"Would it, Es?" the Father queried kindly. "Charisma Tagherty possesses a stubbornness to rival your mate's. And Brianna Walker was tired in her very soul. Do you think you would have achieved the same success any faster with more support... knowing what you do about them?" He waited patiently for her answer as did the rest of heaven.

"Perhaps... not," she conceded.

"Besides," the Father reminded her gently, "there was still Saphira's punishment to be gotten through. And you chose to share that with her. As much as I love you, I wasn't going to negate your choice by forcing anything. Had you elected to leave her to return home, you would have had access to every resource available. But we both know that would have been an epic fail for everyone involved," looking around when snickering broke out across the room. "What??" He asked plaintively. "It's not like I'm not aware of this stuff, and I get tired of everything being a disaster." He turned back to Esmeralda.

"No - despite all the grumbling and frustration, things played out the way they should."

"So we were supposed to die? You couldn't have just brought us home?"

"Your deaths were to give closure to those left on the human plane. You had become so integral in the lives of those you were mentoring that simply disappearing would have been intolerable; it would have undone all your hard work to get them together because they would have been focused on finding you instead of working on becoming a couple. Unacceptable. Keeping you alive and moving you would have caused... complications." He turned His attention to Amber. "And before you ask, it needed to be real - they needed to be convinced that it was real to be able to say goodbye. So I kept it as real as I could."

"Can I ask why?" Amber replied. "What was so important that You needed to cause so much chaos for so many of us here? I understand the human element - I do work with them on a regular basis. But why the elaborate scheming? Why couldn't we know the truth? What could possibly be worth...?"

The Father held up His hands and Amber trailed off. "When Esmeralda and Saphira were first mated to one another, it wasn't a surprise for anyone here was it?" listening to the negative murmurings all over the room. "Of course not - even though it happened much sooner for them than it has for most of you, it was unmistakable. There's an aura around them that everyone can feel even if they can't see it - humanity is sensitive to it as well. All of you have one to some extent and when you meet your mate, it blends and becomes stronger.

When Saphira and Esmeralda merged, they became more than mates - they became a family. And over time, they wanted more. Each of them - separately and unknown to the other - came to me and made a request. They wanted a child... their child." Excited rumblings ran around the room and the Father stood perfectly still waiting for it to die down. Saphira and Esmeralda gripped one another's hands, stunned to realize what their shared appeal to the Father had been.

When it was quiet again, the Father looked out at the multitude, smiling benignly at the excitement he could feel throughout the room. "Saphira once commented about my regretting giving humanity free will." He smirked at the blush that traveled up her face. "I don't regret it as much as I wish I had been a little more selective about some things. And this assignment gave Me a second chance to do that - it gave Me the opportunity to see how Saphira and Esmeralda responded to the unfair and the unexpected and the unknown. It was very enlightening and you far exceeded any expectations I had for you. And it made Me realize that it was time to reward the depth of your love for one another."

The Father looked between the two of them and smiled, then offered them His hands to pull them up on the dais beside Him. "If you both still desire to add to your family by having a child together, you have my blessing."

Saphira and Esmeralda didn't hear the cheers and applause that rang out around them. They only had eyes for each other. The Father stepped just out of their view and they met in a long embrace - Saphira had set herself immediately, knowing Esmeralda was going to jump into her arms and Esmeralda didn't disappoint. For long moments they remained wrapped up in one another, heads buried in each other's necks as they trembled with excitement and joy.

Finally, Saphira felt Esmeralda mumbling against her skin and pulled back just enough to look into sparkling green eyes. "Es?"

"We're gonna have a baby, Phira. We're gonna have a baby!!" Her eyes widened and she turned her head to look at the Father. He had returned to His throne and was watching them with a contented smile resting on His lips. She tugged gently on Saphira's neck, and Saphira released her to stand on her own once more. Esmeralda caught Saphira's hand in hers and walked to the throne, dropping to her knees when she reached it.

"Thank you, Father. We couldn't have asked for a greater honor."

