Ash wrapped up with Jareth as quickly as he could and then let Buffy zap them back to Cliff House.  There he looked at her face and told her to sit while he fixed her a drink.  Then he sat down next to her on the couch in his study, his eyes filled with compassion.

She took the drink and wrapped both her hands around the glass.  One tear rolled down her cheek.

He saw it and took the glass back, setting it aside and then put his arms around her.  "You didn't know," he whispered as he hugged her.  "He knows that."

Suddenly she was sobbing against his shoulder, painful hiccups and hot tears, clinging to him hard, not letting him go.

He let her cry herself out, sitting back with her against the sofa, while he thought about what Jareth had said and what Guy had said and done and wondered, moving the puzzle pieces around in his mind until he thought he had the right answer.  He was digesting it when she started to ease, her sobs softening.

He reached behind him on the end table and found the kleenex box.  She'd want that before she'd want her drink back.  But the drink would probably not be far behind.  Buffy, tough, competent, unemotional, was head over heels in love.  And being her she was shooting herself in the foot every chance she got.

On the other hand, he concluded as she started sniffling hard, regaining control, Chase probably wasn't helping if he was playing things as close to his chest as it looked.  Unfortunately there wasn't much he could do about that.

When she lifted her head he just offered the kleenex box.  "Feel better?"

"No," she said, then blew her nose. She took another kleenex and wiped the tears away angrily. He handed her the drink and she swallowed it down.  "Sorry."

"No need.  It's confusing, I know.  Believe me," he said.  "Want to tell me about it?"

She groaned. "I'm an idiot. What else is there to say."

"That's probably a little harsh," he said.

"No, it's accurate. I'm suspicious and can't trust and.. and I asked him about Guy and .. and I promised him I'd stop asking and just accept and apparently I can't do either."

"Ah, so he is playing this close.  It fits," Ash said, half to himself.

"What?" she asked, blowing her nose again and holding her glass out for a refill.

He poured for her and then one for himself before leaning back, his arm along the back of the couch.  "Well, it's just a theory, really, a way of understanding some things like Guy's reaction when he met Chase and what Jareth said and didn't say today.  And the words he used and didn't use.  They both used the word kin.

"'His kin,' Jareth said 'like he and I are kin.'  We're vampires is what he meant.  But he didn't say family.  And Guy said, 'one of your kin.'"

"I'm not sure I follow you, Ash," Buffy said, sipping her drink and happy to be talking about anything other than her emotions.

"Usually kin means family or relative," Ash said.  "Or bloodline, like a clan."  He paused and sipped his drink.  "Or as Jareth used it, to mean a race or species, which is the only way what Guy said makes sense when coupled with his reaction."

Buffy frowned. "I knew there was something about him. But.. I vaguely remembering hearing that word used to describe a talented species. I don't remember any details, but I could research it and find it."

"You don't need to.  It's not a talented species.  It's something else entirely.  The Earth Kin, children of the Earth Masters whom the Navajo call the Holy Ones and who, they say, created all that is.  Shapechangers, attuned to the spirits of all that is.  Believed to be nothing more than a fairy tale."

"Just what we need. More interfering gods. Great."  Buffy sighed, then sipped her drink. "Descalora."

"Yes, Descalora," Ash said.  Privately held, mysterious and closed to outsiders, worth billions.  Known for it's commitment to environmental stewardship, for pouring millions into repairing the damage done to the earth, pioneering sustainable energy, non polluting oil and gas drilling...you name it.  And all owned by one Michael C.C. Brannigan, a name that the owner of the company is required to make his own, legally, when he inherits the company.

"The current Brannigan is said to be eccentric, quixotic, more reclusive than Howard Hughes ever imagined being and at death's door these last three years.  Seeing no one.  And no one seeing him."

"Apparently not," Buffy replied.

Ash took a drink of his scotch.  "Want my advice?"

She sighed.  "Sure. Why not."

"This time ask him why first."

"Ash, he hasn't told me a damn thing. Why would he tell me that?"

"Because he loves you."

"I don't think so," she replied. "I don't know what he thinks. I can't figure him out at all. Every time I do, he... changes. And he's something else."

Ash shook his head.  "Elizabeth, trust me.  He loves you.  It's the only explanation for why he hasn't given up on trying to understand you."

