Jewell always said she had superb timing. Lain and company could have only been standing at the gate for a few minutes before the trio of Jewell, Eddie, and Stephen strolled up. Jewell was in the midst of the little group, one arm linked with either of theirs, and all three were laughing as they approached the Sanctuary despite the hour growing late. The Empress" laughter died off completely when she saw the little group assembled before the Sanctuary gate, denied access for the time being as either all of the Sisters were out scoring the streets or sound asleep, mentally and physically exhausted from their harsh routine.

It was almost superhuman, how quickly she released Stephen and Eddie and crossed the small distance to where her babies were. There was an almost unanimous shout of "Mommy!" from those who had been standing around, practically asleep on their feet, covering yawns. Despite her shock at seeing them (especially since Lain said they would be by in a few days), Jewell made quick work of kneeling down, wrapping each up in a hug and showering kisses on their cheeks. Even Iona got a grateful hug from her, as Jewell was sure she was the only reason her children were still intact and unharmed. "Oh my little darlings, I've missed you all so much! Oz, it looks like you got taller. And Eva"your hair is getting so long!" Little things such at this were said to each of them, her tone and expression completely devoid of the rage she felt over Lain marching her precious little ones through the unsafe night to bring them to her. Part of her anger was focused on herself for not saying she would come and retrieve the kids. If the stalker had attacked them while they were on their way"but she hadn't, and Jewell had to quickly dismiss that thought to keep her composure.

She straightened up fully, Devyn clinging with arms around her neck like a little monkey: once she had gotten hold of Jewell, she wouldn't let go. Not that Jewell wanted her to; she cradled her littlest one to her, running a hand over those dark lavender locks. She turned to look at Lain and just stared at her a moment. She couldn't say what she wanted to say, not in front of the kids, but grey eyes were hard. "Thanks a lot for keeping them safe." It was begrudgingly said, as she really felt no gratitude and woe to Alex if he ran into her soon. At the back of her mind, she knew part of this was her fault: she had failed to inform either of them what was really going on and why she had needed them to take the kids in. It didn't really matter though, because she couldn't change what happened and the situation left her in a mild panic over where she could bring them now, where would they be safe"

Effectively dismissing Lain in her mind by turning her back on her, she sent Stephen a pleading look not to leave. She also seemed disappointed: this was not how she wanted him to meet her kids but it was inevitable now. Poor Eddie, still on cloud nine but looking a bit overwhelmed with the current situation spread out on her doorstep, was whom Jewell turned to finally. "Eddie," her voice was just a little thick, as if holding back a multitude of emotions, 'do you think you could run inside and try and figure out somewhere we can get them all to sleep" Just for tonight' Like"just dragging cots or something into the room I'm staying in" Anywhere works. I'll figure something out in the morning so as not to infringe on you ladies anymore than I already am."

She knew that all of the Sisters would object and swear that they would never see Jewell as infringing on their hospitality in any way. She could even see Eddie hesitating to say something possibly quite like that before just nodding. "Yeah, of course Jewell. Why not bring them all inside now so you're not just standing out here?" Jewell shot the youngest Sister a grateful look and nod before the girl disappeared into the Sanctuary with but a passing glance at Lain.

"Okay, kiddos. You heard what Eddie said; let's get your stuff up and go inside okay' We're going to be staying with Auntie Issy tonight, isn't that fun?" There was all the illusion of bright cheerful excitement in her tone. They ate it right up. In a flurry of action, they started picking up their stuff and chatting with each other. Jewell grabbed up much of their belongings, even while keeping a now half-asleep Devyn in her arms while Stephen quietly took up a bunch as well. She hesitated as the kids moved inside, sending a glance to Lain. Part of her, the part that cared about Alex, didn't really want to send Lain off by herself, walking through the night. The rest of her dismissed that feeling and she walked inside, closing the gate behind her.

Once inside, she urged the kids to be as quiet as possible: "Everyone is probably sleeping, lovelies, so let's try not to wake them up. They'll be very grumpy if we do." She could only imagine the mob of angry, half-asleep sisters, pouring out of their beds in the middle of the night and waving their double-swords around until they realized they were being invaded by a troop of children rather than three-foot tall serial killers.

"But maaama," Oz entreated at her side, dragging a bag of toys noisily behind him along the floor, "why was Lain-y so mad?"

