Disclaimer: I don't own it. If I did, it would not be cancelled.

Rating: T

A/N: Hellooo my darling readers. I am in such a much better mood than I have been lately. I was overjoyed when, after posting the last chapter, not only was I not yelled at, but supported in the best way possible. Thank you. It makes me very happy. As a present and an apology for how long this is taking me, I have used my break to finish working on this story, so this post is the final chapter and the epilogue. The next installment will be called Calming, but I have barely started work on it because it requires quite a bit of back story exploration on my part for the characters. I wouldn't be looking for it before June. Other than that, I figure I probably said enough in the last chapter to cover this one. So here we go.
Thanks: To everyone, but particularly Bann, Chibi, and lemons and wraith oh my. Your quiet, understanding support is appreciated at every turn.

Chapter Eight: Escapes and Explanations

At Ashlei's touch, the scooter-thing whirrs to life, dies, and falls apart at our feet.

"So, maintenance bay it is then." I say with more than a hint of disdain toward anyone who would leave such a piece of technology in such disrepair.

"Um…yeah." Ashlei's voice relays her surprise, even as she continues forward with what she, I'm sure, believes to be a more pressing matter. "So what are we going to call them?"

"I don't see a point to naming them if there aren't any that actually work." I raise an eyebrow pointedly as I look her. Inwardly though, I smile at the familiarity of her antics.

"Maybe there are more through there." Rayne says, pointing toward another door across the room.

"Maybe." I allow. "But while we're here we should grab stuff for the project." I drop to my knees and examine the remains of the scooter-thing. Ashlei flops down beside me, reclining on her forearms, legs stretched out before her, head turned up to the ceiling. I glance at her. "Thinking?"

"Mmm." Her response sounds neither confirming nor denying, but she drops her gaze from the ceiling to me, nudging a nearby piece of tech toward me with her foot. I consider it for a moment before deeming it useless and putting it aside.

I sort through the pile of debris in front of me and put anything that looks useful into the messenger bag at my hip. Most of what Ashlei continues to nudge toward me is useless and I have to wonder if she isn't doing it on purpose, but her gaze has returned to the ceiling. Rayne watches us, silent and interested. She chuckles when, at one point, Ashlei nudges a piece of gene sensitive debris toward me and it takes off, flying chaotically around the room. She ducks out of its way while Ashlei and I dive for cover.

"Ashlei!" I yell remonstratively, sitting up. To my surprise, she giggles.

"Whoops!"

"You did that on purpose!" I accuse, throwing myself to the ground again as the thing comes flying at my head. She smiles innocently at me and I sigh as I manage to grab hold of the flying thing and think it off. Whatever Rayne had told her earlier had connected somewhere then. I look over to where Rayne has wandered, amusedly avoiding the flying death part. Her brown eyes catch mine and I nod at her slightly. Well done, I think, well done. She nods as if she understands and then returns to investigating the door she had pointed to earlier.

Ashlei helps me pick out a few more useful pieces of debris and then the two of us join Rayne by the door. She activates the panel and the three of us walk through. The next room is full of both types of the craft we'd seen in disrepair in the other room. We stop by the nearest scooter thing.

"Ashlei?"

"It'll work." She says in response to my unasked question.

"Ack!" I yelp, leaping backwards as she suddenly reaches out to activate it and falling on my butt. The scooter lifts ever so slightly off the ground and the buttons on the handlebars glow. Otherwise, nothing happens and Ashlei snickers quietly at my reaction. Rayne doesn't bother to try to hide her laughter and reaches for support from the wall as she doubles over, clutching her side. I glare at her, irritated, for a moment before turning my attention to Ashlei, who is now laughing outright.

"So nice to see you've regained your sense of humor" I snap, embarrassed. "Let us all rejoice." Her hazel eyes glint with humor at my sarcasm. I glare at her and the glint falters for a second and I feel a strange empathy again as I seem to sink into Ashlei's world.

