Sister Mary Katherine had taken care of many children in the years she had been at St. Agnes, but none had touched her heart as much as Celine Moreau. Maybe it was the fact that she had been the one to take her from the weeping women who brought her. Maybe it was that Celine was one of the few children how spent most of her life at the orphanage. Then again maybe there was just something about sweet caring little Celine that just tugged at her heartstrings. Maybe in this way god had provided the child she could never have. In any case, when after ten years, she saw Celine sitting in the sanctuary her heart skipped a beat.

It took three and a half hours and two red bulls to reach her destination, but Skye was home. She looked up at the crucifix on the wall and the stained glass windows sparkling in the noon light and felt an odd mix of emotions. Part of her was contented to be in a place where she felt safe and at home. Part of her felt empty, noticing little changes that had taken place in the ten years she had been gone. She doubted anyone would even remember her with all the children that had come and gone since she had left. The biggest part of her felt like crying.

She had barely spelt the night before and now she was just so damn tired she felt like she would fall apart at any minute. She was so tired of trying to keep everyone at arm's length. Tired of hiding what little she knew of herself, but who would care? So much of her childhood took place here. She had learned to tie her shoes on her own, to make a volcano for her fourth grade science fair on her own and learned how to survive on her own. This place was supposed to be temporary, but for Skye it was the only constant she had ever known. Yet as she looked around, she was faced with the fact that even here, things had changed.

How could she believe in love, when everything changed? Sure, Grant thought he loved her today, but what about tomorrow? What about when they were back on the bus and she failed on a mission? Would he love her then, or would he blame her and walk away like everyone else?

The thought of Grant not being a part of her life was too painful. The air was sucked from her chest, as she began to feel like she couldn't breath. She couldn't get the weight from her chest. The dam broke and silent tears hit kneeler as she tried in vain to hold herself together.

"Celine? Celine my dear, what could possibly be as bad as all this?" Mary Katherine asked, finally shaking the girl's shoulder to get her attention.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't be here, I'll go," Skye said, without looking up.

"Celine please, a burden shared is a burden halved?" the sister continued to try to calm her charge.

At that same old familiar turn of phrase, Skye looked up into the older woman's eyes, "Katherine?"

"Yes dear, now what is the trouble that has got you in such a state?" the sister asked sitting on the pew and taking her dear Celine's hand.

"I think I found a family," Skye whispered.

"That's wonderful dear, why would you cry about that?"

"What if I let them in, and then they see that I'm not good enough?"

"Nonsense, I have told you many times that you are so much more than you realize. I have loved you since the first moment I saw you."

"You have?" She breathed.

"Of course, I wanted you to have a family, but part of me always thought of you as my own. I never told you this, but I was the one who brought you here. A woman was pacing outside the gate one evening when I was returning from an outing. She was crying and clearly in distress. When I got closer I saw that she had suffered a stab wound and I tried to convince her to come in and let me help, but she insisted she couldn't. She handed you to me and told me that she would try to come back, but she never did. After a month, I had to start looking for a home for you, I gave you a name, my sister's name, but I never forgot your mother. I stayed here all these years, so that if she ever came back, I could help her find you. I didn't want to tell you, because I didn't think you would be able to hear such a tale, but now, I am sure that your mother would want you to be happy with this new family."

Skye gaped at the women she had known nearly all her life. On one hand she was angry that Katherine had kept this information from her, but on the other she began to look at the women in a new light. Katherine had devoted her life to the church, but in a way she had also devoted herself to Skye, who had never even realized how much she meant to the older woman.

"But what about me? What if I'm just not capable of love?" Skye wondered.

"Honestly child, what is it that I always say? Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is Love and you my dear have known God all your life."

"Do you really think that I could be a part of a family, that I could love?"

"Oh Celine, you are one of the most loving people I have ever known," the Nun squeezed her hand. "Do you remember that Everly girls?"

"Of course, they came when I was ten, they were just babies really and so scared and alone," Skye remembered.

"And you would not leave their side until their family could be arranged," Katherine encouraged her to think of the little ones Celine had cared for so tenderly.

"Well what else could I have done?"

"What others did, dear, you could have let them go on, scared and alone in a strange place," the sister reminded her.

"But I knew what that was like, I couldn't let them suffer," Skye insisted.

"And that my dear is because of the love and kindness God has put in your heart."

"There's a guy," Skye murmured.

"There always was with you," the nun chuckled.

"No, no, not like that, I think I could love him," she explained, smiling at the thought of Grant. "He said that he loves me, but I don't know if I can trust him."

"You don't know, or you are afraid?"

Skye thought for a moment, "I'm afraid," she whispered, but keen ears at the back of the sanctuary heard. Grant had broken several traffic laws, but when he saw where Skye had stopped, he knew that going in angry wouldn't help. Now, as he heard the woman he loved admit that she was afraid to love him, his heart broke a little. He listened closely to the older woman's response.

"Afraid of what, dear?"

Skye gulped air, trying to name the exact fear that was plaguing her, "I'm afraid that he fell for a fake me, and that one day when he realizes that I'm not her, I will be alone again."

"Have you been deceitful in your relationship?"

"No, but he is seeing the me that I am surrounded by positive influence, working hard, being constantly pushed to do more. One day he will see that the regular me, who always seems to fall short. Then what?"

"And has this man never know defeat, has he never struggled?"

"Of course he has struggled, but he always seems to get through it without me, where I need his help constantly," Skye explained. Grant had to tighten his jaw to keep from contesting such a ridiculous statement. He need her all the time. He needed her to temper his moods and infuse his life with fun. Without her, his life had been beige. Get up, train, do a mission, go home, maybe there was the occasional fling with another agent, but none compared to Skye.

"Have you ever thought that your mere presence eases his burdens?"

"No, I have tried, but I don't know how to be what he needs, that's why I left," she admitted sadly.

"You ran away?"

"I left a note," Skye defended herself.

"Meaning you snuck out without even saying goodbye?"

"I didn't want to him to talk me out of going,"

"If you knew he could convince you to stay? Maybe you didn't want to go that badly."

"I wasn't that I wanted to go, it was that I needed to, he said he loved me like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but he doesn't even know me," Skye sighed.

"People can only know you as much as you let them," Katherine replied, and Grant thought she had taken the worlds from his mouth.

"I don't even know me," Skye returned desolately.

"Well, maybe you should think about that for a while dear," the older woman stood and made her way to the back of the chapel, waving at the man who had followed Celine to come with her, as they left Celine to do some soul searching.