"Are you going to tell me who Anna and Shelby are yet?"

They were sitting in Cole's kitchen finishing breakfast. He was surprised she'd lasted this long. He kept expecting her to ask last night or first thing this morning. He had to smile. He kind of liked that their coupling took priority over her preventer curiosity.

"They'll be meeting with Une tomorrow. You can't wait until then?" he teased

"Don't make me hurt you. I'm not above torturing you, and thanks to last night I know all your weak spots."

"If your torture methods involve anything from last night, I'm not telling you anything."

She arched a brow at him "Seriously, what's their big secret?" spreading jam on her last piece of toast.

He regarded her closely remembering what Anna told him do what is right when it feels right. It felt right to tell Cole.

"They are brain augments; although they prefer the term psionic."

The piece of toast that was halfway up to her mouth paused. "Excuse me? I thought you just called them brain augments."

"I did." He responded flatly.

"But… but… but that's impossible. That's illegal… that's." she was floundering.

"That's the truth."

She sprang up from the table her face showing fear anger, and hurt. "Jesus Wufei! You should have had them in custody the moment you found out." she walked over to her vid phone. "Shit! How could you do this?" she started to dial preventer headquarters when Wufei stopped her.

"Let me go! You can't let something like that walk around free! It's a danger to the public!" he had a firm grip of her wrists and she was thrashing wildly to get free. He kept his guard up just in case she tried to use her hand to hand training on him.

"Will you stop squirming and listen to me! You've met them yourself! Did they seem particularly hostile to you?! You've got to get over your learned prejudice and see them for who they really are!" The reasoning he was yelling seemed to break through and she quieted. "Just listen to me for a minute. They have been like this for years and they haven't hurt anybody yet."

"If they're so safe, why are they hiding?" she asked suspiciously.

"If you'd just seen yourself a second ago you would know." He was watching her closely. He could practically see her mind working. "Perhaps I should have let them tell you themselves."

"Then let's go see them." She said and walked towards the door. "You can fill me in on what you know on the way."

He was trying not to be suspicious of his lover, but something in her tone gave him a chill.

**************

By the time they arrived at the Peacecraft estate, the chill feeling hadn't left him. He told her all he knew about their recruitment, imprisonment, and how they helped him and the others during the war. Occasionally she would interrupt him with a question, but for the most part she remained silent. He wished he could have felt good about that.

The butler told them at the door that everyone was having Sunday brunch on the patio. Wufei watched as Cole marched ahead of him looking like she was going in to kick some ass. This is not going to be good he thought to himself.

They reached the back of the house. Sitting at the table and chairs were Zechs and Noin with their daughter Mila, Duo, Shelby, Quatre, Trowa, Relena and Heero.  

Cole marched straight up to Shelby "Do you know the kind of trouble you've put him in? Does someone like you even care about things like that?"

Wufei couldn't think of anything to say or do to stop the scene that was unfolding. It was like watching a train wreck. He couldn't stop it, and he couldn't stop watching it.

Shelby gave Cole an amused look. "Well it's a pleasure to see you again as well."

"Cut the charming bullshit! How dare you use him like this!"  

"First, you'd better mind that temper of yours. There is a child present. Second, if I was going to use somebody, there are a lot better people to use than Wufei. No offense" she said leaning over to look at him. He could still see amusement dancing in her eyes. "Last, yes I do care about what happens to him. I consider him a friend of mine even if he does not see me the same way." Shelby's features and tone hardened for a moment "It because he is a friend that I don't adjust that attitude of yours."  Then she broke into smiles again. "Now then please sit. What would you like to know?"

"Everything"

Around the table was a wide variety of expressions. Noin and Zechs' puzzlement tinged with curiosity. Their daughter sat there fascinated at watching adults argue. Heero and Trowa looked ready to step in and stop any unpleasantness. Relena and Quatre shared twin faces of concern. Only Duo seemed calm. It was then that Wufei registered Anna's absence.

