Esmeralda sighed and rubbed her fingers over her forehead before pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "Well, we do still have quite a few loose ends." She turned to Amber and Indi. "I noticed the box of letters wasn't on the coffee table when Saphira and I were there the other day. What did Charisma do with them?"

Indi shrugged. "She didn't touch them when I was with her, but the box was gone two days after she got it from Brianna. So I don't know what happened with them exactly."

"Oh no... I got to watch that bout of craziness," Amber chimed in drolly, causing laughter to ripple around the room. Esmeralda sent up another prayer of thanksgiving for Amber. No matter what they were facing, she always offered a much-appreciated respite from the seriousness that always seemed to surround them, and Esmeralda was grateful. She gave Amber an indebted smile.

"Would you like to share or would you prefer to suffer in silence?"

Saphira snorted. "When was the last time she was silent about anything... suffering or not?" Amber glared at her, then smirked.

"Pot... kettle. It's not like we didn't hear you this morning."

Saphira blushed, but returned the smirk. "Jealous, much?"

"All right, you two!" Esmeralda said, her own skin the color of a Mr. Lincoln rose. "Can we get back to the topic at hand, please?"

"Sorry, Es," Amber muttered. "I want you to know that I was really glad to hear it - aside from the ragging opportunities it gives me," leering at Saphira who promptly stuck out her tongue, "it's just really good to know you're feeling better."

"It's really good to feel better too. However, that still doesn't tell us what happened to those letters."

"Oh, that was something. You know about Okasa's visit," waiting for the nod. "Well, I guess Charisma basically ignored that box the entire day," waiting for Indi to confirm her words. "By the time I got there that night, she was back to glaring at it. She must've scowled at that box for over an hour - personally I was waiting for it to spontaneously combust. Honestly, the plastic should have at least melted she was staring at it so fiercely." Amber shook her head and took a deep breath to continue.

"Finally she crossed over to the table and walked slowly around it several times, still glaring at it. And then she opened it."

When Amber didn't resume her discourse, Esmeralda cleared her throat. "Amber?"

Amber shook her head again. "It was weird, Es. Charisma opened that box and froze. She sat there completely unmoving for the better part of five minutes. A tear slid slowly down her face - a single tear, Es... I'm not even sure she was aware of it. She bit her lip and took a deep breath, and this time when the tears fell, they did so quickly and in mass quantities. Charisma wiped her face savagely; I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen blood follow the action. She was really rough. She slammed the lid back on the box and shoved it off the table, like she was trying to make it go away.

Of course everything flew out of it - she hadn't secured the top and she screamed in reaction. Seriously, Es - Charisma screamed. Not words or invectives or epithets - it was more like a howl of frustration. Then she slammed the box back on the table and began throwing bundles of letters into it. She didn't even look at what she was doing - just threw them in haphazardly as she grabbed them from where they scattered. When she had them all, Charisma slammed the lid back on, only this time, she snatched the whole thing off the table and moved it over to the fireplace where she dropped it with such force I expected to see cracks in the brick.

She flipped on the gas - I guess she wasn't really thinking about the mess that would cause. Honestly, I don't think she would have cared had she considered it. She was really furious - I could feel the anger radiating off her in waves. When she had the flames set high enough, she threw the lid to one side and reached into the box. And then she just... stopped."

"And then?" when the silence started to drag on.

"She looked at them... really looked. She took them out carefully and examined each bundle. Okasa had bundled them together by year, and the oldest stacks were by far the thickest. They decreased considerably after Charisma's marriage, though there were still letters for each of those years as well."

"Did she open them?"

Amber shook her head. "No. She simply reorganized them back into chronological order, then replaced them neatly in the box. When she was done, Charisma took them upstairs and stashed the container in her closet. When she was satisfied with their location, she returned downstairs to shut off the fireplace and lock everything up for the night. She spent most of the rest of my shift that night shifting between glaring at the closet door and staring at the album. Not the pictures... just the album itself."

"So the letters are a definite loose end," Ruby agreed after a few minutes of silence. "What else is still unresolved? Aside from the obvious," she tacked on at the disbelieving glances her words garnered her from the others. "There has to be more."

"There is also the issue of Kent's possession of separation papers. Just the fact that he had them drawn up makes them a consideration for us. Even though he has not served them, and may never serve them...." Esmeralda broke off at the sight of Mal shaking her head. "Mal?"

"I think they are more than a consideration for us at this point, Es. I'm confident that he will be serving those documents to Charisma - if not now, then eventually."

"Even if Brianna is removed from the picture?" Saphira asked before anyone else could speak up.

"Yes." Mal paused and pinched her lip thoughtfully. Then she sighed. "It's hard to explain," holding up a hand to forestall any comments before she could continue. "Kent has changed since I've been assigned to watch over him - grown more serious... more mature, maybe. He's spent a lot of time in New York by himself, and it's brought home some hard truths."

"He shared these with you?" Ruby asked.

"In a manner of speaking," Mal replied. "He was writing a letter to Charisma."

"Wait - you're telling me he plans to break up with his wife by writing a 'Dear Jane' letter??" Opal nearly screeched. "Talk about harsh!"

