On The Edge Of Suspicion

(Part 4 of the Trinity saga © 2002)

By Princess Alexandria

Princess_alex24@hotmail.com

Reviews can be posted at:
http://pub17.ezboard.com/fgargoylesxfrm5

Day 14 Part 1– Sunday – August 10^th

Trini felt like her heart stopped and her body was moving in slow motion as she watched Broadway stand up with the book in his hand. She was trying to not look like anything was wrong as she made her way over to him, but her deathly pale skin had several eyes looking at her in concern.

"Why would you have a book in here?" Broadway asked and before Trini could get to him at her deceptively calm pace he looked down at the book. "Surviving Rape?"

Trini's step faltered as he read that for everyone to hear. The roaring in her own ears made it hard for her to hear the silence that had descended on the room. Her own voice was tight as she reached out for the book and moved to set it face down on her desk. "Research for my novel."

"Why would you keep it in…" Broadway's voice trailed off as he saw the expression on Angela's face. The female was pale and staring at Trini's slightly hunched back. Trini was taking a few deep breaths to try and calm down before turning around to face the gargoyles in her living room.

"I must have left it in there when I went to get a drink." Trini managed a calm sounding voice. When she turned around she saw all four pairs of eyes on her. The gentle sympathy in Lex's eyes almost broke her down, so she stopped looking in his direction. "I leave books all over the place."

"Trini?" Delilah's pained voice made Trini's hands clench. She tried her best to look like nothing was wrong as she glanced over at her friend's brightly burning eyes.

"My book has a character that…" Trini couldn't even say the word. She could see the doubt and sympathy in everyone's eyes. Delilah looked like someone had just killed her puppy. Broadway looked like he wanted to become invisible and glide away. Trini gritted her teeth for a moment. It didn't look like anyone believed her.

"Trini?" Angela stepped closer, much too close. The lavender female looked down at Trini with sympathy. "Are you okay? You look like you might pass out."

"I've heard of writer's researching like that." Lex spoke quickly. "I think some writer's research for years on what they write."

Trini watched Angela turned to give Lex a sharp look. The smaller green male flinched visibly.

"Trini, tell me no one hurt you like that." Delilah pleaded with a tearful voice. She was staring at Trini with her red eyes wide. Her hands were being wrung in front of her body nervously.

Trini tried to give Delilah a reassuring smile, but it just wouldn't come to her face. "Of course not." Her voice cracked, making it sound like an obvious lie.

"It's because of Kelly right? Is that why you have the nightmares?" Delilah was speaking quickly, obviously wanting to convince herself that this was true. All of Trini's attention was on how fragile her best friend looked at that moment. This was hurting her. She didn’t see Angela studying Lex, who was fidgeting nervously and looking pretty pale himself.

"Yeah. Finding Kelly was hard." Trini looked down, unable to lie to Delilah's face like that. She had to hide this. Delilah gave her an out. She just needed to take it.

"So no one ever touched you like that?" Delilah stepped closer. Trini didn't see the searching look her friend was giving her, or the slowly realized horror on Delilah's face as she stared. "You were raped." It was a statement and it shocked Trini into looking up.

"No." Trini's voice held no confidence. It was like she'd just said yes. Tears started to travel down her cheeks, and breathing was getting hard as she fought the sobs that were threatening to come out.

Delilah had tears coming out of her own eyes. She moved forward quickly and wrapped Trini up in a hug so strong it almost hurt. "I've got you." Delilah spoke through her own tears, and Trini was lost. She started to sob. She was weak and she let her lovers down. She was going to get them all caught because she was so weak.

"No one says anything outside of this room." Lex's voice cracked with his own tears as he gave this order with a firmness of someone in command.

"You knew?!" Delilah glared at him while holding Trini in her strong arms. Trini felt like her legs were going to betray her and she'd sink to the ground. She was trying to take deep breaths to calm down but couldn’t get them past her tears.

"I found out on accident. She told me to keep it quiet." Lex spoke quickly, and Trini felt so bad for the glare she was sure he was getting.

"I… told hi..im not to ta..alk." Trini sobbed out, essentially admitting to what everyone had to know now. She was trying so hard to think of what to do. Finally she sent out another distress call. She needed her mate.

Broadway was sitting quietly on the couch, and Angela was holding his hand. Lex was sitting on the chair staring at Delilah pet Trini's hair and murmuring gently to her. Trini was beginning to be able to breath normally, but that was threatened by the voice she heard.

"What's going on?" Fox stared around the living room, and then moved towards Trini. Trini turned to look at Fox's concerned face and mouthed… sorry. She glanced at the book sitting on the table. Trini felt sick as she watched her lover turn it over and then turn her wide eyes to Trini.

"Someone hurt Trini!" Delilah started to explain as if Fox wouldn't know. "Trini's been hurt." Delilah's voice became more tearful, and Trini reached up to pet her friend's hair.

"Oh." Fox sighed out and moved to gently pull Trini into her own arms. Trini just held Fox to her body and said nothing. There wasn’t a way to apologize for this and Trini didn't think she could talk without starting to sob again. "I know. I know baby." Fox spoke gently and caressed Trini's back. "It's okay." All the gargoyles were watching them. Trini could feel the eyes on her back. "Trini, baby. Do you want to be here when I talk to them, or do you want to go to the bedroom?" Fox asked her gently, making it clear that she was fine with whatever Trini decided. Trini didn't know what she wanted. She didn't want to be alone, but she didn't like how weak she looked. She felt pathetic crying like this in front of the clan.

Angela handed Trini a glass of water. Trini's hands were a bit shaky as she took a sip. They were all seated around the living room. Trini's tears had ended and she decided to stay. She was curled up on one of the chairs, wrapped up in a blanket that Delilah had insisted she have. Delilah was treating her like she was sick again. The gargoyle had moved another chair to be right next to her, and was petting Trini's arms constantly while Fox stood in front of the group looking weary, sad, and worried. The door had been locked and all the windows were shut, with the blinds shut as well.

"Are you sure you're okay with this baby?" Fox moved over to brush Trini's bangs to the side and stared into Trini's eyes.

"I have to be." Trini took a shuddering breath. She had no idea what Fox was going to tell these gargoyles.

Fox moved to sit on the couch on the end close to Trini. Angela scooted over quickly to give Fox room. Trini just watched as her lover did the talking for her. If she tried, she'd only start crying, and they needed this done before Goliath realized that over half the clan was missing.

"Trini was raped not too long ago." Fox's hands seemed to be shaking a bit. "We've been keeping it quiet because of some of the circumstances around it." Fox stared right at Lex for a moment. "She had to kill some men to escape." Delilah's grip on Trini's arm tightened. "If this became a legal matter, the mere fact that she's not human will get her locked up, even though she was the victim." Trini watched a tear travel down her lover's cheek. "I'd like to say the human race wouldn't do this sort of thing, but her unique biology would be too tempting for some doctors to ignore. What she would have to endure if this got out would be worse than the rape itself was." Trini recognized Domi's words coming out of Fox's mouth. "We've been trying to deal with this on our own, so that Detective Maza doesn’t find out. Elisa might feel the need to make this a legal matter, because she takes the law above all else." Trini started to shake, but she managed to not cry. Fox's voice took on a pleading tone. "I'm asking all of you to please keep this to yourselves. Don’t even talk about it among yourselves. We can't risk anyone overhearing this."

"By anyone, you mean Father or Elisa." Angela was staring down at her own hands. Trini could see keeping this secret was a hard sell.

"I've been used by Doctors before." Trini spoke quietly, and had everyone's attention. "I can't go through that again." She took a few shaky breaths. "I used to have wings." She watched in pained silence as Lex, Angela and Broadway stared at her in shock. "And Doctors…" tears made her voice shaky. "took them off piece-by-piece while I was awake. They spent weeks experimenting on them before they finally took them off."

"Oh God." Angela looked like she was going to get sick. She finally did get up and rush to the bathroom. Maybe Trini had been too graphic, but she needed them to understand that she wasn't going to get a nice little cell and three meals a day if she was caught.

"You didn't tell me it was that bad." Delilah spoke softly and Trini turned to see her friend's eyes staring into her own. Delilah's eyes widened a bit, "You said you were little when this happened."

Angela came back out of the bathroom and moved to gingerly sit back were she'd been before. Broadway took her hand gently. Fox chose that moment to speak again. "If you don’t think you can keep this quiet, I need you to tell me now, because I have to protect her. I… I would need to send her away if this becomes a police matter. I'd have to send her into hiding." Trini turned to stare at Fox. She'd never heard that before. Fox's eyes were watery as she spoke to her with the audience. "I'm not letting anyone hurt you like that again. If you aren't safe with me, I can't let you stay."

"I can't lose you." Trini's eyes were watering so bad she couldn't see. "I can't do this without you."

"We won't say anything." Angela spoke softly. Trini turned to see the sympathy on Angela's face. "Trini's my friend, and I'm not going to be responsible for her going through any of that."

"As far as I'm concerned those bastards got what they deserved." Lex spoke harshly. Broadway just nodded his agreement. No one had to ask if Delilah would protect Trini. It was so clear in the way Delilah hugged Trini to her and didn't let go.

