F$&ing Hallmark Holidays

He stepped back because of the stink coming off the retried captain.

"Your choice sir, the easy way or the hard way" intoned the Sargent.

"Fucking bullshit is what this is. Just watching the game and suddenly I got you assholes bothering me." He stated and was gaining in octaves as he spoke.

"And those bruises on your wife? I assume she fell down again?" the Sargent was keeping his voice low, but the menace was now very apparent.

He turned to the two other officers. "Get him in the cruiser nicely or cuff and gag his ass. I'll meet you at holding."

He looked at the asshole and stated, "I'm done here" and walked off into the dark.

After the dust had settled and the asshole went downtown 'voluntarily,' Drew's Mom went over with Drew's extensive first aid kit. She was over there for hours, Drew wanted to come, but she pushed him back saying "too many eyes and too many mouths".

Drew just sat and drank the rest of the bottle of good wine and watched Hallmark. The Hallmark movie ended with everyone in love, and he 'knew' it was going to last forever. All he could think about was that asshole abusing the beautiful sprite of a woman that lived next door to his mom.

***

Drew woke up, yawned, stretched, farted, and drank the rest of the water he had brought to bed last night. As usual, when he got up, his mom was already up reading her bible and doing her devotions.

"Good morning my loving mother. Shall we go to breakfast?" Drew asked knowing it was their normal routine on the day he was to head home.

"My son, I am asking you to go now while the man next door is gone. He has yet to recognize you, or your car and I do not want any confrontation that could lead back here to my house."

Drew felt ashamed that he had caused a situation that could feed back to his mom.

"Of course, mom, but I want to ask a favor. I have an old, small video camera I use for covert animal surveillance. Can I place it by your front door, so if he comes up and asks questions it will be recorded?"

"Of course, my son, you will have to tell me how to use it."

"Its automated mom, its used for tracking wildlife. Its old but works well and I have added audio so his questions will be recorded. Just do not unlock the security screen door I installed...ok mom?"

"Yes, my Drew, drive safely and call me...when you get home"

All of this was SOP for their goodbyes after breakfast, but since Drew felt like he had fucked up badly, he kissed her on the cheek, held her close and promised to call after reaching home.

He tossed his travel bag and travel CPAP in the trunk and then opened his door to climb in. Something struck him as odd. One of this mothers' decorative throws was draped across the back seat. He looked down at the gap between the front seat, the door frame stanchion, and the rear of the interior of the car and was met by a beautiful eye.

Drew froze in place.

He heard one word from the back of the car, "Please..."

He spun and looked at his mom, she gave a brief Mona Lisa smile and nodded.

Multiple things spun through his brain, and all pointed to one word 'protect'.

He spun around and mounted the driver's seat, slipped his keys into the proper slot, and fired up his little car. He slowly pulled into the lane and headed to the rear exit.

He was a creature of habit at times. He always stopped at one gas station on the way out of town, but it was too close to the assholes limit of control. He decided to completely move off his normal script and traveled deeper into the web of the LA basin. Back to the area of his childhood. He knew where to find fuel there.

"Are you ok back there for a half hour or more? I have to get gas and want to be away from this area because of your husbands' connections." Drew discussed.

"I will be fine I promise, and I am so sorry." Naomi stated from the rear seat.

"Sorry for what little one? Marrying an asshole that abuses you? That is not your fault. It's his, and the people that let it happen." He commented thinking of the officers that knew what was happening.

Finally, he made it to West Covina and pulled off and headed to the station close to his old house during his high school years. There was a Trader Joes next to the Gas Station. He had a feeling she needed food and maybe pain meds.

He was shocked when she crawled out of the car. Her left eye was swollen shut and already deeply bruised.

He handed her cash and asked her to find and buy whatever she needed. He fueled up just across the parking lot. He was beside himself with anger, frustration, and hatred for that asshole.

She came back hobbling and showing pain. He waited for her to come to him. He took the bags and out them in the back seat and then opened his arms for her. She crushed herself to him.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry." She kept repeating over and over. He just held her tight, leaning against his car and let her cry herself out. This went on for several minutes until he noticed a police cruiser pull into the parking lot. He stiffened and she felt the reaction, spun, saw the police, and started to cry harder.

