When I didn't find her at work, I was a bit upset-thankfully Miko had taken the time to at least let me know what had happened, if not in the greatest of detail.

So when I met her in the waiting room of Corneria General Hospital-yeah, didn't have the fortune enough to get back into the private ward to see her-her eyes were red and I knew she'd been crying for a while.

I knew generally what was going on with her father, if not every detail, so I just spared her the questions, hugged her and said, "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, Fox. It was...his time."

"I wish I had gotten to tell my parents good-bye..."

She looked up at me, "Fox, I have a brother I didn't know about..."

"What?"

She nodded, telling me what had been revealed to her in that hospital room. I listened, then shook my head. "Wow. Doozy of a time to find that out, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I'm also psionic. To what degree, I haven't an idea, but..."

Peppy nodded, and Fara looked over at the old hare. "Wait, wait...all this time, and you knew?" she exclaimed.

"We can sense our own. However, I suspected that you did not know of it. Many never find out."

"He's still out there, somewhere..."

I nodded to her. "I'm glad to hear that. But...we have some other pressing business. We're being ordered out to Venom to investigate this weapon that obliterated one of our newest ships of the line while Star Fox was out patrolling the area-and did it easily."

"We believe it may have been a psionic amplifier..." Peppy added.

Fara blinked, her mind piecing facts together. "How long ago was this?"

"Few hours ago. Why?"

She sat down, rubbing her temples. "Now I know where that killer headache I got came from."

Peppy cocked his head to one side, inquisitively. "Its effects were quite powerful to psi-sensitives. I could barely get a shield up in time. I surmise that the effects on those directly in the path of the weapon were...well, I'll spare the details and just say that it was probably quick and they didn't suffer. Still, to be affected this far from Venom...even in a mild way..."

"I don't like the sounds of this..." I remarked. "Still, we have to act."

"Then I'm coming with you..." Fara stated, rather flatly. "I don't have much reason to stay here."

"Don't you have your father's business to run?" I replied. She fixed me with a stare that made me wish I'd never gotten the words out of my mouth.

Then again, she'd told me more than a few times that was what she had to do. I wondered, sometimes, if that was just my being petulant. But every time I wanted her to come with me, that was her reply.

"Miko can do a quite capable job of running the company in my absence, Fox," she answered, almost coldly. "But I'm not letting you leave me behind for one of your cowboy jobs anymore. You know my home is in a cockpit, among the stars..."

I sighed. Yes, I knew that. But part of me was happier knowing she was in a desk job. She hated it with a passion and I knew that-but I also knew that she was safe instead of risking herself testing some new contraption.

And with us, survival was never guaranteed. Death was a soldier's-and by extension, since we were merely soldiers for hire, a mercenary's-lot.

But there was that other part of me that knew she had proven her worth and wanted her to come along with us. To be there with me. I didn't want to admit it, but since Venom, I needed an anchor to hold onto. Before then, there was only revenge for my father. Now...

"Fara..." I said, still feeling that overpowering male urge to protect her-even though I learned long ago she scarcely needed protecting. That, and every time she'd told me she had to 'do her familial duty' still stung. Just a little.

Wow, wrong answer. She got this look in her eyes as though she was about to either (a) cry, or (b) explode like a Nova Bomb. I was about to get it with both barrels-and I probably deserved it.

"Fox, I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and wait like a good little girl for the news that you got your ass blown up in some forsaken corner of the galaxy for a few credits!" she half screamed at me. "Not. This. Time" she added, putting quite a bit of anger into each word, along with a rather vocal growl. "If you're going to go off and go do something stupid and suicidal to save Lylat again, then at least I'm going to be there, where I can do something about it, instead of here, where I only get to hear about it!"

"Aww, how cute. You two mind having your little lovers' spat later?" Falco quipped.

"WHO ASKED YOU?!" we both screamed at him in unison, and he just shook his head and boarded the Great Fox, murmuring to himself, "Sheesh, females, I tell ya..."

I sighed and turned my attention to Fara. "I offered to. Several times. You kept telling me that your father wanted you to stay and keep the company afloat."

"That was when he was alive. He was my father, after all. His last request was for me to find my destiny and my place in life. And I'm sure as hell not going to find it sitting behind my desk at Phoenix Enterprises, filling out paperwork, and doing all that boring as hell crap that executives do while I wait for you to come home! So I'm saying one more time, take me with you!"

I folded my arms."And I'm telling you, Fara...that I've waited for six months just for you to tell me that. That's what I've wanted to do. If you want to go, your spot is there and waiting for you, and always has been. I just answered the way I did because I got tired of being told that was your duty. That's all I heard, every time. So I thought I'd give you back a little of it. It was always my intent for you to come along."

She nodded. Her eyes cleared up, and she let out a chuckle. "Sorry. Emotions not really working so well right now. Just had my life turned upside down and I'm on my period. What more could happen?"

I hugged her gently. Honestly, I wanted her by my side. "I don't know, but we best better get a move on. All of us, you included. We're going to need you out there."

And I need you, too.