Peace From the Past

Four months later found Lilly well adjusted to being back in Kentucky along with the transitions moving had brought with it. The upside was the initial shock of her return had worn off the people of Harlan faster than Raylan's had. Even Boyd no longer went into that prodigal son and daughter crap instead plastering a fake smile on his face whenever he was forced to deal with either of them.
When Art had revealed the fact that his retirement was approaching Lilly had joked was it because he know had both her and Raylan under his command? People had been sniffing around the office in hopes of replacing Art when time came but Lilly hoped he would end up choosing Rachel considering she knew the area better than anyone else who was interested in the postion and although it was true she went through a rough patch following the seperation from her husband Lilly was confident in the fact that no one could handle the branch as well as Art except for her now best friend.
Raylan who impending fatherhood was scaring the hell out of out found himself confiding any fears in her and relying on her for moral support when those fears reared their heads which she gladly did whenever he needed her.
Lilly had also formed an easy friendship with Tim the two put each other at ease and had a banter between them which made Art loaning them out to other branches together easier on everyone involved. Tim for his sniper capabilities and Lilly because like Raylan she was unafraid to walk into a sitaution and try to defuse it.
Over the course of a couple weeks Waldo Truth's ID had been discovered in the wall of Arlos home along with a Panamanian diplomat bag.After an investigation it was discovered Waldo had actually died thirty years before in a case of mistaken identity and the man whom everyone had thought dead Drew Thompson had killed Waldo to fake his own death according to his ex wife because he was wanted on a sealed fed witness warrant due to the fact Drew witnesses Theo Tonin murder a goverment informant. That discovery landed the marshal office in a fight against the FBI because it was technically still their open case.
As if that wasn't enough to deal with the bartender Lindsey that Raylan had been messing around with turned out to be married and helped her husband to rob Raylan of the money he'd been saving for the baby. Needless to say when Lilly rolled back into town from a trip to assist the Memphis office and saw the bruises Raylan carried from Lindsey's husband it took Tim and Rachel both to talk her out of tracking Lindsey down.
Lilly walked into the marshals office and was immediately hit with the underlying hum of energy that usually only came along with an active fugitive hunt that told her something was going on before Rachel spotted her and asked "Lil where the hell is Raylan?" She scoffed at her friend's shortness and said "gee Rach good morning to you too and he was supposed to me Winona at the baby doc last I knew" "Ok well I'll call him Art said as soon as you get in he needed to talk to you" Rachel responded nodding towards his office so Lilly stopped at her desk long enough to lay her jacket over her chair and glanced over to see Tim wasn't at his desk so she couldn't ask him what was going on as a headsup before heading into Art's office to see just what the fuss was all about.
When she got to the door she spotted AUSA Vasquez was already in his office. When she raised her hand to knock Art spotted her and waved her in. Vasquez stood at her approach and smiled "Deputy Givens" Lilly eyed him before quipping "Vasquez me nor Raylan shot anyone as far as I know so what are you doing here?" Art cut his eyes at her the way he normally reserved to reign in Raylan and said "Lilly we need to talk" his tone made her turn to face him "about what?" before Art could answer Arlo was lead into the marshal office by two Lexington deputies and was trailed by his lawyer Boyd had paid for. "What the actual hell is this Art?" she asked watching Arlo and his lawyer set up in the conference room and Arlo shot her a smug grin making Art move to be between her and Arlo.
FBI Agent Berkley calling Art's name rather loudly drew all their attention to the bullpen where he stood so she fell in step behind her chief as he walked out to confront the agent with Vasquez at his side. "What is this?" Berkley asked in a tone Lilly was sure they taught at the burea to be condescending and sound like an incompetent jackass all at the same time or maybe she just didn't like feds.
As Vasquez explained the department of justice had reassigned Drew Thompson's case over to the marshals Raylan walked through the door and headed for the little group not before spotting Arlo and like Lilly he started to ask what was going on but was stopped by Art holding his hand up "Rachel can you handle this?" he asked motioning to Berkley "Of course" Rachel said with a look towards the agent that made Lilly proud.
Art nodded seemingly content with that answer and pointed to Lilly and Raylan "you two follow me" they fell in step next to each other as they walked back into Art's office between him and Vasquez giving Lilly a horrible dejavu of being called into the principals office.
