Mary Margaret returned to the precinct moments before the heavy rains turned to a deluge. She stood near the doors and called up "Okay all, I am a walking safety hazard right now. Can someone bring a mop and a bucket?" Water pooled around her on the floor. "Maybe a towel… or something."

It wasn't long before housekeeping showed up with the requested mop and bucket. She took off her jacket and wrung it out over the bucket, while the custodian began to mop up the water. Then she leaned over it and got as much of the water out of her hair as she could.

Kermit appeared at the top of the short flight of stairs with a green towel in hand. "So are Peter and his father alright?" He asked as he tossed the towel to her.

"Yeah, they headed back to the brownstone once it was safe to get off the roof of the car." She dried her face and then used the towel on her hair. "I'm going to look like a French Poodle having a bad hair day by the time this dries." She said. She did her best to sponge the excess water from her clothes with the towel.

Kermit chuckled quietly. "Now there's an image."

Skalany slipped off her shoes, and took off her socks to wring them out into the bucket. She padded with bare feet up the stairs. "Thanks for the use of the towel." She said and handed it back to Kermit.

"Any time." He said.

Lightning flashed, followed instantly by explosive thunder.

"Good thing you got inside when you did," Jody said.

"Hopefully we won't have to go back out in it." She said. "I'm not even sure going home is a good idea."

Karen Simms came out of her office. "You're right. Word has come down from the commissioner that we're to shelter in place and if at all possible avoid leaving the precinct building until this dies down. Of course, we all know that there are times we have to put public safety above our own, but we're going to have to evaluate that on a case-by-case basis."

"And here's me without a change of clothes." Mary Margret said laughing a little. "Well, they'll dry. "

"I can't help you with an outfit," Karen said "But I have a clean pair of socks in my locker." She motioned for her to follow her.

"Warm dry feet? I'll take it."

Once in the women's locker room, Karen got into her locker and her gym bag. "I haven't seen Peter since his fiance's abduction. How is he doing?" She was concerned for the man. He had been just short of shattered the last time she had seen him. Between Leanne's abduction and the fight he'd had with his foster father, he had been reeling.

"He's better," Skalany said. "Having his father back in town helps with that. Caine says that Peter and Captain Blaisdell have reconciled as well."

"Good. I know Blaisdell was unhappy with how things were left." Karen said. She thought for a moment and pulled out a zippered sweatshirt from her gym bag. "See if this fits. I know the pants won't. We're nowhere near the same height."

Skalany thanked her and began to change. She looked up when someone rushed into the locker room.

"We've got a big problem." The female officer said. "The lower levels are flooding, we're going to have to pull everyone out of holding."

Simms swore. "So much for riding out the storm quietly." She said, "Okay, we'll put the worst of the lot in the interrogation rooms and keep the rest where we can see them if we need more room."

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Julian sat down next to his sister on the bed and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Why does she hate me so much?" Amelie asked.

"I'm pretty sure she wants to know why you hate her." He countered. "Don't let her get to you. It's just how she is."

She glared at him. "That's not an excuse, Jules."

"I know." He said sadly."It feels like they divided us up sometimes."

"Dad doesn't hate you." She said. "He just doesn't know how to deal with you. So… do you think Peter's alright?"

He nodded. "I get the feeling he can take care of himself. I thought you didn't want anything to do with him?" He teased.

"I didn't." She said. "But he didn't have to come for me and he did. Did he really tell her off for me?"

Julian nodded. "Yeah he did. Then he got that vision I guess about his father being in danger and took off like a bat out of hell."

"A vision? That's weird."

Julian shrugged. "Mom even knew what was happening. Apparently, his father did that too."

Another glare, although this wasn't directed at Julian. "She would know." Amelie grumbled.

"He is an … interesting man. Nothing like our father at all."

"Do you think she wants to get back together with him?" Amelie asked.

"I don't think it matters what she wants. I don't think he wants back together with her. I mean, she did fake her death to get away from him. But what do I know? I thought our father was a good and honest man. "

She shook her head. "I don't know what to do, Julian. Everything is backward and upside down. I just want to go home and have things the way they were."

"I don't think that's going to happen, Sprite."

"You're going to go back to Paris in the fall… if Dad's in jail-"

"I won't leave you alone with her, I promise. Even if that means I put off University until Dad has things sorted out."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm going to make you keep that promise. Even if it's not fair to you. I'm sorry about that."

" It will all work out," Julian said. "Amy, why didn't you take the shop owner's offer to call for help?"

Amelie frowned. "I didn't think she would come."

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Peter dried off and dressed in the clothes his father loaned him. He wasn't as good at maintaining his body temperature no matter his surroundings as his previous incarnation had been. He supposed some things just came with time and experience. He knew the principles behind it, he was just lacking in the practice.

He stepped out of the bathroom, still toweling his hair. "I think I got out of the shower less wet than I went into it."

Caine laughed quietly. "It is entirely possible." He was to all appearances warm and dry. The tea kettle whistled as if on queue. He made two cups of tea and handed one to his son.

