spoke to Casey.

"You're going to let her do this, Máhtia Mou?" He asked his daughter.

Tears spilled from Casey's eyes as she took in the sight. She said nothing, but even she knew that not answering was as good as saying yes.

Tessa pulled back the stiff hammer and poised her finger on the trigger. When she fired the shot she watched as Meridio's body jerked forward. She continued to watch as he realized the round had been fired over his head. He spun his head between Casey and Tessa in disbelief.

Tessa grabbed his collar and although he was several inches taller than the dark-haired woman was, he surrendered to the rough treatment easily.

"Know this, Meridio, She is the only thing that is standing between you and death today." Tessa growled and the older man knew Tessa meant his daughter. "It's over...go home." She said and motioned for Casey to join her.

The small blonde ran into her arms and they began to walk toward the exit. Tessa stopped in front of Alex and held out her hand, offering a smile to the young man.

"I owe you, my friend." The dark-haired woman said quietly.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Nikki, cause I'm going to be needing a job, considering I just pissed my life away here."

"Wherever I go, you'll always have a place, Alex. You may have to improve your English a little considering we're not too welcome here in Greece anymore."

Tessa put an arm around Casey and they continued on their way, Meridio, not looking like a man who had just been defeated, called after them.

"You'll have to run for a long time, Cassandra. My partners will not take kindly to this and it will be a long while before you can stop looking over your shoulder."

"I'll take my chances, father." Casey replied dryly, pressing her body closer to Tessa.

Meridio looked up at the sound of tires bumping along noisily on the old wooden dock. "That must be them now." He smiled and suddenly Tessa understood why the man looked so smug.

"The Turks!" She grabbed Casey's hand and they ran for the far door.

"I'll take the sedan, maybe we can split them up!" Alex shouted as they burst out into the sunlight.

Two cars were heading their way. The second vehicle stopped and Meridio exited the warehouse and entered the auto. Casey tossed the keys to Tessa and they ran for the red convertible.

"Where the hell is Jack?" Casey shouted.

Gunshots rang out and Tessa heard the glass of a taillight exploding as the bullet shattered it. Casey felt a deep searing pain in her thigh and she stumbled just as she reached the car. She fell into the vehicle as Tessa was gunning the engine. The dark-haired woman fired a few rounds and shattered the windshield on the first car. Looking over quickly at Casey she saw the dark red stain spreading across the small blonde's jeans.

"Jesus Christ, Casey, you're shot!"

"I'm okay." The young woman said between clenched teeth.

Tessa pushed the sportscar as fast as it would go and began losing the heavier weighted sedans up through the twisting gravel roads to Agios Stéfanos.

I'm going to try to outdistance them by the cliffs, that way Jack can get to us by the road or the sea." Tessa explained, wondering how the hell they were going to get out of this one, but hoping Casey couldn't hear the fear in her voice. "Use your belt and tie it tight around your thigh like a tourniquet." She added.

There was only one car following them now, the other must have gone after Alex, who headed off in the opposite direction. The dark sedan was closing in, having made up the lost time on the straight-away portion of the road. The next turn was a hairpin and Tessa purposefully sped up, knowing the larger car wouldn't be able to make it. She cut the steering wheel hard to the right, stepping on the accelerator the whole time. The larger car spun off the road and landed in the soft sand near the edge of the cliffs. Its back wheels spun around creating a high-pitched sound as they turned without finding purchase in the slippery sand. By the time the men were jumping out to push the car back onto the road, Tessa was already gone.

They sped towards a small village and just as they hit the edge of the town, a small child ran into the road that Tessa's car was careening down.

"Shit!" She spun the wheel and locked up the brakes to avoid the boy. The momentum of the vehicle caused it to flip over once before landing upright again.

The dark-haired woman never even remembered being thrown from the car, but she couldn't have been out long as the boy was still standing in the road. She shook the cobwebs from her mind and tested her arms and legs.

"Casey?" She looked around, jumping to her feet and searched the area.

