"Passed with flying colors," Michael's voice came from the front of the airplane as Purrcy walked back to her seat from visiting the tiny bathroom in the back.

She sighed to herself. How much longer will he have to report on his wife? she wondered with a bit of fatalism. No husband really liked to have other people being so nosy and suspicious all the time of someone they loved.

She was glad the phone call was over by the time she reached him. She give him a kiss on the side of the head, then slid past him to sit in her seat. "Makes me feel like an insect under glass. Or a student that's never going to be passed up to the next grade because they're on the teacher's hate list," she complained at the window.

She shouldn't have said it, but she was feeling for Michael. He went still and unhappy. She sighed and looked back at him. "Sorry. I know you'd rather not be the hall monitor and parole officer. It's really not right for them to make you prove your loyalty that way. It's enough to have Bowie watching over us and making his reports."

Michael blinked at her. Purrcy shrugged back. "Everyone who knows you knows that to continuously test your loyalty is a complete lack of understanding of who you are. If you couldn't be loyal to both me and them, you would have already walked away from them, or never have asked me to marry you." She scowled. "Sometimes I really want to spank someone really good. It's just hard to do that when it's a large group of ethereal 'them'."

"Back up," Michael finally said. "Since when is the fact they keep calling me a test of my loyalty?"

Purrcy looked at him without answering for a while, then looked away. "Just my take on it."

"You're not upset that they want a report on you every time?" he asked, trying to make sure he was understanding.

"Not really," she answered. "I know I'm not trusted. I'm still an unknown wild card. And since I'm actually proving it to them on a regular basis when they don't want to even know to begin with, it's no surprise."

She moodily put her chin in her hand, resting her elbow on the arm of her chair, going back to staring out the window. "I'd rather the reporting than maximum security prison, but I'd also much rather it wasn't you when Bowie's enough. It's not kind to you, when they owe you."

"Well, they do owe me, but I'm getting my payment," Michael said.

"And it's worth that price?" she asked, just a little bitter.

Michael leaned over and whispered warmly in her ear. "Yes, when it's the right to have you next to me every moment of every day and night - where I happen to want you to be. If you weren't making them nervous, you'd be in Japan and we'd be doing this without you."

He sat back up and said practically, "I'd far rather be reassuring them that you're holding up fine and can do the things the rest of us are trained to do so they don't send you home early."

Purrcy blinked back at him. "So, is that what it is?" She didn't really believe it was just that.

"Umhm," Michael nodded. "They're even willing to take my recommendations under advisement, since they're ever so happy to not have to get their hands dirty when you're so willing to take it on for them."

"So you said at the beginning of this leg of the journey," she said. Michael nodded again.

Purrcy sighed and looked back out the window. She'd not push it. Silently disagreeing slightly would be better than turning it into a pointless argument. That's what it was to be a pessimist, patriot, and conspiracy theorist. Not to mention a prior captive of the Puppet Master, and the temptation and sounding board for the Master Strategist. Oh, yes, and the High Priestess and Oracle of a twin Inari-AI system for an entire planet that was just beginning its life.

Now Purrcy was very bitter. That needed to stop right there. She focused on what was going by underneath the airplane. They'd dealt with the west coast facility the night before. It hadn't been easy because the facility had actually had protesters camped out around it. Enough activists among the Adventurers had taken up the call to see it shut down to have an around the clock watch on it, even going so far as to impede traffic into and out of it.

That had taken them some thought as to what to do. Purrcy had been of a mind to just open the gate for the protesters and let them walk in and take pictures of the abuse. Michael and the other men had nixed that fast. That might be fine in another country, but against their own, it wasn't so much. Perhaps some of Purrcy's current frustration was related to that. It didn't matter to her who was doing it. It mattered that it was being done at all.

She'd known she'd be in trouble, though, given all four of them refused to follow through, so she'd backed down and made them offer suggestions. It had taken four times as long to come up with a plan (being there were four other people's heads in it), and had been a much more delicate operation, thus taking four times as long. Which was another reason she was grumpy.

