Topic: A Mortal Blow

Rufus Bennett

Date: 2015-06-24 08:42 EST
Miranda was no stranger to babies, and yet, the little one she had been carrying around, jiggling, singing to, feeding, changing, and rocking for the last hour or so was wearing on her last nerve. It wasn't the little one's fault, though. It was partly Miranda's frayed nerves and partly the fact that her mother had been missing since the night before. It wasn't the first time Lei had disappeared for hours at a time, but the look on Rufus' face when he'd gotten a phone call early that morning had given her a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know what was going on, but being the eternal optimist that she was, she was praying it was nothing serious. Still, she wasn't going to be able to relax until Rufus called or came home with news, and with Lei in tow.

Long absences when it came to Lei were no surprise, true, but it was unusual for Rufus to leave for hours at a time and not call to reassure his wife. Unusual enough to worry her, at the very least. A worry that, at least partially, disappeared when the sound of keys jangled in the lock, and Rufus let himself in, closing the door quietly behind him. He looked exhausted, claw marks ripped through his shirt in a few places, bloodstained but not seriously injured. But it was the pain and guilt in his face that drew the eye, even as he made straight for his wife and the tiny baby she held, enveloping them both in an embrace that he seemed to need more than they did.

As soon as Miranda heard the jingle of keys in the lock, she made a beeline for the door, the fussing baby held tightly in her arms, anxious for her husband's safe return, as well as the young woman he thought of as his daughter. When he finally let himself in and she got a good look at him, her face turned pale and she gasped in horror, but to her credit, the child in her arms remained securely in place. "Oh my God, Rufus! What happened" You're bleeding! Are you hurt' Where's Lei?" she asked, a flurry of questions before he was enveloping them both in an unexpected embrace without saying a word of explanation, very un-Rufus-like. There wasn't much she could do with a baby in her arms, except let him cling to her as much as he wanted. "Sweetheart, what?s wrong?" she asked in a soft voice, terrified to know the answer.

The answer seemed to come from a long way away, as though Rufus had to surface from whatever dark hell he was walking through in order to find it before he told her. "She's gone, Miri," he said simply, stroking his fingers against baby Rowan's cheek as she finally calmed. "I didn't get to her in time."

"What-what are you talking about?" she said, eyes wide as she pulled back from him just far enough that she could look up into his face. All the color had gone out of her face, and her heart was pounding with fear and dread. He couldn't mean what she thought he meant, could he" Gone" Gone where" No, no, no ....Lei couldn't possibly be dead. She had a baby to raise - a little girl who needed her.

"Sit down, angel." With one arm around her, Rufus guided his wife to a seat, lowering himself down beside her. He seemed more tired than anything, but even so, there was a heaviness to his voice that betrayed the very deep struggle inside him. He'd failed. After twelve years, he had finally failed to keep Lei safe.

"No, Rufus ....please ....Just tell me Lei is safe. She's in the hospital or something, right' But she's going to be okay," she pleaded, eyes swimming with tears. She turned to him, clutching his torn and bloodied shirt, her heart sinking, knowing without him coming right out and saying it that Lei was truly gone. "Please, Rufus ..." she whispered again.

He was quiet for a very long time, and for only the second time since she had known him, his eyes slowly grew wet with tears he made no attempt to suppress. "Nothing is ever going to hurt her again," he said finally, unable to bring himself to say the words. They were too final, somehow, for a life that had gone on far longer than it should have; a life that had given birth to the beautiful baby girl in Miranda's arms who would never now know her mother.

It didn't matter that Lei had lived longer than expected, longer than most Slayers expected to live. It didn't matter how many lives she had saved or that one of them was Miranda's own flesh and blood. It didn't matter that no one was ever going to hurt her again. If she was really and truly gone, then who was going to raise her baby' Who was going to love Ro and tell her about her mother" What was going to happen to them all now that Lei was gone" What was going to happen to Rufus" Miranda swallowed hard, realizing suddenly how much this was costing him, how much it was hurting him - not just because he loved Lei like a daughter, but because he would never stop blaming himself for her death. "Oh, God, Rufio ..." she whispered quietly, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry." She drew him close, Lei's baby in one arm and the man who'd been like a father to the girl in her other, trying her best to comfort them both when her own heart felt like it was breaking.

His arms wrapped about them both once again, his face buried in the crook of Miranda's neck as Rufus let himself cry a few of those tears. He'd been too late to save a girl for whom he had been responsible for almost half her life. He would never forgive himself for that lapse, though they had both known the day was coming. "I'd started to think she might escape it," he admitted brokenly. "That somehow she'd be allowed to raise her own daughter and live out her life. I should never have let her go."

