Phil led her through the main large mahogany double doors. Her hand tightened in his when she saw Ken past Phil's broad shoulder, seated at the desk that started this whole debacle. He gave her a reassuring squeeze back. It helped until her eyes were drawn to the movement of Seal standing and stepping towards them from one of the easy chairs in the back corner. Fortunately, Phil's brother's warm greeting eased her further.

"Hey, Zia. Nice to see you." He crossed to move closer to them. "My brother's been keeping you all to himself." He looked down at her arms, the bruises were moving to more of a yellow discoloration. "Sorry 'bout those. You doing ok?" he asked with genuine concern.

"Umm, yeah, thanks," she answered. In her anxiety at seeing the first two men, she had missed the two other people in the room. Owen stood from the chair opposite the one Seal had just vacated, and Miranda moved from the window seat opposite the desk, to take a seat at the short end of the desk at her husband's left. Two other chairs had been set on the opposite side of the desk from Ken.

The Commander spoke. "Zia, Phil, please," he gestured to the waiting chairs, "come sit. Owen, I'd love it if you wait for us to finish here. I have a bottle of Michter's waiting that I promised to split with Seal and of course Phil, would love to have you join us."

"For that, I will definitely wait," Owen answered with a warm smile.

"I can take him down to the supplies rooms and show him some of the new tech we just got in," Seal offered. Ken nodded his head in agreement and the two men left. Owen gave her a nod of encouragement and a smile as he passed her.

Phil led her to the waiting chairs, giving her a little tug to the one on the left and then dropping her hand to sit in the other, closest to Miranda. Zia sat on her hands, trying to keep herself calm and perched on the edge of the chair.

Ken folded his hands, fingers together, elbows on the surface of the desk and started the conversation. "Zia, first, I want to apologize for what happened to you the past few days. You have been a valuable member of this operation the past several years and the events that transpired where not what Miranda, nor I, had intended for you." Zia's eyes flashed but she remained silent. Ken continued. "We did intend for you to be eventually brought into the inner circle of the compound." Ken wanted to use the term family because for him that's what this was, but he knew that any trust with Zia was tenuous at best, and a more intimate term might set off that fire that was clearly still in her eyes. The same fire he had seen the day he had first met her and knew that he wanted to cultivate.

Ken also didn't see much point in pussy footing around anything with her. She was too smart. No, shooting from the hip was definitely the right tactic when dealing with Zia.

"I…"

"We," Miranda corrected him, already knowing what her husband was going to say. A partnership as close as theirs tended to allow them to know each other's thoughts and actions before they even happened.

"We," he continued, "have been keeping you in mind for a while, in case we had a new man showed up without a girl. You are an excellent catch my dear."

Zia scoffed, slightly, but still.

"You are my dear," Miranda pressed, "and if you haven't been able to see that yourself, everyone around here will get you to see it too. There is no need for modesty."

"We knew that we'd be getting Phil eventually," Ken continued. "When we found out there was no girl in the picture for him, the pieces fell together."

"We've known each other for three days," Zia finally commented.

"Yes," confirmed Miranda, "and do either one of you want to try and lie to us about how those three days have been going?" She looked from one to the other. No one opened their mouths to contradict her. "Neither Ken nor I have much modesty left in our bones. Trust me, we've outdone ourselves this time."

Zia stole a glance up at Phil, and really hoped her blush wasn't as noticeable as she figured it was.

"So, Zia," Ken asked, taking the conversation back. "Do I have your acceptance?"

Zia let out a breath and looked at her boss? captor? both? She somewhat surprised even herself when the word left her lips, "Yes."

"Good. Give me your wrist. Left."

Again, somewhat feeling like she was moving not on her own accord, Zia lay her left wrist, palm up, on the top of the desk. Ken opened the right-hand desk drawer, pulling out two bracelets. He set the larger one down and took Zia's hand in his. He wrapped the bracelet around her wrist and secured the locking mechanism. He gave her palm a smooth rub with his thumb, that was a definite gesture of affection, and released her hand. Zia pulled her hand back to her lap and looked down at the bracelet. It was silver with black trim, complete with a blue caduceus with snake next to a blue raptor. She lifted her eyes to first Ken and then Miranda. "It's beautiful!"

"Phil, you too," Ken directed. Phil presented his wrist and Ken locked the larger bracelet on to him. It was plain, simple, but with the matching silver tone.

"Platinum," Miranda supplied, "Nothing but the best for our new favorite couple."

Zia let out a little gasp, looking back at her bracelet and then at Phil's. They had to have cost a small fortune, never mind the enclosed tech.

"Satellite trackers," Ken continued, explaining. "Everyone in the inner circle, including retirees like Owen and Claire, and kids, have them. They're there for your own protection. We can find you anywhere in the word with those. We'll also get an immediate alert if anything happens to them, including removal."

"So, as you previously stated," Miranda took back over, "you have only known each other for three days and we know you need more time to, ahem, get acquainted with each other. Phil, the room upstairs is being left open for you for your use, for now. Zia, you'll be in Owen and Claire's old rooms in the carriage house. When, you are both ready, it will become your home together."

Phil and Zia looked at each other. If they could hear each other's thoughts, they would have realized that they were already on the same page. It was something along the lines of: three days, it's been three days and they're already planning on us moving in together? Really? The crazier part to that is I just want that now. So, am I the crazy one?

Miranda continued speaking. "Zia normally I move on to a whole conversation with the girls about budgeting and spending and financial operations around here, and what you can and can't do for work. But considering that you already work on the grounds, and your tastes are far from expensive, I feel that most of that conversation is moot. I think I will actually need to encourage you to spend some money. So let's just say that you don't have to worry about anything right now other than continuing your work with the raptors and getting to know Phil and the rest of the team better. We will finish paying your student loans. We likely won't pay them outright in order to get the tax incentives, but they are no longer your concern."

