By: Phaedra Phelan

June, 2005

E-mail: PrissyBNY@aol.com

PG Rated

 

Summary: It is 2003 and the Steele’s are dealing with family issues on several fronts as well as solving a mystery that involves their own family.

 

 

A week later George Harrelson was released from the hospital and Joanna went to get him and drive him home to his apartment.  He was still mending, but because of his youth, he was rebounding surprisingly well from the brutal beating he had suffered.

“Thank you for driving me home, Joanna,” he said and he pulled himself out of the car somewhat stiffly.

“I wanted to be here . . . to help you, George.”

They went into his apartment, a simple studio with the normal clutter of a college student.

“You straightened my apartment.” George looked at his neatly made bed and his other possessions carefully arranged.

“I wanted to do it.”

“I’m sorry it isn’t such a great place, Jo.”  He had started calling her Jo when he was in the hospital and it somehow felt good.

“It’s all right.  It’s yours.”

“Yes, it’s mine.”

They stood awkwardly facing one another for a long moment.

As George stared at the lovely brown-haired girl in front of him, he blushed.  The more he had been in close contact with Joanna, the more he had realized that he did indeed love her.  He could not remember that ill-fated moment when he had impregnated her, but he knew that he cared for her.  Now, seeing her with her hair down on her shoulders, her slender figure in a sundress printed with tiny rosebuds all over, her gently swelling belly evident, he was overwhelmed.  He had never been with a girl before that night at the party, and though his mind could not recall the incident, his body was remembering and was about to embarrass him with its readiness.

“I’m feeling something very deep for you, Joanna.  I don’t want you to misunderstand, to be offended.  I have never felt this way toward anyone.”

Joanna stepped closer to him and drew his arms around her and his passions immediately asserted themselves.

“Jo, forgive me.  I can’t help myself when I’m this close to you.”

Joanna did not step back, but moved even closer to him.

“I feel the same thing, George.”

Their mouths touched lightly, both of them keeping their lips carefully closed at first. When Joanna’s lips suddenly parted, George hungrily possessed her mouth in a passionate kiss that went on and on till they were both lost in each other.

“Joanna, I love you so much.  God! I am so sorry about what happened.” He kissed Joanna over and over on her face and neck and on her bare shoulders. 

“I love you too, George.  I do love you!” Joanna cried, throwing her arms around him.

“I have nothing to offer you but myself.  I have nothing, Joanna.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Would you live in a place like this with me?”

“I would live anywhere with you.  Let me show you.”

Joanna gently disengaged herself from George and walked over to the single bed in the corner of the room.  She turned back the covers and then she slipped the sundress over her head and stood before him in just her panties.

“Does this belong to you?” she said holding her hands around her small round pregnant belly.

“I pray to God that it is mine,” George said fervently.

“Then it’s yours, yours and mine, George, no matter whose DNA it carries.  Do you understand what I am saying?”

“Yes! Yes, Jo.”

In just a step he was next to her again, embracing her, kissing her tenderly, almost reverently, and then so passionately that they were both breathless.

“I don’t ever want you to forget this afternoon, George.  And I want to remember it every day of my life.”

“God, I love you, Jo!”

Later, they lay dazed and speechless in George’s narrow bed.  They needed no more words. They belonged to each other and they would remember this encounter for as long as they lived.

* * * * * *

Summer came and the second Saturday in August Joanna and George were to be married at McCullum Park. But on the Friday before the wedding was to take place Remington and Laura received a visit from an official of the Department of Homeland Security at the Remington Steele Agency, a Mr. Wilfred Wright.

It had been a hectic week for all concerned. The preparations had been finalized and arrangements made for everything to be done in an understated by elegant manner. Weddings Unlimited was handling everything and Laura felt secure with the major issues in the hands of Jocelyn Walters and her team.  But suddenly as Mr. Wright unfolded the possible scenario facing them, everything seemed to unravel before Laura.

“You, Mr. Steele, are well aware that we apprehended Ziad Hassan a couple of months ago in connection with the crime perpetrated against your daughter and George Harrelson earlier this year.  With the new Security Act we were able to proceed to have Hassan deported back to Jordan.”

“That’s good news,” Remington said.

“Well, things don’t always work as they should.  Ziad Hassan was being transferred into Federal custody two days ago and slipped through our hands, escaped.”

Laura’s hands flew to her face.

“You have not located him?” she asked.

