On the fourth day of Christmas, my very apologetic true love gave to me...

Lucy woke up with a jolt. Her eyes immediately affixed Kaleb's as soon as she recognized his bedroom at the Pradesh Manor.

"What happened?"

"Mind control."

"Is she dead?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Lucy started to relax back into the bed before jolting up again. "Does he know?"

Kaleb smiled. "No. Everyone kept it a secret. Mostly out of fear, I think."

"I'll take it." She didn't care that Kaleb had put her in pajamas and that was what she ran to find Arman in. The patriarch looked bemused at her excitement to find him when she skidded into his office.

"You're looking better," he said, glancing at the amused expression on Kaleb's face when he followed her into the office.

"I hope that I didn't worry you too much, Grandpa Arman," Lucy said.

"Well, I'd hope that you'd…stop… Did you say 'grandpa'?"

Lucy smiled and nodded. Arman surged from behind his desk and scooped Lucy into a bear hug. He then moved to hug Kaleb.

"Where are you going?" Kaleb asked when Arman started to leave.

"I need to brag. And buy, well, everything."

"Dad, we don't even know the gender yet."

"Good point. Everything needs to be gender neutral currently."

Lucy giggled and leaned into Kaleb.

Let him be. He's excited and it keeps off Meredy's back. She's not ready, Lucy thought. And I'm pretty sure Rhiannon will adopt before she has any of her own.

And Emi?

That's just a matter of time.

Kaleb kissed her temple.

"Which of you are going to tell him about the tower?" Vander asked with a shit eating grin.

"Not it," Lucy said before linking arms with Vander and giving her mate a wink. They'd only made it a few steps before Kaleb came up behind them and picked her up.

"Sorry, but my mate and I need some time alone."

*.*.*

It only took Kaleb a few minutes to get Lucy whimpering for release, but he pulled back. Instead, he moved back up. Once he saw that she'd calmed down, he dove back between her legs again.

When he tried the same stunt again, she flipped him over and hovered above him. That was when she saw his smile and knew the game he was playing.

"Submit," she said.

"For you, always."

She carefully bit the same spot that she had the first time before lowering herself onto him. It wasn't an explosion of magic like it had been the first time. This time, it felt like strings braiding themselves together.

The following morning, he got up with the sun as usual. After confirming that she would sleep for another hour or two with a gentle probe into her mind, he got up. With her gone, his routine had become messed up.

So, while she slept, he went outside to practice flying. Or rather hovering as he found himself unwilling to go further up than his second-floor bedroom where he could see Lucy sleeping. She was tossing and turning a lot more but that didn't raise any red flags. She was generally like that when he got up first.

He felt her scream more than heard it. He landed badly at the front door and scrambled up to the bedroom. Zen had reached her first and was trying to still her as she thrashed.

"Mi Stella," Kaleb cooed as he pulled her to him. She immediately stopped thrashing and calmed down. They had already planned to go home to White Sea but now he was realizing that going would be critical.

Cristoff and Meredy had both gone to the Pelerno branch after dinner. Vander and Rhiannon stayed for dinner as well. Emzadi and Xally had insisted on going with Beck back to White Sea. The Fairy Tail dragon slayers had gone with them, as well as Bickslow and Erik.

Bix, we'll be headed back soon. I need you at the suite.

Lucy woke, not realizing that she'd been in the middle of a nightmare, and Kaleb decided not to say anything yet. That didn't stop her from being particularly touchy-feely through breakfast. Kaleb could hear in her mind that she wasn't entirely aware that she was doing that.

She laughed as Arman pulled out a yellow #1 Grandpa onesie. As well as a confession that he'd also had a few special orders that he was refusing to reveal with a warning glare at Kaleb.

During the short flight back to White Sea, she'd sat curled up in his lap and making commentary on one of his projects that he was working on. On her own tablet, she was cataloguing any recent attacks. While there'd been a few while she was kidnapped, Bellum having been hit hard, she noticed that there'd been none in the last twenty-four hours.