"I don't think so," Mal replied, running a nervous hand through her hair. "I mean, I don't think he plans to write her a 'Dear Jane' letter. I think he was writing out a letter so he could memorize his lines, so to speak."

"So he doesn't forget anything when the time comes to actually break things off with her?"

"Exactly. He wants her to understand that it's not Brianna that brought this about - that she was just the missing piece in the puzzle." Mal sighed again. "I should have just stolen the letter and brought it with me so you could see it for yourselves," she muttered before raising her voice to a normal level again. "He reminded her that they've always been friends, but rarely been lovers; that they live completely separate lives even on the occasions when they share a house; that though they love one another they are not and never have been in love with each other; and that the only real thing they have in common anymore is Adam."

"What does he say about Brianna?"

Mal shook her head. "He hadn't gotten very far on that part - only that it was her return to Charisma's life that showed him how much they were both missing by pretending. And that they all deserved better than a life of pretense. Kent wrote that pretense was fine for the stage - that was where it belonged, but life was meant to be shared and enjoyed, not simply endured."

"Wow. He could be a writer with that insight."

"So what changed?" Turq asked. "Wait... I get that Brianna returning to make him *admit* this stuff, but the fact is that all the things Mal mentioned have been part of their relationship from the start. He knew going in that Charisma saw him as more friend than lover and that a big part of the reason they were getting married was to give her a child and him an heir, right?" seeing heads nod thoughtfully around her. "Okay, so what made him decide to do something about it now?"

Everyone looked at Mal and she shrugged. "I don't know... honestly. Maybe he's found someone else, but I haven't seen any evidence of that. Since I've been assigned to him, most of his time has been spent at the theatre getting this play off the ground, or going back and forth to spy on Charisma. He hasn't really given any indication of an affair."

"Perhaps his paramour refuses to play second fiddle," Saphira offered, looking at Esmeralda. "It would make sense that anyone wanting to really make a life with him would want Kent to resolve things with Charisma first. Or Kent could even have insisted it be that way," watching Esmeralda nod her agreement. "We know he cares for her - I doubt, especially given the letter that Mal overheard him rehearsing, that Kent wants to destroy Charisma's career with public embarrassment and humiliation."

"They're all good possibilities," Esmeralda agreed, giving Saphira a thankful smile. She turned to Mal. "Try to keep a lookout; I'm gonna send Jade back with you when you go back to the City with Kent. I think things are gonna pick up fairly quickly, and it'll be good for you to have some help there. Maybe between you both you'll be able to discover if he has an angle beyond Charisma's welfare."

Mal nodded. "Thanks, Es."

"Is there anything else that could be considered a loose end?" Amber asked, slumping a little when Esmeralda nodded solemnly.

"Yes, but they are smaller concerns. We have the Taghertys' reaction to Brianna's terminating her contact with them; Kay's response to Charisma; Charisma's and Brianna's return to work...." She trailed off and the rest sat waiting for her to finish. When it became apparent that Esmeralda had ended the thought in her head, Saphira prodded her gently.

"Es? You wanna share with the rest of us?"

"I'm not even sure it's viable," Esmeralda confessed, and Saphira waited knowing that Esmeralda was now processing out loud. Saphira held up a hand to keep the rest from interrupting. "But I was just thinking... what about those tickets?"

"Tickets?" Saphira repeated. "I'm not sure I'm following, Es. What tickets?"

"Six months from now, give or take a week or so, there should be a special delivery made to both Charisma Tagherty and Brianna Walker. Charisma, unwilling to admit that Brianna's departure in Barcelona was really goodbye, told Okasa about their plans to revisit Europe together. Despite her doubts, Okasa made the arrangements - the trip is paid for and the tickets purchased. So unless Okasa has actually canceled things since Brianna's return to Charisma's life...."

"I wonder if that's our deadline," Ruby mused aloud. "It would make sense."

"But we have no real way of knowing," Jas pointed out. "So we just...."

"We just keep doing what we've been doing. This is so far out of our hands anymore it's all we can do."

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

"Kay... Lee... come in, come in," Patrick welcomed several days later as he opened the door to his home. "Everyone else is already here," motioning them towards the large family room that the children gravitated to naturally. The kids raced off to join the rest of the crew that were currently bundling up and preparing to head outside to take advantage of the new snow. Kay looked around carefully, then made sure her brood were well protected against the cold before letting them head outdoors again. She smiled when Harley naturally took Adam's hand with a word of reassurance to Charisma, and thrilled when Michelle automatically took Adam's other hand instead of Harley's.

When the children were outside, Kay turned to Patrick, though her eyes never left Charisma's back as she keep her eyes focused on the children outside the window. Kay lowered her voice. "Paddy, where's Brianna?" Even from the distance, Kay felt Charisma's body stiffen at her low question.

Patrick cleared his throat. "You may want to talk to Mama about that," cutting his eyes in Charisma's direction, but keeping his tone level. Kay drew in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. Then she nodded her understanding and moved around the room saying her hellos, bypassing Charisma as she made her way out the door and towards the kitchen to find Okasa.

Okasa wasn't surprised when Kay crossed the threshold - it was why she'd asked the girls to wait until she called them to come into the kitchen. She took a deep breath and met Kay's eyes sorrowfully.