Wanted: Plants

[Demeter]

((Cissa's profile will be posted when I get the chance. She, however, refuses to shut up.))

She needed plants. Lots of them. By tomorrow afternoon. Cissa hopped out of her tiny, two seater car and stalked across the gravel parking lot of the nearest landscaping center to the muesum. "Stupid people," she muttered as she kicked a rock into the door. "Stupid board members, stupid exhibt chair, stupid housewives with too much time on their hands. I don't want fake plants for this exhibit. I want real ones. I want something alive for once."

Cissa marched up the first person, a tall male with dark brown eyes, who seemed to work at the center and poked him the chest. "I need plants. Lots of plants. Spikey, green plants. Exotic plants. Bright colors. Big flowers." she turned to look over her shoulder as she walked through the aisle, pointing at various things. "Are you following what I need. Think desert oasis. Tropical refuge in the middle of a sea of sand. Something fit for the kings of Egypt."

Cissa stopped infront of a display of containers. "And I need them by tomorrow because the committee in charge of exhibit design, despite the fact that I'm the curator, seem to think Fake Plants will work just fine," she hissed out. "I have pots and I have dirt, which my interns are happily flinging into the pots while Lysander is guarding his precious pottery just in case one of the interns goes a little crazy."

Cissa looked at the man. "Can the plants be delivered by tomorrow afternoon?"

[Maira]

Wrath had been in the middle of instructing one of his employees, yet again, on the proper way to dead-head flowering plants when a woman walked up and poked him in the chest and started rattling off what she needed. While she was talking, Wrath turned to his employee and gestured for something to write with and on, the young man ran off and Wrath turned his attention back to the woman. By the time the employee came back with a pen and a notebook on a clipboard Wrath's head was spinning.

When the woman finally stopped her barrage of demands and asked if the plants could be delivered the next afternoon Wrath blanched. What?!?! Was the woman psychotic? Instead of voicing his questions about her sanity, Wrath asked instead, "How many plants is 'lots of plants'?" She'd mentioned being a curator so Wrath had a feeling she was connected to the local art museum and the fact that she mentioned the plants should be fit for kings of Egypt just confirmed it. He knew there was a nice Egyptian exhibit coming to town, he had infact planned on taking his daughter, so it wasn't too hard of a puzzle to put together. The hard part was trying to figure out just how many plants would be needed to decorate a huge facility like the art museum, it was way beyond his normal scale but he was more than willing to try.

[Demeter]

Cissa glanced around the landscaping center, measuring it with her eyes. "Oh, I'd say that the room holding the exhibit is about this big. Now, I don't need to fill the place with plants but I want splashes of color. Big splashes of color."

Cissa tugged a piece of paper from her back jeans pocket, unfolded it and spread it out on a display table. "Diagram of the exhibit. Now, I want plants here, here and here, and all around the center piece." She said while pointing at each location with a deep purple polished nail. She then dug her wallet out of her back pocket and pulled out a platinum credit card. "I'm charging this to the museum, damn bastards." She handed over the card and then peered at the man. "So, I'm Cissa and you are? And when will you be arriving tomorrow to drop the plants off?"

[Maira]

When the woman finally dragged out a somewhat wrinkled piece of paper and he saw it was a diagram of the room he was going to have to decorate, Wrath sighed inwardly with relief. It wasn't the whole museum! Still, the room was going to take LOTS of flowers to decorate...

He was lost in his musings over what type of flowers and how many he would need when he heard the woman introduce herself. Looking up briefly from the diagram, Wrath answered, "We can be there three hours before the exhibit opens to get things set up." He as quiet for a minute more then he turned his full attention back to the woman and finished answering her question, "And my name is Wrath, its a pleasure to meet you Cissa."

*****

Chaos reigned in the main exhibit room at the museum and Wrath was perfectly content. Watching Cissa and her co-workers run their interns and his employee's ragged was quite entertaining and more than once, Wrath had to hide a wicked grin.

[Demeter]

Cissa glared at an intern, scowling when the piece of pottery he handled tipped to the side. "You break that and I will let Lysander have you for breakfast," she said while using one of her peacock feathers to point at a frazzled looking man standing across the room, yelling at something. She assumed it to be some inanimate object as no one was running away with tears streaming down their face.