"Hm…"

"What?"

"Seven is the poster child for civil unrest but there's been a lot of skirmishes along their coast," she said, show him the map. "There's even been a few in northern Fiore."

"What are you thinking?"

"If he's going to take on Ishgar, these are where he'd be docking. But Fiore would be easier to traverse because of Seven's mountain range a few miles in from the coast."

"But Seven could be easily passed off as it being Seven. Some of these dates are almost two weeks old," Kaleb pointed out.

"But he'd have to come inland eventually." She chewed the corner of her lip. "He'll do it as one big attack. Disorient us from the get-go. Do you have the stuff Van got?"

"Yeah. I'll send it to you."

"Has anyone had any luck with finding out anything about the Spriggan 12?"

"Other than Rhiannon's ability to sense them when they're in Ishgar, no."

"Hm, that's interesting."

"What?"

"It's a report from the Stellan troops holding the Joyan capital. There was a body a couple of miles outside of the city." She opened the picture and looked at it. "He looks familiar."

"Familiar how?"

"I'm not sure." She showed the picture to Kaleb. "Farron wanted to know if you could run him through a recognition system."

"I don't need to. That's God Serena. One of the four Gods of Ishgar. Farron must not have actually looked at the picture because he'd have recognized him as well."

"He disappeared a year or so ago. Wasn't he Bellish? What could have killed him?"

"He had eight dragon lacrima implanted in him. Could Emery have?"

"I don't know… From what I understand, her ultimate killing ability only works on dragons so maybe he had enough in him for it to work."

"Maybe."

*.*.*

As they headed into the guild, there was a round of applause. Mages came up to them to congratulate them for taking down Sydelle. From a safe distance of the crowds, Bickslow watched Lucy.

Lucy's soul had returned to its bright gold color that was more evenly shot through with the dark blue of her dragon soul as well as bits of white from Kaleb's soul. What was new was the flecks of black. He'd seen it, briefly, when he'd checked on her on the Saberfox but had thought that renewing her mating with Kaleb would heal it. Instead, even as he watched, the light was trying to fight it off like it was a stubborn infection.

"Something's wrong," Erik stated, looking at his mate.

"There's a darkness in her that's resisting Kaleb's magic." Bickslow saw the way his brother's eyes snapped towards him but he could only send his brother a mental shrug.

"Do you think it has to do with what happened when he reached into Minerva's pocket dimension?"

"Maybe," Bickslow commented.

"All I hear is her being annoyed with how many men and women are making passes at Kaleb. They haven't had a chance to replace her ring or bracelet."

Bickslow snickered. "How many are actually making passes at him?"

"Other than a few lascivious thoughts directed at both of them, most of them aren't assuming that they ended their engagement. Though, there's a lot of speculation." Erik glanced at his mate. "What are you doing?"

"Asking Thane if he's already ordered them. I don't want to risk that darkness inspiring something that I can't help her with."

"Or, she could do that," Erik said, chuckling.

Bickslow looked up to see Lucy and his brother in a heated kiss in the middle of the guild. What surprised him the most was that Kaleb seemed like he was about to take Lucy on a table in front of them. Her face was a bit flushed when she set back down but there was a small smirk.

Bickslow started a loud whistle which was soon echoed by others in the room.

"Get a room!" Erik added.

"I like that idea. Let's go." Lucy pulled Kaleb away to a bunch of laughs and cheering.

.~*~.

Like the day before, when Kaleb rose with the sun, Lucy started tossing and turning in her sleep before she started screaming. All without ever waking up. And once she felt Kaleb's presence next to her again, she settled back down.

It made no sense to him because he could hear that she had no recollection of the events. Some part of her subconscious was fighting and he couldn't figure out where. At the same time, nothing in her conscious mind expressed any concerns and he couldn't bring himself to add another worry. It didn't help that Xally was nagging him to keep her away from stress as it wasn't good for the baby.

