_Title:_ Love on the High Seas #2: "Isle of New Beginnings"
_Authors:_ Pirates Sparrow and Turner
_E-mail:_ OrliDepp@...
_Rating:_ NC-17
_Feedback:_ Yes, please!! Seriously, we, like all other fan fic writers,
thrive on feedback. We also tend to only stick to the places where we know
we are being read and enjoyed from the reviews we receive. However, flames
absolutely will not be tolerated.
_Archive:_ Absolutely *ONLY* if you request permission and receive our
granting to do so. It'll probably be a yes, but it depends on the archive
and the person running it.
_Warnings:_ Abuse, Death, Lemon, Nudity, Rape, Sex, Torture, Violence
_Fandoms/Characters/Pairings:_ (Angel/BtVS) A/C, Fresley, Faith, Lorne,
Dawn, Connor; (Charmed) C/Pi, Prue, Phoebe, Paige, Kit; (Dawson's Creek)
Dawson; (Disney) Jack Sparrow/Will Turner, Hook/Smee, Sebastian; (Elvira)
Elvira, Gonk; (Excalibur) Kurtty; (Generation X) Sean Cassidy; (Harry
Potter) Albus Dumbledore, Snape; (Labyrinth) Jareth and company; (Peter
Pan) Hook/Smee; (The Pirate Movie) Frederic; (PotC) Jack/Will, Elizabeth;
(Sabrina) Salem; (Shrek) Donkey; (Smallville) Clex; (SU2) Carl; (10K)
Wolf; (X-Men) RoLo, Morph, Sean/Emma, Kurtty, Professor X; (Xena)
Aphrodite, Xena/Gabby, Joxer, and Autolycus. Sooner or later, there's a
pairing for every character, but if they're not listed it here, the
pairing will be with either a character from a different fandom or an
original character.
_Summary:_ Picking up where Love on the High Seas #1: Bright Promises of
Tomorrow left off, a handicapped Pirate and his crew arrive on an island
to investigate wreckage, but will they find any survivors? What will
happen when the Pirates come into contact with two other groups who
crashed onto the isle, and how will they escape the island that is filled
with danger, prehistoric beings, Supernatural beings, and much, much more
when all the ships have been destroyed? Huge multi-crossover with such
fandoms as Angel, BtVS, Charmed, Dawson's Creek, Disney, Excalibur,
Generation X, Harry Potter, Labyrinth, Peter Pan, The Pirate Movie,
Pirates of the Caribbean, Sabrina, Shrek, Smallville, Special Unit 2, 10th
Kingdom, X-Men, Xena, and more!
_Disclaimer:_ All established characters; all TV show, comic, and movie
titles; and the Black Pearl are © & TM their respective owners and are
used without permission. Crystal "Snowflake" Frost, Katrina "Firestar"
Lewis, Celina "Pantheria" Lewis, Tom Ballard, Meesy, Brendan Richards; and
all other original characters are © & TM Pirates Sparrow and Turner, are
used with their permission, and may not be used without permission. The
Sea Witch and everything else are also © & TM the authors. No copyright
infringement is intended, and no monetary profit is made from these tales.

_Chapter Thirty-one_
Dawson had only gotten half-way to the barn when he remembered
that Faith had another meeting to go to and would not be joining
him. He was torn between following Jack and returning to Faith.
Finally deciding to return and let Faith know that he was going
with Jack to work on the ship, Dawson returned to the house,
noticing that Donkey was right on his heels. He walked up the
stairs and looked at the rooms, wondering which room they were
having the meeting in as all the doors were closed. He turned to
see if he could spy some one who might know where the meeting was
being held only to see that Donkey had followed him up the stairs.

Donkey grinned up at the boy. "What ya looking at?"

"Trying to find the room where Faith is. Do you know where she is?"

Donkey's furry brow creased a moment as he thought. "She's the
insane bitch, right?"

"Don't let her hear you call her that," Dawson warned him. "She'll
gut ya right through before ya even know what hit ya."

Donkey grinned and nodded. "Yep. That's the one." He began to
sniff the air. Catching her scent, he followed it to Katrina's
closed door.

Dawson walked over and knocked on the door, hoping that the
meeting had not started already.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every one looked at each other, but it was only when the knock was
repeated that Tom walked over. His tail twitched as he opened the
door. His green eyes peered out only to be met with Faith's
latest. "Yes?" he asked.

"I need to see Faith."

Donkey said nothing but grinned up at the catman.

Tom looked over his shoulder. "Faith, your boy wants you."

Faith's eyes snapped to Tom, and Tom had to remind himself that
the anger therein was not meant for him. At least, he hoped it
wasn't with a nervous twitch of his tail. "Tell him to go kiss
Jack's ass," she returned.

Tom looked back at Dawson. He didn't want to hurt the kid, so he
leaned out a bit and, with a gentle, reassuring smile, offered in
a whisper, "She said to go have fun with Jack."

"I heard her!" Dawson said. "I was just going to tell ya, Faith,
that when you're ready to train, call me. I'm going to be helping
with the ship building, and I'm not kissing Jack's ass!"

"Yeah, right!" Faith retorted, making no effort to move from her
seat or disturb Salem from his position on her lap. "Tell ya what,
kid. He's your hero; get him to train you. Tom," she then
instructed, "shut the door."

Tom looked at her. "Do I have to?"

"But I wanted you to train me, Faith!" Dawson called through the
half-open door.

Faith shook her head. "Fine," she muttered. "I'll do it myself."
Salem was hoping she meant she'd train Dawson herself when she
stood up, placed him in the seat, and proceeded to march over to
the door. Tom quickly stepped out of her way, and she peered out
the door. "Maybe ya should've thought about that," she informed
Dawson, "before ya went after him like a pup." She shut the door
in his face.

Dawson was thunderstruck. What was wrong with Faith now?! What had
he done wrong? All he'd done was what the Captain asked him to do!
He shook his head sadly and turned to walk down the stairs, slower
than he'd entered.

Donkey took a long, sad look at the kid as he started making his
way down the stairs. Dawson reminded him of Will, and he liked the
boy. "Hey," he called to him. "Hold on there a minute. She ain't
gonna get away with this!" He turned back to the door.

Tom was just beginning to relock the door when it was suddenly
kicked open by a pair of flying hooves. The door hit him in the
face, and he stumbled backwards.

Faith, who'd barely lifted Salem to return to her seat, whirled
toward the interruption. "What the Hell?!" she snapped.

Dawson stood where he was on the stairs, afraid to move. What had
gotten into Donkey? He wanted to close his eyes. He didn't want to
see what Faith was gonna do to him. "Donkey, come away from
there!" he called urgently to his friend.

Katrina was at Tom's side immediately, checking him out to make
sure he was okay. "It would be a swelling, darling," she told him
and held her hand over his poor nose, healing it.

The others' eyes were also on the door and the donkey who stood
just within it, but only Faith recovered fast enough to act. "Just
what the fuck is your problem?!" she demanded, dropping Salem back
into the chair and beginning to stalk over to Donkey.

"Well, hum, it's not my problem exactly," Donkey relented,
realizing he may have made a mistake. "It's more, hum, Dawson's.
Yeah, that's right."

Faith's eyes cut into him as she stalked ever closer to her
target. "The kid told ya to bust the door open like that?" she
demanded, her voice angry and low.

"Huh . . . Well, hum . . . Not exactly . . . "

"That's what I thought." Faith was almost on top of him when
Donkey broke and ran. However, his plan had gotten Faith outside
the room. She looked at the staircase which he was swiftly
disappearing down. "Don't worry," she called after him. "I'll get
your jackass later!"

"Run!" Donkey said as he passed Dawson.

Dawson refused to run but continued his slow way down the stairs.
He hoped Faith would get over her anger. He still didn't believe
Donkey had kicked the door open. When they were safely outside, he
turned to look at Donkey. "Why'd you do that? You should have
known it was just going to piss her off more."

Donkey shrugged but would not look at him for the sadness Faith's
comment had brought to his eyes. "I was trying to give you a
chance," he replied with a shrug. "She sure as heck wasn't going
to; she wouldn't even let the door stay open!"

"Thanks, Donkey, but now we'll have to watch out for you. I'm used
to her anger. I don't know what I'll do to make her happy this
time. She didn't give me a chance to explain. She wants me to kiss
Jack's ass. What am I supposed to do?"

Donkey looked at him. "Maybe," he suggested, "for starters, try
making sure the woman knows you want her more than the Captain?"

"I don't want Jack! Not that way, any way! I was all excited about
getting to actually work on making a ship and excited to be able
to work with Jack! My excitement got me into trouble, but she
won't give me a chance to talk to her, let alone apologize for not
telling her where I went. I don't know why she gets so upset when
I do what Jack wants me to do."

"Women," Donkey replied, shaking his head. "They're like that."
{Which is exactly,} he thought, {why that wolf spells
T-R-O-U-B-L-E.}

"Let's go back to the barn and see what they're doing there,"
Dawson told Donkey as he headed toward the barn with Donkey
following beside him.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faith slammed the door so loudly that it echoed in the room.
"Katrina," she called, "next time I want a second ride, do me a
favor and talk me out of it." She shook her head. "Men! Ain't a
damn one of them any damn good!"

Katrina blushed. "Some of them ain't, but some of them are good,"
she told Faith, "and you know you don't really mean that. You're
just upset with him, because he didn't tell you where he was
going."

"Upset?" Faith repeated as though the mere notion were alien to
her. "Angry's more like it. I wouldn't mind cutting his dick off."

At that, both Morph and Tom blushed. Morph's skin turned red, and
Tom's orange fur darkened a great deal. Even Celina was blushing
deeply, and Meesy sat with his mouth open in shock.

Zora grinned, however. {Smart girl,} she thought. {Kick their ass
before they can get your heart.}

Connor adverted his face. Damn, that girl would say anything! He
couldn't remember a time of ever being so embarrassed, and it
didn't seem to phase her at all! He felt sorry for the boy who'd
been at the door and was glad that it wasn't him.

Zora, on the other paw, couldn't help thinking that she might
offer the brunette a sparring match if the meeting went all right.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Dawson had been getting a rather cold reception, so had another
boy in a place far, far away. He looked once again at the
dark-haired, pale-skinned man whose nose, he couldn't help
thinking, rather fancied a fishing hook. "I told you," he
repeated, flying up into the man's face and puffing out his chest,
"that I'm here to see Professor Dumbledore on a *very* important
matter! If you don't let me in there -- !"

The man sighed and knocked on the door. "Headmaster," he called in
a cold, still voice, "there appears to be a Wererooster out here
for you."

"I'm not any rooster!" the boy protested.

Dumbledore called out, "Let him enter."

Snape looked questioningly at the closed door. "Are you sure?" he
called back. Looking down at the boy, he addressed him again, "As
for you, you are what you act like."

The boy was just about to blast him again when Dumbledore called
reaffirmation to Snape. The darkly dressed Professor opened the
door just in time for the boy to fly straight into the office. He
quickly shut it again, a sneer marring his face. "I do detest that
boi," he muttered underneath his breath as he headed off to make
other boys' lives miserable.

Dumbledore looked up from a book that he had been reading to
glance at Pan. "What brings you here, young Master Pan?"

Peter burst into exclamations the very moment the wizard called
upon him. "Hook's escaped!" he declared. "He stole Tinkerbell and
used her dust to fly his ship out of Neverland! I've looked and
looked, but I can't find him anywhere!" He was so high up that his
feathered hat was nearly touching the ceiling. He looked down at
Dumbledore with his arms crossed over his puffed-out chest. "What
are you going to do about it?" he demanded to know.

"First of all, Pan, you are to return immediately to Neverland.
Your little escapades have been noticed for a very long time, and
I have failed to do anything about them. However, that stops this
day. You will not be returning to this dimension every time the
fancy strikes you, and before you start denying it, believe me, I
keep tabs on you. I already knew that Hook had escaped. I am only
surprised it took him this long to do it."

Pan's eyes shot wide, and his mouth shot wider. "What do you mean
you *knew* Hook escaped?!" he demanded. "You knew and you weren't
going to do anything about it?! He's supposed to be in *my*
watch!" *He* was the one who got the pleasure of making that
codfish's life miserable -- the *only* one!

"You will leave this very instant, Pan, and until you hear from me
again, remain in Neverland. If I find out that you have returned
here without my permission, you will take Hook's place."

Peter glared at the wizard. Surely he must be jesting? Yet
Dumbledore's face did not falter, and Pan quickly realized that
the man meant business. "Very well," he replied after a moment's
hesitation, "but I expect that codfish to be returned to Neverland
or *I* will be contacting the *other* Council members!"

"Be gone, boy! You bother me!" Dumbledore told him and made a
waving notion at him as though he was a housefly. Much to Pan's
shock, he found himself back in Neverland!

Left alone in his room, Dumbledore allowed a sly smile to chase
over his features. He settled back into his chair, leaving his
book on his desk, closed his mind to everything around him, and
reached out with his mind to his best and oldest friend.
{{{Charles, the plan is underway.}}}

Even further away, another old man lifted his bald head with a
huge smile. {{{Wonderful, Albus! Simply wonderful!}}}


_Chapter Thirty-two_
Zora looked around the room, her nervous eyes scanning one face
after another. Connor's was the only one she did not study, but
each of the others gave her cause for suspicions. Though she liked
the leather-clad girl's style, she had to wonder why she was even
in the meeting. She certainly wasn't from Alderberan! At last, her
eyes rested on Katrina and Vang, and she waited for one of them to
start.