"Because she permanently has sand in her vagina and that's enough to make anyone perpetually grumpy," was what instantly came to Jewell's mind. It even made her smile. However, what she said was, "She's upset because she's going to miss you all so much."

"She doesn't like you," Kerrick quipped out with a little grin, as if this was some great secret only he had known of until this point.

This gave her cause to pause a moment in the dimly lit hallway of the Sanctuary, looking down on her grinning youngest son and resisting the urge to just close her eyes and pinch the bridge of her nose. "I know that, baby," she said very slowly. She was unsure where this was going.

"But you don't like her either."

She was very aware of all the other kids listening in on this exchange intently; save for Devyn, who was happily asleep and making her mother's arms feel like they were going to fall off. "Kerrick, can this conversation wait until morning, please?"

"But I wanna knoooo-ow."

"Kerrick Alexander Ravenlock if you don't lower your voice?" she practically hissed out at him, needing to go no further with the threat as he looked fully chastised and started moving so they could all continue on through the hallway.

Now that he was quiet, she answered his unasked question as best she could. "Mommy and Lain don't get along, baby, because remember when we came back to RhyDin after visiting mommy's home world?" He nodded, looking up at her and already losing that hangdog expression since he was getting just what he wanted. "Well, Lain had fallen in love with daddy while we were gone but daddy still loved me very much so when we came home, he came back so we could be a family again." Jewell knew it was much more complicated than that, that there were many other factors involved and it hadn't been so easy to get Alex to come back to her in order for them to be a family again, but she this was the easiest way to explain it to a four-year-old who didn't fully comprehend it anyways.

"You couldn't share?" Eva Jade piped up.

"She was mad cause she lost daddy then?" Raven followed Eva's question quickly, his young mind making the intuitive jump.

"Remember, doll, grownups usually like to be in love with just one person at a time. So daddy had to pick either Lain or me and Lain was very mad when he picked me instead of her." There was none of the smugness in her tone that one may expect to be there. This was old news, a situation she was done reflecting on and tired of thinking about: it was over and done with and she had moved forward.

"And you don't like her cause?"

"She tried to keep daddy from me." And, 'she tried to kill me, blew up our house?" the list went on but she didn't vocalize it.

Curiosity satiated for the moment, they set their things down outside the room Jewell currently occupied and, leaving Stephen to watch over them, Jewell and Iona entered the room to help Eddie move things around in order to accommodate the entire family for the night. With their mother gone, the remaining four kids turned their attention to the adult left with them: Captain Stephen Kidd.

"Who're you?? If Jewell had heard Raven address Stephen that way, forgetting his manners in every way, she would have smacked him on the head. Then, she would have instantly blamed Lain for corrupting her children with her speech-impaired ways. Fortunate for Raven, Jewell didn't hear and all four children were left to turn their eyes up to Stephen, curiosity renewed.

Stephen smiled at the children, and tried his best to think of a way to introduce himself to them. He decided honesty was the best tactic as often times children were much smarter, and intuitive then most adults gave them credit for.

"I be Captain Stephen Kidd a black hearted pirate, scoundrel extrodinare, all about rogue an' the eater o' small children."

The last was said with an over the top gnashing of teeth before a teasing wink was given which set the group of children to grinning as even the youngest of the lot did not believe him for some reason.

Suddenly the captain was besieged with questions from each of the children coming in rapid fire which did not allow him to answer at all. Stephen reached in his pocket and found the wooden ear from one of his former ships figureheads that he kept for sentimental reasons, and cupped it in his hand as to be unseen by the children as he pulled his hand from his pocket. He looked arround at the children as if he was confused before lifting the cupped hand to his ear and muttering. "Eh' Wha' were tha'?" He pulled his hand away from his ear, and held it out towards the children.

"I dun' 'ear sae good ye mus' shout intae me ear if ye wish me tae 'ear ye properly."

With that he opened the hand revealing the wooden ear, and thrust it towards one of the children quickly so they would have difficulty deciding if it was his real ear or not.

Once everyone was settled down into bed for the night, Jewell navigated the crowded room to tuck each one of them in, as she had been unable to do for weeks now. After kissing Eva Jade's forehead and making sure she was warm enough, she rose from her kneel to move on to her brothers. Her little hand, grasping at the hem of her dress, halted her progress and she turned back to kneel next to the little girl once more. "What is it, my sweetling?"

"I need you to sing," she intoned, as if her ability to sleep truly depended on it.

