Queen Jupiter Jones Abrasax. First Primary of the House of Abrasax. Owner of Earth.

There were a dozen or more lesser titles, too, ones Jupiter hadn't yet memorized, that had to do with properties she'd inherited or honors that Seraphi had accumulated. All of them were bitter, just now.

Jupiter stared out the viewport of the skimmer as it entered Earth's atmosphere. The planet - her planet - looked so very fragile from space, its bubble of air a frighteningly delicate shield; as if a puff of breath would blow it away.

The impression lessened as the veiled skimmer dropped down towards Chicago's midmorning. Caine was piloting, but three other Stormbreakers were standing near the rear of the viewing area, politely staying out of Jupiter's way. She felt a little bad for Honch, who had to duck their head slightly to avoid hitting the ceiling, but the trip was a short one. Laur and Forthwith were standing a little closer to one another than usual, wings just brushing, and Jupiter knew that they were still thinking about how easily one of them could have fallen in Absaba's place.

It's cruel to make twins into soldiers. Jupiter bit her lip and resolutely didn't turn her head. But then, it's cruel to make soldiers at all.

Like all the other Splices, the twins hadn't been given a choice.

Earth was a paradox, now; huge, and yet small at the same time. And it still didn't feel like a possession. Just a home.

But not home, Jupiter realized, stricken. Even the crowded, shabby house she'd grown up in wasn't really home any longer.

She set the thought aside for later. Titles and royalty didn't matter right now.

I just want my mom.

Caine landed the skimmer on the roof of their apartment building; Jupiter had no idea how its weight didn't bring the building down, but she didn't care. In silence, Caine and the Antinaris activated the devices that would make them look Earth-normal. Honch, too big to get away with it easily, would remain with the skimmer in case emergency transportation was needed.

It bothered Jupiter a great deal, but the extra security was warranted until Diomika's people tracked down who was behind the attack on Orus.

They left the skimmer still in silence, and Jupiter hoped that no one was looking out a window to spot the ramp opening out of invisibility, because she hated to think of the Keepers having to blank someone. The Stormbreakers walked a little too closely to her for it to look natural, but at this point Jupiter didn't care. She wasn't really expecting another attack, not here, but her skin still itched a little.

And anyway, the only way they'd back off is if I ordered them. And she didn't have the heart for it.

An iriser let them in the roof door, and they all clattered down the stairs to their floor. The apartments smelled dusty and cold, but at least in this space Jupiter could walk around without three extra shadows.

Forthwith and Laur immediately spread out to install the additional security devices they'd brought with them, but Jupiter sat on the long couch that took up one wall and brought out her phone to call her mother. It was Sunday, so Aleksa wouldn't be working; it would have been easier to just go straight to the house, but Jupiter couldn't bear the thought of the fuss that would ensue, as happy as it would be.

Aleksa's phone went straight to voicemail; not unusual, as Aleksa only answered calls when she was in the mood, but Jupiter was still taken aback. Maybe she's taking a nap and shut it off.

Jupiter thought about waiting, but the emotion piling up inside her made her throat swell, and she thumbed down to the next number on the list.

That one picked up immediately. "Jupiter! How are you, my girl?"

The melodic Russian made tears rise, and told her that Vassily wasn't within hearing distance. Jupiter pinched the bridge of her nose, but her voice still came out a little thick. "Aunt Nino, hi. Is Mom around?"

The breath's worth of silence told her that Nino had heard her distress. "She's in Atlantic City. What's wrong, little sun?"

Jupiter blinked, surprise distracting her. "Atlantic City? What's she doing there?"

"Breaking the bank at the casinos," Nino said smugly. "Last week she took the money you sent her and said it was time for a vacation. Vassily is fit to bite, it was beautiful."

Jupiter let out a watery laugh at the image of Aleksa counting cards at a swanky blackjack table, and Caine, waiting patiently across the room, looked up sharply at the sound. "Let's hope she doesn't get thrown out."

"Mmm, yes. Now tell me what's the matter, Jupiter. Has that beautiful man of yours hurt you?"

Caine's ears twitched - of course he could hear both sides of the conversation - and he looked vaguely offended. Jupiter tried to laugh again, and failed. "No, no. I just...I wanted to talk to Mom."