The small blonde had been thrown further from the car and she screamed in pain as she rolled over. Tessa dropped to her knees and with only a quick look could tell the young woman's leg was broken in more than one place.

"Don't move, sweetheart." Tessa tried to think what to do. Any minute the Turks would be coming up the road. "Casey, this is gonna hurt like hell, but we have to get out of here."

Tessa was right and when the dark-haired woman scooped the small blonde into her arms, Casey screamed in agony again. By the time the Tessa was moving toward the home in front of them, the young woman had passed out.

Tessa didn't wait; she kicked open the door and shouted the first thing that she knew would bring help. "There are Turks after us!"

Two young men jumped up to help her and an older woman motioned for her to bring Casey into a back room. Tessa watched as a gray-haired man pulled a pistol from the top drawer of a bureau, he closed the door and peered through the shutters.

Casey regained consciousness and wished she were still knocked out. The pain wasn't nearly as bad now that she was still again. The bullet wound was bleeding worse than ever and when she looked up she saw that Tessa had a large open cut across her cheek and the blood ran down the side of her neck, soaking into her shirt. The tall woman's arms were a mass of scrapes and cuts, but she smoothed back the hair on Casey's forehead and smiled at the blonde like none of this was even happening.

"Do you have a phone?" Tessa asked, knowing what the answer would be before the old woman shook her head.

"I do." Casey attempted to reach into the large pocket on her jacket, but gave up in pain.

"Here," Tessa leaned over the young woman and fished through the pockets. She brought out the phone and three packets of papers that she could only stare at. "Holy shit, when did you get these?"

Casey gave a weak smile as Tessa stared at the invoices from her father's office. "Well, there was no one there and I figured if some were good, then all of them must be better."

Tessa kissed her forehead and punched Jack's number into the cell phone.

"Where the hell are you two?" Armstrong shouted.

"I could ask you the same question. We're in a small village just at the edge of the cliffs, past Agios Stéfanos, first house on the corner. Look Jack, Casey's hurt, she needs to get to a hospital right now. She's losing a lot of blood." Tessa turned away from the small blonde and muttered the last sentence.

"We can have the chopper there in two minutes, we're at Meridio's estate. Your mother is safe and we just picked up a guy named Alex who says he helps you."

"Yea, he's with me." Tessa replied.

"Oh great, another one. Where are the invoices, does Casey still have them?"

"She's got the whole damn bundle in her hands, which means you don't get them till you get over here and pick her up."

"She's one hell of a girl, you know?" Jack shouted and Tessa could here the whine of a helicopter motor through the phone and knew they were taking off.

"Yea, I know." Tessa said, brushing the backs of her fingers against the small blonde's dirty cheek. "Just get your ass here and pick her up!"

"Where will you be?"

Tessa looked up just as the gray-haired man with the gun placed his fingers to his lips and motioned for silence. She could hear men's voices outside.

"I have something to finish up." Tessa responded and clicked off the phone in case Jack was tempted to call back about her cryptic message.

Tessa looked out the shutter and could see the men milling about the road, looking at the red convertible. She hoped it still ran and that the keys were still there. She walked back to Casey and that familiar pain clutched at her chest as she knew what she had to do and that Casey wasn't going to like it.

"Sweetheart," Tessa knelt by the bed and Casey opened her eyes, biting her lip against the pain. Tessa spoke in English and the old woman turned away as if understanding their need for privacy. "Jack's on his way, but those guys are outside and they're going to start busting down doors because they know we're here."

Tessa licked her lips and Casey knew what her lover was going to do before the dark-haired woman said it.

"And, you're going to try to draw them away." Casey whispered.

"Casey, I need to say something to you"

"No! Goddamn you Tessa Nikolaidis you are not going to tell me you love me now, and then go out there and let them blow you all to hell. I don't want to hear it until you get back and if you don't come back and tell me, I swear I'll never forgive you!" Casey was sobbing by this time.