They had talked about it often enough in the wee hours of the night when it was dark and still and just the two of them. They had talked about whether Lei would be able to escape the fate she'd been given through no fault or choice of her own. They had hoped and prayed it would be so, but it seemed now it had only been wishful thinking. There was no escaping Lei's fate, no matter how much Miranda and Rufus might have wanted it, and no matter how much Lei's daughter needed her. "Shhh," she told him, fingers stroking his hair, his cheek, trying hard not to linger on the blood or the claw marks or the torn shirt. Had it been vampires in the end or something else? She wasn't sure, nor did it really matter. "It's not your fault. You did everything you could," she told him quietly, trying to console the inconsolable. They were only words, after all. What good were words at a time like this, when his whole world was falling apart' But it wasn't his whole world, really - only a part of it.

Taking a slow, deep breath, he rubbed the wetness from his cheeks, looking down at little Ro, fast asleep in Miranda's arms. "I couldn't leave her there," he confessed quietly. "She'd been ambushed, that much was obvious. Organized by vampires, I think, but acted on by werewolves and ghouls and demons. They really wanted her gone." He cleared his throat painfully, rubbing his neck. "She took most of them down before they got her. If I'd been any later ..." He shook his head, uncertain Miranda really needed to know what it was those things would have done to Lei's body if he had not been there to fight them off. "I took her to the nearest Watch house; they arranged medical attention for me, and she's in their morgue for now. I need to arrange to have her cremated. The creatures here won't leave her unmolested unless there is no body to defile."

It was probably a good thing that he didn't go into more details if the look of horror and grief on Miranda's face was anything to go by. She was trying to be brave and strong for him, but she suddenly found herself trembling, her face deathly pale, holding herself together by a mere thread. "Werewolves," she whispered, terror seizing her heart. As if vampires weren't bad enough. Vampires and werewolves and ghouls and demons. Suddenly, she hated Rhy'Din and all of its weirdness, remembering why he had insisted she and Bethany remain in New York. "Please tell me you didn't ....you aren't ..." Her gaze darted to the claw marks in his shirt. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she lost him, if he turned, but she had a feeling if there was any chance of that, however slim, he wouldn't be here with her and the baby - he wouldn't take that risk.

He shook his head, tightening his arm about her in reassurance. "Werewolves are not stupid enough to fight a man who throws silver caltrops ahead of himself before entering a room," he assured her gently. "There was only one of them there, and he left quickly. It was the demons who fought back. I'm in no danger, love, I promise you. Not anymore."

Rufus Bennett

Date: 2015-06-24 08:43 EST
"Damn straight you're not," she told him, suddenly angry - not so much at him, but at all the crap life had shoved at them. "You are done, do you hear me" Finished. Retired. I don't care what it takes. I will not risk losing you. That's final. No arguments," she said, some fire deep inside her she didn't even know existed burning away the fear and turning it to anger, if only for the moment. She moved to her feet so that she could lay the baby down and tend to her husband's care, drawing on some inner strength inside her to do what needed to be done, just as she had when he'd left her to raise their daughter on her own, all those years ago.

The sudden fire in her made him smile as she moved to settle the baby and tend to him. No matter how tired he was, how much pain he felt for his inevitable failure to protect Lei, he would always have his Miranda. "No arguments," he agreed, raising his head to look over at the sleeping baby. A remembered conversation came to mind. "We need to file those adoption papers."

"Don't even try to ..." she broke off, realizing suddenly that he wasn't arguing with her. She glanced over at him suddenly as she tucked the baby into the portable crib they kept downstairs during visits. The cottage was in danger of turning into a day-care center the way children of various ages from infants to teenagers were constantly visiting. "Wait, what?"

He drew in a slow breath, lifting his eyes to his wife's gaze. "Lei ....she's been preparing for this for months," he admitted to Miranda gently. "There's a wooden box, carved with lotus flowers, in my study. She filled it with birthday cards, letters, little things she wants Ro to have over the years. And she also found guardianship adoption papers, and put our names on them. Her daughter isn't a Shen, Miri. Ro's birth certificate names her as Rowan Mira Laelynn Bennett. We're the only people Lei wanted to take over the care of her daughter."