“There was an informant, a cell mate, who, despite his life of crime, felt an obligation to divulge certain pertinent information.”

“What information?” Remington’s eyes were like blue steel as he focused on the agent’s words.

“Seems this Hassan had some sort of screwball idea that since he, uh, was the first with your daughter, that she belongs to him, that this fellow Harrelson has no right to have her. Somehow he heard that they were getting married and it sent him over the edge apparently.”

“Sent him over the edge!” Laura exclaimed as Remington caught her hand and tried to calm her.

“He said that he was going to get out and find her and take her back to Jordan. He says that the baby she’s carrying is his, belongs to him according to Muslim law, even if she doesn’t want him. This is a new brand of fanaticism we’re dealing with these days, Mr. and Mrs. Steele.”

“From all accounts Hassan was the one who deflowered my daughter. That much is true. But Jack Steuben said that all the blokes were using condoms except Harrelson. Harrelson was also drugged when it happened. And besides all that, it is irrelevant that Hassan wants Joanna. She doesn’t want him under any circumstances, and she is not having him.  She and Harrelson realize that only DNA will establish finally whose child she is carrying, but that is not of significance in the decision they have made to marry.”

“But you can see what we’re dealing with here. We think that probably the wedding would be the likely time Hassan would try to make the snatch. He could have all kind of help with the connections he has.”

“What can we do? The wedding is planned already.  If we change the plans, then we are still sitting ducks, waiting for these people to strike,” Laura said.

“But if we allow things to proceed, we are possibly placing everyone in the family in danger. These people are quite irrational when they want something.”  Remington sat for a long moment, head bowed, slender fingertips arching together, and then finally lifted his head up again.  “This must be over, completely over, so that these young people can go on with their lives.”

“I agree,” Laura said.  “But how can we protect our family?”

“We cannot. It is as simple as that. They have us at a disadvantage here. We are highly visible and they are not.  Mr. Wright, what plan would you have in place at McCullum Park?”

“We could stake the place out. If they know it’s going to be there, they have a number of options open to them.”

“I would try a helicopter . . . if I were going to attempt a snatch of this sort, wouldn’t you?”

“Why, yes, Mr. Steele. That would be a distinct possibility.”

“Damn it, Mr. Wright! You can see my wife is pregnant! My daughter is pregnant! My daughter-in-law is pregnant!  There are numerous children of all ages involved. My uncle and his wife and my wife’s mother, the oldest members of our family are going to be present. I cannot chance any of these being in harm’s way!” Remington was furious.

“I can appreciate your position.  That is why I am here.  But what is the alternative? If Hassan has attached himself to some terrorist cell, then none of you are safe.  Let us do our job.”

“I was in the North Twin Tower on September 11, 2001, Mr. Wright, and I barely escaped with my life. You are talking to a man who knows this kind of danger only too well.  My wife and I will have to discuss this further. I will get back to you first thing tomorrow morning.”

“We will listen for your call, Steele.”  The agent extended his hand and the two men shook hands before as he took his leave.

As the door closed behind him, Remington picked up the phone and called the new apartment George had found for himself and Joanna. It was just two blocks from where Jonathan and Ileana lived. Joanna had been spending a lot of time there unpacking and setting up things, and with George.

“George, Remington Steele here. Joanna is there with you?”

George looked over at Joanna curled up in the bed, fast asleep.

“Yes . . . yes sir. She’s here. Would you like to speak with her?”

“No, actually this is something that you are going to have to do, son.  A situation has developed that could be potentially dangerous for her and I have to have her where she can be protected.”

George’s heart sank and began to pound at the same time.

“Are you there, son?”

“Yes sir, I’m here.”

“For the moment I want you to come down here to my office. Bring whatever things you will need between now and the wedding. I am sending Fred with the limo to help you. We have to get you to a safe house.”

“Yes sir, we’ll be ready.”

George hung up the phone and went to waken Joanna.  The thought that she might be in danger terrified him.  Since becoming involved with her, the late-blooming George had felt the full impact of loving a woman and he was consumed with his feelings. The young mathematician who had maintained a single focus to his life now found himself constantly bombarded with passionate urges as his manhood had come suddenly upon him full force.

“Joanna, honey,” George whispered to her as he lay down next to her and embraced her, kissing her all over her face to waken her.

“George . . .” Joanna welcomed him into her arms.

“I just got a call from your dad. We’re going to have to pull out of here right now.  We are in some danger.”