Cissa strolled over to Wrath and peered around his side, watching what he was doing and no noticing that her peacock feather was probably tickling the back of his t-shirt clad arm. "Whatcha doing?" she asked. This exhibit was her baby and so she was interested in every aspect of the set up. "looks kinda fun. Can I help?"

[Maira]

He had given up watching the chaos and had gotten to work himself going around and putting some finishing touches on the plant arrangements. Wrath was in the middle of muttering about inept employees not putting enough dirt in the pots and was filling up those pots to the proper level when something tickled the back of his arm. He couldn't help but jerk away and spill some dirt on the floor when a woman's voice asked what he was doing and asked if she could help.

Wrath turned around and saw that it was the woman in charge of everything and smiled before ansewring, "If you don't stop tickling me with that feather there's going to be dirt all over your exhibit." His smile was accompanied by a gentle laugh and he handed her the bag of potting soil he'd been holding then bent to scoop up the mess he'd made on the floor.

Once he was standing again, he deposited the soil in one of the pots then asked her, "So, aside from the chaos how do you think things are going? Are the plants up to your standards?"

[Demeter]

Cissa peered down at the peacock feather she'd stuffed into the front of her jean's pocket and grinned. "Sorry. People know I'm serious when I use the feathers to direct people." She glanced around the people scurry about, hurrying to setup the little nooks filled with artwork and historical artefacts. The little collection of painters tools found in a recent dig in Italy. The works of the masters that the meuseum owned and the ones they held on loan from other cities.

"It's going well. This is a good learning experience for the serious interns. They've been learning about artwork and how it's created. About History and how to use it to to teach. But now they have to learn how to present. Once everything is set up, they'll have to change into the uniforms that the docents wear and, stand next to a display and inform anyone who asks on both the history and the art. Some of them have a grade riding on this, some of them have furture job prospects riding on this."

Cissa glanced over at Lysander, grinning as he critizied one display, motioning with his hands. "That's why we are pushing them so hard. Some thought working in a history and art muesum would be easy but we've changed their minds. We started out with twenty interns between us and were now down to tweleve."

Cissa, relazing that she'd drifted off topic, glanced around at the plants. "Sorry about that, I've been told that I'm easily distracted. The plants look great. Would you like to stay for opening night? All the glittery people, all the patrons, and all the artsy-fartsy types will be out tonight. It would be nice to have the owner of the plants present."

[Maira]

Wrath watched the woman and listened as she spoke and he couldn't help but be amused by her. When she finally quit rambling about interns and turned her attention back to him, the right corner of Wrath's mouth was twitched up in a half smile. At her mention of him sticking around for the opening, that smile faltered a bit.

He had a tendancy to get twitchy around large crowds, partly because of his feline nature and mostly just because he preferred working with plants than people... There was a reason he left the store to be run by employees and he went and played in the dirt after all.

Still, it would be a great opportunity to get his name, and the name of his growing business, out to more of the public. He toyed with his bottom lip with his right index finger for a moment then nodded. "I'll need to go home and get cleaned up. What time should I arrive and what is the dress code for the evening?" He was certain it wasn't the work boots, blue jeans and polo shirt embroidered with his nursery's logo on it that he had on right now.

He was already making a mental list of things he would need to figure out how to stuff into his pockets. A couple brochures on the specific plants used in the displays, brochures filled with pictures of custom gardens he had done, and a healthy stack of business cards were at the top of his list.

[Demeter]

Cissa thought about the frilly concoction her friends had forced on her for this shindig, sitting in it's garment bag in her office and sighed. "Black Tie, unfortunately. Opening nights are always Black Tie. Speaking of which, I should probably go start getting ready. It always takes longer for us girls," she said to Wrath. She started to walk away but she turned and walked backwards. "I'll make sure you're on the list. If anyones gives you any trouble just tell that Cissa said to let you in and that if anyone gives you any problems I'll personally see to it that their fingers are broken." She smiled and gave him a little finger wave before spinning around and headed for the tall man still waving his hands at a intern who looked like she was all set to cry.