I have to admit that through this entire ordeal, I've been harboring a slight bitterness toward my friend. In this moment, though, that bitterness evaporates. Rayne's words from lunch (it seems so long ago now) finally penetrate my stubbornness. Ashlei hadn't asked for this. She hadn't asked for any of it. She had done what she'd done for the good of the city and the people she loved. She had acted as selflessly as she always said she hoped she could be in a crisis. However, as cool as she thought the whole thing was, she was suffering for her selflessness. And I? Her best friend? What had I done to help that?

Nothing. I'd made it worse.

As I realize this, I'm surprised when she reaches out her hand to pull me to my feet.

"Ashlei, I-" I start, my voice anguished. I'm not entirely sure what I want to say.

"I want to show you something later." Ashlei whispers.

"What?" I whisper back, confused.

"I want to show you something later." She repeats. Rayne has wandered of to hide her laughter at my earlier reaction.

"Um…" I'm confused. What could she possibly want to show me that she doesn't want Rayne to know about?

"Please? Please let me." The look in her eyes and the pleading tone of her voice as well as the way her body tenses as if expecting rejection strikes a chord and I nod assenting. "Thank you." She relaxed and I nod again.

"We should really get out of here. It's starting to get late. Eventually your brothers are going to notice that you're missing. If they haven't already, that is." I walk over to where Rayne has finally managed to get her laughter under control. I grab her arm and drag her toward the door in a way the will seem to Ashlei as if I am still irritated at Rayne.

"It's not perfect." I mumble to Rayne. "But it's definitely a start back down the right path"

"Having Kara here will help." She mumbles back as she plays along with my ploy. Behind us, Ashlei cries out a protest at being left alone and starts after us. "They connect on a level different from the ones we connect with her on. I can console her and you can berate her, but Kara can reason with her. It is a good start though."

"What's a good start?" Ashlei gently tugs Rayne's arm from my grip.

"This door is a good start back to the city." Rayne covers easily, reaching out to activate the panel. "Come on, we should probably start back now." Ashlei freezes as she steps through the door. "Ashlei?"

"Don't worry. I just re-linked with Atlantis. We should be able to sneak back without getting caught now." I watch Ashlei and Rayne closely as they walk together ahead of me back into the more populated areas of the city.

The past six weeks have stressed our friendship. Ashlei had been absent and I had been irritable and stubborn. Somehow, we had survived it as friends, which gave me hope that we always would. Thinking of stressed relationships though…

"Hey!" "I run to catch up to them. "I'm going to go find my dad. I have to…well…" I trail to a stop, searching for words. Rayne smiles and shakes her head.

"Go. We get it." She reassures me and Ashlei nods in agreement. Rayne makes a shooing motion with her hand. I grin and flash a look of thanks before running in the direction of the labs. I have things I need to say.

I hadn't actually made it to the labs. Running full tilt down the hallways, I'd turned a corner and skidded into my dad before he could stop. At his side had stood a beautiful, tan, dark-haired woman with engaging blue-green eyes. My mother, Marissa.

"Hello, Del." She had said with a secretive smile.

"Hey, Mom" I had responded with a nervous glace at my father beside her.

"I'll leave you two to it then." My mother had chuckled softly. She'd kissed my father on the cheek, hugged me, then left with a knowing glance between my father and myself.

"Marissa!" My father had protested.

"She's your daughter, Rodney." was all she had said in response before disappearing around the corner.

"I know. That's the problem." My father had muttered barely loud enough for me to hear before turning to look at me.

It had been awkward to start. Both of us tried to stutter out apologies we weren't used to giving in a polite form we weren't used to using. In the end, we just gave up and said what we wanted to say. Our conversation had a good deal more yelling than most apologetic conversations tended to have, but that was normal for my dad and I.

Once the conversation had dropped to a more reasonable decibel, we managed to get ourselves back to the same page. We parted in good moods, with no concern that the earlier argument would come between us. My dad and I are like that.