Joanna started to cry and put her hands to her belly as if to protect her unborn child.

“Don’t cry, Jo. We’ve got to get these things together now. Your dad’s driver is coming for us within the hour and we are going to a safe house.”

Joanna sat up on the side of the bed and rested her head upon his shoulder. She and George had spent such a passionate morning together that, in spite of her youth, she was still exhausted. Now she had to rise to the present needs.  George bent his head to kiss her tenderly on her lips and Joanna clung to him.

“I love you, George . . . so much.”

“And I love you. I just want to be married to you.  I know your parents don’t really approve of us being together . . . like this . . . and I just want us to be able to hold our heads up as man and wife.  I’m really a conservative sort of guy, Joanna.  And I respect you. I want you to know that I have the greatest respect for you.  But since we addressed our feelings, and, and knowing that you are having our baby, I have just been unable to control myself.  I need you, and I know that you need me.”

“I don’t know myself anymore, George.” Joanna blushed deeply. “Coming over here all the time, getting into your bed, I never dreamed that I could be like this.  I’m sorry. I was coming to help you finish unpacking and see where we ended up.”

“We always end up like that now, Jo.  We have to face the fact that we are in love and that the physical part has just taken us over.  I see you and you drive me crazy with wanting you.”

“I shouldn’t have been so forward.  I started it.  I should have held back.”

“Don’t . . . don’t think that way.  If you had not started it, I would have started it that day, that first time when you came home with me. I see you . . . so shy and timid most of the time, and then when we get together, you change completely. I love you both ways, Jo.  And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

They hugged each other and then forced themselves to the task at hand, quickly packing George’s necessary things together into a couple of suitcases.  The majority of his belongings were still in a few boxes that they had already moved into their apartment. 

George had been working full time as a computer repairman and had managed to rent the small apartment.  He insisted that he use only his money for this and had taken a year off from school to get his life with Joanna on track. Remington and Laura had let him carry out his plan without interference, even though they wanted to step in an manage things, realizing how important it would be for the future of their marriage that he handle his affairs in a responsible fashion.

Remington and Laura also knew that George and Joanna had become intimate. Joanna carefully avoided breaking house rules against carrying on blatant sexual activity in the household with the full knowledge of her younger siblings, but the change in her was obvious.  In spite of her basically quiet and shy disposition, it was evident that a powerful sexual awakening had taken place in her and they had been forced to accept that for the fact that it was.

* * * * * *

Remington and Laura sat quietly for a long time after his call to George Harrelson.  They both realized that the possibility of a kidnap attempt of Joanna was a serious matter.

“It is one day before the wedding, Remy. What can we do at this point in time? All of the relatives are here. Everything is arranged. But safety, security becomes the issue.”

“I don’t think that we can stave this thing off by postponing the wedding.  And besides, George and Joanna appear to be going at it hot and heavy. I don’t think we are helping them by postponing the marriage.  Actually I have been quite perturbed at the situation, Laura. I know Joanna has been through a terrible experience and I don’t want to throw her completely into his arms by speaking so harshly.”

“Well, you’re late. They’re past our stopping them. You see how different she is, the confidence and self-awareness. I see that she has apparently inherited her birth mother’s passionate nature.  We shouldn’t be surprised really, should we?”

“Well, I want her to be confident and self-aware, but I want that self-confidence to be based on more than the use of her arse by a bloke who has just barely figured what to do with his equipment. I know they’re screwing quite regularly and I think it’s damned cheeky of him.”

“It’s true. But why use such terminology, Remy? Must you be so crude? They’re making love, having sex.”

“Laura, it remains to be seen whether they are in fact ‘making love.’ He hasn’t suffered enough for the want of her to know how to make love to her.  Look at us!  When I first met you, I would have gladly taken you to bed, but I wouldn’t have called that ‘making love’ to you. I suffered for the need of you and the want of you and when we did get together, it was no mere physical act of sexual release we shared.  We made <ilove,/i> and you know it.”

“Yes, I know we did.  And we do.” Laura smiled. “And you are an amazing man. Will I ever know all there is to know, Remy?”

“Laura, I just don’t want her to miss out on the real thing because she thinks that the only thing of value she possesses is her tail.”

Remington sighed and reached for Laura’s hand and held it for a long time before he spoke again.

“Laura, imagine that we are at that wedding and the attempt comes. You are in your seventh month. How do I protect you? How do I protect our children?”