She quietly spoke with Lysander for a moment, both of them taking in the progress of the final bits of set-up. They'd both worked hard this exhibit and refused to let anything go wrong. After talking about work, for all of two minutes, she turned the conversation to simpler things. "Dominic coming?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's also digging my tux out of storage. This is the first time I've had to be present at one of these things in a while. Who's the guy?" he asked with a nod towards Wrath.

"His is name is Wrath. I want you to be nice." She lightly whacked him on the arm with her peacock feather and marched past. "I've got to go get dressed. My friends foisted this...thing on me. I mean, I like it, it has feathers, but it takes a while to get into." She waved at him as well before flouncling off towards her office and the employee bathroom.

[Demeter]

Wrath hadn't stayed for the reception, which made Cissa pout a little. He seemed like a better person to talk to then all the committee members and potential donors she was supposed to schmooze. Cissa sipped at her glass of champagne and pouted in a corner. She hated schmoozing up the committee members unless she was friends with them. Cissa gave a happy bounce when she saw someone she liked. She abandoned her corner and bounced up to Belle Union, a museum patron and her father's mistress.

By her mother's point of view, Cissa shouldn't even known about this woman but she'd been the one to hire the private investigator to find her after she'd run away. Belle had also been the one to pay her lawyer fees and to offer her room and board after she'd returned to Cedar Valley. While her natural mother thought that Cissa should have tried harder to make the marriage work, Belle had opened her heart and home to the much younger Cissa. As far as Cissa was concerned, Belle was her true mother. 

So, she bounced up, air kissed the woman and hugged her. And was greeted in a similar fashion by Belle and squeezed into a tight hug from the woman's escort, Cissa's father. Vincent's Miller was still a very handsome man and he loved to show Belle off. 

Her father lived openly with his mistress while his wife lived alone in the starkly modern home she'd recently bought. At one point, Cissa had wondered how the three people could live like this but she'd determined that they preferred it this way. Prudence, a very old fashioned upper class woman, was spared the attentions of her husband and Vincent, a very physical man, didn't have to deal with his frigid wife.

Though he'd never utter the words, Vincent had often wondered if his wife preferred her own gender but didn't act (or even know) on it. 

Cissa, sparing herself the images of her parents in bed together, didn't dwell on it. Instead, she focused on her holy grail; prying Belle's collection of masterpieces from the woman's grasp. She'd just finished pleading with Belle ti at least meet with the curator when she spotted a flash of color across the room. She looked over; it was her mother wearing a bright blue evening gown. While her mother wearing such a vibrant color was enough of a reason for concern, it was the sight of her escort that caused Cissa to panic. Gasping, she ducked around Belle to hide behind her father's taller frame. When Belle blinked at her, Cissa pointed. "Mother's here. She has Johnny with her."

At that point, both Vincent and Bella turned to look. While Vincent narrowed his eyes at the man and growled, Bella focused on her rival. "How dare she," the red head hissed. "After what he put you through, how dare she bring him here. I'm gonna go have a word..." Bella said as she started to stalk off. 

Vincent grabbed Belle by the shoulder. "Whoa, Tiger. Having a word with her here would only embarrass Cissa. Wait tell you can be alone before you rip into her."
It warmed Cissa's heart to see Belle pacing back and forth while muttering and tossing glares at Johnny and Prudence. Cissa looked across and swallowed. "He's coming over here."

Her father nudged her. "Go and get out of here. We'll distract him."

Cissa nodded, thanked them and bolted into the crowd. She was a skilled crowd weaver and was able to get ahead. She glanced back once to see Johnny cowering under her father's glare; rightly so too. Maybe it was ridiculous to be running from her ex-husband, a man who'd divorced her nearly a century ago, but the experience had been one that left deep scars. She didn't want anything to do with the man, who happened to be her first love, who'd called her defective for being unable to bear him sons and unnatural for wanting to raise another woman's child. Her mother had never forgiven her for the divorce. Johnny may have been the one to file but she'd been at fault for not trying hard enough. This of course came from the woman who refused to leave her husband even though he was obviously committing adultery. 