They'd arrived in the city barely in time to get on the airplane that was taking them the short hop from Sacramento to San Diego. Sleep was currently at a premium again. The hour-ish nap from the site to the airport really hadn't been enough. There wouldn't be any sleep in San Diego once they got there, either.

"I'd say this looks familiar," Purrcy said now, before Michael started poking at her, "except that last time I saw it, there was only bare earth with bomb damage."

Michael looked out the window over her shoulder, leaning too close for how prickly she was feeling. She didn't complain. He'd been kind and let her have the window seat. "Yeah, it's a lot better with the life on it." He turned and looked at her almost nose to nose and decided not to kiss her - a wise choice just then.

Instead he sat up. "And we even get a modern-day dragon to fly on for the part we're going to see."

"A nice, simple, and quiet repeat, then," Bowie said quietly from behind them. Purrcy twitched violently enough to have it be a visible jump, even though she kept it as small as possible.

Both of Michael's eyebrows went up as he looked at her with somewhat large eyes. She let the scowl out and went back to looking out the window. She could tell that Michael wanted to pet her, touch her emotions away. She didn't want him to.

"You don't want this repeat," Michael said quietly. Purrcy shrugged irritably. It's not like she or they could do anything about them.

Instead of letting it go, Michael decided to psychoanalyze her. He was really going to push her over the edge if he kept going. "You had fun being the new Administrator, even being kind enough to end the sub-quest early, so I don't think that's it." She crossed her feet and didn't look at him.

"You were trying to figure out how to be everything you needed to be so suddenly come to the Gate of Time. That kept you busy inside and out, but I don't think that would make you have negative flashbacks of the sort to put you out this much." She ignored him.

Michael stayed quiet for a while after that. Unexpectedly, then, his fingers slid between hers on the hand closest to him. "Purrcy, what happened here, on the Theldesian U.S. side, wasn't your fault." She whipped her head around and glared at him. "Things had to happen in their time. We weren't ready to cross the Athirds until we crossed it.

"The Adventurers on this side made their choices and did their best. You couldn't be everywhere until only a few months before that, and by then it was already too late to fix things the way they needed to be fixed. Don't take it all on your shoulders. Izanagi knew what he was doing, even if he was as worried as you were."

"Since when did I say I thought it was my fault?" she asked him, still bitter.

He looked at her for a long moment, then answered, "Just my take on it. If I'm wrong, I'd like to hear what it really is. If I'm not, I'd really like you to let it go. That's too big a burden to carry around when you keep carrying around all the big ones that others were the cause of - including the cause of the battles of the seventh round."

Purrcy looked away from him, but apparently not fast enough. Michael caught up both of her hands. "Purrcy," he said almost urgently, "you are not the one who made their choices for them. Yes, you could have blasted them all to holes, locked them all up, whatever punishment you cared to apply, but you didn't because you shouldn't have. You knew it then, we all kept trying to shove it into your brain constantly, and you still don't believe it." He was frustrated now, too.

Purrcy bit her lip to keep her mouth closed. Michael calmed down and said more quietly, "Purrcy, the final outcome worked out. The past is the past. Carrying the burdens long after then isn't helpful to you or anyone.

"Yes, the repeats keep bringing it back up, and all the awful things that go with them, but this is the time to heal from them. Let them go. You did what you could, what was best. The final outcome isn't ideal in some cases, but it's okay. Everything still moves forward, everyone does still try their best, even you. And -"

Purrcy's finger was on his lips. She took a deep breath. "I get it Michael. I've heard you." She gave him a firm look until he relented enough she felt safe enough to take her finger from his lips. "It doesn't change the fact that I refused to help Izanagi until I didn't have a choice because Indicus captured me."

Michael's mouth dropped open. Firmly, Purrcy went on. "Izanami was protecting me from him until then. He didn't take my Summon whistle from me until I was in Indicus' hands. Then he was afraid. That put me too close to being controlled by someone he wasn't going to have any patience with.

