Tito and Nurse Carter came in with Hughes and Walker, both in wheelchairs. Hughes had a broken leg, Walker had a cracked skull, but for the most part, Jeff had been right-they were going to pull through.

I gave Jamie to Lorraine, trotted over, and gave both of them big hugs. "I thought I'd never see you guys again."

"You almost didn't," Tito said. "It was a close thing for both of them."

"Don't hug them too hard," Nurse Carter added. "They both have internal injuries. Because we have A-C medical advances, they can be up and out of bed, even though they shouldn't be," she added sternly, which earned fake guilty looks from both flyboys. "You two get a half an hour here, and then it's back into the infirmary."

"You need to get rest, too, Kitty, just like Jeff, Christopher, Paul, Naomi, and Abigail do," Tito said. "And by rest I mean all of you are headed for isolation tonight." I opened my mouth, but he put his hand up. "Everyone's on an adrenaline high still, I know. Just don't plan on staying up much longer than my two main patients here."

Tito and Nurse Carter tactfully took their leave. Tito joined Christopher and Amy and the rest of the flyboys, who were near the food, while Nurse Carter went and joined White, who pulled her onto his lap. Christopher noted this, and I saw him smile, then turn back and give Amy a kiss.

Turned my attention back to Hughes and Walker. "Glad you two were able to get out of bed, let alone join the party."

Hughes smiled. "We're only here because I hear tell someone ran on water to save us. And because Tito's the best doctor on any planet."

Walker nodded, then winced. "I gotta remember my head's not on tight right now." He took my hand and Hughes took the other. "Thanks, Kitty."

"I may not be the Head of Airborne anymore, but you'll always be my guys."

"And you'll always be our commander," Walker said.

"Even if we don't officially report to you any more," Hughes added.

Before we could get too mushy, we were interrupted by parrot squawks. "Mister! Mister! Mister!" Bellie was flying around the room, clearly searching for Oliver.

Jeff caught her near Claudia's head, and I went back to claim my baby and let the extra Dazzler nurses Tito employed fuss over Hughes and Walker.

"She sure wants to find our favorite reporter," Jeff said, sounding a little hurt.

"He was here a second ago."

"I went to use the facilities," Oliver said as he rejoined us.

Bellie squawked happily and flew to Oliver's shoulder, giving him a nuzzle. Jeff looked shocked.

"Bellie, you really are a cheap slut, aren't you?" I was fine with this of course, and I had a feeling Bellie was smart enough to know that, ultimately, between me and her, I was going to win in the fight for Jeff's love and affection.

She looked at me. "Jeff has Kitty. Bellie has Mister."

"I like where your birdbrain's at, Bellie. MJO, you okay with another pet?"

"Actually, yes. I haven't had any in the last few years because I'm gone so often, but Miss Bellie is so bright and well trained, I can take her with me. And, as events have shown, I know Button can take care of itself anywhere. May I assume if I have to go to dangerous parts of the world that I may leave Miss Bellie in your good care?"

"Absolutely," Jeff said quickly.

"Aww, your avian mistress has chosen a different sugar daddy. You'll just have to make do with me."

Jeff grinned as he put his arm around me, and the music switched to "Hold Me" by Jamie Grace. "I'll take that deal."

My parents commandeered Jamie under the legitimate excuse of not having seen her for a month. The rest of Alpha, Airborne, and our extended Embassy team floated over one by one, each one sharing what they'd done during the weekend, how close a shave they'd had with death, what they'd been worried about. No one was topping Hughes and Walker on the close shaves, but that was okay by me.

Jeff looked around the room. "You know, this was the big test-how would we handle things when it looked like the world was going to end. I think everyone did a great job. And the right people are where they need to be."

"Girlfriend was right," Reader said, flashing me the cover-boy grin. "When it came down to it, what we had that our enemies didn't was us. As long as we're together, nothing can break us."

"Together forever, right, James?"

Everyone agreed we were a team 'til the bitter end, as "Last Days on Earth" by Tears for Fears came onto our sound system.

"Right," Jeff whispered in my ear. "You're mine until the worlds ends, and then for the rest of eternity." He kissed me, and, as always, everything else faded into the background.

So we were outed to the world. So what? Maybe they'd chase us off Earth. Maybe they'd try to turn to us for every emergency. Or maybe they'd accept that we were just like everybody else-people who loved each other and would fight to protect our world from all the bad things out there trying to destroy it.

Ultimately, it didn't matter. I was with Jeff, and we had Jamie, and that meant we had everything we'd ever need.

Bad guys of the galaxy beware. And all that.

