RhondaAnn – Thanks for reading.
Destinyc – Maria is an adult and is living her life with the man she loves. She is happy and she doesn’t need her father.
Cjsl8ne – Thanks, we’ll do our best.
Cassie – Glad that you like the story. But it’s almost over.
Spacegirl23 – Thanks for reading
Author’s Note: This is the last part of “Guerin & Deluca”. “The Lost Child” will be returning next Saturday.
Epilogue
Michael stood back to survey the shelves that he had just finished building on the dreaded purple wall, admiring their pure natural pine coloring. They looked perfectly fine like that, he thought, wondering if he could get away with leaving them unpainted.
“The answer to your question is no,” Maria said as she sailed past him on her way to the kitchen to check on dinner.
“What question?”
“Make them purple, Spaceboy.”
He glanced at her over his shoulder and then back at the shelves. “I think they look kinda good like this, Maria… y’know, with the,” he swallowed hard, “purple wall kinda accenting them in the background.”
“Good try, but it’s not gonna work.” She closed the oven door and placed the oven mitt on the counter before adjusting the temperature and walking into the living area. “You agreed to the shelves being purple.”
“Yeah, but, you weren’t playin’ fair, Maria… I wasn’t exactly in a position to say no at the time.”
Maria smirked as she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his chest. She could feel his heart begin to pound at her nearness and she pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “You wanna negotiate?”
He growled low in his throat when her right hand slid down over his stomach and she grazed her fingernail over his zipper. “Negotiate, huh?” Hell, yeah, he could negotiate!
Maria popped the snap on his jeans, her fingertips teasing his skin, and she bit back a grin when he made a sound of agreement. He sucked at negotiating! “Purple shelves first,” she said, taking a step back from him. “Then we can do whatever you want.”
“Purple shelves,” he muttered derisively. But, he could always change them back later. He touched his forefinger to the wall behind the shelves and then touched each shelf, watching the color slowly creep along until every inch of the beautiful pine was covered in the hideous shade of purple. “Okay, my part’s done,” he said as he scooped her up and carried her over to the couch, brushing Siam out of the way before dropping her on the cushions and pouncing.
He shoved the kitten away when he tried to climb up the side of the couch, congratulating himself on his ability to multi-task as he managed to rid Maria of her shirt with his other hand. He leaned back so she could get her eager hands under his tee shirt to push it up and off and he braced his hands on the cushion on either side of her as he slowly leaned down over her again. His dark eyes traced over her features as he lowered his head to kiss her but just before his lips made contact with hers a pair of tiny claws latched onto the skin of his backside and he howled at the unexpected, albeit brief, pain.
“Son of a bitch!” he snarled, pulling the kitten off of him as he came up on his knees.
“He didn’t mean it, Michael,” Maria said, trying so hard not to laugh at him.
“Told you it was gonna be a pain in my ass.” He set the kitten down on the floor, holding it still for just a few moments before he released it. He stared at it when it hissed and then laughed when it licked its fur and ran towards the kitchen.
“Are you okay?”
“That depends; are you getting ready to laugh at me?”
Maria motioned for him to join her and he glanced around before carefully lowering himself over her again. “Want me to kiss and make it better?” she asked, gently massaging the offended area.
“Maybe later.” He pressed his lips to hers in a series of soft kisses, taking his time before he deepened the kiss and settled against her more comfortably. He was working his way down her neck and heading south when a knock on the door interrupted them and he growled in frustration as he raised his head to look at the door. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?”
Maria was just getting ready to laugh at his expression when Siam darted out of the kitchen and ran across the room, chasing a tiny plastic ball with a bell inside. “Um, Michael?”
“I know,” he grumbled, “I’m gonna go answer the door.”
“Why is Siam purple?”
Michael smiled at his handiwork. “I think it’s a good look for it.”
“Him, Michael, not it. Change him back to his regular color while I go answer the door.”
Changing the kitten’s fur back to its natural color proved to be a problem because the stupid thing ran under the couch and wouldn’t come out. “Well, what am I supposed to do now?” he asked when Maria glared at him as she pulled her shirt over her head.
Before she had the opportunity to answer his question with what was sure to be a scathing response Siam ran out from under the couch and into the bathroom. Michael jumped up and pulled the bathroom door shut, satisfied that the problem had been solved for the moment. One look at his girlfriend’s face, however, told him that he was in trouble for turning their pet purple.
Maria rolled her eyes as she pulled the door open, surprised to see Kwai-Chang standing in the hallway outside of their apartment. She knew that Mrs. Wagner had met with her son earlier in the week and it had gone very well; her son was planning to bring his family for a visit in a couple of months so they could all spend some time together. For the present time, he had made plans to stop by every time he was in San Francisco for business.
“Kwai-Chang, how are you?” she greeted.
“Maria, I’m so glad you’re home,” he said with a smile. “I’m well, how are you?”
“We’re doing well, thank you.” She motioned for him to step inside and she closed the door after him. “What brings you by?”
“A new case, actually.” He shook Michael’s hand and declined an offer to have a seat. “No, but thank you, I have dinner plans and it smells like dinner is just about ready for you, too.”