"Hey," Lucy said, popping into his office. They'd both come downstairs to work in their respective offices.

"Hi. Are you leaving already?"

"Yeah. Levy, Wendy, and Chelia are downstairs with Talia and Aelin."

Arman's bragging about his first grandbaby reached the guild faster than she'd hoped. That led to Talia and Aelin inviting her to go shopping. And, knowing that she'd been neglecting her duties as Mistress, she'd accepted.

The face that Kaleb made when she'd mentioned shopping had made her giggle. Especially when paired with the concerned look at the lack of space they had in their bedroom. Some of her clothes had already begun encroaching on what would be the nursery.

"Is Emi joining you?"

"Probably. I doubt you'd be able to stop her once she heard the word 'shopping.'"

He chuckled as she came over to kiss him. "Probably not. Have fun."

"I will. I don't have my tablet so if anything big happens-"

"I'll call. Don't worry and enjoy some girl time."

He smiled as she left. They'd have to get back to being okay being apart. He was relieved that she'd invited one of her dragons instinctively and didn't complain about his constant presence in her mind like she would have. Even just then, in her office, she'd had Bickslow and Erik with her.

"Do you want me to summon Loke to walk me to them?" she asked. There was a hint of teasing in her voice but also sincerity. As much as she hated separating, she knew that he did as well. Neither of them were willing to pretend at safety anymore.

"I think you'll manage that far."

She giggled and kissed him again.

*.*.*

Lucy was surprised that Carla had decided to join them. The Exceed was being held by Chelia though her general scandalized expression towards Boscan society was there just under the surface. As much grief as the cat had given her over Wendy losing her virginity to Romeo, she was glad that Carla seemed to like Wendy's mate. Despite always encouraging Wendy to embrace her magic, Carla had seemed against the idea of Wendy ever finding a mate. The fact that Chelia had slipped under her ever-attentive gaze made Lucy and Levy cackle.

Maternity shopping, as it turned out, bored Emzadi so she only lasted an hour. No one risked pointing out that she'd need maternity clothes eventually as well though Lucy was certain that she wasn't pregnant yet. Lucy was also grateful that she didn't last long because she saw the glares directed at Carla every time the Exceed made that haughty sniffing noise.

Emzadi did enjoy shopping for her future niece or nephew and Lucy was looking forward to the exasperated look on Kaleb's face as the stuff that his father and sister bought started arriving at the residence. This child was going to be ridiculously spoiled.

The group stopped at a café where one of the waitresses recognized Lucy as the Mistress of White Sea. The sweet café became a bustle of activity as the waitresses fought over serving their table. Lucy dropped her head to the table and groaned.

"Do you wanna try somewhere else?" Wendy asked.

"Short of going outside White Sea, I'm not sure anywhere else wouldn't have this reaction. And I promised Kaleb if I left White Sea, it would be with him."

After a few minutes of them waiting just to get their drinks, the owner arrived, yelled at her servers, and proceeded to take over the table herself. With the exception of the air mages who could drink coffee, the others ordered tea.

Talia was nearing eight months pregnant and had shifted out of the craving phase. Aelin, who was four months pregnant, asked for a ham sandwich with hot sauce and caramel. While the other four mages were ranging from surprise to disgust, the owner didn't bat an eye. The two air mages chose not to eat while Levy got pie.

"Diet's over?" Lucy asked.

Levy lifted her shirt. The bump was small enough that they only really saw it because Levy had pointed it out. "Since this is apparently a baby, I don't see why I should bother with a diet."

"I'm surprised you're showing already. I didn't start showing until I was nearly five months with my first," Talia commented.

"Same. Then all of a sudden there it was."

"I was excited because we'd been trying. To the point that we were about to go see a doctor when I found out I was pregnant. So, when I started showing, it was like proof that there was another human being in my womb."

