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#5.0

"Tonight," Chester Tate said as he cocked his gun and aimed it at Danny Dallas, his biological son, who he'd just caught in bed with his new wife, Annie, "you die."

Danny and Anne were paralyzed in the bed and both could only focus on the muzzle of Chester's gun.

"You can't do this, Dad," Danny tried to plead with him. "We share blood, you gave me your kidney."

"Yes, and in exchange you took my wife," Chester responded.

"Actually, you left me," Annie felt a need to point out.

"Shut your mouth you slut!" Chester told her. "Jumping into bed with your own husband's son, how dare you?"

"Hey leave her out of this," Danny said, "I'm the one you got a problem with, so let's just get this over with."

"Fine, say your prayers, Dallas," Chester told him in a tough guy tone.

Suddenly the door to the pool house flew open and in came Dutch Leitner, Chester's ex-jailbird son-in-law.

"Hey big guy!" Dutch exclaimed as he came up to Chester. He saw the gun and smacked it out of the other man's hand. "What do you think you're doing? Huh? Your duel isn't until tomorrow."

"Dutch! Do you mind?" Chester asked as he gestured with his hand, "this is a private matter between a man and his son he's going to kill."

"Never mind about that," Dutch said. "El Puerco wants everybody in the house, he's got a plan to rescue Jessica and needs all of us."

"Jessica?" Chester turned on his heel and followed after Dutch, "What is it?"

"I'll tell you, but first we gotta find Burt, El said everybody goes," Dutch told him as they stormed out of the pool house and closed the door behind them.

"Oh my God," Annie heaved a gasping breath as she collapsed back against the pillows, "I don't believe it."

"Neither do I," Danny said as he threw back the covers and started getting dressed. "Annie, you stay here, if everybody's going to Malaguay to get Aunt Jessica back, I guess 'everybody' includes me."

"Are you crazy? Your own father just tried to kill you," Annie pointed out.

Danny bent down and picked up Chester's gun. "I doubt he'll have much luck without this. Annie, you stay here, this is man's work, and if we don't come back…well, I guess that means we're dead."

"Be careful, Danny," she said.

"Annie, please, I'm the deputy," Danny remarked.

Burt slowly opened the door to where his confidential informant had confidentially informed him there was going to be a major drug shipment going down. It had been a seedy enough part of town that he could believe it, but still he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, something more wrong than just drugs being sold in Dunn's River. He felt the hairs pricking up on the back of his neck as it dawned on him he should've gone in with backup, he should've had Danny come with him. One cop against who knew how many drug dealers? Boy that sounded like the perfect setup.

He almost had the door all the way open when from right behind him there was a sudden and startling, "ACHOO!"

Acting on blind instincts, Burt spun around swinging his bat and he instantly hit someone, who could be heard choking and groaning in pain before they dropped to the floor. It was only after the fact that his brain told him what his body had instinctively known, he knew that sneeze.

"You!" he said as he tackled the man writhing and groaning on the floor. "You're that confidential informant."

"You got the wrong guy, pal," the younger man with long black hair grunted.

"Oh yeah?" Burt fumbled around between them and came up with a pair of pantyhose. "What's this, your long johns?"

A series of explosions taking place directly over Burt's head had his eyes bulging and felt like he was going deaf. He realized somebody was shooting the door full of holes, he threw himself flat on the floor and flat against the other man, then thought better of it and moved more to the side of him.

"You set me up, didn't you?" Burt asked, just as the other man opened his mouth Burt stuck his bat in the man's face, "Didn't you?"

"Yeah," the other man grunted, "I did."

"Who sent you? Who?" Burt demanded to know as he wrestled the man into a choke hold.

"Look, I swear I'll tell you," the man said, "but can we do it where there's no gunfire?"

"Oh yeah, that might be a good idea," Burt said, "alright, crawl."

"Crawl?"

"Crawl over to the stairs!" Burt told him, "then we'll run."

He took his own gun out and shot a couple bullets through the opposite side of the door to cover them as they headed for the stairs.

The two of them stormed down the stairs and were halfway out the door when they ran into somebody else.

"Freeze! Police!" Burt drew his gun.

"Burt, it's me!"

"Danny?" Burt did a double take. "Danny, what're you doing here?"

"I went to see you at the station and I found your notes about the big drug bust, how's it going?" Danny asked.

