Rahne hadn't looked up during the tirade, choosing instead to concentrate on her educational psychology notes. "I'm about to call that nice guy we met today and ask him for help..." she said out loud as read her notes. "Dr. Samson is losing me... and I think he said he was minoring in Psyc."

On the other side of her, their third roommate looked up. "Really? Who did you meet?" Terry Cassidy looked at her stepsister with amazement.

Rahne blushed as she realized how forward that must have sounded. "Just a guy..." she trailed off. "Nobody special."

Terry closed her landscaping book and debated how to handle this. Sisters pried into each other's love lives all the time. They were sisters, had been for the past couple of months, ever since her father had married Rahne's mother. But Rahne was a private person. She might not appreciate her digging.

It seemed like Terry was in a constant state of redefining herself. Within a year, she had gone from being a topless dancer to a recovering alcoholic to being a student and gainfully employed. She was studying landscaping at the local tech school as a work-study student. Within a week of her leaving the rehab center, Sean had opened his door to Sharon, who had literally nowhere to go after her eighteenth birthday, when the state stopped paying her foster family to keep her. Two months later, Terry got another sister and a new mother.

Terry's debate ended when Sharon shook her head. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

Rahne turned to her and asked "Why?" with a look that had sadness and confusion mingled together.

Sharon shrugged. "He's always so ... busy. I don't think he'd know what to do with..." Her voice trailed off as she tried to put into words what she was thinking. "Someone as wonderful as you," she finished.

Rahne flashed a silent thank you to her friend, and not for the first time, Terry wondered what Sharon knew about her stepsister that she didn't. The two spent a lot of time together, and acted more like sisters than she and Rahne did.

"I don't know what to do about tomorrow," Terry decided to change the subject. "Dad wants me to go to Mass with him, and I've got this test to study for, and I've got my AA meeting, and Stevie Hunter called me up and asked me if I wanted to teach a couple of dance classes at her school."

"I didn't know you danced," Rahne said. Sharon's eyes glittered with silent laughter as she remembered Terry's former profession.

"Before all the drugs and alcohol," regret washed over her as Terry mourned for her wasted talent, "I did. Stevie taught me then, and it seems that Kitty Pryde wants to cut back on her classes so I got asked." The words rambled together. "So what do you think?"

Rahne shrugged. "Go for it."

A loud knock disrupted their conversation. Terry looked at the back door to their 'apartment' and smiled. She was expecting her AA mentor to stop by. "I'll get it," she offered.

She opened the door and looked at the two men standing before her. One was tall, blond, and handsome in an earnest way. The other was even taller, Native American, and drop dead sexy. "Hello," she whispered. If these were the pizza delivery guys, she'd go on a pepperoni diet.

"Is Rahne here?" the blond man asked as he held out a jacket.

Rahne floated on air as she rushed to the door. "Ma jacket! How did ye know tae find me here?"

Jimmy cleared his throat and told the tale. "Well, there were several hairs on the collar which we brought to Dr. Essex, who isolated your genetic signature and DNA pattern. From there, we had Doug hack into the files of local physicians to find a match in the blood samples they had. After that, it was a piece of cake to get your address and track you here."

"Yuir not serious." Rahne blinked, taken aback by the tall tale.

"Of course not." Jimmy said with a grin, then pulled a card out of Rahne's coat pocket. "See this? It's called a driver's license. It makes detective work sooo much easier." He glanced flirtingly at Terry as he said it.

Sharon groaned and gathered her books. She knew what was coming and didn't want to sit around and watch the two women giggle and make fools out of themselves. However, she made a mental note to set two more places. Maybe the problem was that she had seen too much for her own good, Sharon reflected as she climbed the stairs out of the basement.

**

Reverend Craig looked around the airport terminal with a stern frown. These sinners were flaunting themselves everywhere. The women wore their skirts too short, the men had lust in their eyes, and the children were disobedient. Clutching the suitcase, the frown lessened a bit. Soon, the members of this community would pay the price for their sinful ways. Soon, they would be standing face to face with the Judge of the Universe.

He spotted the Lord's other true servant and quietly made his way over. "Stryker," he greeted him.

The preacher turned around and nodded. "It's great to have you in this Sodom and Gomorrah," he said in way of a greeting. "What has the world come to when a woman can steal someone's child, raise her as her own, break her vows to God and her true husband by giving herself to another, and nobody says a word?"

Craig nodded. "I've prayed for poor Rahne's soul for so long. Vengeance shall be mine, sayeth the Lord." A hoarse crackle followed that remark, and he held tighter to the suitcase he was carrying.

Stryker handed him Moira's address. "When are you going to grab her?"

He folded the piece of paper into quarters and slipped it into his front pocket. "First, I'm going to... scare the devil out of her." The two men exchanged glances and quickly made their way out of the airport.