"Tonight, baby' It's late?" she started her objection only to be silence by the five-year-old.

"But you haven't done it in forever and I couldn't sleep without you..."

Jewell felt a little pang of guilt in her heart. She had left her little angels all alone without someone to sing them to sleep at night, or tell them stories until their little eyes closed and they drifted away under the power of Morpheus.

"Of course I'll sing for you, baby." She ran a hand over her soft, long, white hair before starting. Hers wasn't the strong voice of a professional singer, yet her sweet soprano was not completely untrained or unpracticed. Music lessons of old, part of her training to be an accomplished lady, were not wholly forgotten and put to use to amuse and attend to her children.

Golden slumber kiss your eyes, Smiles await you when you rise. Sleep, pretty baby, Do not cry, And I'll sing you a lullaby.

Care you know not, Therefore sleep, While I o'er you watch do keep. Sleep, pretty darling, Do not cry, And I will sing a lullaby.

She smiled as Eva Jade closed her eyes, a smile curling her little lips up even as she fell asleep. She moved on to say goodnight to the two boys before taking a seat on her bed and look aside to Stephen.

She ducked her head a little at his grin, self-conscious that he had heard her singing. "I'm sorry," an apology for something out of her control, typical Jewell, "I didn't want it to be this way. I was planning some way that you could meet them and this," she waved her hand around without energy, "wasn't it."

There was no chastisement, rebuke, even mention of the ruckus caused. Instead, she just moved to lean against him, retaining the sigh that had been building up since they had arrived at the Sanctuary earlier. Lain arriving with the kids had been a well-aimed shot, deflating any of the happiness and energy she had been riding high on earlier in the night. "I'm going to stay up tonight, make sure nothing happens." It had been two nights, maybe three, since she had last slept and her eyes were already burning as she stared at their sleeping forms. "Probably go ask Wyh in the morning if she can take them in for a little while, until I can figure something out. Tass and Chryrie both made offers, but I'm always infringing upon Tass and I can't expect Chryrie to do that for me. I'd rather take advantage of the hospitality of family before anyone else. Even then."

If she sounded reluctant, it wasn't exactly because she was too proud to ask for the help of her family and friends. She wasn't. It was unpleasant to do so but she could usually admit to others when she was beaten and needed help, and it was clear over the last few months that she desperately needed help at times. The problem always was admitting to herself that she needed help, that there was one more thing she was incapable of doing on her own, wasn't strong enough to do on her own. Right now, that was protecting her own kids and it ate at her.

"Then I thought I'd go find that useless ex-husband of mine and punch him in the face for being unable to watch after his own kids for more than a month." She found some humor in what she said that made her laugh quietly. She wasn't even sure exactly what it was about the situation that made her want to just burst out laughing even louder right now: how hard it would actually be for her to punch Alex in the face considering how tall he was, the fact that she had already done worse to him (like stabbing him in the chest), or even the undeniable truth that her relationship past was not something to be proud of and continually came back to haunt her in some way, shape or form.

His grin was infectious. His very presence was infectious! She just couldn't stay angry with him there besides her, not when all his words and gestures were soothing and calming in their own way. Even the comment of her looking like a wreck couldn't be taken the wrong way, not when coupled with the gentle cupping of her cheek and a soft kiss. All that anger and rage boiling up inside her just melted away: water under the bridge.

Without it she was left deflated, the energy derived from the swell of negative emotions taken away with it. More than tired, she was very susceptible to his suggestion that she sleep and let him watch over them. Still, even if she thought the idea had some merit she was going to open her mouth and argue it. It was her place to watch over them, not his. It was her duty, her responsibility, and she'd be damned if anyone took it from her. These arguments were on the tip of her tongue when he pressed his finger to her lips and silenced them from mouth and mind. She was left almost gaping at him, thinking: who this man was that knew her so well, so quickly, and how did he do it.

There was no question as to why she listened to him; why, after a shy smile at his compliment, she settled down on the bed besides Devyn instead of sitting up and watching over everyone in spite of what he said. The reason would be clear enough if she gave thought to it, but she didn't. Instead, she just settled her head down and gave him a smile strictly reserved for him regardless of the situation and events of the night. "Ta gra agam ort, Stephen," she spoke back quietly across the room before he stepped out, her tongue still unused to the foreign words but the meaning and emotion both clearly present. A moment's hesitation before she whispered the words another way: "I love you."