"What is in your closet?" Isabelle asked of her sisters, her curiosity easily getting the better of her, "he isn't tying you up... is he?"
"We can't all be sticks in the mud like you and Kaylee," Grace answered, avoiding the question.
"He is?!"
"I never said if he is or isn't," Grace retorted, "You think he is."
"Is he?"
"Does it matter?" Hope asked, "what we do with our husband is our own business. And even if it is... kinky... it's all willing. Deviant, maybe, but not necessarily wrong."
"Besides, I'd thought you and Nick have done the same," Grace added, in a somewhat teasing tone.
"As you said, Kaylee and I "sticks in the mud"," Isabelle retorted, "and Nicole would throttle Nick if he tried."
There were a few chuckles that echoed through the present wolves, though Millie was trying desperately not hear the topic of discussion. Every wolf knew of Nicole's temper and it was a well known joke that you could tell when Nick screwed something up by seeing Alexandra trying to calm down her cousin while Isabelle and Beatrice tried to help Nick come up with an apology. But it was also known that Nick loved all his mates. Nick and Nicole could be heard mating after nearly "spat", with the rest of their sub-pack soon to join in.
"I don't know how all that stuff works," Nick admitted nervously.
"Don't learn," Nicole told him, stretching out the only thing she could move (her arm, as she was still held down by restraints for her earlier "escape" attempts), and placed her paw on Nick's shoulder, "you are marvelous the way you are now."
"You think so?"
"Of course, dear," Nicole, Alexandra, Beatrice, and Isabelle all said together, bringing a nice smile to Nick's muzzle.
"I'M NOT LISTENING!" Millie finally hollered, not able to stand the sexual innuendo anymore.
++++++++
"He's going to die, isn't he?" Cassandra asked weakly, a tear or two forming.
"Everyone dies eventually," Marie sighed, "it is a fact of life that everyone must accept. As Balthilde had told her grandchildren before arriving in the new world, it is the great equalizer. Rich and poor, strong and weak, male and female, wolf or lion, human or ape..." she gestured to herself, "witch..." then to the others, "non-witches or warlocks, we ALL die eventually. And for Gita, Goldwyn, and Griselle, they never really learned that lesson. Despite their grandmother and adoptive father's best efforts. How Marie Cruz dealt with it, however, is somewhat different..."
+++++++++
Gabriel felt weak and exhausted when he finally returned. Even without second sight, he could tell his time on Earth was rapidly approaching its end. The body that had spent years fighting the unnatural and defending the church no longer had the fire that it had in his youth, and Gabriel knew it. His only hope was that his "bargain" with "death" would allow him to see Marie one last time. Apologize for his sins and wish her well.
He quietly passed her room, and saw that she was not there. Apparently this disciplinary session was still going on, or she was recovering from it somewhere. He sighed heavily and continued on his way. There were just somethings he couldn't save her from.
++++++++
Marie walked slowly toward her room. Her back still stung from where she had been flogged for killing the assassin. At the moment she only wanted to sleep. As she headed toward her room, she came across something though that made her stop, and forget all about sleep. It was her father, looking weak and broken down, leaning heavily on his cane. It broke her heart. In her mind, he was always the strong and kind man who had raised her. He was her father, if not by blood.
"Father!" Marie gasped and rushed to his side.
"Marie?" Father Gabriel spoke and stopped where he stood, but didn't try to turn around.
"I'm here, Father," Marie rushed to his side and positioned herself so that he could lean on her, "you must rest. You do not look well."
"I am not well," Father Gabriel admitted, "though I think I will be resting for a long time, very soon."
"No!"
"It can not be helped, Marie," Father Gabriel said politely, "My time is coming."
"But I love you," Marie pleaded, tears forming, "you're my father!"
"If only that could be true," Father Gabriel said weakly, "you must forgive me for failing to find your family."
"You ARE my family," Marie began to cry, her training failing her, "are we not all children of God?"
"Indeed."
"Then there is nothing to forgive," Marie spoke, "I do wish I could have known or remember my biological family better, but you raised me. Trained me. Loved me the way a good father should. Defended me from those who are not as good as you."
Father Gabriel looked at her as she took his raven's mask in her free arm, and helped him into his own room. Once at his bed, she placed it on the ground and helped him into bed.
"And I love you as a daughter, Marie," Father Gabriel consoled her, "And I always will, even if you can no longer see me."
"Thank you, Father," Marie told him, "but this place will be lesser because you are not here."
"You will outshine me, Marie," Father Gabriel told her as firmly as he could, "and God willing, we may meet again in heaven."
Marie nodded.
"This world and how it works is based on truth," Gabriel told her, his voice becoming weaker as he went, "some of it is inconvenient, but must be accepted. If the truth is denied, you will invite greater problems for yourself. God be with you, Marie."
"God be with you as well," Marie replied, holding one of his hands in hers as Father Gabriel closed his eyes for the last the time, and peacefully left the mortal plane.
Marie cried. She couldn't help it, and as she did so, she saw the words of a song coming to her. She didn't know if it was second sight related, or her past as "Maurice", but she was soon softly singing the song she "saw", though her use of the verses was not as it would be written and she didn't sing the refrain.
"God be with you till we meet again/ Neath His wings protecting hide you/ Daily manna still provide you/ God be with you till we meet again... God be with you till we meet again/ When life's perils thick confound you/ Put His arms unfailing around you/ God be with you till we meet again... God be with you till we meet again/ Ended when for you Earth's story/ Israel's chariots sweep to glory/ God be with you till we meet again."
Marie then collapsed crying into Father' Gabriel's chest.
+++++++
"That hymn isn't Catholic," Lawrence spoke, "the author was a Methodist."
"But it is Christian, and is probably sung in Catholic churches today... though I do not know for sure," Marie sighed, "and before you get into the fact that hymn wasn't written until the 1800s, Marie somehow saw the music and the words through her own developing second sight... and found it appropriate."
"Would they meet again?" Lilly asked, tears wetting the fur around her eyes.
"In heaven, yes," Marie spoke, "if there is any justness to their story, they would meet again in heaven... though for Marie, her time was still in the VERY distant future."