The Sparkle Club

[Demeter]

Rue smiled at Tranquility and gently stroked a hand up and down the woman's back. "You are very much welcome, Tranquility," she said while holding on to her. She slowly drew Tranquility down the floor, getting the woman to sit on the soft carpet. Eventually, Tranquility's emotions leveled out and and she was up, hopping around to look at all the other peices in the room. Though still missing several essential baby things, Rue had discreetly asked others for anything they wanted to give Tranquility. It was a way to show support but also keep a distance. She smiled as she listened to Rue discovering each thing, all of them carefully tagged to show who they were from and what they were.

She sat in the room, listening to the gasps and squeals. The rocking chair that Solaris had used to rock Tranquility asleep. The baby rattle that Rue's father had sent over and the well-loved stuffed dog from Sage's uncle Sylvester. From Darius and Genesis, came draws full of baby clothes in various sizes. Everyone she thought had sent something over. Besides the gift of the nursery and cradle, Rue had one more thing for Tranquility. She rose and went over to the closet. She'd started working on this item when she'd first learned about the baby.

Rue crossed to where Tranquility was sitting in the rocking chair and drapped the colorfull knitted baby blanket around her shoulders."And this is for keeps as every baby deserves their own blanket."

***

Once Tranquility was rested, Rue drove her to the nearest baby store and, after parking her in one of those electric carts, they foraged the shelves for anything they thought a baby might need. Rue was trying to make this fun for Tranquility and she thought she might be succeding when she heard the woman giggling at her. From her place on the showroom floor, surrounded by examples of baby strollers, Rue grinned up at Tranquility. "What? Baby stuff is so much cooler now that when I had my daughter," she tapped one of the strollers with a nail. "This one has a LCD screen that tells you how far you've gone and how fast. And it is power folding. We should get it. Can we?"

[Maira]

Instead of resting in her own room, Tranquility had flaked out on the window seat in the baby's room. The view out the window was pretty, it overlooked the garden after all, but that wasn't why she had chosen that spot. She'd decided to crash in the baby's room purely because she couldn't stop looking at everything. Her eyes had drifted closed gazing at the beautiful murals and the hand-me-down cradle. Both from Rue. Both perfect examples of just how much she already loved the baby that Tranquility was still having trouble deciding if she even wanted to keep.

Once she had woken from her nap, Rue had dragged her out shopping for what baby gear the nursery wasn't already packed with. And baby clothes. Tranquility hadn't found out the gender of the baby purely on a whim that she wanted a surprise, but Rue didn't care and was throwing boy and girl clothes in the basket of her motorized cart. Tranquility picked out a couple neutral outfits and added them to the pile but most everything in the cart was courtesy of Rue. When they got to the section with the strollers, Tranquility nearly laughed herself out of the cart. She had never seen so many gadgets on a stroller before, nor had she ever seen anybody spaz so much over a stroller.

Holding her side where it hurt from laughing so hard, Tranquility finally answered her, "Yes mama Rue, we can get you and the baby the fancy stroller. I'll walk the dogs." The thought of what people would see when they all went out for a walk had Tranquility laughing even harder. Super tall Rue pushing the fancy stroller with the baby, and short little Tranquility walking a giant puppy and a tiny pug. Wow, what a group!

*****

Even though she was a week and a half past her due date, once Honor had decided come, labor was fast and furious. Tranquility had been having contractions on and off for weeks and Genesis had said nothing was really happening when she checked to see if she was at all dialated. Apparently at some point between her last appointment with Genesis and the night the baby came something -had- been happening from those contractions. Tranquility had planned on having the baby at the hospital but she never got there. She had gone to bed with contractions, not for the first time, and had woken up with her bed soaked and the contractions right on top of each other. She was barely able to hobble down the hallway to Rue's door, knock on it and then just walk in on her way to the master bathroom with its giant jacuzzi tub. As she'd walked through the room she had yelled hoarsely, "Call Genesis!" then she had made her way to the bathroom and filled the tub. She knew that things were already too far along to bother with packing everything up and heading to the hospital.

Luckily having Genesis so close meant her response time was quick and she was at Rue's house in no time. She found Tranquility laboring in the tub with a slightly shocked Rue putting pressure on her lower back and Solaris holding a cold washcloth on the back of her daughter's neck. Genesis didn't even get the chance to check Tranquility's progress because only 20 minutes after the midwife-curantis arrived she was pushing. Once she started pushing, it only took 15 more minutes and Honor was in her arms after a very surprise home water birth. She had planned on trying out the hospital's birthing tub so the water birth part was almost expected, it was the -where- that was a surprise.

