“Harlequin!  This is my…”  Peggy yelled again, as if repeating it was
going to change the outcome of the situation.

            “My niece, her daughter.  Their daughter.”  Quin said pointing to Tina and Cass, “Stop
being a pain.  Continue this…”  Quin was saying when Helena stopped them, putting
a hand on Quin’s chest.

            “Enough.  The both of you.  Mother, this isn’t the end of the
world.”  Helena assured her.

            “I just found her.”  Peggy stated loudly, drawing attention to
herself, in pure Peabody flair. 

            “I have too Peggy.  How do you think this makes me feel?  She’s my daughter and now I’m going to have
to travel 1000 miles to see her.”  Alice
said, her arms crossed over her chest. 
Quin reached out and touched her cheek, and Alice moved right into her
arms.

            “Peggy we’ll never stop you from
coming to visit.”  Cassandra said, trying
to smooth this over.  She knew why Daisy
had bolted now, because the ***** was hitting the fan now.

            “Certainly not.  It’s not enough!”  Peggy blared and now Bette and Candace were
standing with them, as were Jenny, Marina, Shane and Dana.

            “You spent all of 10 minutes with me
as a child, you shipped Helena off to boarding school when she could walk.  Stop being the center of…”  Quin was saying and Peggy reeled back and
slapped her.

            Silence came over the circle of
friends and Quin rubbed her chin, Alice about to bolt and tackle Peggy.  What the ***** was the woman thinking?  Tina’s eyes were wide and Quin seemed to be
calm.

            “I’m done Mother.  With you and your drama.”  Quin said softly, reaching down and taking
Alice’s hand into hers and she walked away. 
Helena smirked.

            “Quin…  Quin…” 
Helena said and Quin put a hand up in the air and waved her off.  Alice held onto her as they left the
building.

            “I’ll see you in court.”  Peggy said threateningly to Cassandra and
Tina.   She stormed off and Helena
touched Tina’s hand, shaking her head the soft black curls tossing around her
face.

            “No worries about her, we’ll settle
her down.  Congratulations on the new job
Tina.” 

            “Thank you.”  Tina said softly, and Cassandra held her
softly to her chest.  She kissed Tina’s
cheek and Tina arched back and kissed her lips. 
Sighing softly at the sweet loving touch. 

            “You’re really moving?”  Shane asked, digging her toes into her
shoes.  Their little family was being
busted up and Shane was none to happy about it.

            “Yeah.  Yeah we are.” 
Tina acknowledged, and they were all silent.  No one knowing just what to say.

~*~*~*~*~*

            Alice drove to Quin’s apartment in
silence, Quin staring out of the window, very pensive. 

            They got out of the Mini, walking
hand and hand into the apartment.  Quin
tugged Alice into the bedroom, Alice touching her reddened cheek.  She felt the heat in the skin and Quin pulled
away gently, kissing Alice’s fingertips.

            “What’s keeping us here?”  Quin asked softly, kissing Alice’s lips.

            “Work?  Family? 
This is my home.”  Alice said,
returning her girlfriends kiss.  Soft
butterfly kisses on her lips.

            “We can work anywhere.  Half of our family is moving to Seattle.  I know this sounds crazy, insane even.  I’ve been to Seattle, I love it.  The Peabody Foundation has offices
there….”  Quin said and Alice blinked.

            “Are you saying what I think
your….”

            “Ali I love you.  I want to be with you.  If we lose Daisy now, and have to be
relegated to just seeing her sporadically, you’ll go mad.  I’ll go mad; we’d be up there weekly…”  She touched Alice’s cheek.  “Just think about it…”  Alice rolled over onto her back and stared up
at the ceiling.  Thinking.