This was the first Miranda was hearing of this. Oh, she knew she and Rufus would always be part of Rowan's life. That much was a given, but she was expecting to be filling more of a grandparent role, not that of a guardian or a mother. "Rufus Bennett," she started, resting her hands against her hips as she straightened, the baby thankfully sleeping finally. "Are you out of your mind" We're in our fifties! We're supposed to be enjoying our golden years, not raising a baby! Do you know how old we'll be when she graduates high school" Assuming we live that long."

Rufus didn't say anything. He didn't need to say anything. He simply stood, holding his wife's gaze with a definite warning in his eyes. There was no way in hell he was going to give Lei's daughter to anyone else to raise, and if that meant an all-out screaming match with his wife to ensure it, he would do that. He would rather not, of course, but some things were not up for discussion.

Some things were certainly not up for discussion, and if they were going to raise a child together, then he was definitely going to retire. She sighed, huffing out a breath. She knew when he had that look on his face there was no arguing with him, and in all truth, she didn't want to. She couldn't imagine anyone else raising Lei's child but him. He was as close as the child would come to a relative; there really was no arguing the matter. She dropped her arms and crossed the small space between them, looking for a safe place where she could rest her hands against his chest without hurting him. "Will you really retire?" she asked him gently, needing that little reassurance from him before she agreed to this crazy plan.

"I will," he promised her, wrapping his arms around her, ignoring the pinching pain where various stitches and bandages had been applied to stop him from bleeding all over the Watch House. "I know that I know nothing about babies, or children, or even being a father, but I do know that I will never endanger you, or Ro, or anyone we love again." He held her close, needing her to understand that. He might keep the library; he might give his knowledge to those who needed it; but Rufus Bennett would never lift another weapon or walk willingly into another fight again.

There were still a lot of things they needed to discuss, but it seemed this one decision had been made for them, and despite the tragedy that had led up to it, Miranda felt honored that Lei had entrusted them with her most precious possession. "I'm gonna hold you to it," she told him, looking up into the face of the only man she had ever really loved, resisting the urge to poke him in the chest so that she didn't hurt him. Whatever he didn't know, she'd teach him or they'd learn together. "Oh, Rufus," she sighed, resting her head against his chest. "What are we going to do?"

Eyes filled with tears, he rested his cheek against her hair, deeply glad that he did not need to hide the guilt or pain from his long-suffering wife. "We go on," he told her gently. "Ro will grow up safe and loved, surrounded by our family. I couldn't save Lei; I wasn't meant to. But we can give her daughter the best start in life."

It was only then that she was suddenly struck with the finality of it all - with the fact that Lei was really gone and wasn't coming back. She had loved her, in her own way. How could she not love a girl who'd had no one to love or to love her back but one stubborn man' "I'm so sorry, love," she told him again, her voice quiet and edged with grief and suddenly she was sobbing in his arms and clinging to him, crying for the girl who had touched both their lives and left them with her most precious treasure.

It was only when Miranda broke down that Rufus allowed himself to do the same, clinging to her as she clung to him, weathering that overwhelming rush of grief together. He had loved Lei - not quite as a daughter, but as a dear, trusted friend, the closest he had allowed himself in many long years.

As abrasive as she had been at times, as angry a woman as she had grown up to be, Shen Lei had lived half her life protecting a population who would never know she had ever existed. She had never truly complained about her Choosing, accepting the loss of her parents as casualties in a war no one had known she was fighting. He was proud of the woman she had become, in spite of the flaws he had inadvertently trained into her over the years, and despite the shock she had given him with her pregnancy, he was glad she had been able to find a little passion beyond her enjoyment of the fight. That her passion had resulted in a baby had shown him the softer side of his Slayer, his friend, and he was determined now to teach her daughter all about the wonder that had been Shen Lei.

Despite her complaints and her doubts, Miranda knew in her heart that she and Rufus would honor Lei's wishes. It was the least they could do, after all, and she silently promised herself that the girl would not grow up never knowing who her real mother was or the sacrifices she had made to keep her daughter safe. In the end, there was no better definition for Lei than that of a hero, and Miranda would make sure her daughter knew who her mother was and what she had done for the world.

When the sobs at last subsided, she lifted her tear-strained face to her husband. There was nothing she could do for Lei now, and there would be plenty of time to grieve later. For now, she needed to tend to the living, and there was a big soft-hearted man who needed her, along with the child Lei had left behind. "All right, that's enough crying for now," she told him, reaching up to brush the tears from his face, neglecting her own. "We need to get you cleaned up and get some food in your stomach and then you need to get some rest. No arguments," she added with a teary smile.