This hadn't been the first time we'd argued and it wouldn't be the last. The two of us are too stubbornly similar (or would it be similarly stubborn) to not argue, but I'm me and he's him and we care too much to stay mad for long. Mother finds it sweet in a way. Everyone else just thinks it's amusing.

My point is that as serious as the argument today had been, we'd gotten over and it wasn't going to be a problem. There hadn't been any touchy-feely apologies like most people get, but in a way, that…loud discussion had been our version of an apology. It was enough for us.

Once that had been settled, I'd come up to our tower, laid down, and fallen asleep.

I wake up what feels like minutes later to Ashlei standing over me. A glance at the clock tells me that the supposed minutes had actually been several hours.

"Ashlei," I groan, rolling over and pulling the blanket back over my head. The central room of the tower where I sleep is always colder then the surrounding rooms. "What could you possibly want at two in the morning?" The words come out in a garbled mumble that Ashlei has termed 'Del-morning-speak.' Luckily, this distorted language is something Ashlei is quite fluent in.

"You remember I said I wanted to show you something?" she whispers as she pulls me to a sitting position. I rub groggily at my eyes and notice Alan and Aaron still asleep on the floor outside her room from where they'd been keeping guard earlier. I chuckle inwardly and turn my attention away from them.

"Yes." I mumble back to her. When she says nothing but gives me a look like she's waiting for something I add "What, Now?"

"Mhmm. Tomorrow is a Saturday and we don't have classes, but with Kara showing up I think this is the last chance we have for a while." She does have a point. I groan and fumble around on what passes as my nightstand for a hair tie.

"Ashlei I swear to you if we get caught…" I swing my legs over the side of the bed and start searching for my shoes.

"We won't get caught." She promises. I cast another glance toward her brothers.

"If they wake up…"

"They're out cold. You know how they are on weekends. It'll be noon before they get up again." She gives me a pleading look. I sigh as I find my shoes and slip my feet into them. I notice that she's had the presence of mind to put on jeans but my sweatpants and t-shirt will have to do for this little adventure of hers.

"You better be right." She smiles and grabs my arm. I'm across the room in the transporter before I even realizes she's pulling on my arm. My reactions in the morning are nothing to be envied.

"I am." She responds with a trace of her old confidence. We get off the transporter and she drags me along behind her as she sprints throught the halls, occasionally ducking into labs or storage room to avoid being caught by the night patrols. We wouldn't actually get in trouble being out so late. The city isn't exactly closed off at night, there are people who work a night shift, but the guards get sort of antsy when people are up who aren't usually up. The kitchens are closed, but the mess hall always has a buffet of snacks and fruit and the like. There's a curfew imposed on children for reasons of safety, but Ashlei and I are both close enough to the non-curfew age that the guards usually let us alone. The General would hear about it though, and then he'd tell my father and then there would be questions about what we were doing out so late and why it couldn't wait until morning and if the way Ashlei was moving about was any indication, whatever this was wasn't something she wanted anyone else to know about. Her proficiency at knowing exactly where to duck when, however, was almost uncanny.

One time, when we had ducked into yet another storage closet I let my curiosity take over.

"Ashlei," I whisper, mindful of the guard on the other side of the door. "Why are you so good at this?"

"Partially because Atlantis is helping, but also because Kara and I sneak around like this all the time when she's here."

"You've never been caught?"

"I didn't say that. We've been caught several times, no so much lately as at first, but we have been caught. Most of the time it's been by other people sneaking around, though, so it hasn't mattered." She peeks out a crack in the door and determines the hallway to be safe again and we're off.

Thirty minutes, six more storage rooms, two labs, a gym, and three transporters later, we're standing in front of the doors to the chair room. Before I can ask what we're doing (it would be the seventeenth time, I should add) Ashlei has pulled me through the door she'd opened and into the room. The door swooshes closed behind us and there's a faint click as the door locks.