Coming in May 2013: the seventh novel in the Alien series from Gini Koch ALIEN IN THE HOUSE.

Read on for a sneak preview "WHY ARE YOU BOTH HERE SO EARLY?" Reader asked. He sounded mildly annoyed. This seemed to be the Standard Reaction Mode for whoever was the Head of Field for Centaurion Division when dealing with Chuckie.

"Not that it isn't great to see you both," I added. Hey, I was the co-Head Diplomat and I tried to practice my diplomatic skills whenever it was convenient and easy. "Unless you're bringing news of doom and gloom, and then come back later, okay?" I also didn't like to overdo the practicing.

Chuckie grinned. "No, for once, not coming by to share how the world's going to end tomorrow."

Good. I wouldn't have to tell Walter to spin "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones. Though I had Stones songs on the playlist for tonight's festivities because the British Counsel was supposed to be in attendance and I wanted to play more nicely than I had before and pretend I thought the Stones were sort of in the same league as Aerosmith, even though Aerosmith was the greatest and the Stones were merely good.

Cliff nodded. "Under the circumstances, the Department wanted to ensure that you and we feel your Embassy is secure. I decided to come by with Chuck, as opposed to sending a team here."

"Thanks, we appreciate that," Jeff said. "So what do you need to see?"

"Any common areas the guests will be in," Cliff replied. "This is really just a formality, not a white glove test."

"Excuse me?" Jeff sounded confused, which wasn't a surprise.

"Earth saying. Your mother would understand it." This I knew for a fact. Happily, the A-C Operations team, who I called the Elves because I never, ever saw them perform their wondrous and magical duties, handled the cleaning of every A-C facility, including the Embassy. If the cleaning was left up to me, we'd be decorating in the finest of Washington, D.C. dust. I didn't hate housekeeping, but we weren't exactly best buds forever, either.

Jeff grunted. "So, where do we start?"

"Basement," Cliff said. "Let's do this quickly so you can all get back to prepping for the party tonight."

"You all go on ahead," Chuckie said. "I need to talk to Kitty for a minute."

Jeff gave us both a searching look, shrugged, kissed my cheek, and he and the other men trotted off. This was the result of massive personal growth on Jeff's part, much of which had happened because he'd finally caught on that Chuckie was no longer in love with me and was, in fact, in love with Naomi Gower, who was one of Jeff's cousins.

I waited until the others were out of earshot. "Okay, what's going on?"

"I need to run some things by you, and I don't want an audience for it."

"Is this about the two dead Representatives and the one really sick one?"

"No." He gave me the "you so crazy" look. I got that look a lot. "Why would those incidents, however tragic, be related to tonight's party or any of us in any way?"

"Dude, I figured it was safer to ask. You know how they teach you how to spell 'assume,' right?"

Chuckie shook his head and laughed, then led me down the hall into Jeff's office, closing the door behind us. He sat at the edge of Jeff's desk. "I need you to talk to ACE."

ACE was a collective superconsciousness I'd managed to channel into Paul Gower what seemed like aeons ago but was, in reality, only about two years prior. Gower was not only one of Chuckie's future brothers-in-law, but he was also the current Supreme Pontifex for the A-Cs, or, as I liked to think of it, their Pope With Benefits.

"Why don't you ask Paul whatever it is you need to ask ACE?"

"I have. He says that ACE doesn't want to talk to me."

"Huh." ACE had never had any issue with Chuckie in the past. "What do Naomi and Abigail think?" The Gower girls were the most powerful of the talented A-Cs, to the point where no one, not even Chuckie and the girls themselves, knew the full extent of their powers.

At least, they had been. Until the interstellar invasion.

Naomi and Abigail had used their powers to protect all the various D.C. monuments at the National Mall-and all the people inside them. They'd managed to preserve our nation's capital and history as well as many thousands of innocent people, but it had come at a cost. They'd had to use so much power for such an extended period of time, it had burned them both out. No one was sure if the burnout was temporary or permanent. The girls seemed to be handling this well, but I didn't sleep with them, in that sense.

Chuckie shook his head. "They haven't talked to ACE since . . . right after the invasion attempt."

"Operation Destruction was pretty hard on everyone."

"Yes, it was. We test Mimi and Abby all the time. They still have no more powers than a non-talented A-C."

"I know you'll get mad at me for the suggestion, but have you considered giving them a Surcenthumain boost?" Surcenthumain had been created by a whole host of our enemies, and it was the reason Jeff, his cousin, Christopher White, and Christopher's "lost aunt" Serene all had beyond expanded powers. It was also the reason I wasn't fully human anymore, Jamie having done the mother and child feedback that turned me into a semi-alien.