"Swell, swell, they're shooting at us, terrific," Burt said cynically. "Come on, I think they may be running out of bullets soon and then we can ambush them."

"Right."

"And you!" Burt waved his bat at the other man. "Don't you go anywhere."

"Don't worry," the black haired man wheezed as he fell to the ground, "I can't."

"Hey, wait a minute," Burt said. "Aside from setting me up, what's your part in all this? Huh? What were you doing here?"

"I was given orders to cut off your ear and send it back to the guys who arranged all this," the man said.

"My ear?" Burt repeated in disbelief. "What do they want my ear for?"

"To prove you were dead," the man answered.

Burt's eyes bugged out as he blew a razzberry. "What kind of sense does that even make? That's proof? What's that even proof of? Who looks at a guy's ears enough to know if you get one of them, 'Yep, that's him, he's dead'? Who thinks like that?"

"If you were going to cut Burt's ear off, you must have a weapon on you," Danny said to the man.

Burt rolled his eyes.

"Hand it over," Danny said as he drew his own gun on the man.

There was a clatter on the ground and Danny picked up a straight razor.

"You carrying anything else?" Burt asked.

"No," the man groaned in pain.

"You better not be lying because if you are when I come back down here, I'm gonna kick your butt," Burt told him. "Let's go, Danny."

Jodie smiled contentedly as he rocked back and forth in the rocking chair in the nursery and watched the two babies.

The door opened and Mary walked in.

"Jodie…Julius," she said, "how's everything going?"

Jodie turned to her and answered, "Let me get this straight…" he pointed a finger to Wendy's crib. "This little baby is mine?"

Mary nodded.

Jodie nodded in turn. "You nice lady…but that's no baby of mine. My wife and I never had children…she was barren."

"Jodie," Mary tried to say something, but he cut her off.

"We were married 10 years before she told me," Jodie continued, "she was worried that if I know, that we would quit…you know," He wagged his eyebrows at her.

"Jodie, please, that really is your baby girl," Mary said, and pointed at Scotty's crib, "and that's your little brother."

"My little brother? Me, a 90 year old man? Who was my father, Methuselah?" Jodie asked. "And I tell you something else, lady…I been here watching these two for hours." He pointed a finger at Scotty. "This baby don't fly."

"He does fly, I know he flies," Mary said, "he flies, he moves furniture, he draws in three dimensions. That's not normal."

"Normal? What's normal?" Jodie asked. "My brother Sol used to suck on the plumber's wrenches when he came to fix a leak…he was a weird boy, and he was six years old, you're worried about a one-year-old acting strange?"

"Hello, is anybody here?" a high pitched voice called out a second before Chuck and Bob entered the room. Bob's head turned one way and another, "Oh look at this, we got the whole fam-damily here, the space cadet, the old Jew, and Wendy-Wendy-Wendy-Wendy-Wendy!" His head turned towards the other crib, "And Scotty-Scotty-Scotty-Scotty-Scotty!"

"Hey Mary, how's it going?" Chuck asked.

Mary shook her head. "I can't convince anyone of anything, I can't convince Jodie he's Jodie, I can't convince Burt that Scotty flies, I can't convince Burt that I'm not drinking anymore…my sister's been kidnapped and she's going to be executed by communists…my whole life's a mess…our whole family's lives are a mess…" she paused, then her eyes got large, "maybe Jessica was right, maybe it is the Gatling family curse." She clasped her hands together and looked towards the ceiling, "Oh I wish it was still a couple years ago, when my biggest concern was Burt's obsession with making himself invisible by doing this," Mary shook her hands and crossed them over one another then drew them back and snapped her fingers.

Jodie jerked and he looked around the room quizzically.

"Mom?" he turned to the others. "Chuck?"

"Jodie?" Mary barely whispered his name.

Jodie's eyes roamed all around the room and he asked, "What am I doing here? Where's Dr. Rudolph?"

"Hey Jodie, is it really you?" Chuck asked.

Jodie shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "Who else would it be?"

"Julius?" Bob asked.

"Who?" Jodie squinted his eyes.

"Oh my God!" Mary exclaimed as she threw her arms around Jodie, "it's you, it's really you! You're back!"

Jodie was very confused and slowly put his arms around his mother's back. "Back from where? I just went to a therapy session."