I should point out that the locks on the doors to this room are particularly strong. It requires either a strong gene (Lorne's or even Carson's) or a very determined and skillful scientist (Radek or Miko) to unlock the doors normally if they've been locked from the inside. A lockdown situation requires a stronger gene and a better scientist (General Sheppard and my father, usually) to get the doors open. Recently, however, it has become nearly impossible to open a door Ashlei has locked, which means no one is getting in that door until Ashlei want them to get in.

"Ah…Ashlei? Why are we here?" I turn around to see her already standing by the chair.

"You'll see. C'mere." She waves me over and I go reluctantly. Whatever was going on was important to Ashlei and I had a sinking feeling that if I refused her, she'd go right back to where she'd been before our…experience this afternoon. Or she could get worse.

She sits as I step onto the platform and holds out her hand. I take it and she leans back and closes her eyes as she tells me to do likewise. I do, trusting her more that reason allows for. I hear the chair recline and wait patiently for something to happen. Nothing does and I'm about to ask her what the problem is when she pulls her hand from mine. Surprised, I open my eyes and am amazed to see, not the chair room, but some sort of pixilated virtual reality. Ashlei stands up and looks around.

"Well, it's not as good as the real one, but still, it's not to shabby."

"Real one? Ashlei, where are we?" She grins at my question and I'm amazed and overjoyed to see the smile reach her eyes.

"This," she spins around happily "is a virtual enviroment. It's not as good as the one I visit, but it's as good as I can get it for you." She grabs my hand and pulls me off the platform I've been standing on, which promptly disappears. Realizing I'm still confused, she elaborates. "You see, Del, You can't interface with the city the way I can. Of course, I can take you along with me when I do it, but that kind of dilutes the link. The pixilation of this place is the result of that dilution."

"Oh." I am aware that I sound like a moron. I am aware that the look on my face is ridiculously shocked for someone who grew up in a floating city, but I don't care.

"Delilah McKay, welcome to Atlantis' mainframe." Asheli's eyes focus on something behind me. Her smile widens and she grabs my shoulder to turn me around. "It is my very great pleasure to introduce you to Atlantis herself." I stare in amazement at the beautiful being who is every bit as Ashlei had described her.

"Hi." I breath, in a state of utter shock. The woman laughs her soft, sweet laugh.

"Hello. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person. I've heard many things from Ashlei."

"It's nice to meet you, t— Ashlei talks about me?"

"Of course I do." She walks up behind me and slings an arm over my shoulder. "I even say nice things, sometimes."

I roll my eyes at her sarcasm and turn my head to mock glare at her.

"When Ashlei first asked me whether it would be possible to show you this place, I was surprised. No on had ever asked before, nor had they even wanted to show someone else. I believe that the beauty and the mystery are things they wanted to keep to themselves. I suppose it made them feel more important. When I gave it further thought, however, I realized that I should not have been surprised. She shares a bond of a different kind with you. Naturally, she would want to share in her secrets. You are very close and you share a kind of trust that exists without reason. It has taken time, but together Ashlei and I finally managed to create this place."

"So all this time, then, you've been working on a way to show me this?" I query in astonishment.

"Yeah. What do you think?"

"Ashlei," I breathe as I struggle to find the proper words. "This place is amazing. I don't— why would you ever want to share this with anyone?" she shrugs.

"Not anyone. Just you. I don't plan on dragging Alan and Aaron down here."

"I'll allow the two of you to speak. I merely desired to meet the person Ashlei always speaks of so highly."

"Atlantis! You weren't supposed to tell her that!" Ashlei protest, blushing slightly. She's always blushed very easily. Embarrass her even the slightest bit and her cheeks go pink. Atlantis smiles warmly in amusement and disappears.

'As long as you are in this place, I can speak to you.' I almost jump in surprise as her voice echoes through my head. A glance toward Ashlei shows her still protesting loudly. 'I will tellyou this, even though Ashlei does not want you to know. Since the beginning, she has wanted nothing more than for you to understand all of this. This is her greatest attempt. You have noticed how much all of this has changed her, but you have not seen her own hidden fears. You know as well as I what she has experienced in her short life already, but she has still always been there for you. Now she needs you to be there for her. Please do not let her down.'

