One-way Ticket

[Maira]

When Thera bounced out of her bedroom, leaving baby Isolde in her care, Livvy watched in sheer terror as the door shut behind the older woman. What the hell had just happened?

*****

The night had been fraught with baby cries despite all of Livvy's best efforts to calm them. Growing up among both the Pard and the Kindle and as part of the Delorme family, Livvy had always been surrounded by babies and as a young teenager she had been roped into babysitting too many times to count. Even colicky babies. Most of the time the colicky babies calmed for her eventually, but Isolde was different. The baby was utterly inconsolable.

Between Isolde's never ending crying, and Livvy's empathic abilities, she wasn't at all surprised when she felt tears slide down her own cheeks from time to time in answer to the baby's.

Eventually, in the wee hours of the morning Isolde had finally drifted off with a bottle that Thera had left for her. The baby girl hadn't drank even a quarter of the liquid when she'd dozed off. Grateful that her mentor's fussy baby was finally asleep, Livvy sighed with relief and popped the bottle from the infant's mouth. Only, when she did that, something happened and the lid of the bottle popped off the body of it, spilling milk all over Isolde and herself. The baby woke, screaming in terror as her face was covered in milk, and Livvy couldn't help but gawk in shock for a moment as she tried to figure out just what the hell had happened.

As soon as her sleepy brain was able to piece together the cause of the soggy scene in her lap, Livvy gathered up the bottle pieces and threw them as hard as she could. When the plastic bits landed among the logs in the fireplace, Livvy was only slightly surprised to see flames leap up around them. It had been a long time since her fire had escaped her control, and even longer since she had willingly used it, but it was nice to know it was still there.

Once she was sure the flames would be contained to the fireplace, Livvy gathered up Isolde and took them both into the bathroom. First she turned on the water and then she undressed both Isolde and herself. The baby had mostly stopped screaming by this point as she was fascinated by the sound of the running water, and Livvy couldn't help the smile that came to her lips.

The last garment that Livvy removed from herself was her sports bra, and when she did she couldn't help but gasp with pain. Her body's connection to Thera and Isolde was abnormally strong, though Genesis assured her it was totally possible even if it was a bit out of the ordinary. What she couldn't figure out was why, after weeks of not giving into to her body's sudden ability to nurse a child, her milk hadn't dried up.

After checking the water temperature, she gathered the still tiny but quickly growing girl into her arms and climbed into the bathtub. It didn't take long to get them both rinsed clean of the milk, but by the time they were finished and Livvy was drying and dressing them both again, Isolde was starting to fuss once more. More than slightly exasperated, Livvy tucked the baby temporarily into her bassinet and went in search of another bottle. When she realized that the last one was now melted among the logs in her fireplace Livvy groaned. How was she going to get Isolde back to sleep without a bottle?

Almost as if the baby sensed Livvy's stress, Isolde chose that moment to start her wailing again. Livvy's breasts twinged awkwardly as her milk let down in response to the baby girl's cries causing Livvy to flinch. She didn't -want- to feed the girl from her own body. She wasn't Isolde's mother. She would likely never have a child of her own again thanks to the brutal attack on her while she was pregnant with her and Logan's first child and the forced abortion of that child by her attackers. But there was nothing left for Isolde from what Thera had left with them and the baby was clearly in need of soothing, and to be honest so was Livvy even if she wouldn't admit it.

At a total loss, Livvy gave into the infant girl's demands and scooped her up out of the bassinet and settled her in bed with her like she had seen so many other mothers do over the years with their little ones. As soon as Livvy lifted her shirt to expose one of her milk laden breasts, Isolde took over. She knew by instinct exactly what to do. The sensation left Livvy gasping for the first few minutes until Isolde got her latch adjusted, but once she did, the baby girl quickly settled in to nurse.

*****

By the time Thera appeared at her bedroom door the next morning, Livvy was both more than ready to give the tiny girl back to her mother, and also slightly sad to let her go. As Isolde had nursed from her throughout the remainder of the night and off and on during the morning, Olivia had finally let slip some of her hold on the grief for the child that was forced from her body so brutally. As the sweet little girl had nuzzled and suckled happily at her breasts, tears had slipped silently from Livvy, cleansing a part of her soul that bad been so dark for so very long.

Her hair may have been sticking out at odd angles, and her pjs rumpled and smelling slightly of milk, but when she opened the door to see Thera standing on the other side she was feeling closer to herself than she had in months. At Thera's question, Olivia answered, "Can I do both?" The look of surprise in Thera's eyes at her answer was enough to make Livvy laugh deeply.

