“So talk.” 

            “I know.”  Nat said simply and Jo blinked, wondering just what she thought she knew.  Jo was silent, staring at the phone with some amusement.  “I know about the Dell.”  Nat instructed and Jo sat up, legs flying to the floor as she stood up.

            “You…”  Jo said in a deep threatening tone of voice.  “How?”  Jo asked and instantly she saw it in her head, Nat Shadow Walking through the door.  Taking the battered lump of plastic and metal and whisking it away to the Kindred house.

            “You didn’t?”  Jo asked and more silence from the other end of the phone.  She was then going to ask how she knew, but then again Natalie was just as connected in the spiritual world as anyone else she knew.

            “I did.  I’m sorry.  I’ve been working on who cursed the Dell.”  Nat told her in an even voice, Jo sat back down.  She licked her lips.  She hadn’t even bothered to look into it, she’d been too busy looking for Helena’s children, and trying to keep herself from going slowly insane.

            “Leads?”  Jo asked sounding very much like a detective once again, how long ago had that been?  Three lifetimes ago.  Jo sighed.  God she missed the simple days of searching for missing jewels and chasing ghosts.

            “I need some help on that.  Was this about you?”  Nat asked as she sat down on her bed, her fingers running over the left over Dell.  The curled and burned Spiderman sticker, it was Jo’s machine, that she knew.  The files that had been left in the computer wasn’t anything of Jo’s.   

            “Not that I know of.  I have my own theories.  That I haven’t been able to look into just yet.  I think that Tina Kennard, Lara Perkins, Susan Birch or Shane McCutcheon were the intended targets.  Everyone else might have just been fodder.  I don’t know Nat, what did you come up with?”  Jo asked and more silence on the other end.

            “Nat.  Talk to me.”  Jo ordered and a soft sigh on the other end of the phone.  “Don’t play Kindred with me, I’ve saved your ass more than once, talk to me.”

            “Is it true Jo?  All the things that Carlotta told us?  That you’re hunting again, killing again?  Jo?”  Nat asked in the voice that betrayed her age and made her sound that much younger.  Jo closed her eyes; disappointing her was as bad as disappointing Amy.

            “Nat….  it was the vortex….  I…”  Jo lied and a soft sigh of relief from Natalie.

            “I’ll see what those names come up for me; in the mean time, lay low, Jo.  Watch, whoever this was, might not be done.”  Nat warned and hung up the phone, leaving Jo to her own thoughts.

~*~*~*~*~*

Not Me

2.20.05

Janet Marie

Sometimes I get the feeling

That my other self isn’t missed at all

I was left behind

No one the wiser

My former life without you dismissed

Can someone tell me why is this?

It was a cold day when I came to you

Now I lay here

Colder and more broken

Tears streaking down my face

Never acknowledge

I’ve been turned

Twisted

Following down the path you lay out for me

A robot with its orders

Marching on

Until you change what I’m meant to be