Brianna's smile could be heard through her voice. "That sounds great, Ri," slipping back into their comfortable familiarity with the thought of spending the night at the forefront of her mind. It would be the most intimate situation they had been in since they'd traveled Europe after college. She felt the nervous fluttering in her stomach, but remembered Esmeralda's words of encouragement - if she wanted this... wanted Charisma's presence in her life... then she was going to step up and be a part of making it happen.

"Good... good," Charisma agreed hastily, battling her own nervousness. After all, it had been forever since she'd allow someone - allowed Brianna - close and she'd been devastated when Brianna had simply walked away. Charisma was taking a risk letting Brianna in again, but she felt good in her decision. "Come over Saturday and pack a bag for the weekend. I'm sure we can find something to do."

Brianna covered her eyes to keep the images caused by Charisma's words from running rampant through her mind. Only partially successful, she chuckled to clear her throat of its sudden huskiness. "I'm sure if we can't manage, Adam will keep us more than a little busy."

"If he was going to be there maybe," Charisma said with a laugh. "Mama is going to keep him. I think she just wants to give Ame a chance to rest a little."

"He running you crazy up there?"

"Well let's just say that if I could bottle and sell his energy, this country's dependency on foreign oil would disappear."

"Wow - you should probably look into that. I mean, it would probably go a long way towards your bid for the Presidency."

"Right?" Charisma agreed with another chuckle as she glanced at her watch. "So we're on for Saturday?"

"Yes. Just let me know when...."

"Whenever you can get there will be fine. I'll be back in town by Wednesday afternoon, so...."

"All right. I'll bring the donuts."

"I'll make sure the milk is cold," Charisma assured, knowing her part in the breakfast scenario. She looked at her watch again and sighed. "I've got to go. Turq is waiting to take me over to the state capital - meeting with the Governor this morning."

"Tell Michael I said hello and that I'm still waiting for him and Jenny to visit."

"Will do. Talk to you later."

"Bye, Ri."

"Bye, Brianna Brianna."

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

"Hey, Old Man," Doug greeted Kent hours later when he was done at the theatre for the evening. Together they walked over to Kent's table and took a seat. "How's it going? How was your holiday? We haven't seen you here much in the last couple weeks," his tone both lightly chiding and curiously concerned.

Kent smiled, more at peace than he had been in a long time. "It's going really well, actually. The show is standing room only and getting good reviews. The holiday was...." He paused. "It was good," he added after a moment. He didn't mention how enlightening it was - there were some things a man just didn't share with anyone else... even his best friend - and overhearing Brianna's conversation with Hunter had settled a number of things in his mind. "Met some new people."

"Anyone interesting?"

"No one famous, if that's what you're asking... aside from that new Senator - Brianna Walker. Charisma invited a lesbian couple from DC," watching Doug's eyebrow arch in interest. "Nice women - they seem to have had a rough time of things though. It was funny watching Saphira give Hunter the run around though. She's a waitress - he was convinced she was some sort of cop."

"How did he miss that so badly?" knowing from previous conversations with Kent that Hunter was a good detective.

"I dunno... maybe because she's got better observational skills than he does. At dinner he challenged her to name everyone's occupation. She didn't miss many and those that she did miss, she wasn't off by much. It was funny to watch Hunter's eyes pop out of his head."

"I would have loved to have seen that," Doug said honestly.

"I'm pretty sure one of the boys got it recorded. I know I saw a couple cameras come out," leaning back as the server set a full plate in front of him. Kent nodded his thanks and put his napkin on his lap before picking up his fork. "I'll see if I can get a copy for you to see," he added as he put his first bite into his mouth. "Man, that's good. Ron in the kitchen?"

"Yeah."

Kent nodded. "I can tell. That is *really* good."

Doug chuckled. "I know. I had the same earlier." He paused then pressed on. "So where ya been?"

"Honestly? I've been going home most nights. I had a couple workshops that were early morning deals, and they made for some very long days."

"So everything's okay then?"

"Everything's fine. Just had to take care of some things that cut my time here short. Sorry I didn't mention it beforehand - they came up kinda unexpectedly."

"Not a problem, Kent. Carolyn and I were just a little worried when we didn't see you. Speaking of... we were wondering if maybe you could come by this weekend."

Kent chewed thoughtfully as he considered. "I could probably come by for a while on Saturday morning. I've got some things to take care of on Sunday," having already decided to slip down to the DC house and pick up a few of his things that he wanted to have with him in Manhattan.

Doug nodded. "Saturday morning would be fine." He motioned to Kent's empty plate. "You want some more?"

"Oh God no - I think I'll explode if I eat another bite. It was excellent though. I'm gonna go thank Ron, then I'm gonna go get some sleep."

"Me too," Doug agreed as he rose and patted Kent on the back before heading towards his office. Kent stretched and stood as well, making his way to the kitchen before heading out the door. He saluted the maоtre d', knowing she would lock the doors behind him as soon as they closed.

He walked down the sidewalks, still busy even at the darkest part of the morning. He wondered if he was doing the right thing, and realized he hadn't really done much of anything yet. At least things were in place now, though, if it came down to it. And that gave him a measure of peace.

Kent nodded to the doorman who greeted him by name as he held the portal open and he passed through the lobby area of the apartment building, entering the elevator and pushing the button for his floor without pausing. It was time to get some sleep. Everything else would have to wait until tomorrow.