Tears filled Tessa's eyes and she kissed the girl's forehead and smiled down at her, stroking the short locks of golden hair. "It's a deal." The dark-haired woman said and then she kissed Casey as if it would be the last time and both women felt it.

"I'm so proud of you, Niko...for the choices you made today," Casey said softly.

"I lived for so long with revenge as the only thing worth living for. You gave me something else to live for." She rose and pressed her index finger to Casey's lips, then she turned and was gone.

Tessa still had her Glock and checked the clip out of habit. Once the old man showed her where the door out to the alley was, she pressed the roll of bank notes into his hands. He shook his head, but she only turned and slipped out the door.

It was a small village, but the two story stone houses hid her from view of the main road. The alleyway was only a dirt path, but it was lined with bushes and trees. She pressed through the line of bushes and ran the remaining distance to the convertible.

Jumping into the driver's seat, she thanked the Virgin that the keys were there. She revved the car and hit the gas, throwing dirt and rocks, and enveloping the road in a cloud of dust. She heard shouts behind her, then fired a few quick rounds from her pistol so they would know it was her. She coughed at the dirt in the air surrounding her, but figured that if they couldn't see the car well, they would think she and Casey were inside the vehicle. She smiled one of her feral, adrenaline stoked smiles knowing she'd just bought Jack the time to get his agents into the village. She refused to even think about the possibility that Casey wouldn't get to a hospital in time. She just knew in her heart that it wasn't the young woman's time.

The helicopter landed right in the middle of the street about thirty seconds after Tessa sped off in the convertible, the sedan quickly following her. Two paramedics hastily worked on Casey in the room of the house where they found her. They began IV's, shot her full of something for pain, and stopped the bleeding from the bullet wound at least long enough to get her loaded onto the helicopter.

Jack ran alongside and helped carry the litter as a sudden explosion, a fireball rising in the sky, rocked them all. Black smoke billowed up into the sky, as agents already ran back to give Jack a report.

"Two cars...looks like the rest of our Turks. They took a dive off the cliffs...not much left of them." The young man shouted over the helicopter's blades to Jack, who was inside the vehicle sitting next to the stretcher Casey lay upon. He looked down at the small blonde and just stared at her.

"No..." Casey moved her head back and forth. "Please...no." She pleaded as tears spilled from her eyes.

Jack didn't like this part of the job; in fact he hated it. He hated losing good people, but as badly as he felt he knew it was nothing compared to what Casey was experiencing. He squeezed her hand and was glad for the roar of the engine as it drowned out the heartbreaking sobs of the small blonde who had just lost her father and her lover in the same ill-fated moment.

Casey spent seven hours in surgery as the physicians worked to remove the bullet that was embedded in her left thigh and to repair the broken bones in her right leg. From her hip to her ankle, she'd broken the limb in six different places. The surgeons explained to Jack that the young woman would be in for a few more surgeries and she would more than likely walk with a limp for the rest of her life. She lay unresponsive in the Athens hospital, Olympia never leaving her bedside, for three days. Jack had the American government fly Casey's mother, Eva Meridio, to Greece so that she could be with her daughter.

Jack watched as Olympia and Casey's mother met again for the first time in twenty years. They cried and shared their pain and Jack shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable with women as well as their displays of emotion.

No one knew how to come right out and tell Casey about Tessa and her father. There were no survivors found at the crash site and the remains were charred beyond even dental recognition. The young blonde's behavior told everyone around her that she knew, however. Casey barely spoke and when she was able to eat solid food again, she just stared at the food in front of her until they had to restart her IV's just to be sure she was getting a little nourishment. Avery nice therapist came to see her three times a week, but Casey just stared out the window, unwilling or unable to talk about her pain.

Finally the doctors went to the mothers for help, for it did seem like Casey had two mothers. When one rested the other one kept vigil, and everyday they tried to get the woman to say more than three words in a row. Olympia would bring all of Casey's favorite food dishes to the hospital and occasionally the young woman would hastily take a bite or two, but just as quickly, her eyes would fill with pain and she would turn back toward the window.