"I know. That's one of the things I can't figure out."

"Can't figure out?"

"Why after all the times I get all defensive and nuts he wants to keep seeing me."  Buffy frowned. "I gave up men for a reason, you know?"

"What was the reason?"

"You know," she replied. "They make me crazy. Sort of how Lynne was making you crazy."

Ash smiled.  "Yeah, but look at what I got on the other side of it because I didn't give up.  It's worth the risk, I promise you."

"Well, it hardly matters now," she replied miserably.

He tilted her chin up until she was looking at him.  "It matters now more than ever.  Go to him.  Tell him you're six kinds of an idiot or whatever else you want to tell him.  But go to him.  You may not have seen the look in his eyes this afternoon but I did and he needs you."

"Ash, even if I wanted to, I can't just go... I've got things to do for your meeting, and .. and I have no idea where the hell he is."

"There's a mass being offered for Maria at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart tonight in Dallas at six o'clock their time.  Whatever you have to do for me can wait."

She nodded. "You don't think he'd... be mad if I showed up?"

"No.  And I'll be mad if you don't."

She nodded. "I'll think about it."

"Women!" Ash said.  "Then go because I want you to take a message to him.  Tell him I want to talk to him."

She looked him in the eye for the first time, hers wide. "Why?"

"To ask him if I'm right.  Because if I am, can you think of anyone who could be more helpful with this business with the Lokapala?"

"Oh," she replied. "Six central time?'

He nodded.  "Just make sure he knows that's not really why you're there.  It's just the excuse."

She nodded, not really hearing him. She drank down her scotch and stood. "Right. If you tell anyone about this, I'll take your head myself."

"You think I don't know that?" he said, laughing.  Then he downed his drink and stood up too, looking at his watch.  "Time to feed the Anders.  Let me know if you need anything else."

"Right boss," she said, straightened her clothes and marched out of his office.

He shook his head and went to find Lynne to tell her how much he loved her.

Buffy stared at herself in the mirror. She was biting her lip. She checked the time. Five minutes til seven.  Show time.

She'd mulled over what Ash had said, gotten herself back together again, and now was doubting the wisdom of this yet again. He could have called her and said, "Hey, family stuff. Back in a few days."  He hadn't. He'd also said it wasn't about trust.  But he wanted her to trust him, and god knows she was trying. So wasn't showing up, uninvited, breaching that trust?

She finally gave it up and zapped herself to the location she'd picked out with google maps. Thank god they had streetviews for Dallas.

She walked into the church, a Victorian Gothic, immense for the neighborhood, carefully refurbished and made to look quite beautiful. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been in a church. Were you supposed to... Oh, yeah, people were doing something crossing themselves and bowing. But a few weren't so she scuttled off to take a seat in the last pew. A stranger looked over at her and smiled. "Me neither," he said.

"Ah, well, strangers in a strange land," Buffy commented.

"Truer words never spoken," the man said.

Buffy sat down and followed along. The family filed in from a side door with the priest. She could see Chase's head. She slid down so he wouldn't see her.

It was like an itch, through the whole mass, at the back of his neck and he couldn't pin it down.  Not until it was over and he was leaving, Cord and Alanna with him.  She was sitting in the last pew looking like a cross between a terrified child and a bewildered tourist who'd lost her tour group.  He bite back a smile and whispered something to Cord, transferring Alanna's hand to his.  Then he slide into the pew, empty now, next to her.

He let the silence build for a moment before he said, "it was good of you to come."

She bit her lip. "I wasn't sure you'd .. I thought... I'm sorry," she finally said, not specifying exactly what for.

He reached over and put an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer, leaning his head against hers.  "Ah Elizabeth, what ever am I going to do with you?"

"Throw me back," she replied. "I'm sorry about your friend. We thought no one was badly hurt."

He nodded.  "Jareth said they didn't know until they started to clear the site.  She was buried in the rubble."

She nodded. "Look, I should go. You should be with your family. I just wanted to pay my respects."

"Oh.  I was hoping you had some time."

"Well, I could stay if you want," she replied uncertainly.

"I always want you around," he said.  He stood up and offered her a hand.  'Come on, let's get out of here so I can kiss you the way I want to."