Katrina moved to stand by a table that was in the room. A small
mirror that was built into the table faced the group that circled
around the room, and Katrina brought their attention to it. "If
you will watch the mirror, Zora, you will see our homeworld. I
think the best place to start is with our homeworld even though it
no longer exists. You need to know your roots, and they start on a
small planet called Alderberan." A picture appeared within the
mirror.

Zora watched through eyes widened by shock as the mirror displayed
a moving picture. It panned over a world with a pink sky and lush,
blue grass. Catpeople could be seen, and she noticed that they
seemed to have fur like all the different feline species of Earth.

The scene changed, taking them to a palace and then inside it.
They entered the throne room and saw, sitting on a throne, a regal
Queen with a jeweled crown; long, flowing robes; and
Siamese-colored fur. Beside her, on the King's throne, sat none
other than Meesy, the royal familiar.

Meesy had to advert his eyes. It was painful seeing the Queen.

Salem looked at Meesy and then looked at the cat on the throne.
"You really weren't making it up! You are royal," Salem told him.

Meesy nodded. "The Queen was a wonderful woman. She was good to
Her people, but our country was at war."

"Yes, unfortunately," Katrina took over, "we were at war with a
very aggressive planet. Our planet was one of peace, love, and
learning. Our people were peaceful until they came. They came out
of nowhere, attacking planets smaller than ours and devouring
them. Soon, almost our whole galaxy was gone except for
Alderberan. We never knew where they came from, only what they
called themselves."

The picture had changed to reflect a spaceship full of the Robotic
Reptilians. "The Robotic Reptilians attacked our planet. I was a
Spaceship Captain. Tom, Celina, and Meesy were on my ship that
day. It was a bloody war, and we were losing. While we were out
fighting them, our planet was destroyed. We were hit, engulfing
our ship in fire and sending it out of control and spinning
towards Earth."

"I know they're still out there somewhere, but so far, we've been
lucky and they haven't found us. We were trapped in the craft and
could not get out. I feared we would all die. I passed out, and
when I awoke, I was laying out in the grass. The sky was blue, and
the grass was green. But we were alive."

"I looked around for my sister, Tom, and Meesy and found them to
be laying next to me, Celina already talking to our rescuer. Morph
had come to our rescue and saved us. Even as I began to sit up,
our spaceship exploded. That is how we came to be here. I don't
know how your mother came to be here. Vang will know that."
Katrina looked at Vang. "Your turn." She went, sat down, and
waited for Vang to take over.

Vang stood, revealing Sebastian from the hiding place he'd dug
himself into while Faith had been on the rampage. The crab had
been laying underneath the tiger and now looked at Faith as though
fearing she might decide to eat him. Faith smirked, and he
scrabbled backwards until managing to find a new hiding place.
Meesy glanced at the crab who was now using him as a shield, shook
his head, and returned his steady gaze to Vang.

Vang's tail swished slowly as he walked before the table,
dismissing the mirror all together. He had never been one to put
much trust in magic, preferring by far to use his own physical
abilities. "Zora," he began, looking deep into his girl's eyes and
searching for some sign, any sign, that she might be considering
truly forgiving him, "what I have to tell you comes in two parts.
First, I was a tigerman, and I did love your mother. Ours was a
forbidden love, and . . . it was the Queen who punished me."

He sighed, glancing at Meesy who he could sense was bristling. He
could understand why he did not like any one to speak badly of the
Queen, but all he spoke was the truth. He looked back to Zora.
"She changed me into a full tiger, so that no . . . nothing more
could happen between your mother and I. Had I learned my lesson,
she would have turned me back, but I refused to dismiss my love
for your mother. Seraphina was a beautiful, wonderful woman, and I
loved her like no other. Even if I had been willing to speak
falsely, the Queen died before she could ever reverse the curse."

Zora did not need to ask to know that the Queen would have been
the only one able to reverse the curse. She had always known Vang
was brave, but now she learned of a new degree of that courage.
All he would have had to do was to turn his back to her mother and
their love, and he would have been rewarded with his rightful body
back. Instead, he hadn't. He'd borne the curse so that he might
continue to love her mother, though never being able to be with
her again. That was when a thought struck her. "Vang, you say you
couldn't be with my Mother, but couldn't she have just changed to
a cat form?"

"No," Vang replied, shaking his head gravely. "The Queen cursed
her, as well. Whereas I was prevented from taking my man form, she
was prevented from taking any form other than her natural catwoman
self."

Tom looked at Vang. "So she cursed you that same day we left?"

Vang nodded. "She gave me a choice," he explained. "Or, rather,
She gave us a choice. You know She already suspected our . . .
union, but that day, She wanted me to go in one direction, into
the battle with the fighters, and she wanted Seraphina to go in
another, to hide with the rest of the royal family and be the
first line of defense there. As you know, our world had never
tasted such grave danger before, and . . . We would not separate."

"You wouldn't separate because you wanted to be together if those
hours were our last?" Celina surmised.

Vang nodded sadly. "Exactly."

"She was always a good woman and a kind ruler," Meesy admitted,
"but she could be a little over-protective of her children."

"A *little*?!" Tom repeated incredulously. "Come on, man! How many
times did I get the Royal Litterpan dumped on me?!"

The two leather-clad girls stared at the orange catman.
"*What!?!*" Zora and Faith asked simultaneously. Though Zora
continued to stare at Tom in disbelief, Faith laughed. "*Damn!*"
she said, shaking her head. "Good thing we don't have one of those
around here!"

"Yes, Grandmama was quite handy with the Royal Litterpan," Katrina
told them. "If you made Her mad and didn't manage to get away in
time, you got coated! Nothing would get the stench off but time!"

Tom shuddered. "And, believe me, it *stunk*!"

"Shitt stink," Faith asked point blank, "or Bog of Eternal Stench
stink?"

The cats looked at each other before answering matter-of-factly,
"Bog of Eternal Stench stink."

Zora shook her head and looked back at Vang. "So what happened?
She cursed you but then let you go to the battle?"

"Well, 'let' might be a bit of a strong word," Vang admitted.
"Seraphina and I took it. The ship, that is."

"What did you do then?" Katrina asked.

"We joined the battle and fought as long as we could.
Unfortunately, with both the Queen's guards and the Reptilians
after us, we didn't stand a chance in Hades, truth be told. We
were shot rather quickly, and to this day, I don't know if it was
by their forces or ours."

"Figures," Tom said. "You would have thought She would have wanted
you protected by our people. Seraphina was one of her favorite
granddaughters." He shook his head. "Probably couldn't see beyond
her anger, and then when She did cool off, it was too late."

Meesy nodded but did not speak. Sheba always had had a problem
controlling her anger. In fact, She was the one who both Seraphina
and Katrina got their tempers from.

"Like you," Vang resumed, gesturing to Katrina and meaning she and
the others on her ship, "we too crash-landed on Earth. We were
rescued by Zora's father, but unlike you, we had the misfortune to
be followed. We didn't know that for some weeks, however, and as
it turned out, it was Zora's very birthdate that they made
themselves known."

He shook his head as the memories played through his mind. "We
fought our best and finally managed to get away from them, but not
without Seraphina being . . . " Tears moistened his eyes. " . . .
being hit. She would have been able to recover if not . . . if not
for the delivery happening about that same time."

Tears were in Katrina's eyes. She reached out and laid a hand on
Zora's and gave it a gentle squeeze. "What happened then?" she
asked.

"We delivered Zora while Seraphina was . . . was breathing her
last . . . She . . . " He had to fight past the tears that clogged
his throat. "She . . . " His striped fur ruffled as he shook his
head again. He had to get this out! "She asked us to . . . to keep
Zora safe . . . and then she tried . . . tried to . . . to tell us
. . . or tell him . . . or tell me . . . "

"That she loved you?" Zora prompted, and he nodded. Tears were in
the blonde's eyes, and she had to fight to keep down as she asked
Connor in a voice made strange by her emotions. "Connor, are they
. . . ?" She let her sentence hang, seeing if he might pick up on
her intentions without her having to announce them to the room.

Connor knelt beside her. "They speak the truth, Zora. The awful
truth."

Connor's confirmation of what she was already thinking was all
Zora needed to hear. She withdrew her hand from underneath
Katrina's, stood, and walked past Connor. When she was within only
a few feet of Vang, she could no longer hold back from running to
him. Throwing herself down beside him, she wrapped him in a tight
hug. He wrapped an arm around her in return, one of his massive
paws pressing against her back as he held her close. Finally, the
two let the tears run from their eyes.

The rest of her family sat quietly, knowing that it was a time for
she and Vang to rebond with each other.

Salem crept back into Faith's lap, a place he hadn't dared return
to before when she'd been so angry. He knew now, however, that she
was far more shocked, amazed, and especially touched for Katrina
and her family had just opened up not only to Zora but to her, as
well. Faith shook her head slowly and fought down the tears that
she refused to allow permission to. They'd had to let Zora in on
all these, but they certainly hadn't had to invite her to a
meeting of such revelations! Yet they had . . . They trusted her!
They really, truly trusted her!

She glanced at the others, making sure their attentions were on
Zora and Vang before drawing her fingernails against her eyes. The
pain was enough to stop her tears from falling, but Salem grinned
up at her. He didn't call her on her emotions but only began to
purr instead.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Cole finished delivering the last case of rum to Sparrow's
cave, he brushed his hands lightly together and looked around the
cave for something to cover the rum with. Sparrow's cave was full
of all kinds of treasures, including trunks filled with gold
dubloons, pieces of silver, and jewelry. He knew it had been a
while since Jack had been down to the cave as he usually sent
either Cole or Angel down when he needed funds, but as Cole knew
Jack was a very unpredictable man and might just get it upon
himself to come down and find some special trinket for Will, he
decided to drape some silk cloth over the rum. He didn't figure
Jack would be after the silk as he really couldn't see Will
wearing it.

He tried to rearrange a few of the fuller chests of jewels to
where they would be sure to catch Jack's eye should he come. With
that done, he shimmered out to return to Piper. She was not where
he had left her; in fact, the kitchen and the living room were
both empty. He stood still, listening, and then caught scent of
her scent. He followed it upstairs till he stood outside Prue's
door. Knocking gently upon the door, he called out, "Piper, are
you in there?"

Piper's hand paused in stroking Prue's back at Cole's voice. She
glanced at the door. She wanted to answer him, but at the same
time, she knew Prue needed her.

It was Phoebe who answered Cole instead. "Yes, she's in here."
Dropping her voice to a whisper, she reassured Piper, "Go ahead.
I'll take care of Prue."

"I don't need any taking care of!" Prue told both of them. "You
best go find Joxer, and you'd better get Cole and get some dinner
going before we have a lot of hungry Pirates on our hands! I'll be
down as soon as I tidy up a bit." A thought had occurred to her,
and she really wanted to get her sisters out of her room. She
loved them dearly, but if they had even an inkling of what she was
about to do, there would be Hell to pay!

"Are you sure?" Piper asked Prue, her concern clear in both her
face and voice.

Prue gave her sister a reassuring hug. "I'm okay. I didn't mean to
cry, but it's just . . . Brendan's story is so sad, and he's just
too hard on himself! I love him, but sometimes it's very hard not
to break down! Now go to Cole. Give him a hug for me. At least,
we've got one steady man in our lives."

"We have two," Phoebe corrected her, "even if I'm not sure how to
get Joxer to let me teach him." Shaking her head, she told Prue,
"I don't know what's going on between you and Brendan, but we're
here for you if you ever need to talk. I want you to know that,
Prue. Not just Piper but me too." She hugged her sister.

"Thanks, Phoebe. I already knew that. I'm really blessed to have
such great sisters!" She smiled bravely up at both of them. "I'll
be down soon." She got to her feet and began to brush her hair.

"Phoebe?" Piper asked after a moment of silence. She hoped Prue
truly was all right, but as she could not see her sister, she
could not watch her for the give aways she knew.

Phoebe, not knowing of the traits that Piper knew of, mistook her
sister's call as a request for help. Taking Piper's hand, she led
her to the door. She opened it to find Cole still waiting.

"Hi, beautiful!" Cole told Piper. "Thanks, Phoebe, for keeping an
eye on her." He reached out, took Piper's hand, and kissed it.
"Shall we go to the kitchen?" Cole asked.

Piper hesitated. She attempted to glance back at Prue but, of
course, could not see anything. Turning back to Cole, she nodded
even as Phoebe asked, "Is Joxxy down there?"

"Don't know. Nobody was down there when I came through. They could
still be in the basement. If you'll reach out and touch my arm,
I'll shimmer all of us down there."

Phoebe shut Prue's door, edged out, but looked warily at Cole.
"Shimmer?" she repeated doubtfully.

"Yeah," Piper told her. "It's a teleportation method." She smiled.
"You'll like it; it's fun!" She pressed her body close besides
Cole's and waited for Phoebe to take his arm and for him to
shimmer them.

Phoebe was still reluctant, but at Piper's trusting smile, did
reach out and take Cole's arm.

Cole shimmered all three of them to the kitchen where Chong was
just coming out of the basement, carrying a huge basket of meat.
"Is Joxer down there?" Cole asked before Phoebe could.

Chong looked questioningly at him. "Joxer?" he asked. "Oh, yes,
one of those two idiots that Captain Sparrow sent to help."

"He's not an idiot!" Phoebe exclaimed heatedly.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Chong relented ever so slightly in hopes
of avoiding an argument. "However, he could not handle the
method."

"Method?"

"Yes, I . . . hum . . . had to take care of the raptors."