"That's what he thinks," Bob turned to Chuck and laughed mischievously.

Jodie felt like his mom was going to crush his spleen and held his arms out helplessly to his stepbrother and his wooden dummy. "Would somebody please explain to me what's going on?"

"Oooh oooh oooh!" Bob said, "let me tell it!"

Chuck shook his head.

From downstairs they heard a door slam, and heard a muffled voice bouncing off the walls, "Mare! Mary!"

"Burt?" Mary turned on her heel as they heard the footsteps booming up the stairs.

"Mary!" Burt ran into the room and right towards her and hugged her.

"Burt, what's going on?" she asked.

"Oh Mare," he groaned anxiously, "you have no idea..." he pulled back, "it's okay, I'm fine, don't worry about me. I just about got killed is all."

"KILLED?" Mary exclaimed. "I need a drink."

Jodie and Chuck both reached out to stop her.

"Mary, some guys set me up for an ambush, but it's okay, Danny and I went in and we arrested them all, we hauled them to jail, we got their full statements, we got names, more big crime syndicates," Burt told her.

"Oh…" Mary folded her arms dismissively, "so you're going after them next."

"No way, are you nuts?" Burt asked. "I almost got killed tonight, I almost got my ear cut off."

"Burt!"

"Mare, when the bullets started flying, my whole life was flashing before my eyes," Burt told her. "And I realized how big a part you were in all of it and how the whole reason I started on this journey to clean up crime in Dunn's River was because of you guys and how much I wanted to keep you safe. That's the only thing that was going through my mind then, that and how much I wanted so desperately to get back here to you and tell you that I love you, without you my life has no meaning. I got caught up in all this fame and publicity stuff, ohhhh, but that don't mean much when all you get out of it is a headstone."

"Does that mean you're not doing the crime task force?" Mary didn't sound like she even dared to hope.

"Oh Mare, it goes beyond that, these guys were offering me a spot as lieutenant governor, then senator…and you know something?" Burt picked up his bat and tried to break it over his knee, but all that happened was he put his foot back down and made a very pained face all the while barely any sound was coming out of him as he tried to maintain some dignity. He shook it off and told her, "Forget it, I've already brought down the heads of several mob families…that's good enough for me, now somebody else can take over…a single guy, a guy without a wife, without a family waiting for him at home…" he turned to his stepson, "Hi, Julius."

"Who's Julius?" Jodie asked.

"You are," Burt answered, then did a double take, "Jodie?"

"Burt?" the young man replied in a matching tone.

"He's back?" Burt asked. "Jodie's back? Who-wha-what happened? Did Dr. Rudolph figure it out?"

"No," Mary shook her head, "I did it, with this," she crossed her hands and snapped her fingers again.

Jodie jerked again and said in his old man voice again, "Oy, what's a 90 year old guy gotta do to get something to nosh on around here?"

Burt's eyes bugged out and his Adam's apple bobbled and he made a high pitched sound under his breath.

Mary crossed her hands again and snapped her fingers, and they watched Jodie's whole body jerk again and he asked in his normal tone, "Did something happen during my therapy session that I should know about?"

"Mary," Burt hugged her again, "our family's normal again."

"Well, almost," she replied. "There's still the issue of Scotty."

"Scotty? What about Scotty? He's just an intelligent prodigy," Burt said.

"Burt, he flies," Mary said. "Now I don't care what you say, that is not normal."

"Okay, okay, I believe you," Burt said. "We can figure that out later, but Mary, right now I gotta go."

"What do you mean go? Go where? You just got back from nearly being killed, where're you going now?" she asked.

"To probably get killed, but don't worry, I'm sure nothing will happen," Burt said.

"What?" Mary demanded to know.

"Mary, El Puerco has a plan to save Jessica, but he needs all the men to go with him, so Danny and I are going," Burt said. "We'll be back in a couple of days, I hope…but try not to worry, I'm sure everything will be fine. Jodie, you're the man of the house while I'm gone."

"Oh there's a laugh," Bob announced.

"Wait, Dad," Chuck said, "we're coming with you."

"What? No, no, no, you can't come, it's too dangerous," Burt said.

"But you just said all the men," Chuck pointed out.

"And," Bob added, "you might recall who came along for the rescue mission to save Jodie and Wendy-Wendy-Wendy-Wendy-Wendy!"

