Arcane Sequence: 1994: Never Stop Running... (WLW)

Chapter Six: Boca Raton, Florida, June 11th, 1994

Berry sat on one of her bar stools, eating the dinner she and Kirah made together and peeking over at her as she hummed with her mouth full of food. She appeared downright giddy and Berry couldn't fight the chuckle brimming within her chest. However, before she could give Kirah the chance to look at her and react, she recalled she shouldn't be feeling this way now of all times.

Her sergeant was dead and the other primary officers within her task force had been marked. As per orders from their captain, all of them were confined to their houses until further notice with only those personally vetted through him were allowed in their homes. As angry as Captain Brenor was at the prospect of losing another of his elite officers, Berry was beginning to go stir crazy and not being able to contribute to the case any longer only served to upset her more.

She and her team had been officially thrown off of their case and it was now being handled by the DEA, an entire agency dedicated to the eradication of the underhanded dealings of illegal substances. Berry was pissed beyond damn belief, but what more could she do? Her files were confiscated, Ethan's mobile device was also taken and any information pertaining to their whereabouts, including Saul's, were being relegated to a very select few. Her career was dead in the water, just like Nadia told her it would be about five years ago. At least, it would be for the next two weeks.

If nothing happened during that time, then they could return to work, but in order to check on the case, they would have to be very sneaky. Still, Berry knew it had to be, even if she was deceiving another branch of law enforcement. They hadn't worked the case like she had. They hadn't seen all the first hand carnage. They hadn't lost what she and the others had over the last four years.

When her adoptive family made up of lawyers basically waged a war on the Costa Family, they put X's on their backs and now everyone involved on their side was paying the price. Things were heating up and this time there was no amount of locking things away or solving a minor predicament only to have another rear its head. This would be the end of the Costa Family, or it would be the end of Berry's makeshift family.

She took another bite of her chicken parmesan, noting that it was as good as her mother's, if not better, and felt a warmth swarm her cheeks. "You say this is your great-grandmother's recipe?"

"Yes." Kirah took a sip of her wine, and then turned her head toward her as she hovered her fork over her plate. "She learned it from her mother just before the second world war and it was the only recipe to make it over here. At least, as far as the written went. She still had plenty of them in her head, but it was the only written recipe she could grab before fleeing to France."

"Fleeing? So, you're Jewish?" Angling herself toward Kirah, Berry was intrigued as she'd never met anyone Jewish before, or at least not to her knowledge.

"Yeah, on my mother's side. My father is a Seventh-day Adventist. He is...very devout and converted my mother. I was raised in the same church as my father who is an elder." Suddenly, everything clicked into place and Berry pushed her half-eaten food to the side, leaning down along the countertop. Kirah, as perceptive as ever, watched her with a piece of chicken hovering just outside of her mouth and focused her gaze along her lips. Berry softly smirked and watched as she jolted, then turned back to her food. She pushed some of her broccoli around with the end of her fork and rather quietly spoke. "They...can be a touch judgmental. My father more so than my mother, but both tend to butt into things I've recently been reminded are my prerogative. Not theirs. And... A-And your parents?"

"They along with my little brother passed away in a car accident about three years ago." Turning back to her food that now rested in front of her bicep still relaxed on the counter, Berry grabbed a piece with her fingers and brought it to her lips. She hazarded a glance up at Kirah to find her listening very calmly as she added, "They adopted me when I was around twelve, had my little brother out of pure luck when I was in college and...my father's best friend was the sergeant."