Beyond the Family Ties

Part 36

Laurel's birthday came upon them rapidly as late summer gave way to a mild August and an excitable five year old who was ready to turn six, and Becky found herself distracted with presents and party planning, her own problems taking a back burner for the time being. Freen and Laurel were both mending fine, and she was playing the role of a fretful nurse less and less as they came off their painkillers and life was practically back to normal. Her daughter didn't even seem the slightest bit troubled by the shooting, and Becky gently tried to talk to her about it a few times, embodying the role of a psychologist as she tried to gain an understanding of what her daughter was thinking. As far as she could tell, Laurel remembered very little about the incident or the following few days in hospital, being too drugged up to be aware of much, and Becky was secretly relieved that she'd seemed to repress most of it.

It was just her with her loose ends and troubled mind, and she found herself with too many questions and too few answers as Becky slowly reclaimed herself from the duties of looking after two patients. She'd given the stray thought about her mother over the weeks, and about what came next for the DEO - she imagined they had a lot of criminals to process and interrogate, and new cases to open with the information they learned - but she'd been firmly shut out of the task force for the time being. Whether it was for her own protection or because it was a personal matter, she was left in the dark, much to her irritation.

The day before Laurel's birthday, and the day of her party too, where a dozen kids from school would be crammed into the apartment and fed an ungodly amount of sugar, Becky found herself with orders to report to the secret black site of the task force the following day. It was an inconvenient time, with her having so much to do in the morning for the party, but Becky wasn't really at liberty to say no. She'd heard nothing but radio silence for weeks now, even when she'd reached out to Querl, and Imra, who was still stationed in London, so she had to bring herself to leap at the opportunity to find out what was happening.

After a morning spent cleaning up gift wrap and making waffles while Freen put batteries into things and played with Laurel, of icing cupcakes and baking cookies and finishing off the Power Rangers birthday cake she'd made herself, she dressed professionally and promised that she'd be back before they were overrun with children, kissed her daughter goodbye and drove to work.

As she pulled into the dark garage it struck her as strange to be there after so long - it was nearly nine months now since she'd been sent back to Albany City and put on leave, with each new mishap piling up and benching her for longer - and she felt like a stranger as she rode the rickety elevator down to the sub-level office. Her stomach twisted with nervousness as she stepped out of the doors once they'd parted, and she was met with a dozen familiar faces, all looking mildly surprised to see her.

After a few handshakes and friendly exchanges, she was found by Hank, who led her to his office. Upon opening his door and ushering her inside, Becky found herself in the company of Querl, and surprisingly, Imra, who gave her a tight hug, before taking a seat in front of Hank's desk. Arms folded over her chest, Becky stood behind her two friends, waving aside Querl's offer of his chair, and trained her eyes on the Director.

"Thank you for coming in today," Hank said, his voice a low rumble as he sorted files on his desk and set them aside in a neat pile.

The three of them nodded and waited patiently.

"I just wanted to commend you on your work on this case," he said, his dark eyes flitting up to meet Becky's. "I know the three of you made some personal sacrifices, and had to spend some time away from home. I'm very grateful for your hard work in the task force. Thank you."

Taking the compliments in silence, the trio listened as Hank filled them in on a few details. Some of it was old news to Querl and Imra, but Becky desperately latched onto each new piece of information, trying to piece the case together for herself. All of the law enforcement departments that had been there at Sunny's funeral service had split their arrests amongst themselves and had launched a cross-department into the individual criminal organisations. Multiple suspects and witnesses had been brought it, arrests had already been made, and the DEO were in the middle of preparing for a dozen court hearings, prepping their evidence to be submitted and agents to give their statements on the stand. He explained to Becky that the DEO had purposely kept her away, so as to not need to use her as a witness and attest to the work the task force had uncovered about them, for the safety of herself, her family ties to those organisations making her a prime target if anyone sought out revenge.