Woman with Soul (Jerod's Second Tale - Finale)

(Optional background music)

After giving the crocodiles a good afternoon snack, I did a few fun things.

Drinks, making them and drinking them.

Exploring the deserts, but I avoided tombs. I'm not ready for tomb raiding again.

Meeting some more of the locals.


It wasn't enough. I needed to go home. My family, well, I was about to say they need me. But truth be told, I need them. It's been too long. I want to be home with my girls, Tania and Lana.

So I hightailed it on the next flight home. Tania was practicing her guitar again when I walked in the door.

"Oh sweetheart. I've missed you so."

"Shrimp, thank heavens you're safe."

"Tania, I will always find my way home. I promise."

"Sweetkins. Baby."

She's still the cutest baby ever.

"So did Lana miss Daddy?"

"Daddy, here. Daddy here," she shouted happily.

Tania has taken up gardening. It's a very small garden plot, she hasn't been feeling up to spending hours at it.

It was time to debrief with Ted.

"So how the hell did that situation with Pesce and Kane come out?"

"Kane's in prison over there, when I last had word. I'm pretty sure that Pesce won't ever been seen again."

"Really? If you can prove it, there is that reward."

"No way. I do not want that reward."

"Why not? I know you aren't rich."

"No amount of mere money can compensate for putting me that far up the Family hit list. If I wanted to live dangerously, I'd still be your boss."

"Look, Shrimp, the Company has been looking at your results. The deal you cut..."

"I never said I had any business savvy."

"That deal was actually better then the one they had before. They want you to be our foreign representative."

"Ted, I quit. Remember?"

"It's strictly for the foreign market. You won't be expected to do anything but travel to our three main shipping locations a couple of times a year and smooth any ruffled feathers."

That's actually tempting. I do love travel and the locations include France and China. That would be pretty fucking fantastic.

"Look, Ted, that does sound interesting. But I'm only just back. Tania, well, I'd really want to talk to her first."

"You do that." Why is he smirking at me?

Lana doesn't lack for love and attention.

The two prettiest girls in all of Twinbrook. Lana looks so like her mother in miniature.

I arranged a practice session for the band. I needed drum practice and I thought the others might be getting a bit rusty as well.

I'm still thinking about should I tell Tania about Ted's offer? I'm just home, how will she take it?

"Peek-a-boo. We'll soon see you."

Tania is very near delivery time with our second child. It won't be long before he or she is born. Tania had a scan done but she absolutely refuses to tell me the results.

I hope Lana takes well to having a new baby in the house. Once the baby arrives she won't quite be the centre of our world.

For the moment, she still is.

I couldn't catch a break one night. Tania was snoring and waking me up every half hour. So I went to the couch for a nap. She needs her rest more than I need mine. And I suspect I'd never hear the end of it if I tried to boot her out of the bed.

Before I could finish my nap, we had a burglar. The burglar alarm ruined my chance for any more sleep tonight and some dude followed her in.

She bounced him on his butt.

I found out that he is a local undercover cop. Or maybe just off duty. I didn't even realise he was a cop for the longest time. Might have been that my brain just refused to function after so little sleep.

Good thing we had an alarm, the burglar got away but she didn't steal a thing from the house.

I decided now was as good a time as any to broach the topic of me traveling for the Company again.

"Tania?"

"Yes dear?"

"Ted mentioned the possibility of me being the Company foreign representative. Travel a few times a year."

"Oh yes, dear, he said he was going to ask you."

"What?"

"Lana and I saw a lot of Ted in the past few days. He was our only source of news." Oh shit, that's right.

"Sorry Sweetie, using a vpn and email seemed the safest."

"So Ted told us. And the answer is yes, you can be the foreign representative on two conditions."

"Two conditions?"

"The first is that I am going with you." I opened my mouth to protest then my brain replayed her words with a note that it sounded completely non-negotiable.

"If you are sure, Sweetie."

"I am."

"And the second condition?"

"That we make Ted Lana's godfather."

"What? Are you serious? Ted Ginger?"

"What time is it?"

"Nearly 6."

"Oh good, it's that time. Now you just stay here and watch."

Watch? Watch what? I think my darling wife has gone off the rails this pregnancy.

There was three soft taps followed by one louder one. The door opened and Ted came in. Lana rushed into the room.

"Teddy, Teddy!"

Ted picked up Lana and immediately tickled her.

A few seconds later, "Teddy, toy! Teddy, toy!"

Ted reached into a pocket and pulled out a toy. Lana grabbed it from his hand and struggled to get away.

"See what I mean, Jerod?"

"Tania, I think I do."

Having gained her freedom, Lana immediately tried to eat her new toy.

"So what do you think?"

What do I think? Umm, my three year old has already seduced her first guy to fill her every whim? Not just any guy either, he's our highest ranked crim and evil genuis. Complete putty in her tiny hands. If she can do this at three - what the hell kind of teen is she going to be?

"Well, you think so and Lana obviously adores him. That makes me outnumbered, doesn't it?"

Ted really is smitten with Sweetkins. He'll be a good dad someday.

"Well Ted, we've had some discussion."

"And?"

"Well, the first is that I want be sure that I've got a proper cover business. A good reason to go overseas without people knowing that it's Company business."

"That seems reasonable. A few layers of paperwork between the shipments and the delivery will never hurt."

"Airline tickers for two whenever I am expected to go away."

"Two?"

"Tania."

"I think we can swing that. Anything else?"

"And Tania wants you to be Lana's godfather."

"Godfather? Really? But how do you feel about it?"

I look at my happy daughter in his arms. "I suppose we could do a lot worse. You will take proper care of my daughter if something happens when we are away?"

"Naturally."

"In that case, yes. We'll all agree."

"Any more conditions?"

"Nope, fill those and I'll be your foreign rep."

"I'll get back to you but I'm confident that the bosses will agree."

It was a few days when the baby decided he'd had quite enough. It was time to come out and do so now.

You'd think that after the first time, it wouldn't be such a deal. But I still had a bit of a panic. It didn't last too long, we were on our way to the hospital.

Home again with our new son, Toby.

I still don't know where I might be in a year or two. There's no rush to get there, the journey is fine when you have those you love nearby.

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Bonus pic

Love that face