Lilly cut her eyes at the conference room and saw Arlo was still paying more attention to what was going on in Art's office than what was going on in the conference room so Art pulled the curtain giving them some privacy before looking at Vasquez "you wanna tell em or should I?" Vasquez shook his head and answered "they actually like you"
"Arlo has agreed to tell us where Drew Thompson is" Art spoke after a brief hesitation. Raylan exchanged a look with Lilly before asking the question he knew they were both thinking "in exchange for what?" "If his information leads to the succesful capture of Drew Thompson who's testimony would help us bring down Theo Tonin he walks" Vasquez responded visibly bracing himself for the backlash of the decision.
Lilly didn't attempt to respond because half the things she was thinking was enough to get her suspended in the least as visions of Tom's final living moments played through her mind once again. "How long do we got?" Raylan asked making her glance up at him then Art as she realized just what her brother meant before Art questioned "For what?" "to ensure our daddy dies in prison" Raylan answered. Vasquez looked between the two then shrugged "It'l take time to draw up a plea agreement so I'll give you two twenty four hours" "Good enough" Raylan said as he and Lilly started to leave the office but stopped halfway out the door when Art questioned "and how do the two of you plan to pull this off?" "head back to where it all started Harlan" Lilly answered before sliding past Raylan to retrieve her jacket from her desk then walked back over next to him while Art wished them luck.
"Where ya headed?" Rachel asked when they walked past her desk. Lilly nodded to Raylan that she'd catch up at the elevator before stopping and looking back at the conference room "to keep his ass in prison where he belongs" Rachel didn't question their plan instead just saying "be careful" before turning back to the box of files on her desk. Lilly headed out to the elevator and noticed every desk hers and Raylans included had boxes on them and wondered just what bullshit the feds had sent them.
When the elevator came to a stop and opened Tim walked off and smiled when he spotted the two "Morning Lil,Raylan where you two headed?" "To close this case" Lilly said as she followed Raylan onto the elevator. Tim like Rachel didn't question it mainly because he knew it would be of no use and simply said "call if you need help" before the doors shut.
En route to Harlan Raylan called Bob Sweeney the constable he'd hired to keep an eye on Arlo's place to find Roz the girl who had broken into the house and left a hole in the wall which lead to the discovery of the bag and Waldo's ID to begin with.
Bob told them where he was and when Raylan pulled his car to a stop behind the little gremlin Lilly had to stifle a laugh due to the fact that the lights Bob installed on top of the car was bigger than it was. "Find her?" Raylan asked Bob as he and Lilly walked up to the other man. "Yea she tried to run but she's not as fast with the boot" "Boot?" Lilly asked before they made it to the side of the car where the teenage girl sat and glanced down to see the girl's foot was in fact in some sort of medical boot "jesus christ Ray you didn't shoot her did ya?" Lilly asked making the girl glance up at her before glaring at Bob "no that one stabbed me" "dammit Bob we don't stab civilians" Lilly chastised shaking her head.
Turned out Roz's step father was none other than Josiah Cairn and he had been the one Arlo paid to get the bag out the house so Josiah in turn told Roz and her boyfriend to do so. "You and her stay here" Lilly told Bob before following Raylan back to his car.
Josiah's house was only a few miles down the road and when Raylan pulled into the driveway Lilly spotted him sitting in a chair on the edge of the porch appearing to have barely adknowledged their arrival but she knew looks could be deceiving especially in Harlan.
Her and Raylan exchanged a glance before stepping out the car and heading towards the older man. "Josiah Cairn?" Raylan called making him finally look up long enough to ask "do I know either of you?" Raylan grinned "come on I remember you" Josiah scoffed "made an impression did I?"
Raylan shrugged before saying "I remeber that bullshit you pulled in eighty five after the mine explosion taking the widows money to prove it was the company's fault then taking the company's money to keep it quiet was surprised to hear you're still in the game" "You're Arlo's kids the marshals" Josiah finally said making Lilly roll her eyes before she spat out "now see Josiah me and you would've done better had you just called me a bitch but yea we'll go with that title of being Arlo's kids" Josiah laughed at her words then cut his eyes at Raylan "she a spitfire aint she? got Helen's temper"
Josiah claimed to not know anything citing the fact that he had an ankle monitor and hadn't left his property in months as proof. Raylan having taken raised his eyes just enough to meet Lilly's in an unasked question she so nodded and threw him her cuffs.
While Raylan drug Josiah to the car and proceeded to handcuff him to the passenger side mirror then walk around and climb into the driver's seat Lilly squatted to pet the old hound dog laying in the sun and listened to Josiah screaming at Raylan to stop as the car sped up to the point Josiah was being drug more than running next to it.
