Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay since the last chapter. My life is very busy right now, and my muse temporarily abandoned me.

Not long after Kisani had finished fixing my hair, the bedroom door opened with a quiet chime, and my husband reappeared. He had been moving silently in case I was still asleep, but his face brightened when he saw me half-sitting up. Kisani checked that I did not need anything further and then excused herself and left us alone.

T'Challa came immediately to my side as soon as we were alone. "How are you feeling?" He asked, his voice full of care and concern.

"Better," I replied, "Not so tired, and not dizzy right now." I hated being dizzy. It always made me feel like I was trying to walk on rolling, shifting ground with the wrong numbers of paws or feet.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you awoke," he said, taking a seat on the bed and brushing a hand across my cheek. "Baba had a question for me, and then I went to check on your friend."

My husband was not a very touchy-feely man by nature or extremely open with his emotions, his training as a prince and a warrior seeing to that. However, he was always more tactile when I was injured. A mutant though I was, I did not have the Black Panther habit to protect me, the enhancement of the Heart-Shaped Herb to aid me, or the Dora Milaje to watch my back. I wondered privately but had never asked if, after the multiple times I had come home injured in the past year-and-a-half, T'Challa thought that one of these days I was not going to make it home, that just like my twin I would leave for a mission one day and never come back.

"That's alright," I replied, reaching out and slipping my hand into his, "Kisani took good care of me like she always does. How's Tasha?"

"In stable but serious condition. Her fever has broken, as I told you earlier. The bullet in her abdomen did limited damage, by Bast's grace, or she would have never made it here. The bullet in her shoulder did serious damage to her collar bone and shoulder blade, but with our healing technology, she will regain full range of motion. She is weak from blood loss, but she will recover. In the morning, the doctors will start weaning her off the sedatives that kept her quiet while her condition was very severe."

"I should be there then," I said, "After our mission, it would be a bad idea for Tasha to wake up injured in a strange country without a friendly face. People tend to get injured when that happens."

"Two Doras are guarding her room. She would not make it out of the room regardless."

In almost all other cases, I would have said that Tasha, even injured, would have found a way to take out any guards and escape regardless. Yet, with the Doras there and with Wakandan tech, her chances lessened considerably to close to nil. "I should be there anyway. I don't want her to wake up alone."

"If M'Koni approves, I'll make sure you're there," T'Challa reassured me. "But only if she approves. You are not well either right now."

"Thank you."

"Do you feel like going downstairs for part of the evening?" T'Challa asked, changing the subject.

My brow furrowed at this. I was confused. "M'Koni said I was supposed to rest for today, and that would be a bit of a long walk." If it were just me, I might buck the rules. If it were just T'Challa, I knew he might buck the rules. But it was unheard of for T'Challa to suggest me bucking the rules when I was injured. He was too protective.

"You fell asleep before M'Koni left the room. We spoke for some time in the hall. She said it did not matter where you rested, as long as you rested. The company will do you good."

Still I hesitated, thinking I was missing something from what he was saying or trying to say. I was probably just being dense. "I think I feel like sitting and talking awhile, but I don't feel strong enough to walk."

"You will not have to walk," T'Challa replied.

It still took me another long moment before I realized what my husband meant. He was suggesting carrying me down himself, not a difficult feat for him considering the enhancement of the Heart Shaped Herb. The idea made my cheeks go red with embarrassment, as my independent, stubborn streak vied with the part of me that, after a long and hard life, liked being taken care of. After a few moments of thought, my wish to see my family won out, and I pushed back the bedcovers so T'Challa could pick me up. Pleased by my agreement, he slipped one arm beneath my knees and the other around my back and easily lifted me, like I weighed no more than little Shuri did.

When we reached the hallway, I was surprised to see it empty. "No Doras?" I asked, leaning my head against T'Challa's shoulder and trying to keep my arms where I wouldn't elbow him in the chest accidentally.

"There were two at the door while I was absent. Right now there are two at each staircase, two by the entrance to the Royal Wing, and the rest at their usual posts."

The slight jolt of going down the steps made my side flare painfully, making me glad for my higher than normal pain tolerance. Distraction would also make me forget about it soon.

Within a few minutes of leaving our rooms, T'Challa stopped before the door of his mother's sitting room. There was a quick chime to alert those inside of visitors, and then the door slid open.

The queen's sitting room was a warm, inviting place. It was of medium size and was facing toward the city, so that, through a wall of windows on the far side of the room, those inside had a good view of the Golden City and the country beyond. One whole wall of the room was covered with floor-to-ceiling book cases. The shelves were covered in not only books in multiple languages and on many topics but also pictures frames of her family, shells, trinkets, and various gift that T'Challa and Shuri had made her as children. The queen also had a large desk to work at, and several comfortable chairs and one couch were scattered across the room. On the walls were several paintings depicting beautiful landscapes from across Wakanda.

Ramonda was seated at her desk, as we entered, and Shuri was sitting cross-legged on the floor, a Kimoyo screen open in front of her, and was doing … something … very diligently. I was smart and skilled in many things, but Wakandan technology—even the things Shuri was involved with at her young age—went straight over my head.

Shuri bounded to her feet with a cry of delight when she caught sight of us in the doorway, and Ramonda—who had become as dear to me, the mother I hadn't had in decades—rose more sedately. T'Challa set me down gently on the couch with my back against the arm of the couch. He gently adjusted my shawl and then withdrew after saying, "I am going to go find Baba."

My umama drew up a chair beside the couch, while Shuri hovered impatiently behind her. "How are you feeling, my child?"

"Better. Stronger, though not right by any means."

"Good. Will you be able to stay longer this trip?" Umama asked. My last trip home had lasted a mere week. It was difficult for me to stay in Wakanda for long, since there was no good, safe explanation for my handlers. For now, I was mainly restricted to sneaking home on gaps between missions or on injury leave.

I shook my head, glad that I could do so without the action making me dizzy. "Once my friend and I are well enough to travel, we'll head to Cairo. SHIELD will pick us up there."

"Why can't you stay?" Shuri interjected, "If you stayed home, you wouldn't keep getting hurt so much."

"I would rather stay, usisi," I replied, "but it isn't safe."

Shuri opened her mouth to retort with some comment about Wakandan tech compared to the tech of the rest of the world. If Okoye had been here, I'm sure she would have had something tart to say as well. I continued before Shuri could speak, "My brother and I trust our handler but not most of the SHIELD hierarchy due to the treatment of our kind in the US during the early 2000s. SHIELD tries to keep an eye on where even its off-duty agents are, ostensibly to facilitate quick recall when necessary, but for years, since before I met T'Challa, my brother and I would stonewall about where we would disappear to when not at the School. I can get away with disappearing for short trips, but if I stay away too long, they will get more suspicious than they already are, especially when Tasha is with me. Until I retire from SHIELD, I can only stay for short periods."

"Then why don't you retire?" Shuri asked in a tone that indicated that the answer to all my problems was right in front of my nose if I was just smart enough to see it.

Why don't I retire? I had been asking myself that same question for years, especially since my brother's death. "It's complicated" was the only honest answer I could give.

My spitfire sister would have retorted to this as well—sometimes it was hard to believe she was only 11—but Ramonda cut her off with a sharp, "Not now, Shuri. Why don't you show her the work you having been doing with the Kimoyo Beads?"

Getting Shuri to talk about her tech was the easiest way to change the subject, and today was no exception. She enthusiastically launched into her subject. I was lost within a few minutes, but I relaxed back into the couch and let the flow of her words drift over me soothingly. It was good to be home.