She could all but hear Nino's frown. "Are you here, little sun? Or still in Italy?"

"I...I'm here." Jupiter's voice trembled.

"I'm coming," Nino said, and hung up.

Jupiter stared down at the phone in her hand without really seeing it. She could hear Caine informing the twins that Nino would be there shortly, and then he disappeared into the kitchen.

A few moments later a mug appeared in her field of vision, breaking Jupiter out of her paralysis. It was tea, hot and sweet just like she liked it, she could smell the sugar, and Jupiter looked up at Caine's worried face.

"You take such good care of me," she managed, and accepted the mug.

The tips of his ears turned pink. Jupiter patted the cushion next to her, and he sat slowly, clearly still on guard. But there were the twins and the security devices, and Honch on standby in the skimmer, and Jupiter really needed comfort more than one more guard. She leaned into him, hands cupped around the mug, and his arm came around her shoulders with gentle care.

They sat like that for the half-hour it took Nino to arrive. On some level Jupiter knew that Caine too was mourning Absaba - that all the Stormbreakers were, and that their loss was deeper than hers - but it was buried beneath a thick layer of guilt.

It's my fault.

When the knock came on the door, Caine rose to open it, his hand lingering on Jupiter's shoulder for a long second. Jupiter stared into the mug, then looked up as he opened the door.

Nino bustled in, round and brisk and familiar, craning her neck back to meet Caine's gaze with raised brows. "There you are, beautiful as ever. What is wrong with our Jupiter, eh?"

Caine bowed his head in greeting. "You should ask her, ma'am."

Nino nodded once, sharply, and brushed past him. Jupiter set her mug on the floor and stood, tried to summon a smile, but the grief and guilt swelled up, closing her throat. In the next moment she was in Nino's arms, held tight, and Jupiter felt her control shatter. "My poor girl," Nino said, soft and strong in her ear, and stood, solid as a tree, as the pain ripped through Jupiter and she wept again.

When her tears were spent they were sitting on the couch, Jupiter's head in Nino's comfortable lap, and Jupiter could hear the clink of the little samovar in the kitchen as Caine made more tea.

Nino stroked her hair gently. She had always had softer edges than Aleksa, but her voice was firm. "Now. What is this about?"

She'll find out eventually, if I tell Mom. In the back of her mind, Jupiter had always known that Nino would have to be let in on the secret sooner or later. But she'd expected to have more control over when...and how.

"It's a long story." Jupiter moved her head far enough to see Caine in the doorway to the kitchen, and sighed. Screw it. "Caine? Would you show her, please?"

He met her eyes, checking, and at her nod he straightened, stepping away from the wall and slowly unfolding his wings.

The slow smoothing of Nino's hand stopped. Jupiter heard her draw in a breath, let it out on a quiet word. "Ангел."

"No, ma'am," Caine said, equally quiet, and tapped the switch on his likealyzer. "I'm a Splice."

Nino stared at him for a long, long moment, and then her hand closed on Jupiter's shoulder, urging her up. "So Lyudmila was right after all! I hope that is part of your story," she said, turning to Jupiter. "Begin at the beginning, little sun."

It wasn't that simple, of course. The telling took hours, multiple servings of pryaniki and innumerable cups of tea, and more digressions than Jupiter could track. Her voice was edging on hoarse by the time she was done, and Nino had long since called home to say she wouldn't be back for supper.

Nino sat back for a while, lips pressed together as she thought, and Jupiter wondered if it was worth calling out for food. The others do have to eat, she reminded herself, though she was sure they had Legion powerbars in their pockets like always.

A tap on her knee broke Jupiter out of her thoughts. "Didn't I always say it?" Nino said, her smile smug. "You are destined for great things." She was still speaking English even though Jupiter had mentioned the translation implants; Jupiter suspected it was just habit.

Jupiter rolled her eyes. "Okay, so you were right all along."

"Of course I was. And you have found the one true love of your life as well, which is fitting." Nino beamed at Caine, who actually blushed. "But what a mess you've been handed, and your poor guard. That's why you came home?"

Jupiter nodded, feeling the tears start up again. "He died for me, Nino. That's...that's so wrong."

"It's not," Caine broke in, looking desperately uncomfortable. "Your Majesty, it's what he was for. What we're all for."