Olympia walked into the room just as she did every day. This time she sat next to the bed in front of the window the small blonde spent all her time gazing out of, so Casey would have to look at her.

"Tessa would be very disappointed to see you behaving like this," Olympia said sharply. "Is this what my daughter gave her life for? Shame Cassandra."

It was the sound of Tessa's name that broke through Casey's pain. The sound of a name that she remembered as being the sweetest note she'd ever heard. Casey took in a ragged gasp and tears pooled in her eyes, spilling over the edges. And, as Olympia moved to hold the small woman in her arms, just as her daughter had done so many times, Casey released a cry of pain and anger and finally wept for her dead lover.

The Meridio estate changed a great deal over the next six months, mostly due to Eva Meridio's return home. It was as if a cleansing breeze swept through the mansion, the combined force of Olympia and Eva erasing any trace of the man that ran the household previously. Every piece of furniture in Andreas Meridio's private rooms and office had been removed. Since Casey still remained in a wheelchair even after her third surgery, Eva prepared the estate with special access doors and ramps although Casey told her time and again that she refused to let her body stay in the chair.

A paved walkway was put in from the house leading to the guesthouse and a driveway extended back to the private dwelling. Casey was adamant about living in the guesthouse even though both the older women warned that she might not be ready for such a move. It was true the small blonde still had occasional nightmares and crying was at least a once a week occurrence, but she was taking one day at a time. Now the mere mention of Tessa's name didn't send her into a depression, on the contrary, she had recently begun to enjoy Olympia's stories about the dark-haired girl.

Casey dropped the dumbbell into its place on the weight rack. She was glad Tessa had the weight room put in the guesthouse. This way Casey didn't have to go up to the main house everyday. She loved both her mother and Olympia, but being mothers, they could certainly wear on one's nerves. She reached both arms over her head and stretched, feeling her muscles complain at the extra workout she'd put them through today. She grew tired of taking it easy with such slow physical therapy on her legs and asked the therapist for exercises so she could work on her upper body from the wheelchair. Now, the muscles rippled under the soft skin as she stretched, her long hours of weightlifting beginning to show.

Casey moved to the window as she heard a car in the driveway. She maneuvered her chair onto the patio once she recognized the familiar face get out of the driver's side.

"Hello, Jack."

"Hey, there kid. How's tricks?" Jack asked, matter of factly.

The agent had been suspiciously absent of late and Casey assumed he finally had some time to spend with his wife and daughters. He held a large manila envelope in his hand and was beginning to get that, I'm uncomfortable as hell, look.

"Don't beat around the bush, Jack, it doesn't suit you at all." Casey smiled.

Jack remembered the first time he ever saw that smile. It was like someone opened a curtain and let the sunshine in. He watched now and realized that smile had become tempered with a deep-seated pain.

"Okay, here it is," He opened the envelope. "Tessa made me executor of her will."

"When did that happen?"

"The day you were in Athens, in training down at the Center. She left most of her dough to her mom, but she named you in the will too." Jack looked up and not seeing any kind of response, he continued. "She left you a sizable chunk of money in a couple of Cayman Island accounts, then there's this." He handed the photograph to the young woman.

It was the Apógevma Nóstimo, Tessa's Catamaran. Tears welled up in Casey's eyes and she couldn't stop them from rolling silently down her cheeks. She had only been on the large sailboat once, but if she closed her eyes she could see the sunset in her mind's eye that she and Tessa shared that day.

"Well, there's one more thing." He rose and walked over to the van, Casey's curious eyes followed. He opened the side door and two large Dobermans bounded out the door and began running around Casey's chair. The animals sat close to the chair and licked the small blonde's face. Casey cried, even as she hugged Cinnamon and Mahogany.

"Yea, well I guess she made the right choice. I had to drug them just to get them over here." Jack reached over to place a hand on Casey's arm, but froze with his hand in mid air as the dogs growled and bared their teeth at the large man. "Okay, then...I can see that's gonna get you a lot of second dates. Guess I better be going."

