II


"Well I don't know why I came here tonight,

I got the feeling that something ain't right;

I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,

And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs.

Clowns to the left of me;

Jokers to the right; here I am,

Stuck in the middle with you.

Yes, I'm stuck in the middle with you,

And I'm wondering what it is I should do;

It's so hard to keep this smile from my face.

Losing control, yeah, I'm all over the place.

Clowns to the left of me; Jokers to the right;

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you."

Stealers Wheel

"Stuck in the Middle With You"



Meeting: One. Spring Semester. Time: 10:15. Date: 14 May 2011.

Councilor: Jouji Higashikawa

"Are you ready, eh . . . I can't read your name, how do you say it? Oh, wait, what's that nickname they call you?"

". . . Kyon?"

"'Kyon'? Huh. Did you ever take Greek at all, Kyon? I mean, I know we don't offer it . . ."

"I haven't."

"Oh, okay. Just thought--well, nevermind. Look it up sometime if you're curious. Now, do you know why you're here?"

". . ."

"Oh, well, I guess that would be obvious. But let me explain, because no doubt you've got the wrong idea about it. I'm not here to question you or poke at you or anything like that. The school just feels that it has not worked to its fullest ability in sending students off to the university level. Or the work force or whatever they would like to do in the future. And they'd like to correct that with some simple one-to-one talks. So, if you have any questions . . ."

". . ."

"Or anything else. . .? Ideas, maybe?"

". . . Not really."

"Ah. Great. Super, I see . . . Well, maybe I can get some ideas from your records."

[ruffling of pages]

"Oh, you're in that group with . . . Haruhi Suzumiya? . . . Now, now, don't get embarrassed! I only mention it because I have her too. Interesting; she's a bright one. Doubt I'll have to do that much with her; good head on her shoulders, am I correct?"

". . . Sure."

"Yes, yes. Now what do you do in this . . ." [ruffling of pages] "'Brigade'?"

". . ."

"Now, come on, I'm sure you do something.

". . ."

"Oh, wait. Hooooold on. Have to switch tapes. Blasted school with its antiquated tech--"

[Turn to Tape 1, Side B]


Seven

"Fate Leads the Willing (But Kidnapping Works Better)"


"Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant."

Seneca


I had only done it once before, but somehow the transport was easier this go around. It still felt like liquid nitrogen was shooting through my bloodstream and it took a lot of effort to forget the fact that I was hurtling though space at the speed of light, but I did it. My legs wobbled and I had to let myself breathe for a few moments, but I did it.

It was a good thing I did, because Haruhi and Tokushita had come along for the ride, and they had even less warning than I did. Still (of course), she was already conscious and on the move, if only to turn around and retch up her now-technicolor breakfast all over the floor of what I recognized now as the apartment. From what I could tell, Tokushita wasn't faring any better, but since I didn't really care about him, I knelt down beside her. Her hair wasn't long enough to need holding but I still tucked a chunk behind her ear before gripping her shoulder.

"Is she okay?"

I looked up and saw Asahina kneeling next to me, a glass of water in hand that I gladly took.

"Yeah, I'm sure she'll be fine."

At least, physically. Vomiting was quickly going to be the least of our problems. When Haruhi was alert enough to look around her, she was going to notice that we were five floors up and however many kilometers away from where we were supposed to be, not to mention surrounded by people she hadn't seen in five years. Oh, and we were on the run from Tsuruya and a bunch of people who knew who she was and apparently wanted to kill me.

. . . Yeah. This was going to be fun to explain.

Eventually, Haruhi sat up and I handed her the glass so she could take her swig. When she was satisfied, she pushed it away and struggled to get up, leaning heavily on my arm as I helped her. Her legs may have been unsteady but her eyes were burning, and her voice was ironclad as she asked:

"So, you're here too, are you?"

Asahina's smile fell to nervousness when Haruhi forced her body forward, throwing a hug around her former 'maid'.

"Eeeeeee I can't believe it! You grew up into even more of a cutie! And--are your boobs even bigger? Damn, how did you get so lucky?!"

. . . Not the response I was looking for, but that could have been worse.

Haruhi stepped back, positively beaming, and faltered on her feet before I grabbed her arm. She looked around, desperately trying to see what else was in store, but other than Tokushita's unconscious form, currently being watched over by Kawashima, there wasn't . . .