"I'm looking forward to feeling him kick for the first time."

"Yeah, but trust me, the kidney shots get old really fast," Talia said with a cringe as she pressed a hand to her belly. "Levy, are you all right?"

"Gajeel's huge. This baby is going to be huge. It's gonna break me," she muttered, her face ashen. "What if it's twins? What if they're massive twins?"

"Levy, calm down," Lucy said.

"But-"

"Calm. Down. Nothing is gained working yourself into a tizzy. Wendy and Chelia are both healers. Cris too. They'll make sure that nothing goes wrong. Besides, if you couldn't handle his child, you wouldn't be his mate, right?"

"Yeah. Right." Her voice was still shaky that hint of steel was reappearing in her eyes.

"You know, Master Kaleb is rather large as well," Aelin pointed out with a small smile.

Lucy's expression started echoing Levy's ashen look. For all the times, she liked how large he was, she hadn't really thought about what that would mean for their child. Levy looked amused at the change in her friend.

"Lucy, breathe."

"No. No, I'm good. I just hadn't thought about that."

Talia glanced at her watch. "It's almost two. I need to pick up Ray. We should do this again."

"Yes."

"I'll walk with you," Aelin said, standing as well.

"All right. What's wrong?" Levy asked in a low voice as soon as the other two women had left.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"All day, you've had that look that you get when you're doing other things but the plot in your novel is giving you trouble."

Lucy sighed. "I got a letter from Minerva."

"She really needs to end up dead," Wendy muttered, not really looking at any of them until she felt three surprised looks trained on her. "Sorry. Did I say that out loud?"

"Who's the bad influence?"

"Probably Gajeel. It's pretty much what he's been saying since we found out she's who took you. Or Emi… Not the point though. Why would you even read it?"

"Because I didn't realize that's who sent it until the very end."

"What did it say?"

"The mind control that the Joyans use as the first phase of their brainwashing is essentially hypnosis. That's why she didn't try to make me attack Kaleb. He's my mate and I wouldn't do that.

"They had to get one of the Spriggans to get into Beck's head because his loyalty to the guild and Kaleb was unwavering."

"All of this makes logical sense. What I'm missing is what's got you twisting in knots?" Levy said.

"Beck's in love with Kaleb," Chelia said.

"Love is not always…the…answer," Levy retorted before seeing the expression on Lucy's face. "Really?"

"They're Boscan," Lucy said with a shrug.

"Are you thinking that Kaleb loves Beck?" Wendy asked. "Because-"

"That's not what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that Beck was this huge liability that I feel like I could have protected against. They used that he is in love with my mate to get him to tell them how to break our bond. I know they had to break him until he told them what they needed, but it was still essentially of his own free will. And I'm struggling to get back to the place of forgiveness because I'm pregnant and I could have lost my baby."

Lucy's hands were gesturing and if she'd dared to speak above a hushed whisper, she'd probably have reached unsafe decibels. Tears were welling up in her eyes because she knew it wasn't fair to be so harsh towards Beck. That she had no idea about what kind of torture they'd inflicted to get him to that breaking point. Most of her memories from between Minerva capturing her and trying to claim Natsu were hazy at best but she remembered the torture to get her to relinquish her hold on her mate. She knew that he had felt the intense pain as well.

"Have you thought about just talking to him?" Carla asked.

"Sure. 'You know that your best friend is in love with you and was willing to put our lives in jeopardy for a chance to be with you.' Yeah, that'll go over well."

"I feel like I've missed part of this conversation," a smooth baritone voice said from behind Lucy.

Instead of turning to her mate, she fixed Levy with a scathing glare.

"He was worried," Levy said with her hands up defensively.

"Wendy, Chelia, make sure Levy gets back safely," Lucy said, dropping the jewel for her tea on the table and walked out with Kaleb. Neither said anything until they were back home.

"You should've told me when you read the letter," he said, turning to look at her.