"Bullshit," Jupiter choked, but Nino waved them both to silence, the smile that had emerged at Jupiter's title fading.

"You are both right," she declared. "Jupiter, is his job, like Secret Service. Caine, it only is fair if it is choice."

She gave him a sharp look. "Do I understand this correctly, that you were not allowed to choose?"

His mouth worked, but eventually Caine nodded. Nino sighed. "And did this Absaba choose?"

"He wasn't a Splice," Jupiter managed; she didn't know enough about Absaba's history to say what choices he'd made. Nino handed her another tissue from the box Caine had found, and raised her brows at him.

"He...he joined the Legion as a volunteer," Caine said quietly. Jupiter felt bad for distressing him, but everything was too raw and she couldn't keep the tears from leaking down her cheeks. "Majesty, he did choose."

Jupiter shook her head. "Still not fair - "

"Of course not." Nino patted her knee again. "Death is not fair. Best thing to do is move forward, bring down stupid society."

At Jupiter's gape, she smiled wickedly. "You think I do not know you, my girl? Greatness has responsibility attached. You are Aleksa's daughter, when great task comes, you meet it." Another pat. "Not so good with small tasks, maybe, but now you have staff for that."

Jupiter couldn't help giggling, though it was almost a sob. Nino sat back, folding her hands neatly. "Now. Aleksa needs to know this, but no one else, I think. The others will not understand."

Jupiter blew her nose. "No kidding. Imagine what Vladie would do."

Nino made a derisive noise. "Get into even more trouble, I'm sure. No, we will keep it between us for now. Aleksa comes home on Tuesday."

And it'll be Wednesday before I can talk to her, or maybe Saturday - Jupiter frowned. "It's too bad we can't go pick her up."

"Why not?" Nino said, brightening. "We go, you explain. Then bring her back."

Jupiter blinked, then grinned weakly at her aunt, the first real smile she'd managed in two days. "You just want to ride in a spaceship."

Nino leaned forward to rap her arm. "Of course I want to ride in a spaceship. The trouble will be getting your mother to ride in a spaceship."

"Maybe I should have brought Aggie after all." Jupiter rubbed her temples; her head hurt with crying.

"Time to eat," Nino said firmly. "And I want to meet these others who are hiding in the other room."

Caine frowned, Jupiter giggled again, and the twins came through the opening between the apartments, looking rather sheepish at being noticed. They too had shut off their likealyzers, and Nino's eyes widened at the sight of them. "That is beautiful," she said under her breath, and Forthwith grinned at her.

"We're a set," she said, and her brother smirked and posed so that the gold of his coloring shimmered.

"Yes?" Nino stood and went over to admire them at closer range, and started asking questions. Jupiter thought about stepping in, but the twins didn't look upset and she herself was really too tired. She leaned back against the couch, and Caine moved in to crouch in front of her, taking her hands and raising his wings just enough to block out the others.

"Your aunt is right. You need to eat, your Majesty," he said softly.

Jupiter gave him as much of a smile as she could manage, and curled her fingers around his palms. "I'm sorry about all this," she said. "Absaba was your friend, and I'm just..."

Caine's grip went tight. "He was," Caine said, and his tone was laced with just enough wonder to tighten her throat again. "But you're...this is..."

He bit his lip, thinking, and Jupiter waited. "You honor Absaba beyond words by mourning him," he said at last. "And you honor us. No one thinks you're being selfish."

Jupiter freed one hand to cup his cheek. "It's what he deserves," she said, knowing that even that simple fact was all but unheard of in the wider universe. Nino's right. It's stupid.

Caine kissed the heel of her hand. "Yes. But you see it." He didn't quite smile, but his eyes crinkled. "Now, what kind of pizza does your Majesty want?"

Caine had seen the Bolotnikov house wrecked and dark and all but empty; he had seen it full of light and people and happy noise. Now, he thought, it reminded him of one of Stinger's hives when the inhabitants sensed a possible threat - humming uneasily, figures darting here and there, urgency in the air.

"Vassily won't like this," Zeno said, leaning against the wall of the front hall with his arms crossed, watching as Jupiter whisked past him.

"Vassily can piss off," Aleksa said with cheerful menace, heading up the stairs just as briskly.

