Franziska abruptly pulled away. She noticed that Phoenix looked a little surprised, but she only registered the sight in her mind. Her emotions were all over the place. She stood still, still not quite comprehending what had happened. Or rather, what she had done.
She stood there, blank-faced. Say something, she thought to herself. Do something. Anything. But she could not will herself to action. She registered Phoenix moving almost imperceptibly closer, and his fingers starting to close on her own. She gulped, but did not do anything to encourage or discourage him.
Phoenix looked as awkward as she imagined herself to. He was starting to sweat, his eyes looked blank, and his mouth quivered. Finally he moved closer and, almost too quickly, put his lips on hers. As he did this, she felt his other hand take her own other, and he caressed it too.
It did not last long, and did not quite conjure the same sort of feeling, or of energy, she could not decide which, as the previous kiss. She felt him pull away, but she found herself still holding his hands. He blushed and released his grip on her left hand, but she held him fast as he tried to tug out of her right.
She hesitated, but made a ninety-degree turn and began to walk straight towards the two adjacent bedrooms. Phoenix dumbly let her pull him behind her, the words not coming to his brain, let alone his mouth. Franziska pushed open the door to her own room, and Phoenix found himself pulled through.
A little more maneuvering, and Franziska was sitting on her bed, looking up at Phoenix. He gulped. This was the first time that either of them had been in the others' private quarters. He tried his best to clear his throat "Do you want me to go?"
Franziska did not know all the words she could use in this situation. But there was only the one, really.
"No."
They two managed to move in tandem. Franziska moved back as Phoenix went forward. She lay flat on her back, looking up at the ceiling, as he sat beside her and kept hold of her hand, appreciating that she did not mind the sweat of his own.
It was not easy for Mia to get up. Her limbs were like jelly, her torso and head like bricks. But she forced herself up. Maya helpfully moved around and put an arm around her shoulders. "Long time, no see, huh Sis?"
Mia smiled and chuckled. She wanted to hold her back, but did not have the strength to move anything but her neck. She looked up at the older woman. "And...I don't have the words for meeting you again, Mother."
"Oh? It's really Mom?" May looked from Mia's face to Misty's and back. "It's been, like fifteen years, right? Whoa!" The girl paused, and everything in the room went silent.
"Wait...what were we talking about again?"
Misty cleared her throat. "You were getting angry at me."
"Oh, yeah." Maya scowled abruptly. "Now that I know you really are Mom, what the heck, Mom? Leaving all those years ago out of the blue and just waltzing in like this? Who do you think you are? I-"
"Maya, Maya." Mia spoke up. "We don't need to…."
"No, no. It's alright, Mia." Misty sighed. "It's alright." It was clear that she had envisioned the scene playing out for some time. "You know why I left, right?"
"Who cares about shame?" Maya snapped. "Who cares about face?"
"I did." Misty winced. "I don't want you to think I am justifying myself. But after the news hit about the channeling in DL6, it was not just me who was all the talk in the neighborhood. It was our clan, and our line. I thought I could drag it all behind me on my way out."
Maya shook her head. "It doesn't...make it any easier, Mom. Even with DL6 closed for good…"
"What?" Mia choked out. She watched the two other women turn their attention back to her. Maya let herself brighten a little. "Oh yeah, we finished that case and caught the real killer."
Mia blinked. "The case with the channeling."
"Yep."
"How was it solved?"
"I channeled someone."
Mia blinked.
Maya scratched the back of her head. "Well, actually it was Ni-I mean, Phoenix, who did most of the heavy lifting."
"I…"
"Look." Misty smiled more easily. "We can catch up later. For now, let's just come together as a family after so long." She looked at Maya, who folded her arms, pouted, and finally sighed.
"'Kay.."
The Daffodil Killer closed the door behind her. This particular safehouse was not too bad, all things considered. It was a single-story house in the suburbs. Neither in the city nor too far from it. She took a deep breath, went to the far side of the foyer, and took a seat in the wooden chair. She reached into her right jean pocket and pulled out her driver's license.
Goodbye, Kimberly Iller. Hello, Bonnie Canne.
She put away the license and pulled out a mirror from her opposite pocket. She checked herself in the mirror. The wig she wore now was long, red, and made from genuine hair. Worth every cent. She had some work done on her face, too, giving herself makeup a shade paler than her natural skin color. Her cleft lip was nothing to worry about either; she had made sure to wipe off the black paint that formed the false gap as soon as she had escaped from the courthouse.
She wanted nothing more than to pour through the records and get her payback for this rather egregious inconvenience. But the professional in her knew that that was not the way to go. She had already started to settle into her pre-planned backup identity. She would lay low for a time and resume her assignments. Yes. Yes.
Then, as she tipped back into the chair, her eyes lay upon something at the far side of the room. The aged telephone set sat on its stand, a light blinking green. A message. She got up and went over to it, clicking a few buttons. The record started to play.
"Good afternoon. I am sorry to hear about what has happened. If it is not too much trouble, I still need you to break down the last few boxes. Thank you. Goodbye."
Break down the last few boxes. Of course. Her client was still in need of her services. She picked up the phone. But that would not be possible now, not with the police still conducting their search. A couple of weeks would be enough for the heat to die down a bit, surely, even for one such as her.
-A multi-chapter story; Chapter 29; story idea by CRed1988 and writing by Jerviss.