Jeff shifted me a little and kissed me. Like always, it was great and I had to control myself from grinding against him. However, that could potentially be duplicated. And if it could, I wanted the patent, because a machine that could kiss like Jeff would be the path to instant wealth.

Once our kiss was over, I let my worry continue. Jeff, however, just put me down. I sidled over to White. "We may want to be ready to run like hell," I said quietly.

Jeff heaved a sigh. "Baby, it's really me. I can't feel you right now. I can't feel anyone."

"Which is part of why we look this bad," Chuckie said dryly. "Because someone went for the 'throw a temper tantrum and see if that works' method."

"I was distraught," Jeff said as he shot a sideways look of annoyance at Chuckie. "You weren't exactly Mister Calm, either, for a while there."

The Poofs all jumped down in front of me and White. They were mewling and jumping up and down. "Kitty's got nothing, Poofies, sorry."

White jerked. "The tunnels are affecting your talents. Meaning they're affecting Jeffrey as well."

"What do you mean?"

"You can't understand the Poofs right now. We already knew the tunnels were affecting our people. I should have considered that before we left."

"Okay, makes sense. So, Jeff, Chuckie, prove you're who we want you to be and show us what you're hiding from us. Now. Or Richard and I do a runner." Neither Jeff nor Chuckie looked up to catching me and White. If they could, it might also prove they were androids. I currently hated where my mind was going.

"Camera's down," Chuckie said with a shrug.

"Yeah, thanks for that. We were trying to find you guys or whoever was down here. That equipment's not cheap."

Chuckie shot me his "really?" look. "I'm aware of what they cost, Kitty. I'm also aware that we've got enemies everywhere." His eyes narrowed. "In fact, how do we know the two of you aren't androids? Martini can't feel anyone in here."

"Look, we're in this weird Mexican Standoff. Someone needs to prove who's who to the others."

The Poofs started jumping up and down again, mewling loudly. They bounded between the four of us, purring and rubbing. Then they stood in front of me, and all three of them stared at me with, what I was positive, were "duh" expressions on their faces.

The light dawned, albeit really slowly. "The Poofs say we're all who we think we are, the real people." The Poofs jumped up and down again, then Harlie went back to Jeff, Fluffy went back to Chuckie, and Poofikins jumped onto my shoulder, grumbling quietly. "Fine, fine, Kitty's being an idiot again. Excuse me. It's been a long weekend."

"Since we've confirmed we're all who we say we are, when are you boys going to share what it is you're hiding from us?" White asked.

"We should probably wait until we're back somewhere secure," Jeff said.

"How far away are we from wherever you're basing, Kitty?" Chuckie asked.

"Far."

"Miles," White corrected. "And we're going back to the Embassy. Speed is of the essence. There are things you two don't know about that require our attention."

"I can't handle any more hyperspeed right now," Chuckie said. "I had enough of that today-I honestly don't think my body can take it."

"That's the main reason we've been moving so slowly," Jeff said.

I looked at his expression. "No, it's not. I mean, I'm not doubting Chuckie, but you two are doing more than staggering homeward."

"True enough," Chuckie said. "We had to move slowly, so we were examining the tunnels as we went. We can do more of that later. However, I can't move fast. If I have to deal with more hyperspeed reactions today, I'm going to be bedridden."

"We can't afford to have either one of you out. But we have to get back."

Jeff sighed. "Fine, fine." He fiddled with whatever he was holding. I stepped closer and took a good look. It was a shiny cube, and it looked familiar. "Where, exactly, are we headed, baby?"

"The Embassy ballroom. It's loaded with people and equipment, though."

"Shouldn't be a problem. Richard, hold onto Kitty and Chuck, will you?"

My jaw dropped. This was the first time I'd ever heard Jeff call Chuckie anything other than Reynolds. White took our hands as requested, Jeff finished his fiddling, grabbed my free hand, and we moved.

This felt nothing like a gate transfer or hyperspeed. There was no nausea, no feeling of movement, really. But we could see where we were going, in a sense, but we were moving by everything so fast it was something of a blur. The movement and feeling was very similar to how ACE had shifted us all to Alpha Four and back again at the end of Operation Invasion.

