Now all is well we deal with the fall out. and the press... and the baby... and... enjoy.

Thirty Three

Waking up this time felt like she was ascending from a deep dive, Jade groggily thought, as she slowly drifted up from a well of sleep that had been mercifully dreamless indeed. Half of her wanted to just sink back down into the pleasant warmth of the bed, but the other half was crankily aware of her body's stiffness and it was poking her towards consciousness and movement.

So she reluctantly opened one eyelid, and surveyed the room, noting the dim, gray light coming from the window. Rain. An even better reason to stay in bed. She rotated the eyeball towards the bedside clock, and blinked at the red numbers displaying back at her.

Oh.

No wonder I feel stiff. I've been in the same damn position for twelve hours. Jade peered down at Tori, who was curled half on her side, with both hands tangled in Jade's shirt, and her head tucked into her shoulder. The brunette hadn't moved much either, but her breathing was steady and regular, and her skin tone had returned to its normal healthy state rather than the drawn grayness of the night before.

remained still for a little while, just watching Tori sleep, and feeling the warmth of her love's breathing through the thin cotton of her shirt. Then the discomfort forced her to straighten out, stifling a groan as her back protested the motion fiercely.

Even the slight sound was enough to get a response from Tori, however, who murmured, and opened her eyes, reaching instinctively out as Jade shifted. "Hey.."

"It's okay.. I'm just stretching." Jade reassured her, seeing the sleep fogged and slightly dazed look peering anxiously back at her. "How are you feeling?" She cleared the very disheveled hair out of Tori's eyes and watched her blink a few times in confusion. "Tor?"

"Yeah….. yeah.. "Tori's brow creased slightly. "Mmph." She cleared her throat slightly, and tentatively shifted. "Not too bad." She murmured, in a surprised tone. "What time is it?"

"Five."

"Jesus." Tori swallowed. "No wonder my mouth feels like cotton wadding." She drew in a breath and rolled over onto her back, stretching out cautiously under the covers. Other than her sore shoulder, everything seemed to be pretty much okay, and she wiggled her toes, feeling a hundred times better than before she'd gone to sleep.

Except for one thing. "I'm starving." She informed the popcorn ceiling. "Are you starving?" She laid her hand over her very empty feeling stomach.

"I dunno.. let me get enough kinks out to stand up, then I'll let you know.' Jade groaned, as she slowly extended her legs and arched her back. "Son of a…" She felt like one huge cramp. "Ow."

Tori reached over and patted her thigh. "Easy there, tiger." She murmured. "I can't believe we slept so late…I wonder what's going on."

slid out from under the covers and got to her feet, rubbing the back of her neck and walking gingerly. "I'll turn on the news…" She limped over to the connecting door between their room and her parents and stuck her head inside, smiling at the dark, quiet room with its sleeping occupants. She drew back out and shut the door carefully. "Still snoozing… " She yawned, and scratched her belly, then hit the remote for the television and trudged towards the bathroom. "I think I am hungry, now that you mention it." Walking around loosened things up a little, though her back was still protesting.

"Good."

listened toTori rustle around for a minute, then she used the restroom, and ran water in the sink, splashing handfuls of it over her face. It was cold, and faintly metallic smelling, but it worked to wake her up. She patted her skin dry, and regarded her reflection, smoothing her dampened hair back off her face. "Mm." One finger touched a bruise covering half her cheekbone. "Last time I had one like that, I was still in high school."

She met the eyes in the mirror for a moment, then turned the light out and re entered the room, to find Tori sitting up in bed, cradling her arm. "Oh.. wait." She grabbed the sling and held it up. "Need this?" She walked over at Tori's nod and adjusted the canvas support around her, then sat down on the bed and glanced at the menu Tori had open in front of her.

"Ooo." She made a grab for the folder, spotting something interesting.

"Ah ah." Tori tugged it back one handed. "Dinner first, then dessert." She scanned the choices, then picked up the phone and dialed room service. "Hello…ah, yes, it is." A pause. "Thank you ..um… I'd like to order something for dinner?" She scowled at the television, which was on a shopping channel. "Put on CNN, will you?"

keyed the remote, but left the sound down.

"Yes, thanks.. um, two of the clam chowder… " She put the phone against her chest. "How do ribs sound?"

tickled hers lightly. "Fine."

"Stop that." Tori hissed. "Two orders of the ribs…. No, the full rack." A pause. "Do you have anything bigger? A what? No.. no… that's okay. I'll pass on the cow." She rolled her eyes. "Baked potatoes sound great…and the salads, yeah." Another pause. "A large pot of coffee, and um.. " She flipped the page. "Two of the Death by Chocolate Killer Mountain Brownies with vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce."

scratched an ear. "When you put it like that, it sounds so excessive." She muttered.

"It is." Tori smiled. "Yes, thanks, that's great." She hung up the phone. "About thirty minutes." She reached over and turned the sound up, as a familiar scene appeared.

