Emma motioned to the guards she had hired. For men of their experience, it would be no problem to get past the Hellfire Club's guards and carry out their orders. Like everything else, she had the best men for the job.

It took them five minutes to cut a bloody path though the club and locate Shaw. It took them two minutes to drag him to Emma's limo. It took less than ten to rearrange Shaw's thought patterns to do what Emma wanted done. It took less than a second to toss him out of the speeding car.

And for the rest of his miserable life, Sebastian Shaw wouldn't blink without thinking that he was a female at the mercy of the man looming over him. In him. Hurting him.

Looking down at Tessa's disembodied head, Emma smiled. Revenge was a dish best served cold. And she was the queen of ice.

***

Celeste walked out of the Daily Bugle and turned to the gentleman who had been so helpful in getting her in to see her Godfather. "Thanks again, Peter."

Peter Parker smiled as he maneuvered his daughter's stroller. "I'm glad things worked out for the two of you." Celeste pointed to her shoulder, letting the man know that his daughter had drooled down his back. "Joys of fatherhood," he laughed.

They parted ways and Celeste sighed. That part of her mission had gone extremely well. She had gotten a promise from her crusty Godfather to run every one of the exposes starting tomorrow. That meant that Shaw would lose everything very soon. She felt no compassion towards him.

As for mending fences, she gave Uncle Jonah her address and telephone number, and he gave her his. Time had done a lot to change the both of them and time could only tell if they would learn to accept each other. For Ariel's sake, she would try.

She climbed into the waiting limo, only to discover that she wasn't alone. Tony, whom Emma had called in for security help, had been waiting for her. As the limo pulled out, he explained, "Emma's making her move and I wanted to make sure you were protected."

Celeste smiled as she wished that she didn't look quite as frumpy as she did. Dang it, by all rights, she should be at least peeved at the man who had burst into her apartment and ruined her illusions of happiness with Matt. But one look from him and her toes began to curl. "I'm glad you decided to look out for me."

Tony made a dismissive gesture. "Least I could do. How are you holding up?" He looked at the woman who had won his respect, if not his heart, and earned his promise to protect her.

Celeste sat back and sighed. She was beyond tired and that exhaustion made her honest. "I let a dear friend know I was stabbing him in the back today. But that's not what you are asking, is it?"

Tony knew that she thought he was asking if the day brought back any memories of her rape. What she didn't know was that he knew about her volunteer work, and had ordered some local gang members to protect her as she went to and from the hospital. "Getting to be too much like Emma." And while it wasn't a bad thing for people like Paige and Emma, it was for her. "Learn your own path," he urged her. "I can help you." He waited for her answer.

But Celeste had found a place she felt safe at, and had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He sighed and gently wrapped his jacket around her. "Girl, when you are ready, I'll help you find your own way."

Kindred spirits had to look out for each other.

***

"Why am I doing this?" Bobby asked as he drove his car to the address Emma's assistant had given him. "I'm not that hard up for a date. And Emma's given me no encouragement."

He shook his head and remembered the way he felt whenever he saw her. The way she could push him to become better than he was. The way he knew, even with his back to the door, when she entered the same room as him. The beautiful smile she had.

His mind and his mouth started to debate. "So I have a crush on the Queen of Ice." Queen of my heart. "I can live with it." But, I want to live with her. "I can live without her." No, I can't. "I don't love her." But, I could.

All debate stopped as he saw her car parked outside of the side entrance to a psychiatric hospital for teenagers. Emma sat on the hood of her car, her knees tucked up to her elbows. Her sweater and pants gave little protection against the freezing temperature.

Bobby walked over and covered her with his jacket. "It still goes on," Emma muttered. "It didn't end after the old place burned down. They built a new place and the rapes still go on."

He nodded, instinctively knowing that Emma needed to say what she was saying. "But I'm not the same woman. I can do something about it." She turned to Bobby. "Celeste sent you here, didn't she?"

"Yes, but I remember this place. It was in my nightmares for months after you left my body." Bobby said those words very softly. He would wake up in a cold sweat, not knowing who he was, where he was. The only thing he knew was he was terrified of the guards who could enter his room.

"And now I have to help Cordelia heal." Emma sighed, and let Bobby put his arm around her. Gently, she opened the blocks she had put around his memories of the night that she had told him about the clinic.

Bobby felt the new memories course though his body and then turned to Emma. For the first time, he knew why he saw her as a hurt person. "Anything I can do to help you or Cordelia- let me know."

"Just hold me," Emma told him. And he did so as she called the state medical society and reported the sexual abuse the girls were suffering. Together, they took the first step towards closing the clinic.

***

Paige was sitting at her vanity, brushing her hair when she saw Sam standing in the doorway. Not now, I can't pretend now. If Sam were to say one word to her about Cordelia or Uncle Teddy, she would break down and cry.

It was something in the way that Paige held the brush that tipped Sam off to the fact something was wrong. She usually brushed her hair firmly, with quick and certain strokes. Like everything she did, brushing her hair was a means to an end, and Paige didn't spend a long time on details.

So when he saw her taking her time, brushing half-heartedly, he knew that something was troubling her. The events of the day were enough to upset her, especially since they could bring back upsetting memories. Memories of a drunk Uncle Teddy looking at the two of them came rushing forward. He could remember the way that his dog Daffy would snarl whenever that man would come near him. And at night, when it was too cold to sleep with Daffy, when she wasn't around. . . he didn't want to think about that.

Suddenly, Paige saw the distant look in her brother's eyes and knew what he was thinking. There was something to her memories. And, for some reason, she felt like crying.

Sam held his sister as the tears started. "We can get though this together," he promised. "We'll find out the truth."