I won't I think back, though I'm not sure she can even hear me. I won't.

"Hey, Del, you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Fine."

"You sure? You sorta spaced on me there."

"Yeah, I'm sure." She doesn't look convinced, but she drops it anyway. There's an awkward silence before I finally give in and ask what I've wanted to ask for awhile now.

"Ashlei, why did you bring me here? Why did you work so hard to be able to show me this?" Something flickers for a moment in her eyes, but it's gone as quick as it came. With a sigh, she sits down on a pixilated bench.

"To be completely honest, I don't know. I just…I thought about not showing you this and it felt so wrong." She falls silent and pulls her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them, resting her head on them sideways. "I don't understand it. Why does it feel this way? Why does it feel like you're the only one who can make everything right again?" Her eyes flicker again, but the time I recognize it for what it is. Fear, confusion. Anxiety. I walk over, sit next to her and throw my arms around her without hesitation.

"Because I'm the one who let it get so screwed up in the first place. Because that's my job. Because I'm your best friend and that's what you expect of me."

"I have no right to expect anything of you." She protest.

"Yes, you do. You have the right to expect that of me as your friend. You deserve to expect that of me. You deserve it," I continue, louder to be sure she's paying attention "because you've always been there for me, even though I haven't always been there for you. Lately, I haven't been there for you and I am so incredibly sorry. I'm here now though, and if you let me I'm going to help you fix this. It's going to take time, but we'll get there.

"Tomorrow, you and I are going to sleep. Late. We'll get up, go to lunch and then go meet Kara, who we will spend the rest of the day with. Anyone who tries to bother will be met with a resounding 'No' and a McKay death glare."

"You'd break out the death glare for me?"

"Who would be better than you? You're my very best friend, Ashlei. Oh, and that project? Unless Rayne protests, we're not even going to start until a day or two before."

"You're going to procrastinate?" She's utterly shocked now. I'm usually almost obsessive over getting things done as quickly as possibly so I no longer have to worry about it.

"If I thought we could get away with it and we hadn't gone through all that trouble to get the parts, I'd say we shouldn't do it at all." I tell her definitively. Her face lights up and I use that to justify procrastinating to my conscience. I look into her eyes and again feel like I'm sinking, but I also feel like I'm struggling harder, fighting the current that's pulling me down. "Oh yeah. One more thing." She looks at me worriedly. "Ashlei Marie Sheppard if you ever wake me up at two in the morning again, I will tell your brothers about the trapdoor in your closet." She laughs so hard that she ends up clutching her side in pain with tears leaking out of her eyes. I laugh with her and keep her from falling off the bench.

"I'll keep that in mind." She says when she finally manages to calm down. "Let's go back." She grabs my hand and a second later I'm opening my eyes in the chair room.

"That was disconcerting." I mutter. Another quick glance into her eyes shows me that she's finally stopped struggling. She isn't sinking anymore, so things are back to normal. Or as normal as they ever get around here.

We make our way back up to the tower in the same stealthy manner we'd made it down. We don't get up until one the following afternoon, an hour before Kara shows up. Kara is as energetic and constantly curious as ever and it keeps us occupied. By the time we will get around to working on the actual project (despite my declaration, I will have already done all the research and written up the paper) the night before it's due and three days before the storm, we will be amazed to find the ferris wheel already completed. A note will sit beside it, typed so the handwriting can't be recognized.

'We figured we'd save you the trouble.'

It isn't signed.

But that won't be for another week and a half. For now, it's already after dawn because of the difference in passage of time in the virtual world, and we encounter Caleb on our way to Ashlei's room. He says nothing, but nods in approval. I wonder for a moment just how much he had to do with both of my encounters with my father today before realizing I don't care.