"I was as stubborn with Inari as I am at any other time in life, Michael. I wasn't going to give up my freedom, my illusion of safety in being solo, and my complete delight to finally not have to be responsible for anything or anyone but myself. I believed I was teaching them a very important lesson at the time, and maybe I was to a smaller degree than I believed.

"It wasn't until I saw for myself the consequences of my stubbornness that I understood at all. I'd been selfish for all the wrong reasons - again. It was very hard to live with that guilt, and it still comes back.

"I know Izanagi's forgiven me. I know that things happened the way they could once I was finally moving the way he wanted me to, but I had to be forced into it, instead of willingly helping. That has been my bane and guilt ever since then. It's a lesson to remember, because that was deadly in far more ways than one."

Michael sat and stared at her wide eyed for some time, then sighed and squeezed the hand he was holding still. "Fair enough, then," he said gently. "We'll keep holding down your reaction of wanting to just smash things immediately instead, then, since that's no better. Maybe we can help you find the right balance before we're done."

He gave her a scolding look she had to take. It wasn't lost on her that the operation at the facility just past was a case in point.

-:-:-:-:-

David Burnham wondered for the seven thousandth time just what it would be like to actually get to meet this woman his dad had fallen in love with and married. At least Michael had waited for her to be walking, talking, and breathing again before marrying her. David had seriously been worried about that. Or that his dad would disappear back to Theldesia and not return, wanting her so badly.

David supposed that was what had been the most concerning, actually. He'd never seen his dad be so desperately in need of another human being before. He understood it generally at some level, but he'd never seen it before in his dad.

His mom had torn his dad up, and thus their family, which ticked him off no end. His dad had always been a "family man", happy to just be with them when he could. What was so bad about that? David couldn't figure his mom out.

Maybe that's what being a family man meant. His dad relied on his family and his wife so deeply that to have that wadded up and thrown in the trash was to make him desperate. So, then ...what was Purrcy like, that his dad had immediately turned to her in such desperation?

David wanted to wiggle like a little kid, he was so impatient. He supposed he could stand up and pace a bit, since that was more adult-like, but this wasn't really the place to do that.

David looked around again. He would normally have waited for his dad to pick him up from the school. That wasn't a good idea this time, since the stupid reporters were still stalking him, particularly now that his dad was in the news again because of the wedding. That was a couple of months ago now, but it seemed to take a lot to make the reporters get bored.

That was another good reason to not pace or walk around too much. He didn't need to draw attention to himself. His own face was on the rags a few times, back at the time of the divorce. He hadn't liked that any more than seeing his parent's faces on them. It meant that sometimes he got recognized, so he preferred to keep a normally low profile now as much as possible.

David was grateful that his dad had been understanding and not suggested they meet at the school or another obvious location this time. If their faces were known, Purrcy's was now too, and was the hottest ticket for a rag photographer, David was quite sure.

A warm hand entered his from the direction he wasn't looking and pulled him to his feet. His immediate reaction was to look for his backpack but it was in the hand of someone else, headed for that person's shoulder. The warm hand didn't leave his as his feet got moving because they had to. Just as he was about to pull away, an arm went around his shoulder. That he recognized.

David looked into his father's face in surprise. The warm smile rewarded and reassured him. "Just keep walking," Michael said. "We're still trying to shake the ones who were waiting to pounce on us as we walked out of the courthouse."

David groaned a little and gave a nod, then turned to look at who was holding his hand. It finally occurred to him that he might have found it extremely uncomfortable from the beginning, but he didn't. It felt very natural.

The smile he recognized, having seen it before, but it wasn't the person he was expecting. David blinked a few times, then gave her a very confused look. The voice he recognized, too, as she laughed, then said, "Does the white give me a good disguise? I keep hoping that it will make them think I'm not who they think I am."

David put his free hand to his forehead. "Really? It's a disguise? You went older? Wouldn't most women want to look younger?"