Wait. Where was everyone? Most especially the person I'd never thought would be here in a million years?!

"The others are locking up the building," Asahina helpfully supplied. "It's uninhabited aside from a few of our people, but it's sure to be pretty crowded once the interfaces get everyone else with us here."

She bit at her lip, realizing her slip, but Haruhi seemed only to hear the first part.

"Others?! Who else is here?"

"People you don't know. But Koizumi and Nagato and--" Asahina looked at me, but only very quickly, before turning back to Haruhi--"other people. A friend of mine. Well, a friend of ours. You don't know her--but you'll like her!"

Smoothly done.

She glanced apologetically my way and lifted her shoulders in a very slight shrug. I wasn't able to respond though, as I suddenly felt Haruhi's eyes laser blast through me.

"I knew it. I always knew it!"

Also not what I expected. Also, not good at all! But, keep cool. She couldn't possibly know.

"Knew what?"

Could she?

"You did this. You arranged all of this. The meeting, the weird intergalactic transport--"

"--We're definitely still in this galaxy, trust me."

"Oh, fine, but what does it matter?! You're really him! You're John Smith!"

I didn't answer. Not for dramatic effect or anything like that; I literally was just speechless. I was expecting curiosity. Questions like "How in the world did this happen?" and "How did I get here?" I even expected a little bit of fear. I mean, even Haruhi long ago in that not-a-dream closed space had been worried at first. But excitement? Expecting all this, like a predictable ending in a novel? Not by a long shot.

But.

It was also in a way perfect . . . or as perfect as this situation was going to get, so I cleared my throat and tightened my grip on her arm.

"Let's sit down."

But she didn't budge, apparently not appreciating my following the usual rules of dramatic set-up "Are you?" she asked, in a voice that told me she wouldn't move until I answered this one question.

So I did. Taking my time with a sigh . . .

I lied, not for the first time but hopefully for the last, to Haruhi Suzumiya.

"I'm a slider--someone who travels between dimensions and worlds as easily as most humans walk. But, I also do a bit of time travel too, as you know . . .

"Because, yes; you first met me as John Smith."


Haruhi took it all fairly well.

She listened intently, as if every word were a precious gold coin dropping into a beggar's purse. She didn't interrupt, though the way she locked her lips together to, only barely, hide her squeals told me just how hard it was for her, not that I couldn't guess. I told her everything--the real identities of our friends, the different factions, even a little bit of the things we've done in high school. For anyone else, it would have been too much, and for a second I wondered if it was even for her, even with a careful switch in our identities keeping the worst of it at bay. Even when I was done, she still didn't speak, but instead processed it, slowly sorting it all out, before scooting up closer to me on the sofa and leaning slightly to stare right into my eyes.

"But why? Why would they even care?"

Leave it to Haruhi to nail the question in one shot. I sighed and she pursed her lips, apparently not liking what ever thought that was poking through her brain now.

When she let it out, I knew why.

"But, it has to do with me, right?"

You know, sometimes I forget that Haruhi always won out over me in grades. And it wasn't because she studied--she put just as little effort into her schoolwork as I did, if not less. It had all come naturally to her, and while perhaps her powers deserved part of the credit, I'm sure she topped the class just as effortlessly before she discovered them in junior school. Haruhi was smart. Oblivious, sometimes, sure . . .

But maybe not as much as we had always pretended she was.

"Not you, specifically. Granted, I don't know what they want, but they'd probably be after anybody."

She thought this over, then smirked.

"But there's more to it than that!"

She stood up to face me directly, apparently already strong enough to move. Crossing her arms, she looked down like an expectant goddess, waiting for her subjects to perform for her. "If that were true, than every girl you've ever shown even the slightest interest in would be in danger, and face it--you're kind of a perv, Kyon. So why am I the only one?"

I'm not sure whether to applaud her or take offense.

"I'm not a perv!"

Though I guess my mouth took sides more easily. She smirked and I started to speak again when Asahina broke in:

"Suzumiya."

We both glanced over, kneeling down to hover over Tokushita like Florence Nightingale's Japanese reincarnation (give or take a few centuries). To be honest, I had almost forgotten she was still in the room, and judging by the way Haruhi jumped at the voice, I knew she had too.

Her smile was bitter when she continued, still distractedly rubbing Tokushita's back, "Don't you think there are some things in life you're better not knowing?"