"The explosion, believed to be centered in the middle of the seventh floor, set off a chain reaction when it touched off the gas supply inside the hospital." The announcer spoke gravely. "Two hundred people are believed dead, and today the FBI has started investigating, citing a tip they received that this horrible tragedy might not have been an accident. "

"Two hundred people." Tori breathed. "Oh my god, Jade."

"Senator Holly Vega, in Washington for Senate hearings on her conduct, was an eyewitness. Seen here, as she was assisted along with the evacuating victims from the floor worst hit, she stated that so far as she could tell, there was no warning, just a huge explosion that shook the entire building."

Tori stared at the screen, seeing her mother's battered face and burned clothing through a faint haze of memory. The camera showed the firefighters perched outside the broken window, and what was, unmistakably, her father's outline as he handed out one of the children. Through a billow of smoke she could also see James's distinctive form, but it seemed like a dream to her, not something that she'd lived through only half a day prior.

was blinking at the screen, which showed further film, and a close up of the window as a thick puff of black, oily looking smoke poured out. "Damn." She watched a dimly seen figure holding onto one of the women, as they climbed into the firefighter's basket and it occurred to her suddenly that she was watching herself. "Is that… "

"You." Tori murmured. "Yeah it is."

The film cut to Jade clambering over the edge of the basket herself, then all of them ducking as an explosion shook the screen, sending a fireball out inches from the erratically weaving platform.

"Oh my god… you just.. ."Tori's eyes widened. "… " She turned her head.

"Yeah." Jade put a reassuring arm around her. "It was kinda close… I made Dad go before me. I wanted to make absolutely sure he was okay."

Tori leaned her head against Jade's shoulder. "I'm glad I didn't realize how close you came… I'd have had nightmares, I know it."

"I thought I was going to have nightmares… but I didn't." Jade sighed. "I think I just want to forget the whole thing." She looked down at her hands, which were covered with tiny cuts and scrapes and really stung. "It's sort of a blur already."

Tori thought about that. "I remember you being very brave." She commented softly. "I remember you saving my butt a few times.. along with some other people's."

"I just wanted to get you out of there." Jade replied. "I didn't really care about those other people."

"That's not true. You cared about your parents." Tori objected.

"Well, yeah."

"You cared about those kids."

didn't answer.

", why is it so hard for you to accept your own heroism?" Tori asked.

She didn't get an answer for a while, then Jade shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know."

Tori tucked a hand inside her elbow and studied Jade's face, it's battered profile still and somber. "This really rocked you, didn't it?"

A nod.

"You want to talk about it?"

drew in a breath. "Not yet." She gave Tori a brief, honest look. "But I will… and you'll be the first one to hear it."

Tori smiled at her. "Fair enough." She leaned over and kissed Jade's arm. "How are you feeling?"

Now she got a bit of a wryly raised eyebrow.

"Like a truck ran over me." Jade answered honestly. "I think I pulled a few things… my back's really hurting."

"Maybe they can slide a few x-rays on you when they get my shoulder tonight." Tori stated pointedly. "I'm not surprised your back hurts.. you carried my butt for fifteen minutes.. good grief, Jade…I'm surprised you didn't get a hernia on top of it."

That even got a smile. "Didn't even occur to me… I wasn't in a reasonable frame of mind, I don't think."

The television caught their attention. "The Oversight committee investigating Senator Vega has informed CNN that they have postponed further hearings for a short period - perhaps until after the holidays to allow the senator to recover from her ordeal."

"Oh.. my…God.. did he just say we can go home?" Tori blurted.

"Yeah.. I think so.." Jade now smiled again in frank relief. "Maybe you don't have to come back."

"In related news, WesTrek confirmed that two of the survivors from the explosion were WesTrek Founder and CIO Jade West, and Director of Operations Victoria Vega, who is Senator Vega's daughter. Both were reportedly there visiting Ms. Vega's sister, who was in labor at the time."

"Ew." Tori scrunched her face up. "I don't like being a sound bite."

"According to Chairman Alastair Rosenthal, both of employees were among the group rescued from the seventh floor, and he identified Ms. West as the person CNN has been showing in this spectacular piece of footage all afternoon."

"Ew." Jade covered her eyes. "Alastair.. did we need the publicity that badly?"

"Mr. Rosenthal stated that he was not surprised at the heroism shown by Ms. West, Founder and CIO of WesTrek, and that he was glad to rush WesTrek resources to the scene to assist the injured." The announcer cleared his throat. "CNN featured Ms. West in a Business Line interview only this morning, regarding the ATM outage the previous day."

watched a clip of her interview, and sighed. "I look like an idiot."

"You do not." Tori gave her a look." You look gorgeous…and that guy is all but drooling on you, Jade."

made a face.

