There was another long pause. Even ACE can lose concentration. He sounded embarrassed.

It happens, even to the most watchful of parents, ACE. And she really did save the day.

ACE is happy Jamie did well and that Kitty and Jeff and Christopher and all the others are still alive. ACE wishes ACE could have saved everyone. But ACE could not.

He sounded so sad, regretful, and tired I wanted to hug and hold him, but that wasn't really something I could do, unless I found Gower and hugged him, and that wasn't quite the same thing.

No, but ACE appreciates Kitty's caring for ACE.

Were you hurt?

ACE would like . . . time to rest.

Are you able to rest? Is it over?

Yes. For now.

Well, that's all we can hope for, isn't it?

Yes. Kitty is wise. Kitty thinks right. ACE is always thankful for Kitty.

And I'm always thankful for you, ACE.

Felt ACE hug my mind, and then he was gone.

Reader was barking orders, telling each Field team to take control of one Z'porrah. Wasn't sure how many Z'porrah there were, but hopefully we had enough A-Cs to handle it.

"Ambassadors Martini," Armstrong's voice boomed behind us. "There you are. Safe and sound, I see."

Armstrong wasn't alone. White was with him, which was nice, but a number of other people who looked vaguely familiar were with him, too-meaning they were probably politicians I'd met but hadn't really interacted with-which wasn't. Fabulous. On the plus side, Oliver was with him as well, looking as though all his dreams had come true at the exact moment he didn't have a camera on him.

"Senator," Jeff said a trifle suspiciously. "Good to see you."

"Better to see you," Armstrong said. "Excellent work on the experimental aircraft. American Centaurion truly does amazing work. Doesn't it, Mister Reynolds?"

Chuckie stared at Armstrong for a good long few moments. I had a feeling that Chuckie's answer was going to determine how hard the Powers That Be pressed for Centaurion to become the War Division. "These weren't American Centaurion design," he said finally. "These ships weren't created in this solar system."

"If you say so." Armstrong's smile didn't falter. He and Chuckie were having a stare down. Good luck to Armstrong. I'd beaten him, and he was now trying to take on one of the only two people I couldn't outstare.

"I do." Chuckie sounded calm.

Jeff looked at his uncle. White nodded. "I do as well," Jeff said.

Armstrong shrugged. "We can discuss it with the President." Got the impression Chuckie had won but wasn't sure what he'd won, exactly.

"I think that would be wise," Chuckie agreed. "The heads of the C.I.A. and the P.T.C.U. should be involved as well."

"Already safely back in the Oval Office. Homeland Security is there as well, along with a number of world leaders, most of whom were already in town for the Festival. They're just waiting for you and the Ambassadors here to join them." Armstrong's smile went back to Cheerful Politician. "Some of your pets have been spotted. I believe several of our finer companies would like to breed them."

"Not just no, but hell no," Jeff said pleasantly.

"Or create plush toys based on them," Armstrong said smoothly, without missing a beat.

"Maybe, but only if American Centaurion holds the patents as well as majority share in stock and profits," Chuckie said just as smoothly.

I caught Oliver's eye, and he came over. "MJO, what do you recommend?" I asked quietly.

"About Poof toys?"

"Don't be coy."

"Oh, but it's such fun. Mister Reynolds will need support. I'd suggest your husband go with him, while you take your baby home to her Embassy physician, to ensure she's safe and well."

"Gotcha." Wondered if my Embassy physician was home, at a hospital, or taking two of my friends to the morgue. Decided I had to focus on the here and now, not the worry in the pit of my stomach.

"We will accompany Our friend and kinsman," Alexander said, and he was definitely using the Royal We. "We would like to meet your President and other world leaders." It wasn't a request or a suggestion-it was an order.

"Yes, Your Highness," Armstrong said smoothly. "We appreciate your help with this matter."

"We only came to help because some of Our people reside here," Alexander said, speaking clearly and projecting his voice. "If they were not considered welcomed members of your society, We would not have chosen to lend Our support."

Oliver chuckled. "Then again, perhaps Mister Reynolds has all the support he'll need with your King along."

Armstrong smiled as the people with him nodded their heads a little too emphatically. "Well put, Your Highness. I couldn't have said it better myself."

Military vehicles arrived, and the Field agents began loading the captured Z'porrah onto the trucks. Several Field teams entered their ship, returning quickly to declare it devoid of any more Little Big Birds.

"They're off limits for experiments." I hated them, but still. If we let them experiment on the Z'porrah, it was only a matter of time before the same was done on the A-Cs.

Alexander nodded. "Should We discover that these prisoners of war are being mistreated in any way We deem inappropriate-and We deem medical experiments to absolutely be inappropriate-We will take steps to ensure their safety."

The politicians with Armstrong looked worried. Armstrong didn't. He looked pleased. I'd spent most of this weekend with him, and I still wasn't sure if we'd just given an enemy the keys to the city, or if we now had an even more powerful ally. Figured I'd better bet a little on both.

Alexander nodded to Reader, who made a call. One of the Alpha Four Battle Cruisers moved into position over us. "Step away from the saucer," Reader shouted. "Everyone."

We did as we were told. A beam came down from the Alpha Four ship and hit the Z'porrah saucer. The saucer lifted and was pulled up into the belly of the cruiser. Much faster than they did it in the movies. Maybe it was easier when you weren't using models.

All the Alpha Centauri ships disappeared. "You're staying?" I asked Alexander.

"Only for a short time. Our ships have moved off, past Earth satellites, so that the rest of this can be handled more . . . diplomatically."

