Second Chances

Chapter 15

CircleDance

Chapter 15

"Casey?" Stefan stood in the doorway of the gem room, wearing black satin pajama bottoms, a dark blue silk robe that he had hastily belted, and a shocked look on his face. His shaking hands held a lethal-looking handgun and it was aimed at her head. The Martinique slipped from her trembling fingers into its velvet resting place as he repeated himself. "Casey? What are you doing?"

With the Martinique safely back in its display case, Casey slid her hand out. "Now, Stefan," she said cautiously, holding her hands out far to the sides, "I know this looks bad, but it's not what it looks like, really!"

Stefan started walking slowly towards her. "Really? Then what is it?"

She clasped her hands nervously in front of her and grinned. "Well, I know it seems as though I'm stealing your gem, but I couldn't be, because it was already stolen!! And I guess it looks like I'm putting it back, but then you would wonder where I got it, and you would ask me, and I would have to say I couldn't tell you....." Stefan kept nodding his head slowly, his eyebrows arching higher and higher, as he approached his neighbor. "......and then you would probably think that *I* took the Martinique, and then I would have to say I couldn't tell you....." She winced and drew her elbows in at her waist, her fists clenched in frustration. ".....and I guess when it boils down to it, this *is* what it looks like and I *am* putting your Martinique back."

Stefan stood only a foot away from Casey now. His face was a serious mask, and he still had the weapon aimed somewhere in the vicinity of her neck. "You impress me, Casey."

Her eyes widened a little and she smiled. "Thanks!" Then her smile disappeared. "Why?"

"Because I have never heard so many words spoken on one breath." Casey tipped her head to the side in a "oh, it was nothing" gesture, but then she gasped when Stefan raised the weapon and gripped it tighter. "Unfortunately, those words only confirm my suspicions and you leave me with no choice."

"Stefan, NO!" Casey screamed, but when she saw his finger tighten on the trigger, she closed her eyes. She screamed again as he fired. "STEFAN!!!!!"

Carter would have been shocked to see his usually staid and reserved neighbor collapse into a fit of giggles. "Gotcha, dear lady!!"

Casey was half-crying, half-laughing herself as she wiped the water from her face. "You are a sick man, Stefan Cassidine! First you have all these priceless treasures, then you're too lazy to come up with different security codes, and then you defend them with a WATER GUN!!!????"

Stefan wiped tears from his own eyes and then sighed. "Ahhh, Casey....if you ever recall meeting my mother, you would know why I have such an abhorrence for any sort of violence."

Casey pulled up the hem of her shirt to wipe her face. "Well, that thing sure had me fooled!" She clapped her hands and rocked back and forth from her heels to her toes. "Sooo, now that everything's okie-dokey again, I'll just be going back home......"

Stefan grabbed her by the arm as Casey tried to saunter casually past him. "Hold on there a moment, Casey." She froze and grimaced, murmuring an obscenity. "Although I'm pleased to have the Martinique back, I'm afraid your explanation lacks some........detail."

The late hour, the built-up tension from searching for the gem, and post-partum hormones caused Casey to suddenly erupt into tears. "Ohhh, Stefan.....I'm begging you......PLEASE don't call the police!" She started to crumple to the floor but he caught her around the waist. "They'll put me away in some women's prison and I'll never see Jon again and....." Her lips quivered as tears ran down her cheeks. "......he's nursing, and how will he eat if I'm behind bars?"