The cruiser turned towards them and then stopped 5 yards away. The officer got out and then slowly walked towards them, his hand on his weapon. Drew noticed that he had not unsnapped the weapon, so this guy was using it as a tactical show.

"Hello officer, what can we do for you?" asked Drew.

"We had a call of concern from the clerk noting potential abuse. I am here to...investigate it." The officer took another step, "please stand away from the woman."

Naomi made a soft scream and grabbed Drew tighter.

"As you can see officer, she does not want to be parted. Either call your Sargent or we can talk about this quietly. Please take your hand off your weapon, it is frightening the poor woman." Drew commented, making sure the officer knew that he was not intimidated.

The officer shifted his body weight and straightened up. Drew thought that was a good sign.

"You are correct officer. She is a victim of spousal abuse. The problem is the abuser is or was law enforcement. Want to call for your Sargent now?" Drew asked.

He backed away and went to the unit and called.

A half hour later, all was cleared up. Drew kept it honest and so did they. They knew her husband and though he was an arrogant asshole before he retired. They killed off the call and wiped what they could. No names, no phone numbers on record.

Drew gave them his contact info if they heard anything being run at him. Hands were shook, and pats on the back were given for taking the load. Drew knew they did not understand. He would have gone through hell for this little sprite.

Drew offered her some pain meds and promised that he would let her sleep for just a while. He disengaged from her and went to his trunk to find his first aid kit, he pulled out the pill pockets and brought then back up front.

"Are you allergic to any drugs you know of?" Drew questioned.

"No" came back a small, soft reply.

'You weigh what maybe 115 pounds"

She looked at him with daggers in her eyes "105 only" came back the tut-tut reply.

He laughed and she became indignant.

Naomi took one oxycodone.

He got her back in the passenger seat lowered it back and covered her with the throw and snapped the seat belt over the pile. She was asleep before they cleared the parking lot.

One concession that he had not expected was her thin arm curled in his right elbow. She seemed to have a need to always have physical contact with him. He had to admit to himself that he did not mind one bit.

Two hours later after getting through the pain in the ass traffic at Santa Barbara, Drew pulled off hit the Goleta roadside stop. Naomi had been awake for maybe 10 minutes and was still groggy, but needed the pit stop as much as he did. Naomi hobbled her way to the restrooms and back. Drew had looked in the grocery bags and saw the feminine napkins. He was worried she was having her period, was cramping, and was not taking pain meds. It's not like he had not been married twice and lived with other females along the pathway of his life.

She found him sitting at one of the picnic benches by the trees, and he could see she was hurting. He had grabbed the blanket he kept in the trunk and placed it as a thermal break from the cold bench. He had lived back east for 25 years and never seemed to get cold here in California but could see how easily she became cold.

"Naomi, we are going to be together for a while. We need to be able to talk. If it's your time of month and you are cramping, I have other pain meds that will help." He paused when she blushed a deep red and looked at the hands in her lap.

"Why do you ask such a question?" Naomi asked.

"Because I can see pain as you walked, and I found the pads in the grocery bags. I have been married before, none of this is a surprise. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

She paused and was conflicted it showed on her face. Drew was going to speak, but she held up her hand.

"You are my savior and I own you, my life. Anything you command of me, I will do." She paused and was dripping tears. "My husband took me last night. He did it out of drunken anger. He abused me so much I bleed from parts of me that should not bleed. That is why I am having trouble walking and why I bought the pads." An then she put her head on his shoulder and cried.

He sat on the bench and went cold inside. He was a very good project manager, and she was now his project. He needed to protect her. He needed to make her healthy. He needed to make her safe.

With her husband's connections, the last was harder than it sounded, but doable.

"Please write down your husbands full name and any other pertinent information you can regarding him," he directed her. She soon handed him a neatly written note with a lot more information than he expected.

"I am going to make some phone calls and I am asking you to be quiet unless I ask you to join in. OK?"

Naomi shook her head 'yes.'