Once the last of the gargoyles left Trini turned her scared eyes to her mate. She could see the worry Fox now had. "I'm so sorry." Trini bit her lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood so she wouldn't cry again. She stared at Fox and the tired way her mate sat down on the couch again. "You need to set up an alibi for yourself. I'm obviously dragging everyone down." Trini took a deep breath. "You need to protect yourselves… and just let me sink. I won't hold it against you. I won't. It's my fault you're involved in any of this. If I'd just kept you in the dark…" Trini's fists clenched, "or if I'd gotten them all in Canada, you wouldn't be in danger. It's my fault, protect yourself."

"Oh God… How can you believe that?!" Fox spun Trini around and started to shake her a bit by the shoulders. "It's not your fault! It's not!" Fox pulled Trini to her tightly and Trini buried her eyes in Fox's shoulder. "We'll find a way to protect you… to protect all of us."

"Trini?" Fox said after holding her tightly for a while. "I think we need to get you help." Trini knew exactly what Fox was talking about. "I know of a psychiatrist. She's really good. I can go with you if you're afraid, but you need to go. This is tearing you apart."

"Okay." Trini spoke softly and hugged Fox tighter.

"Oh, and Trini?" Fox spoke gently. "Don't give them anymore detail than I just did, just incase." Trini just nodded.

Trini watched as Fox faded away slowly as the redhead woke up. They'd been working on trying to communicate better. They were getting decent at empathy, but there was still no evidence of them being able to read each other's thoughts yet. All the practice without making any progress was irritating Trini. She'd been able to pick up the other things they'd learned so much more quickly, and this one thing completely escaped her. They'd been trying to learn this for several nights in a row, and all Fox was getting was a strong feeling of frustration from Trini. No thoughts.

Selene walked up behind her and pulled her into a hug. Trini sighed and asked what she'd been thinking about rather than their lessons today. "It's not looking good."

"I know your scared Trinity child." Selene spoke softly. They were standing on a cliff overlooking an ocean. Today they'd decided that it was time for a change of scenery. "I'm sorry that we can't help you in this. If we try to interfere, it will draw Lord Oberon's attention to you now, and you aren't ready for him yet."

Phoebe walked up to them, with Luna in tow. They all stood quietly, while Trini watched the ocean that's waves crashed into the shores as violently as her emotions tumbled through her. She had hoped that her powerful family could help her.

Luna spoke, interrupting the tense silence. "Trinity, when those doctors had you…" Trini turned to stare at Luna, not understanding what she was talking about. "your mind survived because you never gave up hope that things would get better. You continued to fight even when the battle was lost. Remember that." Trini just nodded and tried not to remember that battle. She stared out over the ocean to the ominous island that sat in the middle of it. It was dark, with eerie trees and dark clouds seemed to always hover above it, never moving to cover any of the clear sky above Trini. They were in her mind, and Trini didn't ever want to see whatever lived there. She had a strong feeling that something did.

"So you are going to join with her tonight." Phoebe smiled and drew Trini's attention away from the dark island.

Trini gave a small smile. "Yes, it's tonight."

"She didn't want us to do the spell again?" Selene spoke with a hint of irritation.

Trini took a deep breath. "She feels that I shouldn't trust you with magic. I think it was the hidden clause in the spell you did for her that did that." This was the closest she'd come to accusing her family of hurting Demona. It hurt her that her family had tricked Demona and used her, but she was still grateful that the gargoyle was immortal like she was. She felt like anything she felt about this would be wrong.

"Do you want to see what she was like when she was younger?" Phoebe asked and waved a hand. In the distance a castle appeared. Trini recognized it rather quickly. "We can take you on a tour, before the Vikings came."

Trini was sorely tempted, and even took a few steps towards the castle before stopping. "If she wants me to know something, she'll tell me." She turned to glance at Phoebe, "Thank you, but I don't want to risk invading her privacy. It means something to her."

"You are absolutely dieing to know." Selene tempted her. "You can go to that castle and see it all. You can see her as a hatchling, you can see her become second in command…" The voice got a little darker, "You can see the castle fall to the Vikings." Selene waved her hand to the land further away from the waters and Trini was surprised to see what had to be Paris. "You can go there and see her trying to survive alone. You can see her fight countless Hunters. You can see her wedding to MacBeth."

Trini was staring at the city that grew up suddenly in the middle of her mind. She'd never been to Paris. This was starting to scare her.

Luna turned to another empty space and suddenly there was a large house. "Or maybe you want to know more about Fox's childhood."

"What are you doing?" Trini turned to face the three sisters, who were suddenly moving as one again, like they did when they were busy working.

"We told you the rings were about sharing." They gave her a sympathetic look. "Now that both your lovers have them, sharing can begin."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Trini's eyes burned. "You gave me rings with a hidden clause?! You tricked me?!" Her voice rose loudly. If these rings hurt her lovers, she would never speak to her family again!

"Trini?" The familiar voice made Trini's eyes go wide as she spun around to see the blue female looking around with a baffled look on her face.

"Is she really here?" Trini spoke quietly, so that Demona wouldn't be able to hear her.

"Yes, she is really here in your dreams." Trini turned to stare at the three fey in shock, and watched them fade away like Fox had earlier.

Trini took a deep breath and started towards her lover. She looked and noticed that the black ring was now on Demona's smallest talon. "Blue." She sighed as she came up to her. She wasn't looking forward to explaining this.

Once Trini realized she needed to explain, she moved to sit on the cliff edge. Demona sat beside her and they stared out towards the castle. "So this is, and is not a dream?" Demona asked, sounding a little more convinced that this wasn't a normal dream.

"You can ask me about the dream when we wake up. That should prove it." Trini turned to look at her mate, who was now a gargoyle in the sunlight. "This is where the sisters train me and Fox. Fox woke up early." Trini turned to look out at the dark island. "I guess I could use this time to tell you how badly I screwed up last night."

Trini recited the whole mess with Elisa, not leaving out things that she didn't want to say. She went over her breakdown in front of Angela and the others. She then told her that Fox had woken up shortly after the sun rose to work on damage control.

The ringing seemed to echo around them. "What's that?" Demona seemed to start fading.

"I'm guessing you have a phone call." Trini leaned forward to kiss Demona gently. "I'll see you later."

Once Trini was alone she sighed heavily. Demona only took this that well because part of her didn't believe it. Once she realized that the ring really was making her share dreams, she might not be so calm about it. Trini felt a small smile cross her lips. This gave Demona more of an equal footing with Fox. Maybe she could push that angle.

She got up and wandered around for a while, carefully avoiding the house, castle, and city. She started to wonder why she'd never seen any of her past homes in her mindscape before, but she could swear she saw Seattle in the distance now. The sisters didn't come back to keep her company, and she was bored, but she resisted the temptation of the more interesting areas of the dreamscape.

Trini sighed as she woke up, but she didn't get out of bed right away. She just stared at the blank wall in front of the bed and tried to think of what to wear today. When she glanced at the clock, she noticed it was almost noon. At that she rolled out of bed to get ready and go have lunch.

She wandered into the kitchen to find Owen making himself a sandwich. She gave him a friendly smile and walked past him to open the kitchen she didn't notice him stop what he was doing and turn to stare at her. Trini grabbed an orange and then opened the freezer to grab a microwave dinner. He'd stopped his staring by the time she looked at him again. "So how you been doing?" Trini asked, not really expecting much of an answer. She'd tried to get Owen to talk to her more a few times, but he usually kept it rather impersonal.

"I'm doing fine." He answered and them grabbed his sandwich to leave. "But I do have work to catch up on."

"Okay." Trini turned to the microwave to get her food. She could try to spend some time writing before going over to Domi's. They were going to have to change tradition a bit to accommodate the illusion and the fact that Trini couldn't glide. Instead of staying apart for the time before the announcement, Trini was going to spend dinner with Domi and after the spell and night fall, Demona would take her to the Park for the joining. They'd need to be early to cover up the fact that Marie's wings weren't real. Domi said she'd figure out something for getting them out of there after the joining. A small smile crossed Trini's face. Too bad she probably couldn't talk Fox into going that simple with their ceremony.

Trini stared at her reflection yet again. Fox had called to tell her that she'd be at the joining, but she was too busy right now to come home and help Trini get ready. Trini was a bit nervous, and dressed nicely. She even worked hard on her makeup, even though the spell would cover all of that with Marie. She was just dressing up for that moment that Domi first saw her. She really hoped that Domi would be alright going through this ceremony with Trini looking like a stranger. It would have been nice if they could do this honestly, but that wasn't an option. At least they were going to be able to do it.

When she pulled out of the parking garage she didn't notice the white van following her. She left a little early so that she could stop by and make sure Andrea was doing alright. It wasn't that far out of her way.

As Trini pulled her car into the opening a block away from Andrea's building she happened to glance in her rear view mirror and barely managed to keep her eyes from going wide. That looked like it might be MacBeth's van. Trini took a deep breath and leaned over to grab her purse. He was following her again. How did he find her so fast? Trini made sure to grab her cell phone. She was going to need it. Trini walked up to Andrea's building as if nothing were wrong. "Trini?" Andrea opened her apartment door and let Trini in. "You're all dressed up."

Trini gave Andrea a shy smile. "I have a date." Her blush grew at the growing grin on Andrea's face. Trini found herself studying her friend. The bruise was looking a little better and Andrea didn't seem to hunch over in pain as she moved anymore.

"So I guess I shouldn't ask you to stay for dinner to eat some of those groceries you bought me?"

