On The Edge Of Suspicion

(Part 4 of the Trinity saga © 2002)

By Princess Alexandria

Princess_alex24@hotmail.com

Reviews can be posted at:
http://pub17.ezboard.com/fgargoylesxfrm5

Day 12 Part 1– Friday – August 8^th

Trini's heart was pounding as Goliath took them up into the air, while holding her by her arms like Demona had done the first time she'd taken Trini from the park. Her legs dangled in the air. "Let me go." Trini's face was pale and her voice weak. She didn’t want him holding her, touching her. Her voice got louder, almost frantic. "Let me Go!"

"God Dammit Trini stop squirming." Goliath growled at Trini and it only made her struggle more.

"Let me go. Don't touch me, let me go!" She started to scream as she tried to twist her body around so she could kick him. Her heart was pounding frantically and the hold he had on her made it so hard to fight back. She was hardly thinking clearly in her panic, she just wanted away from him.

A white blur dove towards them and Trini glanced over at Delilah's brightly burning eyes. "Give her to me!" Delilah's growl was full of threat as the female moved to flank Goliath.

Trini finally managed to connect a weak kick to Goliath's stomach, and he grunted in pain but didn't release her. "She has a few questions to answer first." Goliath growled back at Delilah.

"No, you give her to me!" Trini could hear the threat and anger in her friend's voice, even though she couldn't see either gargoyle. It started to calm her panic. Delilah was going to get hurt if she continued to act like that. Trini tried to take deep breath to calm down. Her fear only upset her friend. She couldn't let it get to her.

"Delilah, I don't want you hurt." Trini found herself almost crying. "I don't want him to hurt you." Being this close to an angry Goliath, after all those dreams, was terrifying her. She was defenseless with her arms being held like this.

"Here." Goliath spoke quickly and held Trini further away from him. Delilah moved in quickly and scooped Trini out of his arms. Trini latched her arms around Delilah's neck and buried her face in the gargoyles shoulder. Her body was shaking like a frightened puppy, and Delilah's eyes burned into the watching male's eyes for a moment.

"I have you. I have you now." Delilah murmured comfortingly. Another gargoyle glided up to them, and Angela stared at Trini's shaking back.

"We have to call a meeting." Goliath's voice was full of barely suppressed anger. "Trini hasn't been completely honest with us. I'm going to go get Elisa. Angela, you make sure that Delilah takes her back to the castle."

As soon as Goliath moved to glide away, Trini's body started to shake less. Delilah was murmuring comfortingly and caressing Trini with her hands where she held Trini and rubbed her face alongside Trini's.

Trini completely ignored their silent guard to whisper. "You can't go against the clan to protect me. You'll lose everything. I love you, but you can't do that."

"He scared you!" Delilah growled out. "He knows you don't like males to touch you and he took you anyhow."

Trini took a few shuddering breaths as she tried to think. She wasn't going to be able to talk her way out of this. Goliath had overheard her and Andrea. "I don't always tell you things. I didn't want you to have to chose between being loyal to me or the clan." Trini started to pet the gargoyle's snowy hair. "I love you, but if they make you chose, you can't chose me. I can't protect you like a clan can."

"Trini what is going on?" Delilah's voice sounded a little fearful, so Trini released her firm hold on the female so she could lean back and look into the glowing eyes. "Why are you talking like this?"

Trini reached out to caress Delilah's cheek, before leaning in to give the gargoyle a gentle peck on the lips. She ignored Angela's surprised gasp at that show of affection. She felt like this might be goodbye, because she had no idea how Delilah was going to take tonight's meeting, and the fact that Trini's been lying to her. She had no idea how much of her secrets were going to be coming out tonight. Trini then took a deep breath and started to mentally create a new batch of lies and half-truths. Her heart ached at her having to do this to her friend. She wanted so desperately to tell Delilah everything and beg for her understanding. It was a good thing that Angela was there, making that choice impossible. Trini had to stay strong. If she faltered, Fox and Domi would get caught.

"Goliath thinks he finally has some real ammunition against me. Andrea is my friend, but she's also Demona's friend." At Delilah's shocked expression Trini continued. "Andrea doesn’t know that Domi is really a gargoyle, and I don't tell her. Demona needs to have human friends. It might make her think twice before plotting things." Trini took a deep breath of the cool air and noticed that they were just gliding around the castle so that they had time to talk. Trini glanced up once at Angela, who was watching this conversation with obvious interest. "Andrea is the one that introduced me to Domi. We all used to spend time together before the…" Trini's voice got softer, "kidnapping. I didn't know she was a gargoyle either."

"Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this?!"

"Because I felt stupid!" Trini looked away, remembering how she felt when she found out Domi and Demona were the same person. "I was locked up in a room with Domi, and was telling her how I'd try to protect her. I was actually worried that Demona would hurt her." Trini gave a humorless laugh, "I was conscious when Demona took me from the building, and I saw the fire. I was so worried that Domi was in the building that Demona had to tell me several times that Domi wasn't there before I'd calm down. I was so stupid."

Angela finally spoke, her voice soft. "No, you weren't stupid. Anyone would make that mistake." They finally landed. "Father will want me to take you right to the meeting room to wait." Angela sounded a bit apologetic.

"This is going to take all night, isn't it?" Trini asked while Delilah gently lowered her to the ground. At Angela's hesitant nod, Trini sighed. "Can I go to the bathroom?"

Angela had her use the bathroom off the library, rather than letting her go to her own room. It really felt like Trini was under arrest, even though her guard was so reluctant to do her job. As soon as Trini was alone she pushed her magic out, trying to find Fox. She was staring into the mirror as she did this and could see her skin was pale, and her eyes would glow green when she pushed harder, hoping that she was wrong. Fox wasn't home. She was alone.

Trini took a deep breath and took the opportunity to go to the bathroom. She wouldn't be surprised if Goliath tried to use her own bladder to torture her in the meeting, by refusing her a break.

The clan filed in quietly, and Trini had no idea what Goliath had told them. She sat and stared at the tabletop while she continued to push out desperately for Fox. She wasn't smart enough to do this alone. Trini took a deep breath and sighed. She was going to have to be.