We stopped quickly enough, right in the middle of the ballroom. It dawned on me that I'd forgotten to tell Jeff that the Embassy was shielded, but apparently that hadn't been an issue, because we were all okay.

"Jeff! Jeff! Jeff!" Bellie sounded overjoyed. But she stayed with Oliver. I wasn't sure if he had a death grip on her legs or what, but I was thankful for the small favor.

Jeff winced. "Whoa. All of you are really stressed and upset."

"Why wouldn't we be?" Christopher snapped.

"Why are you all mad at us?" Jeff asked.

"You do realize we've thought you were kidnapped all this time," White said calmly. "Therefore, while Missus Martini and I have had a few moments to come to grips with the fact that the two of you are back with us, most of the rest of the room is relieved to see the two of you alive and reasonably well, while at the same time being remarkably perturbed that you have waited so very long to reassure us of your health and well-being."

"What Richard said. Only not nearly as nicely."

Naomi stared at Chuckie. "We thought you might be dead," she said finally.

"Clarence said he had you," Abigail added. "He almost convinced Sis to go with him to save you."

"I'm sorry." Chuckie looked as though he had no idea of what to say in this situation. Come to think of it, he probably didn't.

"You didn't call," Naomi added. She walked over to him. "In fact, you didn't text, send a mental message, or send an emotional message, either. Nothing. I thought you were dead."

"I didn't mean to worry you." Chuckie looked and sounded worried.

"Clarence actually sort of had us-" Jeff said.

Before he could finish, Naomi burst into tears. Chuckie pulled her into his arms, held her, and did the soothing murmur thing. He also did the nuzzling of the head thing, as well as the stroking of the back in an intimate way thing. I heard a couple of terms of endearment in there, too.

This didn't shock me all that much. I'd had a strong suspicion for quite a while, after all, and if White calling him Charles the moment we were with Naomi hadn't been the clear clue, her actions when Chuckie was in danger certainly left no room for confusion. And some of the Poof Population Explosion was also explained. But not all. Wondered if the Poofs somehow knew what was coming and had been staffing up in preparation. Decided I could find out another time.

I looked at Jeff. In contrast to what I would have guessed even this morning, he didn't look shocked at all. He also didn't look angry. He looked incredibly pleased. Clearly their time alone together had been great for bonding.

Jeff looked at me, and the pleased look left his face to be replaced by a guilty and apologetic look. He ran his hand through his hair. Now that we were in the light, I could see that he'd definitely taken some kind of beating. Because A-Cs healed fast, he didn't look as bad as he'd probably looked a couple hours prior, but Jeff was definitely going to need adrenaline. He probably needed isolation, but I doubted we had time for that.

"I'm not going to turn on the waterworks. Because I've been too busy to focus on the fretting, so I'm not nearly as upset as Mimi is, and because I'm just under the emotional level where I'm so angry that I'm going to cry. But if you don't tell us all exactly what the hell is going on, quickly, succinctly, and immediately, I'm going to show you that Naomi has nothing on me in terms of histrionics."

Jeff looked at Chuckie, who nodded.

"I told you he wasn't in love with me any more," I said quietly.

"Yeah, yeah. You know, he's a great guy. I have no idea why I didn't realize it before."

Christopher coughed. We'd moved from throat clearing to coughing as the new noises epidemic. "No idea at all, Jeff. Wouldn't be your typical jealousy thing, would it?"

"Or the Alpha Male fighting thing."

Jeff shrugged. "Things of the past."

Christopher and I both coughed. It was the new epidemic for sure. "I'll start the betting pool," Christopher said to me.

"This is touching," Franklin said. "But since we have an alien armada about to invade and likely conquer us, I believe we'd all appreciate knowing what you two gentlemen have been up to."

"What do you mean, we have an alien armada on the way?" Jeff asked, Commander voice back on full.

"I'm pulling rank," Franklin said. "As Commander of Andrews Air Force Base, or whatever's left of it, I want your intel first. We'll catch you up after that."

"What do you mean, whatever's left of it?" Chuckie asked.

"Long story. I'm with Colonel Franklin-you show us yours and then we'll show you ours. And make it snappy. We don't know how much time we actually have before they show up."