“That has yet to be seen,” Michael muttered, knowing Maria was going to have plenty to say before he was allowed to eat. “So, you said somethin’ about a new case?”
Kwai-Chang was amused by the couple and it was easy to see that Michael had done something that his girlfriend disapproved of. “Yes, a case that Wen and I thought you might be able to help us with. You would be compensated, of course; we have been talking about taking on another partner, but we’re not quite ready to take that step. But, we were so impressed with you during Mr. Young’s case that we thought we might be able to persuade you to work for us part-time. Take a case every once in a while to kind of even out our caseload.”
“Like real detectives?” Maria’s eyes gleamed as she considered the possibilities. Oh, they would have so much fun! “I think that would be a wonderful opportunity, don’t you, Michael?” She looked behind her when the timer on the counter in the kitchen chimed. “Excuse me, I need to check on dinner.”
“That’s an interesting color,” Kwai-Chang said with a nod towards ‘the wall’.
“It’s many things,” Michael grumbled, “but that isn’t the first word that comes to mind.”
“Your woman has a rather distinctive flair for the unusual.”
“You have no idea.” His eyes widened when he heard Siam mewing behind him and a moment later their visitor started to laugh.
“That must be why Maria’s displeased with you,” Kwai-Chang said, shaking his head. “Dying a woman’s cat that color would piss her off.” He crouched down to scoop the kitten up, studying it as he held it cradled in both hands. “This is a Ragdoll, right?”
“Yes,” Maria answered, joining them once more, “it is a Ragdoll.” She glared at her boyfriend, carefully hiding the fact that she was grateful for Kwai-Chang’s mistaken belief that Michael had dyed the kitten’s fur. “How do you know about the breed?” she asked, accepting the kitten when he held it out to her.
“A woman I dated raised them. I don’t care for cats myself, but the Ragdoll is an especially friendly breed.”
Michael turned to look at Maria, happy with Kwai-Chang’s comment about cats. “See? I’m not the only guy in the world who doesn’t like cats.”
Maria ignored him royally. “Kwai-Chang, we would love to help you out with your case,” Maria said as she ran her hands over Siam’s purple fur.
Taking his eyes away from the strange purple cat, Kwai-Chang smiled at Maria’s answer. “Perfect, would you be able to come by the office in the next day or two so we can go over the details?” He watched the couple as they discussed their work schedules for a couple of minutes.
Maria shifted Siam to her other arm. “Would the day after tomorrow be okay?”
“Around noon? We could discuss it over lunch, perhaps?” Kwai-Chang proposed.
“That would be perfect,” Maria accepted. She had a good feeling about this. Like a new chapter of her and Michael’s lives was starting.
Once the arrangements were made, Kwai-Chang took his leave, eager to make it to his date’s house in time to pick her up.
Michael locked the door and leaned back against it, watching Maria as she paced back and forth, manically stroking the kitten’s fur with one hand. “I’ll change the color back,” he offered.
“What if he hadn’t just assumed that you had dyed Siam’s hair purple?” she asked, worried about Michael’s little stunt. The cat would get over it, now Michael on the other hand… Maria didn’t want to think about the consequences if someone had seen him using his powers. Not now, now when everything was finally falling into place and they weren’t on any secret government unit’s hit list!
Oh, hell, this wasn’t even about the stupid cat! “Maria, I was just goofin’ off and nothin’ bad happened, okay? Kwai-Chang thought I dyed its hair purple; he had no reason to suspect there was anything alien goin’ on.” He intercepted her before she could walk past him again, pulling her into his arms and happily squishing Siam between them. “Look, I won’t turn the stupid cat purple again, okay?”
Maria leaned back and shoved Siam into his hands so she could reach up to cradle his face in her palms. “Michael, I don’t wanna lose you.”
“You won’t,” he promised. “I’ll be careful.” He pressed his forefinger to her lips and shook his head. “It won’t happen again, babe.” He removed his finger and lowered his head to kiss her. “Why don’t you finish dinner and I’ll fix Siam up, good as new.”
“I love you, Michael.”
“Love you, too.” He watched her as she walked back into the kitchen and he looked down at the kitten cradled against his chest. The blue eyes were taunting as he ran his fingers over its fur, changing it back to its natural color. “Yeah,” he muttered, shaking his head at the animal, “I know, you won this round, but don’t get used to it, you little flea bag. Next one’s mine.” As soon as Siam was back to normal Michael placed the kitten on the floor and he went to wash up for dinner.
Michael walked into the tiny bathroom, scratching his head as he tried to figure out how the kitten had managed to escape. The door must’ve moved back just enough for the stupid cat to get its claws on the wood and pull on it, he mused. Huh, he’d have to fix that. He stared at his reflection over the sink as he washed up, wondering what kind of case Kwai-Chang and Wen thought he and Maria could help with.
Oh, well, there was no reason to dwell on it, he thought as he dried his hands on the towel hanging on the back of the door. They would find out soon enough. He wandered back into the living area and over to the bar that separated the kitchen from the rest of the apartment and he pulled one of the stools out, sitting on it and resting his forearms on the counter as he watched Maria moving around the kitchen, serving the food and sliding the plates onto the surface he was leaning on.
The End… For Now
Stay tuned for the next installment in the Guerin & DeLuca, P.I. series