When she glanced up and saw Elisa's measuring gaze, Trini flinched a bit. Delilah, Angela, and Goliath entered after Elisa. Delilah looked a bit defiant as she moved to sit beside Trini. Trini sighed, obviously Delilah wasn't going to stay out of this. When Angela moved to sit on Trini's other side, Goliath's eyes widened in surprise and then he glared at Trini quickly before walking after Elisa to sit on the other side of the table. Trini had no idea how she warranted Angela's support, but she cherished it. Without Fox there, she needed all the emotional support she could get. Brooklyn and Broadway sat on the side of the table closer to Angela, and Lex and Hudson on the side near Delilah.

Trini looked up into Elisa's eyes. The detective seemed to be staring at her in an attempt to read her mind. She wasn't hostile, like Goliath, but the friendliness wasn't there either. Trini took a deep breath and stared down at the table.

"When were you planning to tell us that you know Demona?" Goliath growled out at her.

"What?!" Brooklyn's shocked and angry voice filled the room, but Goliath held out a hand to let the clan know not to speak.

Trini glared at him with red eyes. "I didn't see that it was any of your business." She could have kicked herself for responding like that. Now wasn't the time to let her anger control her, but he seemed so self-righteous. She didn't appreciate being talked down to by Elisa's boyfriend.

"Mother tricked Trini. She was just too embarrassed to tell us." Angela interrupted. It got Angela a glare from Goliath, but Brooklyn's glowing white eyes seemed to fade.

"Angela, I'm talking to Trinity." Goliath scolded his daughter briefly before turning his eyes back to Trini. "How did she trick you?"

Trini grimaced as Elisa leaned closer to whisper into Goliath's ear. Even with her hearing, she couldn't hear what Elisa was saying, but she did have a bad feeling about it. She'd just finished telling the clan about the kidnapping, at least the part she'd just told Delilah on the way home.

"Trini, why were you patrolling last night? You told Goliath that you had to work." Elisa stared at Trini with cop eyes, and Trini clenched her fist underneath the table. The hand that started to gently caress her knee was a shock. Trini turned to glance at Delilah briefly, and the female gave her a small encouraging smile. This petting was probably Delilah's attempt at comforting, but it was doing the opposite.

Trini's hand moved to take Delilah's so that Delilah would stop her caresses. Trini's hand was shaking a little as she did that. She had enough to deal with, she didn't need Delilah's increasingly sexual caresses right now. The ventilation system in this room wasn't strong enough.

"I was taking a break and heard that…" Trini's teeth gritted, "woman's call for help." She was still angry and hurt about being called names after putting herself at risk for that couple.

"I had to take three of those thugs to the hospital Trini." Elisa didn't sound pleased, "And the man from tonight went to the hospital too. You are too violent."

Trini just stared at Elisa dumbly, while feeling her face pale a bit. This was the opposite of what Demona told her. "I had to do that. I pulled my punches, but…" Trini just shook her head in disbelief. "How can I stop them without hurting them? I have to do that."

"I heard that Delilah was afraid you'd kill that guy tonight. That she had to beg you to stop." Elisa's face held no expression and her voice was a bit deeper than normal.

"I…" Trini stared at Elisa with wide eyes.

Delilah interrupted. "I over-reacted. I've never seen Trini fight before."

Trini stared down at the tabletop and took a deep breath as she remembered the panic in Delilah's voice. "I couldn't stop." Trini said quietly, but the silence in the room made it more than loud enough. "I saw Andrea hurt and I just couldn't stop."

"Would you have killed him?" Elisa asked with no real expression.

"I…" Trini looked up at Elisa. "I don't know. He hurt Andrea. I… I just don't know."

Elisa's eyes narrowed. "What is your relationship to Andrea?"

Trini grimaced, "I'm not fucking every woman I know Elisa." She growled out, angry at the accusation and the way it was done in front of the whole clan this time. "She's my friend."

Trini could see that she'd done something, but she couldn't tell what. Elisa's eyes seemed to brighten at that comment. "So are you going to have dinner with her and Demona?"

Trini took a deep breath. They were back on topic. "I'll probably tell her I can only see her late at night, and that way Demona can't come." Trini felt a bit better at the sudden inspiration she had. If Trini were actually trying to avoid Demona that plan would work.

Goliath fidgeted in his chair for a second, but he stayed quiet. It was Elisa leading this investigation. "How is that working? Sharing a friend with Demona?" Trini noticed Brooklyn was fidgeting a bit at that comment. Probably couldn't believe that Demona had a human friend.

"It's fine."

"Do you ever go out with both of them?"

Trini sighed deeply. Elisa was going to do this like a regular interrogation, and try to bore Trini to death. "No." Trini wasn't the only one getting bored.

"Why don't we just tell this Andrea about Demona? It's dangerous for her to spend time with that bitch!" Brooklyn spoke and Trini turned red glowing eyes on him.

"You idiot! Do you have any idea what Andrea is?" Trini growled. She couldn't let the clan take Andrea away from Demona.

Elisa glared at Brooklyn for a second, and the red gargoyle looked properly chastised. "Why don’t you tell us?"

Trini's eyes burned with anger and the passion of her beliefs. The boredom dissolved as Trini got angry and defensive. "She's the HUMAN in Demona's life! If Demona had more of those she couldn't justify her hatred anymore! You try to take Andrea away and Demona will just chalk it up to human betrayal, and it'll take hundreds of years to get her to try making friends again!"

"Demona's likely to kill her when she is more of a bother than anything else." Brooklyn snapped at Trini. He'd been fuming ever since Trini called him an idiot.

"She wouldn’t do that!" Trini's body tensed for a fight that was more words than anything else. She needed Demona to have Andrea; there was no other way to get to her mate on this issue. If Andrea abandoned Domi, there would be hell to pay.

"How would you know?" Elisa spoke with authority and Brooklyn sat back in his chair. Trini glanced around the room and could see the suspicion in the males' eyes. Even Lex seemed uncomfortable.

"Trini, why don't you just tell them?" Fox's voice almost made Trini sag in relief. She turned to see Fox leaning in the doorway. Trini hadn't even heard it open in the heat of the argument. Fox came into the room and David came in right after her. The cavalry was here, and Trini almost felt like wrapping herself around her mate in relief and gratitude.

Fox moved to lean on the wall behind Trini, and David stayed in the doorway. "Trini is our spy in NightStone. She works with Demona."

"What?!" Goliath's shout was almost in sync with Elisa's. Trini felt her face pale, but she knew that this was her cover story. She just wished it hadn't needed to be used.