"Ah, no." Trini smiled, "I just dropped by to see if you were okay, and if you needed anything."

"Nope, I'm doing fine." Andrea glanced up and down at Trini. "You can go on your hot date now, don't want you to be late on my account."

"Oh, well…" Trini glanced out the window. Andrea didn't live close enough to the ground for her to use the back way out during the day. "Can I borrow your phone?" She didn't want to draw attention to her cell phone, because she needed to make this call before she left.

"Oh sure." Andrea look a little surprised. She waved Trini over towards the kitchen.

Once Domi answered, Trini started to speak. "Hi honey. I was just dropping by to check on Andrea." Her voice more tender than it normally was. She was marrying this woman tonight. She glanced over at Andrea, and the artist took the hint. Andrea wandered off towards her bedroom. This was kind of rude of her, but it was just safer for the artist to not know about this. "He's following me again." Their was a hint of a growl in her voice.

"What?" Domi sounded instantly angry. "Dammit, I need to do something about him. This can't continue."

"I don't want to lead him right to your house." Trini sighed. "I can try to lose him, but I just wanted to tell you I might be a little late for dinner."

"Trini." Domi's tone held a note of warning. "he's dangerous. Don't confront him, just run."

"I have no intention of getting close to him." Trini could hear Andrea coming back. "I love you, but I have to go. I'll call you once I…" She almost said safe. "I lose him."

"You do that." Domi sounded so tense. "You have the tracking device?"

"Yeah."

"Turn it on now… just in case." Domi sounded so upset, Trini wished she could hug her.

"Okay."

Once Trini hung up she pulled the thin wire out from under her triple ring and switched it on. It was incredibly small, and since her ring couldn't come off, Domi had determined it was the best place to hide it. "Thanks." She turned to face Andrea once that device was working.

Trini took a deep breath before stepping out of the building. She could see the van parked where she'd need to walk past it to her car or be obvious by crossing the street to avoid it. Trini put her purse on in a way that would make it hard for it to slid off if she had to run. She strongly suspected he was planning to make a move.

She'd stood there long enough. Any longer and he'd know she noticed him. She started to walk towards her car. If she was wrong and he didn't make a move, she was taking out another tire on her way past. She was pretty sure it was his van, and couldn't risk it. Hopefully she wasn't planning to vandalize some innocent persons vehicle.

Her eyes darted around uneasily as she tried to keep her body looking calm. She noticed an alley and filed it away as a potential escape plan. She had no idea if he was actually in the van, and not knowing where he was made her really nervous. As she got closer to the front of the van she didn't see anyone sitting in the drivers seat. She angled her walking to take her closer, while her heart pounded. She wanted to look around nervously to see if anyone noticed her, but that would draw attention to this. She hid her hand as much as she could with her body and changed it. She pretended to drop something and leaned down quickly to press the tip of her talon into that tire just enough to create a good leak. Popping the tire outright would draw eyes this way. She then tried to angle away from the van doors and continued her walk towards her… car. He was leaning on her car.

Oh God. Trini's eyes darted around now. She wasn't supposed to get close to him, but he was forcing her to either do that or run. He stared at her from just three car lengths away and Trini made up her mind. She turned and to face the alley and her eyes widened to realize it was a dead end. She couldn't run down that, she'd be caught or have to reveal she could climb walls. She saw him start to reach for something in his jacket and she just darted between the parked cars and into the street. She ignored the screeching tires as one car almost hit her. She then focused on the busy traffic and dodged the quickly moving cars to get to the other side. Her heart was pounding as a car just missed her and she felt her jacket was rubbing along the side of it as it passed her. He was yelling at her but she continued to move and once she reached the other side of the street she saw he'd started to follow her on her suicidal street crossing. Damn. She started to move quickly. Running as fast as a human could, knowing she had to still appear normal to all the people walking around the shops. She'd already played the immortal card once. She remembered the horror she'd felt as the semi just missed hitting her. Sometimes it was hard to remember or believe she was immortal, and when death looked like it was coming right for her was one of those times. She would have leapt over the cars, but that wasn't human enough, so she almost got hit doing it the human way.

She glanced back and was alarmed at how quickly he seemed to be catching up. She turned back to the busy sidewalk in front of her and moved quickly trying to worm her way faster through the crowd. A small smile crossed her lips as she noticed someone standing next to a squad car. She moved quickly towards him.

"Morgan, you are so wrong. The captain isn't going to…" One cop was talking to his partner. Trini moved up to them quickly and faked being more out of breath than she was.

"I'm being chased by some strange man."

The cop Trini heard was Morgan looked back towards where Trini came from with a protective look on his face. Trini added details. "White hair, white beard. He was waiting to jump me next to my car. He's been following me for days."

"Stay right here miss." Morgan motioned at the car when he caught sight of MacBeth. "We'll take care of this." Both cops started to walk towards MacBeth and the immortal man stared into Trini's eyes. She gave him a wicked smirk and flipped him off while leaning on the cop car. Once the cops were far enough away, Trini moved to cross the street when the light for the crosswalk changed. She didn't have time to press charges now. She had a joining to get ready for.

When she got into her car to go, she didn't see the blonde artist standing on her building's steps with a stunned look on her face. Trini just drove away as fast as she legally could.

"Domi, I lost him." Trini called her mate once she managed to drive past the place where two cops had MacBeth detained and Morgan was glancing around with a puzzled look on his face, probably wondering where the woman went.

She could hear her mates relieved sighed. "Good." There was a moment of silence. "I had the strangest dream last night."

Trini took a deep breath. "It wasn't a dream." She pulled onto the freeway and started her journey to the mansion while waiting for Domi to speak. The redhead had gone quiet.

Trini got home just a little later than she'd originally told Domi. Domi was looking stunningly beautiful when Trini opened the door and stepped inside. Domi was wearing a blue dress that clung to her curves nicely. Trini had never seen this dress before. Domi's hair was down, and fell in soft curls around her face. The dress showed a generous amount of cleavage and nestled there was the ring. It wasn't really on Domi's finger, like it was in the dream realm. They'd talked about that for most of the time Trini took to drive home, and Trini had been able to hear her mate preparing their meal.

Once the door was closed she grabbed Domi and pulled her close, enjoying the feeling it gave her. "I have dinner waiting." Domi caressed Trini's hair. "I'm glad I don’t have to wait until the joining to see you today." Trini gave Domi a small smile. She was relieved. Trini would hate to think her less than full gargoyle status ruined the ceremony for Domi.

Dinner was set out on the dining room table already. The candles and fine dishes and silverware spoke of all the effort Domi had gone through. Trini smiled at the redhead. "You are definitely a romantic."

Domi smirked at her. "And Fox isn't?"

"No. Not really." Trini admitted slowly, and then saw a satisfied smile cross Domi's lips.

"Well, you didn’t look away at that, and you didn't avoid the question." Domi reached out to grab the wine bottle. "I believe we're making progress."

"Trini." Domi stopped walking down the hall and turned to her. "I know you live here, but… there are parts of this house that I want to be just mine." Trini could see from the look in Domi's eyes that she meant it.

"Okay." Trini's voice conveyed her confusion pretty well, but it was a large house for two people. Mentally she was trying to figure out what Domi really meant. She watched with a bit of surprise as Domi slid a painting over and revealed a very high tech computer panel. Trini looked away when her mate started to punch in some code, and once she heard the typing stop she looked up to see a grateful look in Domi's eyes.

"We're going downstairs to do this spell." Domi opened what Trini had always assumed was a closet door and revealed stairs. "I'd let you go first, but I have some traps to disarm."

Trini then took the door to hold it open for Domi and the redhead walked into the stairwell. Trini closed the door behind her, and could hear the very solid, almost air tight door lock behind her. It had her on edge. The darkness was a little too creepy for her to be locked in.

"This basement is fireproof and doesn't appear in any blueprints of this mansion. I'd prefer it if no one ever finds out it's here. I keep all my real valuables in here." Domi turned to smile at Trini, "Well, almost all." Domi flipped a switch and a warm light filled the very long stairwell.

As soon as they got into the room Domi spoke. "I want to change into my regular clothes. I'll be just a minute." Domi's face became very serious. "Don't touch anything."

"I wont." Trini told her and turned back to stare into the room while Domi slipped into a bathroom. The large room had a very high ceiling. It was a strange combination of high tech and ancient times. There were a few paintings of Angela on the walls and one of Marie. Trini was a little startled to see that here. She took a step closer to it and stared. Andrea finally got the wings right. A small smile crossed her lips. The walls also had several ancient weapons, like swords and shields placed as decorations. There were glass cases lined along the wall that housed books or parchments like they were museum pieces. Each case had a computer panel lock. There were bookshelves, many bookshelves filled with books that for the most part looked very old. Trini glanced at some of them as she walked past slowly, and those few that had titles weren't in English. In one corner of this large room sat a comfortable looking chair with a small table beside it. An empty glass sat on it now, along with one of the business magazines that Domi often read. There was a large wooden table that had several parchments and books laid out as if Domi were in the middle of looking through all of them.

Domi walked out wearing her normal night clothes and moved over to an old looking wooden case. When she opened it, it revealed rows and rows of jars. Trini just stared at this. Domi was a witch. She'd never really made the connection. She knew Domi did magic, but somehow seeing this room and all these jars of strange looking things made it clear. She moved to stand by the table and watch her mate carefully select the items that she'd need for this spell. The room was quiet as Domi worked, almost seeming to forget Trini was there.