Phoebe's stomach churned as she put two and two together. She
looked at the basket of meat he carried. "*That*," she asked,
pointing at it with an awful face, "is raptors?"

Chong hesitated but nodded.

"And you expect us to eat that?"

He nodded again, though once more after a moment's hesitation.

That was too much for Phoebe, just as it had been for Joxer. She
ran from the kitchen, a hand clamped down over her mouth in a
frantic attempt not to let the bile out until she could escape to
the outdoors.

"What does raptor meat taste like, Chong?" Cole asked. "You've
been on this island long enough; I'm sure you've eaten some."

"Like chicken," the Chinese man answered. "It's what we've been
living on."

"I would suggest that you not tell anybody else what it is until
after they've had a chance to taste it. The Pirates won't care
what it is, but the women may decide they don't want it. If they
know what it is, they won't even try it," Cole advised.

Chong nodded in understanding. "I had not meant to tell any one,
but I was not going to lie to her."

"Where *is* Phoebe?" Piper asked, realizing her sister had fallen
abruptly quiet.

"She went outside to throw up," Cole told her. "You heard what we
were talking about; she couldn't handle it."

Piper nodded. She could not blame her sister for the thought of
eating raptor made her own stomach queasy. However, Chong did
claim the dinosaur tasted like chicken, and he had handled
breakfast well. "I'll . . . reserve my opinion until after you've
cooked the first batch, Chong."

"We'll sample what you cook before you continue. If we like it,
then you can cook it. We just won't tell them what it is."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The minute Prue realized she was alone, she reached between the
mattresses of her bed and pulled the Book out. She had thought
about it a long time and had finally made up her mind. She hoped
there was something in that Book to help both Piper and Brendan,
and if she found it, she was going to use it regardless of the
consequences to herself. Laying it on her bed, she opened the very
first page to the forbidden Book and began to read aloud, "Hear
now the words of the Witches."

Unbeknownst to Prue, there was a small troop of beings hidden in
her closet. Their ears were perked as they listened closely.
"She's going to say it!" one whispered.

"Say what?" one of the mentally challenged asked.

"Sh!" the others returned.

The one in the back of the group, the only one whose skin was not
green, squirmed. The rag in his mouth kept his words from coming
out as anything but more than a squeak. The dumb one turned to him
and whispered urgently, "Sh!"

In the bedroom, Prue paused to listen. She'd thought she'd heard
whispering but did not hear anything now. Dismissing it as her own
nerves, she continued:


"*The secrets we hid in the night,
The oldest of Gods are invoked here
Great work of magic is sought
In this night and in this hour,
I call upon the ancient power
Bring your powers to we sisters four
We want the power,
Give us the power. *"

_Chapter Thirty-three_
Dawson walked slowly toward the barn, Donkey following at his
heels. He had no idea what had set Faith off, and he could still
hear her yelling at him to go kiss Jack's ass. The girl was just
being unreasonable, he told himself. Just because he'd done what
Jack asked him to do and now wanted to work to help build the
ship, she was pissed! He didn't know much about women, and he knew
better than to ask Donkey because he would know nothing about
women.

They came to the barn which was empty and decided to head toward
the beach, figuring that's where the group had gone. Dawson kicked
idly at a rock and was rewarded, hearing it skid further down the
path. He heard voices and looked up, seeing Angel working with
Cordy and a sword. Angel was standing with his arms around Cordy,
guiding her through the steps of fencing. Why couldn't Faith be
like Cordy -- quiet, calm, loving? {Nah. That wasn't Faith,} he
thought. {Never will be.} He shook his head sadly and continued
walking.

Soon, he heard another voice. It was two guys talking. He looked
up and saw Sean carrying on a two-sided conversation and using two
different voices, one in a deep Irish brogue and the other a more
European version. He seemed to be having an argument with himself.
Dawson wondered what woman had set him off.

He walked for a while in silence except for Donkey making the
occasional clicking noise which he tried to ignore. All was quiet,
and it didn't seem right to Dawson to be that quiet. Then he heard
a yipping and turned to look as Gonk came racing toward him with
Elvira hot on his heels. He watched as she caught up to him and
then headed back to the house only to be met with an arm thrown
around her waist by Wolf. He could hear Wolf's growl even as Wolf
bent to kiss her.

Damn women! Why couldn't he have that kind of luck?! Why didn't
Faith grab him like that and kiss him?! He felt that she was the
aggressor and that he should be the passive one. After all, it was
how he had managed to survive as long as he had. He had not clue
one as to how to court a girl. Maybe he should talk to Wolf later
about it? He heard Clark's voice and headed toward the sound of
it.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel released Cordy. "My dear, I believe we need to talk," he
said. "Something is definitely on your mind. Let's rest a bit, and
you can tell me about it." He led her over to a bench and waited
for her to take a seat.

Cordelia sat but would not meet Angel's gaze. How had he known
something was bothering her? Did she dare admit her concerns to
him, or should she opt instead for a topic that would prove far
easier, her concern over being able to learn to be a Piratess who
would be worthy of standing at his side always?

Her mind turned back to their conversation last night and how
Angel's misunderstanding and his thought that she wanted him to
give up all that he knew had caused such a fuss. The memory
brought tears to her heart, but she brightened herself with the
knowledge that she'd had the foresight to stick her letter into
the bucket of her own vomit and deposit the two together. Surely,
anybody finding it now would not dare to attempt to read it, and
Angel would never know of the intentions she'd had before he'd
returned to her.

She sighed. She loved him. She didn't understand how it had
happened so fast, but she knew that she loved Angel and wanted
nothing more than for their relationship to work. In order for
that to happen, she'd have to be honest with him. "Angel, I . . .
" That wasn't working, so she tried again. "There are times when I
. . . when I don't really know *what* to think."

"About what, sweetheart?" he asked her, concern showing on his
face as he knelt down beside her.

"All of this . . . " she told him. "The fact that your kind . . .
that Vampires . . . that Vampires exist . . . that . . . that you
have a son who's . . . Well, the boy can't be much younger than I
am!"

"It's all true, Cordy. Connor's my son, but the strange thing
about that is that two Vampires are not supposed to have children.
Before I met you, I did a lot of pillaging. I pillaged his mother,
and she pillaged me. We had fun for one night, and then we both
moved on. She never bothered to tell me that there was a kid
involved."

Cordelia watched his eyes as he spoke, her own shining with
confusion. She was not naive and had never once thought that he
was a virgin. Whereas she had never thought she was the first
woman in his life, she never would have thought that he had a son,
let alone one nearly her own age. What did that mean for them now?
"Angel, I . . . I never thought I was your only one, but . . . Now
that you have Connor . . . What does that mean?" she asked him,
not daring to complete her full thought. Would he be seeking the
boy's mother out now?

"I'm not sure what you mean, Cordelia, by what does it mean. It
means just that: I have a son. I've got the woman of my dreams --
you -- " he smiled at her, "and now suddenly I've got a grown son
to get to know. If he had been a small boy, I could've done
something in his raising. Like it is, he's a man. James did a fine
job on raising the boy. I owe him a debt of gratitude."

Her eyes searched his. She was going to have to ask him. After
all, even if she was the woman of his dreams, that did not mean
that he would not feel . . . duty-bound to look up Connor's mother
and try to make her regret her decision to abandon him. "So . . .
" Her voice faltered. She licked her lips, drew a deep breath, and
tried again. "So that means that you won't be . . . be looking up
his mother or . . . or does it?" Fear shone in her eyes, replacing
the uncertainty and confusion now that she'd actually spoken the
words aloud.

"I have no intentions of ever seeing that bitch again for if I do,
I may kill her. She had no right to throw our son away, but then,
on the other hand, she didn't owe anything to me except to tell me
about the boy. If our paths cross, we may come into a clash then.
Otherwise, I'll leave the bitch be. She's a Piratess on the *Saucy
Wench*. I haven't seen her since that one night and hope never to
see her again."

A smile tugged at Cordelia's lips, relief that he no longer wanted
anything to do with Darla flooding her. She could think of nothing
to say aloud but reached out and hugged him, silently thanking the
Gods that he would not be turning from her.

"I'd like for you to be friends with him, Cordelia. Being stuck in
Neverland, I imagine the poor boy hasn't had very many of those. I
. . . probably won't be very good at the father thing, but I'll do
my best." He returned her hug and then pledged his lips to hers.
He was still not sure exactly what she was so worried about but
knew, when the occasion arose, he'd do what he could to calm her
down. "Shall we get back to work?" he asked.

She nodded as their heads parted. Her hazel eyes had been full of
confusion and fear, but now they sparkled with happiness. "Angel,
I don't know how that's going to work out," she admitted with a
grin, "being that we're together and you are his father, but I'll
do the best I can to be there for him whenever he needs somebody."

Holding her by the hand, he took her back to the area they had
just been working in. "One day at a time, Cordelia, we try to be
there for those we love and care about. It's all we can do, and
it's all I can ask of you and of myself -- to be there when he
needs us." He slipped his arms around her and returned to the
exercise of the sword.

This time, they worked fluidly together. Cordelia's hesitation was
gone, and she put her all into the training, her determination
shining through in their progress.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Though Zora had been clinging tightly to Vang, her tears soaking
his fur, questions had began to run rampant in her mind. Finally,
she broke the hug off, pulled back, and announced, "I've got
questions."

In his hiding place behind Meesy, Sebastian sighed and shook his
head. This couldn't be good!

"Of course you do, my dear," Katrina said, "and we'll do our very
best to answer them for you."

Zora looked first to Vang. "If my Mother and you loved each other
so much, how . . . how did I come to be?"

"I believe you would have regardless," Vang purred to her. Had he
had a daughter with Seraphina, he fully believed that she would
have turned out to be Zora.

"That doesn't answer the question," Zora informed him. She
wondered why he was trying to sidestep it, but the attempt did not
make her angry.

Vang sighed deeply and would not look at her. "It happened on the
first night of the full moon after we arrived on Earth. Seraphina
. . . chained herself, but your father . . . could not bare to
hear her painful cries. I couldn't either, but I couldn't do
anything about it. I . . . I told him . . . "

Zora looked at Vang with wide, astonished eyes. "You told him what
. . . what happens?"

Vang nodded. "I wanted to ease her pain, Zora, but I could not do
that myself so . . . I told the only one who could and . . . and
sent him to her."

Connor listened in disbelief but did not make a comment. Just what
did happen to these catpeople on full moons? He knew that night
was going to be a full moon, and now he wondered what new things
he would see. He knew there were Werewolves with them and that
they would be affected. Not having been around Vampires, he didn't
know if they would be affected, but now he'd just found out that
the catpeople would. He continued to listen.

Faith watched the others with intrigue in her dark eyes. She'd
known that the cats always did a lot of screwing on full moons and
tended to be locked up while doing it, but . . . Clearly there was
more to it than that. "What happens?" she asked.

Celina diverted her blue eyes. There was no way she would partake
of this conversation!

Sebastian scuttled even more underneath Meesy, and Meesy, too,
adverted his gaze.

Katrina looked at Faith but then looked at Tom, whose arms
encircled her reassuringly. In a very low voice, she told Faith,
"Full moons make cats extremely horny. That's why we always get
locked up -- 'cause it's dangerous to others if they get in the
way."

"We'll . . . We'll take anything," Zora admitted, "and if we can't
get it, it . . . Well, it hurts. Like your insides are splitting.
And that's actually the day after."

Faith looked at the two in clear shock. "I've had the aching of
needing a ride," she admitted, "but . . . *Damn!*"

Zora nodded even as she turned her gaze to look up at Katrina.
"Are there chains?" she asked her hopefully.

"I hope the Captain has some, but I'm not sure. They could have
been lost. We'll check after the meeting."

Zora nodded. She hoped there was some but knew better than to get
her hopes up. Tonight would probably be another killing fest . . .
and another narrow escape. She bit back a shudder. She only hoped
she didn't end up with a dinosaur. Clearing her throat and shaking
her head, she attempted to change the subject. "What about the
Robotic Reptilians? Has there . . . been any sign of them since .
. . ?"

"We're not sure what happened to them," Katrina told her, "but
they seem not to be in this dimension. We weren't followed, and
although I have scanned for them in latter years, I never located
any of them."

"Is it possible," Zora then asked, "to build a spaceship here?"

Tom shook his head. "No. No fuel," he explained.

"We don't have what we need to build one with," Katrina told her.
"This civilization is not as advanced as ours was. There's no
Earth metals that can hold up in outerspace and, as Tom said, no
fuel."

"What about . . . teleportation? Spells?"

"You need to know something about where you are teleporting to or
you could get into real trouble. We don't know what's out there
any more and have no way to find out. Why would you want to go out
there any way? Our world no longer exists."

"No," Zora replied, "but they do. They're out there somewhere,
killing more, destroying other worlds . . . Besides, they still
need their asses handed to them for what they did to our people,
our . . . family."

"When we first came, we attempted to try to make a spaceship, but
it just didn't work. The only way we can fight them is if they
come after us here, and yes, I would love to hand them their butts
on a platter," Katrina admitted. "I just don't know how."

Faith watched the two with a joyless grin. She liked their style.
"If you ever get the opportunity," she spoke up, "count me in."

Zora, meanwhile, was trying to think of some one that might be
able to help them, but she shook her head. Even Ace, the magical
puller of monkeys, wouldn't be able to figure this one out.

Katrina reached out and hugged Zora. "Do you have any more
questions?"

She'd thought they were over, but then she realized that there was
one last one. "How do you fight?" she asked Katrina. "Is it just
like regular fencing or . . . what?"