"I told you I have to protect in other ways." Trini said quietly, her voice tense. She could feel everyone's eyes on her then, with that confirmation. "I work there and keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"Why wasn't I informed?!" Goliath's glare seemed to sweep over Trini, Fox and David at the same time.

Trini opened her mouth to snap at him, to tell him that he wasn't in charge of everything. She hated his smug in command attitude. She wasn't his to order around. David's hand on her shoulder shocked her into silence.

"Trini is working for me on this." David lied smoothly. Trini went quiet and hoped that David could deal with this better than she could. "When she told me about this opportunity, it seemed like the best possible solution."

Elisa stared at Trini and her eyes narrowed. "How did you get Demona to hire you? What are you doing, don't you know how dangerous this is?! After what she did to you how can you do this?"

"I assure you…" David started, but Elisa glared at him.

"I want to hear this from Trini." Elisa growled at him. Elisa's gaze moved to Fox and narrowed. "I have no clue how you could be so cold as to put her in that much danger." Elisa's eyes then moved to bore into Trini. "Tell me."

Trini prayed silently that she wouldn’t say anything wrong. "Demona offered me the job, repeatedly. I told her no about three times. Finally it dawned on me that working there would give me a chance to keep an eye on what was going on. Basically I'm working there and will stay there until she fires me or I finally have to act." She noticed Goliath getting ready to say something, and spoke more quickly to cut him off. "I'm not ruining my cover for anything less than a genocide attempt. Small crimes, which I haven't seen yet, will be ignored."

"We could have you plant some bugs so that we know what she's up to." Lex spoke excitedly, and Trini grimaced.

"Then she finds them and fires me, and I'm not there when the next plan to destroy humanity comes along. I mean it Lex, I HAVE to save myself for the big stuff."

Brooklyn's voice was a bit louder than normal. "Lex has a point, we could monitor her more easily."

Trini's eyes narrowed at him. "This has nothing to do with you. This is MY job."

"Why was she so desperate to get you?" Goliath crossed his arms in front of him while he studied Trini. "She's not the type to take in a known enemy so easily."

"I can work nights." Trini answered him minimally, with a bit of an attitude, but David's hand moved to her shoulder again and squeezed in warning. She stifled her anger and continued more civilly. "She told me she needed someone for occasional nights, would like to not have to be surrounded by humans all day, and I think she's trying to turn me against humans."

Elisa looked so upset it made Trini feel bad. Trini then turned to see Delilah, and the gargoyle was a little pale. Trini gave Delilah a weak smile and reached under the table to take Delilah's hand to comfort her. "I'm okay. I've got it all under control." She spoke softly to Delilah.

"How closely are you working with her Lass?" Hudson asked, making Trini look at him for the first time since getting in the meeting room.

"I'm her personal assistant." Trini sighed. "I have the office right next to hers. I'm her Owen-in-training." Trini could hear a few people suck in their breaths at that.

Elisa was staring holes in Trini. "You said you had to work last night."

"I did." Trini said minimally while staring at Elisa.

"What kind of work are you doing for her?"

"Right now I'm restructuring the employee orientation program. I'm also training the new receptionist. Nothing really exciting." Trini leaned forward. "I also read boring reports written by people that don't know how to write, so that she doesn’t have to." Trini shook her head a little. "Just normal business stuff."

"So everything you just spent the last hour telling us is a lie?!" Goliath glared at Trini with glowing eyes.

"No, it was true too." Trini glanced over at Elisa when she said that.

Elisa sighed, "Trini, undercover work is dangerous. You don't have the training, and Demona won't just fire you if she finds you doing something she'll… she'll try to kill you."

"I'm the only person that can do this." Trini spoke softly to her ex, while ignoring all the other eyes on her. "Not many gargoyles can hold day jobs."

Hudson's voice was soft. "Elisa's right lass, Demona might kill you if she thinks you betrayed her."

Trini felt a small smile tug at her lips. They had no idea how very wrong they were. She stared down at the tabletop to cover that inappropriate smile. The stress of this situation was getting to her. "I'm harder to kill than that. I'll be fine."

There was a bit of awkward silence. "I want to be kept up to date with what is going on." Goliath's cold voice made it was clear that it was a demand. Trini tensed up and glared at him, but David's hand squeezed her shoulder again, warning her.

"We will do what we can to keep you in the loop." David spoke softly and smirked at the clan. "It's getting late, and Trini needs some rest for work tomorrow." David pulled the chair back for Trini in a gentlemanly move, and Trini nodded her thanks as she got up. She finally looked at Angela, and could see the girl had a million questions.

Trini glanced at Goliath and then at Angela. She really wanted to give one last parting shot, and tell Angela in front of the clan that Goliath had forbidden her to talk to Angela about Demona. David took her arm and moved to escort her out of the room. The look in his eyes was a clear warning not to do whatever she was thinking of doing.

"We will talk about this later Trini." Elisa called out to her, and Trini gave Elisa a nod. "Fox, what happened to your eye?"

Trini flinched a bit when Elisa asked that. Fox just smiled flirtatiously at Elisa. "I zigged when I should have zagged."

"Trini did that?" Elisa seemed a bit surprised, and Trini's eyes widened. Elisa actually thought she'd hit her mate?

"No, I do spar with other people detective." Fox gave Trini a glance. "Trini pulls her punches with me. She's afraid to hurt me."

"That reminds me." Goliath spoke quickly. "Trini, until you are no longer a threat, you aren't to patrol. We don't need you sending more people to the hospital."

Trini took a deep breath. She wasn't letting him get away with that. "If I want to go out on my own, I will. You aren't MY clan leader." Trini turned to glare at him. "Or should I just sit back and watch the rapists and murderers work?" She hissed, upsetting herself with her words. She'd seen far too many rapes and far too much pain. "I wasn't patrolling last night." Trini spoke with less venom, "but I can't just hope the police come in time when I hear people in trouble. They don't always come to the rescue." She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Lex flinched at that. She turned to him and gave him a weak smile. She didn't blame Elisa for not rescuing her, even though she'd been praying for Elisa and Fox to find her the entire time she was held captive. That's not what she was talking about when she said that help doesn't always arrive on time, but Trini strongly suspected that Lex thought her comment was far more personal.

