(AN: Sorry for these short chapters. As you can guess. I've been going through a lot.)
"Gary," Penny said with her self-imposed slave pushing her chair along, "We need to
talk..."
"I think we'll be holding off Fox's funeral until I get out of bed..."
"No... no that... but it is about Fox... the girls have lost their mother.. and... Fox was my
best friend.. "
"I thought you loved Kirk."
"I DO! And THAT"S NOT WHAT I'M SAYING!... Gary, I'd like to offer your family to come and
live with myself and Kirk once we're wed... Gary you're a wonderful father and always have
been... but Kirk and I want to help shoulder that weight so the girls can have a female role
model... I... I'm sorry it's just... Fox is gone and... I don't want the girls to suffer more than
they're already going to!"
Gary stared at Penny actually let her eyes mist up ever so slightly.
++++++
"So was the person Marie recruited next Kathrine, Draco, or the forth member of her
team?" Casandra asked.
"Like I said before, she didn't even MEET her forth recruit until she arrived in the new
world. And remember this is before railroads and transatlantic flights, it would take TIME
for Marie and anyone she brought with her to get to go to the New World, and since she
was a woman, traveling by herself would be bizarre to say the least. Vatican added some
weight. But at least since she didn't formally exist, she knew 'technically' the council
couldn't order her to stay. But of course technically and actually... are two separate things.
... Part of the season she'd need Draco... but of course since Draco had never met 'Marie'
approaching him and recruit him for a task that the Inquisition didn't even recognize didn't
even occur to her at first. Marie back sick for a day when she realized just how heavy a
task this was going to be, not to mention the seemingly impossible task of going up
against three witches with power that had become quite terrible and frightening indeed
who in their minds had already placed themselves above her god. ... Of course... Kathrine
noticed, of course Kathrine asked... and Marie decided she was too tired to lie and keep
secrets anymore from her."
"Let me come along." Kathrine said at once.
"FORGET IT! This isn't a GAME Kathrine, and this isn't a trip! I don't know if I am, or anyone
I bring along is coming back alive! Or even remotely as themselves! These witches have
power that would make some of the nightmares I've fought quake in their boots! This is
why I always kept it all secret! I didn't want you or anyone else to get involved in this...
Kathrine... you coming along would be insanity... I'm not going to let you throw your life
away! Not that you're finally a friend like you've wanted!"
"Teach me then, teach me how to defend myself."
"KATHRINE! I've been taught since I was five! I can't just teach you in a couple years! You'd
be vomiting blood."
Kathrine did look scared, but she had already tasted overwhelming mortal fear when Abaza
had talked about sacrificing her, Zoey, and the leoman nun Alaba to call forth something
from hell in the heart of the Vatican...
"But didn't you say that Kathrine was indeed one of Marie four companions?" Samantha
asked confused.
"Yes she was. I didn't say that Maie accepted her fellow Bride Of God as such on the first
day... like all things Kathrine had achieved in her life, it was done by dogged determination
and stubbornness that would make a donkey shudder. Much like the woman's rights
movement. And as it turned out, Draco would be able to acquire the mission Marie
needed, and Kathrine's family the resources to make the trip."