"PARDON?" DOREEN SOUNDED CONFUSED. I looked around. Okay, unsurprisingly, everyone was looking confused. Well, everyone other than Chuckie. He looked rather proud. I didn't let it go to my head.

"If we buy the building, we say we're doing it to help the economy. We earn the current owner's gratitude and sound like we really care about moving the ol' dollars around. Then, we turn it into an aviary that's also a park or museum or something. Where people can, for a small fee, come in to view the lovely birdies and such. We make income, which we can in turn donate to the zoo or something, meaning that we come under nonprofit status, which is advantageous. We house the Peregrines safely, don't piss off Alpha Four, come across as total caring folks from wherever the hell everyone thinks we're from, and extend our real estate holdings. Good from both a financial and public relations viewpoint. In fact, if we do it right, the tax benefits alone could pay for itself, potentially with profit."

Everyone stared at me, some with open mouths. Other than Chuckie, who was in the back of the group. He applauded silently. I managed not to laugh.

"Peregrines got your tongues?" I had to say something. Or get offended by their expressions.

"Just shocked to hear those words coming out of your mouth," Christopher said finally. "They sounded so mature and professional. Are you feeling okay?"

I shrugged. "So glad I appear to be a moron to the people closest to me. What you all choose to forget is that I have a degree in business, and one of my best friends happens to be a self-made millionaire many times over via entrepreneurship and the stock market both. I did pick up a couple of pointers along the way."

Everyone turned and looked at Chuckie. He grinned and shrugged. "I'm always so happy when I discover she was paying attention all this time. Kitty's right, it's a sound financial investment that will double as a great way to house your ever-growing menagerie without creating too much talk."

Jeff groaned. "You have to be kidding me, Reynolds. Richard, what do you think?"

White cleared his throat. "I believe listening to Mister Reynolds is in our best interests. As your wife so succinctly put it, he's made his money the American way, and we would be remiss if we didn't follow his guidance."

"Then that's settled." And it might mean I could move Bellie off into the other building, too. This was definitely a big selling point for me. "So, what did everyone else's gift cards say?"

"Ours said something similar to yours and Tito's card," Doreen said. "Congratulations on the birth of your baby, keep the birds around."

"Mine came with instructions for how to use the birds for security purposes," Walter said. He'd joined us, too, which was a rarity. I had the feeling Walter wanted his set of birds not only out of his Security Command Center but never returning.

"Richard?"

"My note was personal in nature, Missus Martini." White gave me a small smile.

I thought about it. I also noted that Nurse Carter was standing near White. And she'd sounded pretty calm. The only one who'd been calmer had been White. Because he'd understood how to handle the birds. And he'd been the one to tell me we had twelve pairs, when we really should have had thirteen, based on room occupancy.

"Magdalena, did you get a set of birds?"

She looked uncomfortable. "No, I didn't. At least, I don't believe I did."

"All the birds are here, Chief," Walter said. "I verified before I came up."

Chuckie looked like he was really trying not to laugh. I looked at Jeff. He looked surprised but rather pleased. Suspicions confirmed. "Safe to say you were likely included in the gift and the note, is that right, Magdalena?"

"Ah . . ." She looked up at White.

Who took her hand in his. "Yes, Magdalena was definitely included in the note."

Christopher looked shocked. "You're dating Nurse Carter?"

White rolled his eyes. "Pardon me."

Christopher's expression went to supershock. "You're kidding! You only knew her a couple of weeks before you left for Florida." He seemed borderline losing it.

"Some things move swiftly," White said, pointedly looking at Amy.

"But . . ."

I cleared my throat, and he looked at me. "Christopher, twenty-three years of mourning is pretty much considered about twenty to twenty-two too long. She wouldn't have wanted him alone this long. Why would she want him alone forever? Why do you want him alone?"

"I . . . I don't." He looked hurt and confused.

White sighed, kissed Nurse Carter on the cheek, dropped her hand, went over, and put his arm around Christopher's shoulders. "Son, let's go have a chat, shall we? Excuse us, please." He led Christopher out of our rooms.

Amy looked at me. "You are not allowed to die."

"Come again?"