Delilah held out a hand for Trini to squeeze as Trini walked past her for the door. So far the secrets weren't so bad that Trini's white haired friend would abandon her.

As she walked out the clan made no motion to leave. They probably planned to talk about her more.

It took a while to finally get away, but Trini was now safely in her rooms. She walked over to the couch and collapsed back on it, while staring over at Fox. Trini didn't even try to speak. She just moved to stare out the window at the city lights, and found her eyes nervously looking around to make sure that there weren't any gargoyles outside of her rooms, waiting to spy on her.

Fox moved behind Trini and started to massage her shoulders. "I'm sorry I wasn't here. Owen called us to tell us what was going on."

Trini moved her hand to rest it over Fox's. "It's okay, you two should be able to go out once in a while." Trini sighed heavily. "This is only the beginning of it, isn't it?"

"Afraid so. Elisa looked like she had more questions." Fox pulled Trini closer to her body, and Trini took some comfort in her lover's closeness.

The opening of Trini's door made Trini tense up quickly. She slowly started to relax back into Fox's body when she saw it was David. David just smiled at the sight in front of him for a moment before moving to sit on the chair across from them. Trini was too worn out from the meeting to worry about the fact that Fox was holding her in front of other people.

David's face became more serious. "Trini, if you don't want them investigating you, you need to at least pretend to keep them in the loop now." Trini nodded reluctantly. "It's going to get worse before it gets better. You need to prove yourself to them now." Trini's eyes burned red at that, but David ignored that. "Trini, they aren't sure if you are an ally or an enemy at this point. Goliath isn't really someone you want as an enemy." David gave her a slight smirk. "He has a habit of getting in the way and ruining plans. It's best to not have him even suspect you aren't being honest with him." David took a deep breath, "And on that note… you can't continue to bait him like you do. It isn't helpful. You need to learn to be more subtle in your hate."

Fox pulled Trini more tightly to her body. "David's right Trini. We've gone against the clan before, and they are a very determined bunch. Now that they think they know your secret, maybe it's time to change your tactics."

"Well, I can see you are very tired." David got up to leave. "We will have to talk about this more later. Goliath will have more questions after he and Elisa are done talking I'm sure."

Trini came out of the shower wearing her robe, and once she noticed the company was very glad she remembered to bring the robe into the bathroom with her this time. "Delilah?" Trini glanced around for Fox and didn't see her. A quick magical push showed that the redhead was in the kitchen. Trini was a little uncomfortable being alone with Delilah after those caresses the gargoyle tried to give her tail in the meeting, and Trini's being naked under the robe wasn't helping to make her feel more secure.

"Trini, I'm worried about you." Delilah took a hesitant step closer.

"I promise I'm okay. I'm being careful." Trini gave Delilah a small smile. "Did you want something to drink?" Trini didn't feel like visiting now, but she wasn't going to push Delilah away.

"No, thanks." Delilah pulled Trini into a hug. Her voice was quieter, but more tense. "When I saw him grab you I wanted to hurt him. You looked so scared."

Trini felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. She hated that she'd shown her fear. "Thank you for helping me." Trini wrapped her arms around Delilah and rested her cheek on Delilah's shoulder. She wasn't going to act weird around her friend. It wasn't Delilah's fault. It was the pheromones that made her act like that.

"Anytime." Delilah just held Trini a little longer before pulling back and heading for the door. Once the door was open Delilah turned to Trini, and looked a bit shy. "I want to have another movie night with you."

Trini felt a bit uncomfortable with the adoration in Delilah's eyes. Just a little longer and the pheromones would be gone. Trini just had to last just a little longer. "I'm going to go into season any day now. I can't make plans ahead of time." Trini grinned shyly at Delilah's smirk.

"So we'll just be spontaneous again." Delilah smiled and shut the door behind her.

Trini wanted to call Demona and tell her about the latest problem, but then she remembered the black eye that Fox had, and she just didn't have the energy to call. She couldn't just let Demona get away with hitting Fox, no matter what Fox said about it being okay now. There was NO excuse for her mates to fight like that. If Demona thought Trini was being hurt, she should have come to Trini about it. It could all wait until tomorrow. She'd had enough tension for tonight.

Trini was naked under the sheets when Fox came back. Trini's eyes trailed after the redhead, as she got ready for bed. When Fox started to change for bed, Trini spoke softly. "Sleep naked with me. I want to feel your skin." Fox smirked at her and came to bed wearing nothing at all. Trini cuddled up to her and moaned softly in happiness.

Trini heard her alarm thinking about going off, or that is what she told herself as she woke up suddenly a minute before it was going to go off. She shut it off before it had a chance to make any noise that would disturb Fox. While staring down at Fox's face and the bruised eye, Trini felt another wave of guilt and anger. She whispered quietly. "I'm so sorry honey." Trini then leaned down to kiss Fox's forehead gently and got out of bed to get ready for her day.

Trini was a bit ahead of schedule, because she wanted to drop by and make sure Andrea was okay before going to work. She stared out the window as she made her breakfast mechanically.

"I wanted to talk to you about Demona's visit yesterday." David spoke as he entered the kitchen.

Trini took a deep breath and moved her plate and glass to the table he sat down at. "Did you see it? Fox won't give me any details."

David stared into Trini's eyes. "No, they were alone. We are in the habit of shutting down the surveillance equipment when she visits now, so it's not even on tape."

Trini stared down at her eggs, not feeling very hungry now. "I guess that's good. I'd hate to see it."

"Trini, she assaulted my wife in my own home." David's voice was quiet, but it was obvious he was upset.

Trini took a shuddering breath as she pushed her plate away. She couldn't try to eat now. "I don't know what to do. Fox says she took care of it, but I can't just ignore it."

"I told you Demona was a mistake. She's too unstable."

"She's not…" Trini trailed off, because she knew she couldn’t defend Domi hitting Fox. "I'm going to talk to her about this. I… really thought she was coming around. It seemed like she liked Fox now." She whispered the rest of what she had to say. "I thought they were friends." Trini got up and tossed her breakfast, uneaten, into the trash. "I have some errands to do before I go to work today." She looked into his concerned eyes. "I'll take care of this."