Remington drew Laura close, catching her hips with his hands, pulling her full belly up against his hard firm midsection, his blue eyes full of his concern for her.

“Please, Rem, don’t hold me like this.  You know I can’t think straight when you do.”

Remington relaxed his embrace and shook his head acknowledging the truth of her statement.

“I think we should put them in your old place. They should be safe there.  When they get here, we can put them into a van and have them taken out there. No one should be able to trail them.”

“Then we will have to tell everybody that there is some situation, without telling them everything,” Laura added. “I’ll contact Jocelyn Walters and let her know that we have more than just the normal wedding to prepare for tomorrow.”

“At least we are having just people that are family or very close so everyone should know everyone else there. It should be difficult for a stranger to penetrate that.”

“Hopefully.”  Remington sat down and drew Laura down onto his lap and kissed her tenderly as his hand wandered to the buttons of the loose white maternity blouse she wore over a short black skirt that showed off her great legs. She was at seven months and suddenly her belly was growing very rapidly.

“Do we have time for this now?” Laura whispered.

“Give me this, darling. It is the only reality after all, isn’t it? You and I . . . together, what we have produced . . . together, what we are producing . . . together.”

As her blouse fell open, Remington released her breasts from their confinement and found their softness, kissing them, suckling them as his hand caressed the fullness of her belly. Laura caught her hands in his dark hair as she accepted him.  They were both overcome as their need encompassed everything else that was happening around them at that moment. 

“Darling, I need you so today,” Remington murmured, and when he lifted his head, his eyes were full.

“You know that I am here for you, for us.”

“I am so fearful of anything happening to any one of us. That boy George and our lovely Joanna are just finding out about this wonderful man/woman thing . . . and Jonathan and Ileana maturing as passionate young lovers together. I don’t ever want to lose you and this we have between us.”

Laura sensed his need and loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt.

“Come with me and let me take care of you,” she said, sliding from his lap and leading him by the hand to the room they often used for moments like this in the back of their office.  “Everyone is out to lunch.”

Laura loosened Remington’s tie, unbuttoned his shirt, and unfastened his slacks. 

“Lie down, Mr. Steele,” Laura said as she shed her clothes for him.

“God, you are beautiful with your belly so full,” Remington said as he watched her carefully hang up their clothes before giving her full attention to him.

When Laura climbed onto him, his eyes filling suddenly with tears at the realization of what they had together.

“Didn’t you say this was the only reality, darling?” Laura asked as she took him.

When Laura awakened after their noontime tryst, Remington was gone from her side.  She lay for a while, collecting herself.

<i>What am I going to do with this man except give him what he needs whenever he wants it? And when he’s in pain, he seems to want even more than usual.  I thought when he turned fifty, he would slow down, but it isn’t happening. And I’m shocked at myself . . . needing him as much as he needs me. Pregnant . . . facing menopause, I still crave him just as much as I ever did.</i>

When Laura pulled herself together and went back into the office to face the rest of the day, she found Remington on the phone with Jocelyn Walters, letting her know the situation they now faced at the wedding that was planned for the following afternoon.  He was himself again . . . handsome, full of energy, a far cry from the man who had cried upon her bosom earlier.

“Darling, I’m glad you’re back from your . . . nap,” he said with a wink and a tender smile. “I just finished with Jocelyn Walters. She is up for the challenge. Her security system will be in full gear. All her people will be wearing blue wristbands with white dots. And she will give each <ibona fide/i> guest a white wristband with blue dots. So anyone we don’t know who happens to be missing a blue white-dotted or white blue-dotted wristband is a possible suspect.”

“Good idea!  At least we’ll know who’s who. Did you happen to call Lieutenant Woodley?”

“As a matter of fact I did. Mildred got in touch with him. He will have an LAPD S.W.A.T. team out there. That is in addition to the Federal people.”

At that moment George Harrelson and Joanna arrived and Mildred brought them into Remington’s office.

“George, you are about to understand what it means to take care of your woman.  I wish it were a different scenario, but we don’t get to choose these battles.”

“What is it, sir?  You know how I feel about your daughter.”

“I do know that you and Joanna have been managing to regularly get together in intimate fashion despite my and her mother’s urgings to the contrary.  But we are trying to understand your situation and we at this point simply want you to be happily married.”

“Rem, I believe it’s too late for this conversation,” Laura interjected. “George, he can’t help being the protective father. But that is not why we had you come down here.  That fellow, Hassan, has escaped from government custody and we got a tip that he might try to disrupt your wedding tomorrow.”