"Okay, fine, you two can come," Burt said, "but I'm driving."

"Fine," Bob responded as they headed down the stairs, "you drive us to the airport, I'll fly the plane."

Jessica Tate closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the bullets flying at her when the firing squad shot her. Not that it really mattered either way, she was going to die whether she saw it coming or not, but still, the sight of blood had always made her queasy, she felt nauseous even just watching those hospital soap operas.

A shot rang out, and her body stiffened.

"Ohhhhh," she moaned as she clutched her chest, "I've been hit…this is it, I'm dying."

"Open your eyes, Mrs. Tate," a familiar voice said.

"Sandy?" Jessica asked as she opened her eyes, and saw General Sandia and Private Esquivo standing there. In front of her, the six men who made up the firing squad were all sprawled on the ground.

"Did they miss?" Jessica asked.

"No," Sandia answered as he pulled a gun out of his belt, "and luckily, neither did I."

"You shot them?" Jessica asked.

"Si."

"All of them?" Jessica asked.

"Si."

She had a puzzled look on her face. "With just one bullet?"

"It passed through all of them," he answered casually.

"But…Sandy, why would you do that? You could be arrested for murder, I know, I was even though I was innocent, and my husband was, and he was, even though he was temporarily insane and couldn't help himself."

"Don't you see, Mrs. Tate?" Sandia asked. "I did it for you."

"Well that was very sweet of you, Sandy," she replied with a friendly smile, "but really, that's overdoing it a little."

"No," Sandia told her as he holstered his gun. "I did it because, I have fallen in love with you and I can't live without you."

"I see," Jessica said with a small nod, then turned to the side with a slightly panicked and confused expression on her face.

General Sandia took her hands in his and looked her in the eye and told her, "We'll go away together and we can be married."

"Oh, Sandy, I appreciate what you did, but I think flowers would be a more appropriate way to say thank you," Jessica said as she subtly pulled away from him.

"Unhand the woman I love you dog!" El Puerco said as he came through the gateway and upon the two of them.

"El!" Jessica exclaimed in surprise. "You came!"

He shrugged. "Of course I came, you think that I, Carlos Marcello David Rodriguez 'El Puerco' Valdez would let the woman he loves be executed by firing squad?"

"So, El Puerco," General Sandia folded his arms against his chest and looked the revolutionary up and down, "at last you die."

"Hold it right there, pal," Burt said as he came up behind El with his gun drawn. "If you even think of shooting El Puerco, then you'll have to shoot me too."

"And if you're going to kill El and Burt, you'll have to kill me too," Danny said as he came up behind Burt.

"Just go ahead and try to shoot all of them," Billy said as he came onto the scene with an automatic rifle in his hands. "Do that and you'll have to answer to General Bill Tate."

"Billy!" Jessica ran over to her son and hugged him around the gun, "Billy, I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Mom," he said simply.

Jessica pulled back and said, "And my goodness, you look so grown up."

"Mom, I am grown up," Billy said.

"Oh yes, that's probably why," she replied with a gleeful smile.

"Get away from my wife you dog of a pig!" Chester Tate yelled at General Sandia as he brought up the rear.

"Hey!" El turned towards him, "I told you before I am the pig, you don't insult me!"

"Oh shut up," Chester shoved him, "you stole my wife! I ought to just shoot you both!"

"We still have a duel to tend to," El reminded him.

Chester turned to the side and grimaced. "Oh yeah." He turned back and stuck his gun in El's stomach. "I could shoot you know though and we wouldn't have to bother with that."

Dutch came up behind Chester and pulled him off of El. "Hey knock it off, big guy, we got bigger problems to worry about right now."

"Oh yeah? Name one," Chester remarked smugly.

"How about I kill you first?" General Sandia asked as he took his gun out again.

"That would do it," Chester answered as he tried to step behind Dutch.

Jessica smiled and clasped her hands together and said fondly, "Awww, boys, it was so sweet of all of you to come visit me but it really wasn't necessary."

"That's what you think," Bob said as he and Chuck came from around a corner and joined the others wearing matching sets of fatigues with matching streaks of shoe polish under their eyes. Bob turned his head to Jessica. "Do you have any idea what it's like flying a Gulfstream jet from Connecticut to Malaguay?"

"What the hell is that?" General Sandia asked.

The Major marched through the gateway and screamed at Sandia, "Get away from my daughter you South Pacific bastard!"