Trini glanced down at the open books on the table and didn't have any clue what language they were written in. Some of them appeared to be written in different languages. How many languages did Domi know? She looked closer at one that had pictures. It looked like Domi was researching their rings, but that one didn't look right. These were simple bands without any carvings or jewels. "Are you having any luck finding out more?"

Domi seemed almost startled to hear a voice in this room. Trini looked up with a quizzical look and motioned to the books. "Our rings, did you find out more?"

"No, nothing yet." Domi brought five jars to the table and pushed some books out of the way after she set them down. "Can you read any of this?" Domi motioned to the open books in front of Trini.

Trini gave a rueful grin. "I only took some Spanish in High School so I could get into college. I forgot all of it."

"Why not French?" Domi asked while leaning down to pull what looked suspiciously like a caldron out of a storage space under the table. Trini felt an amused grin try to come to her mouth and fought that. She didn't want Domi to think she didn't take this seriously, but really… a caldron?

"Someone told me Spanish was easier, and I never even met anyone that spoke French in real life. Not a lot of native French in Seattle."

Domi set her caldron up while giving Trini a smile. "We need to work on your language skills. I'd like to take you to Paris someday." That reminded Trini of the Paris that sat in the dreamscape now. She brushed that thought aside for now. She still had to tell Domi about what the sisters said about her being able to see Domi's past. She knew without a doubt that Domi would not want Trini doing that without permission, and didn't want to make her lover nervous today. They could talk about that tomorrow, or if Domi came to the dream realm again when they slept, they could talk about it then.

"I've never been there. It would be nice."

"Where have you been?" Domi started a small flame under the caldron and sat on the tall stool to wait. She gave Trini her full attention then.

"No where really." Trini sighed. "California, Oregon, Washington, and New York."

Domi started to measure out some nasty looking ingredients quietly, so Trini went quiet in case Domi needed to concentrate. After Domi poured two things into the caldron she turned to talk some more. "Well, we will have to see what we can do about that."

Trini walked around the table and sat on another stool she found there. "I feel a buzz in this room. Is all this stuff magic?"

"I've managed to collect a few magical items in my life." Domi glanced around the room as if seeing it for the first time. Trini could see Domi was uncomfortable now. This was her place.

"I was thinking I'd like an office of my own, for when I write." Trini tilted her head a little and smiled at Domi, "And then I can kick you out of that room and we'll be even." Domi seemed to relax at that.

"Yes, we can convert one of the guest rooms we never use into one."

Trini looked at some slimey green stuff that Domi poured into the caldron before she started to stir it. A sickened look came to Trini's face. "I'm not going to have to drink this stuff am I?"

Domi chuckled. "No, this is a potion to assist with the spell casting."

Trini sat a bit self-consciously in the center of the pentagram that Domi drew on the floor. She'd changed into her own loincloth and halter, and the cold floor wasn't too comfortable. Domi poured the sickeningly sweet smelling potion around Trini in a circle. They had just enough time before nightfall for this spell according to the redhead. Trini stayed quiet and watched her lover do this spell. It seemed so much more complicated than the anti-lust thing she'd been doing on the clan, but then Trini didn't see what went into creating those potions, or the words that Domi had to say over them as they boiled.

Domi gave her a small reassuring smile before her face became a mask of confidence and power while she read from the parchment. Her voice was solid, and lyrical. Trini didn't understand the words, but Domi made them seem like a command. "commodo id femina id vultus per id nox noctis!" As soon as she finished speaking Domi took some of the potion and sprinkled the Marie painting on the wall.

For a moment nothing happened, and Trini felt a wave of disappointment for both of them, but then it started. The circle of salt that created the outer edges of the pentagram started to swirl in the air, creating a tunnel around Trini, and she was feeling her heart pound in just a bit of fear at the feel of magic surrounding her. It felt different than the magic she was used to. Her body clearly recognized it wasn't Fey magic.

When the tunnel collapsed to the ground Trini stared down at the familiar colored talons. She was Marie. She looked up to see the pleased smile of Demona. She hadn't even heard her mate's pain over the buzz of magic that surrounded her. "Can you move those wings?" Trini just thought about them and the wings moved to cape her body. She looked down at the circle. "You can move now. It's done."

When Trini took a step closer she could see her mate staring at her like she was trying to see the real Trini underneath the spell. Demona then walked around her staring. "It looks like everything is where it's supposed to be." Demona then pulled Trini into a hug. "I love you little one." Demona whispered and kissed Trini's forehead, her lips sinking past the illusion of ridges. "Let's go get joined."

They glided over Central park and Demona took them low over the place that Trini had been snapped up by the gargoyle less than two months ago. Demona had a playful look in her eyes as she leaned up to kiss Trini.

They landed way off the normal paths in a large tree to wait. "They should be here soon." Demona said while looking up, and the longing was so easy to see in Demona's eyes.

"She loves you. She knows she'll get into trouble for doing this behind his back, and she's doing it for you anyhow." Trini spoke softly.

During their wait Trini became more and more tense as she thought about the commitment she was about to make. She could feel her face paling, and could see Demona fidgeting nervously as well. Gargoyles took this sort of commitment very seriously. When Demona said she wanted forever, she really did. Trini was making a decision that would affect hundreds or thousands of years.

Demona's face seemed to relax as four shadows descended from the sky, and the smile that crossed Demona's lips as she turned with real joy in her eyes to look at Trini banished all her doubts. She did want forever with this female, even if forever was a very long time. "I'll go let them know where we are." Demona pecked Trini on the lips and leapt out of the tree to glide up towards Angela. Trini took that time to climb down the tree. Cold feet were a scary thing.

Trini pushed out her magic and could feel Fox heading in their direction. She wasn't too far away.

Trini smiled shyly at the landing group, content to wait until Demona was done talking to Angela before drawing attention to herself. She was familiar enough with these gargoyles to see that absolutely everyone was tense.

"Angela." Demona stepped forward to address her daughter, and Trini could see the desire to hug Angela in her mate, but she didn't. "thank you for coming."

It was whispered, but Trini was eavesdropping very hard. "Congratulations mother. She really seems nice."

Trini stepped out of the shadows slowly, and noticed how tense that made Lex. He must not have realized that was where she was. She smiled shyly at everyone, since they all turned to look at her. She pulled the illusionary wings tight to her body and waited for Demona to stop talking with Angela. Her smile grew when she did see them hug.

"Hi Marie." Broadway smiled gently at her and waved. "This is Lex and Delilah."

"Hi, thanks for coming." Trini gave them all a smile in return. She would have liked to talk with Delilah, but that might seem too sudden. Angela and Demona walked their way, which was good, because even though Trini knew everyone, she was having to act like a stranger and it made her even more tense than the fact that she was getting joined. Trini could see Delilah flinch as Demona got closer, and noticed the measuring gaze Delilah gave Demona when the blue female wasn’t looking.

"Are you ready to do this my love?" Demona asked while stepping closer.

"Not yet." Trini grinned teasingly before Demona thought she was changing her mind. "The guests aren't all here." She didn't think it was Demona wanted to exclude David and Fox as much as the fact that Demona was nervous and wanted to get this done before anything went wrong.

"Really? Who else did you invite?" Lex sounded a bit suspicious.

"Us." The voice from the small path startled the assembled clan for a moment. Fox smiled at everyone as she stepped into view, followed by David. "She was at our wedding, it was just fair." Trini watched as her other mate stared at the Marie illusion without being too obvious about it.

Trini leaned closer to Demona and gave her such a look of adoration. "Now I think we are ready."

Demona's stance became more self-assured. "Clan, I am here to announce my mate." Demona reached out and Trini took her hand. Her heart was beating so fast. She was just following Demona's lead, but still felt like any small thing she screwed up would ruin everything. From what she heard from Angela the night before about the one joining she'd seen, Demona was taking the traditional male role. "This is Marie." Demona made the name Marie sound like it was the most precious word in the world. "I pledge myself to her forever." Those words had been said before in so many different ways, but Trini felt like the air had been pushed out of her body. It was real.

Trini cleared her throat quietly and worked hard to keep the Marie voice going, but she could hear the trembling in her own voice. Hopefully no one else noticed now nervous this made her. "I will love you forever. You are my mate." Demona squeezed her hand gently and Trini could see the gargoyles eyes were as glassy as her own must be.

"So this clan recognizes that Demona and Marie are mates." Angela spoke with such tenderness, filling in the role that would normally go to a clan leader. Demona had told Trini she was asking Angela to do that, and it seemed so beautiful that Demona's own daughter sealed their union.

Demona reached out to gently caress Trini's hair. "We are one now and forever."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Trini whispered. They just stood there staring at each other for a moment, and Trini saw the moment that Demona became uncomfortable with showing this tenderness in front of the clan. She turned to address those gathered there. "Thank you so much for coming." Trini made sure to make eye contact with them all. Lex looked a bit stunned that this was a real joining.

"Congratulations." David spoke smoothly and Fox just nodded her agreement. Fox looked at Trini with open love in her eyes, while the clan focused on Demona. Trini felt a small wave of magic showing her that Fox loved her. Trini pushed her own out to return that love while squeezing Demona's hand and turning her attention to what the clan was doing.