Zeno made a face; if he'd been the least bit hostile, Caine knew he would be leaning just into Zeno's space and reminding him that Jupiter, and everyone she attached to her, were protected. But Zeno smelled only resigned, not even a little curious.

Moltka, on the other hand, was definitely curious. "Where are you going, Aunt Nino?" he asked, trailing after Nino as she headed down to the basement.

"Vacation!" Nino replied cheerfully. Caine, standing on the other side of the hallway, could still hear them clearly.

"But Aunt Aleksa just had a vacation." Moltka sounded more puzzled than upset, which was in direct contrast to his mother; Irina and Aleksa had held a brief shouting match, ending with Irina sulking in the kitchen.

"Tcha! Three days, that is not a vacation. We will be gone for weeks." Nino sounded downright gleeful.

"Caine? Could you give me a hand upstairs?" Jupiter gestured as she ran up the staircase, and Caine gave Zeno one more look before following. The man merely blinked at him.

"Do you expect trouble from Vassily?" Caine asked.

Jupiter jumped, reaching for a short cord hanging from the ceiling, and missed. Caine grabbed it and pulled, bringing down a set of folding stairs. "Thanks. Zeno's right, he won't like it, but we're going to be I don't know how many light years away, what's he gonna do about it?"

She sounded happier, and something in Caine basked a little at the change despite the grief they all still felt. Jupiter scrambled up the stairs, and Caine hastened to follow close behind in case she fell, though from the ease of her movement he could tell she'd done it a thousand times.

"We used to play up here," Jupiter said, confirming his assessment. "It was bigger then." She pulled a wry face and picked her way among the boxes and miscellaneous objects that crowded the attic space, many of them fairly dusty. "Watch your head."

"Vassily won't lose any work," Caine pointed out. "You have ten times the volunteers you asked for."

"Yeah, who knew impersonating cleaning ladies on Earth was such a popular gig in space?" Jupiter rolled her eyes and shoved a large plastic figurine out of the way. "Here we go."

She rolled several cases across the floor to him, easily enough to indicate that they were empty. "Can you take these down to Mom? I need to call upstairs really quick."

"Of course, your Majesty." Caine herded the cases towards the steps. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nah, I just want something for Lyudmila." Jupiter fished her comm bracelet out of her pocket, and Caine looked away to maneuver the cases down to the next floor.

"Ah, thank you, Caine." Aleksa gave him an approving smile when he found her, now down in the basement with Nino. She had reacted surprisingly well to Jupiter's story when they'd met her in Atlantic City, though her comments had been considerably more acidic than her sister's; Caine had not failed to note that Aleksa was treating him more warmly now. He found it equal parts alarming and reassuring. "Give us five minutes, you can take back upstairs."

He nodded, finding a space to stand out of the way, and Aleksa chuckled. "Nice of Jupiter to choose a polite man at last," she remarked to Nino, picking items rapidly out of a chest of drawers by her bed and piling them in one open case.

"And handsome too," Nino agreed, winking at Caine. He felt his ears heating, but he bowed his head in acknowledgment, and she grinned. Caine was beginning to think he liked her.

The two women were swift - it was just four minutes before he was carrying the cases back up to the main floor. Moltka was pouting in the living room; Caine had heard his pleas to come along, which no one had taken seriously. Caine stopped to look at him, but Moltka hunched his shoulders and turned away, so Caine kept going out the front door.

They couldn't exactly load the luggage straight into the veiled skimmer - which was currently hovering invisibly over the Bolotnikov house - so Phylo had arranged the rental of a large vehicle, which now sat at the curb. Caine loaded the cases in the back and wondered how Jupiter's mother and aunt would react to space. Dr. Thompson did well, he told himself. Nino had seemed relatively unfazed by Jupiter's story, even to his sensitive nose, but Aleksa was, he thought, more skeptical despite the evidence already presented.

But given how Jupiter had reacted all those months ago, he figured Aleksa would manage. Jupiter had gotten her courage from somewhere, after all.

Caine took a moment to dwell in that memory. Nearly half the planet's rotation spent in that unfinished nest, high above the city, listening to her heart beat slow in sleep, inhaling her with every breath. He hadn't known what she was doing to him, even then - how could he know - but nothing about those hours had been dull or dragging, even with nothing to do but tinker with his equipment.