[Demeter]

Thera shook off her initial surprise and smiled at Livvy. “Of course. Why don’t I hold her for a bit while you get cleaned up and changed? Once you’re done, come down to my rooms and we can talk.” Once Livvy had wandered into her bathroom, Thera packed up Isolde’s things and wheeled them back down the hall. She left her door open for Livvy.

Once Livvy was cleaned up and dressed, Thera listened to what had happened during the night. Though Livvy glossed over the exact how she was able to nurse the baby, Thera knew enough to guess. “Co-nursing has always been a thing with me and the other women I grew up with,” she grinned at the shocked look on Livvy’s face. “Hasn’t happened with the last few children because we all moved out of Haven in male-female pairs. If it helps you, I’m all for it. I understand that you have issues to deal with but you have to trust me to help you.”

Thera pushed herself out of her chair. “Now, if you’re ready, we have training to do.”

[Maira]

By the time that Logan returned to the manor a couple weeks after Isolde's first night with Olivia, she was very eager to see him. Much of the darkness that had been weighing on her heart was gone, or at the very least easier to bear. She was a little curious how he would take to the idea of her co-nursing Isolde, but as the little girl was with her whenever her mama was busy or needed a break, he was going to have to get used to it pretty fast.

While he was here, she also planned on finally telling what happened. Maybe not all of the gory details, but the basics. She had a feeling that explaining to him that she'd been pregnant at the time of the attack was going to be close to, if not the hardest part for him to hear. The only thing she could think of that would go over harder was why she hadn't ever told him who her attackers had been. She still wasn't sure she was ready to share that part, but she needed to.

*****

When the familiar black town car pulled up in the drive, Livvy flew down the front steps of the manor and practically tackled Logan as he got out. Her hair was growing longer again, her freckles were darker from training in the sunlight and taking Isolde for walks in the garden, and her energy had returned with the return of her fire magic and were forms. Both had been so far suppressed that she was actually surprised she hadn't gone feral in the time since her attack.

After making sure she planted at least three kisses on his lips, Livvy pulled herself away and went to the trunk to grab his bag. Logan was gawking at her slightly when she came back from the back-end of the vehicle and she couldn't stop the giggle that bubbled out of her. As she walked past him toward the manor, Livvy snagged his hand closest to her, twined her fingers with his, and practically dragged him after her. "I'm very glad you're here, its been a long month," she told him as they climbed the manor's front stairs.

[Demeter]

Thera sipped her tea while observing the obviously tortured man before her. Livvy had informed her that she'd told Logan the events of the past and that he'd been running the training course ever since. She'd come down, sending Livvy to bed, and now she sat, watching Logan try to outrun his anger.

When he finally collapsed near the climbing wall, Thera sauntered over and pressed a bottle of water against his shoulder. "She told me, you know, but won't tell me who. The weight has been lifted with her telling and she's found her way back to light, joy and happiness."

Logan looked up at Thera. "But she was...and she never...," Logan thumped a fist into the floor and Thera raised a brow at her now dented track. "She won't tell me who."

"She was and its her choice to have done so. You just need to support her. Trying to force the names out of her would probably just cause her to run again and I will not loose my protege."

Logan just growled and Thera watched as he crunched the water bottle in his hands. "However, I don't think conducting your own investigation would be stepping on her toes. After all, it occurred near a youth center and I have no doubts that these men are not first time offenders. I imagine there have been others besides Olivia. When you find them, let me know. We'll rain justice down on them."

Thera hauled Logan to his feet and pushed him away from the training course. "Now, go shower and be with Livvy. After all, isn't that why you made the journey here?"

She watched him go, pleased that the man who'd once been a willful student was actually listening to her. The Haven council was interested in Logan as they liked to keep their hunters in pairs. If he succeeded in this task, he'd be taken on as 'Fael's apprentice once his current graduated.

***

Thera let Livvy have her week of soothing Logan but once the man was off to his happy hunting, she reeled her student back in. With Isolde gurgling from her swing, Thera pushed Livvy in front of a rack of archaic weaponry. "Now, which is your least favorite?"

She grinned when Livvy mentioned the narrow throwing daggers. She handed a set to the girl and steered her in front of a target. "Now that you've got you bounce back, time to work on the fun things. Kill that stationary target with those."

[Maira]

That first day after Logan arrived, things had been strained. She had told him what had happened when she'd been taken, including the miscarriage of their child, and after finding that out she'd watched him run himself into exhaustion until Thera sent her away.

Alone in her room, Livvy couldn't help but brood over Logan's reaction. She paced the room for most of the evening and had only just settled into her nightly routine when he slipped in the bedroom sweaty and obviously exhausted. She directed him into the ensuite bathroom and turned on the shower while he undressed. After he was in the shower, Livvy slipped out of her own clothes and joined him. She saw the objection on his face, but the look in his eyes said something all together different so she did what she had wanted to do since they had said goodbye on the steps of the manor the month before.