"We should probably go." Angela sounded so reluctant to do that. Trini released her mates arm and gave Demona an encouraging look while she stepped away to give those two a chance to talk some more.

Trini walked up to Delilah and Lex, who were standing close to Fox and David. Broadway was unwilling to leave Angela completely alone with her mother, but Trini didn't want to intrude on their semi-privacy any more than necessary. "Thank you for coming."

Lex smiled nervously, "Well it's not everyday that Demona gets joined. I just had to see that."

Delilah looked at her shyly. "I heard you invited me?"

Trini gave Delilah a gentle smile and tried to not lie. "I wanted you here. You are family." After a slightly shocked look the white haired female seemed to glance over Trini's shoulder, so Trini turned to see from the body language that it looked like reluctant goodbyes were being said. "Thank you for doing this for us."

Trini then moved to take Demona's hand, while they watched the four gargoyles glide off to finish their patrols. That left the newly joined couple alone with Fox and David. She stepped away to let Demona watch the gargoyles while Trini moved to the Xanatos' with an apologetic look on her face. "Thanks for being here for me." Trini's eyes were on Fox. She'd like to kiss her, but this was Demona's night, and it was too special to make her share now. "We need to go."

Fox smiled and looked at the indigo flesh that Trini had now thanks to the illusion. "You make a very pretty bride. Don't make your mate wait too long. We'll be fine."

Trini turned to see Demona watching her. She smiled and went to her. "Honey, shall we go?" She noticed Demona's tension seem to melt.

"Yes. Let's go."

No one noticed the brightly glowing eyes peeking in from the bushes as they all went their separate ways. Demona gently took Trini into her arms after they climbed the tree and glided off towards home.

Day 15– Monday – August 11^th

Demona landed gently on the balcony, and Trini was surprised when the gargoyle didn't let her down right away. Instead Demona managed to open the balcony door with her tail and smiled lovingly while carrying Trini over the threshold. "One little human custom for you." Demona said as she let Trini down in the bedroom.

Trini could see them in the mirror and it was disconcerting to see a gargoyle standing in her place. It gave her plans pause, and she turned sad eyes to Demona. Demona stepped close and gently caressed Trini's cheek and then held her chin so that Trini couldn't look away if she tried. "I can see my mate underneath all that spell, and I want to consummate our joining." The talons moved to caress Trini's face. "If you want we can turn out the lights, but I really do see my Trini, in my heart." When Demona moved in slowly for a kiss, Trini melted against her.

Trini leaned over and stared down at her mate, her wife, in awe. "I feel different." Trini noticed she had Demona's undivided attention, just like she had the gargoyle's undivided attention since they started to make love. Trini's fingers trailed along Demona's cheek and then moved to caress the gargoyles brow ridges.

Demona smiled gently. "I do too." Demona then reached out to hug Trini, and they just laid still and enjoyed that feeling.

Trini woke up groggily and could hear the shower running. She looked over at the clock and groaned. It was only 7am. She'd already told herself she was going to do this, so she rolled out of bed and snuck into the bathroom to grab her robe.

Trini left quietly, even though with it being day her mate's hearing wouldn't be as good. This once, she was going to make her lover breakfast. Of course, Domi better not expect this to be a normal thing, Trini grinned to herself, because she was not waking up this early on a regular basis.

While the breakfast was cooking, Trini slipped outside in her robe, pulling her tail up high on her thigh so it didn't show. She changed one hand and cut a rose off of one of the bushes, to put on the table.

When Domi came downstairs dressed in her work clothes Trini was ready. She set the dishes out and smiled like a nice little Stepford wife. Domi grinned at her and sat down. "This is nice."

"Don't get too used to it." Trini warned while pouring them some juice.

As soon as the wife was off to work Trini started to chuckle. Watching Domi leave for work made her feel like a housewife. Trini went back upstairs to crawl into bed for a little more sleep.

She'd been surprised that Demona hadn't been in the dream realm. Neither had Fox or the Sisters. Trini had normal dreams for a change last night, and was grateful they weren't nightmares. Of course the sisters might be staying away because Trini was pretty mad at them last time she saw them. She still wasn't pleased with their cryptic non-answers and tricks. Now that it was apparent that she'd been lied to she wanted answers, and she wanted them now!

Trini was half way to work when her cell rang. She picked it up and checked the phone number before answering. That was a new habit that helped her avoid talking to her stepfather. It was surprising to see it was Domi's office.

"Hello?" Trini had no idea if this was work or personal, so she didn't know what to call her lover.

"Trini." Domi sounded a little weary. "I just wanted to warn you that when you come into work today, your boss will want to have words about your behavior on Friday. I didn't want to surprise you with that."

Trini felt her face pale. She thought that it was all settled, but now that she thought about it they'd only dealt with the personal issues and ignored what happened at work. "Okay." Her voice was a bit weak.

"Trini." Domi sighed, "For us to be able to work and live together, I have to keep it separate. Whatever I say as your boss doesn't mean that I don't love you."

Trini took a deep breath. "You do whatever you have to do." She took another. "I understand."

"Make sure you have your sunglasses with you today."

"Thanks for calling." Trini said absently. She was pretty sure she was about to get fired. "I'll see you soon."

She turned off the stereo and drove the rest of the way to work in silence. She felt all the joy sap out of her. It wasn't like she couldn't use more time to write. Her bills were under control. Personally she didn't need this job. Trini's lip trembled. But she liked having it. Of course if Ms. Destine fired her, there would be no need to spy, but then her cover story would fall apart. But it's not like NightStone is known for keeping employees anyhow. Dammit, thinking about all of this wasn't doing her any good. She needed to go in there strong enough to not cry. This was going to be hard enough on her mate. She would make it as easy as possible.

She pulled into the garage and just sat in the car for a few minutes. She was a little early, she could afford the time to try and organize her thoughts. When all is said and done, this is just a job. She wasn’t losing Domi, just a job. Trini reached into the glove compartment and pulled out her sunglasses. Better just put them on now to be safe. She also grabbed the pencil holder she bought on Friday and brought that with her.

She walked quietly into the office and noticed Domi in the reception area looking over a file. Carrie was looking pretty tense and Trini swore she saw a sympathetic look sent her way.

"Ms. Stephens, I need to see you in my office." Ms. Destine snapped. Trini just took a deep breath and followed her boss into the office, not bothering to take her purse off, because she may be leaving right after this. Trini quietly moved to sit in one of the chairs in front of Domi's desk, while the redhead paced behind it rather than sit down.

"Your behavior on Friday was so unbelievably unprofessional." Ms. Destine started to get louder. "For your information Ms. Stephens, this is my company, my offices, and you don’t have the right to kick me out of one of them!" Trini forced herself to watch The NightStone's CEO's every movement. "And yelling like that is completely unacceptable! There could have been clients on this floor, and that makes this entire company look bad." Ms. Destine glared at her, "You are just lucky that there were no clients around at that time."

Ms. Destine sighed heavily and moved to sit at her desk. "I can't let this go without doing this. Several employees heard your yelling." She opened a file and pulled out several papers. Trini's face was a stone mask as she waited for the shoe to drop. "I'm writing you up and suspending you for a week without pay. I realize that this will interfere with some of your other… responsibilities… but I can't let this sort of transgression go unpunished. I have a company to run. I need you to sign all of these forms."

Trini just stared at the forms in shock. She wasn't fired but it sure felt like it. Ms. Destine pushed the papers closer and handed Trini a pen. Trini had no idea that there was this much paperwork to writing people up. She didn't even bother reading anything; she just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. The embarrassment and shame was actually physically painful.

"You are excused for the day." Ms. Destine stared at her. "I'll see you back at work next week Ms. Stephens. If this sort of thing happens again, I won't have any choice but to let you go." The boss' voice got a little softer, but it was still clearly the CEO talking. "I put in the agreement that you seek counseling for your anger management issues. I know that you are already planning to get that, but I can't appear to let you get away with this. If it were anyone else…"

Trini just nodded and got up from her seat. She knew that she was getting off easy. Anyone else wouldn't have a job to come back to. She picked up the bag with the pencil holder and set in on the desk, before turning around to leave.

"Trini?" The concern in that voice told Trini that the boss was taking a break. She just glanced over at Domi and nodded once. She didn't feel up to talking. She opened the door and left, leaving the office quickly to get away from Carrie's curious eyes.

On the elevator ride down she just stared at the doors with a carefully constructed blank face. If she had to come back to work here after this, she couldn't afford for the Boss' personal assistant to be seen as weak. People got in and out, but luckily none tried to talk to her, because she wasn't sure she was capable of it.

Trini drove around for a little while before pulling into her parking space at the Eyrie. She was home early, and everyone would want to know why. Damn, she couldn't even hide this, since she was supposed to be the big spy now. She was going to have to announce to the clan that she got suspended. She had no idea why but she just suddenly started laughing. She started to imagine Goliath's reaction. He was not going to have any trouble believing that Trini couldn't keep her mouth shut long enough to spy.

Trini was a little surprised that the elevator stopped on another floor. Trini could see cubicles and many people working. David stepped in and looked a bit surprised to see her at this hour. Trini glanced at her watch. It was only 2pm.

"So what are you doing home so early?"