And then she'd woken, frightened but thinking -

disbelieving at first, but taking in information, learning to cope, even taking delight in some of the new things he had to show her.

It had been like watching the birth of a new star. Something bright and beautiful, an energy that reached out to warm him without even knowing what she did.

Many moments of wonder and pleasure had come to him since, just from being near his Queen, but Caine still considered those early memories to be some of his most precious.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Jupiter came out with two bags slung over her shoulders, moving fast. Caine moved faster to relieve her of them, and she gave them up with no more than a slightly exasperated look. "We still need to talk," she said in a low voice, following him to the SUV. "There hasn't been time, but don't think I've forgotten."

"As your Majesty pleases." Caine put the bags into the vehicle. Jupiter made an rude noise, then backed him into the side of the SUV and rose up on her toes, kissing him thoroughly. Her hand trailed over the side of his face and down his throat, and underneath the scent of pleasure and the layer of mourning she was tense.

His mouth was too occupied to ask what he could do to ease her, so Caine did his best with what he had, gently pulling her close, hands at her hips. He had to deliberately restrain his wings from spreading around to encircle her, and was fleetingly annoyed at the restrictions of her little planet, that he could not serve her with all of himself while they were in public.

"Break it up, lovebirds," Aleksa called from the front door, more humor than irritation, but when Caine looked up her eyes were sharp. Jupiter sighed, and let him go.

"To be continued," she muttered, and turned. "Are you ready, Mama?"

Nothing about the leavetaking was simple; there were hugs, tears, good wishes, remembering something that wasn't packed, at least two brief arguments, and Lyudmila running out with a packet of food to press on her Majesty. Jupiter returned the favor with a bottle of something and a low-voiced conversation that Caine actually missed, since Nino was asking him to rearrange some of the bags in the back of the vehicle. Caine didn't bother pointing out that they were only going to drive about eight blocks.

But finally the Bolotnikov house was left behind. Jupiter drove; Caine sat next to her, a strategic position he wasn't willing to give up even to Aleksa despite her frown, and listened to the murmured updates of Honch, who was piloting the skimmer directly overhead.

An empty lot would have been too public for their purposes, since Jupiter disliked having people blanked, so they parked in front of a house that was up for sale and trooped - with all the luggage - into its backyard. I know it looks weird, Jupiter had explained earlier, but trespassing is a police matter. Watching people rise upward and disappear into thin air is a sanity issue.

Aleksa was grumbling as they halted in the empty back yard, but Nino was practically bouncing. Wind stirred around them as Honch brought the skimmer down; the hoverbeam's appearance made Aleksa mutter something and Nino chortle.

It was their second time in the skimmer, since Jupiter had gone to fetch her mother home, but their first to break atmosphere, and Caine found he was watching their faces as the little ship lifted out of Earth's gravity and into the black of space.

Nino's was pure excitement; Aleksa's eyes widened, and he could smell her wonder and the wave of bittersweet sorrow that surged over it. Her expression barely softened, but she put an arm around Jupiter's shoulders, drawing her daughter closer.

"Your father...he would be so happy," she murmured, too low for ordinary ears to catch, and Caine made himself turn away as Jupiter's eyes overflowed.

The thought was errant, and unexpected. Is that what having a mother is like?

And before he could crush it, it was followed by something even more radical. Is that what being a parent is like?

The idea was unsettling as well as impossible, and he put it away. But he watched Aleksa more closely, and couldn't help wondering what he might have been, if things had been different.

It was definitely a new thought.

Jupiter waved the door to her suite shut and let out a long, long breath. "Well. Glad that's done."

Caine, who was stripping off his jacket, gave her a cockeyed look. "You're not pleased to have them here?"

"Oh, I am." Jupiter let her shoulders relax and wandered over to the nearest chaise. "I really am. But it's...kind of a lot, having the two things overlap, you know?"

She flopped down and swung her legs up onto the chaise, leaning back against its arm and trying to assimilate the past few days. Bringing her mother and aunt back to the Windy City had been less of a choice than an inevitability, but Jupiter had anticipated that. But up until now her Earth life had been pretty well segregated from her space life, and mixing the two felt weird.

Jupiter did treasure the memory of arriving at the Windy City, however. Nino had all but started squeaking with excitement, but watching Aleksa's eyes get wider and wider as the ship got bigger and bigger had been the best part. Whatever skepticism her mother might have been harboring about Jupiter's wild story had been annihilated.