"The last time I came home that wet, Paul, Kermit, and I had just pulled Leanne out of a hole in the ground where the Sing Wah had buried her. Is it strange that I haven't seen hide nor hair of them since that night?"

"You bested them," Caine said. "They are licking their wounds. They are never far away"

"Part of the reason we put the book in a safety deposit box. Of course, at the time we didn't realize that her grandfather was evil. Less than sparkling white, sure, but not evil."

"It is difficult to think of those we love as evil. I cannot imagine this has been an easy reality for Leanne to come to terms with."

"She's having a hard time. Not because she hasn't accepted it, but because she has."

Caine nodded his understanding.

"I think he was the man I saw in my vision, Pop. I can't be sure but I think it was him."

"It was a powerful sorcerer whomever it was. There is another who could have done it, but I believe you are correct."

"Who?" Peter asked.

"Master Yuan. The librarian in Shamballa." He led the way to the matt on the floor where they sat down to drink their tea.

"So Shamballa is already infested with evil… did we drop the ball on that prophecy?"

"I do not believe so," Caine said. "The evil was said to be vanquished, not prevented. It does suggest that its time will come soon, That you will be part of that prophecy, whether that is with me, or with your future son I do not know."

Peter laughed self-consciously. "No pressure there at all. Just save Shamballa to save the world."

"They are an evil that must be stopped. It does not matter if they are the ones in the prophecy. There is no pressure."

"Leanne and I talked. After we get back from our honeymoon we're going to take on Pine Ridge." Peter said. "Speaking of evil that needs to be stopped."

Caine looked at his son worriedly. "Can you tell me what happened that haunts you so?"

"It was like the boarding school from hell meets Lord of The Flies." He said staring into his teacup. "They strip away everything that makes you an individual. The more you resist the worse things become. You know me, Pop, I resist even when there isn't anything to resist and I was ... different" He said. "They took my belongings when I got there and put them in storage, even the photographs I had found when I went back to the ruins of the temple. We had uniforms. That wasn't so bad really. But the dress code included how long or short your hair had to be, so they made me grow my hair out. I wound up with extra chores for meditating, and heaven help me if I fought back against the bullies. Then I found out what in trouble really was. It was worse when I would protect the younger kids. Not that it ever stopped me."

Caine's eyes narrowed. He could tell that his son was skirting the subject even when talking about it. "I would not have thought it otherwise. It is not in you to leave another in danger to protect yourself." He said gently. "Were you physically abused?"

"Not so that you'd notice. They housed kids from the foster care system as well. While that has rarely been as well policed as it should be, they had people coming in all the time. Social workers checking on kids, state inspectors. Potential foster and adoptive parents. It wouldn't do to have kids walking around with bruises that could be seen."

"And those bruises that could not be seen?" Caine asked although he was sure he knew the answer even if Peter continued to not answer.

"Anyone that complained to an outsider was suddenly a troublemaker whether they were or not, so the police and social workers never believed us and if we ran they always found us and brought us back. Not that we had anywhere else to go. The best we could manage was hiding in abandoned buildings and hoping we didn't get caught stealing food because we'd be brought right back to Pine Ridge. Sometimes kids would disappear. We were either told they were adopted or that they ran away for good. There was this girl…" Peter began. Caine could see there as pain in her memory. He thought his son would continue but he stopped midsentence and shivered a little as if suddenly cold. It was several seconds before he resumed. "We'd whisper about the disappearances at night… how we were certain that they were lying. But we knew we couldn't trust the police either. They never believed you and always told the headmaster what you'd told them. As an adult… especially as a cop… I know that they were just investigating like they should have been but as a kid it felt like being ratted out to the enemy. It's why I kept pushing Paul away when he started to show up to give lectures. I only started to go to his lectures because it got me out of Algebra II. I hated that class."

"You were always good at math," Caine said.

"It wasn't the work I hated, Pop." Peter's heart was pounding in his chest. Even after all these years. Almost twenty years had passed since he'd last been inside those walls and still, it was impossible to give details of the worst of it.

"I am sorry I was not there for you," Caine said

Peter looked up sharply at that. "That was not your fault." He said firmly. "I know that, okay. Nothing that happened to me in that place was your fault. The only reason I get angry with Laura about it is because she had people watching me while I grew up and still did nothing. You didn't know." He shook his head.

"You blame Lo Si," Caine said.

"Yeah, I do. For putting me there in the first place. I could have been sent to another temple. I would have been taken in anywhere. But he didn't know what was going on either. He didn't know there was anything to protect me from other than Tan." His anger came and went where Lo Si was concerned. But he loved the man too much to hate him for it. "So I am never going to tell him what it was like in there."

"I do not think you have completely told me what it was like in there. Have you told Leanne?"

Peter shook his head. "No." He said. "And I'm not going to. No one needs the details. It wasn't anything sexual if that's what you're afraid of. It wouldn't surprise me if there had been some of that going on but I never saw any signs that I remember. But what does a kid who had spent his life safe and loved know about that sort of thing." What he had endured and seen there had nearly turned him into someone he hated. If it hadn't been for the Blaisdells he would have become a monster, he was sure of it.