I'm asleep before I hit the bed, but I go to sleep with the knowledge that today I finally began to repay Ashlei for everything she's ever done for me. It's a good feeling to have.

Epilogue

"Aunt Nikki. So this is where you are." A young girl that is immediately recognizable as part of the Sheppard lineage stands in the doorway of the room. The old woman had recognized the signs of the girl's approach, but ignored it in favor of finding a good stopping place. An older man stands next to the girl.

"Jonathan," Nikki greeted the man as she stood. "And hello to you Miss Cora."

"Jon," the old woman directed her attention to the man. "Are you here to collect the children again?"

"Of course." The kids started protesting and he sighed. "As if I didn't know that was coming. Nikki, I'm supposed to tell you that your mother wants to see you for a moment in the control room." He and Nikki manage to round up the kids and get them to follow Jon out of the room.

"Grandma, I'd love to walk you back up to your room but, well, my mother is-"

"S'alright, Nikki dear. I can manage on my own."

"I'm here, though, so I can take you." Cora says happily, bouncing on her heels.

"Well, there you go then. Go on to your mother, Nikki." Nikki nods and starts down the hall as the young Sheppard helps the old woman to the door.

"Cora, you do know I can walk on my own perfectly well, don't you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You are also aware that as a doctor before retirement, I am qualified to say when I do need help?"

"Yes, ma'am." The woman laughs at the girl's response as they start up the hallway and ruffles the girl's gravity defying black hair.

"Oh, how like your great-grandmother you are!"

"Ashlei? Really?" The hazel eyes are amazed and admiring at the mention of her grandfather's mother.

"Of course, dear. The hair is easily the first point of note, though you do keep it longer." Cora unconsciously reaches up to tug on a forelock of hair. "You're shorter than she was at your age, but not by much. You have the same basic stature. Your eyes are more to the green end of hazel, but my dear you've heard all this before, haven't you?" The girl nods. "It was also not what I was referring to, but you knew that too, didn't you?" Cora nods again before speaking.

"You meant her personality. No one's ever said that to me before."

"Probably because most of them don't remember well enough. Your grandfather might but…"

"Grandpapa never talks about her and he gets sad when I ask. Mama was too young to remember."

"He was very close to here" The old woman agrees. The two of them walk in silence for a moment before the younger gathers her courage and speaks again.

"Were you there? At her bonding, I mean?" Cora rushes the words and then looks away to hide her blush. The woman's eyes sparkle with laughter, but she refrained from vocalizing it. She looked at the girl destined to be the next Voqui and smiled warmly.

"I'd nearly forgotten your eighteenth birthday was coming up. Are they holding your bonding actually on your birthday?" They step into a transporter and moments later step out again in the Tower. Instead of going to her room, the woman ushers Cora over to a couch where they both sit.

"Mhmm."

"Is that why you came with Jonathan? To ask me about it?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry dear. There really isn't anything I or anyone else can tell you. You'll have asked your mother, I'm sure?" Cora nods. "She couldn't tell you much either could she?" The head of black hair shakes a 'no.' "It isn't really something anyone can explain. It's beyond words, I believe. Are you nervous?"

"Yes. No one can tell me what to expect and…what if it doesn't work or I do it wrong? Or what if I'm a terrible-"

"Hush now, Cora." The teen snaps her mouth shut. "You've had Nikki help you do the research right? Has any bonding ever gone wrong or the Voqui done badly?"

"Well, no"

"Then why don't you tell me what's really bothering you." There a long pause in which Cora hopes the old woman will revoke the question. When she doesn't, the young Sheppard sighs.

"I just…Why me? I'm the youngest of the three of us. Alexa's more obedient and better behaved. Trey is level-headed and responsible."

"And you?"

"Me? I'm just trouble." Cora answers automatically. The woman chuckles.

"Ahh. The pains of being a triplet. It runs in your family, you know. Skips every few generations, they say. Tell me, Cora, would you like to know a few little known and rarely mentioned facts about your predecessors?"

