Re: Ghosts - ch.57 -- The Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman Fan Exchange

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Date Posted: 15:42:58 05/07/03 Wed
Author: dqfan
Subject: Re: Ghosts - ch.57
In reply to: dqfan 's message, "Re: Ghosts - ch.56" on 15:50:58 05/06/03 Tue

CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN Friday morning 8am

"Aiding and abetting a fugitive�"

"Obstructing justice�"

"Possession of a stolen firearm�"

Harry's litany of charges went on and on, as Ben sat, propped up in his bed, arms crossed over his hospital gown, fuming.

"I did not steal it!" Charity was going down fighting - to her cohorts' undying admiration. "Gus borrowed it from Bruno, then gave it to Peter, who gave it to me�"

Ignoring Charity's outburst, Harry droned on, "without a license."

"And I have a license!" Charity argued again, though the veins in Ben's neck were throbbing a frighteningly, deep, shade of purple.

"Valid in the state of Nevada?" Harry glared, daring her. He'd done his homework. Charity Lawson Mitchell had a license to carry a weapon anywhere in the four-corners of Colorado.

Almost sympathetically, Harry turned to Ben. "Geez, she is a wild one�no wonder you got a bad heart."

"My heart is just fine!" Ben barked, annoyed. "That is, if everybody'd stop drugging me and shootin' at me!"

"I know how you feel�" Weak, but smiling, Sophie was wheeled into Ben's room by an equally weary Peter.

"Sophie!" The gasps and smiles that greeted her were unanimous, but none shone more brightly than the one on Gus' face.

Grateful, Sophie held his gaze. They had a lot to talk about.

"She wouldn't rest until she saw you all," Peter chided her, as, one by one, Charity, Harry, Reggie and even Bruno, began approaching Sophie with a handshake, a hug, or a kiss. Only Gus stayed noticeably behind.

"Fine mess they got us into, huh, Sophie?" Ben scowled, holding out his hand to her, as Peter wheeled her closer.

"See what happens when you come t'visit me?" Ben's earliest recollection, after his shooting, had been Sophie, at his bedside. Warmly, he welcomed her as she stood and leaned wobbly on her taped ankle to kiss him on the cheek.

"Soph, you promised me you'd stay in the wheelchair! The doctor said he'd release you later tonight, only if you took it easy." Protective to a fault, Peter replaced the blanket that had fallen from Sophie's lap and tucked it tightly around her legs.

"I'm sorry I got you int'all this, Sophie�" As Sheriff of Colorado Springs, Ben would never dream of putting a civilian in danger while on a case.

Once again, Charity barged in where angels feared to tread. "As if it was his fault," she huffed, pushing her way toward Sophie.

Contritely, Charity knelt before Sophie's wheelchair and begged, "Can you ever forgive me?"

Sophie glanced from Charity to Peter, a smile forming on her lips at the incredibly familiar question. This time, it was Sophie's turn to shake her head and answer, "No, but I can thank you�"

"Thank me?" Charity was at a complete loss.

"For being a part of my life�" Sophie began slowly. "For loving me more than my own mother ever did�for bringing Peter and me closer than we've ever been before�"

Though Sophie hadn't meant to, that last phrase cut through Gus' heart like a knife, but he swallowed the hurt, just to see her smile.

"I love you very much, Aunt C." Sophie's heartfelt use of Peter's nickname for Charity brought tears to three sets of eyes.

Hoping to prove her point, Sophie turned to Peter for a special gift. "And we want you to have something�"

From Peter to Sophie to Charity, Rachel's gold wedding band made its way onto her best friend's finger - a perfect fit.

"No�I can't�" Charity recognized it immediately.

"Take it, Aunt C.," Peter insisted. "I gave Sophie Michaela's and she's running out of fingers, anyway�" he joked, before becoming serious. "Mom would love you to have it."

"She lives in my heart, you know that, Peter." Charity felt Rachel with her, that day, as always.

"I know," Peter wrapped her in a hug. "But you never know when you might decide to get married again and need a ring�"

Peter's sly innuendo prompted only one comment from Ben. "HAH!"

Wiping her tears, Charity rose to the challenge with gusto. "Something you'd like to say, Benjamin?"