Josiah must have said something convincing because Raylan slammed on brakes then uncuffed him. When he collasped Lilly wondered for a moment if he was dead but when Raylan hollered for her and she ran down to where the car was she had to step over Josiah to get in and saw he was still conscious.
"Where to now?" she asked once the car was again in motion. "ol Josiah said Arlo and Bo made a deal with Drew they got the cocaine in exchange for getting him help because he busted both his legs on the landing when he parachuted out the plane so they stashed him with the hill people" Raylan answered and her eyes widened. Their mom had actually been kin to the hill people though it was something Arlo never let her talk about much.
Raylan drove back to Bob's car and explained to Lilly he'd stashed a few of their mom's possesion in Bob's care and needed one picture in particular. While Raylan dug through one of the old albums Lilly told Roz she was free to go.
"so whats the picture for?" Lilly asked after they left Bob. Raylan handed it to her and tapped it with his finger "it's safe passage into the hills"
Before Lilly could question it further than cousin Mary being the girl in the photo with their mother Raylan was pulling his phone out his pocket "who are you calling?" she asked curiously but was answered by him saying "Tim I need you to make a trip down to Harlan"
The road up the hills were twisting and turning by the time Raylan pulled the car to a stop Lilly was ready to get out the car for a few moments. "Why exactly did you call Tim?" she asked Raylan walking around the back of the car to stand next to him while they waited for Tim.
It didn't take long and the black suv came into view and Lilly had to admit she was amazed of the fact that Tim had been able to follow the non specific directions Raylan had given him. Maybe he knew Harlan roads better than she thought. Raylan waited until Tim pulled to a stop to anwer her question "Because you're not going up with me" she snatched her head towards him but all she got in return was an innocent smile as he walked over to greet Tim.
Lilly was fuming by the time Raylan was through telling Tim his plan. She watched as he retrieved his coat out the front of the car then walked back to the trunk where she stood and kissed her forehead "Lil I need you down here in case I don't come back. You're plan B you favor mama and besides that they'll let you get alot closer than they will him" His reasoning made sense but she couldn't help but feel like he was once again shielding her despite the fact that she was now grown and walked into just as many firefights as he did on a daily basis.
After reassuring Lilly he wasn't leaving her at the foot of the hill for her safety but more so for his own so he had a plan in set Raylan spoke to address Tim who'd stood back to let the two talk "If I'm not back by midnight call in some of those rangers friends of yours" Lilly bit her lip to keep from smiling when Tim quipped "They're not as cool as they sound how bout the hundred and first airborne?" Raylan chuckled and said "death from above there ya go" he turned to head up the hillside so before he got out earshot Lilly added "or we could just call Art" Raylan glanced back at her and nodded "perfect"
Lilly watched Raylan until he disappeared from sight only stirring when Tim gently touched her lower back as a form of comfort "He'll be fine Lil" She nodded glacing up where Raylan had disappeared once more before walking over to his car to retrieve her jacket she'd shed earlier in the day.
She leaned into Raylan's open window to retrieve her jacket as Tim watched her silently "Why Mr Gutterson is there a reason why you're watching me like I'm a sniper target?" she asked teasingly as she straightened up sliding the jacket up on her shoulders. He shrugged and said "no reason really Miss Givens" Her eyebrows raised at how he'd drug out Miss "Oh so you forgot your book so annoying me is the most convenient thing to do?" He grinned and said "If it makes you feel better you're alot more interesting than any book I've ever read"
Banter like that had grew between the two of them quickly and it felt natural which helped in some sitatuations. They blended in good in a crowd together until the badges and guns needed to come out.
Tim's face got more serious as he leaned against his suv and glanced up the hill "so what's the story?" Lilly walked over and leaned next to him their shoulders barely touching as she answered "our mom call from the hills. weren't something Arlo liked her talking about. him being an abusive criminal was fine though"
Tim momentarily glanced at her before turning his attention back up the hill and she couldn't help but feel like there was more he wanted to say so she gave him the opening "there anything else you want to ask Tim?" a small smile played at his lips as he tilted his head slightly "not really but I've wondered since meeting Raylan then it doubled when I met you how the hell did two people like you who are fairly decent human beings come from a man like Arlo?" Lilly shrugged in response "can't pick your family I'm afraid"
A silence fell over the two as they shared a smile full of childhood abuse and adult age trauma before Lilly broke it by saying with a smirk "but had Arlo not been the bastard he was it could've resulted in neither of us joining the marshals and you, Art and Rachel would have been robbed of the gifts of knowing us"
Tim leaned over closer to her before saying "yea and it would suck not knowing you" a genuine smile spread across his face while he spoke which made her smile in return before leaning her head over on his shoulder. Tim was probaly the only man with the exception of Raylan or Art she'd let get that close to her without feeling like it was a threat. With Art it came from knowing him so long he was a mentor and as for Raylan he'd basically raised her but when it came to Tim she wasn't quite sure why but it felt natural to be at ease around him. Some of that had come from when they'd been loaned out together to New Orleans about two months after her reassingment.
