[Transmission from: ? Error – Sender Undisclosed]

My dearest Imperial Lady,

It may interest you to know that JC, DS, and RL are indeed all collaborating in their plans to attempt to overthrow you, as you may have suspected. While I am sure this poses no threat to one of such impeccable stature and strength as yourself, it nonetheless struck me as information that you would find pertinent; as such, I would never dream of hiding it from you. I also am sure you know the current situation. I trust you will make the correct decision.

—E.

[Transmission terminated. Signal untraceable.]

Three days had passed. Things were remarkably calm and nice and blissful now, and Roxy couldn't have been happier. Sure, there was some unrest in the streets above their heads, and they had to be careful because surely Lord English, whoever they were, would want retribution, but it was okay. She had her Jane and Dirk back.

Dirk... still wasn't in a good way. Right now, Jane was in his room, working her magic to try and patch him up as best as she could. Roxy was waiting outside in one of the two bedrooms the girls had taken to using, which was the one the two of them shared, while Rose and Jade had the other one. One bedroom was only Dirk's, but Jake didn't stay with them the whole time, only popping in for visits when he could. He'd reluctantly gone back home two days ago, because he still had to stay at work and be as unsuspicious as possible. Dave with his broken leg stayed in the other room; Jade had remarked that it was kind of a sad coincidence that both the Striders were the ones who couldn't leave their beds. Of them, Dave was doing a lot better than his brother; he complained a lot about how much it sucked that he couldn't move without help, but at least he was able to complain, as Rose had pointed out. He'd snapped his mouth shut and fallen silent for the rest of the day.

Not too much had been going on, really. They'd all just spent the last three days relaxing and being with each other and not worrying too much about where to go next, speaking in terms of plans. Actually, Roxy realized suddenly, they hadn't made any plans. That ... that was probably something they ought to fix, really. She could just bring it up at dinner tomorrow, she supposed. That would be a good time, right? Jake would be over for dinner, because it was a weekend, finally, so everyone would be there together—well, except for Dirk, but that couldn't really be helped.

Just then, the door opened, and Jane stepped in. Roxy looked up at her brightly, and just like she did every time she saw Jane for the past few days, she hopped up to hug the other girl. "Hi, Janey!"

Jane sighed, dropping her head to rest against Roxy's shoulder. "Hey," she said. Roxy felt her heart sink a little bit.

"Still no good?" she asked, already knowing the answer but hoping that somehow it would be different.

"Still no good," Jane confirmed, and Roxy felt her enthusiasm deflate. How long would it take for Dirk to recover? His wounds weren't really the problem, just the source of it. Some of the deeper lashes on his back had gotten infected with something while he was in that awful deep cell, and he was running a dangerously high fever, staying asleep most of the time and only waking up for a few minutes a day, which were usually just filled with either moans of pain or silent tears and some sort of fever-induced delirium before he lost consciousness again. It broke Roxy's heart to see him like that, and it hurt even more because she couldn't do anything to help him.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Jane added, her voice catching on the last word. Roxy immediately tightened her arms around her and kissed the top of her head, rocking her a little bit in an effort to soothe her.

"It's not your fault," she murmured. "You're doing everything you can."

"It—it is my fault!" Jane wailed suddenly, burying her face in Roxy's shoulder and starting to cry, the force of her sobs shaking her already thin frame. Roxy felt her heart crack a bit further.

"Shhh, no, no it's not," she said softly, stroking her hair. "It's not. You didn't do anything to him. That was those bastards over at Fuckface Central. It's their fault, not yours. You're trying to help him. It's not your fault, honey, I promise—"

"No," Jane shook her head, her voice muffled and shaky as the tears kept coming. "No, you don't understand, they—they hurt him because of me, because I didn't—I couldn't—If I had just said something or thought of something earlier—"

Oh, hell no. So they'd tried to play Dirk and Jane against each other for information, and the sobbing wreck of a girl in her arms was the result, as was the broken boy in the next room. Roxy felt a flare of rage zing through her. "Jane Crocker," she said, a hint of steel in her voice. "Did you raise a hand to him?"

"No! No, I couldn't—I could never—but I didn't—"

"Then you didn't hurt him," Roxy interrupted. "No, I don't want to hear whatever made you think that this is your fault, because that's fucking bullshit. I'm sorry, honey, but it is. Let me guess: some piece of shit was trying to get you to talk about the movement, and when you didn't tell him, he had a bunch of bullies beat Dirk half to death?"

Jane was silent for a moment, save for her occasional sniffles. She was still clinging to Roxy, though, and Roxy held her tightly, rubbing her back in large circles. "It... something like that," she finally said, her voice low and still trembling with more unshed tears. "But not quite. They weren't... they weren't going to beat him that much, but he—oh, god, Roxy," and she broke off again, shaking slightly as she pressed herself close. Roxy held her tightly, and then looked back at the bed behind them.

