"Oh yes, ma'am. Always make enough to share with everyone - rule number one."

Okasa rolled her eyes at being called ma'am again; Patrick just laughed roundly. Brianna grabbed the thermos from the place it always was... always had been... and passed it to Mama to fill. Okasa did so without comment, then closed the lid and handed it back to Brianna with a small nod. Brianna smiled her thanks and left the kitchen without a word. The rest watched her go, and it wasn't until they heard the back door close solidly behind her that Saphira spoke.

"Is everything okay?"

"I hope so." Okasa replied slowly. "I truly hope so."

************

Brianna walked through the backyard by rote, glad Patrick and Okasa were such stable, reliable individuals. Not much had changed back here in years other than the bushes getting fuller and the trees growing taller. The gardens - even when the flowers changed with the seasons - were still laid out in the same place and fashion as they had always been. So she moved into the darkness with utter confidence in her steps even though she couldn't actually see much beyond her feet. The bare sliver of the moon offered very little light to her path.

Brianna slowed her approach as she reached the largest tree on the property - one that was guesstimated to be more than one hundred years old. It was in this tree that Patrick had built a tree house for his children. At first it had been Hunter's fortress, then as his brothers grew old enough to climb, it became a place for all of them to hide and play and get away from their parents for just a little while.

When Charisma was born, she was forbidden to join them for the longest time... being a girl and all - until Patrick put a stop to that nonsense by informing his male children that either their sister was allowed to play with them or their tree fort would become a tree castle that only Princesses were allowed to utilize.

So they begrudgingly invited Charisma to join them, and for years they shared the playhouse and it served any number of purposes - an army fort; a pirate ship; an airplane; a hideout and yes... even a castle once or twice.

But as the boys grew into adulthood, they visited the tree house less and less, until only Charisma was left. And she continued to use it throughout high school and into college when she needed somewhere to go to think.

She had introduced Brianna to this place on their first college break - when she'd brought Brianna to meet the family. Brianna still remembered that trip with great affection, and she recalled how glad she was that there was a place she could go to get away from everyone when she felt overwhelmed - which in those days had been much more often than not. Finding a family like Charisma's - especially after her own solitary and broken household - was a lot to handle.

Now, as Brianna neared the place she knew instinctively where Charisma had escaped to, she stopped and took a deep breath, trying to center herself for whatever was yet to come.

Before she could try to tuck the thermos into her inside coat pocket, Charisma's tired voice sounded loud in the still darkness. "Brianna, why are you here?"

Brianna gasped at the pain both words and inflection cut through her. Still, she smiled up gamely in the direction she knew Charisma to be and held up the thermos. "I come bearing gifts, Fair Queen," she answered, much in the same manner as she had all those years ago. She felt Charisma's gasp as sharply as she heard it.

"Please don't call me that," Charisma whispered softly. "Just leave me alone."

Brianna's brow furrowed. What on earth had happened between the time Charisma had shown such concern for Brianna's wellbeing and now? Surely Charisma didn't think Brianna had coerced Adam from the house earlier. Brianna came to a decision and straightened, gripping the thermos handle firmly between her teeth before she started climbing the ladder.

Charisma pushed open one of the shutters and stuck her head out, growling when she saw Brianna making her way upwards. "What part of 'leave me alone' wasn't clear to you, Brianna? I've used up all my tolerance for today. So GO AWAY."

Brianna just glared in Charisma's direction, unable to speak until she reached the top. When she did, she set the thermos to one side of the carpeted floor until she could pull herself up the rest of the way and pulled the ladder up behind her. "I'm sure glad Paddy keeps this place in shape," she muttered to herself before turning to face Charisma with a glare in her eyes.

"First of all, Charisma Tagherty, if you'd really wanted to be alone, you'd have pulled the ladder up behind you so I couldn't follow you. And you KNEW that I would - don't even bother to try and deny it. And secondly, I think I have a right to know what I did to set you off, because I can't think of anything I've done to warrant that sort of reception from you... for any reason."

"Brianna," Charisma's voice so low, Brianna could scarcely hear her sitting mere feet away. "It's not you. It's not Kay. It's not Adam. It's not any one thing. It's everything, and I'm trying really hard to get a handle on things. I don't need you here for that."

Brianna tilted her head and reached for the thermos, opening it and letting the scent of hot chocolate waft through the small, enclosed room. She poured a serving into the cup and passed it to Charisma, who accepted it haltingly. Brianna smiled wryly.

"I'm not trying to kill you, Charisma. Es made it... from scratch. It got Mama's approval."

This got Charisma's attention and she raised her eyes to meet Brianna's. Then she took a small sip, closing her eyes when the taste hit her tongue. "Oh wow - we are so keeping her." She opened her eyes again. "Have you tasted?" offering Brianna the cup when she shook her head no. Brianna accepted the cup and blew briefly before sucking in a small swallow.

"Oh man... that is awesome!" She refilled the cup and passed it back to Charisma. "Now talk to me, Charisma," huffing a little when Charisma dropped her eyes to the cup in her hand. Brianna lifted Charisma's chin with her fingertips and waited for blue eyes to tack to hers. "Charisma, we're supposed to be on a path of friendship - learning one another again. How can we do that if you won't talk to me? That was always the most important part of our friendship to me."

