"Sorry." I was. All the Secret Service agents we'd dealt with, save one, were awesome, and I didn't want to make their lives even harder and more dangerous than they already were.

"They'll adjust to how you are, I'm sure," Mom said. "However, today, I'd think it was easy to get someone in here. My guess for when the bugs were planted is when you were fighting a robot on the South Lawn."

"I have a hard time believing that Strauss was planning to overthrow the government in concert with every single protective agency we have."

"No, but it's obvious we were being watched. An opportunity arose, and apparently everyone took advantage of it."

"They could have done it when we were in the theater and Kitty and the others were in my old office, too," Jeff said. "Frankly, we gave these people plenty of opportunities. Bottom line is that we need to make sure that we aren't breached that easily again. Bugs are bad, but they're nothing compared to bombs or poisons."

"I'll have a talk with your Secret Service staff, all of them, not just the ones you know best. I plan to have Jeremy Barone with me while doing that briefing, too. I've requested that he leave the Embassy detail and move in here, and he's agreed."

"That's great, but I have to ask-why would the Alphabet Agencies be spying on us? And I don't want derisive looks. I'm serious. Now that Cliff's gone, they're all on our side, aren't they?"

"Kitten, this is politics. That you're still somehow surprised by it is both sweet and worrying. However, look at it like friendly fire-they're listening to guard and to, you know, catch something they can use for blackmail, what's called influence in this town."

"Gotcha. Friends and enemies all want to listen in and take advantage of us. Wow, this is the best job in the world."

"Tell me about it, baby," Jeff said with a sigh. "I just want to see the kids and Sol and pretend we're a normal family for a few minutes."

"Ask and ye shall receive."

Of course, it wasn't quite as simple as that, mostly because no one was in Lizzie's room, Jamie's room, or Charlie's room. Christopher checked the supposedly unoccupied rooms-no one. Belayed panic even though no one was in the rooms on our side of the hall, Master Suite included.

Mom wasn't worried and headed us to the Family Dining Room where, happily, everyone we were searching for was waiting for us, Jamie and Charlie in their standard A-C-issue pajamas of blue bottoms and white tops. Mom also refrained from saying "duh" to me, but I could tell she wanted to.

Jamie and Charlie were thrilled to see their Daddy and their Nana Angela. They gave me perfunctory kisses but definitely wanted more of Jeff and Mom's time than mine. Again chose not to be bitter. After all, if King Benny had come upstairs with us, Mom and Jeff would be playing Second Bananas to him anyway.

"Jamie and Charlie have already had their baths and brushed their teeth," Nadine said.

"Super. Where are you sleeping?" I asked her as I sat down next to her and Dad, who was now also not of interest to his grandchildren, at least for the moment. Christopher settled next to Amy and took Becky from her. She gave a happy baby gurgle and snuggled up to her father and Christopher got a look on his face I recognized well, since I saw it on Jeff's face all the time-the happy glow of loving on his child.

"Well, we've been discussing that." Nadine nodded her head toward Amy and Lizzie. "I'm kind of surprised that you have Charlie in his own room already at only seven months."

"Seriously, that wasn't my idea. The Elves set the room up and he really seems to like it."

"Oh, he does, Mommy," Jamie said. "Just like I like my room."

"That's great, sweetie, but Charlie is still a baby. And babies need their mommies and daddies nearby."

"But you are nearby," Jamie said. "Aren't you?" She looked worried.

"Yes, we are. Just across the hall." The ginormous hall, but still right across it. Didn't know what to say that wouldn't make Jamie nervous. "But, um . . ."

Jeff kissed Jamie's head. "You stayed in the nursery for a long time, Jamie-Kat. We just think that maybe Charlie should, too."

Jamie shook her head. "Charlie will be fine."

Looked at my son, who was grabbing Mom's nose. "Maybe. But Mom, what do you think?"

Mom kissed Charlie's forehead. "I think that whatever makes you and Jeff feel safe is the right choice, kitten. But, frankly, as Alfred and Lucinda have told your father and me more than once, with hyperspeed and a good baby monitor, it doesn't take long to reach your child."

This was true. In fact, Alfred and Lucinda's bedroom at Martini Manor was quite far away from their children's rooms. Sure, the isolation chamber they'd had to install for Jeff was in their bedroom. Just as the isolation chamber here was now in our suite of rooms.

"And the pets are guarding us all the time, Mommy, you know that," Jamie reminded me. She held up her Poof. "Mous-Mous is always on the case."