He didn't laugh, but there was amusement in the way his breath huffed through his own tearful smile. "No arguments," he agreed, leaning down to kiss her gently, his arms wrapping about her waist once again as he held her. "I love you, Miranda. I will do anything you ask me to, from this day forth. No more risks, no more danger. I have no more reason to invite that into our lives."

"I love you, too, Rufus," she told him softly, as their lips gently broke the kiss, the first of many that night, if she had her way. She would never let him feel alone or unloved, ever again, especially not now when he'd lost so much. "They've had you long enough. It's my turn." She touched her nose to his, correcting herself, realizing he didn't just belong to her - he belonged to Bethany and Taylor and Rowan and so many other people who loved and cared for him. A small smile touched her lips as a thought came to mind. "And if they want you back, they're going to have to go through me first."

Rufus Bennett

Date: 2015-06-24 08:43 EST
Now that thought, he did laugh at, a brief snort of laughter at the mental image of his fierce wife facing down the Council of Watchers should they come a-knocking again. "I should sell tickets if that ever happens," he teased her fondly, sighing as he gathered her into his arms once more, reluctant to let go of her now he was home again. "They can whistle for it, if they want it. As far as I am concerned, I am dead to them."

Though the sound of his laughter usually put a bright smile on her face, she only answered it with a worried frown, as he tucked her back against him. "But they won't insist on you training a new Slayer, will they?" she asked, unable to hide the worry from her eyes, despite her own insistence that she wouldn't let them have him. "You've given them enough. This is our time." She couldn't help but feel guilty that Lei's death might somehow prove beneficial in that Rufus might finally be able to retire from being a Watcher.

"They can insist all they like," he assured his worried wife gently. "I will never train anyone to face the darkness again, not unless that person asks me and they have a damned good reason for it. I'm tired of sending people into danger." He lowered his head to hers, nose to nose as he breathed her in. "I will never Watch again."

Well, there were somethings she was okay with him watching, but she knew what he meant. "You're going to make an awfully cute Mister Mom," she told him with a soft smile as she touched her nose to his.

Again, Rufus snorted with laughter, wincing as the movement pulled at his stitches once again with a faint groan. "You are going to thoroughly enjoy watching me learn how to handle a baby twenty-four/seven, aren't you?"

"Thoroughly," she assured him, patting his cheek as she smiled up at him. "You have about 26 years to make up for, Rufio," she teased. "Come on, love. Ro will be down for a bit now that she's cried herself to sleep. Let's get you cleaned up."

"That ....sounds like a wonderful idea." He didn't tell her that he expected nightmares for a while, able to handle his bad dreams better when she was nearby. Kissing her temple, he smiled. "Put me to bed for a bit, love, before I get crabby over being awake for too long."

"All right. Clean up, nap, and then food," she promised, rearranging the order of things. She wasn't the best cook, but she was getting better and hadn't burned anything lately. As for his nightmares, she wasn't so naive that she didn't know he had them, and she was always there whenever he needed her, but she didn't make a fuss about it, letting him pretend she didn't know.

Wrapping his arm about her shoulders, Rufus let her fuss over him, glad he'd had her to come home to after the awful tragedy of the morning. The injuries that were finally revealed as he allowed her to help him wash up were not as bad as the ruined shirt had seemed to suggest - a slash of claws across his chest, across his back, and one gouge taken out of his upper arm, all stitched and bandaged cleanly. He was, however, close to dropping off by the time they got him out of the bathroom, exhausted from an unexpected fight and the painful strictures of grief that would attack him mentally and emotionally for some time to come.

She didn't undo anything the healers and medics had already done, and though his wounds weren't life-threatening, it was still upsetting to see the claw marks and gouges he had suffered under attack by God only knew what. To her credit, she didn't lose control - she didn't let him see how his wounds worried her. Tending to him as gently as she could, she washed the blood from him and helped him change into clean clothing before tucking him into bed. Being a mother had taught her to handle minor wounds and illnesses, and it showed in her tenderness and caring. She let her fingers trail through his hair as he started to drift off. She had always loved his hair, even now that it was starting to turn gray.

He caught her hand as she helped him drift off, drawing it to his lips to kiss her knuckles tenderly. He knew he'd worried her, that she wasn't used to seeing such wounds - even already dealt with - and he hoped she would never have another chance to get used to them. "I love you, angel," he murmured as he drifted off to sleep, letting her go reluctantly.

"I love you, too, sweetheart," she told him, brushing a kiss against his cheek and letting her fingers comb through his hair a few moments longer, as if to try and soothe him to sleep. "Get some rest. Everything's going to be all right," she promised. Though she couldn't change what had happened, she had to believe that Lei was at peace now. And they had her daughter to think about.