Cissa looked over her shoulder and cursed. Whatever her father had tried to distract Johnny with hadn't worked because he was weaving towards her again. Licking her lips, Cissa looked for anyway out of the crowded gallery. Her mother was guarding the main staircase, the one that would take her to her office, like a treasure hoarding troll. The back staircase was all the way across the hall and Johnny was sure to catch her before she reached it. That only left the main entrance and the parking lot beyond that. Her car was out there but her keys were in her office. It seemed like there was no escape but she really didn't want a confrontation in front of her colleagues and the board members. 

She glanced around, desperately seeking something, when salvation walked through the entrance. Landscape guy, Wrath something-or-other, may have been wearing a suit but he looked perfect. She fled towards him, crashing into him and pushing him against a pillar. She stretched up, balanced on her tiptoes, to whisper in his ear. She had a mad, mad plan and it all counted on him going along. "Please, please, please just play along," she whispered. While she did that, Cissa also screwed off one of the rings on her right hand to jam it onto her left. 

"Cecily, how nice to see you again, even if you were running from me. I never hurt you so that was uncalled for. We used to be friends."

Still facing Wrath and pressed against him, Cissa trembled at the sound of Johnny's voice. It was deceptively smooth. She gathered her wits together and turned to face her ex-husband. As she turned, she took Wrath's hand in her's twining their fingers together. "Not all cuts leave marks, Johnny, and friends don't call friends defective and unnatural. May I introduce my fiancé, Wrath -"

Well, crap, she couldn't remember his last name!

[Maira]

When he'd gotten home he found the invitation to the party that somebody had slipped into his pocket. He'd just dumped it on the counter with his keys, change, and other pocket treasures. Wrath had toyed with the idea of going, but on the drive home had decided against it because he was just flat out exhausted. When Mercy barged in on him in the shower squealing about how it was a very prominent party and how she was dying to go and how this ticket was for the bearer and a plus one, he knew he wasn't going to have any choice. Groaning in displeasure, Wrath hurried to finish up his shower and then succumbed to his sister's makeover of his less than formal party appearance. He'd totally forgotten he had the suit she hauled out of his closet for him and shoved at him and he was extremely surprised to discover that it still fit. It wasn't exactly black-tie, but it was the best he had.

By the time the pair left the house, Wrath was muttering under his breath about his socialite sister and stupid museums, and stupid parties, and how he really just wanted to sleep. As soon as they arrived, Mercy was out of the car and into the party in a flash. Wrath however took time to park the car and then slowly made his way inside. He even mulled over the idea of just snoozing in the car while he waited for Mercy to be finished. Finally he gave up on that plan and followed her in.

Almost immediately after entering, Wrath was flattened against a pillar by a running woman. Why she was running became quite apparent when he saw her keep checking over her shoulder and in an instant Wrath's protective instincts were on alert. Her whispers to please play along shocked Wrath, he looked more closely at the woman and realized it was Cissa, the one that kept ordering him to move plants and then invited him to this party. He didn't get a chance to ask her what was wrong because the man who had been following her had finally caught up and was talking to her.

The man's voice made Wrath's hackles stand on end, and Cissa's trembling body pressed into his didn't help to calm him or the cat now prowling dangerously close to the surface. When she finally turned toward the man, Wrath was happy to let her twine her fingers with his if it gave even the slightest impression to the man she was so scared of that he had no place in her life anymore. Wrath was happy to shield her from this man however it was she needed.

Upon hearing Cissa's words to the man, first about things that had obviously been said between them in the past, and then about him being her fiance, Wrath smiled wickedly at the other man and stepped forward, pulling Cissa slightly behind him as he did so. Hand extended in greeting, Wrath finished for Cissa, "Seraphin, Wrath Seraphin." The baffled look on poor Johnny's face was priceless as he obviously tried to figure out how he hadn't know that Cissa had gotten engaged. To clear things up for the confused man, Wrath added, "Its been a bit of a whirlwind romance, we were a bit surprised by it too. We met one day and shortly after she actually asked me to go along with her crazy scheme to be her fiance. So far it's working out spectacularly and I couldn't be happier to be hers."

Every word that Wrath said was true, he had just worded it so that others not in on Cissa's need for a shield wouldn't understand the true meaning. He hoped she'd caught his agreement to play along and be her "fiancé" for as long as she needed.