“Disrupt my wedding!” Joanna exclaimed.

“By kidnapping you, Joanna,” Remington said gently. “He thinks that you might be carrying his child, and because he was . . . the first on that unfortunate evening, he thinks that you somehow belong to him. He would like to carry you off to Jordan and claim your child as his own.”

Joanna started to shake uncontrollably and George took her into his arms.

“Mr. Steele, what are we going to do?”

“We are not going to chance anything happening to Joanna. But we have to draw these people out or you will be lookin’ over your shoulder for the next twenty years. You have to follow instructions to the letter. I have a plan.”

  Laura’s brows registered her surprise that Remington’s mood had changed so completely from earlier when he was despairing of any solution.

“For now I want you to go to Laura’s old apartment. We keep it as a safe house these days. Once you go in there, don’t go out of the apartment for any reason. We will have your things there later tonight, Joanna.”

“My wedding dress . . .”

“Everything, lovey. Now I don’t imagine that you and George will have difficulty finding somethin’ to do this evening.”

“Mr. Steele . . . sir, I’m truly sorry to have caused this trouble for your family.”

“Your family now, George. And you can figure out something else to call me besides ‘Mr. Steele’ since you are marrying my daughter tomorrow. Joanna, would you mind excusing yourself while George and I have a word here?”

“Dad . . . please,” Joanna objected.

“I’ll warrant that you don’t want to hear what I am going to say to George. Go with your mother into the other office if you don’t mind.”

Joanna obediently followed Laura and they left Remington and George facing one another.

“Sir . . .”

“No, George, I called this little chat. These are the last words that we will have man-to-man before you legally claim my daughter. This whole episode has been extremely trying for Laura and myself.  I really did not want you as a husband for Joanna. I hope that you understand that.  But I was overruled.”

“Sir . . .”

“Don’t say anything, George. You have hardly attempted to conceal the fact that you have been regularly . . . using my daughter. I have tried to understand the extenuating circumstances, but I want you to know that I have not appreciated it in the least.  I realize that you grew up without a father to school you in the treatment of women and so I want to give you a bit of advice before you officially take my daughter’s hand.”

George Harrelson sat with his head bowed, as if waiting for the blows from Remington Steele to rain upon him.

“Look at me when I talk to you, son,” Remington commanded.

George slowly raised his head and his eyes met Remington’s steely blue gaze.

“If you take my daughter, you’d better be bloody well ready to be faithful to her.  She made the decision to allow you to take liberties with her, but you are a man.  You should have exercised more self-restraint and given her the opportunity to make her decision without sexual pressure being the determining factor.”

“You never forbade us to . . .”

“I shouldn’t have had to, George. You should have understood that.”

“I’m truly sorry.  I didn’t realize . . .”

“If I ever hear that you have hurt our Joanna in any way . . . emotionally or physically, I will come after you and beat the literal crap out of you. You’d better be damned sure that this is the only woman you will put your prick in for as long as she lives, or you can just walk out of here right now and we will take care of her as we have always done.  Do you understand me, young man?”

“Yes sir, I understand. I promise you I’ll take care of Joanna. I guess I just didn’t realize. My dad left when I was only three. No one ever sat down and talked to me about being a man like this, about sexual things.  When this thing happened to me . . . my feelings for Joanna . . . it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had fantasized about her for a long time and when, when she happened to me, I lost it. I know that I love her. I will die before I let anything happen to her, or to that baby she is carrying.”

“We hope that doesn’t have to happen. But I wanted you to know where I stand. It’s up to you to prove to me that you’re the man that Joanna deserves. I don’t ever want her coming to us saying that she is not being cared for sexually by you.  Here is a list of books, required reading for any man who plans to maintain the interest of his woman for more than a short while.  If you are somewhat well-endowed, it may not be as important, but if you are less well-endowed, it is paramount to have this knowledge. Keeping a woman’s interest for a few weeks or months is completely different from maintaining that interest for years and years, George. Are you following me?”

“Yes, sir.  Thank you.  I appreciate your taking the time . . . to speak to me on this.  I have no one to ask these things.  I have no experience.  And I do want to please Jo . . . more than anything.”

“Well, if you ever have need of more information, I’m here.  For now go on over to the apartment and wait for further instructions.”

George stood up to leave and moved to clasp Remington’s hand, but his eyes filled and he fell upon the older man’s neck in tears.