Midnight Solstice

Chapter 30

Picture: Pauley Sutherdale
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   Today was the day that I have been dreading most of all...the day we set off to go back home. In my head, I knew it was time to go back, but my heart told me that I should just stay here with Katerina forever; or at least until we felt like leaving. I was able to push most of my thoughts about the Morgynstein case away whenever I was with Katerina (She gave me one heavenly distraction after another) but there were times when she would mention something about back home and I would feel so guilty about it that I would nearly explode. I hate lying to her, but it was for her own good right now. And besides, it wasn't my place to tell her. It was Lorne's, although I wouldn't blame him if he didn't tell her at first. I just hope he doesn't wait too long, or my guilt may let it slip.

   Telling Lorne that he is Katerina's biological father is going to be one hell of a conversation, I will tell you that. I don't know what his reaction will be, but anyway I think about it, his reaction won't be good. And what's Katerina going to do when she finds out? That's the thought that really scares me, since if her emotions get out of control her elements could wreak havoc on anything around her. I've had that what if conversation with Pauley before, and he just told me that the only way that would happen is if something upsets her so much that her mind can't function properly. Even though that may be rare, this kind of thing could set her off.

   According to what Felix texted me, Aro has agreed to let me decide what to do about this new information, and to keep him updated about any new information we may figure out about Michael, or this new motive. However, that may not be possible, considering the fact that a lot of our information comes from the flash drive. We lucked out this time, since everything related to the motive, Aro already knew, and or could figure out while still keeping Rebel H.Q. a secret.  

  "ALEC!" Katerina's voice yelled from the bedroom, breaking my train of guilty thoughts. I got off of the couch and walked down the hall. The bedroom looked relatively neat compared to what I thought it might look like. When I left the room this morning, Katerina had laid all of her stuff out so she could do laundry and repack everything. There were only a couple of her things left out on her bed.

    "Yes pet?" I questioned as I approached the bathroom door. She sat in the bath tub, with thick bubbles all the way up to the top of her neck.

   "Can you check to see if the dryer stopped please?" I chuckled.

   "It stopped about an hour ago." Her eyes went wide.

   "When do we have to leave?"

   "In a couple hours." She groaned.

    "Can we just pretend I got sick and stay here for another week?"

   "Unfortunately no. If the situation were different, I might try to extend the length of our trip, but we've got work to do." A lot of work...

   "Will you go take the clothes out of the dryer for me then? I can fold them after I come out."

   "Are you going to be able to get out? You've got a lot of bubbles there..."

   "It's better than when you tried to make me a bubble bath yesterday, and you put too much soap in, so the whole bathroom was nearly buried in bubbles."

   "It's not my fault! I didn't know that the jets would make too many bubbles!" I defended before trying to stifle my laughter, which failed. I tried to clean up the mess before she knew about it, but I didn't shut off the jets in the bathtub, so the bubbles kept increasing until they were almost up to my hip. Her face when she walked in the room was priceless.