"'Bout time somebody asked my opinion 'round here!" Recovered, and raring to go, Ben addressed the crammed room - and its eight recalcitrant occupants. He'd listened patiently to matters ranging from criminal prosecution to matrimonial hesitation. Now it was his turn.

"First off, Sophie needs her rest," Keenly, Ben gave a wink in Sophie's direction. She looked about how he felt, the first day after he'd been shot.

"And since, Charity in prison, well, that'd be a riot just waitin' t'happen�" Ben forewarned chillingly to Harry. "What's say we wrap up the particulars, fast?"

Curious to hear Ben's suggestions for resolving this mess, Harry, amiably, gave him the floor.

"The big guy over there�" Ben pointed to Bruno.

"Bruno, Sir," Bruno offered helpfully.

"You got a license and a registration to carry, right?" Ben kept his fingers crossed until Bruno nodded in the affirmative.

"So, there's nothin' illegal about the gun," Ben defended. "It was offered, and fired, for self-defense purposes only."

Inclined to agree, Harry shrugged and moved on. "Aiding and abetting a fugitive?" Harry couldn't wait to see what Ben would do with that one�

"You ever get around to formally charging Ivy with anything?" Ben pressed, well aware that, from what the nurses had told him, there hadn't been time before Peter spirited Ivy out of the hospital on their midnight escapade.

"Well, no�" Harry grumbled, having to concur that technically Ivy had never been a fugitive. "But, there was that warrant on Leighton�" Furtively, Gus shrunk as small as possible into the corner of the room.

At that, Ben remarked lightly, "Seems t'me, he was walkin' 'round this place for most o' the night - even joined you at the nurses' station, from what I hear."

Harry marveled at all Ben had managed to "hear" from his hospital bed, but that was the sign of a seasoned investigative expert, he supposed with a sigh.

Wincing, Harry couldn't argue with Ben's further observation. "Gee, I don't know, Harry�I don't think it'd look so good t'charge this group with aiding and abetting a man who was standing there right in front of you, now would it?"

Harry cringed at Ben's questionable portrayal of certain unforeseen events, such as the department computer going down and the Virginia City warrant on Leighton not showing up until after Gus had left the hospital.

Harry's only saving grace was that Leroy had filed the warrant, himself - highly suspicious in view of what they now knew.

"You've got enough on Carter to prosecute him for the Morrison murder." Ben's statement required only a nod. Harry had told him as much earlier.

Initial reports, from a special investigator that Harry had contacted in Virginia City, indicated the evidence against Leroy Carter would be strong. To say the Sheriff's methods were sloppy was putting it mildly. Assuming he'd be the only lawman ever assigned to the case, Leroy had done a very poor job of covering his tracks.

Not to mention, Harry had instructed his interrogating officers not to inform Leroy of Ivy's untimely death. Feeling abandoned, jilted, and betrayed, Leroy was singing like a canary, and providing valuable details in the process. So much for true love�

"So, you've dropped the warrant on Leighton?" Gus' ears perked up at Ben's highly pertinent question.

"Providing he agrees to testify at Carter's trial�" On that imperative, Harry held his ground.

"At your service as always, Lieutenant," Gus tipped a salute Harry's way.

"Then, I'd say that's a fine collar for you, Harry," Ben sensed a case closed and a job well done. "A real distinguished accomplishment in your career - probably get a commendation for it�"

By the time Ben reached the word "commendation," the two men were smiling broadly. Now, Harry remembered just why he liked Ben so much. Ben hadn't joined the force to waste his time issuing parking tickets. He was a lawman's lawman, through and through. Follow the rules, sure. But, in the end, justice was served when the bad guys lost. A little less paperwork for the good guys never hurt anyone.

As far as Harry could tell, everyone there in the room with him right now was definitely one of the good guys. "Guess the obstructing justice claim's pretty weak, too," Harry chuckled, crumpling his list of secondary charges into the trash.

"Are you kidding?" Ben's exclamation abruptly halted the waves of relief that were spreading from face to face. Just when they thought they were out of the woods�

"That woman can't take a breath without obstructing justice!" As Ben's finger pointed squarely in Charity's direction, his exasperation brought a smile and a chuckle to everyone - but Charity.

"Gives me decaf instead of my regular coffee!" Blustering, Ben shared his frustrations of living day-to-day with "the most aggravating woman on the face of the planet."