Chuckie sighed. "All moral and ethical issues aside, Mimi and Abby aren't handling being 'normal' as well as they think they are, so I've thought about it. But I don't want to risk it without some sort of confirmation that it would actually work."

"What does Tito think?"

"Doctor Hernandez isn't convinced that we have enough data to safely guess, and none of us like the idea of using Mimi and Abby, let alone anyone else, as test subjects."

Chuckie was giving me a look that said I was asking stupid questions. I decided to take the logic leap. "So that's why you want to talk to ACE."

"Finally. Yes."

"Does Paul know why you want to talk to ACE?"

"Yes."

"Huh. Well, okay, let me give it a shot." I'd been the one who'd figured out what was going on with ACE when we'd first "met," and therefore ACE had a soft spot for me. As Reader put it, ACE cared most about me and Gower.

Because I never wanted ACE to feel that I took him for granted, I only contacted when it was important. Nothing had been Earth-shattering, either literally or figuratively, for these past months, so I'd left ACE alone.

I sat in one of the chairs in Jeff's office, closed my eyes, and thought in my mind. ACE, are you there?

I waited. ACE?

I waited a bit longer, while doing my best to hold down the panic. Maybe leaving ACE alone hadn't been a wise plan.

ACE? ACE, are you there, are you okay?

Waited a few more long, silent moments. Opened my eyes, cleared my throat, and shared the scary news. "He didn't answer. And I . . . I couldn't feel him."

Chuckie nodded. "That's what I was afraid of."

"Do you think ACE has left us? Or . . . died?" I didn't know if ACE could die in the ways a human would understand, but I did know he could be injured, and we'd dissipated a similar superconsciousness, so ACE wasn't invulnerable.

"I don't know. I do know, based on the intel we got from Richard White, that if Gower were killed while ACE was joined with him then the PPB-Net that represents ACE will collapse in on itself and destroy the Earth. I'd have to guess if ACE were to . . . die that it would negatively affect Gower, perhaps even kill him. Gower's alive and well and we're all still here, so I don't know that ACE is dead, at least as we'd be able to comprehend it."

White was Christopher's father and the former Pontifex, who now also resided at the Embassy and was my partner whenever we got to kick evil butt, which happened with a lot less frequency these days. "Have you asked Richard about this?"

"No. The people who are most likely to get a reply from ACE are you and Gower, Mimi, Abby, and Serene. Serene's tried to reach ACE, as have Mimi and Abby. None of them could get a response. Mimi and Abby put it down to their talent loss. Serene thinks it's because she's not as close to ACE as the others."

"But you don't think that at all."

"Of course not. ACE has never shown himself to be unwilling to talk to any of them. And he was talking to you well before you gained any kind of A-C talents."

"Yeah, he's always there for his favorite penguins."

"I'm worried that our benevolent observer has left us, and if that's the case, Earth is back to being very alone, lonely, and vulnerable."

"Why so? Alpha Four are our friends, and so are the rest of the planets in that system."

"Yes," Chuckie said patiently, "they are. And how do we contact our friends when we need them?"

"We ask ACE to connect us. Crap." I felt sick to my stomach. I hadn't worried about ACE much. I'd checked on him after we'd all survived the Dino-Bird alien invasion attempt, of course. "The last I spoke with ACE was when we were doing cleanup after Operation Destruction. He told me he was tired and needed to rest, just like the rest of us did."

"There's a possibility that ACE left us in case he was going to die, so he wouldn't destroy the Earth."

"There's also a possibility that he's so hurt that he can't talk to us. I have no vote for which one of those ideas is worse, by the way, but thanks so much for choosing to have this conversation with me right before I have to entertain a bunch of politicians."

He shook his head. "We've become reliant on ACE. If he's not there for us any more, we need to be prepared for it."

"Why are you discussing this with me and not Jeff or James or anyone else?"

"Because Gower isn't willing to admit that ACE isn't chatting with him on a regular basis. As far as I can tell, he hasn't told Reader." Reader was not only the Head of Field, he was Gower's husband. "And if he hasn't told Reader, then he hasn't told anyone."

"Yeah, I can agree there." Chuckie was the smartest person in any and all rooms, so it didn't shock me that he'd figured out what was going on. "So, you think Paul knows, or suspects something's wrong with ACE and is hiding it to avoid mass panic?"

"Yes, nice of your brain to join the party."

"Blah, blah, blah. Does anyone else suspect?"

"No, I don't think so, mostly because no one else really understands how we work with ACE, and most don't know that he exists, in that sense."

"What about Naomi, Abigail, and Serene?"