"True, the Poofs are ever-vigilant." I hoped and presumed. Felt a feathered nudge. "As are the Peregrines, dogs, cats, ocellars, and chochos." Why risk hurting anyone's feelings? "Well, why don't we see how it goes? Charlie can always come into the nursery if he wants to, and if he's happy in his own room, you're right, we'll hear him if need be. Which brings me back to the question of where Nadine's sleeping."

"I was thinking I should be in Charlie's room, honestly," she said.

"I think you should be in Lizzie's room," Jamie said. "That way, Lizzie will have a friend to talk to."

Lizzie looked more than a little weirded out, not that I could blame her. Jamie was quite advanced to begin with, and her tendency to share things in a way that made it seem like she was mind reading or seeing the future was freaky, even to me and Jeff. Maybe mostly to me and Jeff.

"Lizzie's a big girl," Jeff said. "Bigger than you. That should mean she gets her own room and doesn't have to share."

"But all the big girls and boys are sharing," Jamie said. "Upstairs and here, too. You and Mommy share, too, Daddy."

"It's fine," Lizzie said. "There's room in my room 'cause it's totes big. Nadine can stay with me if you guys want."

Christopher handed Becky to Amy. I blinked and he was gone. Blinked again and he was back. "There are two beds in Lizzie's room now. When we came upstairs there was only one. So, I guess that means the Operations Team got the message."

"Okay, um, well, I guess that's settled then. Lizzie, are you sure you're okay with this? We have plenty of room and the other bed can go in Charlie's room just as easily as yours."

"No, really, it's fine, Kitty. Promise."

Had a feeling that something had happened while we were downstairs, but had no good way to ask in front of the kids. "Well, it's bedtime for the two who get to sleep in their rooms alone, then."

Jeff handed Jamie to Lizzie. "Okay, Charlie first." He took our son from Mom. "Back soon, Jamie-Kat. Enjoy your special time."

With that we headed to Charlie's room. "Any guess for what's going on?" I asked him quietly.

"A little. Tell you once Charlie's in bed."

"Oh good. More mystery. Just what today needed."

CHAPTER 39.

EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A NEW, strange place, doing our regular bedtime ritual was soothing. We tucked Charlie in, sang songs to him, and made sure that his Poof and Sugarfoot the cat were both on his bed. Duchess was already settled in her dog bed and Wilbur was in his, right next to hers. They were on one side of Charlie's crib. The two Peregrine hammocks were on the other side, already filled by a younger set of Peregrines, Mork and Mindy, who had attached to Charlie pretty early on.

Two ocellars and some random Poofs were in here, too, lounging in their Poof Condo. I knew without asking that the moment Jeff and I left the room that they'd be on the bed, but we all chose to pretend that they'd stay where they were supposed to.

Baby monitor set up, songs all sung, we kissed Charlie goodnight and headed out, our half of his baby monitor in Jeff's pocket.

"Before we get Jamie, seriously, what's going on?"

"I can't be sure, baby, but I think that Jamie's picked up Lizzie's anxiety."

"She doesn't seem anxious to me. I mean, anymore. She was freaked earlier, which was totally understandable, but why be anxious now?"

"Because her adopted father isn't here. He's at the Embassy and that means that, to her, she's alone again."

"But she has us. I mean, seriously, Pierre and Vance have announced her as my ward."

"Yeah, but she isn't convinced that she's got us for the long haul." Jeff ran his hand through his hair. "Like you said earlier, she's been through a lot."

"True, though Nightcrawler isn't deserting her. He was disappointed that she wasn't going to be in the family suite with him. I think he was as confused as I was by the Elves moving Lizzie in here. Jamie, on the other hand, plans for her Uncle Benjamin to move into the White House with us at some point."

Jeff grunted. "I have no objection, but he's currently Embassy staff so that doesn't really work. Meaning that Lizzie's going to be living separately from her father, and that has to feel like desertion, or at least a loss."

"And right after she's lost the Dingo and Surly Vic, too." Just like I had.

"Yeah. Two of the men she knew as her new family are dead and gone, and she didn't get to say goodbye to them."

"And her father almost died, too. And, regardless of who's sleeping where, he's off doing things that are dangerous again, and what happens to Lizzie if something happens to him? I mean, obviously, she stays with us and remains with and within our family, but she doesn't know that, does she?"

"Ah . . ." Jeff had a funny look on his face and he wasn't really looking at me.

Turned around to see Lizzie standing there. Couldn't read her expression. "I was coming to tell you . . ." She stopped, scrunched up her face, then threw herself into my arms and started sobbing.

I was shocked, but I'd been a teenaged girl before, and the right course of action wasn't that hard to come up with. Hugged her tightly and rocked her a little. "It's okay," I said quietly when her crying slowed down. "It's hard to have your life upended once, let alone twice. And now for the third time."

