Chapter 223

Everyone except Matt and Courtney was waiting in the living room. The new SAC and his wife had borrowed an Escalade and driven down to Winter Park.

"HELICOPTER APPROACHING FROM THE NORTH. SECURITY HAS CLEARED IT TO LAND ON OUR PAD."

Margaret had called earlier to say that everything had gone without a hitch and they were on the way home, but Angel had been beaten and was in need of medical attention.

"Let's go," Jeff said as he started out the door of the living room with Little One on his back and a small case containing the blocking equipment in his hand.

Diana grabbed his free hand as Kayla walked on his right. Growing impatient, Jeff's younger wives dashed on ahead as Arlene pushed a wheelchair, just in case. His older wives followed close behind Jeff, talking among themselves.

Dave, Evie, Linda and Kim joined the group in the hall.

"I hope Angel isn't intimidated by all of us meeting her," Diana worried, "and I wonder if we'll have a problem talking her into taking the block."

"Stop worrying," Jeff teased his wife. "If she won't accept it, I'll sneak into her bedroom with Little One later tonight. It's not as if I haven't snuck into a bedroom or two in the past. Calm down, Baby. This is going to work out just fine."

"But Margaret said Angel needed medical attention."

"But ... she didn't say anything about Angel being critical. Margaret would have told us if she were."

"Yeah, I guess," Diana sighed, "but this whole thing worries me. I suppose Fred's and Brenda's worrying before they left has worn off on me. Then when Margaret said that Angel had been beaten up..."

They stopped to wait at the top of the stairs in the inside garage.

Fred pulled in driving one of the Escalades that had been left at the helicopter pad for them. When he parked, he jumped out to go around and open Angel's door, but Brenda beat him to it. The two parents, their daughter between them, walked toward the steps, Angel wearing the Sergeant's big coat draped over her shoulders on top of her light jacket.

At the top of the stairs, Arlene pushed the wheelchair forward while trying not to stare at Angel's face. "Hi. I'm Arlene. Your chariot awaits," she teased, motioning to the chair.

"Thank you, but I don't need that," Angel slurred past her swollen lips.

"Humor us. Please, let me push you to your suite," Arlene quietly said.

Angel hesitated, but when her mother encouraged her, she gave in. "Okay," she finally responded as Fred took the heavy coat off her shoulders, then a moment later, hung it with the other coats just inside the hall door.

Arlene turned the wheelchair around and started down the hall, she and the younger wives chatting and giggling with Angel as if they had known her forever.

Jeff turned to Fred, a deep frown on the Prime's face. Fred shook his head, his expression unreadable. "I didn't get to do a damn thing," he said as the men slowed to allow the women to get farther ahead of them. Before Jeff could respond, "Brenda was between us. Justin pissed Momma Bear off. I doubt if he even knew what killed him."

"But he is dead, right?" Jeff asked, his frown beginning to clear.

"Oh, hell yeah. The cleanup crew rolled him into their van in a tub. As far as I can determine, there is no record of Brenda and me ever being in the state."

The General and his wives stepped into the hall. Fred put out his hand. "Sir, everything went like clockwork, thanks to you. I owe you one – a big one."

Whitworth squeezed Fred's hand. "Nonsense. Just family helping out family. Nothing to it. Her face looks terrible," he finished, turning to Jeff.

"It won't for long," the Prime returned as they continued toward Fred's suite. Fred and Jeff followed Brenda, Arlene and Diana in, while the others went on toward the living room.

Angel moved out of the chair to sit on the couch. "I really didn't need that," she told Arlene, "but I'm flattered, anyway."

"Dad has something he needs to talk to you about," Arlene told Angel.

Brenda knelt in front of Angel. "Hon, please do as Jeff asks. If you do, I promise you will be much, much better in a little while," Brenda told her daughter. "Please, just trust us for now. Okay?"

"But what is he going to do?"

Fred sat beside his daughter and took her hand. "Jeff has a..." Fred's voice faltered as the block warned him he was treading in dangerous territory.

Jeff moved a little nearer. "I have a device that prevents our secrets from leaving the extended family, of which you are a part. But I need your permission to use it. I give you my word that no harm will come to you from it. Everyone here, including your mom and dad, has undergone the procedure. It takes about ten minutes, and unless you try to tell an outsider our secrets, you will never realize the device has even worked. Again, I give you my solemn promise that no harm will come to you because of this device."

"Baby, you can believe him," Brenda affirmed, as Fred nodded as well.

"I ... uh, I guess. But what..."

"I need to put this on your head for ten minutes or so," Jeff said, holding out the helmet ring. "It won't harm you in any way."

"We've all had it done, Honey," Brenda assured.

Angel looked back and forth between her father and mother. "You two tried to tell me about Justin, but I wouldn't listen. I guess it's time I paid attention to the two people on Earth who love me." Turning to Jeff, "What do you need me to do?"

Jeff walked around behind the couch. "Just relax. That's all," he said as he put the helmet on her head and activated it. She took a deep breath and was asleep.