Now the two of them were installed in one of the guest suites, and Jupiter had assigned them a couple of crewmembers as guides, because she knew her aunt at least was going to want to explore just about everything. But at the moment she herself needed a break.

"You'll see them for supper?" Caine asked, tugging his vest back into place, and Jupiter held out a hand, silently asking him to come over.

"I won't hear the end of it if I don't." She took Caine's hand as he reached her and pulled him down to sit next to her. "And I want to talk with Mom about all this tomorrow. But she should get a little time to assimilate first."

"That makes sense." Caine regarded her with the little smile that Jupiter loved, the one that told her he was both at ease and focused entirely on her. "Do you think they'll adapt?"

"I'm...not sure they'll want to. They might want to just turn around and go back home in a few weeks." Jupiter bit her lip. "I mean, I can show them a good time, but both of them are great at recognizing bullshit. They're going to look at things the same way I do."

"That's not a surprise," Caine said with some amusement. He reached for the fastenings of her shoes, but Jupiter slid her feet away and sat back up.

He was so big, and yet when Jupiter put her hands on him to maneuver him flat on the chaise he went easily, without any hint of protest or reluctance. She draped herself over him, folding one arm under her to protect his chest from her chin but letting the other hand drift over his cheek and throat.

No scars marred that skin; there wasn't even any residual pinkness. Whatever the next best thing to Regenex was, it was effective.

Caine was still and relaxed beneath her, watching Jupiter with the calm patience that wasn't really patience, she thought. He wasn't waiting for anything; he was simply ready to respond to her in whatever way she needed.

I don't deserve this. But that was an old thought by now, and anyway, deserving or not, she had it; the only thing to do was to cherish him as he deserved, as much as he would allow and sometimes a little more.

"I'm not going to yell at you about this," she said, pressing her palm lightly to his cheek. "Even though I think it was supremely stupid."

The look Caine gave her was patient, and the slightest bit amused. "It's protocol, your Majesty."

And Jupiter knew that it was one protocol she couldn't countermand with an order; by the feel of Absaba's lifeless skin beneath her fingertips, she knew it.

"Mmm. It just means I'm gonna make one of you sit in with all the Timesavers' brainstorming sessions so that never happens again." Jupiter didn't know what had happened to the halo she'd torn off in the infirmary. Nor did she care, so long as it never appeared in her wardrobe again.

"As your Majesty pleases." Caine didn't sound worried.

Jupiter sighed, and drew one finger down his nose, making his lashes flutter. He was so gorgeous, and he still couldn't see it. "There's one other thing."

His hands curved over her waist; not trying to arouse, just a soft touch. "Yes?"

Jupiter bit her lip, thinking over her words before she spoke. "You don't have to avoid Regenex because I don't like it, Caine. I would never make you do that."

Because yeah, the whole thing was horrific, but Caine had a completely different perspective and the right to choose what was done with his body. Not to mention the idea of making a rule about other people's lives makes me want to throw up.

Caine's brows drew together. "I know," he said quietly. "But I like to please you."

"At the risk of your life?" Jupiter cut off further words, trying to keep her voice from climbing.

"It wasn't." Caine's voice was firm. His hands smoothed up her spine and down again. "Jupiter. It wasn't. I wasn't going to bleed out."

She dropped her head to his chest, the memory of those open wounds far too vivid. One strong hand cupped the back of her skull, fingers sliding into her hair.

"You put yourself at so much risk," Jupiter muttered into his vest. "You don't need to add more."

Caine shifted, and she felt the press of his lips against her crown. It made her bite her lip against tears, because he was rarely so bold. "It's my honor to protect your life with my own."

Jupiter swallowed, and steadied her voice, tilting her head up to meet his eyes. "I get that. I do. But I also need you alive."

She held his gaze for a long moment before he squeezed his eyes shut. A tremor ran through him, and his hands tightened, and Jupiter laid her head back down on his chest and let him be. There was no satisfactory answer. But I need him to know it.

It was a while before she remembered the other question, though thinking back to the attack still made her stomach twist. "Hmm. Why were Stinger and the others wearing spacesuits?"