"Works for me. As long as they're close by if we need them."

"They are. And they're all monitoring."

Several black limos arrived, and Secret Service stepped out of them. The politicians were ushered inside.

"MJO, what's your destination?"

"I've been told I can't attend the summit meeting, so I'm going to drop off my stories." He shook his head. "This could be the first time in the history of journalism that the kidnapping of an ambassadress and world war being averted is going to be on the back page, because we have such a better lead story."

"Try not to explode from the awesome of it all."

He grinned. "I'll do my best."

A gray limo pulled up, and Buchanan and Jeremy got out of it. "We'll take our own car," Jeff said. "Oliver, if you need a ride, we'll drop you."

"The lift is very much appreciated, Ambassador."

"And if we forget to drop you and take you with us by accident, please be sure to take good notes and let me know immediately if someone's handing us a line of crap."

Oliver beamed. "Absolutely, Ambassador Martini."

Jeff kissed me and Jamie. "Get home safely."

"I'll do my best. I'm not the one who got lost, I have to say yet again."

Jeff grinned. "I'll let you punish me for it later."

"Can't wait." Truly. We still hadn't had nearly enough sex to make up for being apart for a month, let alone to celebrate the world not ending again.

Jeff, White, Alexander, Oliver, and Chuckie got into our limo. Buchanan and Jeremy got back in. Decided to table how and why Jeremy had left his post at the Embassy for later. Presumably because he'd been requested. I assumed Jennifer was still back at the Embassy, attached to Ravi's hip. I had no problem with this.

All the limos but one pulled away. The last one was still waiting for Armstrong.

He came over to me instead. "Ambassador Katt-Martini, it appears all's well that ends well."

"For right now, I guess. What's the word on who was blackmailing us?"

"Your mother was finally able to authorize a search of all of Esteban's holdings. A variety of pictures were found, each of them with a portion of the finished product visible, so to speak. Ample proof of his attempts to blackmail us."

"Conveniently found or really found?"

"You'll have to ask your mother about that. She can tell you now-your security clearance has been reinstated. At a higher level than before, too."

"Thanks, I think."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll have ways for you to thank me later. Just as you'll have them for me."

"We're officially in bed together, even if the dirty pictures were faked, is that what you're saying?"

Armstrong laughed. "Better the devil you know, Ambassador, rather than the devils you don't."

"Dude, for the first time, you and I totally agree."

CHAPTER 104.

WE WERE FINALLY ALL BACK in the Embassy, which was pretty much stuffed to the gills with people.

Pierre had, of course, managed to create a fab "It's Not Really the End of the World and We Feel More Than Fine" party in about five minutes, and everyone was having a good time. "Don't Get Mad, Get Even" by Aerosmith played in the background, followed by "Crazy Days" from Adam Gregory. I approved of the musical choices.

No one was positive about what the fallout was going to be from the Z'porrah attack, but until they showed up with torches and pitchforks at our doors, we'd decided to count this as one for the win column and not worry about it.

Len and Kyle were with Adriana and Olga, all of whom were being entertained by Hacker International, with an assist from the Barones. Jennifer was sitting on Ravi's lap. Jeremy was chatting up Adriana, and he suddenly seemed much less against the idea of humans and A-Cs matching up.

My parents were with Jeff's parents. They looked like they were plotting something. Knowing the four of them, probably when to start suggesting we have another baby. Embassy folks were with their significant others, and everyone was mingling. Pierre knew how to throw a good party.

I was with Lorraine and Claudia. We'd caught each other up on what had happened at our various locations and were now just enjoying passing our babies back and forth among ourselves.

"Speech, speech!" Michael Gower shouted.

Chuckie had his arm around Naomi, and it was clear he was the one Michael was shouting at. Chuckie looked a little embarrassed but a lot happy. "Not a long speech. We just wanted to announce that, given that the world hasn't ended, and with her parents', sister's, and brothers' approval-especially brothers'-Naomi and I are officially engaged."

"Not that I have a ring yet," Naomi shouted.

"Hey, I was busy helping avert intergalactic war," Chuckie countered with a laugh.

"As Supreme Pontifex, I think my sister needs a giant rock, Chuck," Gower said with a grin. He was sitting next to White and looked tired. Because, as he'd told me, he'd had to provide some power for ACE, just as the hybrid children had. However, the drain on Gower had been much more than the drain on the kids. Gower wasn't sure why, though we both suspected it was because the kids were more powerful.

There were lots of cheers and congratulations, which was nice. Someone, probably Kyle, put on "Chuck E's In Love" by Rickie Lee Jones.

"You know what I don't get?"

"What?" Claudia asked.

"Why did it take so long for an A-C girl to claim Chuckie? I mean, he's the smartest guy around."

"Oh, yeah, he is," Lorraine said. "But, well . . . we don't go for guys if they're in a committed relationship."

"When was Chuckie in a serious relationship?" He'd certainly never told me about one.

The girls exchanged glances. Claudia laughed. "Wow, on this one, you're as dense as Jeff and Christopher usually are."

"Huh?"

Lorraine sighed. "He was committed to you, Kitty. For years. After your wedding, there was a window of about a week when he was available. And then, well, a big 'off limits' signal got beamed to the rest of us. We know when to back off."

"Off limits? Oh! Naomi staked her claim."

"Strongly," Claudia said. "Can't blame her, really. I mean, a guy like Chuck wasn't going to remain on the market long."

"Relatively speaking." Chuckie probably felt he'd been on the market a lot longer than the Dazzlers did. But as Armstrong had plagiarized from the Bard, all was well that ended well.