[Demeter]

She knew that she needed to apologize to Wrath. She'd commandeered his evening, dragging him around and introducing him as her fiancé. And, Cissa thought as she climbed into her old VW Bug, she was going to have to ask him to continue the charade. It seemed that her Ex had moved to Cedar Valley and had every intention of taking her back.

The very idea of getting back with Johnny Angel made her shudder. She liked bad boys just as much as the next woman but she didn't want Johnny's brand of bad. So, swallowing her fear, Cissa started up her car and puttered out to Wrath's nursery.

She'd run away from Johnny before, fleeing from him the moment she could and hiding at Bella's farmhouse. She didn't want to run again; she liked the life she'd made for herself here. But with her mother helping him, Johnny would know of all her haunts and habits. She needed someone to hide behind.

There'd been a bouquet of roses on her front porch this morning. The flowers had been accompanied with a letter from him. He wanted her know that he was willing to take her back. He was sure that with the advances in reproductive medicine, she'd be delivering their first born son in no time. They could be the happy family he'd always imagined.

She'd tossed the roses in the trash and stuffed the letter in the back of a drawer.

Wrath Seraphine was physically more intimidating then Johnny. His shoulders were broader and his hands rougher then Johnny's gym rat, paper pusher body. He was also far gentler then her ex. Wrath was an intimidating man but Cissa didn't fear him.

She found him in the parking lot of his nursery, unloading evergreen trees from a delivery truck. She politely waited until he'd finished the task before catching his attention. "I just wanted to apologize for last night at the Gala. I didn't mean to jump you like that but I needed to get away from him. Thank you for that, by the way."

Cissa looked everywhere but at Wrath. "I also need to ask a favor of you. It seems that my ex is going to be in town for a while. It seems he is in want of a wife and rather then find a new one, he wants the old one back. I was wondering if you could possibly consider pretending just a little while longer?"

She peeked up at him and gave a little, hopeful smile.

[Maira]

Wrath had felt unsure about letting Cissa leave the Gala without him. She'd spent the evening clinging to him and introducing him as her fiance and he could feel her tension ease just a little each time she did it. By the end of the evening she was much more relaxed and had even managed to mostly stop glancing over her shoulder at Johnny, who wouldn't stop staring at them. Wrath had waited until the offensive man had left before suggesting to Cissa that they both do the same.

Mercy hadn't been happy to be told they were leaving, but as she had spent all evening shmoozing the elite of Cedar Valley, she didn't put up much of a fight. When they got in the car and didn't leave right away she had asked Wrath what he was doing. He gave her the cliff's notes version of what had happened with Cissa as they followed at a distance to make sure that the woman got home safely.

The next morning, after mulling over the situation most of the night, Wrath left for work early and stopped at a pawn shop he knew opened early. He left the shop with a little ring box in his pocket and a smile on his face, hoping that if she still wanted his help that the box's contents would help keep Cissa out of Johnny's clutches.

*****

He had been at work for only an hour or so when Cissa's VW beetle pulled into the parking lot. He may have been busy lumping the new stock of trees into their spot in the nursery, but he still noticed her arrival. Only when he had signed the reciept slip for the delivery and the driver was pulling out of the parking lot did Cissa approach him. He smiled at her but before he could even tell her good morning she launched into an apology and a thank you for what he'd done the night before.

He was going to try and reassure her that he hadn't minded, but she just kept right on talking, this time about what Johnny's intentions apparently were and eventually she asked if he'd mind pretending a little longer. When she finally looked at him, her hopeful smile earned a reassuring one from him in return. He reached in his pocket, pulled out the little black velvet box and opened it for her to see what was inside, telling her loud enough for his nearby employees to hear, "I'm sorry it took me so long, Love, I hope you like it."

Cissa looked at him, tears shimmering in her eyes, and he took the ring out, placed it on her finger (quite surprised it fit) and then took her into a warm and gentle embrace. As he held her close he whispered to her, "I am here for you as long as you need, and I have a few spare rooms which I think you should take over as your own. I had a hard time sleeping last night, not knowing if you were safe."