The answer was immediate.

"No, and especially not when they have to do with me!"

What a surprise.

Asahina didn't miss a beat. "I know you think that way. Trust me, I know how you feel, more than you know! As a time traveler, it's something we have to face every day. But think about it, Suzumiya. Really, really think. Because what you're asking for--"

"--Is something I deserve to know!"

Haruhi was yelling now, dropping her arms as she balled her hands into fists, and Tokushita groaned, just loud enough that I actually found myself feeling a little bad for the guy. He must have one hell of a headache to still be that completely out of it.

"Haruhi--" I said, quietly, but the memo might as well have been in Greek for all the notice she took of it.

"You didn't think I knew, but I did. You all have been hiding something from me since high school and I think it's about time I find out what it is!"

"Haruhi, I told you--"

"--But you're lying!"

"And that's all the proof you should need."

Asahina stood up, and all of a sudden she was different. She stood upright, shoulders back and spine pulled up straight to make her look bigger than she was, and her face, while still kind, had that commander's impassivity that you see on the best of generals. It was a look that I had never seen before on her; wouldn't have even imagined existed, even, and I wondered, not for the first time, just how high up she was within the ranks of her Organization.

Then she smiled and it was gone, so quickly that I almost wondered if it hadn't just been a trick of the eye. "If he's lying, it's because he feels he has to. Don't you trust that he knows what he's doing?"

Haruhi didn't answer. Just looked at Asahina, then at me, before her gaze drifted into the space behind me while she pursed her lips again in thought. Even though she said nothing, the answer seemed to ring through my head.

No. She didn't. Not at all.

The silence only broke when a familiar cursing voice yelled:

"What the hell is he still doing here?!"

Kino stood in the doorway, and this time I really looked at her. She was dressed simply, a deep navy blue tank top over pale khaki cargo capris, but it was her hair that really got me, now that I was paying attention. It was nearly all gone, cut and dyed into an inky black pixie cut. Hadn't I only been gone a few days?! How did that happen?!

She must have caught me staring, as she quickly mugged at me and whipped out a black beanie from seemingly nowhere to smash it on her head.

"Suzumiya," Asahina said nervously, fervently look my way, "this is the friend I was telling you about--Kino Nakamura. She's . . . here to help."

Maybe.

Or maybe not.

Haruhi waved but Kino just gave her a quick nod of the head. She didn't acknowledge me, turning instead to Asahina.

"Trash Sir Pecsalot; he's going to be trouble, if he hasn't already snitched us out."

Asahina looked my way again, mouth open in hesitation. "Is he . . . like you?"

"Don't know for sure, but I'm betting on 'Yes'".

"What do you mean, 'like you'?"

Since it was my question, Kino didn't bother to answer, and I couldn't help getting annoyed. She couldn't withstand the glare forever though, and she ultimately sighed and said, eyes focused everywhere but on me, "A replacement. 'Hired help'. As in, 'playing for the other team'--in the non-baseball and non-sexuality ways, obviously."

'Obviously'? Not nearly clear enough. I stood, crossing the room with a few giant's steps, and she stepped forward to match me easily.

"Can we not--"

"Then explain. Now."

"Well, 'Kyon', I don't even fucking know what you told her. You want me to just gut out the truth and screw it up?"

"Then we'll talk outside."

"Please. Like they don't probably have snipers out looking for us--"

"Then the kitchen. The bedroom. I don't give a crap but we're talking about this right now!"

I think I scared her a little, because suddenly there was a lot more distance between us. She stared up at me, eyes wide and shocked, but her mouth remained glued shut. Meanwhile, I relaxed a fist I didn't even know I had clenched and stepped back, trying to pull myself together. I didn't usually get this angry; really. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've gotten so worked up.

Of course, I had never come face to face with this situation before. Someone had been watching me. Someone had to have been keeping perfect tabs on me all these years for Tsuruya's family, carefully reporting on every step I took.

And through those five years, there was only one person who'd been following those steps like an over-exuberant puppy from day one.

"Fine," she scoffed, trying to pass off her reaction as deep thought, but I noticed she didn't look at me as she said it. "The bedroom. That's fitting, isn't it?"

She didn't wait for a response before walking past me, ramming her shoulder straight into mine.

When safely inside, she yelled, "Like it was fucking custom made!" and my hands balled into fists again.