As Fred and Brenda stood, Diana took Brenda's hand and led her to the other couch. As the two women sat, Brenda leaned forward, her head in her hands. Suddenly, quiet but deep sobs racked her body as the Queen reached to hug her, stroking her hair and letting her cry.

Fred quickly sat by his wife, taking her in his arms, looking helplessly at Diana. The woman who had just killed Justin without flinching burrowed her head against her husband's shoulder and sobbed out her tensions.

"What's wrong?" the big man whispered into his wife's ear, bewildered.

"Nothing," she choked out. "Nothing at all. We have our daughter home."

Fred glanced up at Jeff, and the look on Jeff's face communicated without words, "I haven't the foggiest."

Brenda's crying eventually stopped and Diana, trying to get Brenda's mind off things, coaxed her into going with her to the kitchen to prepare a snack.

A few minutes later, Angel awakened slumped on the couch with Arlene sitting beside her. Arlene was holding something against her own cheek, caressing it. "Oh, you're back with us," the young Queen said with a smile.

"I don't..." but when Angel realized that she was slumped on the couch, it dawned on her that she must have been asleep. "Uh, I guess I must have dozed off. Did..."

"Yep. It's all done," Arlene said, reaching up to remove the helmet, then handed it to her father.

"But I don't feel any different."

"And you won't unless you try to tell someone outside our family and Security about a verboten subject," Arlene said in a teasing voice.

"But what's that?" Angel questioned, trying to get a better view of what Arlene was holding against her cheek.

"It, or rather, she is what is going to heal you."

"Heal me? But all I need to heal is time, well, other than a couple of stitches in my busted lip," she amended as she tentatively touched a fingertip to her swollen lips, and the cut that still oozed a little blood.

"Notice how young your dad looks?" Arlene asked with a grin.

"Well, sure. He said he was going to tell me about that when we had time," Angel responded, looking at her father.

"That's the reason, Baby," Fred responded, nodding toward Little One.

"This is getting deep," Angel said, worry evident in her voice.

Fred came over and sat beside his daughter, reaching out to take Little One in his big hands. "She's alive and she is called a Healer. Her name is Little One."

"That?" she questioned, trying to believe her father, but failing.

"Want to touch her? She won't bite," he said with a chuckle.

Tentatively, Angel reached out. Little One moved just as the young woman touched her. Angel hissed in a breath and jerked her hand back. "It ... uh, she is alive."

"Yep," Fred agreed.

"Take her and lie back," Fred said, standing to give Angel room.

"But..."

"Do it, Baby. Just trust me like you used to. Take her and put her on your chest while you lie back and relax. When you wake up, you'll feel better than you ever have in your whole life."

"I've always trusted you, Daddy. I never stopped. I just stopped listening when Justin came into my life. I regret that with all my heart, but I'm back now. For what it's worth, I'll never stop listening to you and mom."

"If that's the case, then lie back and put Little One on your chest. Jeff has already told her to heal you."

Angel touched her father's cheek for a second, then took Little One and reclined on the couch, stifling her worry. The little alien had remained still during their discussion, but as Angel settled into place, the blue beams came on and the young woman was instantly asleep.

As soon as Angel was out, Jeff turned to Fred. "How did you kill him?"

"I didn't. Like I said, Brenda did. He stuck a gun in her face. I was busy moving Angel out of the living room so she wouldn't see the bastard die. He deserved it, and he was threatening Brenda with a gun. He acted crazy enough to use it, too."

"So she killed him? How? And yeah, I remember what you told me about working for that ... uh, company, as you called the agency you used to work for."

"She crushed his larynx. I haven't had a chance to talk to her without Angel overhearing, but that was the response for someone threatening you with a gun close to your face."

"The son-of-a-bitch should have suffered," the Prime ground out as he stood staring at Angel's face. "I hate men who slap a helpless woman around." Then as he turned toward Fred, "I hate not being able to go and come as I please, too. I should have been with you."

"Bullshit," Fred said. "Jeff, because of you, we had a cleanup crew there to remove all evidence of our ... uh, visitation. Oh, some people saw us, or at least saw the car parked in the back of the house. There was a group on the corner with an occasional car stopping for a moment or two. Classic for drugs sales, but we were the better part of a block away. If they paid us any attention, I didn't see it. The house on either side was vacant and boarded up. I didn't even hear a vehicle come down the alley while we were there, well, other than the cleanup crew's truck, but I suspect the place livens up later in the day, and particularly at night."

"I didn't do anything," Jeff denied. "The General sent the cleanup crew, and Frank was the one who came up with the cover story about his visiting one of his plants."

Fred sat with a sigh. "Yeah, and none of that would have happened without you. I owe you one – a big one." After a second, he went on, "The only money we spent was for gas, and I paid cash for that. I stopped at an off brand station that didn't look as if it had any surveillance cameras, and I deliberately didn't initiate eye contact with the clerk when I paid for the gas. I didn't want to turn the rented vehicle in with the tank not full. Someone could compute a rough range by how much gas we used.