Purrcy laughed again, a nice down-home laugh, actually. "Well, wouldn't they think so, too? You dad likes older women anyway." David and Michael both spurted laughs at that. Purrcy raised her nose in the air. "And I know. He happens to like me, and I'm a lot older than he is."

David had to let it go and laugh at that. "No one would know better than you," he admitted. His hand got a nice warm squeeze and her smile didn't change. David decided he liked that Purrcy was the kind to not take offense very easily. She seemed easy to joke around with. He liked that sort of person, and already knew his dad did too, so that must have been a point in her favor.

He already knew Purrcy wouldn't stand for stupidity and thoughtlessness. His dad didn't either. That had been her first point David had seen, back when they'd called to let him know they were getting married officially.

Purrcy waved her hand in the air, generally at the tall buildings around them. "Why did you pick here for us to meet up with you, David?" she asked, genuinely wanting to know (another point in her favor since she hadn't been upset or suspicious).

David felt the heat rise up a bit under his collar. Still it was polite to answer properly. "The first sporting event my dad took me to was a basketball game, the second was a hockey game, but my favorite was the first summer baseball game he took me to." He could feel Michael raise his eyebrow at him.

"It was dull and boring, in comparison to the other two, but he let me run up and down the concession path. I got completely coated in the cotton candy he bought for me. When our team finally got a run, everyone out in the stands hooted and hollered, and we'd missed it.

"Instead of grouching at me like some of the other dads did at their kids because they'd missed the play of the day, Dad scooped me up and was excited with me right there. He was excited to be sharing the day with me, and that ended up making the whole day exciting."

Purrcy's smile was soft and her eyes sparkled. David decided right then he much preferred that look to the almost-dead one he'd seen in Ohio. If his dad had been waiting to see that look, it was no wonder he'd been desperate for Purrcy to wake up. It was loads better.

"That's a good dad," Purrcy said as if she really knew. "I also loved going to baseball games with my oldest son when he was young. Every now and again I'd get two free tickets, and we'd go on a mommy-son date. He was never very thrilled with the game itself, but we had a lot of fun cuddling and watching the other spectators. Cotton candy was Sam's favorite, too."

"It's too bad there's not a game tonight," Michael said sadly.

David came full halt and scowled at him. "Of course there is. I know you two want to do something with me."

"We do?" Michael raised his eyebrows at David. "Weren't we just coming to drag you off to somewhere?"

"Isn't it the same?" David kept the scowl on to hide his sudden worry that he buried as deep as he could.

Purrcy tugged on David's hand and scolded, "Don't tease when he's insecure, Michael. Remember we haven't set the patterns of family for the three of us yet." David almost missed the next sentence for being shocked that his dad went immediately to an apologetic scolded-puppy-dog look. "We got the red-stamp hint, David. We just can't go in the main entrance. Come on, we're almost there."

David blinked and turned to look back at Purrcy as she got his feet going again. How had she known what he was really feeling? He was grateful she'd addressed the worry right away to set things right, but it felt strange to feel like she'd read his mind.

As they waited briefly in a very short line inside a covered ticket booth area towards the back side of the stadium, David watched Purrcy, a little frown on his forehead.

"What's eating you?" Michael asked him quietly, as Purrcy seemed distracted by something else.

"Does she read minds here, too, Dad?" David asked, not sure he should be asking such a strange thing.

"No." David looked up into his dad's face. He was smiling a knowing smile. "She's been a mom for so long, she just knows things like that. The scold's like that, too. So automatic and full of truth, you just have to accept it."

David shook his head. "So..., why did you want to marry her, again?"

"Because she's a military wife from way before I met her. She's got every trait I ever honored in my own mother. Besides," Michael winked, "love's got everything to do with it."

David groaned and rolled his eyes. Love was just an icky grown-up emotion that he wasn't looking forward to having to deal with.

Purrcy finally returned to them, three young men trailing her, and twice as many tickets as they needed in her hand. "Well, we'll be way off to the side, but I managed to get them so we'll be in the shade first. Blazing hot southern California sun is not something I'm used to."