With the labor being so quick, and the guest room being on the bottom floor of the house, Thanos and Satoshi hadn't been woken by the early morning arrival of their grand-daughter but once Tranquility was settled in Rue's bed (her own needed to be stripped and have the linens washed), Tranquility had asked her mother to go get them so they could meet her. When Solaris left, Genesis had stepped out too, presumably to make breakfast and coffee for everybody, and left Rue, Tranquility and the baby alone in Rue's room. Rue was clearly tired from the labor and birth that had happened in her bedroom, and she couldn't stop staring at the baby. As Rue had a king size bed, and as Tranquility and Honor were both small, and since she clearly wanted to get closer to the baby, Tranquility said softly, "Its your bed and its more than big enough for all three of us." When it looked like she was going to argue something, Tranquility just shook her head and glared half-heartedly at the taller woman. "Get in bed with us Rue, we want to snuggle."

Once Rue crawled carefully into bed with them, Tranquility leaned happily against her and propped the baby up so she could see her better and whispered to the baby, "Say hi to your mama Rue sweetheart." Honor's dark grey-blue baby eyes opened sleepily at her mother's voice and she seemed to look in Rue's direction for just a moment before they closed again and she nuzzled into Tranquility's breast. Then, just as softly as she'd spoken to Honor, Tranquility asked Rue, "If you still want to adopt her, I think I'd like that but only if you'll do it as her second parent. I'm not better, I know I'm not, but I want her and I want you and I know that you would be great for her." At Rue's silence, Tranquility looked up from the happily nursing infant and tried to read the other woman's face.

[Demeter]

Rue crawled into her own bed and snuggled up next to Mom and baby. She gently ghosted a finger down the curve of Honor’s cheek before mirroring the motion on Tranquility. “Silly woman,” she said, “of course I still want her and I still want you. We’ll work out details later. Right now is not for details.”

They sat together for a while, admiring the baby. Once Tranquility drifted into sleep, Rue scooped up Honor. She tucked the baby into the bassinet that Solaris had wheeled into the room while the two women were otherwise occupied. She glanced at a corner of her room and sighed. A quick motion of her head had Ratri and Gus trotting over to her. Earlier, the hellhound puppy had not been happy at being barred from the room while her mistress was in pain.

Now that Ratri seemed more curious than pissed off at being separated from Tranquility, Rue showed her the baby. The bassinet was low enough, and Ratri tall enough, that the hound could look down at Honor. With her fingers on Ratri’s neck, Rue kept her back a few feet. “This is Honor, your new sister. You have to protect her, just like you do for your mom.”

Ratri whined and pressed against Rue’s legs. “Yes, I know she’s very small right now but she’ll get bigger. You just have to be careful till then. It’s kinda like Gus; you never step on him except when he’s being stupid. Which,” Rue sighed,” is often for Gus.” Both woman and hellhound looked towards the pug, half stuck under a chair. “Very often,” Rue corrected herself.

****

Life with baby Honor was interesting. When Tranquility needed help, she’d run to Rue and if Rue couldn’t figure it out, they’d both go bolting to Genesis or Solaris. For any toys they received that included the words assembly required, they pasted off to Darius for construction; mostly to keep the man busy.
Getting approval for Rue to have shared custody of Honor was causing some stress however. The father was thoroughly dead but his surrounding family was raising a stink about it. With Darius, Tranquility’s family, Rue’s own noble father and uncle Sylvester all throwing their weight behind the two women, things had been going smoothly till now. Before now, the father’s family had shown no interest in Honor.

When the adoption had been contested, they’d cited Rue as the objection and demanded full custody. At first, they’d thought it was because of her profession and ownership of a strip club but no, that wasn’t the problem. It turned out that Rue’s very existence was the problem. The father’s family wanted revenge for the death of their elder son, many years ago, by Rue’s own hand.

Life was full of crazy twists, Rue thought as she set the phone down. Super Spy Remmie had just called to let her know why the other family as raising a fuss and now she had to tell Tranquility.

Had to tell her the whole fucking mess.

Before searching out Tranquility, Rue placed a quick call to London. She didn’t, or couldn’t, remember everything. After hanging up the phone, Rue sought out Tranquility. She found the woman sitting on the floor of Honor’s room, folding laundry while the baby napped. The one month old was starting to settle into a routine but nap time was a golden time for her Mommas. Rue sat down next to Tranquility and plucked a onesie out of the basket. “That as Remmie. He knows why they want custody. It’s not because of what I do. It’s because of who I am. They want revenge for killing their son. It was so many years ago but they still haven’t given up.” Rue crushed the onesie in her hands. “I have to tell you why. It’s not pretty but you have to know all of it. I hope you don’t mind but I’ve invited my father, brother and a family friend over from England. They know the parts that I can’t remember. If you don’t want to stay while they are here, I will understand.”

