The Merrick family had a motto, "what is left when honor is lost". Most people would believe that motto would end with a question mark. To those unfortunate souls who met the late Hugo Merrick, they know that this motto ended with a period. A more heartless, proud man could not have existed.

He schooled his son Dimitri in the fine arts of deceit, arrogance, and cold heartedness. He allowed one son, the son by a maid, to be beaten daily, while he pampered the other. His legacy of burning anger was given freely to both his boys.

Dimitri had learned to cope with the flame because of the kindness shown to him by his mother and the housekeeper, Peggy. For years, people knew him as a compassionate, generous man. But he always felt the need to prove that he wasn't his father's son, and he did this by excelling where his father had failed. He wanted membership in the Hellfire Club and, when granted, he wanted more.

Sebastian Shaw liked what he saw in him, the potential to be his father's son. And so he had Tessa remove the boundaries of right and wrong from Dimitri's mind. The cold flame blazed up, nearly to the point that Sebastian was afraid of what Dimitri could become. But before he could have Tessa temper the man, they were killed.

And Dimitri lost all honor and became the most pitied man in town. For when honor is lost, only a cold, empty shell remains.

***

After waiting a long moment, the men assumed that the attack was over and proceeded to climb the stairs into the loft where Dimitri, Gloria, and Maddie lived. Pete quickly immobilized Dimitri, while Sam checked on Gloria. Her face was red and puffy, her lip split, and her hair pulled out in several places.

"I tripped over one of Maddie's toys," she whispered as Sam discovered a series of welts on her legs. "I fell last week and hurt myself," she explained the bruises on her arms.

Tactfully, Sam said nothing. Internally, he was fuming. Gloria looked a little like Li'l Bit and his sisters, and he knew that only luck and high self-esteem kept them out of the same situation. How could a woman, an intelligent woman like Gloria, get so trapped that she felt she had no way to escape?

Cable quickly looked over the infant and was relieved to note that she was okay. He motioned that he was taking the two to the hospital for an examination. It would be quite easy to prove that Dimitri Merrick wasn't Maddie's father. He was AB positive and it was believed that she was O negative. Once proven, Maddie would be given back to Edmund, her true father, before the sun rose.

"What do we do with him?" Tony asked the group.

***

Never one to hide from a fight, Emma walked into the suite, head held high. Kitty made a point of ignoring her, which nearly infuriated the older woman. Sensing a possible conflict, Rahne and Celeste walked out of the bedroom and sat pointedly between the two, Rahne in a chair, and Celeste on the floor.

Nonchalantly, Rahne turned on the television. Celeste nodded her approval for Emma to come into her mind as she stretched out on the floor. *Next Thursday, sharpen your claws,* she warned.

Emma nodded. Thursday was the day that Celeste had a morning support group to lead, so it was the best day for a private confrontation. Cordelia was leaving on Tuesday for her finishing school. "You a big Conan fan?" she asked Rahne out loud.

Rahne shook her head, "Just waiting for Beauty and the Beast to come on Disney." She looked at Kitty, who was wisely leaving the room, and reflected that between her friend's looks and Pete's table manners, this could be their movie.

***

What the men decided to do was take Dimitri Merrick, telepathically sedated, back to Emma's suite and talk about their options. They could have Nate or Emma fix the damage done, but it wouldn't be justice.

"Turning him loose with the explanation he didn't know what he was doing is like saying that it's okay for kids to shoot each other up in gangs," Tony pointed out as he drove back. "They really don't know any better than the gang life." He and Sam were in the front seat, Dimitri and Pete were in the back.

Sam tried to verbalize his feelings about Dimitri. "Joseph... Magneto..." In his mind, he could never reconcile the two people. One was a complex man, one who would give anything to stop mutants from being killed. The other was a hapless man-child who had to be protected. The difference was the fact Joseph couldn't remember what he had done.

Pete knew what Tony was trying to say. "You can lose your conscience bit by bit." He had done that for a long time.

"How?" Sam asked. He was so centered inside, he couldn't imagine it ever happening.

"Tell yourself you could do worse," Tony tried to explain what had happened to him. "Nothing can change your situation, lose hope." He paused, reflecting that he sounded a lot like Emma before she faced her pain. He had felt that way for so long, but nothing had really taken away his sense of right and wrong.

Pete nodded and just accepted that Sam couldn't really understand what they were talking about. The man had been too loved and wanted as a child, and had been taught the difference between right and wrong. The psychopaths, those that truly didn't know right from wrong, he had met had an inner craving towards darkness. It was an instinctive need to satisfy themselves irregardless of the cost to others. Love was the opposite of what they were.