"Quatre, where's Anna shouldn't she be here?" he asked

"She didn't want to wake up, so I left her in bed." The blond man answered.

"Would someone please tell us what is going on?" Asked an irritated Noin. She didn't like her daughter exposed to such behavior.

Shelby's pleasant smile faltered a little and sadness came into her eyes. For the first time since meeting her, Wufei felt he understood her with perfect clarity. On one side of the coin she could live her life imprisoned by her fear and secrecy. On the other she could be imprisoned by the truth. Somehow there had to be a third option.

Wufei watched as Duo walked behind the frightened woman and draped his arms around her for comfort. "Its okay baby I'm here."

She gave her mate a quick smile. "Well this little party just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Alright for those of you who are new I'm what you would call a brain augment."

Zechs sprang up and stood between his family and Shelby. "Heero! What do you mean by bringing something like this into your house?!"

Noin came over and placed a calm hand on her husband. "Zechs, your being rude. She hasn't attacked us once since we've been here and if you take a look around, no one else here thinks she's a threat."

"I wouldn't say that." Cole said in a low voice. Wufei noticed that Cole's demeanor was a little less hostile. Perhaps what Noin was saying was sinking in.

At that point 7 year old Mila gave her mother a nudge and asked "Mommy what's a brainaugment mean?"

Shelby leaned forward to the child and answered her directly but pitched her voice loud enough for all to hear. "It means when I was just a little older than you something happened to me that gave me super powers." To demonstrate, Shelby lifted herself into the air.

"COOL! Can I have super powers?"

"No sunshine, you can't." Shelby gave the child a very serious, very sad face to ensure she understood. "What happened to me hurt a lot, and I wish every day that it never happened."

"But you can fly!" Mila seemed determined to believe super powers were still 'cool'.

"Does flying seem so great when everyone hates you?"  

"Why does everyone hate you?"

"Because a long time ago what happened to me happened to a bunch of other people and they did horrible things with their powers. They were like monsters."

"But you can have good monsters. I saw a movie once where the monsters were the good guys."

Wufei had to appreciate the child's directness. Her naiveté made her completely free of social restrictions. His thoughts were interrupted when he spotted Anna walking across the lawn in the other direction. Since he was still standing off to the side, he saw her before the others. Then he realized she was still wearing a nightgown.

"Shelby is there something wrong Anna? Because she's walking in the wrong direction."  He was still watching her and she was giving no indication she was even aware of them.

Shelby looked up at him. "She's what?" and she turned her head in the direction he was looking. Everyone else had done the same so no one saw all the color drain out of her face. "That's NOT Anna." She whispered in a low intense voice. The others turned back to her and some recoiled at the overwhelming look of horror on her face. She looked directly at Noin and Zechs "Get Mila out of here! Now!"

They didn't need to be told twice. They grabbed their daughter and ran back into the house. Quatre tried to go to his fiancée, but Duo stopped him. Since telepathy was faster than speech Shelby switched to it. Heero, Wufei, I need a stun weapon. Wufei was still wearing his tux from last night. His weapon wouldn't have passed security he'd had to leave his back at his room. Judging by the look on Heero's face his weapon was also lying useless in the house. Cole stepped forward with a flick of her wrist she extended a retractable baton. The baton was equipped with a stunner on the tip.  

You're with me then Shelby broadcast what she was sensing to their minds. Wufei could tell that it was Anna walking but there were two foreign minds with her. Two new brain augments. One was suppressing her mind keeping it trapped in the sub-consciousness of sleep. The other was operating her like a marionette. They were attempting to walk her out without attracting attention. Wufei could sense that Shelby believed Anna was fighting making it more difficult for them to hold her. It was probably through that bit of fortune that the abductors were unaware they'd been discovered. Wufei could also tell the source of the minds was in a building less than a kilometer away.