[Maira]

Honor's first month of life had taken a lot of adjusting for Tranquility. She hadn't been ready to be a parent, but motherhood seemed almost second-nature to her, for which she was incredibly grateful. How it was that the little redheaded ruler of the house was already sleeping through the night she had no idea but she really wasn't sure she would be handling motherhood nearly so well if she wasn't. The only thing about the past month that had been too horrible was the attempt to get Honor adopted by Rue. What a nightmare. Tranquility had been trying to let Carma and the people with influence handle things, but she was too much of a lawyer to keep her nose completely out of things and what she saw/read/heard was enough to make her angry enough that Rue hid the sharp things and the breakables in the house.

At the moment, those troubles were forcefully tucked away in a back corner of her mind where she wasn't allowed to dwell on them. Nap time was her time to relax and thinking about her rapist's family trying to steal her new baby daughter away was anything but relaxing. Instead she was plopped on one of the soft rugs in Honor's room, one right next to her dressers, and was folding laundry as Honor snoozed in the cradle that had been Rue's.

When Rue came in, Tranquility smiled up at the tall woman and then turned her gaze toward sleeping Honor. When the little girl didn't even twitch a finger at her other mama's entrance, Tranquility went back to quietly folding the mountain of baby clothes in the laundry basket on the floor beside her. When Rue sat down and snagged a onesie from the basket to help, Tranquility didn't think anything of it as they often did baby chores together. Only when Rue opened her mouth and dropped a bomb on Tranquility did she stop what she was doing. To say she was shocked by Rue's words was an understatement. The more Rue kept talking, the more Tranquility's eyes widened as she stared blankly at the baby tights in her hands. Only when Rue gave her an out to leave while her family was in town did Tranquility finally look up at the other woman. "Are you nuts?" she asked a more harshly than she meant to in response.

Shaking her head in disbelief at the whole messed up situation, and to try and get her thoughts straight in her head, Tranquility took a steadying breath and tried again. "I'm not leaving Rue. At least, not unless they plan on invading for months at a time in which case I might go for a little vacation at the Stronghold. Still, you said this is my home now and it is certainly Honor's. And while its not legal yet you are our family so that makes them our family too. We will stay." In her mind she was also thinking that if her and Honor did leave the relative safety of being so close to Darius, she was afraid that those crazy bastards who were trying to get full custody of Honor would just stoop to kidnapping her. The only times that Tranquility had left the house with Honor in the past month she was always with somebody.

[Demeter]

Rue gathered her family around her. Well, everyone except Sage. Who knew where her daughter was at the moment. Sage had a bad history with cell phones; she either broke or lost them on a regular basis.

She also gathered Tranquility's family around, inviting all three of her parents, Remmie, Ransom and Kai to dinner. She even asked Darius and Genesis to come; knowing that they needed all the help the could get. The Jekyll family had a very legitimate claim against her.

Dinner was eaten buffet style and Baby Honor was passed from person to person while Rue's brother George and his friend Sylvester told stories of their youth. Most of them ended with Rue in some sort of embarrassing situations. More then one dinner roll was thrown at the two men. After dinner, when Honor had settle down in her swing, Rue curled up next to her father, leaning against his side.

It was Marcus who spoke first. "I suppose this whole mess is my fault. I underestimated my ex-wife. Lisette was fine with Rue when she and her mother lived outside the house but when Rue's mother died and I brought Rue into my house to be raised along side my legitimate children, well, let's just say Lisette wasn't pleased.

"I put my foot down, telling her that Rue would be treated like any of my children but no one expected her do what she did."

Rue picked up the thread. "I was eighteen and enjoying my first London season. I was also attracting some extremely eligible suitors. Lisette once told me that if I had been a wallflower, this wouldn't have happened but I've never been accustomed to being a wall flower. Father was away, a problem with an estate, and George, Vanessa and Tobias were away at a house party.

"I had been living with Aunt Roberta during the season but I went to the town house to get something. Lisette was there; she knocked me out and with her brother's help, took me to Dover. Her brother accompanied me across the channel to France, telling everyone to ignore my screams for help as I was quite insane. Once in France, I was sold to a procuress, taken to a brothel, had my shifter abilities sealed away and was hidden from my goddess. I was sold again, this time to the highest bidder and nine years of hell followed."

Her father picked up the thread. "George and I, we tore England up looking for Rue. We questioned everyone from her late mother's family to random people on the street. For three years, we chased the slightest rumors. Then Lisette, in a fit of anger, told me what she'd done. In response, I dumped my wife in the dower house and my most remote estate and moved my mistress, who is now my wife, into her chambers. We still looked but, bound as she was, we never found a solid clue about where Rue was."

Rue spoke again. "The first seven years of my captivity were relatively easy compared to the last two. I don't think I need to go into details. I was a sex slave; forced to do unspeakable acts during those years. Some owners were cruel, others were less cruel. My first seven pregnancies happened during those seven years. I was forced to abort them all.