"I'm suspended." Trini stared at the elevator readout that showed they still had a few floors to go. "Apparently CEO's frown on their personal assistants yelling at them at work."

"Yes." David was watching her. She could just feel it. "That is not a very popular practice."

"This is going to be fun to tell the clan."

"Good luck with that." Trini turned to glance at him. He sounded amused. She just gave him a weak grin and stepped out of the elevator on the top floor. He got out and walked along side her. "Oh and if you need a job…"

"Don't bother applying here. I got it." Trini smirked. "Although I really think you could use a good kick in the ass."

"I don't need to pay people to do that." David chuckled as they walked into the kitchen.

"Nope, just marry the right woman." Trini started to grin. This made her feel a lot better. She sighed, "Well I guess I can work on my book until next week."

"You were only suspended until then? For yelling at her?" David looked a little surprised. "If you were a regular employee I would have fired you."

Trini stared at him a minute. "I would have just fired me too." Her voice was a little deeper as she shared a little bit of her work persona. "And I put her in that position." Trini sighed. "Well, I might as well get to work on my own stuff, because once the clan wakes up… I'll have a lot to deal with."

Trini felt Fox's inquisitive magical touch before the door opened. She shut the program she'd been running down. Fox didn’t need to know she'd been playing Diablo II rather than writing. It just wasn’t coming to her right now. She had too much on her mind, and Diablo was so very good at making her mind veg out.

Trini glanced at the clock and it was only 4pm. It felt weird to be home at this hour. "David told me what happened." Fox came into the room. "So maybe you are free to go shopping with me tomorrow afternoon?"

"Sounds good to me." Trini smiled.

"Why didn't we have any lessons last night? Did you not go to bed?" Fox's grin was wicked.

"I slept." Trini sighed. "But I think the sisters are avoiding me." Fox was watching her intensely now. "Those rings did something to the dream realm… And Demona is able to come in now." Fox looked very serious and just grabbed Trini's arm to pull her out of her computer chair and towards the living room. Fox wanted to know what was going on, and Trini hoped that her lover would understand that she had no idea that the rings could do that.

After Trini told Fox about the rings, Fox told Trini that next time she saw her mother she was going to have her double check them. Trini had the feeling that Fox was bringing in the queen to try and make Trini's family back down if they were up to something. Trini really hoped that they weren't, or Trini and Fox could find themselves surrounded by a lot of angry Fey.

When Trini felt the sun getting ready to set she sighed heavily. She could wait until he summoned her like a servant, or she could just go now. Her pride was going to take enough bruises today; she might as well go for what little dignity she could salvage. She put her book on anger management on the bookshelf. Unlike the others, it wasn't really a secret she needed that. Trini sighed heavily and left to watch the clan wake up.

When she stepped outside she saw Elisa standing there staring out at the setting sun. She was close to Goliath, probably waiting to say hello before wandering off to work. Trini's steps slowed as she watched the sad look on Elisa's face, which was quickly covered up when Elisa noticed Trini.

"Well, you never come out here. What's the special occasion?" Elisa asked with what felt like faked friendliness. That hurt.

"I have to talk to Goliath." Trini's fists clenched. She knew he wasn't going to settle for being in the loop. He would want to be the one pulling her strings. Fox and David had demanded that she make this attempt work, and Trini could see the logic in this, but still it was so hard. It felt like she was admitting defeat.

"What about?" Elisa sounded more curious now. Trini glanced over at her and gave her a weak apologetic smile.

"I really only want to do this once." The sun was started to move down, but Trini's internal clock said she still had a little while. She sighed. "I got into an argument with Ms. Destine and I'm suspended for a few days."

"Trini." Elisa's voice held concern. "She's not really someone you should argue with."

The detective even looked concerned. "I know." Trini stared out at the sun. "And now I have to admit that I fucked up. I really hate this. But she didn't fire me. It's not completely lost."

"What did you argue about?"

Trini had spent some time thinking about this one earlier today once she realized that she was going to have to have this conversation. "Her temper. I want a receptionist that lasts more than two weeks and she drives them all away."

"I was invited to a clan meeting. He'll probably just have you go to that." Elisa said just as the stone started to crack. Trini stepped back and watched the rest of the clan waking up so that she didn't intrude on Elisa's loving greeting to Goliath. She gave a weak smile to Broadway, who looked at her with concern.

"We are planning a clan meeting. You can come to that and give us this report there." Goliath's deep voice brought Trini's attention back to him. She nodded and started to move inside to wait. Great, she got to tell the whole clan she could barely keep a job.

Trini sat down and could see the guilty looks on her four friends as they filed into the conference room. Delilah took her customary position on Trini's side. Lex on Delilah's other side. Angela took the seat by Trini on the corner and gave her a weak smile.

When Goliath came in he didn't look at all pleased, and Elisa came in with him. The way they sat at the head of the table gave Trini the impression of a King and his Queen. There was a bit of a growl to Goliath's words, and Trini was surprised to find she wasn't on the receiving end of it for a change. "What were the four of you thinking?! You just agreed to meet Demona in the park? Knowing that it could be a trap and didn't tell anyone what you were doing?!"

Trini turned to look at Delilah and Lex's guilty faces, before turning to see Broadway looking just as sheepish. Angela sighed heavily and answered. "Father, it was mother's joining ceremony. I had to go, and she may not be here with us, but this is her clan." Trini reached under the table and took Angela's hand in support. Demona's daughter had done so much for her and Demona last night, knowing that this would be the result. Angela gave Trini a grateful look and squeezed the hand Trini offered once before letting it go to watch Goliath's reddening face.

Goliath turned his eyes to Brooklyn, whose eyes were downcast, even though he wasn't part of this lecture, before staring back at the end of the table that contained his daughter. Trini noticed a glare aimed at herself as well. "Angela if that had been a trap we would never have known where you were."

Trini could see that argument was going to last a while. Angela looked a little pale. "It wasn't a trap. Mother and Marie got joined last night. I… I announced for them. Mother has a mate. That is all she wanted was to have it recognized." Trini really wanted to speak up and defend Angela, who was getting all of the blame for this, but this wasn't supposed to be something she was involved in. Angela did this for Marie, and Trini's dual identity had to remain intact.

"A joining is like a wedding?" Elisa asked drawing Trini's attention away from Goliath's quiet anger.

"Yes, Mother declared that she and Marie are mates." Angela answered the detective and Trini could see the Elisa was surprised at that. "Mother really is in love." Angela spoke gently. Goliath's hands clenched tightly for a moment after Angela said that. Elisa's hand moved to rest on top of that tense hand and it relaxed.

"You were just lucky that it wasn't a trap. She can't be trusted." Goliath's voice was a little gentler. "Angela, daughter, she may be trying to gain your trust to use you against the clan again." Trini turned to see Angela's defiant anger.

"It was just a joining. I stayed with Angela, and Demona didn't try anything." Broadway spoke up for his girlfriend.

"But you didn't tell me!" Goliath snapped. "You all just went out to a potentially dangerous meeting without telling me."

Angela took a deep breath and glanced at Broadway for a moment before addressing her father. "If you knew where we were, you would either forbid us to go support this joining or would have come and upset Marie and Mother. I made the decision to not tell you. I organized it."

Trini sighed when she heard Angela offer herself up for all the blame. She didn't notice how that brought Goliath's eyes to her as she stared down at the tabletop, wishing that this wasn't such a big deal. "Why don’t I believe that Trini had nothing to do with this?" Goliath's voice was a bit cold and drew Trini's eyes up to his.

"Trini wasn't there." Brooklyn spoke quickly and that drew several eyes to him. He knew? How? And did he just stand up for her?

"You spied on us?" Lex turned to face Brooklyn. He sounded more hurt than angry.

"You all suddenly leave your patrol areas at once? I had to see what was going on." Brooklyn spoke quickly and defensively. Trini just sat still and watched the others ignore her as they all focused on him.

"He did what any good second in command should do. He notified me of your behavior." Goliath defended Brooklyn with a ring of authority in his voice. "I will have to work out a suitable punishment for all four of you." Goliath's eyes turned to Trini again. "I'm surprised you weren't there Trini, seeing as how Fox and Xanatos were."

"Demona doesn't know that you are aware I work for her. I wasn't invited because of that." Trini became more tense as he studied her.

"You are playing a very dangerous game with her."

"I'm doing what has to be done." Trini sounded so resigned to that fact. Most of what she'd done lately that she didn't care for was on that list of what just has to be done.

"And how is that going for you? Elisa told me you had a report."

Trini felt the flush of shame cross her cheeks. Her voice was quiet as she glanced down at his hands rather than look him in the eye. "I just got suspended for arguing with Ms. Destine at work. She threatened to fire me if I…" Trini sighed. "if I behave like that again."

"Well, it looks like you can't take orders from anyone, doesn’t it?" Goliath spoke with little emotion in his voice. Trini just swallowed her pride and said nothing. The less she said about this the better. "You should take this opportunity to leave NightStone. This is too dangerous."

Trini looked him in the eye. "No. I'm staying there as long as I can."

"Trini you're not really suited to undercover work, and this is far more complicated than the normal cases I take." Elisa spoke with a hint of concern.

Trini's eyes burned in irritation. "And who could possibly take my place? Do you know any other human looking gargoyles that you haven't introduced me to? Ones that can walk around during the day and know about how to work in the human world?" She snipped at Elisa and Goliath. "I didn't think so. It doesn't matter if I can do this or not, I'm the only game in town." Trini was staring at Goliath at that moment, and didn't see Elisa's eyes narrow at her.