She stood and took his hand, letting him lead her out of the church. When she saw others waiting for him she slowed down.

He ignored it.  "Elizabeth Anne Summers, this is Cord Mochrie, Alanna's brother."

Alanna smiled.  "I'm glad to see you again."

"A pleasure," Cord added.  "Chase we're going to go on back to the house.  I'll pick you up in the morning at about ten so we can pick up the kids at the airport, okay?"

"Thanks," Chase said.  "You two take the car, we'll manage."

"Okay," Alanna said.  "Later."

Chase watched them go and then turned to Buffy.  "Have you eaten?"

"No," she replied, "I haven't.  And now that you mention it I realize I haven't had anything since breakfast."

"I know just the place," he said, waving at a cab.  "Do you like Tex-Mex?"

"Sure, if it's hot enough," she replied with a smile. The cab pulled up and she let him hand her in.

"It will be," he promised as he got in.  Then he pulled her against him and stopped the conversation.  When he was satisfied, he smoothed her hair back from her face, smiling at her.

"So, glad to be home?" Buffy asked. She snuggled against him. "I don't know much about Dallas. Other than it's bloody hot."

"Home's really the Hill Country," he said, 'south of here.  But even if it's only Dallas it's very good to be back where people sound normal when they talk."

Buffy made a face at him. "I suppose you'll be moving back now."

"Now why are you thinking that?" he asked.

"Oh, I dunno. Something Jareth said."

"Jareth?  What did he say?'

"Oh just that Cord was tired of running Descalora and was hoping you were back for good."

Chase sat back against the seat, every muscle locked.  "What else did he say?" he asked quietly.

"We put the rest of it together from something a fellow named Guy Wolfe said."  Buffy hesitated. "Your secrets are safe with us, Chase."

"That's reassuring," he said dryly.  "What exactly, if I may ask, did you put together?"

"Earth Kin? Sound vaguely familiar?  Also Michael C.C. Brannigan. Wasn't hard. But I didn't go looking. Ash put it together."

"No, I suppose that part wasn't once you talked to Jareth.  The inductive leap between what Guy said and the rest eludes me, however."

"The respect shown and the word Kin," she replied shrugging. "I'm sorry."

Chase sighed.  "Yes, but what I'm really getting at, Elizabeth, is how Ash even knew of us.  We don't advertise."

"Something about a conversation he and Guy had. Guy's not a very good liar. I gather Ash brought up a tale he'd heard and it went from there. Other than that you'll have to ask Ash yourself. He'd like to talk to you, by the way. If I were you I'd say no."

"Is that why you're here?" he asked after a moment.

"No."

"Or to tell me you'd solved the riddle?"

"No.  I came because," she flushed and looked away.  "Because I didn't want you to think I... Because .. Because I wanted you to know you could still trust me. Or rather to hope that you would.  And to tell you that I understood."

"Understood what exactly?" he asked, his voice a fraction softer.

"Why you couldn't say. That it wasn't your secret to share. That.. that.. " Her voice died away on her.

He tilted her chin up so he could see her eyes in the fading twilight.  He held her like that as the seconds ticked past, not letting her look away.  "Elizabeth," he said and then stopped as the cab pulled to the curb.  He drew in air and tapped the driver on he shoulder, giving him another address.

"We need to talk and we can't do it in public," he said at her look.

"Oh. Right. How about a drive-through?"  At his look she added, "Sorry. I talk better when I'm not hungry."

"No, something a bit more private than that."

"Okay," she said, sitting back and looking a bit worried.

"I thought you trusted me?" he said.

"Oh, hit below the belt. I do. That doesn't mean I can just stop worrying you know. I've had nearly a century to learn to worry."

"I have an apartment here.  Cord opened it up when I told him I was coming.  There'll be food in the fridge or I can get someone to go out and pick something up."

"Sure, that's fine," she agreed.

He wondered if she'd feel the same way when she saw it.  It had a lot more in common with Ash's townhouse than it did his studio in New York.  When the cab pulled over again he handed the driver some bills and then helped her out.

He exchanged pleasantries with the night guard, introducing her to him and then took her over to the bank of elevators, pulling out a key and using it in the panel of one marked private.