"You could not protect all of the children, Peter," Caine said reading between the lines. His son had always protected those younger or weaker than himself. To know that they were being harmed and not being able to do anything to protect them would have been traumatic for the child Peter had been. Especially at an age when the world was black and white with very little gray.

"No… but maybe I can now." He said quietly.

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The city on the whole was filled with disturbing sounds and smells. Given a choice, Wukong wouldn't have come back to this realm in a million years. He had been relieved that most of those were washed away in the torrential rain. However entering the hospital made him long for the smells of traffic, electricity, and too many humans. The acrid chemical smells made his nose hairs recoil in agony.

"Excuse me?" He asked someone who didn't understand him, and they waved him away pointing toward the information desk. He moved toward the woman seated there and once more began to speak in ancient Chinese.

"Ahm… I'm sorry I don't speak Chinese." She said and held up her hand, hoping he understood her while she picked up the phone to call for a translator. With the close proximity to Chinatown, they had made sure to have Chinese speakers on staff. "No no no, please come back !" She said as Sun Wukong began to walk away. She got out from behind the information desk and rushed after him, she got around in front of him. "Please… come… back… to … the … desk." She said a little louder, motioning with her hand for him to follow.

A young Chinese man in scrubs rounded the corner. "You do realize that the language barrier isn't breeched by speaking slower and louder." He said rolling his eyes. He waited for her to leave before speaking to Wukong in Mandarin. "How can I help you?"

Monkey considered the man's words, they were closer to his own language than the woman had spoken. "I am looking for the Old One." He said. "I was told he was here."

It was the resident's turn to consider what he had heard. "Old…" He frowned "Old one… do you mean The Ancient?"

Monkey smiled and nodded his head "Yes. Lo Si."

That was confirmation and the resident smiled. "I will take you to him." He said "He's a friend of my Auntie's. I checked on him earlier for her." He motioned for Wukong to follow. He didn't know what dialect the man spoke. He'd never heard it before. He was amazed that they managed to communicate as well as they had.

Wukong didn't know what to expect. The Old One had been close to death when he had left to try and find another peach. He couldn't be doing well if he was in this place. The smell alone could make one ill. He didn't understand why they housed their sick and injured in a place like this.

He had left some of his other selves to seek another way to restore the Holy Priest's immortality, and the others were sent to search for the missing monkeys and foxes. The Queen of the West had left him no hope that there was a way to save his friend and she might be right as celestial beings often were. That did not mean he would not continue to try.

When they reached the hospital room, Wukong thanked the man.

"I don't know what you are saying but I am guessing it's thank you. I will leave you to it." He looked in the doorway at the Ancient and smiled "Good to see you looking better, Master Lo Si."

"Thank you, Tommy." He said. "Are you stranded in the hospital?"

"Yeah, I am. I get the feeling we're going to be swamped for the duration with people who didn't stay put though. Hopefully more in the ER than the morgue. Well, I need to get going. I'll drop in later." With that being said the young man left.

Wukong entered the room. He was surprised to find Leanne there. He didn't know what to think about the woman. This was the one that the Holy Priest had risked his life and immortality to save. Which should mean that she was a good human, or at least more good than not good. Yet she was his sworn enemy's granddaughter. Would that not make her his enemy too? She was immortal by her grandfather's hand. That had to breed loyalty. Humans were confusing.

"I am glad you are looking better as well." He said entering the room fully.

"Where have you been my friend?" Lo Si asked. He was feeling better, not completely but he didn't feel that he was on death's door.

"I went home. I wanted to get a peach for you, but they are not ripe and won't be for another thousand years. I am very sorry."

Lo Si held out his hand and Wukong took it. "You have nothing to be sorry for." He said gently and patted his hand. "I have lived a very long time. If my time draws near, it is just the next step in my journey, not the end."

Wukong nodded, even though he did not feel any better about the situation. " Xiwangmu say that these leaves steeped into a tea might make you feel better. She too is sorry that the peaches were not ripe."

He held out the peach leaves.

Leanne took them in hand and her eyes widened. "Are these from THE Peach tree?"

He nodded gravely, sadly.

"These are a precious gift, Wukong." She said. "I will make a tea of these for Lo Si." She said and went to ask for hot water.

"She seems to care about you, as you do her." Wukong said, taking a seat in the uncomfortable chair next to the hospital bed."

Lo Si smiled. "She is nothing like her grandfather. She will make a good wife for Peter. I do not think a completely modern wife would serve him as well. She understands the life of a priest and a profound destiny. We do not teach our children such things at this age."

"Why not?"

"Modern parents have the misconception that science and mysticism or religion cannot coexist." Lo Si shrugged. "I do not understand this. But I am very old."

"Can their science help you?"

"It has helped me. But I do not think it will undo what has been done if that is what you ask."

Wukong looked down, trying and failing to hide his emotions.

"It is alright, my friend. It is alright."