"You're such a nerd." Tori kidded her gently. "I think you look great on tv."

fiddled with her phone, then turned it on and dropped it onto the table. She stared at it for a few seconds, then jumped as it started to vibrate. They both watched in fascination as the device skittered all over the table, then hopped off, and dropped to the carpet, where it continued to vibrate. "Wow." Jade waited a few minutes until it finally stopped, then she picked it up and reviewed the notifications.. "Twenty five. not as bad as I thought." She thumbed through them. "Guess I should probably give Sinjin a call…maybe have him call Mariela.."

"Why don't you call her?" Tori got up and walked over to the window, which was covered in raindrops. "You know she'd love to hear from you directly, Jade… she really likes you." She turned and leaned against the glass.

"Yeah." Jade rose and went to the desk, sitting down behind it and taking a breath, then booting up her laptop. "You should give Andre a call." She picked up Tori's cell phone and turned it on, then dialed Sinjin's number, which she had to fish in her still slightly foggy memory for. It rang twice, then was answered. "Hi."

There was a brief silence. "?"

"Yep."

"Son of a goddamn bitch… I am so glad to hear your voice."

It brought a surprising tightness to her throat. "Thanks… everything all right there?"

"Here? Yeah! Ah.. everything's great.. perfect…" Sinjin blurted. "Well, I mean.. like the usual stuff is going on, you know.. Canada's down, and we lost the overseas routers this afternoon, so that's a mess, but.. um.."

"I get the picture… glad things are pretty much as usual." Jade replied.

"Hey guys! I got Jade on the phone!" Sinjin yelled, muffling the receiver with one hand. "Man, it's fantastic to talk to you.. I've got that whole clip digitized and in Quicktime.. the server's been going wild serving it."

covered her eyes. "Great… if you blow an array with that, I'm going to kick your ass."

Sinjin laughed in delight. "Now that sounds like my boss… how's Tori?"

"She's fine.. she's got a dislocated shoulder, and a few bumps, but she's okay." Jade couldn't seem to get rid of the lump in her throat. "Is.. um.. is Mariela still there, or did she leave already?"

"She's here… I'll transfer you… listen, I really mean it, Jade - I'm glad you're both okay." Sinjin put her on hold for a minute, then the call clicked through.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mari."

A gasp. "MÃE DE DEUS… " Mariela sounded like she was crying. ", I am so glad to hear you… I was so frightened that something bad had happened to you, and to Vitoria."

"No.. we're both okay, Mari… thanks for worrying though." Jade cleared her throat, and blinked, shocked to find tears stinging her eyes. A hand fell on her shoulder, and she glanced up at Tori, then just handed her the phone, covering her face with her other hand.

"Hey, Mari…"Tori spoke into the cell, rubbing Jade's arm with her other hand.

"Oh... Vitoria!" The secretary sounded overwhelmed. "Agradeço a Deus está tudo bem com você… I thank God everything is alright with you.. I have been praying every minute."

"Thanks, Mari… it's great to know people were concerned about us." Tori told her. "The great news is, it looks like we're coming back.. and let me tell you, I can't wait to get home."

"Are you all right? Is Jade all right?"

"We're fine." Tori assured her. "A little scratched and dented, but that's it…but I think God was watching over us, so we did just fine." She scratched Jade on the back of her neck, and watched as her wife rubbed her face, then straightened, her composure restored. "You don't know how wonderful it is to know how you all were watching out for us too."

"Vitoria…I know God watches over you… and I will be glad when you both are back here, safely and soundly." Mariela exhaled. "Now.. I can go home, and my family will be happy tonight. Mayte was also very concerned also."

"Thanks." Tori smiled. "Tell her I say hello…and that she's going to have to help me with typing for a little while."

held hand up and took the phone back. "Thanks, Mariela… pass along my regards to everyone, will you - we'll see you Monday morning."

"Si, Jade. I will do that - you take good care, yes?"

"I'll do my best. Good night.. have a good weekend." Jade hung up and sat there, staring at the phone for a moment, then put it down. "Well."

"My turn." Tori picked up the phone and clumsily keyed in Andre's number, then pressed the send, just as a knock sounded at the door. "You know, I realized we have a problem." She muttered, as she waited for the line to ring through.

"Hm?" Jade had gotten up and headed for the door.

"Ice creams' gonna melt."

paused, with her hand on the knob, and turned her head. "Like hell it is."

"Ms. Vega.. could you move over just a little?"

Tori obligingly shifted slightly, peering up at the X-Ray machine and trying to relax. It was hard, though, since the table was cold, and her skin was warm, and the machine was making weird little chuckling noises that were making her jump.

"Okay, now hold still." The voice called, and she heard a buzzing noise. "Thanks.. one more." Another buzz. "Okay…" The technician came over and helped her sit up. "There… that's all for me.. now they said you needed to go.." She consulted a chart. "To CAT scan next."