Caine's voice was almost more vibration than sound as his hand passed over her hair. "It saved time. They went directly from the ship to the docking bay without having to wait for a shuttle."

Jupiter raised her head again. "You mean they spacewalked?"

One brow went up, half puzzlement. "Walking wasn't involved."

She poked him gently. "You know what I mean." Jupiter put her head down again, and opened her mouth, then closed it.

I'm scared, she wanted to say. Not for herself, but for those around her. And she'd thought she'd known what she was getting into, but how could she have? It all just kept getting bigger and more complex.

"What is it?" Caine murmured.

Jupiter hesitated. "This is scary." Truth, at least. "I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't have brought Mom and Aunt Nino along."

"I doubt you could have kept them home," Caine said, amused again, and Jupiter had to smile. "But your Majesty knows we will keep them safe as well."

"Yeah. That's the problem," Jupiter said wryly, and it was a measure of how far they'd come that he only chuckled, without taking offense.

She sighed, and tried to let it all go.

One more stop to make.

Agatha looked around the little house where she'd spent the last several years, taken aback by the strength of her cognitive dissonance.

The house had been the first space she'd had that had been solely hers, that she had furnished and decorated in reference to no taste but her own. It was rented from a friend, who owned the surrounding land as well, but Jorge had given her free rein on the interior.

It smelled like home, like familiarity - and yet, for the first time, it seemed far too small. Exposure to an intergalactic civilization will do that to you, I guess. And it was quiet; she'd chosen to leave Edsel on board the ship for this trip.

Most of the stuff was going into storage; thanks to Jupiter's more-than-generous salary, Agatha could afford to pay the fees indefinitely. The rest, sitting neatly in her living room, was due to be picked up by a squad of movers from the Windy City crew and transferred to her quarters on board.

What am I doing?

It was just last-minute jitters, Agatha knew that. She'd already made her decision, already spoken with Jupiter about it.

"You're staying?" Jupiter's eyes - and grin - widened with a palpable joy; joy that warmed her, Agatha had to admit.

"What can I say, I've been seduced by the light side." Agatha shrugged, grinning back. "Seriously, though, I want to watch you take this shit down."

Jupiter's smile hardened. "I'll do my best." And widened. "Want to help me set up a retirement fund for my employees?"

It was hardly safe, Agatha knew that. She'd witnessed Absaba's body being brought home, she'd seen the injury that had killed him. She knew about the attempts on Jupiter's life so far, and Agatha was quite aware that bystander status didn't guarantee safety. Hell, if she's killed we could all go down with her. Or end up stranded on the far side of the galaxy.

And yet...it was worth the risk.

Agatha had already informed her friends that she was leaving the country for an indefinite time - midlife crisis, she'd told one, overdue adventure another. And I wasn't even lying. Her email was automatically forwarded to her personal sheaves, thanks to galactic technology. She had no close family left to be too curious; that was a bitter-edged thought, but in this case it was an advantage.

All right. One last time over the checklist. Books, yes; photo albums, yes; Edsel's favorite cat tree, yes. I've sent the last check to Jorge and canceled my Internet. Her mail already went to a post office box that one of Jupiter's people stopped by to empty every so often.

The car goes to charity; easier than storing it. With what Jupiter paid her, Agatha could buy half a dozen new vehicles whenever she came back, not that she would be so wasteful.

Time to go.

Agatha locked the door behind her and settled behind the wheel of her sedan. Driving away from the house felt strange...but not bad.

Handing in her resignation took less time than she anticipated, and left Agatha feeling oddly free. "Of course," she murmured to herself as she stepped out of the school building. "Well, you've only been teaching for over thirty years."

She met the pickup for the charity in the school parking lot and handed over the keys, made a brief phone call to cancel the insurance, and stopped by a mailbox to post the house key back to Jorge.

Then she made one more call, and walked a few more blocks, turning into the specified alley. Nothing was visible in the air above it besides a fire escape, but as she stepped inside a beam of blue light appeared, waiting like...like a doorway.

Her heart rose, ridiculously happy. It's a nightmare out there, she reminded herself, but the anticipation didn't ebb.

Agatha walked into the light, and felt herself rise up.

AN: Despite Caine's thoughts, there will be no babies in the near future here, so don't get your hopes up. ;)
There may not be babies at all. Haven't decided.