Jessie Callen stood at the window in her living room, her arms crossed over her chest and watched the rain outside. It was a heavy rain, accompanied by one of the more emphatic thunderstorms of the spring months. But it appeared that once it blew itself out, it would leave the city no worse off than before. Jessie had used her profile to requisition this building after the project on Sarsila was completed. She looked out at the row of hedges along the edge of their front lawn and shook her head. They'd have to do something about that. Jessie could not live somewhere it was easy to sneak up on.

She was now residing, as much as she resided anywhere, in the Alpha Centauri (IV) Colony, city of New Angeles. Of course, it was one of the worlds first terraformed, being also one of the first colonies outside of Earth it was a very well-established place. But since the technique had been experimental at the time, the planet did seem to have its own quirks. A weather-modification net installed thirty years later had helped immeasurably. It was also considered very rude to a local to refer to it as a 'Colony' as it nearly rivaled Earth's population. Most of the locals referred to their planet as "The AC" and just left it at that.

It was amazing how one small step away from Earth brought such a different culture and attitude. Earth was *important* and the seat of the government for the United Federation of Planets. It was a place where everything nostalgic was kept, and existed right along side of busy-thriving metropolises. There was farm country, and there were skyscrapers. It was said to epitomize the human race in all its variations. Every human wanted to live on Earth... well, not every one.

The people who had decided to settle this colony originally were explorers, and as such had a different view on things. Only problem is that explorers, natural ones at least, tended to want to keep exploring. The ones who stayed, were wanting a distance from the all-too-familiar politics, and the increasing congestion of the mother-planet. They wanted a place where they could be themselves, and not constantly be dealing with the influx of immigrants and aliens from other places, realizing they were being taken as the average of the race. People who didn't want to live constantly steeped in a past that some of them knew was not quite worth glorifying.

Jessie Callen wished to live here for strategic reasons, and for the decreased profile such a residence brought. Most people assumed she was getting ready to retire, and that didn't bother her much. She *liked* that her colleagues thought she was mellowing due to age. It gave her even more freedom of movement than she had previously worked to attain. And if living in an 'out of the way place' helped that impression, so be it. She had her own agenda; that would never change.

But right now she was considering what to do next. It was unlikely that Jesa would make it to Starbase 118 quickly, from wherever she was coming from. Then again she could be there as soon as next week. She knew a place, but not a time. That fourth dimension was a pesky one. Jessie should have felt grateful to know that much, but right now all she could think of was the things she didn't know. If Becknar had known their precise location, Jessie was completely sure he would not have shared it with her. But if Jessie even know what direction they were coming from, or how far out they were, it would have helped her timetables.

And then there was the matter of Justine. The only human among her four children, she had been doing analysis work for Intel for quite some time, been recruited through civilian channels as she had never shown much interest in Starfleet. Her official role for many years had been security consultant, and she worked mainly on improving the diversity and strength of various encryption algorithms. Mostly for Federation civilian governmental use, but increasingly so in military applications.

Then they had approached her. It had been innocuous enough at first, but Justine's ambitions were of the more active sort than sitting behind a desk for the rest of her life. She had pushed for field work and Jessie knew better than to naysay the whole idea. All she had tried to do was give Justine the benefit of her experience, and let her decide from there. Unfortunately the warnings proved to have the opposite effect, and Justine was more than ever determined to join up to increase the ranks of those trying to make a difference for good.

They had come to terms with each other's difference of opinion, slowly, over the course of several months. Justine compromised by sending Jessie a letter right before she began each new assignment, so Jessie would know not to worry. It never said anything interesting, just talked about her official work, denied the presence of a significant other in her life, and spoke about her very limited circle of friends and acquaintances.

That was up until three months ago when Justine never went back to her residence on Mars and no one had seen her in weeks. She and Jessie had been intending to meet only a week after that. Jessie took the excuse of prior meeting to go anyway, but nothing had been left indicating foul-play. And nothing since. Jessie pretended to be unaware and unassuming about her daughter's absence, but inside she was a bundle of nerves. That black-hole that had been a pox on Starfleet Intelligence over the last decade seemed to have swallowed her daughter, and she was not happy about it.