"Kyon?"

I turned. Asahina and Haruhi were looking at me like I had suddenly grown an extra head. Or, maybe not such a grotesque mutation. They didn't look disgusted; more amazed than anything, like . . .

And that's when I realized it. I had seen that look before; or, actually, had felt it form on my own face far too often these past few days. They had seen a new side of me and were struggling to figure it out, like I was one of those drawings with a hidden illustration inside if you just crossed your eyes the right way.

I smiled at them, but I knew it wasn't much of one. Koizumi could have easily out-acted me even back in the old days. But whatever. Right now, I had to go after Kino. They could figure me out on their own time.

And if they did figure out this new side of me, maybe they would be kind enough to explain it to me. I didn't know myself any more.


"Do you really have to yell?" I asked her, shutting and locking the door behind me before leaning back on it.

She collapsed on the bed, stretching out her arms wide as she said, "No, but it feels really spectacular; you should try it. Not at me though, because I've got a monstrous migraine and I really don't feel like hearing it."

"You're the one I'd be tempted to try it on."

She laughed, but just once; a throaty ha that made me shiver. "Right, because I definitely need this from you right now."

"You're the one who came here," I pointed out.

"To save your ass. Which, by the way, is totally a conflict of interests. They might kill you; me, however, they will hang with barbed wire slathered in honey to draw the flies from the highest tree in their largest garden."

I don't know what my expression was, but she laughed again before sitting up. "Relax," she said, shifting slightly to cross her legs before leaning back on the wall, eyes staring out blankly. "They'll only shoot me; not that I'm particularly a fan of that either, but there are worse ways to go in war, I guess?"

I dry-swallowed, and looked away. I hadn't even asked yet, but I knew immediately that I was wrong. She hadn't betrayed me.

Not now, anyway. But before. . .

'Replacement. Hired help; as in, playing for the other team.'

"Who are you?" I asked.

She turned her head slightly, looking at me with an unreadable expression. "Kino Nakamura. Twenty five years old, formally bleach-blonde and long-haired but now sporting this kick-ass black do--"

"--I mean, really."

"And I'm really telling you. I never lied. Not really."

She scratched at her head, her spindly arm reaching all the way around like a wobbly noodle, before sighing and continuing with:

"I just didn't meet you in the conventional way."

The words settled in my brain, floating around with all sorts of implications. "What do you mean?"

She looked away. "God, I thought the sun was going to fry both our asses that day."

"Kino--"

"I knew you were going to be there. Moving in; to the apartment, I mean. In fact, you were late, which was oodles of fun because again? Hot. I waited there all day, just to surprise you randomly."

She said it fast, like she was afraid it'd never come out otherwise. She scratched at her head again, like the words were stuck underneath that hat she had on, and spoke again, more slowly.

"I guess the beginning is probably the best place to start. See, the Tsuruya family are 'humanitarians'; they call themselves that, anyway. I think they're more rich people looking to throw money at anything that moves. But, anyway, when they started this whole thing, they realized it wasn't really fair to you two. That it was wrong to mess with peoples' lives like that. Of course, they did it anyway, but they felt bad about it which makes it better, right? So, like the rich people they are, they decided they'd step in and help by throwing some money at it. Since you couldn't have each other, they decided they'd make it worth your while; give you a friend to ease away the pain. It couldn't be just anyone, of course, but someone they could trust to keep one eye on your head and another on your ass: guard dog and love interest, all in one.

"So they put out an ad for replacements. Nothing else; that's all it said. I needed a job, and even though the details were a bit fuzzy, I went after it. They made me fill out this questionnaire, which I remember thinking was really bizarre. Now, I get it though. It took me a long time, but I get it. They were looking for people they felt had similar traits with whoever they were replacing. Obviously they fucked up, but it was really just a basic sort of thing. For whatever reason, they liked me. Thought I fit for some reason. I took it, and I've felt like a bitch ever since."

She looked at me again, apparently done.

"Oh," was all I could say.

"Yeah. Nice story, right?"

Not the word I would have used, even speaking in a sarcastic sense.

"But why?"

"You think I know? They didn't tell us shit, in case--well, in case something like this happened."

"Something like what?"

