Chapter 36

I watched the airplane land. Melisa, Doris Alex and Janet stood behind me.

"That should be her plane," Melisa said sadly.

I nodded.

"You should wait here, David," Doris Alex said. "Janet will bring her to us."

I turned my head to watch Janet walk towards the terminal gate. Melisa grabbed my hand and leaned her cheek against my shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Melisa," Doris Alex said stroking my First's hair.

"I know," Melisa whispered. "I know."

A half-hour passed before Janet, followed by a woman who towered over her, returned. They walked towards us until they stood a couple of feet from me. I turned towards them; Melisa and Doris Alex slid into position behind me.

"Brother," the woman said.

I studied her. She was a couple of inches taller than Doris Alex with a deeper shade of red hair. Her clothing was chosen to display a feminine body while hiding the details. The effect was to let me know what was there but only because I already knew what was there. I reached up; her muscles tightened as I pulled her sunglasses off. The bruises had not faded completely but her makeup hid the discoloration well. There was fear in her dark green eyes but she did not break our eye contact. I watched as she took a deep breath pulling strength from me. I put the sunglasses back on her.

"Welcome, Stephanie," I said softly.

"I have something for you, Brother," she said extending her hand.

I put my open palm underneath her hand; she dropped something into it. Melisa gasped stepping forward. I looked at the Sibling ring in my hand. The only differences between a Brother's crested ring and his Sibling's crested ring were the white and black backgrounds. My crest was composed of white and gray lines with the black of the ring being used as a third color. It would have been invisible on a Sibling ring. The artist had inverted the colors of my crest on the Sibling ring to solve the obvious problem. I smiled thinking only someone that knew about the inversion would recognize my crested Siblings.

"I will not accept this," I told Stephanie.

"David, you must," Melisa said almost angrily.

Stephanie's eyes looked lost for a second. I turned towards Melisa; her eyes were pained. She planned to be my first crested Sibling but Stephanie's wounds were too obvious for Melisa to deny her. I smiled as the girls moved to stand in support of Stephanie.

"A Brother cannot refuse a crest," Janet said.

"Cannot?" I asked.

"Does not," Doris Alex corrected.

"Do not mistake tradition with law, Siblings," I told them. "I will not accept that ring."

"David," Melisa defended. "Stephanie needs you."

"You can't live up to what it means, can you?" I asked looking at Stephanie.

"I can," she replied weakly.

"Look at Melisa," I said. "She will bear that crest with you someday. Tell her, not me, that you will live up to it the way she will. Tell her it means as much to you as it does to her."

A tear crawled from underneath her sunglasses down her cheek.

"What about the woman you were before this happened?" I asked her. "Could you look her in the eye and say you are not trying to buy my protection with that crest?"

"What she is doing is no different than why I chose the white ring, David!" Janet insisted. "I buy what I need from the Brotherhood."

"And what do you pay us with?" I said staring at her.

All of them looked away from me.

"The white ring is a commitment; a crest even more so, Stephanie," I said. "I will live what the crest on my ring means to my Brothers, can you live what a crest on your ring means to Siblings?"

"What does it matter if she can't, David?" Melisa argued. "You would never ask her to do something she doesn't want to. Crest relationships don't have to be based on sex."

"Does it matter, Stephanie?" I asked.

She shook her head slowly. I smiled gently at her.

"Does it matter to you?" I asked.

Stephanie turned her head to shake it again but froze. Doris Alex grabbed her hand. Stephanie swallowed a sob.

"It's not about me. I'm..." I said and hesitated. "A lot of things mean nothing to you right now, Stephanie. Hold on to the things that still do."

I turned around when the girls wrapped Stephanie in their warmth.

"What am I supposed to do?" Stephanie asked finally. "I can't even sleep in my old apartment. I can't go back there. It's not my home anymore."

"I didn't say you could not stay," I said without turning around. "Anna is my Brother; nothing else is needed for you to be welcome in my home."

Everyone was waiting when we got to the house. There seemed to be some form of ritualistic greeting that Stephanie had to go through with each person; even Rachel gave her a tight hug and a kiss on each cheek. I was fairly certain Rachel had no idea what had happened to Stephanie. I ignored the question in Rachel's eyes.

Heather gave Stephanie a tour of the house with everyone following in her wake. Stephanie stepped into the room that had been assigned to her. She looked around for a second and then backed out slowly. Heather continued the tour until we reached the 'not-quite' room at the end of the hallway. The room was slightly bigger than a king-sized bed. Everyone on the second floor used it as an extra closet.

Stephanie stood in the middle of the room for a long time.

"Empty it for her," I said.

"That's not necessary," she said.

"Let's go get you a bed, Stephanie," I said. "I like a daybed for this room."

"It's not necessary, David," Stephanie insisted. "The other room is fine."

"I know a great furniture shop," I said walking out the room. "They make everything by hand so their products are solid. Something in oak, I think would be nice. It'll probably be too big but so what."

A daybed proved undoable because of Stephanie's height. They had a marvelous single bed that was low to the ground and looked unmovable. When I offered the owner a bonus to deliver it that day, he was very pleased and arranged for immediate delivery.

By sun down, Stephanie was completely moved into her new room.