"Daddy!" Jessica's eyes got big and she ran over to her father and put her arms around him. "You came too?"

"Of course I came," he answered. He looked at Jessica and told her, "You will always be my little girl, and I'll always be there for you."

Jessica felt her eyes sting with tears. "Thank you, Daddy."

"Now let's get in the tank and head over to Berlin," he said.

Jessica groaned under her breath and rolled her eyes. She turned towards El Puerco and asked, "But El, I don't understand, I mean I knew if you didn't show up before my execution you must've had a good reason for it, although I confess I'm not sure how many other pressing engagements could've been more important than me being shot at sunrise, but still, what took you so long to get here? Sandy gave you 36 hours to get here and it didn't take that long when we flew here from Connecticut the first time."

El nodded and answered, "Yes, Jess, but we couldn't land in Malaguay because there's still fallout from the revolution, so we had to land on a neighboring island and take three boats over and those waves were something else!"

The ground shook and everybody about fell to the ground at the sound of a loud explosion nearby.

"Kind of like that but without the big boom," El said, then made a shocked face.

"What's that?" Jessica asked.

One final person stepped through the gate.

"Saunders!"

The butler stepped over to General Sandia and balanced on the balls of his feet as he told the communist, "That was your headquarters, I would strongly advise that you surrender."

"Saunders!" Jessica exclaimed in disbelief, "you blew up Sandy's headquarters?"

"Mrs. Tate, I wasn't trained in guerilla warfare for nothing," the butler smiled slightly but assuredly.

"Alright," Sandia leaned over and murmured something to Private Esquivo and they both threw down their guns and put their hands up. "I will surrender, but only on one condition."

"What's that?" Burt asked.

Sandia threw himself down at Jessica's feet and hugged her legs through her skirt. "Marry me, Jessica, please."

El came over yelling at the man in Spanish and then told him, "Jess is marrying me."

"You're both wrong," Chester tried to get between them, "she's going to remarry me."

"Here we go again," Saunders dryly noted with a small roll of his eyes.

Dutch pushed his way to the front and was doubled over bawling again as he clutched two handfuls of the expensive fabric of Jessica's dress and told her, "Don't ever leave us again, Jess, I couldn't take it if anything happened to you."

"Excuse me, excuse me," Burt tried to get between everybody but was drowned out by their bickering, he jumped up and yelled at everyone, "EXCUSE ME!", which silenced the others and had them all take a step away from one another. "Now, call me crazy, but I got an idea. Why don't we all just get back on the plane, go back to Connecticut, and continue this conversation there?"

Everybody looked around at one another and silently shrugged and nodded in agreement.

"Good, now let's get out of here before someone starts shooting at us," Burt said, and nodded his head back the way they came.

"Oh this is so exciting," Jessica said as everybody walked out of there single-file. "I can't wait to tell Mary all about it."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Bob nagged as he and Chuck fell in behind the others, "meanwhile, what's a guy gotta do to get some black coffee around here? We still got a 10 hour flight to get back home to Connecticut and I'm exhausted."

"We should've packed some NoDoz," Chuck suggested.

Bob shook his head, "Oh I hate those things, they make me jittery, last time I shook myself all to pieces!"

Mary was in the kitchen walking back and forth from the fridge to the table to the stove, putting on the coffee, starting breakfast for the family, when the back door opened and Jessica came in carrying a book.

"Mary, I've got it!" she announced.

"Got what?" Mary asked.

"Mother's old diary," Jessica said.

Mary blinked. "What are you talking about, Jessica?"

"Well now that Sandy and Private Esquivo are staying with us at the house, we had to get another room fixed up for them to stay in, and while we were clearing the storage out of the attic, I found a box with some of Mother's old things, including her diary, see?" she held up an antique leather-bound book.

"What's Mother's diary got to do with anything?" Mary wanted to know.

"Well listen to this," Jessica flipped through the pages and found the section she wanted. "'Mary has begun speaking whole sentences at six months.'"

"What?" Mary asked.

Jessica nodded. "Mother wrote about us in her diary, you were already talking before you could walk…let me see, there's something else…" she flipped a couple pages ahead and resumed reading, "'Jessica still has not started to crawl at almost eight months. I took her to the doctor, who can find no physical explanation, but he fears that Jessica may be'…what's this word, Mary?"