She stood up, pulling the hat off her head. She gave her hair a few quick pats, trying to un-muss any patches of hat hair before it stuck. I had already given up on the answer when she whispered, in a tone that dared me to ask again:

"They didn't tell us anything, in case we ended up doing too good a job. In case we liked you too much to keep doing this to you."

I shifted, a feeling of unease suddenly swooping down on me.

"Look," she continued after a few moments, voice light as if she hadn't said anything at all, "If I knew something, I'd tell you. Really. I was the one that kept them off your ass for as long as it took to get you on that train. Technically, I should have killed you then, or tried to convince you otherwise. But I don't even know if Mr. Tall, Muscular, and Totally Useless over there is a replacement like me or not. My job is to keep you away from her, and to keep you from finding out. So, since I've royally screwed up both . . ."

She stood, back straight and face regal and polite, if the slightest bit restrained, and extended out a hand.

"My name is Kino Nakamura and I am here to die like a moronic piece of cannon fodder."

I stared down at the hand, long calloused fingers wiggling away to get me to shake. I couldn't seem to move. I'd come in furious and suspicious and to be perfectly honest, I still was. Whatever spin she tried to put on it, she had been lying to me, for five years.

But:

She had brought me here. She'd pushed me here, even when she hadn't wanted it. She'd gotten all of us out of that mess at the park, not just me, and hadn't even given it a second thought. And the others clearly seemed to at least trust her . . .

I took her hand and gave it a firm shake. I think even Kino knew better than to think everything was 100% between us, if it was ever going to be. But, I guess putting her life on the line for me had to be worth a momentary truce, right?

Besides, I'd hate to die with that hanging over my head.

She smiled, a knowing, evil grin that I knew well. Maybe that was why she got the job in the first place.

"So I get to call you 'Kyon' now, right?"

You know, on second thought--

I was about to retort when the lights went out, covering the room in total black.

"Shit."

It was Kino who swore, but I couldn't agree more.

With some fumbling, we managed to get the door open. Thankfully the hall window's curtains weren't drawn, and we ran back into the living room, where everyone (including the returned Koizumi and the revived Tokushita, who leaned heavily on Kawashima's shoulder) had gathered in front of the large three panel window to look outside.

Kino jumped to a spot right next to Asahina but I walked slower. I wasn't in any rush, especially not to see something I could already more than guess at. I felt it like a sunburn the day you get it; you can't see it, but you know it's there. You know that no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try to prepare yourself against, it'll come for you and there'll be hell to pay in the morning.

And sure enough, when I finally stood next to Haruhi at the window, I knew. The only real difference was that the clouds were really beginning to roll in now, as the rain intensified. For a second, I even felt a little bad.

All those espers and interfaces and time travelers down there looking up at us, guns and/or menacing intent at the ready, were about to get soaking wet.


"I can't even count them," Haruhi murmured next to me.

I must have seemed confused, because she explained, still staring outside with that contemplative look, "You know how in books and manga they always say 'hundreds of soldiers' or 'thousands of men'? I don't even know which one to use."

For a second, I almost didn't understand. It was a pretty random thought to have. I mean, this wasn't a book, as much as I wished it were. Books were simple. Books had endings, neat and simple and predetermined.

And it was exactly as I thought this that I realized that it was exactly what she meant.

"Me either."

It was just a whisper, for her ears alone, but the next thing I addressed to everyone.

"Why aren't they coming in?"

Asahina's concerned, worrying voice was the first. "I don't know."

The following silence implied everyone else's agreement; at least, I assume. Though it'd be nice if someone else spoke. I like my words to be something more profound than 'I don't know'.

Unfortunately, Tokushita's contribution was, astonishingly, even worse:

"So, just to let you all know, I don't have the slightest idea what's going on right now."

I hesitated as he looked to me, I guess to him, I was the closest thing to someone familiar who had a clue about what was going on. With Haruhi it had been easy. With a guy who may or may not be faking innocence--and doing a pretty spectacular job of it? Not so much.

Luckily it was about this time that Kawashima bit into his shoulder, causing him to slump into an unconscious heap once again.

Haruhi jumped beside me. "What just happened?!"

"Sedative" was Kawashima's only response, so she looked to me and I shrugged.

"They . . . bite, sometimes. He'll be fine."