She shook her head. "See how he is about his mother? He's that way about you, to a sort of scary degree. He's never gotten over losing her, and for whatever reason, you're one of her stand-ins. So's your mother."

"Ames, I told you. Mom and I look like Terry. Not a hundred percent, but enough."

Jeff jerked and stared at me. "I guess you do."

"You never saw it?"

He grinned. "No, not until this moment. Not with your mother, either." He laughed. "Terry thought like you, but she didn't act like you, or Angela."

"See?" I said to Amy. "I told you. Stop worrying. I don't need to have a jealousy chat with you, do I?"

She shook her head. "No. I just don't think he's ever dealt with losing his mother."

Jeff shrugged. "He didn't. My parents had to take us after Aunt Terry died. Richard was too heartbroken to be able to help either one of us. And my mother was still too jealous of Terry to deal with her death as well as we could have wanted. We both had to pretend nothing was wrong."

I hated hearing about their childhoods. Or rather, their brief moments of childhood interspersed with pain, horror, and adult responsibilities.

Jeff took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "No one's perfect, baby. Other than you," he added with a grin. I snorted. "I've had some long talks with my mother, and father. They've both talked to Christopher, too."

"It hasn't sunk in," Amy said with a sigh. "He's still messed up about it."

"The brooding types are always brooding for a reason, Ames."

She laughed. "Yeah. And I don't mind helping him through it. But, seriously, you almost dying in childbirth? I know Jeff was a mess, but Christopher was, too."

"It was going on five months ago."

"Seems like yesterday to me, baby." Jeff stroked the back of my neck. I managed not to arch into his hand, but it did take some serious effort.

Nurse Carter sighed. "I should move back to Paraguay, shouldn't I?"

"That seems a little drastic. Christopher's just surprised, is all. He'll get over it."

Amy put her arm around Nurse Carter's shoulders. "You're not going anywhere. Those of us with no one else but the family we've chosen to join have to stick together."

One of the birds, the male I was fairly sure had walked in with White, went over and rubbed up against Nurse Carter.

"The bird says you're good to stick around." All the Peregrines looked at me. They seemed remarkably pleased. The one that had cozied up to Nurse Carter rejoined the flock. "Well, until we buy the building next door, where are the Peregrines staying?"

All the birds continued to look at me. They now looked as though they wanted to roll their eyes but were simply being polite.

"I'm scared of the birdies, Mommy," Rachel Lewis said in a quiet voice.

One of the pairs looked at each other and went over to the Lewises. Bird necks were extended, coos were given, bird heads were reluctantly patted, then less reluctantly patted. Smiles and giggles ensued. The birds cooed again, then rejoined the flock. They all looked at me. Expectantly. Then sat down. En masse.

Reality dawned. "I'm going to have to keep these things right here, aren't I? At least until their aviary is built. Wow, it sucks to be me again."

Jeff sighed. "I'm just praying they don't have to sleep in the bedroom with us."

CHAPTER 27.

WE DISCUSSED IT AND DECIDED TO SEE IF, by chance, each set would go back to their original recipients. This sounded like a great plan, only the birds all looked alike.

To everyone else, at any rate. I could definitely see differences. I chose not to share this.

The others tried moving around and calling to the birds. They didn't budge. I had a sinking feeling about this. I got up and walked toward the back bedrooms. The Peregrines got to their feet en masse and followed me.

Two of them stopped and stood by Doreen, Irving and Ezra. Two more trotted over to the Lewises. The exact same two that had gone over to comfort Rachel and Raymond earlier. The others looked at me expectantly. "Oh, good. Doreen, you get to have your set with you. Feel lucky."

"Trying to."

"Failing like me?"

"Pretty much, yeah." The birds cocked their heads at her. "Oh, fine. But no being mean to our Poofs!" Everyone in the Embassy had their own Poof by now. We had plenty after all, and I felt it was a wise security measure. Besides, the Poofs were beyond cute. Who wouldn't want one? Well, the Peregrines, based on the looks they were giving said Poofs.

Who were quite unhappy, if their continued quiet growling was any indication. They'd gone back to small, but they were eyeing the Peregrines like nobody's business. The Poof that had attached to Jamie was perched on her, clearly ready to eat any Peregrine that came near.