"Yes." The teen scoots closer eagerly.

"I thought you might. Your mother? Quite a temper. She's managed to keep it in check since having children, but she was very hot-headed when she was younger. She was also the younger of her generation. Your grandfather was very absentminded and irresponsible. He was also a class clown. Ashlei spent so much time down in the teacher's offices trying to appease them that they actually started keeping a special chair just for her. Also, he was and is quite irresponsible. Loses things constantly. And Ashlei herself? Dear child never since have I met her like. She was so mischievous. Always sneaking around at night, playing in the off limits areas. Procrastinated everything. You never knew what kind of trouble she and her brothers would get into next, and that's even after she was technically an adult."

"You're making this up."

"I am not. You can ask Atlantis herself when you bond to her and I did have a point. They say the Voqui gene is a random characteristic in the Voqui children, but I don't believe it. I believe that every child born to current Voqui shares that gene and Atlantis activates it in whichever child she believes to be most suitable and capable. She chose you."

"Then, you think I'll be okay?"

"I know you will, Cora." The girl jumps up and hugs the woman gently.

"Thank you." She then jumps up and dashes to the transporter; leaving, presumably, to go find her friends. The woman shakes her head in amusement, stands up, and gently lifts the tattered book off the table. She walks to her room and places the book in its place. She runs her fingers over the picture frame and doesn't act surprised in the slightest when two beings fizzle into existence beside her.

Both the newcomers are female. One is more glowy than the other with short dark hair and twinkling hazel eyes. The other gives the feeling of great age, though she herself appears to be very young.

"I was wondering when the two of you would show up." The old woman says calmly. The glowier one scoffs.

"Expecting Atlantis to appear after you talk to Cora is understandable." She gestures toward the other being who is clearly a hologram. "What reason do you have for expecting me, kiddo?"

"She's your great-granddaughter, Ashlei. I'd be surprised if you hadn't come. And I'm hardly one to be called 'kiddo' anymore." The old woman sits on her bed and surveys the pair before her as Ashlei flops into a chair.

"Young or old you'll always be a 'kiddo' to me."

"The two of you never grew up." Atlantis says with a sigh. "How is Cora?"

"Nervous." The old woman responds, "but that's to be expected. I did what I could to reassure her."

"She'll be fine. Quite the precocious one, isn't she?" Ashlei asks her friend, her fondness for her descendent evident.

"You only say that because she is so very like yourself." Atlantis laughs softly.

"She is precocious, but…Ashlei maybe if you talked to her?"

"You know I can't do that. I'm supposed to be dead. Not Ascended. If anyone finds out...My sweet little Nathan is still in mourning. He's gotten so much older and his health isn't very good. It might kill him."

"I know. I know. I just don't know what to say to her. She's tried asking her grandfather and her mother, but Nathan gets all sad when he has to talk about it and Samantha doesn't want to risk upsetting her daughter."

"As you said, there isn't really anything you can say. She must find her own way. When the time comes, I will guide her." Atlantis nods at the other two before letting her hologram fizzle out.

"I'd love to stay and be more social, but while they let me interact with you…they don't much like it. Just take care of my family. Especially Nathan and Cora, okay?"

"You know I will." The old woman says calmly. Ashlei smiles in acceptance and disappears in a flash of light. "Oh, Cora. If you're trouble then words do not exist to define Ashlei." The woman sits for a moment before deciding something. She pulls back out the tattered book and slowly begins to labor over an almost excruciatingly long e-mail. When she finally finishes, she sends it off to several people before going to get herself ready for bed. The only clue to the content of the emails lies in the subject box which reads "Calming, A Private Chapter."

The End

A/N: As ever your opinions will be wholeheartedly appreciated. I'm working on improving my writing so any advice you have to offer would be welcome. I hope everyone had excellent Holidays and will have luck and joy in the coming year.

Until Next Time,

Nimeria out.