"Like the coffee's gonna kill me�" he muttered ironically, as more of Charity's "obstructions" came to mind.

"Oh, and you should see the fuss she makes at the movies if they dare offer her a senior citizen's discount�" he railed, recalling yet another. "I missed the first twenty minutes of the latest Clint Eastwood movie, thanks t'her."

"She borrows my squad car any time there's an emergency WALPOCS meeting�she jaywalks�"

Peter, Sophie and Gus were laughing so hard they could hardly contain themselves. Reggie, on the other hand, was aghast at the horrific character assault against his beloved Mrs. M. She was so woefully misunderstood�

With everyone wondering when Charity would "blow," her reaction took them all by surprise.

Eerily composed, Charity made her way to Ben's side. Raising her hands in such a fashion that, for a moment, murderous intent could not be ruled out, Charity cupped Ben's face purposefully, stunning him into abject silence.

"I love you, too, Dearest�" Never one to care what others thought, Charity proceeded to kiss Ben deeply, in full view of family and friends.

From that horrendous moment when she'd cradled his bloody body in her arms, Charity had thought of little else. Ben could howl all he liked, from dawn to dusk and she'd welcome it as warmly as the sun. He was her sun.

Embarrassingly, Ben's heart monitor showed distinct signs of speeding up, causing Gus and Harry to chuckle and Sophie to sigh contentedly. Peter and Reggie, on the other hand, found themselves in total agreement for once: their eyes suddenly became glued to the floor.

Charity's highly demonstrative affections forced Ben to face facts. Every single, solitary, personality trait Charity possessed - good and bad - stemmed from her great and abiding passions.

Most days, those passions manifested themselves in causes far and wide, sublime and ridiculous, to the point of making him plum crazy! But, then, there were times - like this one - when Charity's passions found a much more agreeable form of expression. Those were the days worth living for.

"Awww, I love you, too." Grumbling at the confounded unfairness of it all, Ben broke the kiss gently, caressing Charity's cheek. "But, Woman, I swear, after this, you are going home and takin' up knittin' - agreed?"

Charity beamed with happiness. Not only was Ben safely back in her arms, but he loved her for who and what she was, not to mention, her talents at successfully taming his anger and channeling it in other, more pleasant, directions. Truly, sometimes she amazed even herself�

Scoffing at the amusement perpetuated by the mere thought of her knitting, Charity smoothed the covers on Ben's bed and lightly tucked him in.

"Of course, Darling�" Slyly, she soothed his ruffled feathers, and lulled him into a brief, blissful moment of pure peace.

"Just as soon as I get back from Gus' poker game, tonight�" she added breezily, winking at Gus.

"Now, get some rest, Dearest�." Charity kissed Ben again, stopping the protests rising in his throat.

Seductively, she whispered in his ear. "You're going to need it�"

Too overcome by the possibilities to do anything but smile, Ben settled back in his hospital bed, watching as Charity sailed out of the room as regally as the QE2.

"Knitting?" Peter questioned him with a cockeyed glance.

Still contemplating Charity - and all her passions - Ben crossed his arms behind his head, leaned back and relaxed. "Hey, it was worth a shot�"

"Well, if you'll all excuse me." Obviously drained from all the excitement, Sophie smiled her goodbyes weakly.

"I'll take you back." Peter noticed swiftly, his hand reaching for the wheelchair.

Shaking her head, Sophie placed one hand over Peter's and held his gaze with her eyes, turning his attention towards Gus.

Perceptively, Peter understood. "You know, there's a couple of things I need to talk to Reggie about," he fibbed conveniently. "Maybe Gus could�?"

Surprised, Gus replied rather awkwardly. "Oh, ah, sure�no problem�" Then, recovering his glib persona, he chimed, "Your chariot awaits."

With only the slightest twinge of jealousy, Peter watched Gus wheel Sophie back to her room. While most of the men in the room sympathized with Peter's mixed emotions, Reggie, as usual, was three steps behind.

"So, what'd you wanna talk t'me about, Pete?"

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Replies:

Re: Ghosts - ch.58 -- dqfan, 15:34:56 05/08/03 Thu
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  - Re: Ghosts - ch.60 (The End) -- dqfan, 16:12:11 05/10/03 Sat