"You've earned it, Esmeralda. You both have. And it will be nice to have some fresh blood here; we could use it." He looked around and saw the team that had served with Esmeralda on so many occasions waiting for them at the base of the stairs and jerked His head in their direction. "I think you have some people waiting to congratulate you. Go. We will talk soon and iron out the details."

They bowed their heads. "Thank you, Father," they offered together. Then they rose and walked towards their friends. For the first time in a very long time, heaven was alive with excitement, and they were ready to celebrate. Tomorrow would be the beginning of a new era, but tonight was all about being home again. It was good to be home... at last.


Chapter CXIV

Of course, the temporary injunction surrounding Brianna's and Charisma's personal life didn't last too long - the press took their statement as a challenge to dig up everything they could find and try to turn it into story fodder. Strangely, there was little for them to sensationalize. Brianna had never been outspoken about her sexuality, but she'd never made an effort to hide it either. That made for very little to find out that wasn't already public knowledge. And her friends and colleagues mostly closed ranks - offering either no comment or words of praise for her work ethic and congratulations on the personal front.

Digging into Charisma's life had nearly the same result - she had been planning her political career almost since she could speak, and definitely since she could read and write and there was simply nothing there for them to find - no dirt to dig up... no scandal to embellish upon. In fact, despite the press' best efforts and their frustration with their inability to produce any sort of ignominy they could exploit, there was a grudging admiration for Charisma's strong ethics. That in and of itself was story worthy at a time when shame and disgrace seemed to be the norm and not the exception.

The only action she had taken that could be considered morally questionable was her divorce from Kent and her subsequent liaison with Brianna Walker, and even that was progressing so slowly in public that Victorian standards would be considered loose by comparison. So far, the most anyone had seen was them holding hands and staring to the point where the action became serious eye sex. Once they had been witnessed leaning into one another, wrapping their arms around each other for support. Charisma had actually brushed a kiss against Brianna's temple, but otherwise things between them publicly remained almost Puritan in nature.

That isn't to say they didn't indulge in some heavy petting and long make-out sessions when they were alone together, because they certainly did. As soon as the divorce decree had been signed they had stepped up their physical intimacy by mutual, unspoken consent, though they had yet to completely consummate their union. Not from lack of desire, but rather a longing to make it special for each other, and rushing for a lack of time or privacy wasn't especially romantic. It did make for a lot of frustration and grumpy mornings though. They were both secretly counting the days until their European trip.

Still, their public decorum was, in point of fact, very maddening for members of the fifth estate - there was nothing for them to dramatize. The public, however, was quite fascinated. It was like watching a faery tale come to life and surprisingly, most weren't concerned that the two principal players were women. They were more enamored with the story being told in front of them.

Of course, as the saying goes - into every life a little rain must fall - and Brianna and Charisma were no exception to that... especially as there was a small minority whose entire political platforms focused on hatred and bigotry towards anything that varied from their own very public moral code. Even though their colleagues had originally rebuffed any inquiries made about them, those select few felt they could further their own righteousness by focusing attention on the perceived moral ambiguity that Charisma's and Brianna's actions had caused in an otherwise stellar career.

Thus, only two weeks after their statement to the press, and only a month before their scheduled trip to Europe, the Ethics committee convened with the intent of removing what some wanted to view as an embarrassment to the office. It was unfortunate for them that they chose not to let sleeping dogs lie, because things would have blown over on their own had they been left to do so. But then... hindsight is such a wonderful thing.

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

"Senator Walker, do you know why you're here this morning?" the Chairman asked as she seated herself behind the microphone. Brianna had not risen to show her respect for the Chairman's position when she entered the room, and she was more than a little put out by the lack of deference to her office. It was definitely time to put this woman in her place - show her how things were intended to run here. One couldn't get ahead if they didn't play by the rules like everyone else and after almost a year here, Brianna Walker should understand that fact. The Chairman peered over her glasses and frowned, hoping to intimidate her with her glare. Instead, Brianna snorted to keep from laughing aloud at her posturing, leaning back in her seat to regard the Chairman with humor.