The Watcher Chronicles: Oblivion Part 19

"What exactly do you need of me?" Rafe asks. "I have a lot of people who require my help here."

"You can stay here at your clinic, but we will need you to help us find the next vessel. Plus, I think you could benefit from meeting with all of us. The connection we share with one another magnifies exponentially the more of us there are in a room."

"More?" Rafe asked amazed. "When can I meet with the others?"

I smile at Rafe's anxiousness.

I go speak with Isaiah and Mason and we agree we shouldn't waste anytime. We decide to immediately bring the five of us together and attempt to find the sixth member of our group. Rafe agrees to leave the clinic for an hour while another doctor there looks after his patients while he is gone.

We decide to take everyone to Mason's villa since neither Leah nor Rafe have been there yet. It will be the place they go to when it's time for them to fully connect with their archangels. I figure it's a good idea they spend some time there before hand.

Mason phases to go get Leah and JoJo. Isaiah takes Rafe and me to Mason's villa then he leaves to pick up Chandler. In no time at all we're all together in Mason's living room. The feeling in the room is electric and almost overwhelming. We don't immediately try to find the sixth vessel but instead just sit around and talk with one another.

I learn that Rafe has been with Doctors Without Borders for five years. Oddly enough, Chandler, JoJo and I all have it as one of the charities we give to each year. Leah opens up a bit more to all of us. She tells us stories about how she and Remy used to move from sector to sector in the alternate Earth reality. The hards.h.i.+ps she faced were many: never knowing if they would have a safe place to sleep at night; not having food some nights and having to go hungry; running from Watcher agents who tried to capture her and make her play in the vicious game of Bait.

It makes me feel like my life has been a fairytale compared to hers. I have no more pity left in me for the things I've gone through, especially now that I have Mason in my life. There isn't a moment I would change now. If I did, I might not have ever met Mason and that is not a possibility I even want to think about. No, my life went the way it was supposed to and now I have almost everything I could ever want. There was only one thing missing. One emotional tie that needed to be resolved: finding my mother.

I wasn't sure I wanted to find her when my father first told me about her willingness to abandon me the night the Tear first opened. But now I realize I need to know her side of the story. If there is one thing I have learned in my life, it's that there are always two sides to every story. I don't know her reasons for making the choice to leave me, but in my gut I feel as though it wasn't an easy decision for her to make. I can still remember the woman who home schooled me, bathed me, took me out for ice cream every Friday afternoon and read me bedtime stories. That woman deserved to be heard out and I was determined to finally learn the truth.

We spend almost two hours with each other before we even realize it. I finally tell everyone we should gather around and try to connect with our sixth member. I know Rafe needs to get back to his clinic, even though he seems to be content in just staying with us. It is different now that there are five us. The bond feels stronger for some reason, like the more of us that are together the closer our bond with one another grows. What G.o.d told Chandler and JoJo is right: we are permanently connected. When we finally do stop Lucifer from doing whatever it is he is planning, I feel confident we will always want to spend time together. We are life long friends now and I know that friends.h.i.+p will carry over even into Heaven.

Before we start, Mason comes up to me and gives me a kiss.

"Good luck," he tells me. "Let me know if you need anything."

I needed a lot of things from Mason. None of which I could possibly get in front of present company.

I shake off the effect of his kiss and try to concentrate on what needs to be done.

We stand in a circle together around the coffee table in Mason's living room and hold hands. Again, the vision is almost instantaneous. Yet, it doesn't make a lot of sense. We don't actually see anything, only blackness. I hear the sound of machines running in the background. One sounds like a heart monitor but the other one is foreign to my ears. There is someone crying softly in the background of it all. As quickly as the vision comes, it goes.

We all open our eyes.

"Ok, what was that?" Chandler asks, voicing the question I feel sure we're all thinking.

"There was a heart monitor right?" I ask Rafe, thinking he would know better than anyone the sounds we heard.

"Yes," he answers. "There was also an oxygen machine running."

"Why couldn't we see a face?" Leah asks.

I shake my head. "I'm not sure. But odds are they're in a hospital somewhere. Let's try again and see if we can pick up anything else that might be helpful."

We connect with the sixth vessel again but nothing is different. The only clues we have are the heart monitor, oxygen machine and crying. Not a lot to go on.

I tell Mason what we've 'seen'. He in turn calls Nick and sets him to work on trying to figure something out.

"My friends," Rafe says to us, "I must leave now and return to my patients. I've been gone longer than I told my fellow doctors I would be."

"We should try to connect with the sixth vessel again soon," I tell everyone. "Maybe something will happen and we'll hear or see something else to add in with the clues we already have. Either way, let's try again at my house tomorrow."

"Have you figured out what I'm supposed to do about school?" Leah asks me.

I turn to Mason. "I really don't want to put her in public school if we don't have to just yet. Maybe after everything is over, but her schedule might be too erratic for it now. Should we hire a tutor?"

"No, I think I have a better idea," Mason says. "I think we can teach her what she needs to know in house. I'll teach her about history, Allen can handle the sciences, Nick is a wizard at math, Angela can teach her English and literature and Joshua can teach her about computers. I would rather not hire out a regular tutor. They might ask too many questions."

"Do you mean Josh is here too?" Leah asks excitedly.

"Joshua here," I tell her. "He'll be similar to the Josh you used to know but not exact."

"Do you think I could go see him?" Leah asks.

