Addison tore out of the communication room, startling even the unflappable Cece in the process. It urged some of the nearby males to step in our direction at the distressed sound she made, only the fact that she was heading for Vailen likely stopped them.

"I need you to look into someone for me," She was nearly breathless, the tickle of her fear clogged in my throat, making it hard to swallow just like the mixture of simmering anger licked heat along my fingers, urging me to flex them.

"What's happened?"

"It wasn't a news anchor. I don't know exactly what she was, but she was associated with the government," a chorus of grumbles in the room interrupted Addy's explanation, "She didn't want to talk to me about the missing girl or anything." Addy paused and glanced toward Cece, who was standing nearby having recovered from the earlier bout of emotion, her feelings and passions yet again smothered beyond even what I could sense, "she wanted Cece."

Addy and Cece's gazes locked quickly, zeroing in on each other.

"Did you tell anyone that you were coming here?"

"No. I have no one to tell," Cece's response was matter of fact.

"Surely you must have someone. Family? Friends? Contacts? Anyone that would have known what was going on and could have leaked your whereabouts?"

"No. No one. None of those things," Her response was clipped. It made my heart ache in sympathy even if she didn't echo it in the muted silence around her.

Addy stared at her for another moment, assessing something I wasn't quite privy to, though I felt the tugging curiosity and questioning filtering through her consciousness in our bond. She turned to Vailen when she finally responded, "Then it had to be someone at the Houston Genetics Lab. You said you had someone down there, would they know of anyone who might have known who Cece was? And would have released it to the press?"

Vailen nodded, his face a mask of serene focus, but the feel of his anger was the sharp sting of a bite on the inside edge of my tongue. I half-believed he'd bitten himself in an attempt to control the strength of the feeling that washed over me. "I'll check in with him."

"While you do that, can you look into a Melanie Stoddart? That was the name the woman that I just spoke to gave to me, I want to know who she is and who she's working for."

"What did she offer you in exchange for me?" The question was mild.

"My freedom." Disgust. It was a gagging taste in the back of my mouth. "I refused. There's no freedom there for me."

Vailen had turned to a nearby team member, oblivious to the conversation, though I was sure he'd rewatch over Addy's conversation with the mysterious woman later --meticulously.

She was quiet for a moment before she continued, "I'm considered an enemy of the state now, I think. At least that's what she insinuated. She told me I'd never be allowed to set foot on Earth again if I ended the call."

Reasonably I knew her response. The fact that she was standing here with us in the hive of the Comm bay, told me that the call had ended already. But I wanted to hear it. Needed it like some ravenous creature that was rabid. My voice betrayed none of my roiling thoughts, though and I was grateful for it. The bond between us? It, I was less pleased with as it tightened frantically pulling Addy closer and closer to me until she stood so close that the tips of her boots brushed against the insole of my own. "Your response?" My breath teased the baby fairs around her temples.

"I'm never going back. I'm yours until we go to meet those gods of yours and they weave us back into that glowing tapestry where we'll find each other again."

Her declaration would have leveled me if she didn't flood our bond with confidence and surety. Only just enough to lock my knees. Just enough to block out the silence of the room as the Comme team watched on in silence, the too-full feeling of hope expanding in my chest wasn't just my own creation. I pressed my forehead to my little mate's "I love you so much."

"And you can tell me every day for the rest of our lives."

"I will."

She pecked the tip of my nose, a gesture I soaked up enough that I could have preened right there in front of the crowd of males that ogled us. But, she pulled back again. All business. Later, I told myself. We'd have later, and tomorrow, and the future, and forever. All of those far away times had brightened so much more than I could have ever believed possible.

"There is no record of a Melanie Stoddart in relation to your government, at least in the branches that we interacted with."

"Can you pull up a still of the woman that just spoke to me?"

Her face filled the screen. She was older than my mate, though her coloring was similar. She had darker hair and lighter eyes than Addison. She gave off no warmth, her face was free of those faint lines at the corners of her eyes that age had given to my mother --the kind reminder of a life of laughter. Instead, she gave me the distinct impression of a mask, tight and carefully controlled in a way that even Vailen was not.

"Do you recognize her?"

"I do not," Vailen's response was clipped, "And she said she was affiliated with your government?"

"She never outright said 'government' but she said she was part of a 'branch' which is a common word used in reference to our government. It's an assumption."

"Sir?" A make called from another viewscreen at the edge of the room, earning Vailen's attention.

"Yes?"

"You should see this. You both should see this." His eyes flicked towards Addy as well, including her in the intricacies of the Comm Bay.

The screen swiveled until it faced us. On it, there was a live broadcast from a Terran News station. In large bold lettering across the top of the screen declared "State of Emergency Enacted. Senate to Push Through Legislation On Treasonous Foreign Contact."

"Son of a bitch," Addy hissed.

"--so any civilians believed to be fraternizing with foreign entities could be held accountable for their actions, as any contact with extra-terrestrials has now been deemed an act of treason against the state until further notice. The Senate is currently discussing the option of creating local support shelters for women that had previously entered the lottery under duress--"

"They were sitting on this, waiting for my answer. God fucking dammit."

"--anyone suspected of aiding and abetting anyone is liable as well to an investigation. As we receive more news regarding local legislation we will continue to update you--"

"You gave them the only logical answer, Addison," Vailen soothed.

"They're going to spin this so that they're the saints and we're the sinners."

The bond was swimming with frustration, it tasted like salt water and burned in the back of my eyes. "We'll just continue to show them that we're not. Like we have been. Like you have been."

"How? They haven't aired anything at all of the broadcasts they have of me. No matter how I wax poetic about you, it doesn't matter if they don't showcase it."

"Then broadcast it yourself," Cece chimed in, "I could post it on my webpage, but you're more than capable of commandeering air time on their media frequencies as well. Choose your battles, show them that you're happy."

I've been trying. That was what Addy's face said.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked. From the little I knew of her, she had a good idea of the information that was poignant and the information that would move someone or garner attention. While she didn't outwardly give off those emotions, she was at least cognizant of them.

She glanced at us in a sweeping arc, one that I would say didn't really perceive us, but instead the entirety of the room while her mind was working like those machines she liked so dearly. "A wedding?"

*****A/N*****

I think this will end up going up earlier than my usual Sunday upload, but we shall see. I'll be mostly busy tomorrow with another birthday party for a very close friend so I wanted to get this up so I could be present with her and not worrying about being late. We'll be having a tea party for her and I'm really excited. She knows something is happening, but not the whole of what it exactly is, but I know she'll love it.

In other news, I follow an account on Instagram (deadpoetswilde) and they recently posted something that talked about the casual intimacy of sharing unfinished works of art and it really resonated with me, not that I think this story is a work of art by any stretch, but it is an act of stripping down to the baser parts of someone's soul, isn't it? The post ended with the idea that in sharing these parts of ourselves we are gifting each other with our "unpolished heart" and I haven't stopped thinking about that since I first read it.

It's true, I think. You've gotten pieces of me that others haven't. The small thoughts and the vulnerabilities that bleed through in the things that I've written unconsciously. You've seen parts of me my family has no idea about. It's an interesting thing that we share here on this little story, isn't it?

I wholeheartedly give mine to you, polished or not,

~Layla.