Mary leaned over and read, "Retarded."

"'Retarded'," Jessica repeated, then lifted her gaze and stared straight ahead with a confused expression on her face.

Mary shook her head in confusion of her own. "Jessica, I don't get it, what's this have to do with anything?"

"Well you see, Mary? You started talking early, I crawled late…that proves there's nothing wrong with Scotty, none of the children in our family ever did the things they were supposed to at the ages they were supposed to do them, so you see Scotty's actually just normal."

"Jessica, Scotty flies."

"You got him on tape?" Jessica asked eagerly.

Mary shook her head, "No…he's too smart to do it when the camera's on or we're in the room."

"Well Mary, even if he does fly, that's not proof that he's an alien," Jessica said. "After all Corrine's baby was born possessed and she was only pregnant for three months…think about it, Mary, three months, Scotty's got nothing on little Timmy."

"But Timmy became normal after the exorcism," Mary pointed out. "What is it going to take for Scotty to be normal?"

"Well Mary, you must remember the members of the Gatling family have never really been known for being normal," Jessica said.

Mary's eyes looked up as she thought out loud, "So it is the family curse."

"Oh, Mary," Jessica told her sister, "when you get down to it, it doesn't really matter if Scotty's an alien or not, all that matters is that you love him."

"I do, Jessica, but I'm terrified," Mary said. "If he can fly and move furniture at one, what will he do when he's five, 10? He can already fly, I'll never be able to catch him to spank him when he's bad. Besides, there's something else to worry about."

"What's that?" Jessica asked.

Mary looked at her with eyes full of despair as she asked, "What if the alien Burt tries to come back for him? They kidnapped Burt once, what if they took him again? What if they took any of us? Or all of us? And what if they try to take Scotty away from me?"

Jessica shook her head with a determined expression on her face. "Oh, Mary, that will never happen."

"How do you know?" Mary asked.

"Simple," Jessica said with a hint of a smug laugh. "The devil himself didn't stand a chance against us…what're a few silver aliens going to do against the mad Gatlings?"

Mary stood there in a blank pause for a few seconds before she blinked and broke out laughing. She hugged her sister and told her, "Oh, I'm so glad you're home, Jessica. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Oh," Jessica patted her hand on Mary's that was clapped against her shoulder, "you'd be fine. You were always the strong one, Mary, that's why you've been able to get through everything that's happened: Burt killing your first husband, Jodie being gay, Danny being in the mob, Jodie wanting to be a woman, the mob trying to kill Danny, Jodie attempting suicide, Jodie getting Carol pregnant, Danny marrying Elaine, Elaine being murdered, Burt having an affair, Burt being kidnapped by the aliens, his clone is sleeping with you…"

"Now I'm depressed," Mary said.

"Oh, don't worry, Mary," Jessica told her, "you and Burt were able to get through all of that, the two of you will be able to handle raising a flying baby."

"I hope so," Mary replied, then thought, "what about you? What're you going to do with El and Sandia wanting you to marry them?"

"Well, Mary," Jessica said in a tone that indicated she'd done a lot of thinking about it, "I've been trying to figure that out…on one hand, Chester wants me to take him back, and I was married to him for a long time, and he is the father of my children…except Corrine of course…but I could never take him back, there's just no way to rebuild that trust. I tried, God knows I've tried, but I just can't, because every time Chester breaks that trust all over again."

Mary made a sound of agreement in her throat and nodded.

"I've had a long time to think about what's going on in my home," Jessica said, "especially while I was waiting to be executed…you know, after I died in the hospital and recovered, I realized I had a second chance…and I was almost shot by a firing squad, so I got a second second chance, and I feel like there's something I need to do with it...although I haven't quite figured out what it should be yet, but I've decided once I do, I'm going to clean house." Her eyebrows raised and arched as if to emphasize the last part of the sentence as she nodded to herself.

"This house is crazier than the one I left," Benson said to himself as he closed the door behind him to the kitchen, "I said that when I first got here, and it's only getting worse."

The kitchen door opened again and Gretchen Kraus, the governor's cook, exclaimed, "Benson, I have been looking all over for you!"

Without even turning around Benson replied in a deadpan ton, "What a coincidence, Kraus, because I have not been looking for you." He turned to face the German woman and asked, "What do you want?"

"You have a visitor."