"Mm.. yippee." Tori sighed. "Do I have to? I don't even have a headache now."

"Not for me to decide." The tech told her cheerfully. "I'm just a stop on the way… we can't force you to do anything you don't want to do, but if the doctor thought it was a good idea, it probably is."

"I guess." Tori fastened her short, hospital issued little tunic thing up, which tied in front and was a vast, vast improvement over the old backless gown number. At least they'd let her keep her jeans on, since her lower body seemed to have taken good care of itself, and her sneakers which kept the cold floor from chilling her toes. "I wonder where my friend is?"

"Let me guess." The tech ticked off her fingers. "Tall, dark hair, built like a brick we wont say what, and with an attitude from hell?"

"Uh."

"Clear blue eyes?"

"That'd be her." Tori admitted. "Did she give you trouble? She doesn't mean it. She just really hates hospitals, and after what happened yesterday, I'm not surprised she didn't want to be messed with." A pause. "I kinda made her get checked out. She's probably really pissed off at me."

"She's more pissed off at the tech who was with her.. he made a crack about her working for the WWF."

"World Wildlife Foundation?" Tori gazed at her, totally bewildered. "What brought that up?"

The tech scratched her chin. "World Wrestling Federation." She muttered. "You know, the…"

"Oh...WWE…"Tori muffled a chuckle. "Yeah, I bet she was pissed. She hates that stuff… I can see why he asked, though."

"Mmhm…. " The tech cleared her throat. "Think she's available?"

Tori smiled. "Nope, she's married." Then she walked out, and ran her fingers through her hair to free it's ends from her gown as she made her way down the hall towards the prominently labeled CAT scan area. She knew she should have waited for the wheelchair to come take her, but she was anxious to get the tests behind her, and go visit Trina.

Then get out of there before she ran into her parents, and get back to the hotel, where they had nothing more strenuous planned than an outing with a pay per view movie, and a bucket of popcorn. Then tomorrow… a plane trip, and by sundown she'd be home.

Home.

"Victoria."

almost didn't stop. Almost didn't turn. But she knew, in her heart, that sometime, someday she'd have to face her mother, and maybe, who knew? Maybe she could head off whatever it is she wanted right now. She stopped, and turned, but didn't answer. Her mother was dressed almost casually for her– pressed slacks and a sweater tied over her shoulders and a white polo shirt, and this close, she was struck by how much older she looked to her.

"Step inside there." she pointed to a small room, used for consultation. "I'd like a word with you."

Tori felt her heartbeat double, but she walked inside the chamber, going deliberately behind the desk to put some distance between them. She sat down in the almost comfortable chair there, and waited, in guarded silence.

Her mother entered, and closed the door, then leaned on the desk with both hands and gazed at her.

Tori forced her own eyes to remain steady, refusing to allow her mother's posture to intimidate her. "If you're thinking about telling me not to see Trina, don't bother." She kept her voice low, and controlled, like Jade had taught her. "That's not your choice."

"No. I can see you're far too under her control."

"Who… Jade?" Tori could have laughed, thinking of her bullying her stubborn wife into getting examined. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Holly Vega shook her head. "It's you who's being blind, Victoria. Cant' you see the path she's led you down?"

Tori studied him for a moment. "Why does it always have to be someone else's fault?"

"What?"

"Why can't you just accept that this is my choice? Jade didn't do anything to me. Just like you chose to go against what you wanted to marry dad." Tori straightened. "If that's all you wanted to say, I've got more important things to do."

"How could it be your choice?" Her mother protested. "You were fine, up until the minute you met that horrible person, and then you changed!"

"I was never fine."

"What are you talking about?"

Tori exhaled, too tired, still, to be frightened of her. "I was never fine. I was headed towards a life I had no interest in." She looked up. "Every time I tried to change that, I got punished."

Holly stared at her in bewilderment. "What the hell is that all about? Change what? You had everything any child could have wished for, you ungrateful piece of…"

"Like I said." Tori stood up. "I've got better things to do than this." A brief pause. "You never did listen to me before - I don't know why I bothered now."

"Just you hold on a minute…" Her mother lifted a hand towards her.

"Don't you even think about it." Tori's temper flared unexpectedly. "I'm not the little dishrag you tossed around in Connecticut. You touch me, and I'll hurt you."

Holly drew back. "Is that how you speak to your mother?"

"You're not my mother." Tori spat back. "You made that crystal clear."

Slowly, Holly nodded. "All right." she murmured. "So I did."

They stared at each other. "You know…. I risked my life, and the lives of some of the people I love most in the world to make sure you got out of that building." Tori said. "So if you think I owe you anything for having brought me up, I don't."

"You owe me an explanation." Her mother replied. "Why? Why did you abandon and betray your family?"