[Demeter]

Cissa canceled her lunch date with Wrath. She had the mother of all headaches and wanted nothing more then to crawl into her bed and sleep it away. As much as she'd wanted to visit with Wrath, the intensity if the headache told her that the only thing she should be doing was sleeping. She even went as far as canceling on the planned get together with Wrath's siblings. She genuinely like Faith and Mercy, as well as Wrath's daughter Hope, but if even the whispers in the museum made her head hurt, Cissa knew that a gathering would make it worse.

Before lunch, Cissa took off and headed home. She toyed with the idea of crashing at Wrath's house but, ugh, the neighbors were in the middle of major renovations. The need for sleep won out over her trepidation about being alone in her own home.

Over the past seven months her fake engagement to Wrath had turned into a real relationship. It was easy to be with him and he didn't mind her strangeness. They'd continued to let people believe that the original engagement was real while they developed the relationship.

But that wasn't thing only thing going on. Her home had been broken into twice, at least one of the times had been by Johnny. She knew that because while nothing had been taken, the framed picture of her and Wrath had been smashed and the giant plush pink elephant he won from a carnival booth had been ripped to shreds. And it wasn't just that; Johnny seemed to show up wherever she went. The museum, her gym, the restaurants she went too, walking down the street. And someone had been making complaints about her to the museum.

She'd felt hunted lately and often stayed with Wrath but today she needed the quiet of her own house. Everything would be fine, she thought as she turned down her street. She'd go in and lock all the doors with new lock sets that Wrath had installed for her. Cissa sat in her car after she'd pulled into the driveway. Everything looked okay. She spared a moment for a quick grin at her front lawn - now more grass then weed. The first time Wrath had seen her weed choked lawn, he'd gaped and then shown up early the next morning with a truck full of equipment. Her lawn was nowhere near the show stopping gardens his home had but it no longer embarrassed her. Cissa was the first to admit that she had a blacker then black thumb. All of her houseplants were plastic too.

With the thought of sleeping among her plastic plants, Cissa climbed out of the car. Sleeping through the afternoon was going to feel so good.

***

Nearly twelve hours later, still wearing the outfit she'd worn to work, Cissa ran barefoot through the streets of Cedar Valley. The last half a day made her earlier headache seem like nothing. There was a nasty, swollen, bleeding knot on the back of her head, dark bruising dotted her body, her clothing was torn and her one wrist still bore the remnants of a rope binding. She knew that her feet were torn up and bloody but she felt no pain as she scrambled down a gravel path.

He was behind her; she could hear him loping along the path. So far, she'd managed to avoid her former husband after escaping his grasp. Cissa stumbled out of the park and ran down the quiet residential street. She wanted to call out, to scream, but then he'd find her.

***

Hope wondered how she got into these situations. Here she was, close to midnight on a Friday, face down and ass up in a bush, trying to get to her dratted cousins Rowan and Lani. She managed to snag Rowan but Lani, being smaller, had been able to squeeze deeper into her father's garden.

She managed to get a hold of Rowan and was intent in dragging both children back to her Foster-Mother's house when she heard the scream. That was the sound of terror. Keeping hold of both children, Hope looked around until she saw the couple fighting down the street. The man appeared to be dragging the screaming woman away. Hope set Rowan down, told him to take Lani to Grandma's house and get his Uncles.

Once Rowan was running for the house, Hope squared her shoulders and headed down to the fighting couple.

***

Cissa struggled against Johnny's grasp, clawing and kicking at him. When something large and growling slammed into them, she went flying and knocked her already abused head against the pavement.

[Maira]

Hope had only intended on trying to get the woman safely away from the man until the help she'd sent Rowan to get arrived, but when she got close enough to see just who the woman was most of her clear thinking went by the wayside. The last real coherent thought she had before taking off at a run was, "Can't let my wings out, the humans don't know we exist." With that though, the cougar part of her genetics took full control and she shifted on the run. Once in feline form, it only took her a few leaps and she was close enough to launch herself at the man and woman, the trademark cougar growl escaping her.