Goliath just stared at her. "Well, if you are still planning to return to her…" He didn't look like he was doing anything but laying his demands. "You will plant some listening devices, so that after she either kills you or fires you, we will still have a way to monitor her." Trini could tell he was trying to scare her off of going back.

Trini just clenched her fists and glared at him. Fox and Domi wanted this, but Trini hated to back down like this. "I go back to next week. Get them to me and I'll see what I can do."

Trini sighed heavily as soon as she stepped into her rooms, after listening to an hour of what Goliath wanted and Lex's explanation on how the bugs would work to invade Trini's mate's privacy. She hated every minute of it.

"So, how did it go?" Fox asked from in front of the computer. Trini glanced at the screen and could see her lover was working on the Quarrymen issue again.

"Fine." Trini started to pour herself some juice and got Fox some as well. As she set Fox's glass down for her she could see the tension in Fox's body. She set her own glass down and moved to rub Fox's shoulders for her. Fox had spent so much time and energy taking care of Trini, and Trini had completely missed the fact that Fox would need comforting too. "I love you."

"Trini." Fox turned the chair around to face her. "I called that psychiatrist I mentioned before. She can squeeze you in tomorrow, since you don't have to work." Trini sighed and just nodded. She had no idea how to talk to a psychiatrist. "Her name is Dr. Vicky Merrill, and she's actually pretty nice." It was clear that Fox was still trying to sell her on this, but Trini had already agreed to go earlier today. Fox just had to make an appointment for her. "She doesn't just work with humans. She's seeing some of the Mutates and the clones." Fox sighed, "Talk about anything but the men we killed here. She's not supposed to talk and we pay her more than enough to keep her quiet, but I'm not taking any risks with this. If you have any trouble coming to grips with what we did, you need to talk to either me or Demona." Fox's voice went quiet. Trini just nodded. Domi had already told her that, as well as mentioned a few other things that Trini should not talk about or let slip, like her or Domi's immortality, or the fact that Dominique Destine was really a gargoyle. Trini could tell that Domi had wanted to give her a long list of things to not say, but stopped herself and just kissed Trini's forehead and left it at that.

"Are you coming with me?" Trini was upset with how vulnerable she sounded at that moment.

Fox studied her quietly, "I'll go with you until you feel comfortable going on your own." Trini just nodded at that. She knew the kinds of issues she had weren't going to go away quickly. She was going to be seeing this woman for a while.

Day 16– Tuesday – August 12^th

Trini looked around the ridge at the cities that were still in the distance. She could see Seattle and recognized it easily, since the space needle was such a unique structure. Off to its left with a wide space of flat land between them was Paris. The Eiffel tower made that city just as easy to identify. On the right of Seattle stood another city now. Trini couldn't identify that one. What was once nothing more than a meadow was now becoming a small world of it's own. Closer to her along the waters sat Castle Wyvern overlooking the rough ocean. The sisters had put them all up before they left. Apparently Trini and Fox wouldn't be strong enough to do that themselves yet.

"Trini?" Fox's voice drew Trini's attention to the fact that her lover had finally fallen asleep and could join her now. Fox sounded confused as she took looked around at the changes in the scenery.

"I told you it changed." Trini stared out towards the dark island in the ocean.

"I think that's Toronto." Fox's surprised voice drew Trini's easily distracted attention back to her. Fox looked like this was all some sort of strange and fun game. "I grew up not too far from that city. We used to go there all the time." Fox's eyes scanned the horizon. "And look, we get our own Paris!"

"We can't go there." Trini hated to burst Fox's bubble. "These are from our pasts. It would be invading Domi's privacy to go there without her permission."

"Well I'm glad to see you respect that." An irritated voice came from behind them. Trini turned around to see her blue gargoyle staring at the cities with suspicion and disdain. "The past you say?" Demona's eyes seemed to focus on Seattle, and her voice held an interested tone.

"That's what the sisters told me." Trini sighed. "That and that the rings were about sharing. I had no idea they meant this."

"That's what they do, they tell you what they are doing, just not everything you need to know." Demona got tense just talking about the Weird Sisters. "Where are they anyhow? You said they are always here with you."

Trini took a deep breath. "Apparently they were needed elsewhere. They are having to take a few days off." Trini glanced over at Fox. "We are supposed to just continue our lessons without them. They also suggested exploring our new dreamscape. This one is a part of all three of us. We all have our own realms." Trini glanced over at Toronto.

Demona glanced at the various places available to them. "I want to figure out how this place works. Maybe there is a way to make this work for us."

"Shall we visit Paris then?" Fox's voice held a note of a challenge. Trini could see that Demona had no desire to take her and Fox to her past.

Trini sighed. "Seattle?" She didn't really want to offer this, but she could see that Fox and Demona might start arguing if they didn't set out for something.

Demona looked at Trini and nodded her appreciation, before glancing over Trini's shoulder. "What's that?"

Trini glanced back at the dark island. "Hell?" She put a slightly disinterested tone in her voice, but that island scared her. It might very well be hell.

They were barely started on the journey when Demona started to fade. It was too fast for it to be time for the gargoyle to wake up. "Love you." Trini managed to say quickly before Demona faded from the realm altogether. She glanced over towards Paris when the lights of the city seemed to fade. Paris was in nighttime, constant nighttime.

"Well, that was strange." Fox spoke what Trini was thinking as they watched Paris fade away. Trini glanced at the castle and saw that it was still there. Of course the castle had served as home to all of them at various times.

"What do we want to do now?" Trini took Fox's hand and held it. Seattle wasn’t that far away, but she really didn’t want to take her lover there either.

"Let's go see Seattle." Fox spoke and Trini managed to not sigh unhappily.

A familiar house was along the path. It was one that Trini had lived in as a child. The sound of a voice made her entire body go tense as they walked up to it quietly. "You keep acting like a beast and they'll take you away!" Her mother's voice screamed. "Is that what you want?! To have doctors poke and prod you to death!"

"They already have!" Trini's young voice screamed back. The loud sound of a slap made Fox flinch beside Trini. Trini took a deep breath.

"Looks like there is someone home." Trini spoke quietly to try and distract herself and Fox from the sound of another slap.

"Get out of here!" Momma's voice screamed out, before the front door slammed open and a young Trini holding her face ran out and past them into the woods along side the house. Trini was very aware of how Fox stared after the 10 year old girl's retreat. That 10 year old didn't even seem to see them.

The sound of a glass being thrown against the wall inside the house pulled Fox's cold eyes to the house. Trini's eyes widened as the warrior in Fox seemed to take over. Fox took a step towards the open front door.

"It already happened." Trini spoke softly to the woman that wanted to protect her from her past. "This is just a memory." She swallowed hard. The sound of her mother's angry voice was painful to hear.

They left the house, which looked so odd sitting in a wooded area on it's own, with none of the neighborhood that used to surround it. Fox took Trini's hand quietly and Trini squeezed her lover's hand gratefully. She hated that Fox saw that. It was the bruise that her mother gave her that day that made the school suspicious. They sent a social worker to her house, and her mother never hit her again. That had scared her mother, she remembered her mother crying in her bedroom yet again, and saying that she couldn't let anyone take Trini away from her. The government would just hurt her little girl. Her mother had been drunk at the time and did a lot of talking that scared the little 10-year-old girl. Trini made sure to be one of the worst students in gym from then on. It was the gym teachers comment about Trini being so physically gifted that she should train for the Olympics that had alarmed her mother into that confrontation.

Trini felt the pull of waking up and sighed as she faded out of the dream realm to hear the alarm beside their bed. She had late morning appointment with the psychiatrist. She rolled over in bed to shut it down as Fox groaned while she woke up as well. She then just stared up at the ceiling while her mind seemed a jumbled mess of thoughts.

As a child Trini wasn't supposed to stick out in anyway. She was supposed to do her best to be just like the other kids, no better. She was given a list of lies about her father, her childhood, and about the scars on her back if anyone should see them. Trini's mom had taught Trini that she needed to lie to everyone but her shortly after Trini learned to talk. It was sort of like the lies that Domi and Fox fed Trini now, with all the same reasons. They were doing this to stay safe, because if anyone knew the real Trini, knew what she did or could do, they would hurt her. It had always been that way, and now Fox wanted Trini to go to a stranger and tell her all the secrets that kept Trini safe. If Trini didn't feel like she was going crazy, she would never have considered it. She then just got up and went to shower, feeling like she'd rather just lay in bed and cry.

Fox drove them to a small office building a few miles away from home. The landscaping was well taken care of and the list of offices just inside the front door listed many different types of doctors. A pharmacy graced the first office that they could see. Trini sighed as the name Dr. V. Merrill was listed for the third floor. That was the top floor of this particular building. Trini and Fox took the elevator up, and Trini noticed that few people seemed to glance at her or Fox. They were both wearing their sunglasses inside. Fox to cover up the still swollen eye, and Trini was nervous and didn't want to risk glowing eyes.

"Do the others come here?" Trini asked in disbelief when the other people got off on the second floor. It would have to be late at night for the gargoyles or mutates to come, and they'd need to sneak in a window.

