"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."

"Ruby, I can't think of a single, solitary thing that valuable."

"Guess we'll find out soon enough." She reached for the doorknob. "C'mon - sooner started, sooner finished."

Amber rolled her eyes, but covered Ruby's hand so they turned the knob together. "That was one of my least favorite of your teaching expressions, you know."

"Of course," Ruby grinned. "Why do you think I used it?" pushing the door open and urging Amber inside with the hand still resting on her back. She snickered when Amber cut her eyes over in a glare, then followed her into the room. The hard part was over.

************

"So what do you think about all this, Mama?" Patrick asked hours later when he and Okasa were getting ready for bed. After he and the boys and their families had arrived in the city, they'd gone directly to Charisma's house to be met with the news of her divorce and her decision not to run for President in the next election. The family had been quietly supportive, knowing that Charisma and Brianna did need time to become a couple privately before their relationship was thrust into the public limelight.

Still, something about the whole situation niggled at Paddy, and he turned to the woman who for almost fifty years had been his confidante, lover and friend. Okasa frowned at him and climbed into the bed, scooting up to lean against the headboard and smoothing the covers around her. She tipped her head to one side.

"What part of all this, Paddy? The divorce? Charisma and Brianna as a couple? Charisma postponing her dream?"

"Is that what you think she's doing... postponing it? You don't think she's giving it up?"

Okasa slid her fingers under her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling her shoulders tighten in reaction. She knew Patrick was trying not to be difficult, but she wondered where the hell this was coming from all of a sudden and decided to ask. She removed her glasses and set them carefully on the bedside table, then turned to give Patrick her full attention.

"What are you thinking, Paddy? Where's this coming from?"

He set down the cup of water on his nightstand and sat down on the edge of the bed, rubbing his hands over his face before sighing and slipping under the sheet beside his wife. "I'm not concerned about the divorce - it doesn't actually affect us personally, and both Kent and Charisma seem happier now than they've been in a long time. And you know how I feel about Charisma and Brianna as a couple - she's been a daughter of my heart almost since the day I met her in Charisma's dorm room. We've waited a long, long time for them to reach this point together."

"So it's the Presidential thing?" Okasa asked when Patrick stopped talking. "Paddy, you heard your daughter - she and Brianna agreed that it would be better for them to wait until they've had a little time together first. They're right... and you know it." Okasa paused when she saw Patrick's shoulders sag. "You heard what they said - it's not never... just not now."

"I know... and I want to believe that. Okasa, this has been Charisma's dream her whole life. I just don't want to see her give it up in case...." His words ceased when Okasa held up a hand while glaring fiercely at him.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Patrick Tagherty. She deserves happiness, and if Brianna makes her happy, that should be enough for you."

"It is, Okasa," he chastised with a hint of hurt in his tone. "I just don't want regret over this decision to be an issue for them later. They've waited so long to be happy."

"Do you *really* think they haven't thought of that... discussed it? Paddy, Brianna and I talked about it when Charisma and Kay went to check on Es. She'll make sure Charisma doesn't regret it, because Brianna is prepared to do what it takes to ensure Charisma follows that dream if that's what Charisma wants. But they've made a good choice in deciding to wait. This will let them be stronger together."

Patrick chuckled and Okasa twitched an eyebrow at him. He smiled and patted her hand. "Charisma should hire you to be her campaign manager. Between you and Brianna, anyone she runs against doesn't stand a chance."

Okasa laughed aloud and squeezed his hand. "Flatterer," smiling when he waggled his eyebrows at her. "Feel better?"

"Yep," he said, sliding down until he was mostly reclined on the bed. "I just wanted to make sure I wasn't misreading things."