When they'd gotten to the hotel they'd been informed of the mix up with their reservation instead of two rooms being booked a double room ended up being booked.They were both exhausted from the trip so they agreed being the adults they were that they could just share the room and not have to go to a different hotel. Everything had went fine with the case Lilly had walked into a hostage negotiation and after a comment of how her idea of help from above was a sniper on the room Tim had remidied the sitatuion once she'd manuevered the fugitive to where Tim needed him. After paperwork was done they headed back to the hotel and called it a night. Around two in the morning Lilly had woken up washed down in sweat feeling as if she couldn't breath. Despite trying not to wake Tim after a few moments of not being able to catch her breath he heard her moving around and woke up. He found her sitting against the headboard with her knees drawn to her chest shivering as she fought for breath. He knew an anxiety attack when he saw one so he sat lightly on the edge of the bed and called her name when she raised her head to look at him he gingerly took her hands in his and instructed her to concentrate on his voice and try to match her breathing with his. When she was back to breathing normally and the shivering had stopped she'd become extremely embarrased that was until Tim reminded her he'd seen special op guys suffer with anxiety attacks and revealed to her he himself dealt with ptsd and that was how he knew to help her. He promised not to Raylan as long as she promised to call if she ever needed help no matter the situation or time.
A loud truck rumbling in their direction made them break away from each other both unsnapping their holsters while walking around the suv so it was between them and the new arrival in the old bronco that had just rolled to a stop. Lilly's hand hovered near her gun as a long haired man hopped out the bronco. Tim glanced towards man's feet and she followed his line of sight seeing the army boots the man was wearing as Tim remarked "nice boots. Where'd you serve?"
The mystery man's name turned out to be Colt Rhodes and he was former Military Police now working for Boyd Crowder. Tim introduced himself using his rank he'd held in the military first followed by the fact that he was a marshal "This here's my partner Deputy Marshal Lilly Givens" he added motioning to her. Colt nodded and said "to honest would've thought you two were more than marshal partners by the way it looked when I drove up"
Lilly and Tim shared a questioning glance before she said "nope. we're just good friends" then walked off to sit on the hood of Raylan's car while she listened to the two of them talk about places she wasn't even sure actually existed.
"LILLY,TIM" Raylan hollering bought both of their attention up the hill to him and only then did he notice the guy talking to Tim and figured him for Boyd's ride because had he been a threat Tim or Lilly either one would've already dropped him.
The two met him at the foot of the hill so he looked at Tim "get to Vasquez tell him to squash the deal with Arlo I've got a line on Drew. He's still in Harlan" both looked shocked before Lilly smirked and said "you mean to tell me in a couple hours you narrowed Drew down to a county when the feds aint busted a grape in thirty years? Art should be thrilled"
Raylan adknowledged Colt by saying "if you're here for Boyd he's about a mile up the path but word of advice you're gonna need a saw" Lilly wanted to questioned why he'd need a saw to retrieve Boyd but both Raylan and Tim were headed for their cars so she nodded to Colt "nice meeting ya" then smiled at Tim "see you in the morning" he returned the smile and said "you two be careful" before he climbed into his suv and she climbed into Raylan's car.
On the way back to Josiah's Raylan explained what information he'd learned about Drew then Lilly told him who Colt was.
When they made it to Josiah's she noticed just how dark his place looked for someone that couldn't leave the property. It was a cool night and there wasn't even the glow of a fire. Raylan killed the lights before pulling the car to a stop and looked at the house catiously.
Before stepping out the car fully both had already cleared their guns out the holster to be ready. "JOSIAH" Raylan called but no noise came in response so they walked up onto the porch.
Lilly saw Raylan bend to pick something up and heard him mutter "how'd he manage that?" she turned to see him holding Josiah's ankle monitor that was still intact. Before she could make a guess how he'd managed that she spotted a dark puddle near the edge of the porch and when she leaned over to inspect it the metallic smell of blood hit her nose. "Raylan" she said pointing towards the puddle.
They followed a blood trail around the corner of the house and there in the middle of the walkway was Josiah's severed foot. "I'll be damned" they said in unison staring at the bloody limb.