"How didja get it back?" Sam asked the two.. Both men were silent and thought about their answers. Pete had Kitty. Tony had come to realize what he did hurt others because Celeste had shown him that. "Will Merrick want his conscience back?"

"He's going to get it back," the Dragon vowed.

***

"You know Sam's not going to like this," Paige warned as she got the couch ready for Angelo. Her brother would not like the fact that he stayed overnight, without adult supervision for several hours.

"Trust me," Ange told her with a small grin. "After the nutcracker incident, I wouldn't touch you if you were the last woman on earth." Paige tried not to laugh, but she finally understood what Li'l Bit had meant when she called Sam the saltpeter of her love life. By the time they were sixteen, no guy would dare ask her out to anything more than a well supervised Sunday School picnic. She and her bubba were going to have words soon.

Angelo looked over at his friend as she tucked the sheets into the cushions for him. She was very different than Torres, that was for sure. But they shared the same drive and ambition and the ability to really look good in tight sweaters, two of the most important qualities to him. Yep, Sam would kill him if he knew what he felt for Paige and the last thing he needed was to have her older brother mad at him.

"Look, Paige," Ange quickly came to a decision. He'd sleep in the car before setting up a bad situation, one that would make Sam angry at him. "I'm just going to go back to the Inn and come back with Sam and Rahne."

Paige nodded, thinking of how protective her brother was of her. "Okay." She didn't like it but it was for the best.

***

Tony reached back and got Celeste's purse and dress from earlier. Taking pains to fold the silk so it wouldn't wrinkle, he picked it up. She was very careful about her clothes.

Sam noted the action and frowned. He had been raised to watch out for women and, to the best of his knowledge, something had happened between Tony and Celeste. It was unfortunate he liked the man.

Pete just watched the two and smiled. Whatever Tony and Celeste shared, it wasn't enough to get as worked up as Sam was getting. The southerner felt the need to make nearly everybody a member of his extended family. And someone like Celeste, a wounded dove, Sam would feel like he had to protect.

"So what did happen in Charleston?" Sam hissed to the man. He wanted answers. Goodness knew that Celeste hadn't been thinking with her brain lately, staying with a man that treated her badly.

Tony shook his head, knowing that Emma didn't want any of the X-Men to know about her underground. "I told you, ask Celeste." Celeste would give an reason with a fraction of truth in it and appease the man. Dimitri followed Pete's directions into the elevator and they went into to the suite.

"Ah want ta know yer story," Sam demanded. Celeste had gone into the bathroom and hadn't heard them come in. Rahne smiled at the group.

The older woman came out and looked at the two men and sat down in the middle of the room and sighed. Then, she began laughing. Deep, satisfying peals of laughter as Sam and Tony started facing off. Rahne looked at her friend, wondering if she had lost it. The two men stopped their macho gesturing as Tony cautiously approached her. "Baby, are you okay?"

Sam exchanged a troubled glance with his girlfriend. Baby? Pete bit back his grin as Emma muttered something about those two loving foreplay. Celeste looked up at Tony and tried to explain between laughs. "Tony, this is getting ridiculous. Can we go in the bedroom for half an hour so people will accuse you of something you actually did?"

Unable to hold back his laughter, Tony rubbed her shoulders as he promised her, "Baby, it'll take longer than that." He glanced at Sam, "First times are meant to be savored." Then, he helped Celeste to a chair and fished her medication out of her purse. "Think that'll help the pain?"

That brief second was all it took for her and Emma to have a conversation. Sam was invading her personal life with his not-so-veiled accusation. It was wrong and in a normal situation, Celeste would hang him by his innards from the nearest tree. However, this was not the time nor the place to explain what was really going on. Catching Rahne glare at her boyfriend, they agreed to let it passs for the moment. Still, Emma told her assistant, "Don't explain anything."

Celeste took her pills dry and nodded. "All that went on in that day was Tony and I had some physical attraction that we tried to explore. When I hit my limit, he stopped. Period. End of story. And we make good friends and a great team." She and Sam were going to have to have a long talk.

Sam nodded, finally satisfied with her answer. "And ya taught her how ta break muh nose?" Tony nodded. "Nice blow."

Emma handed her assistant a cup of water as Pete made his way over to the group of women. "Break a nose, gain a friend for life." Rahne agreed. Who knew what would happen if Pete actually broke Sam's leg?

Celeste smiled at the two men. It was time that Tony made friends outside of the Network and outside of her. Sam could handle people having dark sides. "What happened in Charleston, by the way, was that we were trying to help Nina." Her eyes grew dark as she added, "But we didn't find her." Everybody in the room knew Nina's story.