The psionic woman gave a quick flash of her plan. She was going to hold Anna while Cole stunned her. Hopefully the electrical shock would interfere with the augment that was suppressing Anna's mind and free her. Mixed in with her plan was a storm of emotions the most dominant was fear. She was terrified. Nearly immobile from it. How anyone could even think when they were that afraid was a wonder to Wufei. Before anyone could come up with a better plan both women were in the air flying towards the unsuspecting target.

Cole was dropped onto the grass a few meters from her target. Shelby landed a little closer. The only outward sign she gave that showed she was doing anything was the grimace on her face. Teeth bared she screamed "NOW!"

Cole lunged forward and stunned Anna. Two things happened at once. The brunette woman's body arched back, twitched, and she let out a piercing scream. Wufei was vaguely aware of Quatre struggling against Duo and Trowa to get to her. Wufei attention was on the other woman. His woman.

Some unseen force struck Cole a moment after she stunned Anna. She was launched high and far into the air. Wufei's breath froze in his lungs while he watched her fly through the air like she'd been shot from a cannon.

"NO!" he was yelling. As fast as his legs were carrying him, he couldn't stop her from hitting the side of the house and falling to the stone patio below in a crumpled heap. He sprinted the remaining distance between them. Only his deeply ingrained first aid training kept him grabbing her tightly and pulling her to him.

"No Cole please! You can't do this to me! I can't do this again!" his panic was overtaking him. He couldn't watch another woman who was important to him die. With hands too shaky to be of use he tried to find her pulse at her throat. He was on the verge of full blown hysteria when she groaned and moved.

"Ohh owww." She moaned. She tried to shift her position from the heap she'd landed in. "OW! Shit that hurts."

"Cole sweetheart I'm here. Try not to move you could be badly injured." He said striving for the closest thing to calm he could get at this moment. She opened her eyes and tried her best to focus on him.

"Wufei? What happened? Ow I feel like I've been beat from head to toe."

His heart was beating so fast it was liable to burst from his chest. "You scared the shit out of me! That's what happened." His voice was strained and filled with anger and fear. "You stunned Anna remember? And you almost got yourself killed doing it." It was only then that he remembered the group of people behind him. Doing a quick survey of the tableau behind him he was able to guess their rescue of Anna had been a success. Quatre and Duo were sitting on the grass holding their respective loves trying to calm them. Heero was walking in his direction.  

"How is she?" Asked Heero

"She's hurt." He answered curtly "she should see a doctor." He responded

"Relena's calling right now."

Wufei laid his hand on Cole's cheek. "Cole sweetheart, will you be alright if I leave you alone with Heero for a moment? I've got to ask Shelby something." He didn't wait for his answer. He just kissed her forehead, stood up and walked over to the two psionic women. The rage that had been simmering when he first saw his lover thrown into the air exploded into full boil. He stalked over to the red haired woman who was breathing like she'd just run a marathon. Duo must have seen some thing in his expression because he sprang up and kept Wufei from touching her.

"Why didn't you catch her?! It was within your power! Why didn't you catch her?!" he roared at the woman.

"Back off Wufei! She's been through enough!"  Yelled Duo right back. They were literally nose to nose screaming in each other's faces.

"I don't give a shit what she's been through. Cole could have died thanks to her!"

"She couldn't catch her! She was being attacked herself!"

"I'm sorry Wufei," Shelby seemed to have caught her breath, but she looked dead tired. "But Duo's right. They were trying to overpower me with numbers. I managed to knock out the weaker mind so the other one fled. I knocked out a third party that was there as well. You could send someone over and take him in for questioning."

"Oh good" came a familiar voice from behind him. "Somebody's got to pay for making me feel like this."

Wufei turned around. Sure enough, there was Cole standing with the aid of Heero favoring one leg and one arm. Scraped and bruised everywhere glaring with that I've-got-to-kick-some-ass look in her eye.

She looked magnificent.