Drew dialed up the first number on his mental list, his stepbrother George. She was not the only one with law enforcement in the family.

"Drew! What's up my brother?" asked George.

"I have got myself in a bit of a situation and want some advice and maybe some research." Drew let on.

"Sure Brother, who and what are we looking at?"

"Do you know the name Richard Dawson, used to be a Captain with Ontario?"

"Yes, I know the name and the reputation. Why are you asking about that asshole?"

"Well at least we have the same opinion of him. He lives next to mom now, I thought you would have known. He is in the white place that faces Mom's front door."

There was silence for a bit.

"George! you still there?" Drew asked.

There was still a brief pause.

"Drew, you know what I did for the last 8 years before my retirement? The drug stuff, right?"

"Yea, you worked ICE, the drug interdiction side. What's that got to do with him?"

"His name kept surfacing as a middleman. Never could pin anything on him, but his name kept popping up. We know he has offshore accounts, but again, nothing we could prove was illegal. Bought himself a young, beautiful, foreign wife and then retired. That wiped him from our boards, and he sort of vanished."

There was further silence.

"Don't like the idea of him being next to mom. He had a reputation of being violent. Especially to anyone of color."

"Well, you sort of nailed my dilemma. I am shocked mom did not call you yet. Call brother Mike. Things went wild at his place last night and I am now the proud protector of Asshole's wife. And she is young, beautiful, and very beat up."

There was several moments of silence.

"Drew, this guy is bad news. You must be on guard. Does she still have her phone?"

Naomi was shaking her head yes.

"Yes, she has it."

"Pull the battery or destroy the phone, I guarantee he is now tracking her. Call me back when you get to your place. Don't use her credit or debit cards. Look through her purse and see if there is anything 'off' or attached. He is a mean paranoid asshole that enjoys hurting people. Call me later, I need to make my own calls now."

"Write down any numbers you want to save. I assume this is all under his Apple account. Correct?" commented Drew, looking at Naomi's phone.

She reached into her purse and pulled out an old school address book.

"All the contacts I care about are already written down. Please kill this thing," handing Drew, the offending 'I' phone.

Drew walked over to the nearest grouping of small boulders, put the phone at an odd angle and stomped it to death. He found the intact sim card and pulled it from the dead body along with the bent battery.

She had already pulled the contents from her purse. She looked at the debris that littered the picnic table and then shrugged. Drew grabbed the purse and the started to run his hands over the leather until he found a bulge. He worked the edges of the bulge until he found the slit. He pulled what looked like a very old thin flip phone. It was the same tracking device that ICE used to track drug smugglers.

Drew walked over to a pickup that had just pulled in. It was loaded with a mishmash of personal items and had the Fresno Bulldog emblem in the rear window of the cab. Drew just dropped the phone in amongst the stuff in the bed.

He then turned to find Naomi looking up at him. She was very close. As he just hinted at opening his arms for her, she was there hugging him with both her arms and squeezing as hard as she could.

"Let's saddle up munchkin and head for home." He said as they turned to the car, she took his hand and held it tight.

They shot through the Goleta tunnels to home. Drew always took a deep breath once he was past the tunnels. They were the demarcation point for him. South of the tunnels was SOCAL. A place full of people, traffic, drama, lost loves, and bad memories. North of the tunnels were the grape fields, rolling hills, and home.

They were quiet for a bit, as both looked at the green hills of winter.

"So, let's play twenty questions and get to know each other. You first," sated Drew.

Naomi blushed and then did not know what to say.

"Ok, let's start out easy, mom said you came from the Philippines. Tell me about that."

"Well, I come from a small village several hours outside Luzon. The village is simple, life was simple...then. I went to train as a nurse. I worked many years and many hours to support my family. My husband had been searching for a wife and my family put out my...resume? to find a suitable husband. It was hard because I am too old and past the proper time to have a husband and have children."

"How old are you? If I may please ask." Drew questioned.

"I am 36 years old. Much too old to find a suitable Filipino husband." She responded. "I work as a nurse. It was hard to get my RN here, but I got it last year. I send some money back to my family. You know my 'allowance' from my husband goes back to my family in Luzon."