Jeff put his arms around both of us. "Like Kitty said, it's okay. Your father is part of our family, and that makes you part of it, too. Forever. I promise."

Lizzie was still crying but she relaxed more and more. Finally her body felt normal. Kissed the top of her head. "You won't be alone again, or deserted, or anything like that. In fact, get used to not getting a lot of alone time, just because that seems to be how A-Cs roll. They're big on the once in, never out mindset. And family is who you choose, too. Like I told you, my family is larger than it seems. Amy, Chuckie, Sheila, Brian . . . my parents consider all of them family. And you're now part of that, too. Besides, you're apparently the big sister Jamie's always dreamed of."

She managed a laugh. "Thanks. I hope. I'm sorry. Jamie and Charlie are awesome. I was coming to tell you that Jamie had Nadine, Sol, and Angela tuck her in and . . . heard you . . . and . . ."

I was still holding her but I hugged her again. "Heard us discussing possible outcomes."

"Yeah."

Tried to think of what would really make her feel like everything was really alright. "It's okay. No matter what Mister Dash may be doing, Megalomaniac Girl and Superman will always need your help."

She took her face out of my neck and smiled at me. "Quick Girl is always ready for action."

Jeff chuckled. "Good. I hope the action Quick Girl is ready for right now, however, is bedtime."

"She's almost fifteen."

"And I'm the President and I make the rules, and tonight our teenager is going to bed early."

"It's okay. Nadine and I are going to compare places in France we've been. She and her sisters are from Euro Base. They don't sound French, but they are. That's totes weird, isn't it?"

Couldn't help it, I laughed. "That, in a nutshell, is life with A-Cs."

"I think I should be offended somehow," Jeff said, looking a little hurt, as we broke out of our group huddle.

"Nah. You get used to it. After a while at least."

Lizzie grinned. "That's what Mister Dash says." She heaved a sigh. "I miss my dad."

"He misses you, too. We'll get through the current madness and then things will settle down." Oh, sure, I was probably telling a real whopper, but a girl could dream, right?

"I don't think things ever settle for you guys, but that's okay. Keeps things interesting, right?" Lizzie seemed almost back to normal.

"Yeah. You want to wash up in our bathroom before we go back to the others?"

She shook her head. "I'm supposed to go to bed, remember? I'll wash up in my own bathroom. You think Nadine will need to sleep with Charlie?"

The way she asked told me the right answer to give. "Nope. If he can't handle being alone we'll move him right into the nursery. We're kind of overprotective that way. I'd have all three of you in the master suite with us but, you know, people would talk."

She giggled, and Nadine chose this time to join us in the hallway. Nadine gave me a little nod, then she put her arm around Lizzie's shoulders. "Let's get into bed and talk ourselves to sleep."

They headed off to their now shared room and Jeff put his arm around me. "Well handled, baby."

"You, too. I guess this is our Sound of Music moment."

"I actually get that reference, and yeah, I think so. Teenagers need parents and older confidantes they can trust, too. And if that means Lizzie wants our nanny to be her roommate, I'm good with that."

We went back to the dining room. "Ames, what in the world did we miss while you guys were here and we were downstairs?" Took Becky from Christopher and gave her a snuggle. Seeing as she was only a week old, she couldn't share that she'd really prefer to be in a room by herself now and had to put up with me giving her attention.

Amy shook her head. "I have no idea, honestly. But Jamie spent a lot of time telling Lizzie how she was going to live with you guys forever and ever. I think it might have freaked her out. It kind of freaked me out a little."

"Well, Jamie's not wrong," Jeff said. "Siler's got a more stable job with us now, but if today is any example, we're stretching the definition of stable."

"Yeah, not every day is like this, let's all please remember, but I can see why the Elves wanted Lizzie here."

"It'll keep him here, too," Christopher said.

"What do you mean?" Jeff asked.

Christopher shrugged. "He's spent decades as a globetrotting assassin. Settling in one place can't feel natural to him."

Considered this. "Good point. But he doesn't seem restless."

Christopher snorted. "Kitty, he's been here, what, a week? Right after almost dying and all of us taking down Cliff. It's not like we wouldn't all kill for some downtime. But once we finally get it, then what? Is he really going to settle into our version of embassy life? Or is he going to go back to the profession he's had for longer than any of us in this room have been alive?"

"No bet, honestly. But we don't have to decide that tonight. And, as embarrassed as I am to say it, I'm as tired as the kids. I think I want to take advantage of all the help and turn in early."

"I second that," Jeff said.