For just a few minutes, he let himself believe something he had not allowed himself to even consider was possible for more than two decades - that everything would be all right, simply because his Miranda said it would be so. It was easy to do, sending him drifting to sleep with a weary smile on his face, despite the ache in his chest.

It was only once she was sure Rufus was asleep that Miranda crept from the room, pulling the door closed so that he could rest without hearing what she was about to do. First she went to check on the baby to make sure she was still sleeping and then she curled up on the couch and called the one and only person she could lean on at such a time as this.

It was barely two rings before Bethany answered her phone, something mother and daughter had always been able to rely on - if they truly needed one another, they were there, no matter the distance. "Hi, Mom," she greeted Miranda warmly, her smile evident in her voice. "What's up?"

As soon as Miranda heard the sound of her daughter's voice, the tears came. She couldn't hide them from the one person who perhaps knew her even better than Rufus, though she was trying hard to keep her voice steady. "Beth, darling, I have some bad news," she started, quickly adding so as not to frighten her, "It's not your father." Though in a way, it was.

Hearing the tears in her mother's voice, Beth abandoned the laundry to give the phone call her full attention, her smile fading into a worried frown at the worrying suggestion of news. "Mom, what?s happened?" she asked, wanting nothing more than to go to Rhy'Din right at that moment and wrap her mother in a hug. "It's not Dad, okay. You sound so upset."

"It's Lei," Miranda started. "She's ..." Her voice broke as she trailed off, unable to say the word that Rufus couldn't say either. Dead sounded so finale, so morose, and yet, that was the truth of it. She didn't know all the details and wasn't sure she wanted to know all the details. She said nothing for a long moment, resting her cheek in the palm of her hand while her shoulders shook with a few silent sobs. Who was she crying for, exactly' For Lei or Rufus or Rowan or all of them' She wasn't quite sure.

"Lei ..." Though Beth didn't know the Slayer as well as she would have liked, she knew the other woman was the closest thing to a sister she had ever had. She knew how much Lei meant to her father, how close they were, and how close her mother had come to the aggressive young woman over the past months. But Beth also knew that Lei's time had always been borrowed. She sat down heavily, her expression stricken. "God ....Are you okay' Is Dad" The baby' No one else got hurt, did they?"

It was bound to happen sooner or later, wasn't it' She was a damned fool for thinking this could have a happy ending - that Lei could leave that life behind and raise her daughter in peace and happiness. "No," Miranda said, somehow managing to find her voice. "No, he's ....he's fine. The baby's fine. Everyone's fine. He's just ..." She drew a slow breath, surprised to find her hands were shaking. "How soon can you and Jason get away' He won't admit it, but he needs his family, Beth. He shouldn't be alone right now, and I-I'm not sure ....I'm not sure I can do this alone."

Rufus Bennett

Date: 2015-06-24 08:45 EST
"Okay." Beth's concern was in her voice, loving warmth reaching out through voice alone to try and comfort her mother. "I can call Jase at work, and I'm sure he can get compassionate leave for a few days. We could be there as soon as he gets off work this afternoon. You're not alone, Mom. We'll be there, and I'll call Taylor. He can be there in less than an hour, I know he will."

Miranda sniffled into the phone, obviously overcome with tears. It wasn't that she couldn't handle one man and one baby on her own so much as that she thought Rufus needed his family - especially Bethany and Taylor, the two people closest to him, besides her. "Kaylee, too," she added. She couldn't very well have Taylor here and not Kaylee. Miranda was the one person who always knew what to do in a crisis, but it seemed this crisis was a bit much even for her. "You and Jason can stay in one of the cottages if you need your own space, but we need you here for just a little while."

"If you don't mind us being right there, that's where I would prefer to be," Beth pointed out gently. "I know you. I know you want to be strong and look after Dad, but you loved her too. You need us as much as he does. So we'll be there, and Taylor and Kaylee will need the space more than we do, so they can take one of the cottages nearby. I need to look after you guys, okay?"

Miranda nodded, not realizing at first that Bethany couldn't hear her nod on the other end of the phone. She managed to squeak out an, "Okay," before snagging a tissue and blowing her nose. Bethany was perhaps the only other person besides Rufus who had ever seen her cry. "Thank you, baby. I love you."

