“Well, I guess that’s a good thing.”
“Maybe.” Levi glanced at Terk. “Of course sometimes personal crises come up.”
“It’s not as if Merk would give us a chance to say no,” Ice chipped in, with a bright smile.
“And it would never be an issue because you are family too, Terk,” Levi said calmly.
It was such an odd, yet welcome thing. He and Merk had worked separately for a very long time, but once Merk had hooked up with Levi and Ice, Terk had automatically been included in the group, like an extended part of the family you didn’t know was there but accepted anyway. And it was rather nice.
Terk smiled at Ice, then walked over to give her a big hug and whispered, “Are you looking forward to your daughter? It won’t be just yet …” He paused, tilted his head, and a date popped in his mind. He whispered it against her temple.
Ice’s eyes widened. “What?”
He chuckled. “I can’t help what I learn. Such as the cycle of life and all.”
At that, Levi turned and looked at the two of them. “What did he say to you?”
“I’m not saying a word,” she murmured, a tiny smile at the corner of her lips.
“Damn it, Terk,” Levi growled, shooting him a look, before turning to look at Ice. “No secrets. Remember that?”
“No secrets, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a need for discretion.” Then she turned, looked at the others, and added, “Bailey’s not here. It’s just Alfred in the kitchen. So it’ll be a little less fancy.”
“I don’t need fancy,” Terk replied.
At that, Alfred returned with a big tray of cinnamon buns. “You forgot to mention that Celia’s been in the kitchen helping me too.” Alfred beamed. “I keep trying to get her out of there, but she won’t listen.”
“None of you ever listen,” Levi growled again. “We do the best we can do, but it’s like shepherding goats.”
“I think the phrase is sheep.” Celia walked in calmly, carrying a stack of plates, and put them on the sideboard. Terk sat in the closest chair.
“Well, sheep at least follow along blindly,” Levi snorted. “Trying to get you guys to do anything is impossible.”
“That’s because we know that you’re doing it to get us out of the way.” Celia picked up a plate and plunked a large cinnamon bun on it, then walked over and put it down in front of Terk. Then she went back and grabbed another plate and did the same for Merk. When she went back a third time, Terk looked over at Levi. “See? You might get one after all.”
“I’ll probably have to get it myself though.” He growled yet again.
He watched as the cinnamon buns quickly got divvied up. But, before he could say anything, Ice walked over and put a large plate down in front of him, with two cinnamon buns. “Just in case you really feel like we did you wrong,” she murmured.
He glared at her. “You know these are cinnamon buns, right?”
“Yep, I sure do.” She gave a bright chuckle. “I also know that you get them all the time.”
“Sure, but I haven’t had one in a while, at least a couple days.” He rubbed his hands together, looking at the plate with delight.
Terk watched the byplay, a smile on his face. It was so lovely to see them together. For the longest time, he thought a romantic partnership wasn’t something they could manage long-term, so their energy sliding along in a cozy pairing made his heart smile. His own intuition warned him that those two strong-willed and dominant people in a relationship would always be a challenge. Yet they were still handling everything pretty well.
So maybe challenges themselves weren’t bad after all. And, for these two, maybe that was what really made things work for them. Terk didn’t say it out loud, but they had restored his faith in humanity, and somehow they seemed to have done that for a lot of people.
They were the first couple to marry and to have children in their circle of professionals, and, because they had survived, they were now surrounded by many other happy couples. The energy flowing easily from Levi and Ice then raised the energies of everyone in the vicinity, which in turn made the collective energy vibrate at a higher level, thus repeating the cycle. “How many weddings do you have scheduled this year?” Terk asked.
Ice rolled her eyes. “There have been requests for quite a few actually.”
The little bit of hesitation in Ice’s words and mannerisms had Terk eyeing her expectantly.
She added, “But some people have family who can’t come. Well, that and the security risks. And others just wanted to have a quiet affair, and then, of course, some wanted to go to Vegas.”
Merk snorted at that, but he kept his head down and buried in the cinnamon bun. “Ceremony is just that, ceremony,” he stated. “It really has nothing at all to do with the life that you live.”
“That’s our opinion too,” Ice agreed, “but, for some people, there’s a reverence to the pomp that helps solidify the seriousness of a promise made. And, in your case”—she looked at Merk—“you never really got a divorce.”
“Well, we did, but I guess we didn’t …” He shrugged, gave Ice a gentle smile. “Who knew that, even drunk, I could pick out the best partner.”
At that, Ice laughed. “And apparently it was reciprocal.”
“Absolutely.” The conversation was light and gentle for the rest of the time, as Terk scarfed down the cinnamon bun, even as he kept one eye on Celia.
As soon as his plate was empty, he pushed it back and said, “We need to talk, Ice. What are the plans?”
“Yep,” Ice agreed, “that’s number one,” as she looked at the tablet in her hand. “Terk, update us. What are we facing?”
With that, Terk quickly went over the news from the last scenario.
“Should we expect the rest of your team to come?” she asked. “Or just half of them?”
“I tried hard to keep them out of it. So I don’t know. There have been so many attempts on their lives already, I didn’t really want them all in the same place, while another attack is happening.”
“That’s what being a leader is all about,” Levi noted calmly. “We have a lot of people trying to get involved in this too.” He frowned and continued. “I know you don’t like that idea, but we have to do something in order to keep the information flowing.”
“Are you sure you guys don’t want to take off and just let Merk and me handle it?”
“Not happening,” Ice stated, her voice cool. “This is our home. They brought us into this by sending Celia here. And, if I haven’t said it to you before, I’m staying.”
“Thank you very much for letting me come in. And … for staying,” Celia added.
“You’re welcome,” Ice replied gently. “When shit hits the fan, this is the stuff we do. So far, since your arrival, we have had no attacks on our compound … yet.” Ice stared at Terk.
“No, but there will be.”
“When?” she asked almost immediately.
“Forty-two hours at best.”
That answer was so precise, her eyebrows went up. She wrote it down, then checked the wall clock immediately. “Now that’s a very specific figure.”