"I can use my mind to form all kinds of weapons and use them to
fight against any enemy. I also can form fireballs and use them
against my enemy, and I'm very good with a sword. Why?"

"Just wondering," Zora admitted with a grin, "if you could teach
me any of it besides the sword? I'm always up for learning new
ways to kick butt."

"I'm not sure where your talents lay. We could test you to find
out. You should have some powers coming, even though your father
was an Earth man. Have you ever noticed anything out of the
ordinary?"

"You mean other than being able to take any cat form? Well, any
Earth cat form any way."

"Yes. Has your mind ever played tricks on you?"

"I thought it did once, but that turned out to be real."

"Are you sure?" Tom asked her.

"Yeah. Ace admitted to pulling the monkey out."

"What did he pull the monkey out of?" Tom asked, not sure he
wanted to know.

"A man's ass," Zora replied to which Faith, Tom, and Morph broke
into uproarious laughter.

"How can that be?" Katrina asked. "Didn't it kill the man?"

"And *why*," Celina questioned, "would he have done such a thing?"

Zora was grinning at Katrina's question but sobered at Celina's.
"He did it to pay an asshole back," she replied, "for abusing his
pet monkey, but no, it didn't kill him. Kat wanted him dead, but
Ace convinced her to let that one go. He became a monk later."

"Does this Ace know magic?" Katrina asked. "Is that how he did it?"

"He never would give me a straight answer," Zora admitted with a
grin, "but that's what I'm still betting on."

"I would like to meet him."

"Is he still alive?" Celina asked Zora, her blue eyes full of
concern. She knew the girl had lost a lot.

"Yeah," Zora replied. "He and Kat are back in Tortuga. Probably
gave up on the rest of us a long time ago."

"Then we'll surprise them with you one day, but in the mean time,
we will work with you and see what we can find laying hidden
within your mind. The first step is to find out if you have
telepathy, but we can't do it on a full moon. There's no telling
what kinds of things we could get stirred up," Katrina warned her.

Zora nodded in understanding. "And you have another meeting to go
to, don't you?"

"Yes, we need to meet with poor Mister Hook and that duty-bound
boy of his, but we don't want to leave you until you're sure that
you're comfortable with what's happening now."

She nodded again. "I am," she told them, "and I . . . understand
now," she added, looking back to Vang and wondering where
Sebastian had hidden himself this time, "why you had to lie. You
wanted me safe from the Reptilians, and between both of my parents
. . . You didn't really have much of a choice until Dad died. Then
you were afraid that, since you'd taken so long, I wouldn't
believe you."

Vang nodded. "Precisely," he rumbled up to her. Besides, he added
silently with a swish of his tail, he couldn't have known how she
would have taken to his admission to being in love with her
mother.

Sebastian peeked out from around Meesy. "Is it over, mon?"

Faith grinned at the crab and licked her lips. "Actually, I was
just getting hungry."

Sebastian screeched and ducked back behind Meesy even as Zora
whirled toward Faith. "You make a move on my family . . . " she
started, but Faith cut her off with a grin.

"Easy, girl. They're my family too."

"Oh, yeah. How the Hell did that happen?"

"She's my adopted sister," Katrina told her, "and she'll stand by
you and help you in any way she can. She's just . . . She's a lot
like you. You two should get to know each other."

"Later," Faith told them with an agreeing nod. "When we leave
here, I've got a kid to train." She caught a few of their curious
glances and quickly informed them, "Dawn, not Dawson." Her smile
vanished even as she spoke the boy's name.

Damn it, she should have known better! She had no right to be
angry with Dawson. After all, had she not been the one to inform
him that he only *thought* he loved her? They were just fucking
buddies, she told herself. That was all he meant to her -- nothing
less, nothing more. She shifted in her seat.

Katrina sensed that the meeting was now over and that her family
was whole again. "I am glad that we are a family now," she told
the others. "We need to get to know each other more, and over
time, we shall. Now, unfortunately, we must see to that poor
duty-bound boy."

Celina nodded as she got to her feet, reluctantly leaving Morph's
comforting arms. "I wonder what Delvira's got in mind?"

The sisters walked out with Faith hot on their heels. Zora looked
at those who had been left before asking, "Who wants to help me
feed the cubs?"

"I do!" Connor said.

"I enjoyed doing it earlier," Tom spoke, "so I'd like to help
again." He looked at Morph.

Morph was already getting to his feet. "Count me in too. Besides,"
he added with a grin that spread over his entire face, "I didn't
get to play with them earlier." At that, a tail sprouted from his
rear, and he began to shrink.

"Race you to them," Tom challenged and quickly changed into a
tiger cub. Connor held the door open and watched the two new tiger
cubs race down the stairs. He waited for Zora to leave the room.

Zora paused within the door to look into Connor's eyes. "Thank
you," she told him in a soft voice.

"You're welcome. Any time, Zora, you need me, you have but to ask,
and I'll be there for you. Interesting turn of events. I'm glad
things worked out." He closed the door behind them and headed down
the stairs.

"So am I," Zora replied with a smile as she and Vang headed down
beside Connor. Meesy followed behind them, shaking all over in a
desperate attempt to rid his royal fur of the crab who refused to
let go.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Faith hit the living room, she looked around for Dawn but
didn't see her. She frowned and was about to get Salem to sniff
for her when she heard a shout from the top of the staircase. "I'm
coming!" Faith looked up to see Dawn eagerly bounding down the
stairs behind the rest of the group. Just where had that girl
been? She hadn't been snooping on them, had she?



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kitty's group had already been collecting a wide variety of fruits
and vegetables when she stopped suddenly. "Okay," she announced,
her eyes on something ahead rather than the people around her,
"Autolycus, Gabrielle, Elizabeth, Joxer, you four stay here."

"Why?" Joxer asked. "I can help!"

"Not with this one," Kitty said, looking to the man she'd already
been picking up all along the path. "You need to stay here with
the others for your own safety. You can't handle what we're going
into next."

"She's right," Gabrielle agreed, looking at Joxer. "You can't. I'm
staying here, and so are you."

"Okay, but I could help," Joxer insisted, stating what he thought
was obvious.

Kitty shook her head. She didn't want to give him a chance to
worsen the headache he'd already started giving her. Instead, she
turned her back to him and started to lead the way on.

Gabrielle, however, continued to look at Joxer. "Joxer, if I can't
help her, what makes you think you can?"

"'Cause I'm a man, and you're a woman!"

Gabrielle's hands tightened at that, and her green eyes flashed.
Autolycus backed up out of the way, gently dragging Elizabeth with
him. Gabrielle glared into Joxer's eyes. "You are *so* lucky my
boe didn't make it!" she ground out at him. Her sais were
tempting, but she didn't *really* want to hurt him.

He backed up and sat down, realizing he'd best keep his opinions
to himself before Gabrielle made him eat a sai.

Gabby gave a soft growl of frustration but let the fool go,
turning her attention instead to searching the area around them
for herbs.

Joxer used her inattention to get up and wander around, looking
for something else to collect. He spied some of the most unusual
berries and wanted to show them to Kitty when she returned.
Hopefully, they would make her not so angry at him. He now edged
closer to the orchard, hoping to see what she was collecting and
how.

Wolverine stood back and watched Kitty so that he could learn. He
didn't really want to kill a tree, but he would if he had to.

"Okay, Kur . . . " She stopped herself. She needed to distance
herself from him, and continuing to call him by his first name
certainly wouldn't get her anywhere near that. "Okay, Father
Wagner!" Kitty called out instead. "On your toes! Lockheed, keep
on my back."

Kurt sighed heavily. {She's still mad at me!} he thought. {I've
got to find something for her that will make her happier with me
before we head back! Maybe I can find her a flower?}

Kitty's brown eyes took in the trees and quickly picked out the
one whose face looked the grumpiest. She stopped in front of him
and pretended to be admiring his apples. "You know," she spoke
aloud, "I don't think I've ever seen apples that are so shiny . .
. so red and pretty . . . Could I have one?" she asked, slowly
reaching a hand up toward one of the lower limbs.

The tree's limbs shifted, and his eyes cut angrily down at her.
"My apples are *my* apples, girl!" he told her. "You don't belong
here! Take your . . . " He peered at her companions. "Take your
whatever they are with you and leave!"

Wolverine looked at the apples. "Come away from there, Kitty! You
don't want any of his apples! They're shiny on the outside, but
they're full of worms on the inside!"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Kitty admitted with a sly smile.
She started to turn her back on the tree.

"*My* apples do *not* have worms in them!"

She turned back. "Yeah, right! Sure they don't! That's why there's
one wriggling out right there by your nose!"

Thinking of how best to aggravate the tree, Wolverine did his
Joxer technique. Holding his hands against his ears, he wriggled
his fingers and stuck his tongue out at the tree while making a
very loud raspberry sound.

Those were the final two insults to the tree, and it began
chunking apples at them and yelling expletives. At his throwing,
the others joined in. Kitty acted swiftly, phasing through the
apples but picking them up and throwing them in the bag she
carried.

Apples came flying out, and Autolycus began trying to catch them.
The ones he managed to catch he dropped to Elizabeth who placed
them in her basket.

Joxer turned back from watching the apples flying at Autolycus
just in time to get hit in the face with one. It knocked him flat
on his back, and he lay there, hoping no more would come his way.
"Those things hurt!" he managed to croak out.

"Why do you think we told you to stay here?!" Gabrielle retorted
yet she was there right before his head, catching apples left and
right. Some she caught with her left hand; others with her right
sai.

Joxer held the basket and collected the apples that Gabrielle caught.

Kurt bamfed in and out, collecting apples, and Wolverine played
dodgeball with them, catching as many as he could and getting hit
every now and then. He got hit in the back of the head, and it
knocked him forward. Barely managing to catch himself, he turned
around to stare at the tree who had actually connected with his
head. "That's what you get for making raspberries at me, little
man!" the tree croaked at him.

"You throw any more and hit me with them, I'm gonna come in there
and get you!" That only rewarded him with a pelting of more
apples. Wolverine got the heck out of there. His basket was full
any way!

Kitty, however, was not satisfed. With her bag full and in one arm
and Lockheed clinging desperately to her shoulders, she darted
through the apples to the offending tree. Drawing her sword, she
drove it deep into its vines, then yanked it out and ran for it.
"That's what you get," she called back to the howling tree, "for
messing with my Father!"

"Thank you for that, Kitty," Wolverine told her as she rejoined
the group. "Very interesting maneuver!"

She grinned. "I told you there were extra benefits to phasing."

"I found something!" Joxer interrupted. He led Kitty over and
showed her the berries. "Are they any good?"

Kitty had left her bag with the others and knelt before the
berries to get a better look at them. "Ku -- Father Wagner," she
called, having to remind herself again, "come take a look at
these."

Kurt looked at them and laughed. "Those were delicious the last
time we had them! I'd never seen anything like them before! I had
hoped we would find some." He picked one and showed it to the
group. It was pink on one side and dark blue on the other.
"Blueberry and strawberry," he told the others.

"They're very hard to come by," Kitty added, unable to hide her
smile, one that she hoped Kurt wouldn't realize was more because
of his delighted reaction than the actual berries, "even here.
We've only had them once before." She started picking the berries
off one by one. She was going to just call out for anybody to get
a basket but then thought of poor Joxer who was trying so hard.
"Joxer," she called to him with a grin, "you found them. You want
to get a basket for them?"

"I have a basket!" Joxer said and ran forward to start collecting
the berries. He couldn't believe he'd finally done something
right!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark had been leading the group to the shore when he'd suddenly
stopped and Lex had bumped into him. "Listen," Clark told the
others in a very low voice.

Will, standing next to Clark and Lex, frowned. "To what?" he
asked. "Everything's so quiet . . . " He stopped himself before he
could admit that the silence was rather unnerving.

"I thought I heard giggling," Clark told the others. He saw Dawson
and Donkey hurrying to catch up with them and waited for them.

Donkey's tongue was lolling halfway out of his mouth, but he still
grinned as they finally reached the others. "*Finally!* Where's
the fire?" he asked them. "It's been next to impossible to catch
you guys! What? You got wings on your feet now or something?"

"No, but we were trying to get there to find out what's available
for building a ship. There's not a lot of tools, but we do have
some," Clark was trying to tell Dawson and Donkey but got
interrupted when he heard another fit of giggling. "You sure you
guys don't hear that?"

Donkey's long ears had perked up at the giggling. "I hear it!" he
announced. "Where's that coming from?" He pranced around, trying
to locate the sound and grinning.

"Be very quiet, and we'll try to sneak up on them," Clark told the
others. "I think they're down in the water." With Clark leading
the way, they drew very close but still could see nothing.

Lex thought he was beginning to hear giggling, and he peered
anxiously at the water, not wanting Clark to get into anything he
couldn't handle on his own. He still didn't see anything, no
matter how much he strained!

Will's eyes were also desperately scanning the shore and water
when he spotted something. His mouth fell open as he stared at two
women laying naked on the shore. Dear Gods, where had *those* come
from?! Then he heard the laughing again. Upon seeing that the
women's lips were not moving, Will turned his gaze further out,
and his jaw slackened even more. There were men playing in the
water!

"What are you seeing?" Lex asked as he could tell that Will was
gazing at something.

"Oh my Gods!" Dawson breathed. "They're *beautiful*, and they're
*naked*!" he whispered.

Will cocked his head to one side as he studied one of the more
muscular men in the water. "You think they are?" he queried
hopefully, the naked women not even occurring to him.