Drew just smiled.

"Why do you smile?" she asked grinning.

"If things were different, I would be honored to be your husband. I am sorry your experience with America has been so negative."

Drew noticed in the rear view mirror an approaching vehicle and saw the pickup truck with the tracker getting off at Route 166.

"Huh," he thought but must have said it out loud.

"What?" Naomi asked looking around for danger.

"Oh, oh sorry I did not mean to scare you." he stated and hesitated because without thinking he had put his hand out and laid it on her thigh. She had grabbed his arm and pulled herself closer which mashed his hand into her crotch.

She just wiggled as close as possible and laid her head back on the outside of his shoulder. He tried to ignore the heat and moisture surrounding his right hand.

Once he gained some semblance of control over his mind and racing heart, he continued.

"The truck with the tracker is heading to Bakersfield, not Fresno. Just sort of odd."

"Does it make any difference?" she asked.

Drew paused, mentally went through all crazy variations of his current escapade.

"Nope! not one little bit. It's just the bulldog symbol is for Fresno...but who cares. It's off to the central valley." Drew responded.

"Then why is it curious?" she asked trying to understand the mind of this white knight that arrived to save her and help her fly away.

He had had this same sort of discussion with coworkers from other countries. American football was just that American. Soccer or what the rest of the world called football was international. So, he knew how to try and explain.

"So does your family watch football?" He asked, she shook her head no. "I do not mean the American kind, but soccer?"

Naomi's eyes lit up and she nodded affirmatively, and she slid closer and rubbed harder on his hand if that was possible.

"So, if someone in your village all of a sudden started walking around in the rival team's jersey would there be words, arguments or more?" he asked.

She was shaking he head and almost bouncing in her seat, as she got the concept.

"Fresno and Bakersfield are central valley rivals, and I can't think of a better place for that tracker to head to, the central valley." Drew ended.

She settled back in, and they finally arrived at his cottage. It was a small rental behind a larger house, set back amongst some trees and away from prying eyes.

His little terrier Avi went crazy over the new person entering the house. But with Naomi being female, he knew the transition to polite puppy would be quick. Avi had been horribly abused before he got her and had some serious doggy PTSD still in her. They lived a quiet symbiotic relationship. Her rules, and he followed them. Just like every other female relationship he had had up to that point.

He pointed Naomi to the second bedroom, and she seemed almost disappointed. They dumped their stuff off and he sat down to make another call.

"Have you bathed since he abused you?" Drew asked. Naomi had an odd look after the question but shook her head 'no'.

He sat on the sofa and Naomi was there in a flash right next to him. She seated herself with her legs tucked under her.

"Christine, hi its Drew, I am sorry to bother you on a weekend."

"Yes, this is odd, but what is going on?"

"I have a situation. I was in LA at my mom's house and the neighbor was abusing his wife. She and my mom worked out an escape plan and that was me. She is pretty banged up and I'd like someone to look her over and document the abuse. This was not a onetime issue." Drew paused and then added, "I know this is not your area of work, but I hope you know someone."

"Yes, I know a few that can help. She is there with you?"

"Yes, and she has not bathed or showered since the abuse and rape" Drew added he saw Naomi's head snap at the term 'rape'.

"Ok let me make a couple of phone calls and ill have them call you back direct. Come Monday I want a call from you with a full report...understood."

"Yes mam," Drew paused only briefly but knew he had to warn her, "Christine, one more issue. The abuser is retired law enforcement from the LA area, and he will be looking for her. And warn them, he is not a nice human being."

"Oh my, you do pick um,"

"Talk to you Monday," responded Drew.

And there began the rest of the day, calls, visits to specialists in abuse. Photographs of her whole body. Blood drawn, medical exams and swabs.

Crying, so much crying. And through it all she would not let Drew leave her side. He saw how much abuse she had taken. Layers of healing bruises overlayed with new fresh ones.

Drew crawled inside himself, or he was going to lose his mind. He wanted violence. He wanted to take the big man apart, one small bit at a time so he could understand the pain he had inflicted on this diminutive woman.