"I see," she said, getting into the elevator and going silent as it climbed forever.

"No, but you will soon," he said.

"I hope so. Cuz I sure can't figure you out as it is."

He stared at her.  "You can't?  I'm just a guy, Elizabeth.  Just a guy who's fallen in love with a remarkably difficult woman."  He unlocked the door to the penthouse and switched on a light.  "The rest, all of it, is just window dressing and wallpaper.  It doesn't mean a thing."

"You didn't come to New York to find a girl to fall in love with. They're everywhere," her voice died off as she looked around.  "Nice indeed," she said, walking over to regard the view from the upper reaches of the Dallas skyline.

"No I didn't.  I came to New York to do what I was doing.  Live an anonymous life for awhile away from the maddening crowd.  And then one night you walked into the restaurant in that dress looking like every fantasy I'd ever had and a few I hadn't thought of yet and stuck your nose in the air, dismissing me like so much background noise."

He jerked her against him, suddenly impatient.  "And now that I've no secrets left, can we just be together for a while.  Five minutes even.  Just a man and the woman that makes him go weak in the knees, that makes his head spin every time she smiles at him?"

Then she was kissing him and he felt tears as they hit her cheek and his.  She clung to him, her arms pulling him as close to her as she could get him.

It was all he needed.  He had her on the bed and naked in two minutes flat.

The official funeral had been yesterday.  Today would be the real leave taking.  He'd been through this only a handful of times in all his long years.  The Earth Kin rarely died and, unfortunately, when they did it was like this.  Unexpected, violent and tragic.

Chase took his coffee cup and went outside onto the porch, looking out over the ranch and the Texas hill country while the sun rose.  Off to the side, under a stand of live oaks was a small cemetery, the last resting place for the mortal bodies of his kin.  Maria's grave was already an open sore of turned earth that he could see from where he stood.  The winds had dug it and were there, waiting to close it again.  And in the small chapel nearby where her body lay that had been opened to the elements the spirits where gathering, keeping watch and saying good bye.

In the large house behind him all his living kin were gathering.  All except those who'd be here later and of course Ismene, he reminded himself with a frown before pushing the thought away for later.  They'd arrived all through the day yesterday and into the night.  He could sense them stirring, coming awake, remembering where they were and why.  He, like all of them, had made already or would make the trip the otherworld where her spirit waited, to say a personal, private good bye to her.

The funeral itself, the surrendering of her, body and spirit, back to the Earth would happen both here and there, simultaneously, while the spirits guarded the portals and the approaches to the otherworld from the demons.  When it ended Maria would move on to whatever lay beyond for her.  Demi-god or not, they, like all life, had a fate to work out, an eternal destiny to fulfill before they found the resting place their spirit yearned for.  This life here, this place, was just one step on the way, one stage of the journey.

Chase sighed and finished his coffee.  Further off he could see the corral that opened into the near pasture.  The horses that Maria had loved, had spent every spare minute with, had all come down from the higher grazing and were there, gathered together, saying their own good bye.  Later the wild ponies whose shape she took as naturally as her own and with whom she'd lived and run for days on end would come.

He stood by the open grave in the late morning light hours later, listening to them whickering, a soft, mournful sound.  Next to him Alanna stood, weeping quietly while Cord held her hand, his emotions closed off into a more private place.  Above him the eagles were gathering, and the falcons while the songbirds filled the oak trees, side by side with the squirrels, silent for once.  He could sense the deer and the wolves, along with the small creatures like the foxes and hares, standing further off and he closed his eyes hard against the burning grief, shutting out the words being said.

A sudden drop in temperature alerted Chase to someone joining them. Who but Rai,  Raimundo Vidal, who lived in the Chilean Andes, the Cordillera de la Costa.  He loved the cold, wild sweep of jagged mountains, the clean fall of snow.  He seldom sought out Kin company, content to live mostly alone, mostly visiting the nearby city of Arica when seeking out human companionship.

Rai put a hand on Alanna's shoulder, sharing her grief, even if it showed no where near his face or eyes.  His eyes, the color of blue glaciers, met Chase's and then Cord's.

They both nodded.  And still no Ismene, Chase thought, nor any word of explanation.