Zia's mouth fell open. When she recovered, she stated, "So, let me get this straight. I have to keep doing the job that I love, move into a gorgeous house, get to screw a hunk of a man, and I no longer have to worry about literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt?"

Ken looked at her, "Yup."

"Is someone punking me?"

Miranda outright laughed. "Look, its not perfect. You are agreeing to Ken and I basically being in charge of your life, but if it's a life you're content in choosing that's not a bad trade. Security is paramount around here," she looked at Phil too when she said it, "but Phil, we feel that you already know that. All outside communications are monitored and you have to agree to keeping details of operations concealed. Fortunately, we know you are both loners so that also is easier."

"Can I still go to say, vet conferences, and see my dad?" she asked.

"In controlled circumstances and with prior approval, yes," Ken answered. "You are giving up some freedoms here, Zia. We want you to understand that. But we feel that you will be happy or we wouldn't have brought you into this."

"Ok," she agreed, trying to wrap her head around everything as best as she could.

"So, Zia," Ken addressed her. "I've been wanting to ask you, what were you doing here when you came into the library the other day? You were never specifically told to not come to the house, but its not like you make regular appearances around here."

"Well, normally, I would have asked Barry to ask you, but you know he's away."

"Speaking of which, you know that he knows nothing of this, and we need to keep it that way for the sake of his family and his safety," Ken directed sternly.

"Yes, I'm aware. Owen already told me as such, and I'm fine with that. Barry and his family are very happy with their lives here. I wouldn't want to jeopardize that."

"Good," Ken confirmed. "Go on."

"So, anyway, I was up doing the evening check on the raptors and I was working on leaving when I started to watch Teddy."

"The tortoise?" Ken asked, to confirm. Several years ago, Zia had had the idea to get Blue a tortoise for company. Blue hadn't killed it and they had become close companions. The two new raptors, Foxtrot and Golf, had grown up with it. Teddy was now quite large and a well-established figure at the paddock.

"Yes," Zia continued. "I have been thinking about this for a while, but when Foxtrot and Golf are away," she stopped, "I assume at some point, you'll fill me in more on that?"

"At some point," Ken answered her.

"Ok, well, Blue and Teddy still have each other, but Teddy might get lonely being the only tortoise."

Ken let out a boisterous laugh, realizing where she was going with this and what had thrown a major monkey wrench into his plans. "This," he gestured to the room in general, and continued to laugh, "this is all about a fucking turtle?"

"Tortoise," Zia corrected.

"Done," Ken answered sharply, trying to still his guffaw.

"What do you mean, done?"

"I'll get you another tortoise. That's what you want, right?"

"Umm, yeah, a female."

"Fine, but you're responsible for figuring out what to do with any babies. Two tortoises only."

"Deal."

"So, my dear, what else do you need?"

"Honestly, just my cat and my chameleon. I had fed them both right before I went to the paddock, and they both had plenty of food and water when I left, but at this point, they're likely both out and I'm worried about them."

Phil spoke up, "Honey, why didn't you say something before now?"

"Honestly, I knew they'd be ok, well, until about today, and I didn't know if they'd be used against me."

"They're fine, my dear," Miranda interjected. "Your pet sitter was contacted the first morning."

"What? How?"

"Dear, we know you, and we know you well. It's kind of our business."

"Scary," she paused, "and thank you."

"By the way, the pet sitter and the paddock staff have been told that you had an abrupt case of food poisoning and got sick enough to require fluids and hospitalization, so you'll need to keep up that ruse," Ken instructed.

"Ok," she consented. "What about my pets moving forwards?"

"Well, Ken and I talked about it. In the past we haven't had any pets at the compound…"

Zia opened her mouth to protest. Miranda held up her index finger, stopping her, "however, we know that asking a vet to not have any pets wouldn't be acceptable." Zia let out a breath of relief.

Ken continued for his wife, "So, we will make arrangements for your lizard to be kept in the office at the paddock. On your off days, the staff can add helping with care for one little lizard to their responsibilities. Hell, they care for raptors. You will be allowed to keep the cat in your rooms. Miranda has already asked the maintenance guys to work on adding a little enclosed outdoor cat space for it. You know for what, enrichment?"

Zia couldn't stop herself. That did it. She leapt out of her seat to hug first Miranda and then Ken. Miranda was a little taken aback but returned her embrace. "You're welcome, dear." Ken held onto her a bit longer. He didn't want to openly admit it, but he was glad to be back in the Doc's good graces. He had really grown to care for her.

"A few of the wives, and a couple of the men, have mentioned about wanting the odd dog, cat, bird, or bunny over the years. If we have a resident vet, we'll consider allowing a few. Would that be ok with you?"

Zia nodded. "As long as they can be transferred to full care vet facilities if any of them get really sick. But yes, I can be primary care."

Ken and Miranda nodded their agreement after glancing at each other.

"So, dear, I'm sure you're tired and so aren't we. I'll walk you over to the carriage house and the boys can have their celebratory drink, ok?"

"Ok," she answered. Getting a good night sleep without being shackled to a bed was suddenly sounding really good.

"I'll send Seal's wife Shelly, and Zack, who you've met, with his husband Randy, tomorrow to help you collect your pets and anything else you need. I'd encourage you to only take things that are really important to you. You're moving on to a new phase of life here. We'll then hire someone to close up your apartment and any remaining affairs."