Her eyes looked into David's and he suddenly couldn't look away from her brown eyes and the expression on her face. "I know you're used to being the only child and having all the attention, but now that I'm the step-mom, you need to understand one thing." David nodded, since that was the right thing to do in this moment.

"You've now got so many siblings you can't even count them. I'm not sure I can either. The only relief you'll have is that most of the time you don't have to see or worry about them. Tonight, you get to have three older brothers here to watch the game with us.

"Personally, I'm super-excited because I've always wanted to have baseball games be a big rowdy family event. Just in case you had your heart set on being the only one this time, too, I got them seats just behind ours. That way I can joke with them, Michael can tease them and vice versa, and you can ignore them and pretend it is really just you."

David's eyes went wide as Purrcy went to a perfect, uncaring attitude. "If that floats your boat." She turned and started leading them towards the entrance into the stadium. "Introduce yourselves as we walk in, boys. I'm dying for an ice cold drink."

As Michael got David's stunned body to move again, the three young men smiled at him and got walking, too. David ignored them for just that moment. "Dad...," David wasn't quite sure what he wanted to say. "What ...did she just do?"

"Tell you to your face that she knows perfectly well you'll absolutely love having older brothers, because she knows exactly how lonely it is to be one person alone." David somehow wasn't surprised his Dad was stone sober, even though it had been said in his teasing voice. David took a deep breath and turned to the closest of the new men.

"Hey. I'm Stiletto, and yes, I really am one of Purrcy's sons." The white grin in the dark face made David blink.

David put his hand to his head, but could only sigh. "Right. Stiletto. And?" he looked at the next one.

"Gareth."

"The Gareth?"

"Ah...yes." Gareth didn't really want to admit it, but he did. David's eyes wanted to pop out.

His head swung around to look at the third one. That one sighed slightly and gave David a sympathetic look. "Bowie. Yes, two-thirds of the Intelligence detail are following her around, and your dad's wingman, for this trip."

David could only begin laughing out loud, putting the back of his hand to his mouth as his feet walked him forward. It might actually be truly a fun baseball game this time.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy was lying on her stomach, her head propped up on her folded arms. Her feet were up in the air, kicking lazily as she watched the fire in the firepit snap and pop to release sparks into the air that rose almost as lazily as she was being.

"It is surprisingly cool once the sun goes down," she commented. A moment later, she looked at David from the corner of her eye. He was sitting in the next spot around from her, his feet crossed at the ankles, an arm around his knees. A finger of his free hand was tracing through the dirt next to him. "Thank you for being willing to camp out tonight, David."

He glanced at her, then away, and gave a nod. "It's not really normal, but then you aren't either."

Purrcy smiled. "No, not anymore. I used to be so normal no one noticed me except my kids." David glanced at her again but she was looking at the fire again. "I prefer that, actually. I've always been the shy wallflower that would prefer to sit in the easy chair with a book and forget there was anything that had to be done anywhere."

They sat in silence for a bit until Purrcy sighed. "A lot of times the world, life, God, other people's choices don't give us what we'd prefer. I'm sure you would have preferred your dad's apartment - which he doesn't have anymore as of this morning since they packed it up as soon as he unlocked the door - or a hotel - which we ran out of money for half-way across the U.S. because I don't have a bank card for my account in Japan, and the military won't cover anymore."

David blinked, then after processing all of that finally sighed and relented, putting his chin on his knees. Purrcy smiled a small smile and let him think about it a little longer. She rolled over and put her hands under her head. "Of course, we adults are now used to this. We lived this for years on Theldesia, every time we left town. Keeps us young, I suppose."

She changed the topic. "Your dad's barbecue is really good. That's the first time I've gotten to have it and remember what it tastes like. The first time I was mostly unconscious but needed the protein so ate it before I passed out again."

David was staring at her. When she glanced at him, he looked away, but she could tell he really wanted to ask her why. She waited. He shifted. She waited some more. He changed sitting positions. She waited. He finally sighed and glared at her. "Why?"