Trini pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards Andrea's. She didn't notice the white van that followed her through the busy streets, and parked a half a block away from where she did. It took Andrea a while to answer the bell, and when Trini finally saw her friend, she became concerned. Andrea was moving very stiffly, and the bruise on her face looked very purple and painful. "God Andrea, are you okay?" Trini stepped into the artist's apartment without waiting for an invitation, while staring at her stiff robe clad friend with concern. Andrea looked like she was in more pain than she was the night before.

"I think I might have hurt my back last night. I had trouble sleeping because it hurt." Andrea said while leading Trini slowly into the living room.

"I should take you to a doctor." Trini stood up straighter as she tried to fight a blush. "Can you get dressed? Or do you need help? I could take you now."

Andrea grimaced. "I'll be fine. I have an appointment for tomorrow with my doctor. That was the soonest I could get in. I can't afford an emergency room visit, and I don't want Domi to pay for it again."

Trini watched Andrea wince as she moved a bit. "No, I'm not leaving you like this. Go get dressed." Trini spoke with authority. She gave Andrea the glare that Domi gave Trini when she didn't want Trini to argue. It seemed to work.

Once Trini was alone she pulled out her cell phone. "Fox? Andrea needs a doctor, but can't get an appointment. Can our doctor look at her?"

"Sure. Bring her over."

Trini pulled into the parking lot of the Eyrie and noticed Andrea's eyes staring at her. "Xanatos Enterprises? Your doctor works in this building?" Trini just nodded and went around the car to help Andrea get up. The artist was moving like an old woman in her pain.

"I should have taken you to the doctor last night." Trini murmured to herself as they got into the elevator, but Andrea heard her.

"I told you not too. I didn't feel hurt then. That's not your fault."

Trini's body tensed a bit as they got out on the MedLab floor. Karen wasn't really a normal practitioner, but she was the only doctor Trini knew, and she was actually gentle.

When they stepped into the main research room, Karen smiled at them. Trini noticed that she promptly took off her doctor's robe and came to see them. "Fox told me to expect you." Karen waved them towards the examination room adjacent to the research facility.

"She isn't a normal Doctor?" Andrea glanced around at the group of researchers at work.

"Karen does a little bit of everything around here." Trini answered for the Doctor and held the door open for Andrea. She knew Karen was nice, but Trini wasn't planning on leaving a friend alone with a doctor. She went right in after them even though just being in a medical room made her tense.

While Karen was getting a few things out Andrea spoke to Trini quietly. "This is where you go?"

Trini realized that it did look strange, her having a doctor that was more a researcher than anything else. "Karen works for some friends of mine. You met Fox." That seemed to make Andrea relax a little.

Karen came up to Andrea with one of those patient robes. "I need you to change into this. Can you do it, or do you need help?"

Andrea took the robe. "I can do it."

"Good, we'll wait outside until you open the door a crack." Karen held the door open for Trini as they left.

Once the door closed Karen turned to Trini, "Are you planning to stay throughout the exam?" Trini blushed a bit. It seemed silly now. Karen rested a hand on Trini's arm, so Trini looked up into the Doctor's eyes again. "Trini, I'm not in the habit of hurting my patients. I won't hurt your friend. You don't need to stand guard."

"Okay, I'll just go make some phone calls then. Let me know when she's ready to go home." Trini wandered out to the hall to call into work. She was almost late for her job already, and was going to be later.

"Carrie? Tell Ms. Destine I'll be late."

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to tell her that yourself?" Carrie asked a little nervously.

"No, you can tell her. Thank you." Trini hung up quickly. She wasn't ready to talk to Domi yet, and Domi didn't know that Andrea got hurt again. She kind of wanted to patch the artist up a bit better before letting Domi know.

Trini drove Andrea home and then took the prescriptions for pain medicine with her to the pharmacy. She felt bad for not being there just a little sooner. Just a minute might have kept Andrea from hitting that wall. At least nothing was broken.

Trini went to the grocery store and the drug store for Andrea. It took two trips to the car to bring all of it in for the artist. "I thought you were just going for the medicine." Andrea glanced around at the bags of groceries, bandages, bottles of pain medicine, cold packs and the hot water bottle.

Trini gave Andrea a small grin and started to put the groceries away. "I figured you forgot to shop again, and I was right." Trini's face became a bit more serious. "Call me if you need anything like groceries. I don't want you hurting your back more because you try to carry things."

"God, you're worse than Domi was after I hurt my foot."

Trini put the last of the items away while Andrea watched. She then looked at Andrea inspecting the blue ice she'd bought for swelling. "I've been too late to save people before." Trini spoke quietly with a haunted look in her eyes. "I was so scared when I saw it was you last night. That I could have been too late for you." Trini took a shuddering breath. "Please… Please, you have to be more careful. I've seen things… horrible things that I don't want to ever happen to anyone I care about." Trini normally would try to hide this sort of thing, but maybe if Andrea heard about some of this she'd finally learn to be careful. "I found a girl that was raped in Central Park. I've seen gangs beat up people. There is so much going on in this city, and you need to be careful or you'll get hurt."

"Oh Trini…" Andrea took a step closer and pulled Trini into a careful hug. "I never even thought about what you might see while out rescuing people like me."

"I don't want to have to rescue you anymore Andrea. I want you to just be more careful so I don't have to do that." Trini was extremely gentle with her hug, afraid of hurting Andrea. "I don’t ever want to be too late for someone I care about again."

"again?" Andrea's shocked question made Trini's body tense up. "You've been too late for a friend? Oh God… Trini…" Trini couldn't believe she let that slip so easily.

Trini pulled back and glanced around nervously. "Well I think I have you all set up. I'll call you tomorrow to see if you need anything else."

"You aren't leaving now!" Andrea seemed to be trying to glare, but the artist just wasn't very good at looking angry.

"I'm already two hours late for work."

"I don't think Domi will fire her own lover. Sit down!"

Trini stared at Andrea helplessly. "I can't really talk about it." She whispered.

Andrea just studied Trini's face. "You are full of secrets and pain. I saw it when I drew you weeks ago. You are a lot like Domi that way." Andrea moved stiffly to sit on the couch with Trini, whose eyes were widening in surprise that Andrea would know that about herself or Domi. "Domi won't tell me about her pain either. She just changes the subject very poorly and glares at me if I push for her to open up."

"Yeah, Domi's not too big on opening up." Trini replied softly.