"I know, but I also know that he's your best friend."

"So are you. Not only that, you're my mate. The woman I love." He walked over and cupped her face. "I don't fault you for struggling to forgive him. I knew that he was in love with me and I was being careful not to give him a reason to hold on."

"That guilt," she said softly.

The first time they'd gone to see him after returning to White Sea, both of them could see that the guilt was tearing him apart. He was upset because they'd used his heart to hurt someone he loved.

Kaleb couldn't tell her not to be angry because he was struggling as well. Not only did he remember his own pain and the fear in his brothers' eyes when they couldn't heal him since it was Lucy being hurt, but because he also knew that on some level, she remembered it as well. He remembered Xally's concern that the torture might cause her to lose the baby.

However, he also knew how repentant his friend was. Minda had already been waiting for them when Beck arrived with Emzadi and the others. Beck had cried for a good chunk of the flight as the drugs that Cristoff couldn't heal away worked their way out of his system.

She walked over to him and pressed her face into his chest as her arms wrapped around his waist and cried. That was what had been missing. She hadn't cried. He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom to cuddle her while she cried.

.~*~.

Rhiannon was regretting asking Vander to train her. She had no endurance except in bed. Well, she had her natural dragon endurance which was better than the average person's but training with Emzadi and Laxus proved that she was in worse shape than she thought.

"I take it back. I know a hot water spring that seems like a much better idea than this," Rhiannon said as she fell onto her back in the grass next to the track they'd been running.

"Love," Vander said, his voice too teasing for her comfort, "most of that was in Caelish."

"Bite me."

"When and where?"

"C'mon," Emzadi said, running in place. "We haven't even gotten to the magic training."

"Nope. Fuck this. As soon as I can feel my legs, I'm goin' home." Her accent was coming out rough.

"I promise a massage and I have that spa tub at my house," Vander said. He smirked when she cracked an eye open to glare at him.

"I hate ye."

"No, you don't." He stood then bent to scoop her up. "You can rest until we meet Cris for your magic training."

*.*.*

Cristoff decided to have her training in a clearing. His logic being that she was so untrained that he'd rather avoid as much damage as possible. The clearing was nearly the size of one of the training grounds and showed signs of the other students Cristoff had brought there to minimize damage.

It took them an hour to realize that she struggled to tap into her dragon slayer abilities unless in danger. They managed to coax out a few weak attacks while sparring before calling it a day.

"It's a good thing you're smart," Vander teased lightly then nipped her tongue when she stuck it out at him.

"Face it. I suck."

"No. You've never tried to be fighter. Except you're not always going to be to think your way out of trouble."

"Then maybe we should focus on running. And agility," she mused.

"Okay. I'll call Bix," he said, pulling out his comm.

"Wait!" she yelled, jumping on his back and trying to pry the comm from his hand.

.~*~.

"What are you thinking about?" Laxus asked as Emzadi traced absentminded designs on his bare chest.

Watching him lift in the gym had aroused her enough that she'd pulled him into the first open booth. Neither bothered to redress and just jumped up to their apartment to have another round in the shower.

The first time Emzadi had trained in the gym with Lucy, Lucy had wondered why there were a few privacy booths there as well. It wouldn't be until later, when their training session coincided with Kaleb and Cristoff's, that she'd muttered, 'Now, I get it,' while staring wide-eyed at the two men. At the time, it had surprised Emzadi that she hadn't jumped Kaleb as that was who her attention strayed to the most. Instead, it had been Cristoff that she worked off the arousal with.

"Random stuff," Emzadi replied. "Wondering why I haven't gotten pregnant yet. Lucy is. Levy is. Meredy and Rhia are still taking birth control."

"All hell's breaking loose and you want to get pregnant now?" Laxus asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I know. I know. You're right." She said that, but he could still hear the disappointment in her voice.