Jeff nodded and looked around. "Who are all-"

"Later. They've all done the spit shake and pinky swear, or will do as soon as we have time. Your intel now. Introductions after you get some adrenaline. Now, Jeff. I mean it. We're all seriously tired, pissed, and stressed."

"Fine. You told me to find Reynolds, which I did."

"Just as Clarence showed up out of nowhere," Chuckie added, still holding onto Naomi.

"Clarence tried to grab Reynolds, I was able to get him first. I saw that Clarence had . . . something of mine." I could tell he didn't want me sharing what I'd seen him use to get us back here with anyone else.

"The glowing cube Terry gave you when you were ten."

Jeff gaped at me. "Why are you discussing that here when-?"

"Seriously, Jeff, hurry the hell up and stop being coy. Figure everyone in this room knows or should know all about what's going on. You two are way behind on the Bad Guy Scheme du Jour."

"Fine. I saw the cube, realized he must have been the one who took it from my parents' home. Then Clarence took off. We were both fine, and Reynolds agreed Clarence was the highest security risk at the Festival. So we followed him."

"For miles," Chuckie said. "At hyperspeed."

"Right. So, we caught him at some golf course. While Reynolds was on his hands and knees throwing up, Clarence and I got into a fight."

"He's taken Surcenthumain. A lot of it, from what I could see."

"Yeah, baby, he has. I was able to get the cube away from him, but only because he knocked me down and I grabbed it as I was falling. Once I had it, I grabbed Reynolds, only Clarence attacked us again. He hits hard, and I hadn't been winning the fight in the first place. I wanted to get the hell away and get the two of us to safety."

"And?"

Jeff shrugged. "And all of a sudden, we weren't on a golf course anymore."

CHAPTER 89.

"WE WERE IN A ROOM," Chuckie said. "The movement that took us there was similar to when we were all taken to Alpha Four, only much faster."

"Just like Jeff used to get us back here."

He nodded. "So, once inside, we were safe from Clarence."

"And anything else," Jeff said. "We couldn't get out."

Chuckie looked around the room. "You activated the protocols?"

"Yes, we're all caught up, Director Fury. And everyone here knows about the tunnel system and the rooms."

"Great. Based on what I already knew, I realized we had to be in a dead zone, and based on where we'd been when the cube activated, I figured we were inside the dead zone still being mapped. We couldn't receive or send any electronic signals, and Martini had no empathic abilities at all."

"I couldn't read Reynolds, and he was right next to me."

"Wow, we've officially found A-C kryptonite. Wonderful."

"Our watches stopped working, too," Chuckie said. "So we didn't have a clear idea of the passage of time."

Naomi sniffled and looked up at him. "Great excuse. I don't think I buy it any more than Kitty will."

Chuckie smiled at her, and it was a smile I remembered from long ago. I savored the warm, fuzzy moment. I wasn't sure how many more we were going to get. "Sorry," he said again. "But we didn't realize anyone was looking for us."

"Seriously? With Clarence running amok? With me point blank telling Jeff to get you because you were the assassination target of the day?"

Jeff sighed. "Baby, there was more going on. We weren't alone in the room." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the glowing cube. "It turned out that this wasn't the one Christopher and I had when we were little."

Chuckie released one arm from around Naomi and reached into his pocket. "The only thing the room contained was this." He pulled out another glowing cube. "Per Martini, this one isn't the one he had as a child, either."

"So, did you try the wishing we were somewhere else thing?"

"Yeah, after the 'throw himself against every part of the walls' attempt that lasted far longer than was good for anyone's health, your husband did," Chuckie said. He looked like he was trying not to laugh. "For what I'm guessing was an hour. With no success."

"Yeah, yeah. It was more like fifteen minutes, if that. Reynolds finally convinced me to sit down and tell him what I knew about our cube and how it worked."

"From what I can tell, your mother," Chuckie said to Christopher, "was able to alter the cube you two used to be trained on your DNA signature. Maybe tuned to your talents. But set up just for the two of you. The ones Clarence had and we found are more . . . general."

"How would my mother have ever found a cube like this?" Christopher asked. "They aren't manmade and they aren't something from our home world. Are they?" he asked White.