Josie Stronghold is surprised, to say the least, at how listless her son is. Usually, even when he is sick- as he is now, she is sure he is sick, it is a mother's intuition, never mind his monotonous reply of, I'm fine, she knows he is sick- he has some energy, some emotion. Josie is worried about her son, more worried than she has ever been before.

But before Josie can further her knowledge of her son's current state, the Stronghold cell rings and she and her husband are off to the secret sanctum, off to downtown, and off to defeat the latest giant robot threatening their city. And they do, in fact, defeat it.

Then the day takes its second odd turn. Steve calls out to her, tells her to fly on ahead while he scouts out the area for whoever is responsible. Steve does not usually think about whoever is responsible, if anyone thinks about whoever is responsible, it is Josie, and she usually doesn't think about whoever may be responsible because it has happened so many times that it seems that these robots come out of a factory at the bottom of the ocean that makes giant robots programmed to attack large cities simply to keep superheroes busy.

Although Josie must admit, it has been sometime since she and Steve have fought a giant robot, because since Ron Wilson fell into a vat of toxic waste, he's been taking care of such things. But he's on vacation today, and Josie almost finds the familiarity of destroying the robot comforting.

But Josie supposes that there is a first time for everything and flies on, back home, where she changes into her civilian clothes and puts the glasses that separate Jetstream from Josie back on. When she finishes fixing her hair so that it doesn't look like she's been riding on the wing of an airplane, she gets in the car and drives to that old house out there in the middle of nowhere and manages to sell it, like she always does, to the current young couple.

After that, it is on to the grocery store and other small errands that her mind is not truly focused on. It wanders through the green pastures of the farm of her childhood, marvels at the fact that the young man behind the counter of the deli doesn't recognize, or refuses to recognize her as Jetstream simply because she wears glasses and Jetstream does not. Then her mind begins to toss around the idea of wearing goggles when she flies, just as she did when she first discovered her ability to soar through the air so fast that a gust of wind came hurtling after her, and then she pushes the thought aside. It's too hard to change her costume now, with the world so used to what it is. The world was upset when she changed her color-scheme to match Steve's, and they only calmed down when she explained that she had married the Commander. How was she supposed to explain the goggles? 'I'm getting old, give me a break'?

She finishes her errands, goes out to the car, ready to be at home, where she can talk about the day with her husband and worry about her son's health. She is just about to start the car when the day takes its third turn towards the strange.

"Hello, Josie."

Josie is so startled by the floaty greeting next to her that she jerks her head upwards and hits it on the roof of the car. She winces and rubs at her head for a moment, then turns warily to see who greeted her and what they are doing in her car. She is shocked by who she finds in the front passenger seat.

A gasp escapes her throat as she whispers the name that fits the person next to her. "Jenna…"

Jenna Valette is the last person she expected to see here, of all places. Jenna, who she had known all her life, Jenna, Jenna, Jenna, Josie and she, Josie and Jenna, best friends forever, guaranteed, they used to swing, so high, singing at the top of their lungs 'til they were oxygen-deprived, then fly and float, so high, higher than any bird could fly, learning the secrets of the sky when their abilities were still magic and not powers limited to saving the world.

Jenna cocks her head and rainbow strands of silver fall into her eyes, milk white and deeper than the ocean. She stares at Josie for seconds that pass by like hours, and though she is looking at Josie, Josie can tell that those eyes do not truly see her.

"Illusion has come to see Josie because Illusion wonders if Josie knows where her husband is." Jenna's voice is light like a little girl's and breathy, still holding the sky-secrets that Josie has almost forgotten.

"Steve is at work." Josie's reply is slow, and she is not as confident as she wishes she was.

Jenna, Illusion now, Josie realizes with a jolt, traces a pattern invisible to all but her fingers on the front windshield, eyes lowered. "Illusion doubts that. Does Josie know for sure that her husband is at work? Illusion knows that he isn't."

"Where is he? If he's not at work, where is he?" she tries to hide the fear, but the urgency in her voice makes it clear.

Illusion raises her eyes, and for a moment they have pupils again, and she is Jenna once more. The moment passes as a raindrop hits the roof of her car, deafening like thunder. "Where was Josie this morning?"

Then it hits Josie like a train- Steve, the robot- and she wants to scream. What if he did find the person responsible? What if- she won't think it, she can't, she turns the key and backs out of the parking space, barely misses a passing car, and then she barely hears Illusion's voice before she fades away, "Illusion wonders one other thing- Does Josie know what is underneath her son's shirt?"

Then she is gone and Josie almost doesn't realize that she has parked the car, changed into costume and taken to the air, almost screaming Steve's name and barely managing to call him the Commander. When she finds him, dazed in an alley way, on his knees, she nearly faints.

Author's note:

Gah, I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, but once I wrote it I was having issues with uploading the document, etc. I hope this comes off as the same basic style as the other chapters. And yes, I have just introduced another Godsend: Illusion, aka Jenna Valette. She, just like the other Godsends, is my character. Please don't use her without my permission. And, for those of you worrying about Will, the next chapter will be about him, so have no fear. R&R please?