"A visitor, here? Me?" Benson asked. "Who?"

"A woman."

"More reporters? Sic the dogs on them," Benson told her.

"Benson, it's not a reporter," the woman who bore a slight resemblance in physical appearance and voice to the Gatlings' former Swedish maid, Ingrid Svenson, replied.

"Oh alright," Benson groaned, "just show her in and then get out of here."

He turned his back to the door again and muttered half under his breath, "it just never ends around here, the governor gets death threats, the press won't shut up about us being at that bordello, governor and I go to Katie's boarding school, security thinks we're burglars, I fall asleep and the governor takes a wrong turn and drives us clear out of state, then backs the car into a giant concrete dinosaur restaurant and we got to take a tow truck home." He sighed and shook his head, "Some days I swear I wish I was still working for the Tates."

"We did have some good times then, didn't we, Benson?"

Benson nodded, "Yeah we sure di—"

Benson's jaw dropped and his eyes bulged. He turned around and saw Jessica standing behind him.

"Oh my God," he said, "Mrs. Tate, is that you? Is it really you?"

"Well of course, Benson, who else would it be?" Jessica asked.

Benson's eyes got even bigger as he ran his hands across his face. He stepped over towards her, "Are you really here, Mrs. Tate?"

"Of course, Benson, if I wasn't here you could talk to me," she said.

Benson choked on a breath and told her, "Mrs. Tate, you were here a few days ago."

Jessica shook her head, "No, Benson, a few days ago I was in Malaguay."

"I know but…" Benson told her, "you were here…nobody else could see or hear you, just me, and you told me that you were in a coma somewhere in South America."

"Really?" Jessica's eyebrows pressed together in a puzzled expression as she said, "I don't remember that. And I should think I'd remember if I was in a coma in South America because I remember being in a coma at the hospital after I died."

"It don't matter," Benson said, then he heaved in an unsteady breath and felt his cheeks, "I feel like all the color's running out of my face."

"Oh no, Benson," Jessica shook her head, "no, you're still black."

"Oh my God, Mrs. Tate, it is so good to see you," Benson took another step towards Jessica and hugged her.

"It's good to see you too, Benson," Jessica told him as she hugged him in response.

"But," Benson pulled back, "what're you doing here?"

"Well I wanted to see you, and I also needed to ask your advice," Jessica said. "Can we get a cup of coffee?"

"Sure, but I'll make it, you don't want to taste nothing that Kraus makes," Benson answered.

Benson and Jessica sat at the kitchen table and Jessica brought Benson up to speed on what had been happening since he'd been to visit her in the hospital.

"One thing about it, Mrs. Tate," Benson said, "there's sure never a dull moment with you. I wish I'd known about the Malguay rescue, I would've come with them. But…Mrs. Tate, what're you doing here?"

"Well I wanted to get your opinion," she answered. "I mean I know I could've asked for Saunders' opinion and I'm sure he'd have one because he's actually there and he has to cook and clean for whoever is still staying at the house, but I don't think his opinion would've been like your opinion because you were there for a lot more years than Saunders was and you know the whole family better than he does…"

"And I know you better than he does," Benson added.

The redheaded woman nodded helplessly.

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing, Benson?" Jessica asked.

"I can tell you what I think…but I'm not there, you have to live with it, so it has to be your decision," he said. "But don't take Mr. Tate back, you don't need that heartache."

Jessica nodded. "It's just so confusing figuring out what to do. I divorced Chester, but I let him stay in the pool house, I wanted to keep him near the house because he is Billy's father and a boy needs his father."

"Mrs. Tate," Benson interjected, "Billy's a grown man now, the days of him actually needing his father are long since over…and besides, Mr. Tate wasn't there for Billy when he did need him, I was…I raised that boy, I taught him everything he needs to know."

"You know, you're right, Benson," Jessica slowly realized, "so in a way you're really Billy's father."

Benson smirked and said in a deadpan tone, "Damn straight, Darth Vader ain't got nothing on me, I was the black father to a white boy first."

"Well this certainly does change things," Jessica said as she put a finger to her lip as she thought.

"Mrs. Tate, I know you, and I know whatever decision you make will be the right one," Benson told her.

Jessica merely nodded in silent agreement. Then she responded, "I think you're right…it's going to be hard for a lot of people involved…but I have to do what I think is right."