Andrea gave Trini a weak smile. "Like you're Miss communication? I've known you almost all summer, and I hardly know anything about you. You never even told me you were dating my best friend, or that you worked for her."

Trini stared down at her hands. "She cares about you. I didn't want you to treat her funny because she's with a woman now. I didn't know how'd you take it."

Andrea smiled, "If I were gay I would have been after her for myself, but since I'm not… I'm glad she has you." Andrea's face became serious again. "You aren't going to talk about any of these problems are you? Not about the detective, or whatever it is that gave you that pain I see in your eyes, or about this time you were too late."

Trini sat in silence and stared at Andrea for a moment. "I can't. Thank you, but I just can't."

Andrea sighed a bit unhappily. "Well don't forget I offered."

Trini stood up to go. "If you need help or money you know where to call."

"I will."

Trini sighed heavily as she pulled out into traffic again. She was now going to be two hours late for work. She felt like skipping it all together, but she pulled into the NightStone parking anyhow. She was going to act professionally. She was going to just go in there and get her work done, and all the personal stuff could wait until she got Domi home. Trini grabbed her sunglasses and put them on as she rode the elevator up to the top floor.

Carrie looked up at her in relief when she entered the office, making Trini wonder what the poor receptionist was going through while she was gone. "Ms. Destine wanted to see you as soon as you got in."

"She with anyone right now?"

"Yes, but that meeting should be over soon."

"I'll just get to work until she's free." Trini had expected Domi would push to talk right away, but Trini wasn't ready for it. She went into her office and started to work. She heard the person that had been in Domi's office leave, but she didn't get up to go see Domi. In a wave of irritation she decided that if Domi wanted to see her, she could come to Trini's office.

"You're still wearing your sunglasses." Domi's voice at the doorway made Trini grit her teeth. She glanced up at the CEO, her boss and lover, and sneered.

"I do what I have to."

Domi stepped into the office and closed the door behind her. "Trini… about yesterday…"

Trini held up one hand to silence her lover and growled. "Not here." She lowered her sunglasses so that Domi could see how pissed she was. "If whatever it is you want right now doesn't have to do with work, I want you to get out of my office."

Domi's eyes narrowed as she took a step closer to Trini's desk. "Don't talk to me like that! I was worried about you!"

Trini felt like slamming something around. "You couldn't just ask me?! You just went in there and accused my mate of raping me, and you couldn’t just ask me?!" Her voice was starting to get a little too loud.

"I tried asking you!" Domi growled at Trini while starting to lean on Trini's desk. Domi's face was a bit red.

"Just get out of my office and we will deal with this at home." Trini pointed at the door with a sharp jerk of her arm.

"Trini, she has that hold over you…" Domi started and Trini found herself grabbing her pencil holder and tossing it in Domi's direction.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY OFFICE!" She screamed as the heavy glass container flew through the air, missing Domi. It shattered against the wall. She was not going to sit there and listen to Domi's anti-human shit being focused at Fox!

Domi glared at Trini and then spun around to head for the door. "That was certainly loud enough for the entire floor to hear!" Domi growled as she slammed to door behind her. The windows shook with the force of that, and Trini just sat there staring at the shattered glass from the pencil holder on the carpet, and the pencils and pens sitting among it.

"Oh, god…" Trini whispered and put her hand over her mouth. She could have hit Domi with that thing. She took a deep shuddering breath and attempted to look at the file she needed to read. It was too bleary from her tears.

"Dammit." Trini's voice was tight. She swept everything she was working on back into her drawer and locked it up again. She couldn't work. She needed to get out of here.

When she passed by Carrie's desk she noticed the blonde trying not to look at her. Obviously the receptionist heard that fight. "Everything that happens in this office is confidential." Trini said flatly started to leave. She glanced once at Domi's closed door, and felt a wave of pain. "I'm off for the day." She spoke out while not even looking at Carrie and left.

Trini pulled out of the NightStone parking lot less than an hour after she got there. Her tires squealed a bit, as she pulled out, eager to get away before anything else went wrong. She just started driving, having no idea where she was going.

After an hour of aimless driving in the city Trini pulled over to get something to eat. She made sure her phone was still off as she got out of the car and wandered down the street looking for a place to have an early dinner. It was her first meal of the day. She was only going to eat because the rumbling of her stomach was distracting.

She sat alone in the corner of the restaurant watching the people walk past without really seeing them. The only other people in the restaurant were a group of men that talked quietly in the other corner booth. The name had sounded familiar, and as she sat alone in the expensive restaurant she realized that Fox had mentioned it once.

"Well, sweetheart, what is a lovely young lady like you doing looking so sad and alone?"

Trini sighed as she turned to look at the man trying his luck. He was attractive with an attitude that showed he knew it. His long black hair hung to his shoulders, with a streak of white that actually looked good in dark hair. He was one of the men from the other booth. "I'm Tony Dracon." He smiled and moved to spin a chair around and sit down at Trini's table.

Trini sighed and looked at him. She just didn't have the energy to come up with lies to be polite. "And you are so wasting your time. I'm a lesbian."

Tony chuckled. "Well, that was direct sugar." He smiled at her and leaned on the back of the chair, wrapping his arms around it. "So I guess it's girlfriend trouble then?"

Trini was surprised to find herself chuckling at that. Her chuckling was just a moment away from becoming sobs. Trini was so glad that she didn't end up breaking down. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

The waiter came up with Trini's meal, and set it down. Tony addressed him. "Put the ladies food on my bill."

Trini tensed up a bit at that. Once the waiter walked away she stared at him. He just smiled at her, still looking very confident that he could get into her pants if he wanted to. "So do you have a name?"

"I'm Trini." Trini nodded politely. She wasn't sure how to deal with him. He'd bought her dinner, it would be too rude to run him off now. She started to cut her steak up while thinking of a way out of this conversation.

"Nice to meet you Trini." Tony smiled like he won some grand prize in getting a name out of her.

"I'm not likely to be very good company right now." Trini sighed as she reached over to grab the pepper.

"Well, we'll just see if we can change that sugar."

Trini finished cutting her steak and then just turned to stare at him. "Thanks for the dinner and all, but I wasn't lying, I really am not interested."

"That’s fine." Tony smiled at her and Trini just had to shake her head in disbelief. Some women would love for this man to hit on them. She wished he'd go find one of those women. "So if your lady isn't treating you right, maybe it's time to move on."

