"Maybe," Brianna agreed with a shrug, "but your future will be the most affected by us... no matter what kind of us we are."
"That's enough!" Charisma roared, though she never raised her voice. "I won't do this on my own, Brianna - I can't! So you need to decide whether you're in or out... because I need you all the way committed to this."
Brianna inclined her head until she could look into Charisma's eyes. They stood perfectly still while green studied blue... searching for any hint of doubt or hesitancy. When she was satisfied with what she found, she nodded her head and smiled.
"All right, so..." Brianna said as she started walking again, pulling Charisma along with her. "I know that your plans called for you to be running for President in the next election," seeing Charisma smile softly and nod her agreement. "Right. Would you be opposed to postponing them just a little while?"
"What are you proposing?"
"If you'd be willing to wait until the next election cycle, it would give us time - time to become an us; time to get our footing; time to formulate a strategy that doesn't strictly focus on your perceived lack of family values... meaning your recent divorce from Kent or our involvement with one another. I know both of those things will be a consideration no matter when you run, but at least we will have been a family for a while by then, and there will be less for your critics and opponents to mock."
"You really have been thinking about this."
"I have. I don't want you to give up your dream, Charisma - I believe you could make one hell of a difference in that seat of power. And I think you'd have a much better chance of winning the election if we weren't so new together. Right now - it will be all they'll want to talk about. You'll never get to talk about the issues or your platform. In a few years, though...."
"Would it surprise you to know I've been thinking along those very same lines?" chuckling when Brianna smirked and shook her head. "Okay, so we've decided what to do about the Presidential election. What do you want to do about our European trip? Kent has already assured me he'd love to have Adam for the summer. I think he wants to get him into the City to show him there is more in the world than dinosaurs."
Brianna laughed. "I remember there being dinosaurs there too."
"I haven't pointed that out to Kent. Adam will figure it out soon enough."
"As far as Europe goes, since I'm not running for re-election, I don't have to get out and campaign and glad hand during the summer break. I'd like to go back and see how different it is with you as a real adult."
"Hey! We were adults when we went. We got drunk on more than one occasion, as I recall."
"Since the legal drinking age in some of the countries we visited starts at sixteen, you're really not making much of a case for yourself, Ri."
"Not the lawyer here, Brianna Brianna. Still, I say we do it. We only live once, and I feel like we've lost too much time and too many opportunities already. So I'll tell Mama."
"I don't think she'll be surprised."
Charisma smirked. "I know she won't."
************
Amber and Ruby slowed to a stop outside the attic, clearly able to hear sound coming from within, but unable to distinguish what was making it. Amber shrugged as nonchalantly as she could manage. "Whatever it is, it's not like it can really hurt us, right? I mean, we're still full-fledged Angels." Ruby nodded and gestured towards the door. "Right," Amber agreed. "Let's do this."
So saying, she opened the door forcefully, causing the noise to drop into stunned silence. Eyes met and jaws dropped, but before either Amber or Ruby could formulate a question, Opal spoke up. "The Father asked us to come. Es wants you to be there for His big announcement and we all know that it will take some time to get this done. So when He asked, we all said yes," motioning around to the rest of the crew that has been part of this mission. "We felt we owed it to Es."
"Wait," Amber said, holding up one hand as the other pinched the bridge of her nose. "He *asked*?"
"He asked," Indi assured with a nod from the rest.
"Well, I'll be," she muttered under her breath, though it was loud enough to draw smiles from the entire contingent of Angels currently ensconced in the attic. "Will wonders never cease." Amber shook her head to clear it, then looked around the room. "Right - so where are you at?"
"We just arrived. We were trying to decide if we should work as a group top to bottom or spilt up and try to do it all at once. The middle levels will only need cursory cleaning - there are no personal effects in the rooms we used."
Amber nodded and glanced around, glad to see these women - her friends - together again... even for something as mundane as mission wrap-up. In the months they had been reassigned after this case, they had been isolated from one another except for the barest of greetings in passing. And the Father had kept them so busy, even that was hard to manage some days. Amber wondered again if He'd had a purpose behind His method - figuring He likely did, but knowing she'd never truly understand unless He deigned to explain Himself to them. Not that He was obliged to, of course, but it did occasionally get frustrating to be left out of the loop on things like this.
"Well," she said after a moment of silence, "I think with this many bodies we'd probably be better served if we split up. We'd avoid running into one another and could probably get done before the end of the day. I'm waiting for a call letting me know that they've...." Amber paused to clear her throat, feeling it tighten at the memory of how real it had been. "Sorry," glad for Ruby's steadying presence. "I'm waiting to hear that the hospital has released the body to the funeral home. Once that's done, Charisma and Brianna have offered to help set up a service. It'll be similar to what we did for Phira without the wake."
"So cremation again?"
"Yes."
"Okay," they acknowledged, then turned and started dividing up the work seamlessly. Amber was sent downstairs and accompanied by most of the others as the ground floor was the one that would require the most work. They did drop off a couple on the middle levels to ensure that nothing got missed and everything was clean when they left.
They spread out downstairs - living room and kitchen, leaving the bedroom to Amber. She stood in front of the closed door for a long moment, hesitant to enter the room that had been Esmeralda's and Saphira's private retreat from the rest of the world while they had been sequestered on Earth. Even when she'd shared living space with them, her room had been upstairs away from them, offering them whatever privacy she could as a human. She'd rarely entered this room with an invitation, much less without one. And knowing Esmeralda had died here in her arms was not making her task any easier.
Amber was so lost in thought she jumped when Ruby's hand slid to the small of her back. She turned to offer the older woman a glare, but only managed a sigh when she found compassion in Ruby's eyes.
"Sorry, hon - I thought you heard me walk up behind you. You all right?"
"Honestly, Ruby, I think I'm a little freaked out. I know Es is alive. I just saw her. But I saw her die... felt her die in my arms. And being here again...." She shook her head, curls bouncing everywhere. "This was theirs, you know? We all respected that."
"Would you rather someone else do their room, Amber? We left it for you because you're even more their family than we are, despite the role I played while I was here. But if it's going to make you uncomfortable... or miserable...."
"No, Ruby - it's my privilege and my responsibility. I just... it's weird."
Ruby snorted indelicately, causing Amber to snicker and relax slightly. "Amber, this entire mission was weird from the get-go. C'mon," she said, patting Amber's back lightly. "I'll help with this bit, and then we can go find out what the big news is. I am curious to know if it's actually worth the weirdness we put up with on this case."