She heard the swish of the door opening, then closing, and her ears immediately strained for some identifying noises, her body gathering itself in case quick motion would be required. The muttering of her husband's voice, mostly about the intensity of the rain and the distance from the front door to any transporter hub could be heard over the pattering on the windows in the otherwise silent house. Jessie just smiled a little and continued her silent contemplations.

Harmond removed his overcoat and shoes, storing them away in the small closet. He was an average height man, decently fit for his age, but not overly so, with dark brown hair just beginning to show gray at the temples and lighter brown eyes. He hummed a little to himself as he came into the living room and caught sight of his wife.

She would have heard him come in, he had found it impossible to startle her in all the years they had been married. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into an embrace and kissing her neck softly. "Hello, beautiful," he whispered.

He was rewarded by a slight smile from the woman he loved.

"I am glad that you are back," he continued, rocking her a little in his arms. "Here, come sit down with me." He gently took Jessie's hands and guided her to the couch, allowing her to sit in one end and him in the other. He patted the space between them and she shifted to put her legs up on the couch. Almost absently he removed her shoes and tossed them beside the couch. She had to stop herself from moving them into an ordered state - he had always been the one more tolerant of disorder.

"So, tell me what happened," he said beginning to rub her feet.

"He is just as infuriating as ever," Jessie said, relaxing under the tender administrations of her husband.

"And I'll bet you were just as stubborn as ever," he grinned, his eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Yes, yes, I was," Jessie answered with a smile. "Harmond... they are alive."

A smile worked its way into his features. He was very glad of the news. "Just as you predicted," he answered.

"Yes..." Jessie shifted a bit, leaning forward to tuck a couch pillow behind her back and lean into it. She rested her arm over her face wishing she wasn't spinning the same loop of thoughts in her mind over and over again. They keep leading her to the same conclusion - a conclusion she couldn't accept. "Mm... That's nice, thank you."

Harmond smiled at Jessie. "So where do you go from here?"

"I haven't decided yet. Becknar let it slip they'd be back at 118 sooner or later, but I have no idea when," Jessie responded.

"And you can't precisely just wait around indefinitely..." he finished the next logical step. One had to admit, he had learned to follow many of his wife's thought patterns. It had been necessary in the past, and helped him anticipate Jessie's movements.

"Indeed," she responded, almost miserably. "And even then it would be trying to figure out how to leave a trigger that Jesa would recognize, then just being there to see if she answers."

"What if I did?" Harmond asked, almost shyly.

Jessie paused. She honestly hadn't considered that option. The course of action she would wish to carry out herself didn't require a lot of expertise, just some shifting data and anticipating Jesa's actions. And it was true that Harmond probably knew her better than Jessie did.

For a moment she wondered why she hadn't considered that option. Actually there was one very obvious reason she had not considered it. Before Jesa went to the Academy her family and her work were two very distinct and *very* separate part of her life. Now they had become inexplicably intertangled and Jessie hadn't ever really come to terms with how she was going to deal with that. Half of her family was mixed up in Intel in one fashion or another, how had that happened?

When did things spin so wildly out of control?

Jessie shook her head slightly in contemplation, not having the answer to that question. Harmond, however, was taking that shake of the head in an entirely different context. He gave a slight sigh, but decided not to argue the point. He wanted to be useful for once instead of just 'holding down the fort' as he had done all through their lives. But he had made peace with the role surprisingly well.

"I think it's a good idea," Jessie said finally, returning to the present from being lost in the twisted and convoluted corridors of her mind.

"I thought it would help you out," he said, carefully.

Jessie suddenly realized that in the last year she had spent less than a month with her husband, and yet he had never complained. The more rational side of her said that he simply understood she was doing only what was necessary for the well-being of the family, but her more personal side said that he had been more patient than anyone should ever be asked to be.