"All right, Mommy. You have exactly one job," Beth told her firmly. "Look after Dad and Ro until we get there. That is all you're allowed to do. No washing, no cleaning, no making beds, nothing. You and they are far more important than making sure the house is suitable for guests, okay?"

There was a but on Miranda's lips, but she knew better than to argue with her daughter, who was almost as strong-willed as her father. "All right," she admitted, sniffling again. "I'm sorry, Beth. I just ....I don't know what to do," she admitted. Even when Frank had died, she'd been there for everyone; she'd been the strong one - she'd known what to do, but this" This was beyond her. She didn't know how to make things better; all she knew how to do was be there for Rufus and Rowen. "Beth, there's something else ..." she added.

"Mom, you don't have to know what to do," Beth told her gently, already moving to text Jason on her cell and let him know what had happened. "You don't have to do anything. You're allowed to feel lost and hurt and angry, it's all a part of loss. But you are not alone. You are going to have family coming out of your ears in just a few hours, and you have to let us look after you. We love you." She paused, sending the text before realizing she'd missed something. "Something else?" she asked, worry sparking in her voice once again. "What kind of something else?"

"The baby," Miranda sputtered. "She ....We're going to ....Oh, God, Bethany. I'm too old to raise a child. It will be like starting all over again," she said, letting her daughter hear her fears and doubts and reservations. It wasn't that she didn't love the child - she absolutely adored Baby Rowan, but she wasn't sure she still had it in her to raise a child or if she'd even live long enough to do it.

That was all she really needed to say to put the situation across to Beth, who found herself smiling for a moment before she straightened her expression to respond. "No, it won't be starting over again," she reassured her mother. "You know what to do. You did it with me. You babysit every child you can possibly get your hands on everyday if you can. Mom, you're the best person for the job. And like I said, you're not alone. How many people on that estate will jump in to help you if you need it?"

"I-I know, but ..." Miranda sighed and dabbed at her tears with a tissue. "I was so happy for Lei. I was happy just to be a grandma and an aunt. I was so happy to have Rufus back and now ....What am I gonna do, Beth' He's trying to be brave, but he's broken and ..." She sighed again. Beth would be here soon, in person, and they could talk all they wanted.

"He's not broken, Mom." Quite how Beth knew that was beyond even her to explain, but she knew it was true. "He's going to be probably majorly over-protective for a long time, and he's going to be sad and angry. But he knew it was coming. He did a lot of his grieving when he first met her, when she was just a kid. And you both have this amazing little person in your lives now, someone who wasn't even supposed to exist, because Lei wasn't supposed to live this long. But you know what? She did, and that was because of Dad, and later on, because of you, too. Seriously ....he's not broken. A bit cracked, maybe, but not broken."

"Maybe," Miranda admitted, finding comfort in Bethany's words, wondering when she managed to become so wise. "Just get here as soon as you can, okay' Maybe I'm the one that's broken," she admitted quietly, though that likely wasn't true either. Lei's death was a shock, certainly, but they'd get through it, just like they'd gotten through everything else.

"We'll be there," Beth promised her mother, checking her cell as it buzzed in her hand. A faint smile touched her face at Jason's reply - exactly what she had expected it to be. "We'll see you in a couple of hours, Mom. And we'll help put you back together again, I promise."

"Okay, thank you, darling. Love you! See you soon!" Miranda said, waiting, as always, for Bethany to hang up first. It was no secret how much she missed her daughter, and though New York was far away, they would be here in no time, thanks to the Nexus.

"Love you, Mom." Smiling at the familiar reluctance to end the call, Bethany disconnected, immediately dialing Taylor's number, knowing he and Kaylee would be with Miranda and Rufus within an hour once they knew what had happened. That was one very good thing about being a part of the Granger family - no matter the circumstances, no matter the cost, no matter the sacrifice ....they were there.

Miranda hung up the phone once she heard Bethany disconnect, too emotionally drained to call anyone else. Within a day, all the Grangers that mattered would know what had happened and probably start delivering casseroles along with condolences to their door. There was a lot that needed to be done, but for now, it could wait. The important thing right now was helping Rufus get through this and making sure Baby Rowan was loved and well cared for, and with that thought in mind, Miranda got off the couch, finding new purpose in her life by way of a tiny baby girl who needed her.

"Don't worry, little love," she whispered to the baby as she stroked the child's silken dark hair tenderly and lovingly. "We'll take care of you. I promise."

((It's been coming for a while, but finally Rhy'Din's Vampire Slayer has bit the dust, leaving behind one teeny, tiny baby! Many thanks to Miranda's player for letting me drop a new baby on her!))