"The only naked woman I've ever seen is Faith," Dawson told him.
"Those two are even more beautiful than she is!"

Xena looked at the two women. She also saw the men, but her eyes
were drawn back to the women. One of those women looked luscious
and ripe and seemed to be beckoning to her! What was she thinking?
Gabrielle was her woman! She'd always thought Gabrielle to be the
most beautiful woman she'd ever known, and yet the red-headed
female was the most beautiful creature she'd ever seen! The
brunette was not too bad either.

Lex shook his head and rubbed his eyes. What were they looking
at?! Why couldn't he see it?! It was at that moment the giggling
stopped and a song came to meet their ears. Suddenly, Lex found
his eyes feasting upon the sexiest man he'd ever seen! His mouth
dropped open. His eyes moved from the man to Clark and then back
again to the man. As the song continued, he forgot all about Clark
and began to head for the man.

Donkey shook his head in disbelief. Had his people gone loco?!
They were all heading for the strange new creatures! If he could
have, he would have rubbed his eyes so that he could see better
for his eyes were surely not seeing what they thought they were
seeing! The creatures in the water had tails like fish, and as the
women slipped along the shore and back into the water, he could
see their legs transforming to scaly tails!

He tried calling each of his people by name and reminding them of
their loves, but it was as though they had wax in their ears for
they did not hear him but continued on toward the water where
Donkey knew that they would drown! He tried pulling Will's clothes
but only succeeded in being slapped so hard that his face stung.
He turned and ran back toward the house, braying at the top of his
lungs for help.


_Chapter Thirty-four_
With her plan in hand to let Dawson know, in no uncertain terms,
that she was no longer angry with him and that they were only fuck
buddies, Faith had wasted no time in steering Dawn and Salem from
the house and toward the beach. In fact, the only times she had
slowed for even a moment had been to wait for Dawn to reach her
and then, upon remembering that she could not use her own sword,
to borrow a sword from Celina. The trio were well on the way to
the beach when they suddenly heard braying.

Dawn's eyes went wild. "What's that?!"

"That," Faith replied as Donkey came running into their sight.
"What the Hell's your problem this time, ya jackass?" she
demanded.

"Fishpeople!" Donkey managed to gasp out. "They gonna drown! They
all gonna drown! Fishpeople got them!" His eyes were huge as
saucers, and he was panting hard. "Will gonna die! Gotta get
Jack!"

"You freeze your jackass right there!" Faith commanded before he
could run off. "What do you mean -- fishpeople?!"

"Fishpeople! They look human and got tails, and they got our
boys!" Donkey felt sure he was fixing to faint before he could go
for Jack. "Don't stand there talking, Faith! Go!"

"Fishpeople?" Salem repeated. "You mean mermaids?"

Yet even as he asked that, Faith questioned Donkey again, "*Our*
boys? Donkey, I don't have a 'boy'!"

"Lex, Clark, Will," he gasped out, "Dawson . . . ! They gonna
drown for sure! I tried to stop them, but they ignored me except
Will slapped me!" One big tear came running down his face. "It
still hurts!"

Faith had stopped listening at Dawson's name and had instead
turned to Dawn. "Dawn, give me the sword."

"What?" Dawn asked, confusion creasing her brow. "But you've got .
. . "

"Give me the sword!" Faith repeated. "I can't use the one I have!
I've gotta have that one, and I don't have time to explain it,
damn it!"

She was mere inches from snatching the sword from the girl when
Dawn handed it over with a quiet, "Yes, ma'am."

Faith took the sword and ran for the beach, shouting behind her.
"DONKEY, GIVE SALEM A RIDE!" She didn't say anything to Dawn and
was gone before the others could react.

Donkey looked at Dawn. "Go get Jack!" He turned and, as he felt
Salem land on his back, took off running. Dawn started running for
the house, screaming at the top of her lungs for Jack and Angel.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack and Brendan had left the library just in time to see the
Sorceresses, Hook, and Smee going into Delvira's room for the
meeting. Knowing they would be a while, they were heading for the
beach when they were suddenly confronted with a screaming Dawn.
They started running immediately for the beach but were passed by
Angel who knew it had to be important if his "little sister" was
screaming for them to get to the beach.

It was Cordelia, who had followed Angel, who caught Dawn. "Dawn,
what's wrong?" Dawn burst into her story even as Cordelia held
her, trying to calm the young woman.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faith took the hill so fast that she was slipping and sliding on
the way down but never did she slow her pace for she had already
seen where the others were following the mercreatures out to the
ocean. She raced across the shore and dove into the water, still
clutching the sword in her hand. Xena was nearest to her, and a
redhead mermaid was just a few feet in front of her. Faith's sword
slashed out, cutting through the mermaid's middle. She drove the
sword deeper until two parts of the creature floated in the water.

Xena cried out as the mermaid was sliced in two and was turning to
attack the one who killed the mermaid. When she saw Faith, her
mind began to clear. "What," she gasped, "am I doing out here?"

"No time!" Faith snapped in response. She was swimming faster and
already beginning to pass Xena. "Get to work!"

Xena looked around and saw her friends following more of the
creatures like the one that Faith had just killed. She headed
after them, reaching Lex who was desperately trying to catch a
merman. She sliced through the merman, killing him, and Lex
snapped back to himself. "Huh?"

"Swim!" Xena told him. "Back to shore!"

Lex didn't argue but neither did he head for the shore. He started
looking around for Clark and saw his lover not too far away,
heading after another merman. "Clark?" he called, but Clark never
turned to look at him. He started swimming after Clark.

"They don't know ya!" Donkey brayed an explanation from the shore.

Lex felt for a sword and realized he didn't have a weapon. He
couldn't see any floating limbs or anything else he could pick up
to use, but he wouldn't give up. He kept swimming till he reached
Clark and jumped on his back, holding tightly to him and wishing
he had a weapon. Clark just kept swimming behind the merman, his
strength pulling Lex down.

Faith was still swimming after Dawson, who was furthest out to the
ocean with Will not too far from him, as she passed Lex and Clark.
She didn't say anything to either, but as she passed the merman,
she reached out quickly and sliced his head clean off of his
shoulders.

The body of the merman sank, and Clark shook himself to clear his
brain. "Lex?" he called out only to realize that Lex was on his
back, holding on tight. "What are we doing out here?" Clark asked.

"Tell you when we get out of here. Let's go back to shore!" Lex
began to swim, keeping Clark in his sight the whole time. He
wasn't sure exactly what had just happened, but he figured it had
to do with that merman Faith had just killed trying to steal
Clark. Why was Clark interested in a merman? It didn't matter.
They were safe now and could get out of the water! Once they
reached the shore, they fell down on it, resting.

Jack took one look when he reached the water and dived, swimming
strongly to where he could see Will following a creature he did
not even believe existed but was stealing his boy! He kept
swimming till he reached Will's side and then passed him to get to
where the merman was. He sliced him through his torso, cutting him
limb from limb. Blood churned around the water, and he knew they
had to get out of there soon or sharks would be coming.

When Will returned to his senses, it was as though he had just
been slapped in the face with a wave of cold water. "What? What's
happening? Jack, where are we?" He was at a complete lost.

"We're in the water, Will, and we have to get you out right away!
It's freezing out here! Start heading back for the shore. You can
see Brendan there."

Will looked at Jack in a mixture of worry and concern. "Where . .
. " he asked, "are you going?"

"I was going to help Faith get Dawson. They're further out. Do you
think you can make it to Brendan?"

Will nodded, knowing better than to argue with Jack especially as
he still didn't really know what was going on, and began to swim
for Brendan.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faith had ignored the others' arrival as she had been Hellbent on
getting to Dawson. The blasted bitch just kept leading him on out
there, and, just like a lovesick pup, he kept following. The
thought of going back never occured to her even though the icy
water was freezing her and its waves had managed to lap over her
head a couple of times. Still, she swam on, intent on her target.

When she finally reached Dawson, she didn't waste words but swam
past him. "You picked the wrong boy, bitch!" Her sword cut through
the water. Its silver blade flashed through the waves as she
brought it upwards and connected with the mermaid's tail. She cut
into it, the best she could do to reach her groin. Then, even as
the bitch was screaming, Faith snatched her sword out and chopped
her head off.

Dawson came to himself from what he thought was a watery grave.
Water kept crashing over his head, and he was completely
surrounded by blood. "Faith?" he called to her. She was a little
ways from him. He felt like he couldn't hold on much longer.

Faith turned back to Dawson even as the water turned even
choppier. She did not bother to consider how strange the water's
behavior was as there was not a single cloud in the sky but only
turned her attention to Dawson. Her first instinct was to swim to
him, but she held herself back, reminding herself that they were
only fuck buddies and thus she shouldn't show him any more concern
than Clark or Lex . . . Well, not Lex. She'd be at his side by
now. But Clark or . . . or Will. "Turn around," she called,
shaking her thoughts off, "and head for the shore. They'll meet ya
there."

"I can't," Dawson told her. "I've got a cramp! I can't swim! I
can't move my leg!"

Jack had reached them by now. "Take the boy back, Faith. I'll
follow you." He expected sharks at any moment, and he knew Faith
was smart enough to realize that they would be coming.

Faith was about to answer Jack when another wave hit her upside
the head. She regained her balance in the water, spitting and
sputtering a moment before asking, "Why don't you? You're his
idol!"

"Faith!" Dawson called to her again. "I don't know why you're
still angry at me. I love you! I might not know how to show it
sometimes, but I really do love ya! AND I WILL NOT KISS JACK'S
ASS!"

"What," Jack asked, "is that all about?" He looked straight at Faith.

"Fuck it," she snapped back, "and it's none of your damn business,
Jack."

"It's my ass," he reminded her, "and I get to pick who kisses it!"

"Then kiss it yourself! I don't give a shitt!" She swam past Jack
to Dawson. "And you, boy, if you want to make it to shore, better
stop that damn love crap. It's not part of the arrangement."
Draping one of his arms around her shoulders, she began to swim
with him toward shore.

Jack shook his head. He had no idea what that was all about, but
he knew when to keep his mouth shut. He swam just a little bit
back from them on the constant look-out for sharks.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brendan had been on the shore, nervously scratching every now and
again, as he watched the others out in the water. Will seemed to
be taking forever to reach him, and then he saw the boy freeze. He
couldn't hear the words he called out for the slapping of the
waves but dove into the water and headed out after him.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack caught up to Will just as Brendan did, and together they
helped him out. "He's freezing," Jack told him. "We've got to get
him to the house and into something warm."

Brendan was already nodding. "Everybody needs to get back to the
house and get out of your wet clothes as soon as possible."

Jack looked over to Dawson who was clinging to Faith as though his
life depended on her. He looked at Lex, Clark, and Xena and saw
that they were okay. "Let's get away from here as quickly as
possible," he told them. Turning back to Will, he hugged him. "You
scared me out there, Will! I thought I'd lost you for a minute!"

"I -- I scared me too!" Will admitted, his voice a choked whisper
that only Jack and those with advanced hearing could hear. "What
in the Hell happened?!"

Donkey stood beside Will, making a clicking sound. "Big bad
fishpeople were trying to take you away!"

Salem corrected him. "I told you it was mermaids or, in this case,
mostly mermen."

All eyes went to where Faith was making her way out of the water
with Dawson. Dawson looked like a drowned rat. He was shaking all
over and turning blue quickly.

Faith was about to call out for some one to take Dawson from her
when she glanced to the boy and saw his skin changing. All
thoughts of separating herself from him went out of her mind. She
had to get him warm and fast. She didn't say anything to the
others but started heading back toward the house, one arm still
wrapped around Dawson.

Angel looked at Faith. "Do you need help, Faith?"

Dawson was not aware of his surroundings. He felt as though he was
still drowning, and he gripped Faith tightly.

Faith had been about to answer Angel when Dawson had gripped her
even more tightly. She looked back to the boy, wondering what
state his brain was in, before answering Angel. She couldn't
straight forward accept help, but . . . "I'll need a hand when we
get to the house. Could ya get this sword back to Dawn and tell
her our training session'll have to wait?"

"I'll do that," Angel said and took the sword from her.

Dawson's feet were dragging the ground, and he was leaning even
more heavily on Faith. His lungs hurt, and he was having trouble
breathing.

With Celina's sword gone from her grasp, Faith's mind turned
completely to Dawson. She didn't say anything else but continued
on the way to the house.

Jack put Will's arm over his shoulders and hugged him, holding him
close to him as he walked him toward the house. He followed behind
Faith and Dawson. Angel brought up the rear.

It did not take them long to reach the house, and Jack assisted
Will on up to the bath, drawing a warm bath for him. He stripped
off his own wet clothes, went to the closet, and took out some
more clothes for Brendan, Will, and himself. Brendan had not made
the room yet, and Jack wondered where he had gone.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cordelia had managed to calm Dawn, and the two had been waiting in
front of the house for the others to return. Cordy had had a
comforting arm around Dawn, but when she saw Angel, she ran toward
him. "What happened?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

Angel was glad that he was not wet. He threw his arms around
Cordelia and hugged her. He then reached out to Dawn and drew her
into the hug. "Thanks, Dawn. You were a great alarm! We got there
just in time to save the others!"

"We had to kill some merpeople. I didn't know they came in sexes.
There were more merman than mermaids, and they were leading our
people away to drown them! They give me the shudders just thinking
about them! I hope we don't get any more of those."

He handed Celina's sword to Dawn. "Faith said that she's going to
be with Dawson for a while and your training session will have to
wait. You could stay and watch Cordy and me practicing, if Cordy
doesn't mind."