They began to gather in the small cemetery, under a stand of live oaks and mesquite, shading the simple stones that marked the Kin lost already. The four seeing them, went to join their Kin for the farewell.

"No Ismene," Rai said, a worried frown on his face. "She cannot be dead, we would know."

"And no word," Cord whispered.  "I tried..."

"Everything," Alanna finished for him.  "And I've asked, but no one's seen or talked to her in...in forever

"We'll locate her," Rai said. "First though, let us give our all to Maria's spirit."

They stood, shoulder to shoulder around the stones. Their bodies there, but their minds off with Maria, making their farewells, remembering her, seeing her as she was, far beyond just the body she wore for outsiders.

It was then Chase heard a noise, a high whistling noise, and then suddenly only fire and destruction and death.

It was the wind that kept it from being worse, the wind waiting to close the grave, Chase realized later.  At the time, the concept of something that was worse was unfathomable.  But the winds had known and exploded as the missile struck, sending most of it away from them.  Away from all but six of them.  Six lost out of the twenty three who'd been there, out of the twenty five living Earth Kin that were all that there were. It made his worry about Ismene more acute.

Now there were only eighteen and he was once again standing beside an open grave in the cemetery on his ranch.  Cord was next to him, using crutches and Alanna sitting a wheel chair, her broken ribs strapped tight, her punctured and collapsed lung re-inflated and healing, the cuts on her face bandaged.  And they weren't the only ones who been hurt, just the ones hurt the worst who'd survived it.

They said their farewells, despite the very real fear of yet another attack, but this time none appeared. Afterward they gathered back at the house, silent for the most part, chastened by the suddenness of realizing they were being targeted. That, most likely, Maria's death had been planned so that they would all gather and be more vulnerable.

Rai, his facial cuts already healing, took a cup of coffee and made a face at it as he sipped. He walked over to look out a window at the Texas landscape so different from what he was used to.  He sighed.  Never one for many words.

Cord propped his leg up on a chair and leaned back, trying to find a comfortable position.  Chase shared a commiserating grimace and handed him the brandy bottle to doctor his coffee with.  "It'll work better than cream," he said, not knowing what else to say.  "Alanna?"

"Not in tea it won't," Alanna said.  "But I'm okay."

"Rai? Want some?" Cord asked.

"Sure," Rai said, taking the bottle and pouring a good dollop into it. The others had left for parts known and unknown, the four of them now pondering recent events.

"You'd best heal quickly. I hear you are seeing someone, Chase. Don't want to have to explain.  You too Alanna."

"They know, I'm sure," Chase said.  "We made the news nationally.  Inexplicible explosion in Texas during funeral.  Six dead.  Several others wounded.  ATF and FBI investigating.  Those were the headlines I saw."

"And I need to get back," Alanna added.  "I've been gone too long as it is."

"Chase?" Cord said, his unspoken question plain.

"I do too," he answered.  "I have a commitment I can't avoid."

"But you're coming back to stay?" Cord pressed.

"No.  Not yet."

"But it's been three years," Cord started and then stopped.

"Leave him be, Cord. Let the man find happiness, for once."  Rai frowned at Cord. "I don't hear you harping at Alanna."

"He's not Alanna," Cord said.  "It's his god damn company."

"It's all of ours, Cord," Alanna said.  "He was just running it."

"Running it because he's better at it than any of us, because he's the first," Cord flared back.  "It wouldn't be so bad if he'd at least take my calls once in a while."

"Cord if you hate it so much shut the thing down.  Give it the hell away, burn it to the ground.  Who cares.  Just give it a rest, would you?" Alanna said.  "Or find someone else to pretend they're M.C.C. Brannigan when the guy upstairs dies."

"Yes, why not. Why does it have to be an Earth Kin?  Hire a bloody CEO.," Rai added. "We can still control the company, just get out of the day to day of it. You hate it Cord. Chase hates it. I'd certainly hate it."

"That's the problem," Chase said softly.  "He loves it.  What he hates is that he thinks he isn't good enough for it.  The main objective of this exercise, aside from me getting away, is to make it clear he can.  So far it's been an uphill job."

Cord went white as he struggled for words.

"He's right, Cord," Rai added. "The company is running well. I've looked at the balance sheets, believe it or not. If you do like it, keep on it.  You do like Dallas, don't you?  So there you go.  Chase, go home to your.. what is she?  Awakened?"