"That's right, Peregrines. The Poofs were here first, and we love them. If you want us to love you, you have to play nicely with the Poofs. And the dogs and cats. And any other birds we happened to have around. Any animal that was here first is higher on our collective totem pole than any of you. So you need to leave them alone or protect them, depending. As well as be good birdies and all that jazz." I looked at the Lewises. "You guys okay with your new family pets?"

Kevin shrugged. "As long as they don't attack us again, sure. If they do, I'm going to start an interstellar incident."

"Should we be concerned that they've only attached to the families with kids?" Jeff asked quietly.

"No idea. At all. Naomi, Abigail, does your card give us any clue about that?"

"No," Naomi replied. "Our card said, 'While these birds will be most at home in the palace, they will help you control and stretch your talents while keeping you safe. Please enjoy them with our compliments.' So I guess either Sis and I are expected to leave 'our' Peregrine set here, or Alexander thinks we live here."

"Or that you should," Chuckie said slowly. "I've looked at the handwriting. The cards to Martini and White are in the same hand. All the others are in a different hand. King Alexander wrote the cards to his closest kinsmen."

"And Councilor Leonidas wrote the rest, didn't he?"

Chuckie nodded. "That would be my assumption, yes."

Nurse Carter looked at the card in Naomi's hand. "Yes, the card Richard received was in that handwriting."

"He let you see it?"

She looked embarrassed. "It was, as he said, personal. But for the two of us."

"Oh, one of those 'congrats on hooking up and welcome to the family' kind of messages." The Peregrines all cooed at me. It was as if they were telling me they loved that I was so intuitive. I didn't share this thought with anyone else either.

"What did everyone else's notes say?" Jeff asked.

Kevin pulled theirs out. "Captain, these birds will form the basis of the palace's defenses. While they can and should travel with the Royal Family and their other charges, always ensure at least two pairs remain present within the palace grounds." He shook his head. "They're really not clear on how things are here, are they?"

"Or they're being deliberately obtuse for reasons we still don't know." Alexander I could almost buy not being able to get his head around the whole "we aren't royalty" thing, but it was a stretch.

I was clear that Councilor Leonidas was Alpha Four's version of Chuckie and Winston Churchill rolled into one. Councilor Leonidas I knew for sure understood our position within Earth governments, probably better than anyone else in the Alpha Centauri system. I was positive he understood it better than I did. "And whoever wrote that clearly knows what the Defense Attache position is all about."

Pierre nodded. "Mine reads, 'The Concierge Majordomo's position within the household is both honorable and perilous. These birds will assist you in your duties while protecting your person at the same time.' They certainly are focused on the whole attack bird idea, aren't they?"

Len and Kyle exchanged a look. "Our cards say almost the same thing as Pierre's, only they didn't mention job titles."

"Amy, make sure you grab Richard when he's done with Christopher and find out just what kind of jobs these birds are intended to do." Jeff's Commander voice was back on full. "I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but something that's entire job is protection isn't necessarily friendly."

The Peregrines gave him a group hurt look. A couple of them looked ready to cry. "Wow, you hurt their feelings, big time." Whoops.

"Excuse me?" Jeff said, very carefully.

Gave up. "I can see their expressions."

"What?" Jeff was clearly verbalizing everyone's question.

"Um, I feel like I . . . know what the Peregrines are thinking."

"It's like you're on drugs. They're birds. They have no expressions. I'm not convinced they have thoughts."

"Bellie's a bird, and you're convinced she has thoughts." The Peregrines all bobbed their heads. "See?"

"What does that prove?" Jeff asked. But he sounded nervous. "I think that's a bird behavior thing. Bellie does it all the time."

"Yeah? Well, I think it's because she's trying to nod yes." I looked at the Peregrines. The full flock bobbed their heads. "Can I get a bird amen?" Peregrine wings all flapped, there were several coos, and even a couple of hoots. "Can I get a real bird amen?" Peregrines hooted and flapped. They enjoyed the impromptu revival meeting.

I looked around the room. Apparently only the Peregrines and I were finding this amusing.

"Wow," Chuckie said finally, breaking the horrified human and A-C silence in the room. "You've become Doctor Doolittle."