Not normally one to take control in their intimate moments in the past, Livvy wasn't sure how Logan would react to her doing so now, but before she could think herself out of it, she gently shoved him up against the wall of the shower. Pressing her body fully against his, she leaned up on tip toes to kiss him. Her fingers of one hand tangled in the hair at the back of his neck, and the fingers of her other hand slid down his well muscled torso to where his body was reacting very enthusiastically to hers before wrapping around him.

She loved Logan. She wanted Logan. She didn't want him to torture himself about her past, when she was here with him now. She only kissed him and caressed him for bare moments before releasing him and proceeding to put body wash on her loufa and handing it to him. The dumbfounded look he shot her was mixed heavily with lust and she couldn't help the smile as she told him, "Lets get clean so we can get sweaty together this time." The smirk that took over his face at that, let Livvy know that she had broken through his tortured fog. The rest of the night after that was a pleasure filled blur for her.

*****

The rest of the week went by with other blurry moments, but also with more serious ones as the two of them talked about everything that had happened since right after Livvy was taken, while she was away in Paris, and since she'd been home. Logan clearly didn't approve of her time as a prostitute, or her heavy drinking when she was at her lowest, but whatever Thera had said to him that first night he was back at the manor had clearly helped him.

When Logan left, both of them were physically sated (his hair was even rumpled from a last minute quicky) and they were finally getting back on solid ground with their relationship. It was hard to say goodbye, but knowing he would be back in another month made it bearable.

After watching the town car disappear down the drive again, Livvy was practically hauled back into the training room and the scene before her made her curious and slightly filled with dread. Why were there throwing daggers and whips lined up? The daggers weren't her worst weapon, but they certainly weren't her weapon of choice either. It was hard for her to get the proper spin on them. Whips... Those had a tendency to come back and hit her rather than the targets.

At Thera's instructions, Livvy groaned unhappily but did her best to comply. It didn't go well. It went even worse with the whips. By the time she flopped down onto the couch that had remained in the training room (perfect for baby snuggle breaks) she was bruised and had welts rising up from where the whip had gotten her. She half glared at Thera, but then the older woman plopped a happily cooing baby on her stomach. It was hard to to be annoyed at somebody when there was something so cute and chubby pawing at her chest for snuggles and milk.

[Demeter]

Thera had left Olivia at the manor, giggling over Logan's fumbles in the obstacle course. She got her own chuckles over it as well; Logan may have been her best general studies student but the next level of Hunter was an all new skill set. 'Feal was knocking his student's ego down several pegs.

She'd left them all warm and safe in manor while she headed out in some miserable weather to meet with Sia and do a side job. It hadn't been very hard to convince Olivia to stay; the baby had a cold and the woman had a thing against miserable weather. Not that convincing Olivia had been super easy either; the thought of being parted from each other filled both women with dread.

And that was something she wondered if Sia had any insight into. Two months ago, Olivia had gone before the council in Haven and passed her first year exams. The process to begin the second year of training started with a blood-exchange ceremony. It was Thera's divine mother and Original Mutari father that gave her the ability to control ferals. In order for Olivia to have the same ability, she needed some of Thera's DNA incorporated into her own. The magics of the ceremony usually caused feelings of closeness and, often, included sexual entanglements as the teacher's DNA worked its way though the student's genome. It should have faded after a few weeks, though, and it hadn't.

And this wasn't a normal side job; she was her own client and the target was the men who'd raped her student. Olivia had never told her about any names, faces, or identifying marks but over the course of the ceremony and its side effects, Thera had learned the who behind the attacks and she was ready for vengeance. She had locations, faces and a clan crest. She'd pass the clan information on Sia; the Chaos Succubus made it her life's work to destroy traffickers. She'd personally see to the men who'd used Olivia.

Attracting their attention was simple enough; they had a type. Thera could pull off the sweet and innocent look if she had to. And it worked. She let the three men lure her into an alley before trapping them there. She dropped the innocent act and look like molten metal and bore down the full power of her demi-war goddess powers on them.

Then Sia, after extracting the information she needed, trapped them in a chaos cycle. For as long as they lived, and the mental hospital would ensure they lived long lives, all they would know was their victim's pain tenfold.

When it was done, Thera returned to her manor to cuddle her daughter, puzzle over the thing with Olivia, and laugh as Logan worked through the dreaded obstacle course. And if Olivia noticed Thera's pleased little smile when, a month later, the news that an international human trafficking ring had been broken down, nothing was said.

Nothing had to be said. After all, she'd once made a promise to her Beltane Queen that she'd fix things.

And Demi-Goddesses were notoriously hard to make memory spells stick to.