In the back of her mind Hope heard Cissa hit the ground but the cougar was too focussed on the man who had been attacking her and it took all of Hope's control of the animal to keep her from tearing out the man's throat. The cougar was so angry that it took her a moment to realize that he too had hit is head on the pavement, he was out cold. Once she realized he wasn't struggling underneath her, the cougar quit snarling at him and climbed off of his chest. She watched him closely to make sure he hadn't been faking and then turned her attention to Cissa.

The smell of blood wafted to the cougar's nose before she reached Cissa, making her hurry to the woman's side and nose around her looking for the source. The smell was strongest by her head where it had hit the pavement, luckily there wasn't much. The other places she discovered the smell were her ropeburned wrists and her bare torn up feet. She felt a rumble growing in her chest, anger starting to cloud the cougar's mind.

She watched as cars drove by, some slowing to gawk and others speeding past with their phones to their ears. She couldn't help but panic that one of them would stop and try and shoo her away (likely calling animal control). Luckily most humans are too scared of wild animals to face them, especially in the middle of the nice part of town.

About the same time that the cougar heard familiar voices from down the block, a shiny lifted pick-up came to a screeching halt between Hope, Cissa, the man that had been hurting her, and help. When the man in the truck climbed down, the cougar saw that he was holding a shotgun. Hope started screaming at the cat to run, but she wouldn't listen. Instead she just crouched protectively over Cissa, nearly laying on her, and watched the man warily.

Keeping an eye, and his gun, on the cougar the man from the truck checked on the unconscious man. When he found him alive, he was clearly surprised. It was only then that the man from the truck realized that the cougar was protecting the woman, not hurting her. She saw it in his eyes when he decided to get a closer look and that is when the cougar started to growl at him. With each step he took to get closer, her growl got louder. The idiot man was about to reach out toward her when the cougar heard her family come barreling around the end of the truck.

The man from the truck turned to warn the new-comers off because there was a cougar, but they all just stared at him like he was crazy. He turned to look back at the woman and the big cat only to find the cougar gone.

With the man distracted by her foster brothers, Hope managed to convince the cougar to run. Cissa would be safe with the boys there, and she'd be less likely to get shot for "attacking" people if she made herself scarce. As Dion's house was closer than her father's, she directed the cougar there so that she could change into new clothes since her others got ruined with the shift.

Once dressed, Hope grabbed her cell phone off the coffee table and called her father on his cell, running out the door and back to Cissa. As soon as Wrath picked up she told him what was happening, what she'd seen and what she had done, and when he hung up on her she wasn't really surprised or offended.

Just as she got back to Cissa, her foster brothers, and the unconscious man, the man in the truck pulled off the road and parked and Wrath came running up the street from around the corner. The police were on scene now, they had told the man in the truck to move his vehicle so emergency crews could get at their patients, and they were questioning her brothers and the guy from the truck. Both Cissa and the man who had been hurting her were still unconscious.

When Wrath saw Cissa, and then the man, Hope had to intervene and step between them. "Bad idea Dad, if you get arrested you can't take care of her like she's going to need," Hope told him softly. An officer approached them then, asking them to leave, and Hope had to hold onto her father and explain, "The woman is my dad's fiancé, please let us see her?" Clearly nervous about letting anybody close before the EMTs arrived, the cop eventually moved aside and made them promise not to move her. Hope and Wrath both agreed and then ran to her side and knelt beside her.

[Demeter]

Gods above but her head hurt something awful. The pain was first and then the sound came next cringing, Cissa squeezed her eyes tight and tried to roll away from the noise. Damn neighbor kids and their music.

Except she couldn't move. Panicking, Cissa snapped awake and tried to get away. She might have gotten away with it if the EMT tending her hadn't bodily thrown herself over her patient.

Shocked at being covered by another body, Cissa screamed and looked around wildly. Lights, sirens, police, people and Johnny being worked on by another set of EMTS. Groaning, Cissa rolled to the side. She saw the familar face of Wrath being pulled away as her gurney jolted up. Sobbing, because she didn't know what was going on, Cissa cried out and tried to reach for him but she'd been strapped to the mobile bed.

The EMT, seeing that she was awake and confused, shouted out to the man who'd been with the patient when the rig had rolled up that if he was coming with, he better move his ass.