Chapter 16

The morning came rapidly even though the night fought to stay relevant with every pop of settling wood, rustling of tumbling leaves, and shadows that appeared to creep closer with each blink. Jennifer was content and pleased with herself and the mission her and Derrick had accomplished the night before. Her mind raced to digest all the information she had gained once arriving safely back at Derrick's condo, well, her condo as well now one could suppose.

Derrick had been up for an hour or so, "Morning, want some coffee?" His eyes analyzed her face, trying not to react to the tangled hair or rheum coating the corners of her delicate eyes.

With a stretch and a pat on Max's head, "Sure. Black. Thanks." Jennifer arose from the couch, nothing but undergarments on, and not a care in the world. She wasn't trained to be shy or self-conscious, at least not in moments like this. She dug at both her eyes at the same time to clear the refuse that had settled over night. Only then did she decide to cover herself with her typical T-shirt and jeans.

Her bare feet patted over to the counter adjacent to the kitchen where she blew and then sipped at the black coffee that was enticing her senses with promises of energy and wisdom. The coffee burned as it floated down her throat, a good burn, the type of burn that made Jennifer remember what it was like to smoke her Marlboros.

The very first thing she did when she arrived in San Diego was purchase an energy drink and a pack of fresh Marlboro Original Longs. She wasn't intrigued by drugs or sex, robbing or hurting animals, Jennifer just wanted to try some things out and live her life to the fullest.

Her first drag on an Original Long was a laborious affair. Coughs and watering eyes followed with a quickness but she damn sure did commit herself to the full inhale. For a rookie, she had done well. The hit of the nicotine punched her in the brain and she landed on her ass. It was a love hate relationship from there on out until she quit halfway through the pack.

It didn't take much for the Christmas Darling to realize when she was doing wrong or how she may be hurting her body for the sake of chasing a feeling. That is how she is relatively emotion free. Jennifer can control her emotions with a monk level skillfulness. She is able to understand, reconcile, and correct her body using an unpolluted brain to stop the attack of unwanted or unneeded emotions, for the most part.

Derrick smiled and shook his head, "Not even gonna let it cool off a bit?" He was shocked at the fact that Jennifer was so matter-of-fact. Women aren't usually like that, especially when they lived with a man that could pass judgment on them at any given moment for no apparent reason.

Exhaling with a desirable satisfaction, "It's only good when it's hot. You have work today?" Her eyes had already fed her brain the information she was asking but she was truly working on her politeness. Derrick was fully dressed in his Paramedic gear, not a button out of place nor a wrinkle in sight.

Swanning his hands down his shirt, "Tada! You know it. I want you to do me a favor while I'm gone. I left the feed of the two wannabe intruders up on the computer, have a look again, see if anything stands out, will you?" Derrick was always very clean to look at. His attire and grooming were top notch and never failed to impress.

Rising from her seat to meet Max patiently waiting by her side, "Sure thing. Something seemed odd on that video last night. A familiarity. Something for sure. Take a look and rummage through it, make some notes, and we can discuss when you get home."

With an affirmative nod of the head, "Right then. I'm out. If you need anything...well, you won't. If anyone messes with you just kill 'em, yeah?" Derrick was making an attempt to be playful with his housemate. It came off as funny and absolutely silly but that didn't matter, she understood the meaning of the message.

Jennifer had already proven to Derrick and herself that she was more than capable of taking care of problems, large or small. As her paramedic exited the luxurious safe house disguised as a condo, Jennifer and Max trudged up the stairs to review the footage of the two masked intruders, or so they wanted to be known.

Immediately, as if leaping from the screen, the difference in the intruders were very apparent. One was tall and shaped like a man. His body didn't protrude in any sort of ways that a woman's body would, it was flat and slouched. He seemed tired and simply followed orders.

The other masked bandit, this one was shorter than the man by a large margin. Breasts and butt protruded out demanding to be noticed fighting against the black clothing. Jennifer knew the woman's body, she could see things about it that reminded her of how her body was built. There was something about her stance and features that really hit home with the Christmas Darling.

It wasn't until the female glanced up for a split second at the camera, that Jennifer was able to pinpoint what she was feeling boil in her lower bowels. The butterflies trickled from below her navel and fluttered up through her torso until they reached her throat, demanding to be released with a furious flurry of battering wings.

Those eyes, shit, those eyes. Jennifer knew it before her brain fully absorbed the information. It was her Mother. Using a little derivative logic, she knew the taller intruder was her Father. This time, this encounter, sent Jennifer into a different sort of mental maze.

There wasn't much in the world that would or could knock her mental stability off it's axis but it only took one thing to really push her to the edge of oblivion with nowhere to run. The drop into the abyss below seemed short but no one could judge it due to the deep richness of the black that it was made of.

Somehow, some way, Jennifer's parents had found her or at least Derrick and in their old age decided it was a good idea to try to break in during the night and risk being eviscerated by the Christmas Darling. Jennifer wouldn't even break a sweat. She thought to herself, I would definitely kill Mother first, she would be the more significant threat.

Jennifer sat, hand resting on Max's head, and continued to review footage. Aside from her parents, she watched the unmarked police car just sit across the street, idling. Not once did it move from it's spot even after sitting for six hours. No one came in and no one went out. They were a patient bunch but playing this situation slow was not the right method, not in a long shot.

Opening the internet browser, Jennifer snooped through the search history. It was filled with typical man types of sites. Guns, women, YouTube. A few things jumped from the screen, the police academy website, searches for 'The Christmas Darling', and an inquiry to a local machine shop that specializes in CNC making and design of anything you may desire. The weirder the better.

Derrick had been corresponding with this particular machinist to see if he could duplicate the Christmas Darling blade so they could have another. Don't get worried, that wasn't how the conversation went exactly, but it was heading that way. Jennifer needed to address this with her condo buddy but for now the main situation of concern was determining why and how her parents were here.

It wasn't a hard leap for Jennifer to determine that the SFPD had to have played a role in the arrival of her parents but what could their motive be? Why would they bring out the two people that had just betrayed their blood for the sake of a few thousand dollars.

Jennifer released a significant yawn which prompted a doggie breath response from Max, "Why are my parents here buddy? Why would the police bring them here? What are we going to do?" Jennifer looked deeply into Max's eyes, pondering what he was thinking. Max titled his head and stared directly back at her.

Max followed her lips with his eyes as if he were sincerely understanding and compassionate to the issues at hand. Dogs are like that sometimes.

Only time would tell what the motive was but Jennifer didn't wait for anyone or anything. She prepared herself to leave the condo and go on a little expedition to try to uncover some information, possibly the location of her parents. She dressed as nondescript as possible and headed the direction her parents had approached from in the video.

Let the journey begin.