"And then Alyxander Jekyll happened. Alyxander, had he lived, would have been Honor's uncle; elder brother to her father. He purchased me and he was brutal in his use of me. Mental, physical, emotional and sexual abuse. I was his punching bag, his prey. He'd drug me heavily to make me want it. He'd let his friends use me. Twice he purposefully got me pregnant, let me carry and give birth only to smother both babies right in front of my eyes," Rue had to pause, breath hitching, to press her hands to her face.

"After the last child, he grew careless and I snapped. He left me unshackled one day and when he came to use me, I attacked. I had a dinner knife and I remember stabbing him repeatedly. Solace broke through the charms meant to keep me from shifting and I mauled the man. I escaped, attacking anyone who tried to stop me. I don't remember much except that I was in England and that it was winter."

Sylvester spoke. "Best we can tell is that Solace travelled from Cardiff to London in about a week. She showed up shortly before Christmas. His Grace had retired to the country but George was at the London house that winter, along with his wife, Amelia. I was also at the townhouse that winter. George and Amelia were out at some entertainment when Rue showed up. I was entertaining my fiancé, now my wife, Isadora, when the butler informed me that an unfortunate person had taken up residence on the rear stoop. He wanted me to do something about it.

"so I go out there and it's Rue on the stoop. I was shocked and didn't do anything but Isadora's mother, who'd followed me, asked me if that was the Lady Rue. I nodded and she took charge. Suddenly maids were rushing about to prepare a room and fetching things. Footmen and grooms had been sent to get a healer, Rue's brother and His Grace, the duke. The Cook was firing up the stove and I found myself carrying Rue up the stairs.

Marcus broke in. "I couldn't believe the message at first but still I ordered up my coach and we, Annabelle and myself, travelled to London. Rue's condition when we got there was terrible. She had a fever that the healers couldn't break. And that was in addition to the exhaustion and malnutrition, the marks on her body. The healers could tell that she'd recently given birth but there was no child."

Rue spoke. "When I woke up, I clung to my father. When travel was possible, I returned to the family's country manor. I lived there for two years, healing, before venturing into society. At first, it was good; my mysterious disappearance and sudden return made me intriguing and then the rumors started. I became notorious and not in a good way. And then Alyxander's mother showed up at a ball, screaming that I was a whore, that I'd seduced her son and murdered him. I fled back to the country.

"My troubles didn't end there. Oh no, they grew worse. "Gentlemen I didn't know started propositioning me. My former owners were writing me. And then it happened. It was during a house party that Dudley raped me. I'd been in the country for a year and was helping Isadora, who'd always been a friend, when Sylvester's brother started pressing his attentions on me.

"Near the end of the house party, he cornered me in the greenhouse and ravished me. Sylvester caught him at it and banished him to the continent but the damage was done. Within weeks, I recognized the signs of pregnancy and Sage was born. That it, Willow," she said, using her pet name for Tranquility, "That's my horrible, miserable past. That's why they want Honor; as revenge for being a wanton seducer who murdered their precious first born in cold blood. Excuse me," she mumbled before pushing of the couch and running from the room.

Remmie grabbed his sister as she followed Rue and pulled her down. "Let Ransom take care of her. We have to work out a plan to Honor here."

When Ransom left to track down Rue and Tranquility protested, Solaris took her daughter's hand. "I know you want to take care of Rue, Baby, but you need to help us protect Honor. Ransom, he can help Rue. He knows," Solaris didn't elaborate on what Ransom knew but she squeezed Tranquility's hand. "Remmie, what do we know?" Solaris asked while holding onto her daughter.

"The head of the Jekyll family is suing on the grounds that neither Rue nor Tranquility are fit to be Honor's parents. They cite Rue's illegitimacy and her club as well as, and I quote, 'being an immoral, wanton seducer who knowingly involved herself in deviant sexual acts and is suspected of being involved in the murder of an upstanding citizen'. We all know that's a load of bullshit. Tranquility, they say that you're being influenced by Rue and creating an unhealthy environment for Honor. They also say that if you hadn't gotten involved with Rue, thus your rapist wouldn't have felt the need to 'save' you from the wanton seducer, thus you wouldn't have been attacked and Honor wouldn't have been born. They claim that by being Honor's guardians they could raise her to be a boon to society and not have the blight of her mother's stupidity forced on her. Also a load of bullshit. We are superior to them in every way."

After a round of everyone protesting what the Jekyll family had to say about Rue and Tranquility, Remmie leaned forward. "So, what do we do about it?"

Later, when everyone went to leave for the night, Tranquility found Rue cuddled up to her brother and sleeping soundly. When he saw her, Ransom smiled at Tranquility. "Hey, everyone ready to go?" he asked softly.

Ransom slowly eased out from underneath Rue. He looked at the sleeping woman. "Don't let her stay there. She'll get a stiff neck. Night, Kid, I'll see you later."

