As always, disclaimers on the first chapter!

Griffin! I haven't heard from you about Chapter 10! Are you okay? You survived the weekend, right? LoL ;) Your DTs didn't kill you, I hope.

ANYHOW! Yes, Kenneth! Kenneth is my beautifully clean-slated plot device. He's like water. I can do almost whatever I want with him and it'll work because there's so very little about him in Armstrong's writing! I hope that doesn't make me too horrible. Some characters are just fun to play with and mold into something I can use. I think that's why I enjoy the side-characters more than the main ones. Yeah, Nick is kinda included in that statement, but not so much as say Kenneth or even Cassandra. I just love getting my hands dirty and playing around with what I can do to and with characters :D

Q&A

I couldn't talk my way out of the second half of the meeting, but I at least negotiated my way down to when the council was finished questioning me, I could leave. It seemed like a good idea at the time, I just didn't realize how many inquiries they would have. Only a handful of questions in, I couldn't tell one voice from another. The only two who didn't seem to be questioning me was Cassandra and Kenneth.

"Where are you from?"

"Los Angeles, but I moved down to Santa Ana recently to be closer to work. I'm sure that's not what you meant, though. If you want my total half-baked theory, it's a dimension shift." I shifted my gaze to silent Kenneth. "Something like Astral Projecting, maybe?"

"How'd you get to be here specifically?"

I looked at Paige, unsure if it was her or someone else who asked the question. "I don't know. The last thing I remember is passing out in front of my computer after a long work week. When I woke up, I wasn't in the same state, let alone the same house."

"Do you remember anything strange happening to you before you woke up?"

"Yeah, all the time," I laughed. "Anything that would forewarn me that I'd experience something as big as this, though? No, nothing bigger than the usual shadows and blips on the ghost-dar that I normally experience."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jeremy's hand move. It drew my attention to Jaime, who was stiff backed and frowning a bit. I winced inwardly, knowing that my blips were nothing compared to her personal experiences.

"So, you've had experience with some sort of dimension shift before?"

My eyes shifted to the table and I studied the wood grain as I tried to formulate the answer to that question. Yes, I did, but nothing like this. An actual, full on dimensional shift? Never. It was always on a smaller scale, like looking through a window or a scrim at a world beyond mine.

"Yes, and no," I started slowly. "It was never anything this interactive. Shapes, movement, forms overlaying and passing through what was actually there in front of me..." I shook my head, out of words to describe what I was used to seeing.

"You've been here almost four months. What about your family?"

I didn't even need to guess who spoke up with that question. My eyes met Kenneth's and I scowled at him. "Of course there are people I'd like to get in touch with back home. But there's obviously no way for me to get in touch with them, is there?"

Kenneth gave me an overly friendly smile and Jeremy excused me from the meeting hall.

Nick rode with me in a cab back to the cottage so that Jeremy could keep the Explorer. I had the driver drop us off at the front of the property, deciding to hoof it back to the cottage itself to let off steam. The silence between myself and Nick was just as uncomfortable as before. I kept stealing glances at him, hoping to screw up the courage to say something to him.

"Thanks..." I mumbled.

He raised an eyebrow as he looked at me. "For what?"

"You were ready to defend me when Kenneth pulled me aside earlier." I smiled a bit as I shoved my hands in my jeans pockets. "It felt kinda good. Nice, really. Thank you."

"That's what we do for Pack members."

"Oh..." I felt my heart sink a little. Just business. It took me a moment longer to realize what else that sentence implied. Was I Pack now? I suppose it was a little stupid to think that I would have gotten a formal invite of some sort, paperwork to sign maybe, Welcome to the Team! celebration.

We walked in silence a little longer. I was able see our cottage in the distance before Nick spoke again.

"If that message on the mirror was directed at you—"

"I'd be surprised if it wasn't," I said quickly, cutting him off with my eagerness that I was able to talk to him again.

"Yeah, but doesn't that mean it's...safer for you to just go back? No battles, no bloodshed, no worries."

"Maybe." I stopped outside the front door of our cottage and turned around to face Nick. "Most likely. But, at the same time, what if there's a reason for me to be here?"

"What if they can follow you? The Pack can't protect you if you go..."

I didn't know what to say to that. Something in his tone made me wonder if he really was thinking about the Pack's limitations in protecting it's newest member, or if it was some other more personal restriction he was thinking of.

Nick stared at a spot over my head for a long time, his eyes distant and unfocused. Curious, I looked behind me to see if he was looking at something on the door that I hadn't noticed while walking up, adrenaline making my tongue tingle with worry that there was another bloody message there.

"Do you want to go back?"

I blinked and looked up at Nick again. His voice was so soft that I had to concentrate to make sure I had heard him right. For the second time that day, I carefully worded my answer. "There are people I miss there. People who are missing me and are probably more than a little worried."

"But do you want to go back?" His eyes met mine and held them. I couldn't look away, and I didn't want to.

"Honest answer?" I said softly.

Nick nodded.

"In an ideal world, I'd be able to have them here with me. There's nothing but a handful of people that holds me to that world."

I saw something change in his eyes and he seemed to relax a bit, as if he had breathed a mental sigh of relief. "And what about this world?" He smirked. "Again, honest answer."

I grinned and rolled my eyes, throwing my hands up in mock exasperation. "Ach! Horrible! All this fresh air and beautiful landscaping to roam about? Goddess, help me! How did I manage to survive this long? And don't get me started on the company I have to keep!"

My eyes met his a moment before he launched at me, fingers going straight to my ribs to tickle me mercilessly. I let out the most girly shriek that has ever come from my lips, more from the surprise of the attack than the tickling itself. My back thumped against the door and Nick blocked my side escape routes by placing his hands on the door on either side of my head. I was panting a bit, still quietly giggling at the sudden tickle attack.

Nick's grin was almost predatory as his eyes met mine. I held my breath as he slowly leaned forward...

...and let out a low growl of frustration when his cell phone started ringing in his pocket. With a sigh he stood up, releasing me, and checked the number on the screen before flipping it open.

"Yeah?...No, we decided to take a walk...Right here...Here or there?...Okay. See you in a bit, Jer."

Nick closed his cell phone after he signed off with Jeremy. He looked at me and smirked, this time the expression was one of irritation. "Jeremy says that Kenneth has asked for another private meeting with you."

He laughed a bit when I let out a groan.

"Yeah, I figured that's what you would say." His eyes suddenly lit up and he grinned at me. "How about a deal? Don't kill Kenneth during this meeting, and tonight we'll go out and find something to hunt. You get killing blow."

I shook my head. "I just want to run tonight. If we come across something worth biting into, we'll go for it. I haven't had much success in small game, anyway. I need the practice." I grinned up at him half-heartedly.

My grin collapsed in on itself when Nick turned his back on me to head to the Escape parked in the driveway. I didn't want to see Kenneth again, let alone be trapped solo in a room with him. The shaman knew something, though; more than he was willing to admit in front of the council. I needed to know what it was.