"Why?" Tori sat down on the edge of the desk. "Because I was angry." She exhaled. "Because you hit me, and held me against my will, and you would have had me drugged senseless all because I told you the truth." She opened her mouth, but Tori held a hand up. "Because it was very satisfying to expose such a hypocrite after I'd spent my whole life trying to live up to your ideals."

Her mother wasn't could see the thoughts going on right behind those gray eyes. "And here I thought I was working to give you a decent life."

"Your idea."

"Of course, my idea." Holly snapped back. "I raised you, put you through school, gave you every advantage, so you can sit there and call me a hypocrite?" She shook her head. "Last year, I made the mistake of believing if you could just be talked to… explained how taking the path you were on was so wrong, you'd just wake up, and realize the truth. I was wrong. There is something very evil in you."

"You're the one who won't realize the truth." Tori felt nauseous. "You're so sure you're right, you won't even consider how I feel, will you? How I felt when you banished my friends, and told me what I could think, or look like… what my limits were."

"It's my right to bring you up properly."

"Or being told my chief value to the family was as breeding stock, because I'm better looking than Trina."

"That's ridiculous. I was merely complimenting how nice the two of you were together."

Tori could feel tears rising, but she ignored them. "Or what it was like to be told not to do too good at school so I wouldn't make Shelby look bad."

"We were trying to help her excel." Holly looked annoyed. "Surely you wanted to help your sister."

"How it felt when you had my dog poisoned."

Her mother stared at her.

"Victoria.."

"How if felt when your bodyguard raped me, and you made me apologize to him."

"We're back to that story, are we?"

"Maybe I should have just had my gynecologist call you."

She went silent for a long, tense moment, just watching her.

"I didn't think of it then. I should have. "Tori whispered. "But I was too ashamed to tell her my mother didn't believe I was raped."

For a moment, she thought she might have reached her, might have shaken that bullheaded wall of belief. Then her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"Is that what this is all about then? This is your reaction to…. That….? You went off and found this woman?"

Tori felt a wave of disgust roll over her. "You're so clueless." She got up. "Is that why you were in love with that woman? Did you get raped? Did someone hurt you?" She felt curiously relieved though, having said what she had to say. "My falling in love with Jade had nothing to do with Gary.. or Daniel, or you, for that matter. It was just between her and I."

"You understand you're going to Hell, if you don't put a stop to this, don't you?"

"I spent twenty six years in Hell." Tori answered briefly. " was my ladder out of that… and it's been wonderful living in the sunlight." She walked around the desk and put her hand on the door latch. "I spent all that time trying everything I could to make you proud of me… and it was never enough. Now the only one I have to worry about making proud is myself." She turned the latch and opened the door, keeping eye contact with her. "And I am."

The door closed behind her, and she was out in the hallway, leaning against the wall for a long, sick moment. Then she pushed off and started walking unsteadily towards the first doorway she saw, ducking inside a small waiting room and sitting down quickly, trying to control her rebelling stomach.

A nurse found her there. "Oh, there you are, Ms. Vega…we thought we'd lost you!"

Tori took a deep breath, and straightened up. "No.. I um.. " She put a hand over her stomach. "Was feeling a little queasy, that's all. Thought I'd better sit down for a minute." She stood up. "Sorry…"

"That's okay… I'll walk you down to the CAT scan room.. unless you'd rather have a wheelchair? You look sort of pale." The nurse put hand on her arm, her tone concerned.

"I'm okay." Tori managed a smile. "Lead on."

"Great." The nurse kept hold of her, and eased out of the waiting room. "Listen.. your friend is giving us a little trouble… maybe you could talk to her, and calm her down."

Like a light switch flipping, Tori gladly turned her thoughts from one problem to another. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Well, they want to scan her back… the doctor's a little concerned about something he saw on the x-ray, but she's refusing." The nurse explained. "Of course, we can't force her."

"Mm.. they strap you down for that, don't they?"

"Yes… to keep you from moving, for the pictures, but…"

Tori sighed. "I'll see what I can do… but just in case… do you have an open MRI. she is claustrophobic." In the state she knew Jade was in, she had her doubts. "Maybe we can compromise?"

Something her mother lived with in public life, but would never succumb to in her private one.

"Hi, Trina."

The woman in the bed looked up, and her eyes widened. "Tor!"

Tori slipped around the door frame and entered, tugging her dour, and grumpy companion with her. "Boy, it's great to see you." She released Jade's hand and went over to her sister, hugging as much of her one armed as she could reach.

"Same here! Hello, Jade." Trina glanced shyly at her. "I'm glad you're okay."

rested both hands on the bed rail. "Thanks… it's good to see you made out all right as well." She gave her partner's sister a smile, just glad to be finished with a brief sojourn into one of her worst nightmares. Five minutes, she'd finally granted the technicians, and no straps. Five long minutes only made marginally bearable by Tori's grip on her hand, and an iron self control that still hadn't been enough to keep the twitching from starting, as they hastily pulled her out of the machine and got out of her way as she bolted off the table.