In the awkward moment that passed, Emma left to call the hospital and Pete decided to go get Kitty.

***

Pete knocked on the door to his and Kitty's suite. "We're back," he told her as he walked into the room. Kitty sat on the edge of their bed and just glared at him. She had a terrible temper and she was extremely upset. "Kit?"

Kitty just looked at him. "I saw you walk up with Dimitri, guess that means something is up." Pete nodded. "We'll talk about Emma later then."

This cold anger worried Pete but, at the same time, reassured him. They were going to have a row tonight but Kitty was trying not to get as mad as she could get.

***

Rahne stepped over Dimitri Merrick and walked to the love seat where Sam was sitting. "After we left the loft, we stopped at the dump to get rid of all the video tapes," Sam explained. Tony started to toss the pictures he'd gathered on the fire, watching them go up in smoke.

"So, it's over," Celeste said thoughtfully. "No more tapes coming back to haunt me?" She was glad to hear that.

Tony nodded. "I've gotten rid of them all. Least I could do." He couldn't bring himself to say he was sorry that her most painful moment had been made into profit. Celeste looked like she was going to say something else but, at that moment, Angelo walked in.

Catching the warning glance Celeste shot him, Sam got up and positioned himself between the two former gang members. Rahne carefully pulled Angelo aside while Tony handed Celeste his gun. She smiled as he did so.

"I'll leave," Ange offered as Sam pulled Tony into the nearest seat, and stood behind him with his hands carefully positioned above the Cherokee's back, in order to restrain him as quickly as possible, if need be. Tony accepted Sam's behavior solely because Sam was the leader and to do less would undermind him. Rahne copied Sam's stance with Angelo.

After pocketing the bullets from the gun and breaking it down into pieces, Celeste looked up. "I'm glad you decided to respect Sam's rules, Ange, and came back here instead of sleeping on the couch." Sam nodded at that. "And offering to leave shows a level of maturity I'm sure Tony can match." Tony reluctantly agreed to that.

Rahne smiled at the Emma-ish air about her friend. "And my offer still stands to help you work out a cease fire later tonight or in the morning," Celeste continued coolly. "You are welcome to wait here or to go to Pete and Kitty's room and wait."

"What are you waiting for?" Ange asked as he did a head count. "Emma not back yet?" She was on the phone.

"Bobby's mother should be fine," Emma informed the room as Pete and Kitty entered. Sam was surprised to hear that something was the matter so Rahne signaled that she would fill him in later. "And what's he doing here?"

Quickly, the men filled the group in on the situation.

***

"In short," Emma explained as she motioned to the prone body of Dimitri Merrick, "Thank Tessa for this mess." She had done an in-depth scan of him.

"Now what?" Sam asked as he turned away from the fireplace. The pictures they had taken from Jim's lab made a beautiful fire. "Is he guilty or innocent or what?"

"Ain't no bobby goin' to throw him into quod," Pete muttered. "Not unless we can get Gloria to press charges for wife battering-- abuse. Anti-mutant crimes ain't worth the court's time here."

Emma nodded. All they had against Dimitri was possible property damage, and he could hire a lawyer good enough to get him off. "Do you think Gloria would report him?"

Celeste lay down on the couch. "Not going to happen in the near future." The group turned to her as she gathered her thoughts. "Abuse is ... sneaky." She sighed, trying to find the words to express what she wanted to say. "If Tony and Emma didn't stand by me daily, Matt would have won a long time ago. If I didn't know that I could count on them one-hundred-thousand percent, he still might. It takes away so much, and all that is really left is a hollow shell. Gloria has no one to help her, no one to stand by her. Not until she tells someone, and he's taken that ability away from her." Six weeks, she promised herself. Six weeks and then I'll kick Matt out of my life.

"Is there anything in your investigation, Pete, that shows anything illegal that Merrick might have done?" Emma turned to him as she asked the question.

"I don't know if he knows Maddie's not his," Pete admitted. Emma scanned the prone man's brain and shook her head. "Only thing we've got the goods on is the blackmail and that was done because his father failed at running his own label."

"Then we got us another Joseph..." Sam muttered. "Is he guilty for the stuff that he wouldn't have done if Tessa hadn't changed him?"

Tony snorted at that. "You never escape your past." Celeste shot him a dark look. "You can't," he insisted. It was one thing to have Celeste as a friend, but he could never love her. What Torres had done would always lie between them, a barrier to stop him from loving or trusting another woman. People were the product of their pasts.

"People are forgiving," Celeste insisted. She knew what the Network was about, but she still cherished him and his friendship.