"I'd like that," Dawn answered with a grin, "but how are things
between those two? She seemed rather . . . miffed at him earlier."
Though Dawn had not made her presence known, she had witnessed the
argument between Dawson and Faith.

"They've got a lot of things to work out, Dawn, but right now, all
they need is time and the willingness to work on it. We almost
lost Dawson. He was further out than the rest and he took in a lot
more water, but I'm sure he'll be all right." He looked at Cordy,
waiting for her to say rather or not she wanted Dawn to hang
around.

Dawn's attention also turned to Cordelia. "Can I?" she asked
hopefully. "I know Angel's great, and to get to watch you training
would probably make me feel a little more comfortable with it when
it gets to be my turn."

Cordelia smiled. Dawn had been through a lot in her young life,
yet she had somehow managed to hang on to her jovial enthusiasm.
She liked the girl. "Sure," she replied, "and you're right." Her
hazel eyes turned back to her beloved's gaze as she agreed, "Angel
*is* wonderful."

Angel didn't look at either of the ladies. He was too embarrassed.
"I just do my best," Angel told them. "I appreciate your high
opinion of me. Shall we get back to training, Cordy?"

Dawn was about to insist that Angel was great even if he wasn't as
good as Spike when Cordelia nodded and he led her away.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lex kept splashing warm water over Clark. Each time the water got
too cold, he added more hot. He was worried about Clark. His skin
was still too cool. "How are you feeling, Clark?" he asked
worriedly.

"I'm feeling much better now," he reassured Lex. "Thank you for
taking care of me."

Lex had stripped his clothes off at the same time he had stripped
off Clark's, and he had gotten into the warm water with Clark. He
had managed to regain his normal body temperatures quicker than
Clark. He could now tell that Clark was not only feeling much,
much better but that a certain part of Clark was very happy to see
him. "I can tell. I'm glad," Lex told him. "Let's get out of here,
get dry, and go to the bed. We can get a lot warmer in there."

"But it's the middle of the morning!" Clark protested.

Lex smiled as he dipped his head next to his lover's ear. His lips
brushed against Clark's ear as he whispered, "I wasn't referring
to sleeping." He nipped his ear gently before pulling back,
getting out of the tub, and getting a towel. As soon as they were
both dry, they ran for the bed. Clark dove into it first with Lex
hot on his heels.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brendan was at a loss. He'd made it to the living room but had
stopped there as the question of where he was going to get a bath
hit him. Finally remembering that Cole and Piper should be busy
with preparing lunch, Brendan headed cautiously for the room. He
stopped outside and listened a moment. When he did't hear
anything, he knocked. Still not receiving an answer, Brendan
finally opened the door, found the room empty, and headed for the
bathroom.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xena had not been in the cold part of the water. With her, it was
just a matter of getting dry again. She took her armor off and put
it where the sun would dry it. Then she stretched out on the
ground so the sun would dry her. She hoped Gabrielle was having
better luck with her herb collecting than she had had with her
ship building.

Xena had encountered mermaids before, but she couldn't figure out
why these had been so aggressive. Somebody must have put them up
to it, but who could that somebody be? The hot rays of the sun
soon dried her and caused her to drift off to sleep.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faith knew she was more concerned about Dawson than she should be,
but she couldn't seem to drag herself away from him either . . .
at least, she told herself, not until he was closer to being back
to himself. She had stripped them both immediately upon reaching
their room and had gotten him into a tub of warm water. She had
been kneeling beside the tub, her skilled hands running over him
with the water and washcloth, since then, and still there appeared
to not be much of a response from the boy. "Dawson?" she called
his name aloud before she could stop herself. "Kid?"

"Faith? Thank you for helping me. I can't remember a time I've
ever been this cold. I feel it all the way down to my bones. Hold
me, Faith. Warm me," he pleaded with her.

"Daw . . . I don't think this is the time for the fuck buddies
situation."

"The what?" he asked.

"You know," she said, rubbing the cloth over his chest, "the you
fuck me, I fuck you sceneario . . . "

"Oh. I know you don't love me, Faith, and maybe that's what it
means to you, but our time together's important to me. I know I
screwed up earlier in the excitement of going to see about the
ship. I remembered you, though, and I came back. I'm not used to
having anybody who cares about me, Faith. I spent most of my time
hiding from my Father, and I never had a friend except for Pacey
and he was gone most of the time. He's a fisherman."

She didn't know what to say in response as she continued washing
the warm water over his cold body. She didn't like thinking of him
as a mere fuck buddy, but what else was she to think? She couldn't
love him. He didn't really love her; he only thought he did. "It's
nothing, kid," she told him, forcing her voice to stay even and
calm. "Forget about it, and let's get you warm."

Dawson attempted to get out of the tub on his own but had to be
helped out. He tried to laugh it off. "Can't remember being so
weak before. This is ridiculous! Maybe if I rest a while, I'll
feel better. Will you come to bed and hold me?"

She had been about to get him to sit down on a chair and try to
dry himself while she lit a fire in the bedroom when he again
asked her to hold him. She looked at him with questioning eyes.
"You're in no shape for fucking."

"I don't want to do that, Faith. I just . . . need to be held.
Haven't you ever held some one without . . . fucking?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Can't say that I've even ever heard of it."
Handing him the towel, she told him, "First thing, though, is
getting you dry. Why don't you sit down there," she gestured to
the chair before the vanity, "and dry yourself while I go get a
fire going?"

Dawson didn't say anything. He just took the towel and began to
dry himself slowly. He could tell Faith was not going to be
forthcoming with any hugs. He sighed deeply. When he was through
drying, he just let the towel fall to the floor and headed to the
bed. He crawled under the cover and began to shake like a leaf
again, but soon the covers began to make him warm. He looked
around to find Faith.

Faith had already taken note of the wood in the fireplace, and it
had been a simple matter of striking a match to get the fire
started. She'd knelt just before the fireplace, though, her eyes
drawn to the hypnosis of the flickering flames. She had still been
there when she'd heard Dawson come out of the bathroom and
listened to his bare feet pad across the floor to the bed.

She sighed, watching the flames dance. She didn't know what to
think of the kid. She was at a complete lost yet was not one to
ask anybody for advice. He said he loved her, a fact she would
never have thought possible until the day before, but could he
have truly forgotten about her if he did love her as he claimed
to? Would he not have gotten around to doing some of the other
things he'd mentioned last night instead of screwing all night
through? Not that was complaining about his performance. She'd had
the funnest night of her life last night, but the light of day
just brought too many questions, too many doubts . . .

She sighed again and held a hand out toward the fire. Part of her
wanted to go to Dawson, attempt to hold him as he'd asked her to,
but what would that lead to? What would even continuing to screw
him lead to? She just didn't know what she was doing any more, she
realized as the flames licked at her outstretched fingers.

She had thought things had been hard before, but in fact, they had
been a great deal simpler. At least, she hadn't had these
conflicting emotions to admit to. She hadn't let anybody in, and
it hadn't mattered when she'd wanted to stop thinking. She'd
always found a way before, but now . . . The only person in the
world who she really wanted to make love to was the very question
in her mind, and she did not want to leave him to go after the rum
in the basement or pick a fight. That left only pain, yet she
didn't want to upset any of her new-found family.

She sighed and shook her head. Just what the Hell was she doing,
was she thinking? She knew how to forget. It was the same way it
had been since she was a child. All she had to do to forget things
she'd rather not think about was to let pain into her life,
inflict it upon herself or let some one else do the inflicting.
Faith leaned closer to the fire, and her hand was mere inches from
emerging in the flames when she suddenly jerked back.

Faith did not know what had changed her mind so quickly, but the
newcomer to the room did. Aphrodite shook Her head as She looked
upon these particular two of Her children. They seemed to need
more help than most of the others, though not all as She still had
Brendan and Prue to deal with, and She had returned Her attention
to them just in the nick of time.

"You want to go to him," She whispered to Faith's well-guarded
heart. "You're just scared, but look at him."

Faith turned to look over her shoulder and saw Dawson watching
her, though he trembled so much that the blankets shook with him.

"You're scared, but you don't need to be scared of him. He's an
innocent, Faith, and he's still learning . . . just like you are.
Remember your motto," Ditey asked with an unseen smile, "Want,
take, have? You want to be with him, so be with him."

Faith cocked her head in thought as she looked at Dawson. What
*was* she so afraid of? The answers started to come immediately
but disappeared as a few of Aphrodite's invisible hearts sprinkled
down upon her. Her fears forgotten for now, Faith got to her feet
and started to head over toward Dawson.

He had been watching her from the bed, scared to say anything. He
had seen her motion with the fire, and it had scared him even
more. He had been about to call her name again when she had pulled
back from it. {Thank the Gods!} he thought.

He wished he knew where to go with her instead of always feeling
at a lost. He loved her, but he still had to learn how to show his
love. She scared him not because of what she might do to him but
of what she might do to herself and he'd be only powerless and
having to watch from the sidelines because she wouldn't let him
in. "Faith?" he now called her name, puzzled at the lost look on
her face.

Aphrodite smiled and blinked out, leaving Faith to arrive at
Dawson's side. "Ki . . . Dawson."

He lifted the cover and waited for her to slide in. He was still
so cold he could hardly stand himself and hoped that she would
warm him.

She slid in beside him and covered them back up, tucking the
blankets in around his other side, before laying down. "You know,"
she admitted, "this is . . . totally new to me."

"Me too, but I wanted you to hold me desperately. I felt that one
touch of you would warm me. I can't remember ever being this cold
before."

She slid closer to him until her body lay against his. Reaching
out with surprisingly gentle hands, Faith swept the hair from his
face and kissed his forehead. "I'm here now," she assured him.

He nestled in even closer to her, his head resting on her
shoulder, and felt her heat warming him.


_Chapter Thirty-five_
When the grown-ups had left, Julian had been left in charge of
himself and Sarah. They had finally grown tired of drawing
pictures and began to look for other entertainment. They looked
for Katrina but couldn't find her. Then they began to look for
Carl as he had also played games with them before.

Julian had the bright idea to look in the closets, because he knew
Carl loved to tunnel and could think of nowhere else for him to
tunnel in the house. He returned to the living room and opened up
the only closet that was in the room. Sure enough, there was a
tunnel. He looked at Sarah. "I think Carl might be in there, but
you have to be very, very quiet," he said unnecessarily as Sarah
never said anything much. She nodded.

Julian did not want to go into the dark, so he looked around for a
candle. Finding one, he carried it very carefully to the tunnel
and began to crawl slowly forward, hoping they would not have to
go too deep before they found Carl. He could feel air up ahead and
slowed down even more.

Sarah crawled right behind her brother, so close that she could
reach out and touch him, even though the space was large enough
that she could have crawled right beside him. They had been
passing turns along the way and glancing down each until finally
they came to where Carl lay tied up in the floor down another
turn.

Carl's eyes were as big as saucers and shot wider when he saw the
children. Just ahead of where Carl lay Julian saw some creatures
he recognized as belonging to one of the women. What were they
doing here? he wondered even as he crawled to Carl and began to
untie him.

Sarah held the candle and stayed a little ways away so that she
was not in Julian's way and the Goblins wouldn't catch sight of
the flickering candlelight. Julian was having a hard time getting
the knots loose. Carl wanted to cry out to him to leave him but
knew that a single sound would draw the Goblins' attentions.
Julian finally reached up and pulled the gag out of Carl's mouth.
He was very careful not to make any sounds.

Finally, the last knot came out of the ropes, and Carl was able to
wriggle himself free. He motioned back toward the tunnel with a
finger, making Julian go forward first. Julian hastened to go as
fast as he could. This time, Sarah crawled beside him. They could
feel Carl at their feet at first but then nothing. Julian did not
stop crawling. He had to get out. He was afraid the Goblins had
got Carl again but knew he could get help if he got out.

Carl had turned to look back at the same time one of the Goblins
noticed that he was loose. He braced himself in a defensive
position, waiting for the first attack. This time, he wouldn't let
them win. Not only did he not want to be tied back up by the foul
creatures, but the children were now depending on him and he would
not let them down.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Clark tumbled into the bed just before Lex, his mischievous
streak took control. He turned to meet Lex as he jumped into the
bed beside him, and before Lex could have even the first clue as
to what had jumped into his lover's mind, Clark had sprang,
tickling his lover in the places only he knew about.

Soon, Clark had Lex laughing so hard that tears were in his eyes.
Though his beloved desperately tried to catch his hands, Clark was
too fast for him. It was then that Lex began tickling Clark. With
Clark's mind split between defending himself and tickling Lex, Lex
was able to finally catch Clark's hands. Lex brought Clark to rest
before him, his arms wrapped around him and his back against the
headboard of the bed.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kitty had again resumed the leadership position with Lockheed
wrapped around her shoulders and Logan walking beside her when
something rustled in the bushes to one side of the path ahead. She
stopped, holding up a hand to signal the others to do so which
left Joxer to bump into Kurt, even as something in the bushes
whinnied.

Kurt bamfed to the front of the group to stand beside Kitty. "Vhat
do you think it is?" he asked her.

"I'm not sure," Kitty whispered back to him. Taking a step further
toward the bushes, she called out, "Hello? Do you need help?"
Lockheed sniffed the air and then shook his head; this thing
didn't smell like a centaur.

Elizabeth's eyes darted nervously to Kitty. If it was a horse, why
was she trying to talk to it?

"I shall go and see," Kurt told her. "Keep the group here. I can
get away faster if need be." He bamfed into the bushes which shook
vigorously and then grew very still.