Casey laughed at the man's nervous behavior and suddenly realized that this was the first time she'd laughed since the accident.

"I hear you're going to be heading back to the States pretty soon." Jack said from a careful distance.

"Yes, There's a center in Connecticut where I'm going for the rest of my rehab. They're supposed to be able to perform miracles and they think I have a good shot at being out of this chair within a few months."

"You know I'll miss you, kid." Jack said softly.

"Thanks, Jack." Casey responded, absently scratching behind Cinny's ears.

"You know, once you get back on your feet, if you find you ever need a job you might think about giving me a call."

"Jack, are you seriously asking me to join the FBI?" Casey smirked.

"Hey, Quantico could use a cadet like you."

"I don't think so, Jack, but thanks for the offer." Casey smiled sweetly and held out her hand to the tall man.

When at last he looked in the rear view mirror, he smiled sadly at the way life had to go sometimes. His last glimpse of the small blonde was her leaning down from her wheelchair, gripping both the animals in a fierce hug.

Casey was trying to stuff some additional items in her backpack. She topped it with a small bag of treats for the dogs and an extra bottle of water for herself. She was almost to the kitchen door when Olympia's voice reached her. Damn, I almost made it!

"Casey, you're going to eat something before you leave, aren't you?" Olympia asked.

Eva Meridio came in from the patio and almost ran in to her daughter.

"Casey, you're not going out dressed like that are you?" her mother walked past, indicating the sweatpants and sports bra the small blonde wore.

"It's official," Casey whispered to the two Dobermans who sat obediently at her feet, "we're in hell."

The two older women began planning their day; they were off to go shopping for antiques. Being fostered by two mothers was almost more than the small blonde could handle some days, but she wasn't really complaining. Since Olympia came to America to live with them, she found her mother was actually getting a life. The two old friends became the life of the community, doing everything from playing bridge to gardening. Casey was happy that her mother was showing signs of forgetting about the past.

Tessa's fortune allowed her mother to realize some dreams of her own. Casey pleaded for Jack's help in eliminating the red tape of getting Olympia citizenship in this country and of course the man always seemed to come through for Casey. He did it so well that the small blonde hit him up a few months later to get Alex into the country.

The Greek cook opened her own restaurant on Long Island and initially spent long hours turning the business into a restaurant with an impeccable reputation for authentic Greek food. Alex managed the establishment and found that he had a natural aptitude for that kind of business. In the last few months Olympia started teaching cooking classes at the local community college and became a big hit. The older woman was a godsend for Casey's mother when the young girl went to Connecticut for her rehab. So, now all three women lived in the spacious Long Island home and even though Casey had to bite her tongue about once a day, she wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'll be home late...I'm taking the boat out." Casey called back to the seated women.

"Be careful." Both women responded in unison.

"Yes, mothers." Casey made sure to tease as she closed the door.

The small blonde set her pack down and bent down to unlock her bike. Raising herself up again she slipped the backpack over her shoulders and hopped on the narrow bicycle seat. Her time at the rehab center was rough, mentally as well as physically. They said they could work miracles, but the young woman soon realized they meant they could make her work the miracles. The program was intensive and she was still just getting over her losses. Sometimes she would cry herself to sleep at night, missing her mother and Olympia. Once when she was having a particularly rough day she looked up across the grounds and she thought she saw the outline of a tall dark figure. When she blinked her eyes and looked again, the vision was gone. It was enough, though, to remind her of her lover and gave her strength to go on for another day, which turned into two and soon six months had gone by.

He strong legs pedaled the bike up the steep hill, Cinnamon and Mahogany loping along beside her. She'd tried to keep the two animals at home when she went sailing, but her mother said they howled the whole time she was gone. They were well trained and the funny thing was, even though it had been Tessa who trained the Dobermans, they obeyed every word that came out of Casey's mouth. Soon, she simply took them everywhere she went. It was a satisfying feeling having the two animals as bodyguards, almost like the feeling of being safe within Tessa's strong embrace.