She hoped they got what they needed, because there weren't any second chances at that. She'd calmed herself by talking to Tori as the brunette took her turn on the platform, lying quietly as they took pictures of her head and shoulder.

And she felt kind of stupid, really. After all, it's not like the machine hurt, not nearly as much as her back did, at any rate.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Trina asked Tori. "I'm glad you came now - they're about to bring the baby up."

"Well, I dislocated my shoulder." Tori explained. "They just took x rays."

"Ow." Trina made a face. "The labor is mostly a blur - they'd started to take me out and down to delivery, when the explosion happened - we were actually inside the elevator, and I thought I was going to give birth right there I was so scared. But somehow, the power stayed on and we just kept going down, and right out the emergency entrance in the back. It was horrible.. everyone was screaming, and no one knew what to do.. and I was so scared, knowing you guys were all up there."

"It was kinda rough, yeah." Tori replied quietly. "But we managed to dig ourselves out and get to where they could get us down."

Trina was holding Tori's good hand and she rubbed the fingers with her thumb. "You got the folks out."

Tori and Jade exchanged glances. "Yes, we did." Jade said.

"Dad told me." Trina searched her sister's face. "He's still pretty shook up."

"Yeah, well.. I had a run in just now with mom." Tori told her. "Maybe that'll be the last one."

"You didn't tell me that." Jade interjected, her brows creasing. "When?"

"You were a little preoccupied." Tori gave her a faint smile. "It was before I met you in the imaging room."

scowled. "That was more important than the stupid machine."

They turned at a rattle in the door, and found a nurse there, holding a neatly wrapped bundle. "Here you go, little man… say hi to mama."

"A boy?" Tori asked.

"Yes.. " Trina took the bundle and cradled it, showing off her new baby. "Isn't he sweet?" The tiny, prune faced infant burped. "I called Richard… he's thrilled." She and Tori exchanged wry glances. "I tried to call Daniel.. but there was no answer at his place. I'll try him again in a little while." She glanced at the baby. "Want to hold him before he latches on to the milk bar?"

"Sure." Tori carefully took the baby and cradled him with her good arm. "Oh… he's adorable." She grinned. "What a cute nose!"

Trina smiled. "I think so." She glanced up at Jade. "Were they taking a scan of you, Jade? Is everything okay?"

"Mostly." The dark haired woman answered grudgingly.

"Nothing a little bed rest and chocolate wont' cure." Tori amended. "Poor Jade unfortunately had to drag me around for a while, and tore two muscles in her back."

"That's not when it happened."

"Uh huh.. .anyway..." Tori shifted the baby, and smiled. "The doctor prescribed a couple of days of rest, and some painkillers… about the same thing he suggested for me."

"You guys should go off somewhere on a vacation." Trina advised. "Otherwise you'll get all tied up in that stuff you do."

chewed the inside of her lip, then impulsively handed off her wriggling bundle to Jade. "Here… say hello."

"A…bu…" Jade brought her hands up and took the baby in an instinctive gesture, then stood there staring nervously at him. "Yeah... he's cute. Here." She tried to hand him back, but Tori made a show of straightening her sling. "Tori…."

"Just hang on there for a minute." The brown eyes blinked innocently at her.

sighed, then brought the baby closer, and examined him curiously. Babies weren't her thing, generally, though she had nothing against them. This one was a fairly good size, and was kicking inside his covers, probably hungry, she figured. He had a wrinkled face, with tiny, pouty lips and a bitty nose, and his head was covered in a little white hat.

He gurgled. Jade raised an eyebrow, then tentatively touched a clutching hand with one fingertip. The baby grabbed at her with surprising strength, causing the other eyebrow to raise.

Tori watched in amused fascination. "What did you name him, Trina?"

Her sister sighed. "I haven't yet."

Both Jade and Tori looked at her in surprise.

"I know…I know… nine months, you'd figure I'd have a name already." Trina laughed wearily. "To tell the truth, I was really expecting another girl, so I had a bunch of names picked out that wouldn't really suit him." She paused. "What would you name a little boy, if you had one, Jade?"

"James." Both women answered together, then chuckled. "Yeah… you got me there." Jade unbent a little, and relaxed, playing idly with the baby's hand. "Dad would pretend not to like that, but he would. I guess That's a name we can think about." she added the last looking at her wife.

"You're still willing?" Tori asked. Jade shrugged. "God I love you."

"Your parents seem really nice." Trina smiled bemused at her sister's relationship. "Your mom really helped me out last night… I hope I get a chance to thank her." She held out her hands as Jade returned her baby to her, and cradled him. "You hungry, little man?" The baby yawned, and smacked his lips. "I guess so, huh?"

"Well, we don't want to hold up dinner…"Tori smiled, and rubbed her sister's arm. "We just wanted to stop by and say hello… we're leaving to go home tomorrow."