Kurt had expected to find one of the centaurs caught in a trap of
some kind, but he was totally taken aback when he realized what he
was looking at. "Mein Gott," he exclaimed, "but you're beautiful!"

"Don't be afraid, little one," he tried to reassure the creature
who was bucking even more now. He slipped his hood back from his
face. "See. You can see I'm nothing beautiful, but I vill not
cause you harm." He held his three-fingered hand outstretched
toward the panicked animal, his heart scarcely beating. Kitty and
he had found many beautiful, wild, and strange things on the
island since they had been there, but he had never even guessed
that there might be such as he -- a unicorn!

The unicorn calmed and sniffed at Kurt's hand, and Kurt dared to
reach out and touch him, still talking in a soothing, calming
voice. "Don't be feared, little one. I vill get you free. We have
friends," he told the animal. "I need to tell them what is going
on."

He called back to Kitty, "DO NOT COME CLOSER, LIEBCHIEN! YOU VILL
NOT BELIEVE VHAT IS HERE! I VILL SEE VHEN I FREE HIM IF I CAN
BRING HIM TO YOU, BUT IF YOU COME NOW, YOU VILL SCARE HIM!"

He knelt beside the unicorn and studied the trap. He could not
figure out the spring mechanism at first but then finally spotted
the pin. "Do not move," he told the unicorn. "This may hurt." With
his fingernail, he flicked the pin, and it shot skyward. He did
not know where it landed but knew it could not harm anything
unless it was attached to the trap. The trap quickly let go of the
hoof and almost hit Kurt as it sprang backward.

"How did you get in such a thing in the first place?" Kurt asked
as though the animal could answer him. "Can you valk?" The unicorn
nodded its head and took a step forward only to almost fall on the
leg.

"I vill help you valk," Kurt told him. "Ve vill need to get
medicine to fix your leg, but you must trust me. I vill take you
to my friends. They vill not hurt you. Do you understand me?" Kurt
asked, looking into the animal's eyes.

He was rewarded with a small nod. The unicorn could understand any
language, but he could not speak to where they could understand
him. He had lived a long time on this island. For most of that
time, there had been no humans, but as of late, there seemed to be
more and more. The man standing before him now had been the most
interesting of the lot, and he had been able to get close to him
only because he was a virgin. The unicorn studied the man as the
man studied the unicorn.

Kurt laid a hand on his shoulder. "Do not fear, my friend. Some
one vill be able to help your foot." He began to walk slowly
forward to where he had left his group, the unicorn limping along.

Kitty was surprised to see that Kurt had let his hood off and was
about to warn him when she saw the being limping beside him. Her
breath took in sharply as her startled eyes gazed upon the
beautiful unicorn. It was the loveliest creature she'd ever seen!

Joxer's mouth fell open as did Autolycus', because although both
had been on journeys through Greece and the surrounding areas and
had encountered many strange creatures, neither of them had ever
seen an unicorn. In fact, they believed that they didn't exist but
were only myth. Now, when the proof was staring them in the face,
they could scarcely believe it.

Joxer walked slowly toward the unicorn with his palm outstretched
and one of the precious berries on it. He did not know how long
the unicorn had been caught in the trap but figured he might be
hungry. The unicorn eyed this even stranger male and swished his
tail, waiting to see what he was offering. Once Joxer's hand was
almost under his nose, the unicorn lowered his head and gently
lipped the berry off of Joxer's hand, making eye contact with him
the whole time.

Autolycus headed that way, not to be outdone by Joxer, but found
Gabrielle's hand firmly on his chest. The blonde shook her head at
his questioning look. "You're not a virgin," she whispered.

"How do you know that," he whispered back to her, "and what does
that have to do with it?"

Gabrielle quirked a brow at his first question. "Please . . . "
she started but was interrupted by Kitty's quiet yet firm voice.

"They will only let virgins approach them," the brunette whispered
back to the two though her brown eyes never moved from the
unicorn.

Wolverine's eyes were stuck on Kurt. Was *this* the man that Kitty
was having fits over?! Damn, he was a Demon! Not that he had
anything against Demons. Cole was a Demon, and so was Lorne.
However, when it came to his daughter looking at one, that was a
different story! Could it be a spell? Could the good Father have
woven a spell on his darling daughter to make her leave her good
senses behind? He'd have to check on that later or, at least, get
one of the Sorceresses to check it out.

He stared at the unicorn and thought it was the most beautiful
animal he'd ever seen. He shook his head. This island was full of
marvels and unbelievable discoveries. He tried to memorize each
detail he saw of the unicorn so that he could tell Jack and Ororo,
knowing that they would probably think he had taken leave of his
senses.

Elizabeth stared at Kurt. Not only was he blue, but he had pointed
ears and a pointed tail and was covered in fur! She knew he was
good because he was a Priest and had heard Jack make mention of
him before he'd ever laid eyes on him. Did Jack know he was a
Demon? She meant to take that up with him when she got back.

She almost missed hearing the virgin part about the unicorn, but
when she caught the words from Kitty, she turned her full
attention upon the unicorn. If some one else had told her that
they had seen an unicorn, she would have thought they were insane,
but yet here stood the animal before them and she could not deny
her own eyes! She stepped forward before realizing she didn't have
anything to offer the unicorn and paused beside Gabrielle.

Kitty managed to shake off her shock at last and called to Kurt,
"What's wrong with him?"

"His foot vas caught in some kind of a trap I have not seen
before. I don't know vho set it. I sniffed but could pick up no
familiar scent. He's cut pretty badly."

Kurt's words had Gabrielle looking into her bag in an instant.
Soon, she found her intended herb. She was just beginning to
wonder who could take it to them when she saw Elizabeth standing
beside her, frozen in step with her eyes locked on the unicorn.
Was the girl a virgin? There was only one way to know for sure.
"Elizabeth," Gabrielle whispered to her, "are you . . . ?" She
gave the other woman a chance to see if she could make out her
intentions.

"Of course I am!" she whispered back to Gabrielle. "Will never
could bring himself to try it, and he's the only man I've ever
looked at ever since I was a child!"

Gabrielle nodded and held the herb out to her. "Take this to them.
It needs to be rubbed across his hoof and especially into the
cut."

Elizabeth nodded. She now had a very important reason to go to the
unicorn. She walked before the unicorn and stood still, allowing
him a chance to smell her. "I have brought something to put on
your hoof," she told him and showed it to him.

The unicorn took a big sniff of her and then of the herb. He
raised his injured hoof and stood very still. With shaking hands,
Elizabeth pulled several of the leaves apart from the others and
began to rub it gently over the hoof. She ground some of the leaf
between her fingers and let it drop into the cut. She wished she
could do more, but she had no medical training. She stepped slowly
back away from the unicorn. "I hope that makes it better." She
reached up and stroked the side of the unicorn's face.

Joxer had not moved from his place but stood as though he was
mesmerized by the unicorn.

Kurt stroked the unicorn again. "You're free to go or you can come
vith us, if you vish." He stepped away from the unicorn for he had
figured out that the unicorn was as mesmerized by them as they
were by him. He did not know what the unicorn would choose to do,
but he knew that the unicorn would have to make that choice on his
own. He would not hold him back, but he would be there for him if
he should choose to reappear or come with them.

Elizabeth stroked the unicorn's face one last time and stepped
away, pulling Joxer with her as he showed no signs of moving. "I
touched a unicorn!" Joxer breathed reverently. He still could not
believe it! He gave the unicorn one last berry and followed
Elizabeth back into the group.

The unicorn looked at all three one last time and then seemed to
melt from their vision as he quickly disappeared.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silence had ensued after Clark's and Lex's laughter had finally
subsided, and it was Clark who eventually broke that peaceful
quiet. "You know I love you, right, Lex?"

Lex brushed Clark's dark hair back away from his forehead and
pressed a gentle kiss to his temple. "You know I do. Why?"

"Well, I . . . I don't know what caused me to go after that merman."

"Neither do I," Lex agreed, "but it doesn't matter. All that
matters is that you're safe, we're together, and . . . " He
brushed his lips across Clark's hair. " . . . I love you too."

Clark sighed and, in a hushed whisper that he thought Lex wouldn't
hear, admitted, "I'm very lucky."

"No, you're not," Lex disagreed with a smile, thinking Clark was
simply beginning their usual game. "I'm the lucky one."

"No," Clark argued, "I am."

Lex frowned. There was something different in his lover's voice.
"Clark, what's bothering you?" When Clark did not answer him, Lex
shifted his position around him and, with a gentle hand, turned
Clark's face to look at him. "What is it, love?" he persisted.

Clark sighed and dropped his eyes from Lex's in shame. "I've
always wondered what I did to deserve your love," he told him,
"but now . . . I . . . Lex . . . How am I supposed to deserve your
love when I . . . when I don't even know what I am?"

Lex was not surprised by Clark's words. He'd known yesterday's
revelations were bothering his beloved and had simply waited for
Clark to be ready to talk about it. "Clark," he spoke, gently
caressing the side of his lovely face, "love isn't something that
has to be deserved or not. It's something that's given freely
between two hearts. You taught me that."

"As for what you are . . . I don't know how you got those powers,
but I do know what you are. You are a strong, courageous, sweet,
and noble man with a keen sense of humor and an even sharper
intellect . . . a man who I love dearly with every fiber of my
being."

"But what *am* I, Lex?" Clark couldn't help insisting fearfully
though Lex's words had brought a sad smile to his face. "Where did
I get these powers, and what do I do with them?"

"I don't know where you got them, Clark, but you do with them what
you already have been. You've saved me not once but twice now
through using your powers. Who's to say we would have even made it
through the wreck without your strength to protect us? Clark, I
don't know what gives you those powers, and to be honest, I don't
care. They don't make any difference about who you are. They only
enable you to do more."

"I'd still like to know how I got them."

"We could try asking your parents the next time you visit them."

"Yeah . . . " Clark's voice trailed off as a doubtful look fell
over his face.

"What?"

"I . . . Lex, the next time I go to see my parents, I want you to
come with me, and I want to bring the kids. I don't want to hide
our relationship any longer. I want them to know that you're more
than just my best friend and that you're the man I love."

Clark's words brought a smile to Lex's lips and a shine to his
blue eyes. He'd prayed for the day to come when Clark would be so
proud of their relationship that he would finally admit the truth
to his parents, but even know he could not help trying to protect
his dear boy. "Clark, you know they're not going to take well to
us . . . "

Clark tried to shrug the thought off. "It's up to them, Lex. If
they truly love me, they'll understand. They'll be glad I've found
some one who loves me as much as you do and who I love, and they
won't care that you're not a girl. If they don't . . . Then they
never really loved me to begin with, so I don't need their . . .
their pretend love," he said for lack of a better term.

Lex smiled. He brushed a hand through Clark's hair, enjoying the
moment in quiet as he gazed into his beloved's baby blues. Then,
leaning closer, he growled playfully against Clark's lips. "I
wonder what Mrs. Kent will have to say about my bad influence on
her boy." He then pressed his lips to Clark's.

As their kiss grew steadily, their tongues began to dance,
quarreling with each other as they slipped in and out of one
another's mouths. Their hands began to roam each other's bodies in
touches, caresses, and teases. Clark reached underneath him to
begin rubbing Lex's sword, and Lex's chest pressed into Clark's
back as his hands caught gentle hold of Clark's sword.

Their kisses were broken by moans of delight as they pleasured
each other. Their fingers stroked each other's hardening swords as
their hands gently squeezed. Clark's mouth completely left Lex's
as he turned and began a trail of kisses down Lex's neck. His
hands continued massaging Lex's sword as his mouth suckled his
neck.

As Clark pleasured Lex so, bringing moans from him that caressed
Clark's ears, Lex continued to stroke Clark's sword. His hand
wrapped gently around it, his fingers squeezing slightly as his
thumb brushed across its tip. His other hand reached down to
massage first one testicle and then the next.

Soon, Lex knew Clark was ready, and he drew him back toward his
lap. Clark relinquished Lex's neck to breathe his name, and Lex
turned to take his lover's mouth with his own. As the two began to
kiss again, Lex brought Clark down to his lap, his sword shooting
to his home within Clark as he did so.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

James had listened to what the Sorceresses' plan was and had not
seen one thing to object to. "I will go and get the boi, but I
will not tell him what's going on. I will leave it up to you to
deal with the situation."

Delvira nodded. "You may wish to bring Connor, as well," she told
him gently. "It would help to have his whole family here."

James looked at Samuel. "Go and get Connor while I'm getting
Frederic. You may tell him what we are about to pull. We need him
here. He's about the only one who can truly handle Frederic when
he gets completely out of control." They both left, going in
opposite directions.

James headed to Frederic's room for he knew the boi was in there.
He knocked on the door. "Frederic, I have come to get you to go to
a meeting. Some one at last wants to listen to your duty."

Frederic jumped to his feet. "They do?! Wonderful!"

When James had unlocked the door and opened it, Frederic was
standing there with a grin on his face and his hand on his sword,
ready for action. "See, I told you others would listen! You just
had to ask!"

"Well, these are ladies," James told him, "and I expect you to
show reverence to them. You are to go in there, behave yourself,
and tell them of your duty." James hated lying to the boi, but he
knew that between that door and the one he'd just come out of,
Frederic would have himself puffed up like a banty rooster and
they could see him in his full glory.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The previous night had brought not just one ride but many for Jack
and Will. Thus they had grown to be much more comfortable with
each other in the bed, but still Jack did not want to push Will.
Since leaving the bathtub, they had been laying in their bed,
facing each other but not speaking. Jack was perched on his elbow
and had been watching Will from his head's resting place on his
hand. Now he reached out to him, caressing his face and cupping
his chin before finally speaking. "Something's bothering you,
love. Want to tell me what it is?"

