I landed back in front of the entrance to the compound, smiling at the guards there. They didn't bother raising a gun to me. They'd already adjusted to my teleportation habits. I put my hand on the scanner, and walked in once the gates opened.

"Kylie!" Ketch greeted me once I was inside. "You've been away for quite a bit of time. Is something the matter?"

"No." I shook my head, looking down a bit as I smiled. "I just… I needed some time for myself."

"Mary briefed me on what happened." He stated. "I hope that your reconnection with the angel Castiel will not distract you from too much of your work."

"Not currently, no." I said as we started walking. "How are things going here?"

"Excellently." He said. "Mary is in right now. We just got back from a hunt."

"I thought you were more of a lone wolf." I finally had to ask him about that. It had been bugging me.

"I usually am." He agreed. "But Mary's style of hunting is still outdated due to the time lapse, and requires more aide still in bringing it up to speed within the 21st century."

"She seemed like she was doing alright to me." I commented. "From the little I saw of her assignment, anyways."

"There is always room for improvement." Ketch said. "As there is for all of us."

"So what're we looking at now for Project V?" We were in the main room, now. The board that showed our tracked vampires had lost a dramatic amount of red dots. "I've only been gone a week or so." I muttered, counting them quickly.

"Exactly 112 are left now." He said. "Mary and I have been quite busy in your absence." I couldn't help feel his words having a slight bite to them.

"I thought you were still on monitoring for the most part." I said, staring at the board in confusion.

"We were." Mick said, rounding a corner to join us as he stared at the board proudly. "The Old Men wanted us to move things along a tad, though, so we resumed our normal protocols."

"Why wasn't I informed?" I asked. "And more importantly, the only Hunters you have are Mary, Ketch, and Pierce. Fifty vampires in a little over a week would take at least one extra Hunter."

"And we pulled one in the second you requested a bit of personal time." Mick replied, his phone buzzing. He checked it quickly. "Actually, he'll be returning in a few hours, and has just brought our count down to 117."

"Who in the hell can kill 5 vampires on their own, and again," I looked between the two men. "Why wasn't I informed?"

"To answer the latter," Ketch started. "You were otherwise occupied. We didn't wish to disturb you if you were distancing yourself from the project."

"And as for the former," Mick added, holding up his phone. A call was coming in, last name Jones. "I believe you'll want to answer this call before I do." I took it from him, answering quickly.

"T.J.?"

"Kylie!" He sounded surprised, but happy. "What're you doing with Mick's phone?"

"He's here. He just handed it to me." I said, looking up at the pair of gentlemen. "I called you last week. When did you get in?"

"The day before you called, actually." He said. "I was hoping to surprise you. And then you told me about Castiel and Karma," the news had hit T.J. just as badly as it had for me to see it. He'd gotten close to the hellhound as well, and loved throwing the stick for her. "I had a feeling you would more than likely enjoy some time to yourself with Castiel, and decided to wait to tell you."

"So where are you now? Are you OK? Did you really just take out 5 vampires on your own?"

"I'm in Nebraska right now, I'm fine," I could hear the eye roll that went with those words, as well as the implied mom, with sarcastic stress on the single syllable. "And yes, I did. I was a Hunter before I met you, you know."

"But still, five on your own?"

"We did twelve together out near Cork." He reminded me.

"Yeah, but then we had Karma."

"And I had that machete you fixed up for me." He pointed out. "The one I still have and that works extremely well." I'd enchanted it myself. It was supposed to help hone in on an adversary, kind of like an automatic increase to his hand-eye coordination.

Plus, you know, it had dead man's blood infused with it, so there's that.

"You mix the machete with the irradiation gun?"

"Of course." I knew he liked that. One hand wielding a machete like it was an extension of his arm, the other firing off a gun that's meant to irradiate the blood of vampires. At one point I had literally seen him chop the head off of one while shooting at the other, the actions simultaneous and downright amazing to watch.

"And you're alright?" I had to ask one more time. "No major injuries?"

"I can take out a small set of vampires by myself, you know." He pointed out. "But enough about me. How is it going with you and Castiel. You're back, which makes me a bit worried." I glanced up at Mick and Ketch again. Mick seemed to be wanting his phone back.

"I'll tell you when you get here." I promised. "I gotta go. Here's Mick." I handed him the phone quickly, mouthing a "thank-you" to him as he took it.

"Thomason, yes." Mick said, walking away. "I have a few debriefing questions I'd like to ask you quickly." I watched him leave, happiness at the thought of seeing my best friend again surging through me.

"I'm certain you will enjoy having your partner to work with again." Ketch stated. I nodded, turning back to him.

"So what's the plan?" I asked. "The Old Men wanted the timeline sped up. How drastically?"

"They want the remaining vampires exterminated within six weeks." He stated. "Sooner, if possible."

"Six weeks?!" I asked. "It took us four to knock out fifty or so of them!"

"And I firmly believe that with the added manpower now, in replacement of your hellhound," he said it calmly, and extremely factually. "As well as an experimental weapons specialist that will be arriving within a few days, we can achieve the goal set to us by our superiors." I took a deep breath, mulling over a few plans.

"I can head out with T.J. not long after he gets back." I offered. "Get a head start on it."

"Good. I'm glad to see you taking the initiative." Ketch stated. "Now, if you plan on leaving tomorrow, I suggest packing and preparing yourself now. Maybe a visit to the armory?"

"Sounds good. Who's the R&D guy?"

"Alton Morehead." He said. I'd heard the name. I'd actually consulted some of his work in making T.J.'s specialized machete and the disappearing stick for Karma.

"Awesome." I offered Ketch a smile, and he returned it politely. "Is Mary here as well? I was wanting to talk with her."

"She is in her quarters." Ketch said. "What might you need her for?"

"Women stuff." I shrugged a little with it, unsure as to why I didn't just tell Ketch off the bat that it was about my rekindling with Castiel. I decided to try and elaborate a little bit. This was Ketch, the guy that helped me get to where I was. "I want to know how she balances life with her sons in tandem with," I motioned around me. "All of this."

"As long as it doesn't distract you from your assignment, yes?"

"Why would it?"

"You've done well with us," Ketch explained. "I would hate to see you returning to your past be an indicator that you are regressing from your work."

"Oh." I thought about that. He had a point. Like I'd told Cas, I don't want to just revert to how things were. I want to grow and improve, and find a way to balance it all. "Would you say that Mary is doing a good job of it, then?"

"I think she is doing excellent," Ketch stated, surprising me. "But her situation is different from yours."

"How so?"

"She wasn't engaged." I could feel the ring against my heartbeat, hidden under my shirt. For some reason, I felt as though Ketch knew it was there. "And her husband is long dead."

"I'll figure it out, then." I decided. "I've proven myself before. This should be no different." I watched Ketch's face for any signs of emotion, approval or disapproval on my statement.

I saw nothing but the calm certainty that I tended to appreciate, yet couldn't help but feel unnerved by for once.

"Very well then." He said. "Enjoy your conversation with Mary. Best of luck on your travels tomorrow."