He was almost to the stairs when he turned back. "Hey, Tranquility, none of this is your or her fault. Wither it was five minutes, five months, nine years and then some or," he paused to indicate himself (he knew that no one had ever told Tranquility about his own captivity) "five centuries, none of us are at fault for what has been done to us," he said before heading up to the stairs to where Kai was waiting for him.

[Maira]

The gossip and storytelling and baby snuggling part of the evening was amazing. Tranquility had never felt so at peace. Here she was with her little family, surrounded by their bigger extended family and there was nothing but love and laughter surrounding them. What happened after dinner, Rue's horrible tale of her past followed by her not being allowed to go comfort the woman and then being subjected to everybody talking about her own attacker, had Tranquility feeling not only useless but alienated and more than a little panicky. She hadn't realized that hearing about Rue's past would trigger memories of her own abuse during her time in captivity.

Once everybody was finally getting ready to go to their own rooms in the house or leave to their own homes Tranquility was finally allowed to go find Rue and Ransom. Seeing her lover snuggled up to, and sleeping on, her older brother caused mixed emotions to swell in her. At his words she did her best to fight the tears that were trying to come and only after his back was turned as he went up the stairs did she finally give in and let them fall and with them came sobs and the awful memories she'd been trying to ignore all evening. With a quick look at Rue to make sure she was still sleeping, Tranquility hurried into the guest room next to the library and shut the door behind her.

It had been since before she moved in with Rue since she'd had a flashback and she had thought she was getting better, thought she was moving beyond the helplessness and terror that they caused her to relive. All the time had done was allow her to lower her walls against the pain and so it hit her even harder that it had when she'd still had her mental guard up. So, completely absorbed in the memories, Tranquility curled up on the guest bed and wrapped herself around one of the pillows so she could cry into it and hopefully muffle the sounds enough not to wake Rue.

She was so lost in her own mental torment that she had no idea of the passage of time and she didn't even hear when the door opened behind her. She didn't hear Rue calling her name softly either, only when the bed shifted with somebody's added weight did Tranquility realize she wasn't alone, and lost in the flashback her first thought was that it was the man who had hurt her and she screamed and scrambled off the bed, throwing the pillow at whoever had crawled onto the bed behind her. Then, she bolted for the bedroom door trying to escape.

[Demeter]

Rue yelped as she was hit with a pillow and tumbled off the bed. Still disoriented from the evening and the headache that was pounding at her temples. Helplessly she watched as Tranquility fumbled with the door before bolting from the room. Groaning, Rue slumped to the floor and just laid there. Cursing the Jekyll family, she stared up at the ceiling and invented new ways of death.

Upstairs, in a guest room across from his parents, Ransom heard someone running through the hallways. He hadn't slept yet, the discussions of the day bringing back old memories. He, unlike the two women, had a better handle on controlling his feeling and emotions regarding his years of captivity. He pushed out of the chair he'd sat in and, glancing at Kai, left the room. He followed the sound sobbing to Rue and Tranquility's bedroom.

He peered into the room and saw his sister curled up in the corner. He crossed to the young woman and kneeled down next to her. He reached out and gently shook her knee. When the girl looked up, Ransom saw nothing but terror in her eyes. "Tranquility, little sister, come back to the world."

When she didn't respond, Ransom cursed. She was too deep in her memories and he needed some way to drag her back out. The answer came to him when Honor started to cry. Rising, Ransom turned and went to the baby's room. Maybe if his sister heard her child, she would snap back. He gently lifted the baby and cross back to his sister's bedroom. Kneeling down, with the crying child in his arms, Ransom nudged Tranquility.

When she jumped, Ransom deposited Honor into her mother's arms. "Take care of your child, Sister, and then we will talk."

[Maira]

Tranquility wasn't sure exactly when or how she had gotten to her bedroom, but a soft familiar little cry finally caught her attention and then her arms were filled with her squirming baby daughter as Ransom brought Honor to her to comfort. Her maternal instincts were finally enough to override the flashback and with a shudder as her brain and body shifted gears, she uncurled from where she'd been hiding in the corner and went about re-settling Honor for the night. After nursing her for a few quick minutes, the baby girl drifted peacefully back to sleep and Tranquility was able to lay her down in the heirloom cradle from Rue's family. She watched her for a moment to make sure she wasn't going to wake back up and then she went back into her and Rue's bedroom, Ransom was still waiting for her.

As she entered the room, Tranquility didn't quite know where to look or what to say. Finally she just admitted, embarassed, "I thought I was getting better. I've never had one hit me so hard." Then, not quite sure she was remembering things correctly she added almost in a whisper, "And I think I threw a pillow at Rue..."

Tranquility had always been such an independent spirit, had never really liked depending on other people, but over the past few months she had learned to let Rue in. Now, faced with an older brother that she barely knew, she wanted nothing more than for him to hug her and tell her everything would be okay and actually have it happen. She'd never even really gone to her parents much as a child when she was upset, but seeing the one person in her life she'd allowed into her heart so comforted by Ransom, she couldn't help but hope he'd be able to help her too.