"To you?" Trini tilted her head and took a bit of her steak. Once she finished eating she glared at him. "If I were going to leave my lover, it wouldn't be for a man."

"Chill sugar." Tony glanced over at his table of friends and back again. Trini started to see what was going on. This was to impress his friends. That actually made her relax when she realized it wasn't actually personal.

"So what's the bet for?" Trini smirked at him when he looked a little surprised for a moment.

"What makes you say that?" Tony seemed to study Trini and a smile crossed his lips again. He smiled all the time. "I thought I could make you smile."

"That's why those men keep looking over here? To see if you made me smile?" Trini felt a smile tugging at her lips at such a stupid bet, but she fought it.

"Well, my boys are pretty pathetic. They probably never get to see a woman as pretty as you are." Tony glanced down at Trini's meal. "Would you like some wine to go with your dinner? I was going to order some for myself."

"You plan to stay here?" Trini's amusement faltered a little.

"You look like you need someone to talk to." Tony waved the waiter over and sent him off with the wine order quickly.

"I was looking to be alone for a while."

"So you could replay the latest argument in your head and doubt your every word." Tony stared into Trini's eyes. "And then you'll crawl back to her and tell her that you were wrong, when you probably weren't."

Trini gritted her teeth and turned to stare out the window. When she felt the hand over her own she turned to glare at him. He just took the hand away without looking at all concerned.

"I didn't mean to upset you. I see it all the time, usually with boyfriends… but I'm right aren't I?" Tony took the wine glass the waiter offered without even noticing the man. "Time to think isn't what you really need. You need to go out and have fun. To get your mind off of it for a while."

Trini rolled her eyes, "Let me guess, you can help me with that?" Her voice was weary and clearly not the least bit interested.

Tony's phone ringing spared him from answering her right away. Trini watched him walk away for some privacy and then lean over to talk to his friends. When Tony came back he had an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry to have to leave such charming company, but business calls. I'll take care of your bill. Order any dessert you want."

"You don't have to do that." Trini protested lightly, but he just held up a hand gently to cut her off.

"Oh, but I want to honey." Tony smiled and turned to leave.

"Thank you." Trini called after him, earning herself another smile from him before he left.

Trini didn't order a dessert on Tony's bill. Instead she wandered outside and found an ice cream place. She got herself a small cone and walked through Central park to find a bench to sit on. It was still a while before sunset, but she could already hear the grasshoppers chirping in the shadows. She found an abandoned bench off a less popular path and sat down heavily.

The chirping got a bit louder and her gargoyle hearing made it easy to make out the bugs symphony. Trini watched a little boy looking around trying to find the chirping bugs, but his mother waved him over and they both left. Trini stared where the boy had been looking as she got lost in her memories.

First grade had just started that Monday, so this was the first weekend of the school year. Trini rushed out after dinner to go see the neighbor's cow. The animal was so friendly and liked it when Trini fed her grass. There weren't any other large animals like that in the neighborhood.

On her way back it was starting to get dark. That was the loudest she'd ever heard the crickets. When she came out of the woods near her home she saw the two boys hovering over something. They were older boys. Trini found out later that they were in the third grade.

"Pull it's wings off like this." One boys spoke to the other and proceeded to do just that to a cricket that Trini saw being held helplessly in his hand.

"Put it down! Don't do that!" Trini yelled while rushing towards the boys.

Everything had moved so fast she didn't remember giving him that black eye that she saw on him at school on Monday. He ran away with his friend after Trini kicked him hard. Trini just stood there and looked around, imagining the crickets were cheering for her and how she'd saved them.

She stayed there for a little while telling her tiny protectorate how she was going to protect them from mean boys like that. That no one should have to lose their wings, and she'd make sure they never hurt like that.

Trini pulled her feet up onto the bench after she finished her ice cream cone and hugged her legs to her body as she started to remember coming into the front door at home, and her mother's angry face staring at her as soon as she closed the front door.

"Look at you. Not a scratch on you." Momma had looked at Trini with cold eyes. "Scott's father called me. I work with him. He told me that you beat up his son."

"But Momma, he was…" Trini started to explain herself quickly. Momma's quick arm movement silenced her.

"You can't go around beating people up, especially bigger boys! People will start to talk." Momma started to yell.

Trini tried one more time to explain herself, and flinched in shock at the glass her mother was holding flew through the air to shatter nearby. "Dammit Trini, the hunters are in town! You can't act like a beast now!"

Trini tried not to remember the feel of her mother's hand as she slapped her and sent her to bed. The force of that hit almost sent her to the ground, and when Trini woke up in the morning, after crying herself to sleep, she saw that she had a black eye. It was swollen shut, just like Fox's was now.

Momma had looked at her with such concern in the morning. "Trini, baby I'm sorry." She'd gently caressed along the outer edges of the angry bruise. "If anyone asks, you need to say Scott did this. A big boy like that, he should have been able to fight back. Just tell people that Scott hit you."

Trini just nodded, feeling sick to her stomach and got dressed to go out to the park. It was about three blocks away from home.

Trini just sat on the bench in the park and watched the other kids play on the toys for a while. She didn't feel up to playing yet. She just didn't want to be home right now.

"Hi." Trini looked up to see a blonde girl looking at her with sympathy in her eyes. "I'm Robyn. Can I sit down?" Trini had scooted over, surprised that an older girl was talking to her. Hardly any kids really talked to her. "What's your name?"

"Trinity." Trini smiled a little but had to stop, because that hurt her face.

"That's a pretty name." Robyn smiled gently at her. The smile faded a bit. "What happened to your eye?"

Trini took a deep breath to tell another lie her mother told her was okay to tell. "I got in a fight with a boy." Looking at the pretty girl, Trini couldn't help but add. "I hurt him too."

Robyn just nodded and looked out at the playing kids. "My brother wanted to play for a little while. I'm just watching out for him." Trini followed Robyn's eyes to see a boy a little older than her with blonde hair smiling and running around with some of the neighbor boys. Scott wasn't among them.

When Trini had looked back at Robyn she noticed the bruise on Robyn's arm. "What happened?" Trini asked while hesitantly reaching out to touch the purple skin.

Robyn looked at Trini in shock and pulled the sleeve of her shirt down further to cover it. "I fell."