"C'mere," she said, gently drawing the other girl back. Jane didn't seem to want to let go of her at all, and it made her have to walk backwards a bit awkwardly, but she finally got to the bed and pulled Jane onto it with her, and then draped a blanket around the smaller girl. Warmth would soothe her too, and blankets always gave at least a slight sense of security.

After a moment, when Jane had gotten herself comfortable and snuggled into Roxy's arms again, she began to speak. "They were just going to hurt me, actually," she said in a small voice. "They had... they had this conjurer, one of the guards. Whenever we didn't talk, he would get this branding iron out, red hot and all. The first time, he almost—he almost burned me with it, but at the last second Dirk... Dirk gave in and told them where to find you, and they locked us up again."

"That explains it," Roxy mused, thinking back to the night that she'd had to climb down the side of a rough building and then fled to this place. She had never figured out how they knew where to find her, or why they didn't keep coming after her, if they'd noticed her hacking. Well, now she knew.

"Explains what?" Jane asked. "They kept telling us they captured you, too, but Dirk refused to believe them because they never showed us that you were there."

Fuckers. "They never captured me," Roxy shook her head. "They tried, but it takes more than just a bunch of soldiers at my door to kidnap me."

"Oh," Jane said, and it sounded like she was about to break down again, so Roxy quickly gave her a squeeze and snuggled her close. "I was... I was never sure. I was so, so happy to see you when I got back..."

"I was happy to see you, too," Roxy told her.

"I know," Jane smiled ever so slightly, and Roxy beamed at her, hoping that the sadness she felt seeing her beloved, wonderful best friend like this didn't show. "But... anyway. Dirk has magic."

"He does?!" Roxy asked in surprise. "What even? Huh, that's weird. What does he do, then? Make robots?" she giggled, but then stopped when she noticed that Jane wasn't smiling.

Instead, the other girl was looking away and biting her lip so hard that Roxy thought it might start bleeding. She finally looked up, her eyes teary. "He... kills people," she said.

Roxy stared in shock. "He what?" she whispered, certain that she'd overheard. Dirk? Killing people with magic? That was definitely not true. Dirk was a great swordsman and all, but Roxy was pretty sure he'd never taken a life. If he had, the only time would have been at the Massacre, when he was fighting for his life. But... magic that specialized purely in murder?

"That's why he—they—did that," Jane gestured lamely at the other room. "He killed the conjurer guard who was going to burn me the second time, and then another guard who attacked him, and then there was a fight, and then... he lost. That was the last time I saw him until you brought us home."

"Oh," Roxy said, unable to really process this information. She couldn't believe it! The boy she'd known from childhood was... but she could understand what he'd done, why he'd done it. She didn't blame him in the slightest. If protecting Jane had meant taking a life, a life of someone who was actively trying to hurt people that she loved, Roxy would have made the same choice. It was just ... a lot to take in.

But none of these thoughts were helping Jane.

She pushed them aside and shifted, pulling the blanket up so that they were both under its warmth. Jane was relaxing slightly in her arms, which was good. "Wanna take a nap, and then we can go make some cookies or something?" she asked, because Jane looked exhausted, and she needed to rest, especially because she spent so much time trying to fight Dirk's infection and heal Dave's broken leg, which required a lot of energy.

"A nap sounds heavenly," the smaller girl nodded, resting her head on Roxy's shoulder. Roxy wrapped her other arm around her, too, and hummed the same lullaby until Jane fell asleep.

The cake that they'd just baked was just barely finished, sitting and cooling in its pan as Roxy waited impatiently and Jane laughed, when the door from the path to the Tunnels slid open to admit Rose and John, who had gone out to town for something or other. Maybe just to take a walk or get some fresh air; Roxy wouldn't have blamed them for that. Especially because John hated being cooped up for long. Rose had said that that was characteristic of a Breath mage, but it was still kind of funny to see him pacing up and down and up and down until Dave threw pillows at him because he kept seeing a flash of blue go back and forth by his door.

"Mm, smells good in here," Rose commented as they walked in. "What did you make?"

"Cake!" Jane said with a bright smile that Roxy hadn't seen in far too long. "It's red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and a little bit of a white chocolate drizzle."

"Sounds good, too," Rose smiled. "And," she added, leaning over the counter to see the pan, "it looks great."

"You people and your cakes and cookies and all that," John shook his head. "How do you even eat that much sugar in one sitting?"

"But they're so good!" Jane protested. "Don't you like any sweets? I could make you—"

"Nope, shush," Roxy interrupted, sliding over to clap a hand on Jane's shoulder. "If he's not eating any, that means I get his portion. More cake for me!"

"Oh, man, now I feel like you're just taking advantage of me," John shook his head. "Rose, look at this. Your daughtermom is using my dislike of cake."

"She's using it to eat the cake you weren't going to eat anyway," Rose pointed out. John frowned at her.

"Of course you would side with her," he said melodramatically, crossing his arms and turning his back on her. Rose, unperturbed, slid an arm around his waist and tickled his side. John shrieked and jumped three feet into the air, where he remained, curled up defensively.

Rose laughed.