"Very good. Ask your questions because no one can read your mind, and maybe you don't care. I'd rather not impose."

"You do read minds," he accused.

"No, I understand human behavior and motivation, read body language, and have lived a long life to know how I would feel. I don't know what's going on in your head unless you tell me." It was a mild scold, a mini-lecture.

Purrcy waited until David gave her a slightly sullen nod, not wanting to have to answer her directly. She left it alone as sufficient. He'd get used to it eventually.

The other men weren't giving him any help because they'd left the two of them alone for "reasons unknown". Mostly so they could be alone. It would make David have to talk to her directly, which he hadn't done much having everyone around. He'd done a lot of listening and watching, though. That was okay, but Purrcy wanted to hear what he had to say, too.

"So, why was I practically unconscious, so I had to miss my very first ever barbecue from Michael, which now that I've had it a second time, I'm very sorry I did? Hmm. ...It's a military secret."

David didn't sigh in complete frustration, but he did roll his eyes. So. He understood well enough from his dad's career. "However, I can tell you that I got my white hair from it." Purrcy rolled her head to look him in the eyes as he looked at her in surprise. "Remember, it wasn't white when we called you before that."

David's brow furrowed, and he gave a nod. "It's not a disguise?"

"Weelll...it is, but only because people aren't expecting to see it white. It's not fake or bleached. It really is white now. I was about four days in recovery while we camped out like this. Michael actually doesn't like to have me camping out. He thinks I'm too old for it. It does make for some creaky bones and muscles in the morning, but really I love it.

"I love being in the outdoors, breathing fresh air, the fire, that sort of thing." She went back to looking at the stars above her. "You know your dad does this regularly just as part of his living. Well, he did.

"I got to be on the USS Ronald Reagan and watch the squadrons and how they lived. There wasn't much camping out on a ship in the middle of the ocean." She smiled at him. He smiled back, completely getting that humor.

"It's different for the family of a military man to get to experience even a small part of what he gets to do for his daily job. I think he had more fun having me on the ship than I did getting to see it, although I really did have a lot of fun." Her smile went rather large as she reminisced.

It took David a little while, but he finally did tentatively ask, "Why are you doing military things? ...And, I thought Dad was going to retire?"

"Hmm," Purrcy said again, pondering what could be said. "He officially did retire. I have no idea if it was real or not, though. He keeps telling me it was, but he also has to keep reporting in, so I'm not sure."

She shrugged slightly. "I do know that no government in the world trusts me as of yet, so maybe the U.S. figures if they're keeping tabs on me the rest of the world will just hold to a 'wait and see' pattern. They don't really trust your dad either. We've got at least one of our guards reporting in regularly as well, so they can have confirmation we're still being good."

"Dad wouldn't!" David protested heatedly.

"Yeah, you're right, but that doesn't mean it isn't wise to have the back-up check. We're okay with it. I'd far rather they just kept tabs on us than locked us up, after all," she said dryly.

David blinked. "Well, yeah, I guess," he had to agree. "But why?" This time he asked it a little easier.

"Because of the movie. They're all jumpy, thinking I might have brought the capacity for magic back with me, and then your dad going and marrying me. They want to make sure that his long loyalty to me on Theldesia isn't taking precedence over the loyalty he owes to the United States." Purrcy wrinkled her nose.

David was quiet again as he absorbed what she'd said. He put his chin down on his knees again. Finally, he said quietly, "I think... that he's always wanted to do his best to be the best Navy pilot and Commander there is. But..., after watching him sit next to you, I think there's something even more special to him about you than his career." David looked away. "I'm not so sure he even thought about Mom that way."

Purrcy rolled to sit up, waiting until David was looking at her to shake her head without taking her eyes off of his. Quite seriously she said, "David, your dad did think that way about your mom. He didn't love his career more or less than her. He was equally committed to both. That's why I can't quite believe he's actually retired. What's different this time is that by order I'm going with him instead of staying home. Any other time I'd be staying home, too.

