A/N: I was just going back through my old stories and realized that I'd left a few loose threads, brought to my attention by kenobigirlz. Since I'm going to be doing a new fic soon I figured I'd best tie them up.

Lorna had grown out of her mother's looks. That wasn't to say she was ugly, wasn't to say that she no longer had her raven hair. Lorna was still beautiful, vain as it sounded, and she still had dark hair. Yet, she was different. No longer did she look exclusively like a younger version of her mother, albeit one with her father's glittering blue eyes. Her face was a little narrower, her skin rosier, and she was taller. Her body was slender, but not willowy like her mother's.

She had been ten when she had first noticed. Lorna had been a little sad about it at first. It was harder to play her mother in games when she no longer looked so much like her. However, she was rapidly outgrowing the games that she and Kevin and Eli would play. They had become apprentices too now, and their games had turned into seeing who could cast the more entertaining spell. Generally these games ended with strange injuries, but they had become more common.

She wondered why she thought of this as she trudged through the park that night, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her crimson jacket. There wasn't much to remind her of how she looked. All of her hair was stuffed inside of the hood, so she couldn't see any of it. She could barely see anything at all and she was starting to wonder about the wisdom of trudging through the park that late at night.

Perhaps it was because it was that morning when she had gotten a call from her mother, telling her to be at The Chyrsler building at eight. She hadn't actually seen her mother for a month. One year ago she had moved out, after completing college, and had gotten an apartment at the edge of New York City. It was about an hour away from her childhood home, but she knew that it was time she stretch her arms a little. Both of her parents had known it too, but it had hurt them like it had hurt her just the same.

Being called to be reminded of a time was embarrassing but it was more than reasonable. Lorna should have known that that was when she should be there, and had blushed guiltily at not knowing. She tried to chalk it up to her recent trip to Prague, things had gotten rather complicated there, but it had fallen flat. Her mother had known, just like she always did, that the time had slipped Lorna's mind. One day she hoped to have her mother's organizational skills, but that day was probably far away since she was running late even with the reminder.

At twenty-three years old Lorna had seen and done a great deal during her life. Sometimes she blamed that for her scattered organization. It had been a long time ago that Horvath had once held her captive in that park, but that had still been the most terrifying part of her life for her. She paused for a minute and looked around her. No, she wasn't near the lake where Simon Grant had nearly drowned her. Still, walking through the park at night made her feel like she was a little girl again, and not in a good way.

Resuming her stride, this time a little faster, she felt her pocket Incantus in, well, her pocket. Lorna had made it a policy to never leave home without it, although she prided herself on an encyclopedic knowledge of spells. Her elevation to a master a year back had swelled her head. She admitted that. However, her apprenticeship had been a little less conventional than the average one and prepared her well.

Dave had been, still was, an uncle to her and also a sort of older brother. She knew the deep bond both he and her father shared and made Dave fiercely protective of her. Her father had always been very protective, so sometimes she felt like she had been hemmed in. Luckily her mother, for once being the one to know she needed some freedom from time to time, had intervened. After that they had both backed off a little.

Her master had consented, after her first year of training, to letting her come on some of his more mild field expeditions. She had captured grindylows and thwarted goblins. When she had gotten older she'd seen dragons and helped make alliances with elves. It was like living in a fantasy novel, a life she had much preferred to being in school. She had been relieved to graduate from a four-year college. At least that nonsense was over with.

Dave had been training her around the same time that her father trained Dave's sons. Their apprenticeships were rather different. Since Dave had been trained by Balthazar they both were big supporters of learning by doing. Balthazar's version of 'doing' involved much more plasma bolts than Dave's though. Somehow she hadn't been surprised.

The two families had always been close. When Becky had given birth to a girl they'd named Catherine, or Kitty, they had all known that Veronica would probably train her one day. Her mother was getting a little old for apprentices, but she had vowed that Kitty was her last. That had been partly to quell the demands they had been receiving for apprenticeships after the twins had made their debut into the magical world. Few people had ever seen anyone reattach limbs so quickly.

Kitty had turned fifteen a week ago and officially made Lorna feel old. True enough, she could still remember looking down at Eli and Kevin in their bassinets. Their age difference wasn't so great though, she had a long memory, and she had gotten used to them a long time ago. She had grown up next to them. By the time Kitty was old enough to be annoying Lorna had been in High School and was treated with awe by the small girl.

Some of that awe had faded in light of recent events, it had turned more amused, but it was still there. Kitty was nice, she was friends with her in a way, but Kitty had always been closer to Alex and Renee. The children of Ashley and Drake Stone best friends with Dave and Becky Stutler's daughter. Renee liked to garden and Alex played the violin apparently. It boggled the mind the way things turned out sometimes.

Taking another step she heard a rustling in the bushes. This wasn't going to be her night. Sighing she turned around and said;

"Whatever you are, you can come out now."

Nothing happened. Huffing impatiently she said;

"I'm not a dumb jogger. I know when something supernatural's up. I'm in a hurry, I'm running late, and I'd really appreciate it when-"

The werewolf lunged out of the bushes towards her. She sidestepped it and hurled a plasma bolt at it. It missed, scorching the tree directly behind it. Lorna cursed. Dave had taught her many things, but how to be a rather good aim wasn't one of them. That was another thing she didn't think anyone could fix. The werewolf looked at her, confused.

"That's right," she said, brandishing her ringed hand, "I'm a Merlinian, so don't you think you're getting away with screwing up my night."

Making a face the werewolf scratched at her with her claws. Lorna ducked, following up with a punch to its diaphragm and heard a crunch. She grinned in satisfaction. Her father had always told her that a good right hook tended to beat straight out magic 7:10. It was a maxim she lived by.

The werewolf reeled back and she pushed back. Her hood came off, letting her hair fall around her shoulders. Not wanting to give it time to recover conjured fire in her hands. There were two ways to kill a werewolf; silver and fire. She hadn't thought to bring silver to the party that night, but fire was always handy. This time she managed to hit her target, and the smell of burnt fur filled the air. He was burnt to ashes in seconds; Lorna had always been rather good with fire.

With a smug smile she turned to go. A growl reached her ears and she whipped around. Another werewolf was lunging for her and she had only time to sidestep it. It came for her again and, just as she was getting some fire up into her hands, a fire ball hit it. The fire in her hands faded as the werewolf turned into ashes. She sighed.

"Kevin!" she yelled.

"You always know it's me."

"Your aura has a blue flavor," Lorna said, turning around.

"Yeah, well, at least it's not yellow," he said, stepping from behind a tree.

Six feet tall, blonde, and heavily built Kevin was a mirror opposite from his father. Lorna had caught Dave looking at his football star son sometimes, as though wondering where the hell he'd gotten his genes from. Eli had at least had the decency to be about the same build as his father had been at his age, not so for the twenty-one year old Kevin. It made her wonder sometimes.

"I had to come looking for you," he said, "You were late."

"Don't worry about me."

"I can't help it," said Kevin, coming towards her, "It's what I do."

He smiled and pulled her into a kiss. When he let go he jerked his head to the right.

"Come on," he said, "We can't both be late for our engagement party you know. They'll get worried about us."

He looked around at the ashes.

"Although, you didn't seem to be in any real trouble."

"Of course not," Lorna snorted, "My parents didn't raise me to be a Red Riding Hood you know."

Kevin let his eyes trail over her red coat and the forest setting. He raised an eyebrow.

"You're a walking contradiction," he said, coming towards her.

"Ah that's why you love me," she grinned.

"Probably."