Date: ??/??/2001
From: SouthernSlider

Kryoptus groaned.  Maggie had removed Quinn’s shoe to survey the damage when she heard the sound behind her.  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Remmy tense, then move toward the prone figure.

“Remmy, no!”  she yelled as she turned.  “You’ve made your point.  No more.” She saw him clench and unclench his fists in pent-up rage.

“Not near enough,”  he mumbled.

Maggie helped Kryoptus to a sitting position as Quinn crawled over to join them. She kept one eye on Remmy the whole time.  She knew he wanted to finish the job, but something deep, down inside of her warned her it wouldn’t be right.  Kryoptus glared at Remmy out of his one decent eye.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her, you know,”  he said between grunts and groans.  He brought his hand up to his rib cage as he spoke.

“Yeah.  Just like you didn’t hurt Kyra?”

Kryoptus closed his eye and hung his head.  “A lot has changed since then.”

“Tell it to someone who cares, you Kromagg bastard.”

Remmy rose from his kneeling position, certain he would be sick if he didn’t distance himself from the half-breed.  His fingers ached to be around the guy’s neck, choking the life out of him.  He took several steps away to regain his composure.  Wade. He had to go find Wade.

“Watch him, Maggie.  I’ll be right back.”  He took off down the path Wade had used to disappear.

After several minutes of combing each side of the path, he saw Colin and Tony headed his way.  His heart skipped a beat when he saw no sign of Wade.  He ran toward them in a panic.

“It is all right, Remmy.  She is with Kelly.”  Colin saw the look on his face, and knew he had jumped to the wrong conclusion.  “They need some time alone.  We should go back to the others.  They will join us in a few minutes.”

“Are you sure, Farm-boy?  Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes, Remmy, I am sure.  You are going to have to be patient.  It is not going to be easy for Wade to rejoin us.”

“Yeah, right.”  Remmy agreed with Colin, but he didn’t really believe him.  She had been fine with him.  She was like the Wade he had know before.  “She’s going to be fine now that we have her out of the clutches of that . . .”

“Remmy, he was not the problem.  He saved Wade’s life.  He was able to get her away from the Kromaggs and bring her here.  Without him, we would not have Wade in our lives again.”  Colin hoped he could get the man to see to reason, but he knew it wasn’t going to be easy.  Remmy had been altered by the Kromaggs.  He knew better than anyone what Wade had been through.

“Are you telling me I have to be grateful to that bastard?  No way, Farm-boy. I don’t think I can do that.”

“Just try to keep an open mind.  Please wait until you hear what Wade has to say about everything before you make up your mind.”  Colin clasped his shoulder, encouraging him to head back to Quinn and Maggie.  Quinn would want to know what was going on.

***

Kelly walked with her arm around her baby sister in silence until they came to a park bench.  They settled down there, Kelly speaking the first words.

“Wade.  I have missed you so.  I had almost given up hope of ever finding you, and now look, we’re together again.”

Wade smiled weakly.  It was amazing how sisters could think so much alike.  She took Kelly’s hand in hers, and began to talk.  She knew there was a lot she wasn’t ready to reveal, but she did have a lot to say, much to her surprise.  Maybe this reunion wasn’t going to be the hell she had painted in her mind.

She talked and talked until both of them were giggling at how she babbled on. When the conversation resumed, they turned to more serious topics.  They cried and held each other in their arms, ignoring the stares of passers-by.  Then, Wade turned things over to Kelly.  She wanted to know every detail of her and Colin’s encounter.  She begged her to leave nothing out.

Kelly obliged, telling Wade everything she possibly could -- except their most intimate moments.  They were hers and Colin’s alone.  She could never describe them anyway; they were well beyond words.

Wade saw the love sparkling in her sister’s eyes, and envied her.  She had wanted that for her and Quinn.  But too much had gotten in the way.  First Maggie, and then her capture.  Now, they probably could never get on the same page.  Too much water under the bridge.  Too many things she couldn’t talk to him about.

The tears of regret threatened to surface.  She willed them to die down.  There was not going to be any sadness shown right now.  Kelly was to happy, and she was happy for her.

“Wade?”

Kelly waved her hand in front of Wade’s face.  The girl had taken on a vacant stare, and Kelly knew she wasn’t anywhere around in thought.

“Sorry, Kelly.  I was . . . I was just thinking about . . .”

“About Quinn.”  Kelly finished the sentence for her, although that wasn’t what Wade was going to say, even though it was true.  “I know, honey.  And I think we should go see him now.”  She saw Wade flinch, saw the uncertainty in her eyes.  “Yes, you can do it, Wade.  You met Remmy, you met me, and you’re still here to tell about it. You can meet Quinn.”

Wade smiled at her sister, and her motherly words of encouragement.   She allowed the embrace Kelly gave, and vowed right then to make the effort.

They rose and headed back toward the others, arm in arm.  Kelly beamed as they walked.  She thought about all she and Conie had been through, searching world after world.  She thought about her parents, wondering where their only two daughters were. Then there were the lost members of her band.  They lost their lives because of the gig she had gotten them.  She looked down at Wade.  She had her sister back. Everything else faded into the background.

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