"Oh, ha ha, good one, Rose," John huffed, keeping the act up as he drifted back to the ground on the other side of the counter, placing Roxy between himself and the other Lalonde. "That's right, just add injury to insult!"

"So, Johnny," Roxy turned around to face him, a bright, disarming grin on her face as she struggled not to laugh. John looked at her, grinning back, and cocked his head to one side. It was a habit she'd noticed Jade use, too, and Jake sometimes. Jane too, now that she thought about it. Maybe that was something their whole family—family? If that was the right word—just did. Weird! Roxy tried her hardest not to let her innocent smile turn into a mischievous laugh as she asked him, "You're ticklish right here?" and her hand shot out to poke his side.

John yelped and jumped back into the air and flew higher, this time, refusing to come within arm's reach of either Lalonde. "Screw you guys!" he retorted as Jane laughed.

"If it helps," she offered, "you can have some cake!"

"Sooo funny," John drawled in reply.

"Well, I for one would love some cake," Rose smiled sweetly, and Jane nodded.

"It should be cool enough to cut now," she said, turning around to retrieve plates and forks and a knife from the cabinets and drawers. Roxy quickly grabbed a knife from the drawer near her and offered it to Jane, who smiled her thanks. "I haven't frosted it yet, so I'll let you do that. You can add as much or as little as you like!"

That cake looked soooo delicious. It really did. Roxy watched with a wide smile as Jane smoothly cut several perfectly-even slices, her hand steady from years of experience working with knives and cakes and things, and then happily dug in when she received her plate.

"Oh my god Jane, this is so good! Are you sure I helped make it? It's not burnt or awful tasting!"

"I'm pretty sure you did," Jane nodded, giggling slightly. "I mean, it wasn't me who dropped the batter on the floor the first time."

"True," Roxy nodded, pointing at her with the end of her fork. "Very true."

"It is excellent," Rose agreed warmly. "You're just as good a chef as I remember."

"That's still just plain weird to me," Jane said wryly. "This whole... alternate universe family thing, I guess. It's so strange!"

"It is very strange," John agreed from his lofty perch. "But hey! You're my grandma, I'm your grandpa, there's some weird time-traveley stuff involved, and it all works out! Cool, right?"

"It is pretty cool," Jane conceded. "Just also a lot to take in, I think. Especially because I knew you all to a degree, but I didn't know you all, and it's just... weird."

"We feel the same way, trust me," John said dryly. "Do you know how weird it is to see one of your grandparents but they're your age?"

Jane, Roxy, and Rose all gave him looks of varying degrees of incredulity.

"Oh, right," he chuckled. "I guess you do. It's weird as hell!"

Just then, there was a yell from Dave's room. "Fuck you guys! I can smell that damn cake from back here, you know!"

Roxy laughed brightly, calling back, "It tastes just as good as it smells!"

"Fuck you, Lalonde!"

"Please don't fuck my mother, that would just be strange," Rose called.

"Fuck you, too!" Dave retorted. Roxy laughed again.

"I guess I can take him some cake," she shrugged. "Oh, and is Jade in there? She is, right?" That would mean two slices, then, she figured, cutting a slightly less even slice and dropping it onto another plate, where she messily smeared frosting on the sides. Jane giggled at her attempts, sitting over there with her pristine, pretty cake slice and frosting. Roxy stuck her tongue out at her—juvenile? Hell yeah. Growing up was overrated.

She stabbed a fork into the center of the slice and duplicated the action so that she had two slices of delicious cake and walked down the hall, a spring in her step. In the other room, Dave was propped up on his pillows, Jade leaning against his side. She looked like she'd been asleep until he started complaining about cake, and Roxy shook her head sympathetically.

"Here you go, cripple," she said cheerfully, handing him one of the plates.

"Thanks," Dave rolled his eyes.

"And here you go, Jade!" Roxy beamed, passing her the other plate. Jade sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh! Thank you, Roxy!" she said brightly upon realizing what it was. "Dave, can you pass me my glasses?"

Dave set his plate on his lap and reached over to the nightstand to grab said glasses, turning to Jade to slide them onto her nose. She giggled. "Thank you, Dave."

He shrugged and took a bite of his cake. "No prob."

Roxy waved merrily at them both and waltzed back down the hallway to the kitchen. John was still floating, while Jane and Rose were chatting amiably about the market today, which was where Rose and John had gone for a few hours.

She plopped back down onto one of the stools at the counter to enjoy her own delicious culinary confection, smiling still. Today had been a good day, just like yesterday and the day before. It was cheerful and nice and it gave her hope. Maybe they were all going to heal, and everything would be alright.

AN: Wow. Thank you all for the stunning response to last chapter! :D It made me feel like that whole 9000 words was worth it, haha. I know this one's kind of short, but hey, not everything will be action packed! It's slowing down a bit, and they're just getting a chance to breathe. (... I mistyped that as bleed. Oops.)

Updates will still be pretty slow compared to in the past, I'm afraid. School's keeping me busy!

Thanks for reading and reviewing, everyone. :D