Casey shook her head and chided herself. She promised she wouldn't do that anymore. She caught herself the last time staring at Olympia. The older woman's hair had earned a few extra streaks of gray and so she had her hair colored. It made her look years younger, but it had a different effect on Casey. Sitting in the living room, enjoying a glass of wine, Casey noticed how much that Tessa had favored the older woman. Once the small blonde realized she'd been staring, she turned away, blushing in embarrassment.

They reached the private docks and Casey smiled as Mr. Peterson opened the gate for her so she didn't have to fish around for her own key.

"Mornin' Miss." The old man waved and Casey waved back. She left the gate to her slip open, knowing she would have a visitor today.

Casey hopped aboard the Apógevma Nóstimo and lifted her bike over the boat's rail, hoisting the mountain bike up into the air easily with her powerful shoulder muscles. She went about the task of preparing to set sail. The small blonde moved about the boat with the efficiency and skill of a seasoned sailor. She still had the slightest limp to her right leg. It was barely noticeable and the doctors told her she would more than likely have to live with it. It took about a half an hour to get everything set up just the way she liked it. She tugged on the side stays, as was her habit, to test the tightness of the wires supporting the mast from the side of each hull.

That's when she heard the low growls from each animal as they lay passively on the deck of the boat.

"I know, let him get a little closer." Casey muttered under her breath. "Okay, heads up!" Casey said louder.

The two animals leaped gracefully from the boat's deck onto the dock and bared their teeth menacingly at Jack Armstrong.

"Shit! I hate when you do that, Casey." He said, backing up along the dock.

Casey laughed out loud. "Down." She said quietly and the dogs immediately ran up to the man and licked his hand in apology. "Jack, what in heaven's name was so important you couldn't e-mail me?"

"Well, I have this application, now before you say no--"

"Jack, I'm saying no. I do not want to join the FBI. My answer was no yesterday, last week, even when you sent me an application in my Christmas card, which was really pathetic, I might add. My answer will be the same a week or a year from now...it will always be no, Jack." Casey finished softly.

"All you do is workout and sail this damn boat around, or you just come out here and sit in it while it's tied up. You live with your mother, you never see any one...you're young, Casey, don't you think it's time you took your life back?"

Casey could have been angry with the older man, but she understood how Jack felt about her. She was only five years older than his eldest daughter was and he felt a certain fatherly responsibility toward her. That and the guilt over having gotten her into this mess in the first place.

"Yea, well, just in case you change your mind," he held out the application.

"Goodbye, Jack," Casey smiled and turned her back, "have a nice weekend."

"You're not from around here, are ya?" Peterson asked the stranger.

"No," the low voice answered, trying to step back into the shadows of the Harbormaster's office.

"Look, ya come by here every day to watch her and if you're thinking about starting any stalking kind of trouble, then ya should know I never forget a face."

Peterson watched as the face broke into a small smile that seemed to be tinged with irony. He was getting on in years and he guessed there might be a few faces that he forgot, but this one wouldn't be one of them. She was as tall as he was with long dark hair that fell into her eyes. Those eyes were what he'd remember. Pools of blue like the sky, but they had a look, kind of like a wounded animal that doesn't know whether to run away or just lay down and die. She had a long thin scar that ran along one cheek and she hardly ever took her eyes off the small blonde on her sailboat.

"Like I said, if it's trouble--"

"No! It's nothing like that," she answered. "Do you--have you known Casey long?" She asked.

"Well, let me see...I was here the day she put her first Hobie Cat in the water. She was just thirteen that year I guess. Pretty long, why?"

"Does she...does she seem happy...when you talk to her?"

"I guess if you knew her well enough you'd know that she had a bit of trouble when she was down in Greece. Pretty bad accident, I heard her father was killed...big mess. I don't know what all happened, but I do know that she ain't the same girl she used to be."

The stranger stepped further into the shadows when she saw the man's car coming toward them to leave the gate. She held her breath waiting as he rolled past, but the car stopped suddenly with a jerk and the passenger side window was powered down.