[Demeter]

Ransom led his sister to the couch in the bedroom and sat next to her. "It's been 25 years since I was rescued from the 500 years I spent in captivity and, sometimes, I still get horrible flashbacks. I haven't slept tonight for fear of a nightmare. I'd wondered, when I first learn about tonight's discussion, if you were as settled as you seemed to be. I'm not going to tell you what happened to me, otherwise you won't get any sleep tonight."

Ransom really didn't know how to act around his sister. He knew how to behave around brothers but sisters were a level beyond him, especially ones he didn't know. "It takes time, Tranquility, to heal. You'll never forget what happens but instead of letting what happened become what defines you, you have to define it. Take what you experienced and turn it around. Use it to your advantage. Don't bottle it up otherwise you'll never be able to move past it and, like Rue, it will fester. She's let it linger for so long without coming to terms with her past that now, she blames herself for what is happening with Honor and for what happened to you. What I got out of her before she dropped off to sleep was that she thinks she is to blame for what happened," Ransom turned to look at Tranquility. "Neither one of you is at fault for what happened, just as I am not responsible for what my half-brother did to me for five centuries."

Ransom leaned back against the couch's back. "I'm not saying that it will be easy. It took me 25 years before I could even stand to be around crowds. With the love of a very good man, I've been able to put things back together. Kai was the one to shove me out of the comfortable rut I'd fallen into. And now, I'm applying to the local university to start taking courses to become a counselor."

Ransom pulled his sister close and hugged her. "Don't think you are a failure just because you've had a bad episode. And I think Rue will forgive you for throwing a pillow at her. Now, get to bed."

[Maira]

His calm manner, reassuring words, and strong arms hugging her did wonders for soothing Tranquility. Maybe if she'd had her brother Ransom around as a child she would have learned to let other people into her heart more easily. Once he was finished talking to her and told her to get to bed, Tranquility was able to give him a small smile of gratitude. "Thank you Ransom," was all she said to her brother before getting off the couch and wandering back to where she'd likely thrown a pillow at her soon-to-be wife.

When she entered the room, Tranquility found Rue laying on the floor staring at the ceiling. She cleared her throat to get the other woman's attention and when Rue finally looked at her, Tranquility apologized, "Sorry for the pillow," and then looked sheepishly at her feet. She had no idea what else she could say or do that wouldn't possibly upset the other woman so she just remained silent and waited for her to make the next move.

[Demeter]

Rue didn't know how Remmie did it. How did he even find these people, let alone the documents pertaining to her nine years of hell. He really was a master spy, Rue thought as she stared at the four of the men standing before her. And all of them had pissed off wives. 

None of those women were angry at her but at their husbands to have the gaul to actually say they'd owned a living person. They'd all come to apologize to her and to provide testimony that everything had been against her will. She turned to look to at Remmie but had no words. 

He just winked at her. "Family sticks together, kid, and you are family," he said before going back to talking with Carma and Tranquility, the legal gurus of the family. Once Carma had given her the task of legal research, Tranquility's focus seemed to snap to attention.

Looking around at all the people gathering to help her and Tranquility, and to apologize for how they'd treated her, Rue just couldn't help it. She burst into tears and dove straight into her Tranquility's arms. 

[Maira]

When Carma finally gave her something to do Tranquility felt worlds better. Before he'd figured out a task for her, she had been a hormonal weepy mess. Somebody was trying to take her baby, was interfering with Rue's desire to adopt her, and without something to focus on she had just been a wreck.

She'd been talking with Carma and Remmie about the legalities involved in stopping Honor's father's family from taking her when all of a sudden she had her arms full of Rue. Small little Tranquility holding and comforting amazon-like Rue was quite the sight for those in the room with them. Knowing that Rue probably wanted some privacy, Tranquility made eyes at Remmie and Carma. Both men knew her well enough that at least one of them should have understand her unspoken plea for them to clear everybody out of the room.

As soon as the two women had some privacy, Tranquility led Rue to a comfortable chair and made her sit. Even though she was the one doing the comforting, it was still easier for Tranquility to crawl into Rue's lap so that is exactly what she did. As soon as Rue was seated, Tranquility crawled up into the taller woman's lap and wrapped her arms around her, kissing her cheeks and forehead and lips. She stroked Rue's hair, and gently caressed her cheek.

Tranquility had a lot of practice, of late, soothing a crying female but Honor was significantly easier to know what had prompted the crying and much easier to placate. When Rue calmed enough to listen and answer back, Tranquility asked what had set her off. Hearing Rue's answer, Tranquility just smiled. Her own answer was warm and, she hoped, comforting. "Remmie is right you know, you're family and families take care of each other. You are ours Rue, mine and Honor's. Nobody will ever keep us, especially her, from you. Now that Carma has let me have a look at the papers and has put me to work on things I've got a pretty good idea of how we can fix this whole thing. Those men that came today will be part of it. Everything -will- turn out just fine."