"Are you?" Trina looked surprised. "Is it over?"

"For now." Jade replied.

"This breaking news.." A voice came from the television, and they glanced over from sheer habit. "An FBI spokesman tonight has told CNN that an arrest has been made in the hospital bombing case."

"Whoa." Jade turned, and eased back, putting a casual arm around Tori's waist. "That was fast."

"Mm."

"FBI agents took into custody Mary Evanston, the alleged ex-partner of Senator Holly Vega. Ms. Evanston reportedly turned herself in, informing agents that she planned the bombing for revenge."

Three sets of eyes opened wide in total shock.

"Son of a…"Tori breathed, her jaw dropping. "Revenge for what?"

"When questioned about the motive, FBI agents stated that it appeared Ms. Evanston harbored a grudge allegedly resulting from the senator's reported abandonment of her when she announced her intention to marry David Vega, Her current spouse, at the start of her political career."

It was, truly, like being hit in the face with a bucket of cold tried to take it all in. "You mean…"

Trina hugged her new son. "Tori, that whole thing with that woman is true? Is mom Gay."

"Bisexual probably… Dad was a means to an end. Oh my God." Her world neatly flipped upside down. "No wonder Dad stuck by her.. he must have known all along."

"She was trying to kill you." Jade got out. "She was trying to kill all of you… but why now? She's been supporting her for almost thirty years, if that's true!"

Tori stared at the television screen, which was now rehashing the bombing. "Oh my God."

"Trina! Trina! You're not going to….oh!" Shelby came skidding around the corner, and jerked to a halt. "Oh…boy…Tori!" she ran over and hugged her twin sister. "Wow… oh...wow… boy I'm glad to see you."

"Ow." Tori gently moved one of her hands. "Careful.. I'm glad to see you too… you'll never believe what we just heard."

"Oh yeah I will! I just heard it too! You know what this means?" Shelby was almost stuttering.

"Yeah." Tori exhaled. "It means we almost died for a thirty year old rejection." She stared at the screen. "And over two hundred people did die." She turned her head and looked up at Jade, who was drinking it all in, analyzing the information with a familiar expression on her face. "This is going to be more than fifteen minutes of fame."

A soft knock came at the door. "Now what?" Tori muttered, as she looked over, to see Daniel's face hesitantly peeking in. "Oh yeah." She exhaled and rested her head against Jade's shoulder. "Way more than fifteen minutes."

"Don't much see why a new momma needs flowers." James muttered to himself. "Think they'd need something more practical, like a truckload of Pampers." He glanced around as he walked, searching for a logical place for them to have put an ex pregnant woman. Ceci had paused downstairs, intent on picking out a bouquet, and he'd decided to do a little scouting far from the scent of daisies.

He ambled along, ducking his head into the various rooms. "Closet. Head. Papers...whoops." He jerked his head back out of a waiting room, spotting a dour figure inside. "she ain't in no mood to be chit chatting, I don't think."

Jim got four or five steps further on when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Commander West?"

"Lord." The ex seal gave the bulletin board a plaintive look. "And just what did I do today to deserve this?" But he turned, and went to the doorway, putting one hand on the sill and peering inside. Holly Vega was now standing, looking back warily at him. "Yeap?"

The two studied each other, from worlds so vastly different, James doubted they had a single common frame of reference. Vega was perhaps ten years Jim's senior, educated, sophisticated…

And stupider than the day was long about her damn kid. "Did you want to cuss me out some more? Cause if you did, I've got lots better things fer me to do then listen to you vent hot air."

"No." The woman lifted a hand. "My people looked you up."

James grunted.

"You have quite an amazing record, Commander."

"I just did what Uncle Sam paid me to do, Senator." The ex seal answered quietly.

Vega sat down and rested her hands on her knees, not meeting James's eyes. "Well, you did the right thing yesterday. Good job."

One of Jim's dark eyebrows lifted. He moved into the room, and took a seat next to the older woman. "Wall… your husband did too." He allowed, graciously. "Ah think everybody done pretty well in that there mess."

There was an awkward silence, but James didn't see any reason to break it.

"I wanted, also, to thank you for stopping and giving us a hand to get out of that room." Holly finally said, clearly embarrassed.

A good SEAL learned to recognize an opportunity, and exploit it.

James had, surely, been a very good SEAL, having lived long enough to retire as one. "Hell, don't be thanking me, Senator." He stated. "Tori wasn't leaving till she found you." He absorbed the quick look, from wary gray eyes. "And my kid wasn't going anywhere without her, so..." He shrugged. "Ah just moved rocks."

"Yes, well." Holly made the words sound distasteful. "I'm sure she felt she had an obligation."

James let out a breath. "Makes me feel real comfortable knowing someone like you is up making laws, when you don't' even know squat about your own kid."

"Commander.." Holly replied stiffly.

