To The Moon and Back

34 years ago... "Its a good thing your momma wanted the twins this weekend." His wife smiled as they kept walking. She was 2 days past her due date and if the s*x and hot sauce wasn't helping, they were going to walk until his next baby was on their way. "They will both love the farm. It's good for their immune system and they'll learn like we did. It's going to be ok to leave them there until this one shows up." She told him and rubbed over her belly, she wished it was as easy as using a  needle and popping the belly like a balloon. Her first pregnancy had been over 3 weeks before her due date, the twins were huge, almost 6 pounds each and the sacs they were in were both in popped with the added pressure and it took no time for labor to get going. Now this baby was almost 10 pounds and she needed relief for her hips as soon as possible. "Myra, my love, is this our last?" Her husband asked her as they kept walking down the barely lit street. It was a small city they were in now, despite coming from a small town about 20 minutes from here, but it still felt like home.  "Honey, you and I both know we want to outdo your brothers... maybe 5 or 6." Myra watched a car slow over a speedbump and then in front of a couple hours down before it started to let off shots. She barely saw anything before her husband was pulling her away but she heard them. Someone was shouting that it was for the Cortez family and that they were going to kill them, their kids, and their parents for being rats. She looked over her husbands shoulder as he moved to put her on a porch to make sure they wouldn't get hit by any bullets. Someone stepped out of the SUV and headed up the stairs before they were shot dead. "Come on out b***h!" "Hey! I've called the cops! Head out now before I finish getting your plates!" "John!" Myra called out with a sob as the guy turned his head and gun up the street at her husband and he fired a couple shots off sending him diving for the street away from his wife. She screamed out and muffled the rest of her screams off as she felt a contraction. She heard a door behind her open and saw a woman standing there with the phone to her ear. "I think I just went into labor." She told her and the woman nodded slowly and then started whispering that there was a pregnant woman on her porch that needed to get to the hospital too. The man in the SUV kept shooting towards John, hitting him once as a graze and when the sirens could be heard they got in and peeled off before any lights could be seen. Myra tried to stand but she was in too much pain, John went and looked at the house, she could see him holding the guy she assumed as already dead hand and then she watched her brave husband start giving the man CPR. When the cops and EMTs and firefighters arrived they assessed her and took over for John. He came back to her, not wanting to touch her with bloody hands. He kept her calm and told her he was there for her, the EMTs kept the cops at bay as they got her BP down, they told them to come to the hospital for a statement after the baby was born. It took her 3 hours from the arrival of the hospital to the birth to get the statements down, the cops were out looking but they were being guarded from the start. They were enjoying a small amount of bliss from the chaotic night when their twins and her mother was allowed to visit. "Mr. and Mrs. Ray? I am Hank Medford. US Marshal. I was called in based on your husbands statement and the names of the victims. It's a rush to judgement but we are going to talk about Witness Protection. The Cortez family is under surveillance. The two agents that were shot tonight were on the inside. They were targets after someone leaked that they were federal agents. They have resources to find out who you are. Where you were transported to from the scene... we will be on the search and have cops here until you're released. If they can't be brought on charges besides your testimony, we will have to place you under our care." "What does that mean? We hide until we're in court?" "Until all of the criminal ring is brought down or beyond in case there are repercussions." He looked at the newborn and smiled slightly. "We would take you both, your children and we would give you new names and put you in a new state, and you can't have any contact with your family, not until you're cleared to come home." He nodded at what he knew was the grandmother and she covered her mouth in  shock before looking at her daughter and son in law. "But they'll come back right?" "I can't say ma'am, right now it's about their safety." Hank told them and nodded slowly and told them that he could give them the night before they had to say goodbye. It took 24 hours for Myra to be discharged, agents had gotten the baby items and the kids toys they could take from their home, they had their goodbye calls to her brother and his parents and then they were moved to the first safehouse location. Hank was their handler, which meant each time they moved they saw him, and each time he checked in he promised to call her parents and his with information. Part of the Cortez family was still searching for them and while they did testify they had to keep moving just in case. With all the help Hank gave them, the support with the newborn, they named the boy after him. As time went on, Myra and John had a total of 6 kids, and were hiding in the big city. After both parents passed they had a Will left to the US Mashals to tell their kids where their real family was. Only after the last child was 25. Well... now it's two weeks past their youngest 25th birthday and a new Marshal was knocking.