"Jack, this . . . all of this . . . It's so new . . . " he shook
his head, " . . . and crazy . . . If I told anybody about any of
the things that's been happening since we left Port Royal, they'd
think I was insane!"

Jack nodded. "It does take a lot of getting used to," he admitted.
"I still didn't think mermaids existed . . . until today."

That brought a small smile to Will's lips. "So you're still
learning too?"

"Of course I am," Jack replied, not ashamed to admit the fact to
his beloved. "Will, there are things out there that men like us
can only guess at until we actually meet 'em face to face."

"So when you first met Brendan . . . ?"

"I . . . didn't really believe he was until the first full moon.
Then I saw it for myself. You can't deny what your own eyes tell
you to be true, darling."

Will nodded in thought. "Does it ever stop . . . seeming so wild
and crazy a life?"

Jack grinned, his gold tooth flashing in the light the fire cast
over their bedroom. "Not really, but that's exactly why I like
something Faith said a long time ago."

"What's that?" Will wondered aloud.

"That you have to be insane to survive in an insane world. In my
life, there have been times when I'd thought I'd seen it all,
Will, but every time that happens . . . I see something else or
find out that something else is real that blows me away."

"So it never stops?"

Jack shook his head. "Never."

Will sighed. "Well, I guess I can handle it . . . " He leaned
closer to Jack until his mouth was inches away from meeting with
his beloved's. " . . . as long as I have you by my side."

Jack had barely began to grin when Will's lips touched his. The
effect was far better than anything rum had ever granted him and
shot home immediately. Jack returned Will's kiss, his arms
reaching out and drawing his beloved closer.

As Jack deepened their kiss, he felt Will's tongue shyly
requesting permission. His mouth parted, and his tongue met
Will's. Their tongues danced together as their kiss deepened even
more. As their passion grew so did the boldness of their bodies.
Their bodies drew closer together still until they could feel
every inch of each other. Jack's hands continued caressing Will's
muscles as Will's hands moved from rubbing his chest to stroking
his back. Their hardening swords had already been laying side by
side, but now they began to rub against each other. As their
passionate kiss grew, their swords rubbed harder and faster.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It did not take Smee long to figure out where Connor would be
hiding himself. He seemed attached to the new girl who had rescued
him and to the cubs they had saved. Smee went to her room, knocked
on the door, and waited for an answer.

Connor answered the door and was surprised to see Samuel standing
there. "Something's wrong?" was the first thought he had. He hoped
it was not.

Smee scratched the back of his head as he looked up at the boy
through his spectacles. "You're needed for a . . . meeting,
Connor. Some one's . . . finally going to help Frederic with his
duty."

"Thank the Gods! They don't know how hard that's going to be.
We've tried everything, Smee. I hope that they can do it."

"Me too," Smee agreed, "but they should be able to. These are
Sorceresses, Connor, and Frederic . . . " He knew some had to tell
the boy at last, and so he tried to explain, "Frederic's duty
isn't natural. He hasn't always been like this. It was something .
. . something that Pan had done to him."

"I know it's not natural, but I thought he was always like that.
At least, as long as I've known him, he's been that way." He
turned to look back in at Zora. "Zora, I've got to go to a meeting
about my brother. Don't know how long I'll be gone."

Zora was on her feet in an instant. "Do you need help?" She didn't
know the details of the situation but knew that Connor's brother
was a painful subject.

"I may later. Dad's found somebody to work on Frederic's duty.
Perhaps to make it disappear forever. That would be wonderful!
Just think good thoughts while I'm gone. As soon as we're done,
I'll come back and let you know I'm out."

"If you need me," Zora reminded him, "call."

"If I knew what I was going into and my Father didn't mind, I'd
take you with me," he admitted. "Maybe you could come and be just
outside the door? I'd know you were there, and that would help a
lot."

Zora nodded and was in the process of walking over to him when she
remembered the four cubs playing on the floor. She looked back to
them to find that it was only three cubs now and that Tom was
looking at her. "I'll watch over them," he promised her. She
nodded and left with Connor.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faith lay with Dawson in her arms. His head rested just above
hers, but she didn't mind listening to his soft snores. He had
stopped shaking now, his color had returned, and she knew he would
be okay when he awoke . . . yet still she was worried. Even
Aphrodite's hearts had not been enough to stop her fears for long,
and she was still wondering if she was doing the right thing.

She wanted to be with Dawson. She didn't want anything bad
happening to the boy and wanted to be there to protect him, but
there was more to it too. He invoked feelings in her that she'd
never thought she was capable of having. He made her long to be
able to be freer with her heart, but at the same time her mind
warned her against it.

He was only a kid. He didn't really love her. He thought he did,
but how long would that last? Until the next adventure came along
and he had another reason to forget about her? Until the next
woman came along and offered him a new taste of pleasure that had
previously been forbidden to him? She was merely his first. That
was the only reason why he thought he loved her.

She'd be damned if she'd let herself be hurt again, but she did
not seem to be able to pull herself away from him. Every time she
thought she'd make herself forget him, the exact opposite happened
and she found herself back in his arms. She sighed, her breath of
air rustling his blonde hair. It should be easy to hate him, to
dismiss him, but it wasn't.

The door opening brought Faith out of her thoughts, and she looked
over to see Salem coming into the room. Donkey poked his head
through the door, grinned at her, backed out, and quietly shut the
door, using his teeth again. Salem padded over to the bed, jumped
up onto it, and turned to face her. He saw the sadness and
confusion in her dark eyes, emotions that he knew she'd hate
herself for betraying if she knew she had.

"Faith," he whispered, "how is he?"

"He'll be okay," she returned in a whisper so quiet that Dawson
would not have been able to hear her even if he'd been awake.
Salem's cat ears caught her words fine, however.

"But you're not," he observed in a gentle, reassuring purr. When
Faith's mouth started to fly open, he quickly reminded her, "You
don't want to wake him. Faith, you've accepted me and the others
as part of your family. We all want to be here for you, but we
can't if you won't let us be or tell us what's going on."

"Salem . . . " She sighed and looked away. "I . . . I just don't
know what the Hell I'm doing any more."

"How many of us do you really think do?"

"It's not that," she admitted with a half-smirk, half-grin. "It's
. . . I don't want Dawson to only be a fuck buddy," she told him,
"but I don't dare to love him either."

"Then how do you feel about him?"

"I . . . don't know. I'd . . . I think I'd like to let myself feel
stronger about him, but . . . "

"You're scared."

Her eyes cut up at him. "I'm not scared of anything!" she hissed
in denial.

He grinned, and his nose and tail tip twitched. "You're scared,"
he repeated. "Faith . . . It's a hard thing to be as brave in the
face of danger as we are, but it's even harder to let yourself
love somebody. That's the hardest thing in the world -- to let
another person in fully --, but it can also be the most rewarding
thing in the world."

"How would you know?"

"Because I once had some one I loved," he told her. "She was going
to rule beside me when we took over the world, but I . . . I lost
her."

"What happened? Did she die?"

"I don't know," Salem answered with a sad, shameful shake of his
head. "I had been with her when the Council broke into us, but in
the chaos, I . . . I lost her. I don't know what happened to her,
and I've never seen her since. If anybody else asked me what I
would do if I had a second chance, I . . . I'd tell 'em that I
simply wouldn't get caught again, but in truth . . . I'd go back
to her, Faith, and I'd leave that all behind or, at least, I hope
I would. I regret not conquering the world, but what I regret most
of all is losing her."

Faith's eyes turned to look sadly up at Dawson. As much as she
didn't want to admit it, she already knew she didn't want to lose
him.

"You've got a chance here, Faith," Salem told her. "A chance in a
lifetime. But you've got to decide, and it's a decision only you
can make."

"What's that?" she whispered back to him.

"What do you fear more?" Salem asked her. "Being hurt by Dawson or
never feeling that most powerful of things, true love -- real,
true love? The kind you see in plays. The kind you read about in
books. The kind your friends and family have -- Tom and Katrina,
Lex and Clark, even Jack and Will now."

"I . . . I don't know," Faith admitted, biting back the tears that
rose in her throat.

Salem placed a reassuring paw on her hand. "I know you don't," he
told her, "but you have to decide. Think about it." He withdrew
his paw, jumped down from the bed, walked back over to the door,
and scratched at it gently. Donkey opened the door, but Salem
paused to look back at Faith. "Faith, if you need me," he called
to her, "I'm here." He then walked out.

Donkey shut the door behind Salem, leaving Faith practically alone
in the room for Dawson still slept. Her mind turned back to
Salem's words, and, with tears in her eyes, she began to
contemplate them. What *did* she fear the most -- giving Dawson
the chance to hurt her or never getting to live every little
girl's dream, of getting a man to love her? Was it even possible?
Did she dare attempt to find out? Faith thought and thought some
more still.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shortly after Hook and Smee had left the room, Celina's concerned
blue eyes had turned to Delvira. "Delvira," she asked her, "where
has Jareth gone?"

"To do his duty."

Katrina asked, "When do you expect him back, Delvira?"

Delvira's black eyes turned down to the mattress she set upon, and
Ororo reached out to place a comforting hand over her pale one.
The two had talked about him earlier that morning while waiting
for the catwomen to finish with their third meeting. "He should
have already been back," 'Ro told them in a soft voice.

"What could be holding him?" Katrina wondered. "Maybe we could do
a locating spell after we finish with the boy?"

Delvira shook her head. "There's something blocking this island.
That could be the reason why Jareth hasn't been able to return. I
tried to teleport to him, but the island will not allow any one to
teleport out of it. The block probably prevents any one from
reaching out or in, as well."

"There has to be something we can do to help," Katrina told her.
"We will look into it as soon as we are through with the boy." She
reached out and gently squeezed Delvira's free hand. "We'll find
him for you," she tried to reassure her. No wonder the poor woman
was so upset! Katrina could imagine how she'd feel if Tom was lost
out there somewhere.

Delvira nodded, but Celina could feel her emotions and knew that
she was only letting them think that they were reassuring her for
she fully believed that nothing could be done until they got off
the island. Delvira was saved from having to say anything,
however, as the door opened at that time.

Frederic strode in with a grin on his face. He smiled at each of
the ladies in turn. "I am so happy that you will listen to me! I
have been trying desperately to get some one to help! We have to
kill the Pirates -- the whole, filthy lot of them! The sooner, the
better!"

James shook his head and took a seat. If the ladies could do
anything to help his poor boi, he'd be thankful if they'd just get
him to quit saying, "Kill the Pirates!" Sometimes he felt as if
he'd strangle the boi if he uttered those words one more time. He
heard the door open and looked up to see Smee entering with
Connor. They eased into seats next to his and waited.

Delvira and Ororo remained calm at Frederic's words, but had any
one been looking at Celina and Katrina, they would have seen a
shift in their fur. Still not speaking, the women got off of the
bed, each moving around Frederic. Delvira smiled to him.
"Frederic, would you take the seat of honor so that you can tell
us more about how you plan to kill the Pirates?"

"With your help, it will be easy! We can poison their food. It
would be the quickest way, but I want the Captains all to myself!
They deserve to die a more horrible death! I will engage them in
mortal combat even as you take out any who escape the poison! They
will die at my blade, and I shall kick their bodies off into the
ocean which will swallow them and no one will ever hear of them
again!" His eyes blazed at the gloriest thought.

James had buried his eyes in his hand. He was not watching. He
couldn't watch, not and keep his mouth closed. {Gods, my poor boi
is sick!} he thought. {Please let them be able to heal him!}

Celina could tell that the others were fighting just as hard to
reel in their instincts as she was. After all, both their beloveds
and their families were Pirates! This was not going to go well,
she realized with a shake of her head and then reached out to
James' mind. She spoke within his brain, {{{James, you can see for
yourself that Frederic will not go calmly. With your permission .
. . we will do what must be done.}}}

{{{Do your best, madam, and thank you for your efforts,}}} James
thought back to her. He was not used to people talking in his head
but rather liked the idea. {{{Do you need me to do anything?}}}

{{{Delvira will tell you when and where.}}} Then, in a quiet
voice, Celina told Delvira, "He has agreed." Her tail swished.

Delvira nodded to Ororo, and in the very next instant, Frederic
found himself lifted by the wind and put on the bed. The wind held
him in place as the others rushed to the ropes.

Frederic realized, as the wind held him in place, that somebody
had lied. He looked angrily toward his father, knowing that he had
given permission for this. "How dare you!" he called at him. "You
know I have to kill them! You're stopping me from being able to do
my duty! A curse upon you!"

James answered him, "I've been cursed enough with you, boi. I wash
my hands of you!" He stared straight at him. "Whatever these women
want to do to you, I wish them more power! We have treated you
with love and kindness and have been repaid with your duty. You
have even tried to kill your brother and me in the past! Now lay
there, get your duty, and keep your mouth shut!"

"I will not! I will get up from here!" Frederic declared. "I will
fight you!"

James shook his head but did not get to his feet. He simply waited
for the ladies to do their magic, watching Frederic strain
desperately at the wind and being unable to get up as the ladies
tied him to the bed.

With each rope in place, Delvira reached out and, just as
Frederic's mouth flew open to protest again, stuffed a silk scarf
into his mouth. "Celina, Katrina, prepare yourselves. Ororo,

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