"You saw him watching over me. I didn't see it. I can't say one way or the other how I compare to his career, but I'm not ever going to say that I come first. I know he's committed to his career, and to his men. I always want to support him in that. I also know how committed he is to me, because I watched how committed he was to your mother."

Purrcy waited until David was looking at her again. Quietly she said, "Because I know that, I hope you can understand that I would never have agreed to marry him if I couldn't make that same commitment to him in return."

David stared at Purrcy for a long while until he gave a very adult nod and turned away to look into the fire again. After a bit, he said, "I appreciate that you don't talk to me like I'm just a child."

Purrcy leaned back on her hands to look up at the stars again, and the dancing sparks that joined them briefly before snuffing out. "You're already past the age to have been with us on Theldesia. You're perfectly capable of being talked to like you have a brain and intelligence. Respect is useful regardless of anyone's age."

"Dad believes that, too," David commented. Purrcy nodded, already knowing Michael was like that.

It did make her think of something, though. She smiled. "It really helps me that he does. He's awfully patient with me when I turn seven or twelve, and scolds me back out of it if that's what I need. I think that's why he doesn't mind that I'm older than him. He knows emotionally sometimes I have a long way to go." David chuckled at her.

And then she thought of something else related, her mind jumping from thing to thing as it did when there was just quiet and the night around her. "I'll bet Michael was really glad you weren't on at the time of the catastrophe. He would have completely freaked out being worried you were on the other side of the planet from him."

David quietly said, "He was. I was supposed to be on, to join them. Mom wanted breakfast out yet again that morning, so I was late. I was so mad to have missed the chance to log in with him and the squad. When I did get to log in, I couldn't find him in my friend list, nor any of the squad. I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't be on since I knew they were going to be."

Purrcy was staring at David in amazement. She moved to sit next to him and wrap an arm around his back. "I'm sure it must have been hard to be disappointed."

David shook his head and looked her in the eye. "I called him, knowing he was supposed to be on land and leave. Even while playing he always answers if I call. He didn't answer at all, not then and not later when the stories started going around that people who had been playing for the release were being found unconscious all over the world.

"Mom wouldn't believe me when I said it had happened to him. She didn't care, or want to know. When the movie came out, I pestered her enough she finally caved. Dad came home from a short assignment on the day we were supposed to go see it. He let us go, but refused to go himself. The first time the you in the movie called him Michael, I knew it had to be him.

"When they showed him in the prison with the men, and how he looked at them, I was sure. When they took over the top of the Shopping District 8 shop, that clinched it. The whole squadron had been taken." David shivered a little and he looked back at the fire again. Purrcy held him a little more tightly.

"That was so hard to see, that I'd been right, and Dad had been stuck in the game. I'd worried before, but with a vague sort of worry. When the truth of it hit me that hard in the theater, I almost didn't make it." Purrcy squeezed his shoulder.

David paused, then said softly, "I wish Mom would have held me like you are now, then. I really needed it. She still couldn't believe it, even though it was in front of her eyes. She argued with me the whole way home. Until Dad admitted it to us, she couldn't see it. And then she decided that made him insane, that it was too fantastical to be true, regardless."

David was trying hard to not cry now. "Sometimes when I'm really angry with her, I think she just used that as more of an excuse to leave him. I know he needed us - her - even more then, to recover from everything he'd had to live through. He'd been so quiet since he'd gotten home. I could tell he was struggling with something.

"I thought about it a lot that night, after watching the movie. If he'd really been gone that many years to him, he would have been wanting to be with us a lot, for sure.

"I think I would have been afraid all the time of being stolen away suddenly again, and wanting the people I cared about the most to stay close to me so we wouldn't be separated again." His tears dripped and he wiped his face on his sleeve. "I was so mad at her for breaking him again, right when he needed us most."

David looked up at Purrcy, a rather miserably sad look on his face. "When I saw him looking at you in the hospital, he was so desperate." Slowly he looked back into the fire. "I've been wondering since then, why? Why was he so desperate for you?" He went silent.

