Brave Enough

Four

      James hurries and packs up her belongings. Cleo sleeps on the bed in the next room. "James are you in there?" Athena calls from the front door. "Baby girl are you almost packed?" She asks.

      "I'm coming, Athena. I just need to load the car then I'll come get Cleo," James calls back. She smiles at Athena's warmth and kindness. Athena has basically made herself James and Cleo's honorary mother.

      "I'll get her. Is she in the guest room?" She asks but James can tell she's already reached her. "Alright baby girl. Thena's got you. Alright, James when we get in the car we will discuss the details," she says as James follows her out to the cars. Bobby leans against the door of Athena's car. "Bobby is going to follow in my car. Hen is going to ride with us. Maddie knows the details and is distracting Buck," James's heart starts to feel achy at the mention of Evan.

     "He's going to hate me. I've been a mess and a hassle on him. But at least he will be safe," she says with a sigh. Hen steps out from behind James's car and gives her a much-needed hug.

"Hey, you're part of the family now. We've got your back. Now let's get this stuff packed up. Athena get Cleo in her seat. Bobby and I will help load this stuff up. We had already gotten you're important stuff from your mom's house right?" Hen asks.

"Yeah. You and I already moved it to the safe house. You're sure they won't try to take the house from me? Once this is over I want to raise Cleo in the house my mom had bought for us," James asks.

"Well, she fully paid it off and left it to you in her will. So yes the property will be kept in your name. I've already had all of the utilities shut off and you should be good to go. We have gotten you a new identity for the time being. Everyone will know to call you by that name except Cleo. We will have to practice with her. Luckily he shouldn't know about Cleo so she can still be Cleo. Once everything is settled and all is good. We will bring Buck in. But right now this is too vulnerable for him to be part of. Buck gets too reckless and has the do now think later tactic," Athena says. Hen, Bobby, and James shake their heads in agreement.

They all climb into the cars. Cleo is still asleep in her car seat. "Okay here is the plan. You, James, are now Alessandra Lima. You will have the same birthday but now you were born in Jackson, New Hampshire. That is one thing we have to change for Cleo as well. She is now Cleo Lima. The call center is now going to have a special voice modifier so whenever you take a call you do not sound like yourself. Shall he ever enter the city and end up calling the dispatch center he won't recognize your voice. The house you are going to live in is part of a safe house organization. There is no rent and no fees. Just live life. I have already spoken to the entire staff at the call center they now know you as Alessandra. Your work filed everything had been changed to your new name. So now you are officially hiding in plain sight. The only thing that we need you to do is wear a wig and colored contacts. It will alter your appearance. Not a lot but enough to throw off any suspicions."

"What if I just got my hair cut and colored and I'll make sure to style every day? The contacts I'm fine with. I just have had bad experiences with wigs," James says. "Also is it possible to be called Aless or something as a nickname?" Athena and Hen grin.

"I like your style Aless. I'm sure a cut and color would be fine. What did you have in mind?" She stops and thinks about it.

"So I definitely want to cut it to a bob that ends at just below my jaw. Color-wise. I've always wanted to do something funky. Like a Japanese Cherry Blossom Pink. Unless that is against work policy then maybe like a storm grey or Blonde. Okay so maybe a wig for the day time? I don't think I'll achieve any of those colors in less than three days. It would extremely damage my hair. I also like red. There is a dancer I like. Sharna Burgess. She has this amazing red hair that I'm not sure if she had to go platinum for," James ponders the various options she could do. "Eye color. I would love to go blue. But like that purply blue. I actually have contacts that can achieve that in one of the boxes I took over last night," She smiles remembering the time She had used it. Everything fades away into the memory.

"Come on Billie. Do you really need those? Your big brown eyes are amazing. Your father gave you those eyes. Plus they probably won't blend right anyways," her mom complains as James walk through the store to go to the check out counter.

"Mooommm. It's just for the night, and dad left us so I don't care about some lame-ass eye color he gave me," James says attitude dripping in her voice. "I don't like him and I don't want to be like him. I always wanted blue eyes like yours."

     "Sweetheart you have wonderful eyes. It is his loss. You are an amazing kid and if I do say so myself I'm pretty cool myself," she winks at James. "Also don't use that language. I do not care that you are sixteen and everyone else's says it," Noemi Molina mocks.

     The ride home was silent and James jumps out of the car to get ready for her costume party. Sliding the contacts in and looks at her reflection. Grinning ear to ear she squeals. "They do work Mom. They do now I have blue eyes just like you!" She shouts.

     "Aless. Aless? Are you focused?" Athena shakes James out of her memory. She refocuses herself.

    "I'm sorry. I kind of got stuck in a memory. The contacts brought up a memory with my mom from when I was in high school. What were you saying?" Hen laughs in the back seat.

      "I said it sounded like a great idea. We're almost there. Just relax for a bit," Athena says. "Hen Let Maddie know," she says.

•••••

     "Goodnight Buck. Love you be good!" Maddie says as he gets out of her car.

     "Night kid," Chimney says leaving out the I love you and best behavior speech. Chimney knows Buck will grow suspicious if he says it too.

     Buck opens the door and tosses the keys in the key dish and locks the door. After kicking off his shoes he heads into the kitchen for a beer. "James I'm back. I thought you, Cleo and I could watch a movie tonight before you go home tomorrow night," Buck looks down at the counter when he puts the beer down finding a piece of paper lying face down. Reading Evan across it.

     After turning it over he discovers only two words. "I'm sorry," Buck stumbles back into the fridge door. "She's gone." He mumbles before throwing his beer bottle across the room the glass shattering on the wall. Beer splatters on the wall dripping down to the floor.