"Don't you commander me, ya twenty watt bulb." James snorted. "What in the hell's wrong with you, anyhow? You been wearing noose around your neck so damn long it cut off the flow of blood to yer brain or something?"

"All right. That's enough, mister. Or I'll.."

"Or you all will do what?" James snorted. "Slap me around like you done to her? You will not like the results, ah can tell you that."

"I didn't.."

Now James stood up. "Senator, you will not sit there and tell me you did not take hold of Tori and put her up somewhere." He told the other man sternly. "Because even if she were the storytelling kind, which she ain't, mah kid surely is not, and she told the same tale." A pause. "And Jade would not lie to me."

Holly Vega also stood, and paced to the wall, slapping it in frustration. "God damn it, I was just trying to make her see reason!" She turned and put her hands on her hips. "It's my right as a mother to bring my children up as I see fit, and I don't care what anyone, including you thinks of that!"

"By locking her up?" James asked, incredulously.

"By putting her somewhere people could talk to her.. and give her guidance.. and whatever help she needed to get… to get over this…this.." The Senator swallowed bile. "Perversion."

"Like you done? And look where that got us?" Jim's eyebrows contracted, and he put both hands on his hips. "Cause she's in love with my daughter? Is that what you call that?" His voice dropped warningly.

A visible shudder went through the older woman's body. "How in the hell can you just sit there and say that, and not throw up?" She asked. "You're married.. you're in the military… you're not some whacked out whiney assed liberal!"

Jim sat down and crossed one ankle over his knee. "Wall." He scratched an ear. "Ah can tell you, Senator.. ah ain't never had feelings for any other male type individuals."

A snort.

"But being as ah spent thirty some years in the Navy, it ain't exactly a foreign notion to me." He continued dryly. "It ain't a foreign notion to you either. I got to tell you that don't ask don't tell notion you all came up with weren't a bad idea…cause if they all told, you all'd roll right up outta Capital Hill and bounce yer asses into the Potomac."

Vega just stared at him.

"Look." James sighed. "Mah family came from Alabama. Mah daddy was one of the hatingist bastards ah ever did meet, and ah got two brothers who got sent to prison fer beating half to death a young feller who didn't do nothing but be born a different color than they were."

The senator shifted uncomfortably. "Well…certainly that was the wrong thing to do but…"

"No buts, senator. It ain't right to teach a child to hate. No matter what the cause."

Now, the gray eyes were pinned on him intently.

"Ah grew up hearing how what we was made us better than what everybody else was, and believe you me, when ah chose to marry outside what we were, it was not a pretty sight." James paused, reflecting quietly. "What her folks done, and what mah folks done, hurt both of us." He shook his head.

"I don't. " Holly started to speak, then stopped. "It's not the same thing."

"Ain't it?" James asked.

"The Bible says it isn't." she replied stiffly.

"That there book was written by folks just as mixed up as you an me, Senator." Cool, blue eyes regarded her. "At any rate, ah looked at what damage all that hating had done to us, and I figgered out with myself, that if ah ever had kids, ah would not do to them what mah folks did to me." He took a breath. "Ah told myself, that no matter what them kids turned out like, if they was mean, or ugly, or stupid as a rock, I'd still hold em, and love em, and bring em up as best as I was able to."

Stony silence.

"Wall, Ma'am… I got lucky in the ugly and dumb departments." James lifted his head proudly. "Cause mah kid ain't neither of those things." He nodded slightly. "She's real smart, and real pretty, and she was damn lucky enough to find somebody out there in the world who'll love her the same way I love her mama."

"That's disgusting."

"It is not." James shot back. "It is not, Senator, and if you'd spend just an hour with the two of them and not think that, you'd know it too."

"Never." Vega shook her head in disgust, trying to dispel memories of her own. Did she cause her daughter to be this way. Was it all her fault that Tori was doing this? She shook her head again and waved a hand.

"Your loss." James shrugged, and stood up. "Cause your daughter is a damn fine human being, Senator, and I am glad the Lord let me live long enough to know her." He was getting mad, and that wasn't a good thing. Punching elected officials only got a man into more trouble than it was worth… and punching a woman… if you could call her that.

Vega snorted. "Until she can find a way to betray you. Have fun."

James turned, and pointed. "Don't you blame her fer that." He shook his head. "Be a woman, fer once, and take the responsibility fer what you get yerself didn't force you into none of that, Senator - and it's a sign of her goodness that she's able to see past her love fer you, and do the right thing."

And then he left, escaping into the hallway just in time to meet his wife getting off the elevator with a large arrangement. "Good Lord." James took it from her. "Thought you were getting flowers."

"I thought fruit and snacks would be more useful." Ceci told him amiably. "Where have you been? Making trouble?"

James glanced at her innocently from between two stalks of celery. "Hardly had time to do that." He blinked. "Much."

"Oh boy." Ceci muttered.