Laxus rolled over so that he hovered above her. "Well, there's only one way that's going to happen." He skipped over her lips to start trailing his mouth down her neck.

"Practice is always good," she said as his hand moved between her legs.

.~*~.

Cristoff had blindfolded Meredy before jumping her.

"Where are we?" she asked with a giggle.

"Don't you trust me?"

"With my life. Doesn't mean I don't know there's a mischievous streak in you."

"Fair enough," he acknowledged. "You can pull it off now."

Meredy pulled off the blindfold to look up into her favorite face before he physically turned. She gasped at the view. They were on a cliff above forests that continued into the Grass Sea. In the distance, she could see Cellis, the Acadame Celestine, and the Stargazer Mountains.

"This is one of my favorite views. I know that you've on a landscaping kick."

That was when she noticed that he was holding the leather tote that she usually carried her art supplies in.

"What are you going to do?"

"Sit here with you. Did you know that you scrunch your nose when you have trouble getting something to look right?"

"I do not."

"You do. It's adorable."

He bent down to kiss her. He'd only meant for it to be a chaste kiss until she deepened it.

Yes, she intended to draw the beautiful scenery, but Meredy saw no reason that it shouldn't be postcoital or even as the background of a sketch of her mate.

.~*~.

Kaleb was meeting with a team in his office so Lucy went down to find Bickslow and Erik making out in a corner booth in the game room.

"Get a room."

"The booths are full, and we can't just jump to our apartment," Erik said. "So, go away, Tink." He moaned as Bickslow ground against his erection.

"I'm bored and everyone's busy."

"We're busy."

"C'mon. Play pool with me."

"You're going to continue being a cockblock unless we do, aren't you?" Bickslow asked, finally pulling his mouth away from Erik's neck to the dragon slayer's annoyance.

"Yup. Though," she said, whipping out two pieces of paper, "I'll make it worth your while to keep me entertained for awhile."

Erik snatched them from her hand. "These are VIP tickets for The Alchemist."

"The nightclub?" Bickslow asked, moving Erik's hand. "How did you get these?"

"They were sent to Kaleb but neither of us want to use them." She shrugged. "Besides, the whole gimmick of the place is that they use small dosages of various poisons in their drinks."

"And you just wanna play pool for a while? Sold," Erik said pocketing the tickets.

"Actually, can we run for a bit? I'm feeling a bit restless."

Erik's eyes softened. Not enough for anyone else to notice but enough for Bickslow and Lucy who both teased him about being a softy.

"Screw you both."

"Sorry, but that's entirely a Bixy job." That set Bickslow into one of his tongue-wagging laughs.

.~*~.

"Dad?" Farron said, walking into his father's office.

Arman looked, tried to rub the exhaustion from his eyes, and smiled. "Farron. It's good to have you back." He stood and walked over to hug his son. "I need coffee."

"You need sleep," Farron said as he followed his father into kitchen.

"That too. How's Stella?"

"As good as it's going to get. Better now that Joya is under their control."

"The remaining Warqueens will regain control once the war fully starts."

"Most likely." Farron waved off his father when he made a gesture to ask if he wanted coffee as well. "There's reports about Iceburg and Pergrande concealing Alvarez troops. Naturally, neither are confirming."

"If they are, how much time do you think we have?"

"I don't know. Both Kaleb and Lucy think that Spriggan- Zeref- is planning to do something that will be a big distraction first. I haven't gotten a hold of Van or Rhiannon to see what she's thinking. I have a meeting with generals and a few of the other ambassadors that have pulled out of their countries tomorrow."

"Speaking of Kaleb and Lucy, Lucy's pregnant. See? It's not all bad news."

Farron grinned. "That's amazing. I need to call him and yell at him for not telling me first."

Arman chuckled. "What are your plans for the evening?"

"I just came by to check in. I owe Freed a night of my undivided attention."

"Good idea. You've got a good man there."

"I know." Farron glanced around. "How's Zen?"