She wasn't one to make promises, or even hint at them, normally but at this moment with everything finally making sense and turning around Tranquility felt comfortable telling Rue in no uncertain terms that everything was going to be okay. A smile still on her face, Tranquility lifted Rue's chin with her right hand and after looking into the other woman's eyes for a moment, she softly said, "I love you Rue," then she leaned in and kissed her.

[Demeter]

Rue decided that today was a good day and took the baby out into the yard. Tranquility was out, doing lawyer things for Darius. Despite Tranquilitiy's mutterings about dusty law libraries and dull property settlements, Rue had this image of the woman dressed in some stuffy suit and ripping apart some dastardly villain in a criminal case. She liked the idea. A lot.

Rue wondered exactly what it would take to get a law library table into the house and to get Tranquility into an stuffy pinstripe suit. If that happened, she could then show her mate just how much she liked the idea of Lawyer Tranquility.

A happy squeal distracted her and she watched as the hellhound puppy dropped her ball next to baby Honor and nosed it. "Silly girl. She can't throw yet. Bring it here."

The process to adopt little Honor was coasting along; the father's family backing off when confronted by the counter-suit from The Family. They must not have done enough research into her and Tranquility's connections, Rue thought as she tossed the ball into the bushes.

Still, she was wary of taking Honor off the grounds of the house. Her paternal grandparents had failed, legally, to gain custody but she didn't think they were going to stop there. She'd almost decided that the baby had had enough time out in the sun when she heard the yelp.

Frowning, Rue gathered Honor and went in search of the puppy. She found the hellhound sprawled on the ground and out cold. Before Rue could push through the underbrush, something hard hit her head snd she pitched forward. Mid-fall, she heard Honor start screaming as she was plucked away and then she knew nothing but darkness.

[Maira]

The law library had indeed been dusty and her fellow library patrons were even stuffier than she remembered. When she was finally finished with her duties for the day, Tranquility was extremely happy to leave for home. She wanted nothing more than to change out of her suit, also stuffier than she'd remembered, and go out to play in the backyard with her lover, their daughter, and her puppy.

Traffic was awful on the way home, it was Friday at quitting time after all, so by the time she pulled into the driveway of their home, Tranquility was thoroughly frustrated and distracted. She hurried upstairs to her room so she could change, taking note of the empty house on her way. She figured that Rue, Honor, and the dogs were already out back enjoying the early summer sunshine and warmth. A sparkle in her eye, Tranquility tossed aside her suit and undergarments and she pulled out her bikini for the first time that season.

Towel in hand, Tranquility practically bounced down the stairs and out onto the back patio. Fully expecting to see her little family sitting in the shade of one of the trees or playing in the pool, she stopped in her tracks when they were nowhere in sight. Apparently Rue's little dog had heard her come out of the house and he came running from the opposite end of the house yapping at her. But he didn't come up to her and jump on her in greeting like he normally did. His tail wasn't wagging. There was what appeared to be blood smeared on his muzzle.

Despite the summer sun, Tranquility was suddenly ice cold. Dropping her towel, she raced through the slightly-too-long grass nearly tripping over Rue's dog as he ran with her yapping the whole way. When she reached the corner of the house, the dog kept running and Tranquility stumbled to a stop. Panic threatened to render her useless, but at just that moment her phone started vibrating at her from where she'd tucked it in the top of her bikini before heading downstairs. She squeaked before fumbling to get the thing out and answered. Only, after hitting the answer button, she forgot to greet the person on the other end. It took Carma's familiar voice asking, "Tranquility, are you there?" before she was able to focus enough to speak. "Rue is hurt, she's bleeding from her head and not moving and Ratri looks like she put up a struggle but she's out cold too." Only as she finished talking did Tranquility notice another small but very important detail to the scene. Nearly breathless, Tranquility told her boss "Oh Goddess, Carma the baby is gone. Honor's blanket is next to Rue but she's gone...." Tranquility sank to her knees in the grass, dropping her phone, and shook as tears filled her eyes and silently poured down her cheeks.

[Demeter]

Carma mobilized their search and rescue unit in order to locate little Honor while Genesis tended to Rue. Or rather, she would have tended to Rue if the woman’s canine half hadn’t woken up and taken control of things. One minute she had the woman stretched out on the ground and the next she was confronted with the Dire Wolf named Solace. Yelping at the sudden transformation, Genesis was knocked back onto her butt as Solace, snarling, crawled from the woods.

Someone had taken her pup.

She walked right into the crowd of people, bumping against Tranquility. Solace had already been introduced to Tranquility. ‘Rue is fine, Willow, but we need my abilities now.’