Suddenly Jessie got up and moved closer to him, slipping her arms around him and hugging him to her. "I am so blessed to have you, Harmond," she said softly.

He smiled warmly and held her to him, reaching up with his right hand to remove the tie in her hair, running his hands up her back and through her hair. Jessie kept her hair-length somewhat short, but it was a few inches past her shoulders when let down. Leaning back slightly he looked at his wife, a smile on his face. All he needed to know was that she realized, that she appreciated it, and he could easily go to the ends of the galaxy silently and alone if it would simply ease her mind.

And her mind desperately needed easing right now. She had done everything she could, everything she could think to do.

Softly he brought her closer to him and kissed her, running his hands down her back. After a moment his hand went to the side-table next to the couch, feeling the outline of a control panel, he turned on some soft instrumental music, something newer than classical, strong and emotional, something to appeal to the primal self, to let the mind go for a time.

Truth was, he had been thinking of this moment for quite some time. He always looked forward to her return.

Jessie breathed deeply. Her husband's hair was still somewhat wet and she smelled the moisture combined with the clean smell of him. It was an intoxicating combination. She kissed him back deeply, rubbing her hands over him, carefully paying attention to the sound of his breathing and that of her own. She had missed him as well, though she had refused to allow herself to feel it. There was always comfort to be found in his embrace. He kissed her neck and then drew back to look at her again, smiling. Slowly he got up off of the couch, and offered her his hand nodding slightly towards the other room.

It was the same gesture he had used all those years ago to invite her to dance with him. He had not been able to say the words, and knew he would have been foolish to try, so he simply had done this. Jessie felt her love for him well up inside of her, only wanting to make him aware of it. He had held and supported her all through these years, through pains he didn't know the character of, through their children growing up, he had never wavered, never given her cause for doubt.

It was a rare treasure, and she saw it as such.

Smiling, Jessie took his hand and stood, leaning in to give him a teasing kiss before allowing him to lead her. The music played, and all was perfect in Jessie's mind; for this one isolated point in time, she had no worries. As she turned her eyes passed across the window she had been staring out so intently not too long ago. The rain still came down as hard as ever.

Then she paused. 'What is that?' she thought, looking out the window. One second. Two. Three. And everything changed completely.

Jessie suddenly rushed from the room. Harmond has the good grace not to ask what was going on and simply followed her. She barely paused to open the door, and staggered out into the rain, sloshing water as she moved down the pathway to just behind the line of shrubs in front of their house. Jessie skidded to a halt and knelt beside what looked at first to be a mound of clothes near the edge of their yard.

Golden hair spilled from the top of the mound, now muddy and dirty. 'Justine... Justine...' Jessie mentally pleaded. 'Please...' "Harmond, call a doctor. One of ours..." she said, absolutely calmly. He nodded and rushed back inside to the comm. unit.

She pulled some of the clothing aside and felt the neck for a pulse. There was one. It was weak and rapid, but it was present. Gently Jessie probed the body for injuries. There was blood from several wounds. Her daughter convulsed and attempted to push herself upright, but slipped in the mud. Her motions were uncontrolled, but her blue eyes opened and she looked around, catching sight of Jessie's face.

"Momma, be proud of me..." she said softly, raising a hand as though pleading. There was a wild, nonsensical look in her gaze. Blood was trickling from the edge of her lips, and one eye.... Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she began convulsing uncontrollably.

Jessie bit back a sob in her throat. She knew trying to move Justine might well aggravate the injuries, as well as trying to get her to stop, so she was left there in the rain, simply trying to make sure Justine didn't cause herself further injury by smacking her head into the pavement. After a few minutes, Justine lay still. Jessie's fingers pressed to the side of her neck. There was no pulse.

"Don't take my daughter from me!" she screamed angrily into the rain. As she worked in the next few minutes to keep her daughter with her, deep down inside, she wondered if it was her fault... if all of it had been from the beginning...