"You're not supposed to be here...hell, you shouldn't even be in the country." Jack's voice called out from the car.

The stranger stepped forward into the sunlight and leaned her head down to the window.

"I had to see her...I couldn't--" Her voice broke and she thrust her hands into her jeans to try to calm herself. "I just couldn't do it anymore." She finished.

"Two years, Tessa. We agreed it would have to be for at least two years. If everyone thinks you're dead, then Casey is safe, but if the Turks ever get wind that she knows where you are--"

"I know...I know. It's been so long and I was afraid...afraid she forgot about me."

Jack watched as tears filled the dark-haired woman's eyes. He'd seen those eyes filled with a lot of emotions...anger, hate, and even pain, but this was a new look. He watched as she swallowed and looked back out to the boat where Casey sat on the deck. Her blue eyes filled with abject despair and he wondered if he could do what Tessa had done. Could he have let his wife believe that he was dead, watching as she tried to put her life together, only to hope that there would still be room in it for him when he came back?

Jack sighed. He always sighed like that when he was about to do something that could possibly get him fired.

"Aw, hell...two years, eighteen months...seems pretty damn close to me. Go on," He met Tessa's eyes and finally saw a spark of life in them.

"Are you serious, Jack?"

"Yea, yea. Hey, what are you gonna say to her?" Jack asked.

Tessa smiled and Jack felt better about his decision already. The tall woman knew just what she would say. She made a deal and there was nothing on earth that could keep her from saying the words now.

"It's okay, Mr. Peterson...she's one of us" Jack called out to the Harbormaster standing close by.

"Jack," Tessa reached a hand through the window and placed it gently on the agent's arm. "Thanks...for everything."

The large man placed a hand over the woman's and squeezed it briefly. He drove off as soon as Tessa stepped back from the car.

Casey leaned against the mast and closed her eyes, feeling the sun shining down on her and thinking of the time when Tessa held her in those strong arms as she slept, here in this very spot. She kept her eyes closed tight, but the tears squeezed from behind her lids to cover her cheeks in their wetness.

A strange sensation passed through her, almost like a tingling up her spine. She heard footsteps on the dock behind her and uttered the same words she always did in these situations. "Heads up!"

Cinnamon and Mahogany jumped on to the dock, but they were whining, as if they didn't know what to do with the command Casey just gave them. Then the small blonde had that feeling again. She turned around slowly and met the vision that consumed her sleeping as well as her waking dreams. The dream that it was all a horrible misunderstanding and Tessa never did die. Her therapist said it was a natural response and it would go away eventually, but it never did.

Tessa reached out a hand and gently scratched Cinnamon behind one ear, never releasing the small blonde's uncomprehending gaze. Casey felt if she was going to go crazy, then this is the way she wanted to go.

The small blonde didn't even realize she was still crying. "Are you real?" She asked the vision.

Tessa smiled at that. That sexy smile that revealed those perfectly white teeth and ended in an all knowing grin.

"Yes, baby...I am very real."

Casey didn't hesitate, dream or not, she didn't even care if people thought she was crazing. She jumped over the boat's railing and when she hit the dock in front of the tall woman, Tessa scooped the blonde into her arms and held her in a crushing embrace.

"Oh, Niko, you came back to me!" Casey sobbed against the woman's chest.

Tessa held the young woman that way, stroking her hair and wiping the tears from her cheeks. Finally the dark-haired woman pulled away to look down into the beautiful face. She cupped Casey's face within her hands.

"We made a deal, remember?" Tessa responded.

Casey looked up at her with a confused expression.

"I promised I'd come back to say the words. I love you, Cassandra," the dark-haired woman drawled. "I have always loved you."

The two women held one another tightly; tears of joy being shed as they kissed for the first time in so long. Tessa remembered her first impression of her lover's kiss and she still thought it was the sweetest taste she'd ever known.

Tessa came so far to find something worth living for other than revenge, now, standing there on a dock in the middle of summer, twenty years, and thousands of miles from where they started, they each found something worth living for.

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