Kate woke up slowly and blinked a few times at the light coming through the window, not sure if she was seeing a sunrise or a sunset. Josh was still next to her with his arms around her. She nestled against him gratefully and he kissed her forehead.

"How long did I sleep," she asked groggily.

"Probably not long enough," Josh replied. "Feeling better?"

"A little." She let temptation get the better of her and pressed her body against his. "Is it tomorrow yet?" she asked.

"No, it’s still tonight," Josh said.

"Damn," Kate mumbled. "Things are supposed to look brighter in the morning. I was hoping to sleep through until they did." Josh chuckled and held her tighter. Her body responded to his touch, but her mind still wasn’t quite in the game. "I talked to AD Thacker before I came over here," she went on. "I had every intention of turning in my resignation."

"What?" Josh asked. There was a momentary flash of the question ‘are you insane’ behind his eyes.

"He wouldn’t even listen to me. I don’t know if I can go back, Josh. I’m not sure I want to."

Silence reigned for a while and they just held each other. "How much vacation time do you have coming?" Josh finally asked.

Kate laughed half-heartedly. "That’s the same thing he asked me. I know. I shouldn’t rush into any decision." She sighed and smiled at him. "Thank you, Josh," she said.

Josh frowned. "For what?"

"As I remember it," she said, "we said something about keeping it casual, no strings. Here I am asking you to throw me a rope. Most men would have run for the hills by now. Just, thanks for being here. Now I’m going to ask you one more favor," she added, the old mischievous glint back in her eyes.

"If it’s within my power to grant your request, I’d be happy to," he said.

"In a little while, I’m going to have to go home and start dealing with everything. But before I do, make love to me."

*****

[Kate’s house]

It was after nine o’clock when Kate got home. Justin and Emily were in the living room, a pile of textbooks between them. All looked well, but, not for the first time, Kate wondered if there was more here than met the eye. Probably, she decided. Could she deal with that at the moment on top of everything else? Probably not. She made a mental note to deal with that particular discussion and filed it under ‘later.’

Justin looked up when Kate came in. "He’s upstairs," he said, sounding a little uncomfortable. "Want us to split?"

Kate shook her head. "No, but you two go on up and send him down." She watched Justin’s inner battle between behaving himself and letting fly with the comment about house rules that was no doubt on the tip of his tongue. "Just this once," she went on. "And if I hear anything that doesn’t sound like studying, I’m not knocking before I come in."

Kate was seated on the sofa when Dillon finally skulked down the stairs. She was over her anger enough to feel sorry for him. Of course, he deserved to be chagrined. She folded her arms and fixed him with the patented Mom gaze. He sat, head down, and Kate waited for him to crack.

He held out longer than usual and finally looked up, sighed and said, "Well?"

Kate just raised an eyebrow and waited some more.

"Grounded, right?" Dillon asked. "Probably until I’m out of high school?"

"Would that solve anything?"

Dillon assumed a defiant posture. "What do you want from me?"

"Tell me why. What’s going on with you, Dillon?"

"I don’t have to tell you anything," Dillon yelled. He leapt to his feet and started to storm out of the room. Kate moved to block him, catching his arm. He tried to fight her off, but she kept her grip on him, gently but firmly.

"What the hell is going on here?" she demanded.

Dillon glared at her for a full minute. "I know my dad was with you in Miami," he said at last.

Kate let go of him and took a step back. Her mind was reeling. She had been prepared for almost anything, but not this. Dillon’s anger suddenly made sense, but she had no idea what to do about it.

"Why didn’t you tell us?" Dillon demanded. He took a menacing step toward his mother. She steeled herself and managed not to flinch away, but the image of Paul storming into her hotel room flashed through her mind.

"Sit!" she ordered. Shocked by the coldness in her voice, Dillon complied, dropping onto the couch. "Justin, get down here," she called, never taking her eyes off Dillon. A moment later, Justin appeared at the foot of the stairs, looking confused and a bit frightened. "Sit down," Kate said. "You need to hear this, too."

*****

[JEH Building, Memorial Wall, a few days later]

A sense of duty drew Kate to the brief memorial service during which Sharlyn’s portrait would be added to the growing collection on the wall. She would have rather been anywhere else, but at least she wouldn’t have to speak. That honor was reserved for the director and, typically, the training director. Of course, this was also Josh’s first day on the job at Quantico and his position here had yet to be filled, so Richard Corrigan was standing in for him.