After consoling her mate, Solace turned her nose to the ground and sniffed out the smell of her pup and her captors. With everyone following after her, Solace led them along the trail.

[Maira]

After various members of the family had arrived, somebody had seen to getting Tranquility some clothes to put on over her bikini. She hurried to slip into her shorts while Genesis started her evaluation of Rue and she was just pulling on the t-shirt, Rue's judging by the size, when the woman shifted suddenly into her dire wolf half. Seeing the wolf up and mobile nearly sent Tranquility into tears again. If the wolf was okay, then Rue would be too. At Solace's words in her mind, Tranquility was both startled and comforted. The wolf hadn't spoken to her before, but she was glad that her thoughts about Rue being okay were correct.

When Solace left her side, to pick up a scent, Tranquility made to follow her but Saiyuri gently grabbed her arm and held her in place. "You've been through too much today already," Saiyuri told Tranquility as the others followed Solace. When Tranquility tried to pull away from the taller woman declaring herself just fine to help hunt down her daughter, Saiyuri gently shoved Tranquility at Ransom who had just arrived. With Tranquility safely in her older brother's care, Saiyuri told her, "This is my job, Tranquility, I will help Solace find your daughter and then I will punish those who took her," then she too was off after the dire wolf.

As she watched the majority of the family leave, following her dire wolf mate, Tranquility began to tremble. Though whether from anger, fear, or despair she wasn't sure. There was a soft whimper at her feet and when she looked down, Ratri was staring up at her with sad puppy eyes and a bandage on her head. Worming out of Ransom's embrace, Tranquility plopped down in the grass so the overgrown puppy could crawl into her lap.

**Sorry,** came a soft voice in her mind in much the same way Solace's had come. Startled, Tranquility looked at her puppy in astonishment. Hellhounds, like hellhorses, weren't supposed to be able to -speak- with their handlers until they were much older so just how was she able to hear Ratri? Deciding that she hadn't actually heard anything, Tranquility decided she had just been putting words to the puppy's obvious distress over the whole situation.

As she sat with the puppy in her lap and her brother beside her, his arm around her shoulders, Tranquility started to feel a little nauseated. She closed her eyes against the feeling in her stomach only to have her skin flush hot and painful. **Can we help hunt now?** the same soft puppy voice came to Tranquility's mind, still sad but also eager to help find her family's youngest pup.

The pain moved from her skin to her muscles and finally to her bones. She was in full body agony and she felt like she was going to be ill, then she felt something inside of her mind separate from the rest of her. It seemed to be stretching after a long nap. The new part of her was a separate presence in her mind, she couldn't understand how this could be possible but she had a feeling she knew what it meant. Fear radiating off of her, Tranquility turned to Ransom and begged hoarsely, "Find a shifter! Please!" And then her own mind was silenced as the new presence surged to the surface, causing her body to contort and shift into an entirely new form.

Her shorts were shredded in the shift but luckily Rue's shirt was big enough that, even with her much larger size and different body shape, it managed to survive. Squirming her way out of the shirt was a challenge, but once she was free, the new Were turned to the puppy and answered her, **Yes, now we can help hunt.** Not caring, or unaware, that Tranquility had begged Ransom to find help, the pale brindled wolf loped out of the yard followed by a very eager hellhound puppy.

[Demeter]

When her nose led her the gasoline scented roadway, Solace growled and stomped her paws. The scent of the kidnapper, already slick and slimy like oil, had faded in with the rest of the road-smells. Cursing, Solace fell back on Rue's knowledge. There were no doubts that the kidnapper was either part of the Jekyll clan or had been hired by them. The best place to start would be that clans house here in Cedar Valley.

After passing that information on, Solace paced the grass beside the roadway while transportation was scrambled. For each second she waited, it meant more time that someone could be hurting her pup. Distracted by her thoughts, Solace didn't notice when Ratri and another young one came tumbling out of the woods. She did, however notice when the hellhound puppy tripped over oversized paws and crashed into her. Whipping around, she growled. 'Ratri! What are you doing here? You are supposed to be with Tranquility!'

The puppy whined and cowered under the Direwolf's comments and rolled to show her belly. 'We came to help, Solace. Honor is ours to look after as well.'

'We? What we?'

'Me and Willow. She doesn't know how to use her nose yet; I showed her the way.' Ratri whined, pride evident in her mental voice about how she taught her friend to scent.

'Willow?' Solace's voice was soft as she raised her head to stare at the pale brindled wolf who stood at the edge of the woods. 'But how? When?'

She might have waited for an answer but Jeeps were screeching to halt at the side if the road and doors were being opened. 'Not now. Get in,' she commanded as she leapt into the Jeep driven by Saiyuri. She could get answers later; Honor was more important then finding out when her mate had been turned by a wolf shifter.