Chase nodded, a smile playing on his face.  "Awakened.  And hell on wheels when she wants to be.  You'd like her a lot Rai."

Alanna snorted.  "Oh yeah, a lot."

Rai frowned at Alanna. "What's that mean?"

"Come to New York with us and see for yourself," Alanna suggested.

"You offering me a couch to sleep on there?" Rai asked. "I'd like to see what's got you and Chase all hotted up."

"We can find you a bed, even," Chase said.  "It'll be fun.  Maybe we can find a hottie for you too, to take back to that icebox you call home."

Rai laughed. "I don't see any hottie wanting to go  back with me. But I wouldn't mind meeting a few anyway. It's been a long time since I've spent any time around a lot of people. I wonder if I'll remember my manners."

"You will," Alanna said.  "I have faith."

Chase carried Alanna's bag up to her apartment while Rai carried her.  "There's a furnished studio in my building, around the block from here that you can use," Chase told him as he unlocked the door.  "The super is a friend and he'll let you without asking a lot of questions."

"Yeah, that's the problem these days. And I don't want to be bothered building up some acceptable dossier.  So, sure.  That should work."

Rai set Alanna down carefully. "I want to meet this fellow of yours, so invite me to dinner with you two or out for drinks."

"I will, and I'll call you.  So don't be like Chase and keep your cell turned off," Alanna said.

"Cheeky brat," Chase said, and kissed her cheek.  "Do you have everything you need?"

"Of course and if I don't it'll be an excuse to call Duncan."

Rai grinned. "So, we don't have to worry about you suffering from lack of chocolates, eh?"

She grinned back, saucy and unembarrassed.  "Nope.  I can get 'em delivered I think."

"An immortal delivery boy. Oh yeah. Ranks right up there with a shapeshifter busboy."

"Hey, it's an honest living," Chase said, indignant.

Rai slapped Chase on the shoulder. "More honest than most. You're right. Me, I got no idea what I can do."

"We could help you find out," Chase offered.  "They need a dishwasher at the restaurant.  It'd be a start."

Rai shivered. "I need something outdoors. Don't think I could stand it inside all day or all night."

"Central park game keeper?" Alanna suggested.

"Ha, ha. I could maybe rake leaves. Or how about pidgeon overlord?"

"It all pays," Chase said.  "And you'll never be alone there.  It's the gossip hub of the spirit world in the city."

"Yeah, but can I get a job there, or do I have to hold a can out and beg tips," Rai muttered as they headed to Chase's apartment.

"If you want one I can take care of it," Chase said.  "I got connections."

"You do, do you? Sure. I don't mind the help. And since I only know you and Alanna..."

Chase opened the door to his studio and set his bag down, dropping his keys on the bowl on the table.  "So this isn't just an 'I wanna meet the missus' visit, is it?" he asked as he pulled two long necks out of the fridge and handed one to Rai.

"No. We need to do two things. We need to find Ismene and figure out what's up with her, and we need to figure out who is trying to kill us."

"Yeah, that's pretty much my agenda," Chase said.  "In between waiting tables and meeting the missus."

"The missus, huh? She know you call her that?" Rai asked as he sucked on his long neck.  "I'm assuming she knows about Texas. What'd she say to that?"

Chase laughed.  "No she doesn't.  It's a new affectation."  He put his feet up on the coffee table, getting comfortable.  "She knows.  She knows about all of it.  Her boss figured it out for the most part, though Jareth helped on Descalora, unintentionally.  Her boss wants to talk to me.

"Something's up with the Lokapala and he's over his head, or so I surmise.  Agni's Chosen One was having breakfast with him the last time I saw him and not looking happy at all."

"I haven't met him. Heard about him of course. Poor bugger. Agni's not the kindest taskmaster to have, but I guess he's better than say Yama."  Rai sipped on his beer for a time, scowling. "The Lokapala have been upset for a long time. And I guess this was before we were hit, that they were already plotting something?"

Chase nodded.  "This will send them over the edge. Especially if whatever it is they're planning doesn't work out.  Which means a visit might be in order very soon."

"I'm good with that. Let me know. So, when do I meet the missus?"