"No, she goes to the Labyrinth for them, but I thought you'd be more comfortable seeing her in her regular office." Fox reached out and brushed Trini's bangs out of the way of the sunglasses tenderly right before the doors opened. Trini glanced around and spotted the right office. The lobby was well lit and empty. Fox sat down and smiled encouragingly to Trini. Trini sighed and walked up to the receptionist.

Once she'd signed in the receptionist gave her a few forms to fill out. Trini glanced at them warily as she took the seat next to Fox. The first page was all health related question. She marked no to all health problems. Even if her mother had those things in her family, which Trini wouldn't know since she never saw her mother's family, the immortality was going to counteract things like strokes or heart disease. She didn't see a space to mention she was in her breeding season, but she did get to mark that she wasn't pregnant. This form was so inadequate for her unique nature.

Trini's slightly amused grin faded when she turned the page and it asked what she was seeking counseling for. It had several spots to list goals that she wanted to accomplish. She couldn't write any of this down. There would be a record somewhere of what was wrong with her. Fox glanced over and whispered. "You don't have to fill that one out if you don't want to. She'll just ask you about it all once you go in anyhow." Fox then reached over and took the forms from Trini to fill in her own credit card information. Trini's health care coverage hadn't kicked in at work yet.

"Ms. Stephens?" The voice was pleasant and polite. Trini glanced up to see a mid-forties woman looking at her with a bit of nearly masked curiosity. "I'm Vicky." The doctor glanced once at Fox when she said that and nodded. "Shall we go back to my office?"

Trini watched the doctor as she led her and Fox to the office. Vicky was just a little shorter than Trini and wore a nicely cut business suit. She opened the door to the office and waited until Fox and Trini had sat in the chairs across from her desk before sitting. She was reading over the forms Trini filled out briefly, while Trini glanced around the office. It wasn't what she expected. Somehow she thought there would be lots of dark wood and a gloomy atmosphere in here. The window blinds were set at an angle that allowed the sunny day to leak through. The office had several comfortable chairs and the desk that the psychiatrist sat at was clutter free.

"Fox told me a little bit about you." Vicky started while setting the paperwork down. Trini looked for any indication that this woman was nervous around her now that she knew what Trini was. She didn't see any. "I just want to ask you what you want to get out of therapy. This is not a place that I magically dole out happy pills and cure all your problems for you. You need to be an active part of this or you won't get anything out of it. If you want to come in here and just stare out the window, you can… but if you want some actual healing to take place you need to talk. This is my normal intake spiel. You need to be honest with yourself and with me while you are in here." Trini just nodded at that. Honesty, that was going to be a lot harder than this doctor realized. "Now, I want to go over what your goals are in therapy. But before that I should ask Fox to step outside."

Trini's eyes went wide. The doctor was watching her and seemed to expect that reaction. "You would prefer she stayed? This can get pretty personal."

"I have no secrets from Fox." Trini spoke softly with a pleading look on her face. "Can she stay?"

Trini was quiet as they left the office an hour later. Trini had to list all of the things that she wanted to work on, and began to realize that it would take several lifetimes to heal from the first 25 years of her life. The doctor never looked at her with pity while Trini slowly and hesitantly listed the problems she was having. Fox held her hand from the moment she started talking until it was time to go. They'd only had time to identify the goals Trini had in that first meeting. They hadn't even started to talk about anything specific.

"You feeling up to lunch?" Fox's voice drew Trini out of her thoughts. She smiled weakly and they headed out to eat. Trini followed Fox out and could sense her lover was tense. Making Fox stay with her and listen to more details would just be cruel. Fox wanted to slay Trini's dragons, and Trini had felt Fox's helplessness and anger a few times during the talk with the doctor. She was going to have to work on getting over her nervousness with the doctor faster than the other things on the list, so she could spare Fox from the rest as much as possible.

After shopping at stores with unbelievably expensive price tags they started to make their way home. Trini's phone rang, and it was Domi's cell phone. "I was wondering if you were planning on coming home tonight."

"Of course I'm coming home."

Fox interrupted her. "That might not be a good idea. We don't have any alibi set up and you can't claim to be working now." Trini turned to glance at Fox.

"I'm going over there. The clan doesn't need to know where I am every second." Trini protested quietly, all the while knowing that Fox was right. Dammit, she didn't want to have to answer to the clan like this. It was none of their business where she was. She needed to see Domi.

Domi's voice made Trini pull the phone back to her ear. "Fox is right." Domi sighed. "I was calling to tell you that. Right now they are suspicious and we may need to lay low for a few days." Trini opened her mouth to protest, but shut it without saying anything. She just wished she could live her life the way she wanted. She wished that they didn't have to play these games. She wanted to be with Demona, she felt such a strong need to be close.

"Trini, are you still there?" Domi asked after the silence went on too long.

"I'll miss you." Trini sighed heavily.

"If you start getting any symptoms that it's almost time for your moon, you call me." Domi spoke softly, her voice full of affection. "It should be soon." There was a pause and Domi added the rest a bit more quickly. "I'll drop by tomorrow to place the spells again. I can… visit for a little while."

"Good." Trini's expression softened. "I love you. See you tomorrow." After she hung up she just stared out the car window quietly, and didn’t notice the concerned look on Fox's face while she glanced at Trini. Trini was really wishing that she didn’t have to play these games. She just got joined with Demona. They didn't get a honeymoon, and they can't even see each other because the clan would disapprove.

After helping Fox unpack her purchases Trini wandered to her apartment to try and get some writing done. She had some time off, she might as well do as much as she possibly could. This book was slow going, since she had a job, the clan and two lovers competing for her time. She really didn't like ignoring either woman since they only had her half time, especially Demona, who didn't have anyone else for the days Trini wasn't with her. Trini was constantly feeling like she had to make up for the fact that she wasn't solely the gargoyle's, and never did any work from the mansion. Asking for the office had just been her attempt to make Demona feel better about having her own room, although that room was full of dangerous things, and Trini's office would just have a desk, books, and a computer.

Trini stopped for dinner, but didn't try to take up Fox's time after the meal. This was David's night, and he really didn't deserved to be punished for Trini getting into this new mess. She just smiled at Fox as her lover took David's arm and went to their rooms. Alexander went to do his lessons with Owen, and Trini wandered off to try and write some more. She had no business with the clan tonight, but she wouldn't be surprised if that didn't stop someone from visiting.

The expected knock on her door still startled her. Trini shut her novel down and went to answer it. She opened the door to find Delilah standing in her doorway looking a bit nervous. Trini held the door open to let her friend in, while trying to hide a heavy sigh. Delilah looked like something was on her mind.

Trini poured them both something to drink and followed the gargoyle into the living room. Delilah was quiet and a bit reserved. "Trini why didn't you tell me? You didn't tell me you were working as a spy and you didn't tell me that you were… hurt."

Trini opened her mouth to talk but then waited to think out her answer a little better. It looked like the lies had hurt Delilah's feelings, and Trini felt bad about that. Trini stared into Delilah's eyes. "I want to tell you my secrets, but I hate putting you in the middle of things. You like living here, and I don't want the clan thinking that you aren't trustworthy."

"Why would they think that?" Delilah seemed so innocent at that moment.

Trini sighed heavily before attempting to answer. She wanted to be as honest as she dared. Delilah was her best friend, so she deserved some explanation. Trini just wished she knew how to explain. "Did anyone ask you if you knew I was spying on Demona?"

"Goliath asked me after the meeting." Delilah gave Trini a look of slight irritation; probably thinking Trini was changing the subject.

"He's mad at me for not telling him. If you knew he'd be mad at you too." Trini's voice got quieter and more tender. "I don’t tell you everything so that you don't get into trouble, not because I don't trust you."

"Don’t tell? You still have more secrets?" Delilah stared at Trini and Trini felt like kicking herself for that slip up.

She took a deep breath while trying to figure out how to answer that. The knock on the door interrupted them.

Goliath seemed to glare at Trini. "We are having a clan meeting." Delilah got up to go, but Goliath wasn't moving just yet. "I think you should sit in Trini."

"Why?" Trini's eyes blinked red in irritation at the commanding tone he took.

"This may affect your spying at NightStone, and Elisa asked for you."

Trini sat at the conference table staring dumbly at the security footage that Elisa was showing them. It showed two females gliding away from the museum. This was a poor quality tape from the bank's automatic teller across the street from the museum.

"Marie? Marie is helping mother steal?" Angela's question startled Trini and she managed to tear her eyes away from the tape. Of course they'd assume that was Marie and Demona, and Trini couldn't correct them. The grace in the way she glided through the air was unmistakable. One of those females really was Demona.

Elisa handed out a flyer, and Trini clenched her fist as she looked down at the ring that was taken. Trini had seen a picture of this ring before, in Demona's secret basement. "I asked for some outside consultation on this one." Elisa spoke as she handed out the flyers to the quiet and tense looking gargoyles. "With Demona stealing this, I'm assuming this ring is more than just a pretty museum piece."

The voice from the doorway startled Trini and her whole body went rigid. "We could always start by asking HER why Demona wants it." Trini turned reluctantly to see the accusatory finger being pointed at her. He was standing in the doorway staring at her. Trini pushed out for Fox in her panic and suddenly realized that Fox wasn't home.

Trini spoke softly, trying to sound much calmer than she felt while her heart pounded and her face paled. "MacBeth."