Charisma's anger was clear in the fire that it in her eyes. "Really? Then why won't you tell me why you left me? Why won't you tell me why my family... why KAY...." said with a sneer, "has been part of your life for twenty years that we will never have together?? Why were they so much more important than I was??"

"Charisma, no one has ever been as important as you in my life... even when we were apart. I thought of you every single day and prayed for you every single night."

"Even when you were with Kay?"

"Can I ask you a question?" Brianna's sudden interruption disrupting Charisma's line of thought and she nodded almost automatically before she considered it. "If you take my relationship with Kay out of the equation, what did you think of her? And be honest - I know you talked to Michelle about working for you one summer. Try to be that fair to her mother in your response."

Charisma sighed. "I suppose she's a decent sort - the boys seem to love her and so does Mama. That says a lot about her, I guess."

"Charisma...."

"What do you want me to say, Brianna? She's nice enough, but I hate her for the time she got to have with you that I didn't. We were best friends!! It's like having to make nice with my replacement."

"Charisma, Kay never, ever replaced you - not in my life and not in your family." Brianna paused thoughtfully, reaching for the cup of hot chocolate, and wincing when the lukewarm beverage hit her mouth. She purposely took a large swallow then added some that was still hot to it, frowning when Charisma reclaimed it. "How did you find out about us anyway? No one who knows would have shared that information with you unless you had asked directly. And I know you didn't. So spill."

Charisma took a deep breath. They were so focused on their conversation, neither woman heard Kent arrive at the base of the tree.


Chapter LXIII

"So let me get this straight," Brianna said without even a blip of a smile crossing her face. "You overheard Esmeralda and I talking this morning? *That's* what started all this?"

"Pretty much, yes." Charisma sighed. "I got up last night to get a drink of water and I heard noise in the hall. When I looked out the door, I saw you headed downstairs, so I thought I'd join you - have a late-night snack and gab session like we used to, you know?" waiting for Brianna to nod. "But when I got to the kitchen, you and Es were already talking, so I decided to wait for a good time to break in."

"Only you didn't."

Charisma shook her head. "I couldn't. I didn't know what to say to you. So I went back upstairs and crawled in bed." She snorted softly. "I never did actually go back to sleep."

"I did," Brianna confessed. "As soon as Mama threatened me with warm milk, I was out like a light." Charisma chuckled and Brianna smiled briefly before her expression fell. "So what part of our conversation kept you awake, Charisma? Surely my orientation wasn't a surprise to you? It's not like I've ever attempted to keep it a secret."

"Not exactly, though having it confirmed so blatantly was something of a shock. It was a lot of things - finding out that you had a gay ex-lover that was so important to you she was considered part of the family; learning you preferred the casualness of a fuck buddy to a settled, stable relationship; understanding that you didn't really feel at home with my family despite the fact that they've never treated you as less than family to them."

Brianna bit her lip. Given what Charisma had overheard, it was easy to see where she could have drawn such conclusions, but it didn't keep the misconceptions from hurting. "You're wrong, you know. Oh… not about all of it," she added when Charisma opened her mouth to debate. "Kay is an ex-lover that I cared enough about to introduce to your family. I'll be forever grateful to the Tagherty clan for welcoming her and her family with the same open arms they showed me so many years ago."

"But...."

"I'm not done yet." Brianna said a bit impatiently. "What I meant about the family is that it was odd... different for me to be here... in this house again - especially sharing the same roof with you when everything is so different between us. That doesn't make it bad - it just makes it unusual. Never assume that I don't love your family or that they don't hold a very special place in my heart and life like they always have. This just isn't what has been normal for any of us for a very long time and I was trying to explain to Es the difference it made... being here now with you like this."

Brianna took a deep breath and tried to tone down her anger and Charisma waited, recognizing the expression though she hadn't seen it in a number of years. "As for the other," Brianna said slowly, trying not to speak through clenched teeth, "I resent your assumption. Did you ever think that perhaps I hadn't found the person I was meant to be with? Or that I had fallen in love with someone who wasn't available to me? I'm not a home wrecker, Charisma. I would love to be part of a settled, stable relationship, and I'm pissed that you would believe otherwise."

"Now wait just a minute... before you get all sanctimonious with me - exactly how the hell was I supposed to know that??" holding up a hand when Brianna's lips parted. "No," Charisma said emphatically, point her finger at Brianna. "My turn now. It's not like you were particularly forthcoming, were you? All I know of you is what I knew in college, and you certainly didn't want to be tied down then. I didn't even know you were interested in women - I mean you dated your share of men when we double dated. The only other things I've learned I overheard you telling someone else."

"So you just assumed," Brianna accused flatly.

"What else am I supposed to do if you don't talk to me?!? You said talking together was the most important part of our friendship to you," waiting for Brianna to nod her agreement. "It is for me as well, but it's only going to work if we both do it."

"You're right."

"Naturally," Charisma snarked with a grin and the tension flowed out of the tree house. "So we talk from now on??"

"Yes - no assumptions means no misunderstandings."