"Let me get what her boss wants out of the way and then I'll set something up.  Maybe Alanna and Duncan, too."

"Cool. That works for me. Let's go see the landlord, just in case the missus shows up wanting a little. I'd hate to be in the way."

"If only it were so," Chase lamented and led the way.

His cellphone rang making Chase do a double take.

"Hi," she said.  "You working tonight?"

"No," he said.  "I'm off tonight.  "Are you telling me you're free?"

"Yes. And you?"

"No," he said,  "It turns out I'm not, I'm afraid."

"Oh." He could hear the disappointment in her voice. "Well, call me when you are."

He grinned.  "Well you see, that's the problem.  All my free time is reserved for the most incredibly hot, sexy blonde I've ever known who works these crazy hours.  She promised me that the next time I saw her she'd be wearing this red leather thing I bought for her.  I'm kind of looking forward to it.  Don't want to miss it."

"I see. And where and when do you hope to see her wearing this?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, as soon as I can.  And hopefully, in my apartment, since then she wouldn't need to wearing anything else."

"Good luck with that," she said and hung up.

He laughed and made a few phone calls.  Then he called her back.  "Elizabeth?"

"Hmmm?  Did your dream girl show up?"

"How could she when it's you and where ever you are it's not here?" he asked patiently.

"Turn around," she said.

He turned and closed his phone, his eyes covering every inch of her slowly.  "You're amazing," he breathed, his voice hoarse.

"And you are such a sweet liar. Are you all right?" she asked, stepping forward to touch him as if to reassure herself he was.

He held himself still, his eyes devouring her.  "I never lie to you.  And I'm fine."

She dropped into his lap. "I worried," she said.

He put his hands on her waist to steady her and himself.  "I'm sorry.  Why didn't you call if you were?"

"I had hopes that you would call me."

"Ah, I didn't know that," he said.

"Look. This is not going to work until we trust one another at least a bit.  It is going to kill me but I won't ask you anything. About what you are, or what you are doing. But in return, you have to let me know, when things obviously get nasty, let me know that you are okay."

"Elizabeth at this point there isn't anything you could ask that I wouldn't be more likely than not to answer.  Before there was no way I could answer without explaining a number of things I didn't feel at liberty to explain.  Secondly I didn't let you know because I'm a guy, not because I didn't trust you."

She frowned. "What does that mean?"

He shrugged.  "It never occurred to me you'd worry because I knew I wasn't hurt or worse and I guess I figured that unless Cord or someone called with the bad news, you'd know there was no bad news.  I can't explain it any better than that."

"And how would Cord even know to call me," she asked frowning at him. "Or 'someone'."

He started toying with the lacings on the bustier, avoiding her eyes.  Then he sighed.  "It's a matter of attunement," he explained.  "To the spirit.  Even if I died, they would be able to find my spirit and I would tell them to."

"Well then. I should stop worrying I suppose. Because if anything happens to you I'll go to Hades or wherever and beat the crap out of your spirit for letting yourself get killed."

He grinned at her.  "Would you really?"

"Yes really. Now are you going to pull those strings or am I."

"Oh I am," he said.  "But not yet.  Not for a long time.  Not until I've discovered just what's possible while you're still wearing it."

"I see...." she replied. "I warn you now, my dexterity is considerably restricted in this thing."

"That will be part of the challenge," he said, his fingers tracing the edges.  "But I have faith in you."

"I notice you aren't all tied up in a restrictive bit of leather."

He laughed.  "That's because I'm going to do all the work."

"It's a guy thing, isn't it," she said as she gave out a little gasp as his fingers touched a particularly sensitive bit of skin.

"What is, sweetheart?" he asked, as his lips grazed the swell of her breasts above the red leather.

"Want us wrapped up like a present to be opened," she managed between little gasps at what he was doing.

"Not at all," he said, his breath control noticeably better than hers.  "There's is a visual component, sure, but it's also the whole anticipation thing."  He paused for a moment, his mouth being a bit busy with her earlobe before he went on.  "Plus, the longer I make you wait the better it is for you.  Tonight I'm going to find out just how long I can make you wait so that next time I'll have a plan to make it even better."

"Well, then. Stop talking about it and get to work."

"Whatever you say, sweetheart."