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

"He really filed for separation?" Saphira asked when she and Esmeralda were climbing into bed that evening.

"No - he didn't file for separation. He's just had the papers drawn; he can't file them until he signs them. And once he does that, they'll be served to Charisma."

Saphira nodded slowly. "I wonder what made him decide to have them drawn up."

"I think the weekend at the Tagherty's was enlightening - he had to have seen Charisma's jealousy of Kay; it was obvious to everyone though Kay is the only one that actually called her on it. And I know he overheard what Brianna said to Hunter. I saw him. Other than that...." Esmeralda shrugged. "I don't know, but honestly, that was enough."

"So what now?"

"Now we go to sleep. Things are in motion on every front - there's not a lot we can do except wait and watch and pray."

"Goodnight, Es. Love you."

"Love you, Phira."


Chapter LXVI

Esmeralda looked around the table late Saturday morning and realized the only angels missing were Mal, who was still in Manhattan with Kent; Turq who was currently driving Charisma and Brianna all over the city; and Jade. She looked at Opal and Indi. "I'm gonna just jump right in here and guess that Brianna and Charisma are already together this morning and that Jade is watching them both?"

Opal nodded. "Brianna actually got to Charisma's before Coral and Amber left. We let them know about this morning's meeting and Jade volunteered to keep an eye on both of them so we could all be here. Said she'd call if they split up, but the last word we had was that they were going shopping. That's why Turq is missing as well. Charisma refused to take the Metro if they were shopping."

"Well, with a little luck, this won't take long. I wanted to get each of your impressions on them. However, I would like your uncensored, unbiased opinions. So if you don't want to be unduly influenced by one another, I will speak with each of you privately. Otherwise, we'll do this as a group." Esmeralda waited a full sixty heartbeats, taking time to meet each pair of eyes in the room. Saphira was the last and when she nodded, Esmeralda nodded back.

"Very well. All I ask is that you don't interrupt one another. You can comment once each of you is done, but allow one another to finish before you break in, all right?"

Heads nodded their agreement around the table and Esmeralda took a deep breath, then looked at Coral. "Tell me how Brianna has been." She figured to start with her night crew for two reasons. One was they were much more familiar with their charges as they had not needed to change watch duties because of the holidays. The other, and more obvious, one was that they needed to get upstairs to sleep sooner rather than later. Coral sucked in a lungful of air and proceeded to speak.

"She's been... well, she'd been much like she's always been, I think. I mean, not much in her routine has changed. She's been talking to her friends back home a little more, but I think that is due in part to her recent visit, and also because she had to cancel their dinner together. She was really looking forward to that. Otherwise, it's been like it has since she got here mostly. She spends time looking over legislation - I think she's trying to do the best job she can while she's here and that means a lot of her 'free time' is spent trying to catch up and keep up." Esmeralda nodded, but didn't reply and Coral resumed her discourse.

"Most nights when she's done with her work, she'll take a few minutes to look at her album. She doesn't say anything, doesn't study one picture more than the others - she simply goes through each page slowly front to back until she reaches the end. Then she puts it away for the night and grabs her book to read for a few minutes before nodding off," Coral finished with a light shrug of her shoulders.

Esmeralda held her eyes a moment longer, then nodded in satisfaction and turned to Coral's counterpart. "Amber?"

Amber sighed loudly. "I need alcohol," she joked, looking into her coffee cup. "Charisma is driving me to drink."

"How so?"

"This thing with Brianna is making her nuts, and she's trying to share the love with me, I guess. I dunno!" Amber held up her hands, then raked them through her hair and sighed again. "When she was at her mother's house, it was a little different - she had appearances to maintain... even with Okasa. Here though... especially since she's been alone in the house for the last few days.... It's hard to describe, but she's seriously driving me up a tree."

Golden eyes met green, and Esmeralda encouraged Amber, "Let's hear the details."

"She's... restless, for lack of a better way to describe it. She goes out and does her political thing during the day and you'd never know it. But at night when she's home by herself...." Amber shrugged. "She's restless. She walks around a lot. Usually, she sits at her desk in her office and does her work. Even when that album has made an appearance, she's been sitting at the desk just studying a single picture for however long it takes her to be satisfied."

"This week's been different?"

"This week has been very different. Even when she's working on her political stuff, she's been pacing and prowling around the room. If she's reading, she keeps it in her hands while she walks; if she's thinking, she leaves the work on the desk and just paces. When she wants to make notes, she goes back to the desk to do so, then resumes patrolling the room."

"And does she pull the album out?"

Amber chuckled wryly. "Oh yes... but not in the office. The album has been moved to her bedside table, and every night she goes through it, studying each picture intently. She even squints at most of them, as though that will help bring into focus whatever it is that she needs to ask Brianna about."

"How long does this go on?"

"Until she falls asleep. Usually, she'll nod off, then jerk herself awake. Only then does she set the album aside and settle down to sleep properly... at least until she starts dreaming." Esmeralda's brows went into her hairline, and Amber chuckled again. "It wouldn't be so bad if I could understand her, but she talks and mumbles all night, and I'm not getting one word in ten. I'm pretty sure I'm missing the really good stuff," blowing a raspberry in frustration. Everyone laughed and Esmeralda shook her head at Amber's incorrigibleness.