The patriarch grimaced. "If it was one of you, I'd have said that he was moping. Otherwise, he's fine."

"Have you thought about calling Lucy?"

"Yeah, but I raised the six of you. Shouldn't I be able to do this on my own?"

"You had Mr. and Mrs. Elan, Grenlow, and Minda helping you."

"Yeah… Good point." Arman sighed. "I'll call her."

.~*~.

Lucy poked her head into Zen's bedroom. He was laying on his stomach reading. The time spent with Andromeda before they rescued him got him fluent in Boscan. Common was spoken amongst the slaves as it was the shared language throughout Ishgar. He'd thrown himself into his studies and was progressing quickly, but it would still take time.

She tiptoed over and jumped onto the opposite side of the bed. The surprise had him rolling out of his bed and making Lucy laugh.

"Was that necessary?"

"Necessary, no. Hilarious, yes."

Zen groaned and rolled his eyes as he climbed back into his bed. "I'm surprised Kaleb isn't here."

"He's on his way. He's gotten some speed and wanted to try racing me. He took a hovership part way but I'm not sure where he stopped and started flying. Gave him an hour's head start though."

"I take it your aim has gotten better."

"Yup. Only about two miles off this time." She gave him a proud smirk.

"Why are you here?"

"Papa Arman says you're being mopey."

"I'm not being mopey."

"You definitely seem mopey."

"What the fuck does 'mopey' even mean?"

Lucy giggle and he found himself smiling at the sound. "Low in spirits. This has something to do with Emery, doesn't it?"

Zen sighed. "She kissed me before she left. Left with another man. Not sure how I'm supposed to take that."

Lucy frowned and pulled her tablet out of her shoulder bag. "This man?" she asked, showing him the picture of God Serena.

"Yeah. He's dead?"

"Uh huh. I think it was Emery's doing."

"Why?"

"Saving us meant that she was going against Zeref and Acnologia. He was probably supposed to her to them, so she did what she had to. They'd have probably killed her and she knew it."

"Then why not stay?" He stood and started pacing. "Why kiss me and leave? None of this makes sense. Why do I feel like this?"

"Love is many things. None of them logical," Lucy said softly.

Zen turned to her in surprise. That hadn't been what he'd expected. He wanted her. It was a different feeling than it had been with Lucy. Lucy was soft strength, like Boscan silk. There was a strength to Emery but worn down and frayed at the edges.

"She's a bit like you, don't you think? It would've been easy to succumb entirely to the dark but neither of you did." Her tone was pensive but there was a knowing glint in her eyes.

"Thank you," Zen said. "Any ideas on what to do next?"

"Have you been back?"

"'Back?'" he echoed.

"The clearing where you two would meet?"

"Why would she go there?"

"Because it's probably the closest place that she can call home right now. I'd leave her a message. Not a note but something that she would know could only have come from you."

"Why?"

"It's more romantic. Just do it."

"Okay. Okay," he said with his hands up in mock surrender. "I have an idea."

"Good. Now, if you don't mind, Kaleb and I have plans at the Pelerno branch tonight."

He watched her flounce off and heard the car that Kaleb had ordered drive off. Hoping to catch him before he left, Zen went downstairs in search of Mr. Elan.

"Can we make a batch of your cinnamon chocolate chip cookies?"

"Why?"

"A romantic gesture."

There was still a bit of confusion in Mr. Elan's expression, but he smiled and proceeded to get the ingredients for the cookies out. He even called his wife to bring over one of their fancier cookie tins to hold them in. Mrs. Elan brought over a lily that she showed Zen how to secure with a ribbon bow.

Not sure where to put it, he simply left it in the middle of the clearing.

*.*.*

The following day, he returned. The tin was still there, but he noticed that the lily was gone. He walked over and picked it up. Immediately, he recognized that it was empty and opened it. Resting inside was a simple note:

Not bad. My mom's were better though