They sat there quietly on the park bench for a while before a stern looking man got out of a car. Robyn tensed up a moment before getting up. "See you later?" Trini said tentatively. It had been nice sitting with the older girl.

Robyn just gave her a small smile. "No, we're leaving for Paris. Goodbye."

Trini sighed as she started to walk down the path. It was getting a bit dark for her to hang out in central park unless she wanted the clan to find her not working like she said she was. She hadn't thought about that little girl in a long time. Trini clenched her fist as she realized now what she couldn't then. Robyn's daddy wasn't any better than Trini's mom.

Trini never did understand why her mother had yelled at her for talking to strangers after she told her mother about her new friend that night. Robyn was just a little girl. Trini actually got grounded for talking to a little girl.

Trini wiped the tears from her eyes and continued to walk towards the shops. She hated remembering her childhood. She never seemed to remember to good stuff. She was starting to doubt there were any good times. Her mind flashed on that glass being thrown at her and dug her hands into her pockets. "I'm becoming just like her." Trini whispered to herself as the tears started to flow again. She remembered tossing that pencil container.

Trini walked into the bookstore and quickly headed for the bathroom. She suspected her mascara had run with all her crying and wanted to get cleaned up before anyone saw her. She was right. When she looked into the mirror it was not a pretty sight. Trini grabbed some paper towels to try and clean that up a bit, embarrassed at doing this out where the other women could see her, but she needed the mirror.

A an overweight middle aged black woman walked up to use the sink next to Trini's. Trini could feel the woman's eyes on her as she focused on cleaning up. She stopped and leaned back. It didn't look like she'd been crying anymore.

"Are you okay honey?" The woman finally spoke. Trini sighed and looked at the reflection of the woman in the mirror.

"I'm fine. Thanks." Trini then decided to leave before the woman could ask any more questions.

Trini wandered aimlessly through the bookstore. She didn't really feel like shopping, but she didn't want to go home yet. She wasn't ready to face Domi and she really wasn't ready to face the clan. Trini grimaced. She had two homes, and couldn’t go to either one of them. That was pretty pathetic.

Trini started to look at every shelf. She was doing little more than reading the titles as she slowly walked down the walls. She gave the black woman from the bathroom a weak smile as she walked around her and skipped the area on African cultures to put some distance between them. That woman was still looking like she'd like to mother her, and Trini didn't need that.

When Trini's eyes caught the title, "Children of Abuse: Breaking the Cycle" she stopped her slow movement and stared at it a moment. Her heart pounded a bit as she reached out and pulled that one off the shelf. She noticed herself glancing around nervously hoping that no one noticed what she was looking at. When no one seemed to even notice she existed she opened the book up to take a glance inside.

Once she made up her mind about the book she held it tight to her body so that no one would be able to see the title and continued to look around. The next shelf over triggered another memory, of Elisa telling her she was too violent. That had hurt last night. She reached out with her free hand and took the book on Anger Management off the shelf and put it with the other without even opening it.

Trini continued her shopping while feeling like she was being watched, but a look around the store showed that no one was looking at her. It was probably just her nerves.

Trini's hand was shaking as she took the next book off the shelf. She did another glance around the store before opening it up to read the contents. It was put on top of the stack of books she had and pulled tight to herself, as if Trini hoped to hide that book inside her body as she walked up to the counter to purchase these.

The check out counter was busy. Trini stood tensely waiting for her turn, and praying that she had enough cash, because she didn't want a record anywhere to show that she bought these books. She wasn't supposed to let anyone know. The cashier scanned the first book and slid it into the bag. Trini started to relax as the large title of "Surviving Rape" was hidden from view. She didn't notice the black woman from the bathroom was glancing at her books as they were rung up while waiting for her own turn, or the concerned look that woman gave Trini's back while Trini paid cash for her purchases.

The black woman walked right up to the man signing books near the entrance. Trini nodded politely at her as she walked past the line of people getting their books signed by Jeffery Robbins and wondered if she'd ever get published. If she did, she was pretty sure she'd rather not go to any signings. She glanced at her watch as she stepped out of the bookstore and was surprised by how long she'd been in there. It was nine and completely dark outside.

She suddenly felt guilty as she realized that she should have at least called her lovers to let them know she was alright. She knew that at least Fox would be worried. She wasn't sure if Demona would care, after Trini had caused that scene at work. She didn't even know if she still had a job now. God, wouldn't that be something, to get fired the day after telling the clan she was spying at NightStone.

Trini loaded her books into the trunk before pulling out her cell phone. She was surprised when the voice mail picked up. "Fox, I'm okay, just shopping and such." Trini's voice was a little flat and she knew it would make Fox concerned. She tried to cover it up a bit more. "I'll see you tomorrow." She couldn't go home and risk the clan seeing her when they knew she was supposed to be away. Her voice got quieter as her shoulders hunched forward. "Can you call her and tell her I'm okay? I… I can't talk to her now, but if she is actually worrying…" Trini sighed and just hung up. She sounded pathetic. Too bad she couldn't erase her message and start over.

Trini put her phone away and just started to walk down the street. She had already paid for this parking space, and she'd never been in this neighborhood before.

She wandered into a store to browse. She didn't have anything better to do.

She left that store a little more somber. In a bag she had another pencil holder. This one wasn't glass. Whether or not she kept that job, she owed NightStone the replacement. As she had time to think about it, she really couldn't see Domi being able to keep her working there after that scene. God, how many people heard her yell? No one else would get away with that. She would fire herself for that sort of thing.

She didn't think her lover would break up with her, but she was still worried about that. At the very least Domi had to be so incredibly disappointed in her. Trini gave a humorless laugh as she walked. Tony was right, she was doubted her every comment and action. Maybe she did need a break, just a little fun, some time off from this constant doubt and pain.

She looked up when she heard the strange clanking. The author from the bookstore was using his stick to feel the path in front of him while the woman from the bathroom led him to a car. Trini tried not to stare. She just couldn't see how that stick helped him get around.

"Thanks for the ride Diane." He said as the woman held the door open. Trini walked past them towards her own car to deposit the latest purchase in the trunk. She took her wallet out of her purse and pulled out her money and id. She was going to go to that dance club she walked past on the way to the car and lose herself in the music for a while.

Her outfit didn't really have enough pockets, so she left her phone in the trunk as well. She hadn't been dancing in years. Maybe that would help with this funk she was in.