There were footsteps behind them that silenced as a person crouched down behind them and a hand landed on David's shoulder. "Because I needed any anchor, and Purrcy most of all," Michael said quietly.

"Her willingness to commit without wavering was what I knew I needed to be able to heal. Even just having the reminder that there was one other person in the world capable of keeping their promises regardless of anything that was thrown at them kept me on my feet, even if in the end she didn't wake up, or couldn't be mine." Michael wrapped his arms around them both.

"I'm so grateful Purrcy did wake up, and that she gave in and agreed to walk with me. I've been able to believe in myself again, little by little." He went a little wry, "I'm still afraid of losing her or anyone, but that will likely take longer to recover from. One thing at a time's good enough, and the military's been kind enough to not take her away from me just yet."

David looked back at both of them suspiciously. "So...why?"

Purrcy smiled. "Because of the movie. They know what I was, so they know what I'm capable of. They trust that I'm not going to freak out, get in the way, or spill the important bits I shouldn't." She grinned just a little. "They just don't trust me to not blow them up. A little healthy fear is good, don't you think?"

David gave a little laugh. "Don't tell them you can't do magic here, then, if that's what you think."

Michael and Purrcy both chuckled back at him. "I won't, then," Purrcy said with a smile and a wink.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning was Purrcy making good on her promise: homemade pancakes over the fire, with the rest of the honey from lunch with her kids on top, instead of syrup. It meant they didn't have to have paper plates, though, so the paper towels were still good enough. They finished off the milk, everyone only getting a small amount and a few choosing water instead. No one talked about where the camping gear and cooking utensils came from.

They let David pick the activities for the full day they had together and all got worn out. It wasn't until nearly the end of their time together that David finally asked about how the court visit had gone.

"Not much changed," Michael answered. "We had to update the financial information - income and expenses on our side - which made them all sympathetic and decrease my child support by twenty-five cents." David rolled his eyes.

"I finally have a real address in Japan, so I gave that to them, and we added Purrcy as a point of contact who's allowed to talk to you." David nodded, wanting at least that much.

"I also asked for special permission to be able to take you out of the country, since I'll be living in Japan pretty exclusively now. That was touch and go for a bit." David was indeed looking worried about that. Michael and Purrcy both nodded, understanding.

"It helped that Purrcy had already scolded your mother on that very topic. She gave the approval, as long as I have her approval first. We have to register the dates with the court so they can keep tabs on whether you're properly out of the country or not, but we weren't surprised to have that level of micromanagement."

David sighed in some relief. "I'm glad to know I can come visit ...even if I don't much."

"Yeah," Purrcy agreed. "We'll be glad to have one of ours be able to come enjoy Japan with us."

David looked at Purrcy a little confused, then went sober. "They won't let yours go."

Purrcy shook her head. "I get minor rights, as if I were an aunt or family friend, but no parental ones."

David swore for her sake. "Your kids can't be liking that."

"Not really, but none of them are really old enough to be leaving the country anyway, and it's more than they had before I woke up. We'll revisit court stuff again when we need to. It isn't worth making everyone overly upset right at the moment."

David nodded soberly at that, too. "Yeah, having to be pulled two directions when in the middle isn't fun. If they know you love them, and want to talk to them, that's enough until things need to change again."

"Says the voice of wisdom from experience," Purrcy smiled at him. "Thanks." He gave her a nod.

When they dropped David off at his mother's house, he spontaneously gave Purrcy a hug. "It was great to spend some time with you to get to know you a little better," he said.

"I greatly appreciated the opportunity. Thanks for the fun and good memories," Purrcy replied.

She waited patiently while Michael got his hug and said his goodbyes, then they were on the road again, quite sure more pictures had been taken of all of them since the reporters most certainly staked out that house.

They parked the rental car (which really had used up the last of their available cash) at the base and went in for their next orders, requiring an immediate cash bonus (so they could pay for things again). Then they were gone. There were more places to clean up before their work was done.