I turn to Mason. "Why don't you take her to headquarters and introduce her to everyone? Isaiah can take me home."

Mason steps up to Leah and holds out his arm to her. "Shall we?"

Leah looks shyly up at Mason and loops her arm through his.

Mason looks over at me and winks. "See you at home?"

I nod, feeling that flutter in my stomach again.

Once Mason phases away, I turn to my friends.

"Ok, here's the deal. I need your help tomorrow night."

After I explain what's going on, everyone is eager to help out. I arrange their pickups with Isaiah who is more than willing to lend a phasing hand.

Once Isaiah phases the others home, I ask him to phase me to a store in New York City. After making my purchase, I have him phase me home. Mason isn't there yet so I go over to George's house to see if he's finished making the little project I asked him for. True to his word he has it completed. I let him know his services will be needed tomorrow night too and he tells me he'll be there with bells on.

I then walk over to Mama Lynn's to face the last two people I need to tell my plan to. I know Mama Lynn will be happy but I have no idea how Faison will react. I hope she will be happy for me but I have no way of knowing until I tell her.

When I walk into Mama Lynn's house, Faison is sitting on the couch in the living room flipping through the channels on the TV.

I sit down next to her.

"Any thing good on?" I ask her.

Faison turns the TV off. "No, not really. Where is Leah?"

"She's with Mason. We're going to have the people I work with be her tutors. We thought it might be a good idea if she met them. Plus, she wanted to meet our version of Josh."

"Ahh, she told me about him," Faison says with a smile. "Apparently she had a bit of a crush on Josh in her reality."

"Well, I hope that doesn't transfer over to here. Our Joshua is pretty smitten with someone else."

I sit there trying to think of how to tell Faison what I need to without hurting her feelings.

"What's wrong?" Faison asks. "I can always tell when you're procrastinating about telling me something."

"Ok, well, there's no good way for me to tell you this so I'm just going to blurt it out."

I tell Faison what I plan to do. At first she doesn't react. Then a slow, almost happy smile appears on her face.

"I'm happy for you," she tells me. "How can I help?"

Mama Lynn walks into the living room and I tell her my plans and show them both what I bought in New York and what I had George make for me.

"Do you have any paint?" I ask Mama Lynn.

Mama Lynn used to be crafting addict. She would have George make her all types of thing made out of wood and paint them up to decorate the house with. She brings out her five gallon box of paints and lets me pick out what I want. I choose a red acrylic, thin paint brush and set to work on finis.h.i.+ng Mason's surprise.

I get a text on my phone just as I'm finis.h.i.+ng the inscription.

Leah is spending some time with our Joshua. Isaiah will take her back to Lynn's when she is ready. I'm home. Where are you?

I'm at Mama Lynn's house. Be home in a minute.

Do you want me to come over there?

NO.

No need to shout...

Sorry, no. Please stay at home. I will be right there.

Good. I'm dying for some matches.

And you call me insatiable?

I will never get tired of getting matches with you. NEVER Who's shouting now?

I was making a point...

I'm almost through with what I'm doing. I promise I won't be long.

I want to kiss your lips...and not just the ones on your beautiful face...

Incorrigible...coming home now...

I'll be waiting...naked...in your bed...

"Isaiah will be bringing Leah home after she gets through talking with Joshua. I've gotta go now though. Mason is waiting for me," I tell Faison and Mama Lynn. "I'm going to leave this here to dry."

"I have some little white boxes I could put the separate pieces in," Mama Lynn says.

"That sounds great," I reply, quickly making my way to the door. "Call you guys tomorrow!"

I run back to my house.

"I'm home!" I say, quickly locking the front door behind me as I start to undo the b.u.t.tons of my blouse and walk to the bedroom.

"I'm waiting!" Mason calls back.

When I step into the bedroom, Mason is just as promised, in my bed completely and gloriously naked.

I can only think of two words as I hurriedly take the rest of my clothes off to join him: all mine.

The next morning I make sure to have Mason out of the house before Malcolm and his crew of Watchers is expected to arrive.

"What's the rush?" He asks me, stretching in bed, looking completely irresistible.

"I don't want you to see your surprise. Now get dressed and go!" I order.

"You know your bossiness just turns me on," he says smiling, rubbing his hand up and down one of my thighs, making my body ache for him.

I quickly get out of bed.

"No seducing me this morning," I say resolutely. "I have things to do before tonight. Now go!"

Mason lies on his side with his head propped on a bent arm. His eyes rake my body with undisguised l.u.s.t.

"If you want me to go, you really shouldn't stand there looking so delectable. Now I've truly lost the will to leave."

I s.n.a.t.c.h the comforter off the bed and wrap myself in it.

"There. Is that better?"

"Not really," he sighs. "Now all I can think about is unwrapping you from that thing."

"Mason, please. I love you more than life itself but please go. I'm begging you."

Mason groans in frustration and rolls out of bed to grab his clothes.

"I won't have you begging me for anything," he tells me as he puts his clothes on. "What time do you want me back here?"

"I'll text you. Do you have something to keep you busy today?"

"Yes. We're supposed to move everything into our new headquarters."

"Where is it?"

"Still in Denver," Mason says, standing to zip and b.u.t.ton his pants. "Joshua would kill me if I moved us. Then he wouldn't be close enough to Caylin when Brand and Lilly stay there with the kids. Plus, he's big into snow boarding and skiing."

"I'm surprised he finds time to do anything like that."

"He's young. He doesn't need a lot of sleep."