She didn't seem convinced, but a flicker of movement outside quickly made us both forget. Beneath us, the crowds were parting like the Red Sea of old. For what, I didn't know--from here they were all human-like blobs, and I couldn't tell if their weapons were drawn or not. I could only guess that Tsuruya or one of her relatives had arrived--someone with the authority to wield such power. Sure enough, a blob that seemed to have her hair color and gait came by.

Who she was leading, however, I couldn't have expected.

"Nagato? What's she doing down there?"

"I think the question is, why are they letting her through?" Koizumi pointed out, and I had to give him that. Nagato had supposedly been steadily working her way here; it wouldn't really surprise me if she had been trying to sneak her way in just as they caught her. But then, why wasn't there a fight? I knew better than to think she betrayed us; if there was one thing I knew, even in this mess of a situation where I didn't seem to know anything, it was that I could trust her.

But why?

"She's coming in," Asahina remarked, confusion clear in her intonation. "But . . . they aren't following?"

"She'll be here in a second. There's an interface on--"

Before Koizumi could even finish, she had appeared. There weren't injuries, as far as I could tell. Nagato wouldn't buckle under a minor flesh wound like a gunshot wound, of course, but I couldn't help but sigh a little in relief. They really had let her pass through cleanly.

Koizumi obviously wasn't worried about her; he wanted to get to the point:

"So. What do they want?"

She looked to me, her eyes (as usual) as mysterious as space itself, and answered simply:

"You."

Well, we knew that. "You're going to have to be a little more specific, Nagato."

"There is no more specific answer. They have asked for a meeting with you, to discuss further operations."

Koizumi straightened. "Meaning they want to kill him."

"They have stated that as of this moment, they have no specific desire to harm anyone."

"And the moment they're done 'discussing' with him?"

Nagato had no answer for that. She delivered the rest of the message in one quick burst, as if she had grown tired of speaking: "As a show of good will, they will allow one member of our group to accompany him. We have one hour, or they will detonate a bomb and destroy the building. Outside of my passage, all Interface transportation has been stopped. There is no escape route other than the two front doors."

Asahina stepped forward, biting her lip. "Are you sure they aren't bluffing?"

"There is no way to determine it."

"Then we can use the hour; look over the building, look for whatever it is they've planted--"

I cut her off, though in this situation, I certainly didn't feel like playing the voice of reason. "There's no guarantee we'd find it and disarm it in time. They know we have interfaces; it won't be technology we can easily figure out in less than an hour."

Haruhi didn't even have to hear me finish before getting the gist of what I meant, judging by the laser glare targeted on me. "Are you serious?! There's no way you're actually going to do it!"

"It's not like I have a choice."

"Of course you do, idiot! You're the one they want! Who's to say they won't just lure you out and kill the rest of us anyway?!"

And here comes the inevitable flaw in my thinking, like an attack dog nipping at my hide. Koizumi came to my aide though, his voice contemplative:

"They won't risk it. They don't know what'll happen."

It was probably the safest answer, if not nearly enough to satisfy Haruhi. She started to open her mouth to speak again when Nagato interrupted, silencing us all:

"I will serve as his companion." The tone was as neutral as always, but there was no questioning it. There was a strength in her voice that we all knew well, saying all the things you could sometimes forget when you were just sitting with her while she read a book: 'I am not from here, and I know more than you ever will'.

Somehow, though, Asahina drew deep into her own reserve of extraordinary nature and worked up the confidence to disagree.

"I don't think that's the best thing."

She met no one's eyes and she didn't explain. Not that she really had to--there was only one reason why she would argue so cryptically, and if it was hard to argue with Nagato, it was even harder to argue with her.

She was a time traveler, after all.

Eventually, she threw Koizumi a glance, but he wasn't paying attention, his eyes pointedly fixated on the window, so she looked down again. Soon enough though, whatever hidden message there was there he seemed to get, as he turned to me.

"I'll do it. Nagato should stay, in case something happens here."

Instantly, Asahina snapped her head up, but he wouldn't look at her again. Instead his eyes were focused on me, his mouth contorted into as fake and veiled a smile as he could muster.

"I'll go."


So wonderfully excited to get this up. Eight's proving a little tricky, but it should be finished and sitting with my beta before school starts up next week. I also won't have classes right away, so I should be able to do nine. It really is the final countdown; how strange is that?

Anyway, many thanks to Rocke as usual, for being her wonderfully insightful self and picking up on many an error (more than usual, for which I apologize).

Until we meet again.