Standing with the rest of her team, Kate considered what she would have said if she had been called upon to say a few words. ‘I knew better than to send her off on her own, but I was too damned preoccupied by my own problems to worry about it.’ That summed it up pretty well.

When it was over, Kate approached the agent standing with Newt and September. "Agent Henrikson, I presume?" she said. "I’m Kate Calloway, team leader of Delta." For now, she added silently. The two women shook hands.

"Back from your vacation," September asked, sounding hopeful.

Kate shook her head. "No. I just wanted to be here. I’m officially on leave until next week. I trust everything is running smoothly."

"Considering we’ve got nothing to do," Newt said, trying not to sound like he was complaining, although he had every right to. "We could reorganize the files again, but I think that would only undo what we’ve already done."

Leanna nodded. "I have to admit, I’ve been wondering why they were in such a hurry to get me assigned when we’re not working on anything."

"Bureaucracy doesn’t need a reason," Kate said. "Just hang in there, and I’m sure everything will be back on track before too long." She excused herself, maybe a little abruptly, and walked away.

Leanna frowned. "She always like that," she asked.

"No," September assured her. "Maybe we ought to fill you in on our last case."

Newt nodded. "That should waste a day or so."

*****

[Kate’s house, later the same day]

Justin sat on the front porch with his duffel bag between his feet, waiting for his ride. He looked up when Josh pulled his car into the driveway, waved, and then turned his attention back to the end of the street, watching for the Parker’s car.

"Going somewhere," Josh asked as he came up the walk.

Justin nodded thoughtfully. "Emily’s family is having a reunion up in Vermont. They invited me along."

"Sounds like fun. Why don’t you sound more enthused?"

"Just not sure I should be taking off right now is all," Justin said with a shrug.

Josh sat down on the step with him. "Worried about your mom?"

"Mom, Dillon, the potential for a nuclear holocaust when the Y2K bug kicks in," he answered with a grin. "You ever meet my dad?"

"Once."

"That’s enough, huh?" Justin sighed. "She tell you much about him?"

Josh hesitated, not sure how much Kate had told the boys. "No," he said finally, "not much."

"I don’t mean Miami. Before that."

"In that case, nothing."

Justin nodded and waved as a van pulled into the driveway. "She’s blaming herself for everything that happened. Agent Robins being killed, I mean. That’s my ride." He jumped up, grabbed his bag and walked away.

Josh shook his head and went inside.

*****

Kate was sitting at the kitchen table thinking. She’d spent the majority of the afternoon cleaning out closets and organizing drawers, basically giving the house the top-to-bottom cleaning it had been needing for months. She was just reaching the conclusion that she was not cut out for a Leave it to Beaver sort of life when Josh came up behind her and leaned down to kiss her.

"I don’t think Ward ever kissed June like that," she said after they broke the kiss. "How was your day?"

"Fine," Josh said. "I just had the strangest conversation with Justin, though."

Kate sighed. "He didn’t ask you to declare your intentions, did he?" she asked seriously, but a grin was trying to break through.

"Not exactly. He’s worried about you."

"I know. Somehow, he’s gotten this stupid macho idea that he has to be the man of the house or something," she said. "Takes too much on himself."

"Like someone else I know," Josh observed.

"Maybe." She got up and started rummaging in the refrigerator. "It’s either that, or that I’ve been trying to improve my cooking skills and he wants me to get back to work so he won’t have to be my guinea pig anymore." She pulled out a bowel and saw a concerned look on Josh’s face. "Don’t worry. The salad came out of a bag, so it’s fool proof. I haven’t started anything else. I figured with you here to supervise, nothing could go wrong."

Josh acknowledged that with a laugh, but quickly changed the subject. "How much time left on your leave of absence?" he asked.

"Officially? A week." She watched Josh watching her for a moment. If there had been the slightest hint in his face that he was trying to push her, she would have been furious. But there wasn’t. Finally, she sighed. "We both know I’m going back. Just give me a little more time to feel sorry for myself, and I should be back to normal."


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