"Forgiveness is hard to earn," Emma objected as she looked at Kitty and Pete. "Some things you can never make up for." That was directed solely towards Kitty.

"And others," Angelo added, coming into the conversation for the first time, "take such a long time to forgive, you might as well give up." He sent Tony a glance, referring to something in their mutual past. "And sometimes, sorry isn't enough. Even when you mean it." The last part was whispered.

Pete agreed. "Even if you change, you still have to live with what you've done." He had taken people's lives before.

Rahne finally spoke up, thinking about the man she killed so long ago. "An' knowin' what ye've done is the hardest part." Sam grabbed her hand and held it.

"What's justice here?" He asked. "Do we undo the damage and let Dimitri live with what all he's done- usin' hatred to advance greed, or do we let him go on and get caught?" They could arrange for him to be caught quite easily.

"What's mercy?" Celeste challenged as she looked Tony straight in the eyes. "Is it merciful to make him stay with what he's become or do we change him back and give him the chance to make amends?"

"Celeste, you know?" Tony asked. The others in the room turned to him.

"It doesn't take a genius to know that the Network deals in porn and date rape drugs." Celeste struggled to sit up despite the pain, "And I knew Tanner and Peter were involved with something bad when I was in Texas." She grabbed a pillow and squeezed it. "I guess I've always known that the Network profited from selling those tapes."

"Then how can you be friends with Tony?" Pete asked. Forgiveness was a foreign concept to him at times and he wished he could buy the kind she was giving freely.

"Because he wasn't there. He's what amends he can by buying the tape back. I can understand why Tony never said he was sorry, but I also know he is." She finally stopped sweating. "It's called separating the person from the event. If I can do it, I think people in this town might be able to." It hadn't been as easy as she made it sound, she had prayed for weeks before being able to forgive Tony.

Rahne nodded. "They might at that. A vote mercy, findin' a way tae change him back and lettin' him regain the trust of the town."

"Mercy." Sam agreed. It would have been what his father would do.

Kitty thought about her answer. She was young, hot-blooded and held grudges. This man had done so much. "Justice. It was his dark side."

"Mercy," Celeste said as she squeezed Tony's hand. She looked at the four left and waited.

"Justice," Angelo said. "I just don't think that he can walk away from what he did, even if he wasn't responsible." He and Tony exchanged another look. "Some things you can't take back, no matter what."

Pete was prone to agree with Kitty but for one thing, Celeste could forgive Tony. He had seen enough to know that a second chance was hard to find. "Justice," he decided.

It was down to two people, both who had done everything to get ahead. "I'll fix him, if that's what the majority want," Emma started. "But he's done so much, he'll live with it for as long as people can remember. It might be better if for him if he does time. Justice."

Four for mercy, three for justice. Tony looked deeply into the trusting eyes of his best friend, and tried to think. He was indirectly responsible for so much pain, yet she could forgive. Where did she get the strength? But more than that, if she was merciful, then he had to be too. "Mercy."

***

The group came up with a plan to carefully return Dimitri Merrick to Pine Valley and gave him an excuse for his soon-to-be return to normal. Moira, who had just stepped off the plane and been drafted into the mess, walked out of the bedroom and smiled. "It was a success," she told the group.

Pete handed her a cup of coffee, seasoned with hot sauce and salt and pepper, and watched her drink it. As she sputtered out a reply, the group laughed. Some things never changed.

"So," Celeste asked as she got ready to leave to give her statement. "After Rahne's adoption hearing this morning, what's next?" Tony helped her on with her coat. He would give Emma a ride to the airport while waiting for Celeste, who couldn't drive after taking her pain medication.

Rahne smiled at her mum. "Mommy's gone tae look over my work later today and Sam's goin' tae take us out tae eat tonight." It would be another three weeks before she could leave Pine Valley.

Sam nodded. "Tad's tapin' a special Cutting Edge about Legacy, and Moira's gonna talk about her research and stuff." He'd leave town with Rahne.

Kitty was already on her way out the door, dragging a reluctant Pete behind her. "I've got another couple of weeks left on my contract. Pete was talking about going up to Port Charles to catch up with his friends." Pete nodded silently as they walked out of the suite.

Sam got up and nodded to Angelo. "Ready to go to bed?" Angelo and Tony exchanged a long look. It would be a bad time to even think about trying to mend fences. The teenager stood by the door as Sam helped Rahne find her shoes and get ready to go. Moira would be staying in the now-empty suite for a nap.

It was funny, in an ironic way. The group had come in to solve a case, but now had a hard time leaving the community. They had built lives for themselves in the small town and didn't want to give that up too soon. They discovered they kind of liked living the life they had been fighting for.