xp_communication

x-juggernaut.livejournal.com posting in

Left with Haller to be distributed later this evening

Gibney,

That big wood-sided box in the kitchen where folks drop off maintenance requests and stuff? Make sure you check it twice a day. For god's sakes, leave the bigass axe where it is and let Yvette help with the damn firewood. It might not seem important, but there's a lot of people living here in this big house and the boathouse and that means stuff's going to break. You've been doing a good job helping out. You're a hard worker, and you do all right when you put your mind to it.

That big box is yours now. Toolbelt out in the shed should fit you just fine.

~Cain.

Temple,

Remember what I told you: two ears, one mouth. Shut up and listen to folks and they'll do right by you.

I'm proud of you. There. The old man said it.

~Cain.

Marie,

When you get this, don't feel bad that I left. I made a choice, just like I made one then, just like I been making them all my life: on my terms. I knew what was likely to happen there at the Citadel, and I made the call, so don't you go blaming yourself.

The team's going to need a heavy lifter, and that's your job now. Show them you're strong enough for it.

No regrets.

~Cain.

Nate,

Never did come around for that last beer, so have one for me. I ain't good as some at putting stuff down into words, but here goes:

You got a hell of a thing going. A great wife, wonderful little girl, and whether they're kin or not, you got yourself a family as good as any. Remember that they're as important as the job you do, in the uniform or behind the desk. I know you got a drive to go out and change the world, but when it's your time to walk away, make sure you can do it on your own terms.

It sure was one hell of a tour, wasn't it?

~Cain.

Remy,

Don't seem like that long ago Chuck dropped you off at my doorstep, with half the people in the world wanting to kick your ass. But time's gone by, and mine's up. I meant what I told you back this past winter - you done good for yourself. You figured out same as I did eventually: don't matter who you were or what they try and make you. Matters who you are and what you do. What you're doing ain't what most folks would call respectable, but it's the right thing. Needs doing. Just don't forget you're more than the job.

You can be more than they make you.

~Cain.

Chuck,

I'm going home. I'll let you know where that is when I find it.

~~We've never been~~

~~I'm not sure what~~

~~I don't know how to say~~

These kids here, they're yours. Not just like David, but all of them. You turned into the father neither of us ever had, and I don't know where you got that from but that's how these kids look at you.

If I got any regrets, it ain't that I couldn't be the son my old man wanted. It was that I couldn't be you.

Thanks for giving me the chance to see I didn't have to be. And for letting me borrow your family for a while.

~Cain.

enclosed is a key to the front door of the mansion