'Why didn't she leave?' he asked. 'You got your whole family away. Why couldn't she have come, too?'

Rose's own guilt on that matter washed over her, choking off any immediate response. She'd known at the time that Jessica wouldn't come with them any more than Adeline would, but she'd still tried to convince both women to leave, to no avail. "She couldn't, Joey," she whispered, sliding her arms around his shoulders. "She was the government's primary target, she and Addie both. If they were gone, the government would have kept coming after us all. This way, Gyrich convinced himself that the heart of the Resistance was killed at Kane Manor. Jess and Addie sacrificed themselves to give the rest of us a fighting chance."

His hand closed over the locket, tears spilling down his cheeks. The time he'd spent in the kennels wasn't the source of his pain, Rose realized; those years were horrible, but like other painful events in his past, he could overcome them, eventually. The loss of his family, though, was a deadly blow. It was that loss which had crushed his spirit when the government's abuse couldn't, which had driven him to attempt suicide when the thought of life without his family was too much for him to face.

Being in Kenya with his father was exactly what he needed now. It didn't matter that they had never been close; they were family. It had been right there in his paintings, all along. How could she have not seen it?

"You ready to go to Kenya?" she asked, running her fingers soothingly through his curly hair.

He nodded, wiping his eyes with the back of one hand.

With a brief hug, she whispered, "I'll be back," and went to find Kaia.

The empath was sitting on the front porch, basking in the last warmth of the setting sun. What little she had brought with her -- or had been bought for her -- was packed in shopping bags that rested on the steps in front of her. She turned to face Rose as the other woman approached, but made no other move.

"Eager to get back home, huh?" Rose smiled, seating herself on the steps near Kaia's feet. Kaia said nothing, but pulled her feet away from Rose, as if it was unfitting for her to be too near the other woman, much less seated above her. Rose ignored the typical ex-Hound timidity and placed her hand on Kaia's to get her attention.

"Take care of my brother, OK?"

Kaia stared at her, and Rose blushed, feeling stupid. Of course her words had meant nothing, and she didn't know Kaia's improvised signs well enough to talk to her that way. It had been silly to even try; typical of what happens when one acts from feelings instead of logic. She sighed and stood up to leave.

Amazingly, Kaia stopped her. It was the first time Rose had seen her initiate an action with someone other than Slade or Joe, and she wondered what could be important enough to prompt the meek redhead into such bold conduct.

Kaia pulled a pad of paper from one of her bags and dug deeper for a pencil. She then proceeded to draw a scene with her usual stick figures and handed it to Rose. The faces of the figures were the only real clue as to who each one represented. The central figure had a pattern of radiating lines on its face -- Hound marks -- and curly hair, which could only have been Joseph. To his left, a shorter figure with similar facial markings held out both hands to him in a welcoming gesture. Hearts were drawn around the hands and over the head. The figure to the right was in a similar position, only this one was taller than Joseph, and had a dark circle where his right eye should have been. In the background was a large house, an even larger mountain, and a brightly shining sun.

It seemed that Kaia had understood her after all.

Slade approached from where the Jeep was still parked in the field and smiled at Rose. Grabbing Kaia's bags, he motioned toward the car with his head and she nodded. She wrapped Rose in a quick and completely unexpected hug, then flew off before Rose could begin to reciprocate.

"She likes you," Slade explained before carrying the last of the bags to the Jeep.

The others filed out of the cabin to say goodbye. While their transport back to Wayne Manor would be from the convenience of the cabin's living room, the trip to Kenya required travelling to Medicine Hat to meet up with a teleporter who lived there. She would send them to her contact in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, who could transport them as far as Recife, Brazil. The third leg of the journey was to N'Djamena, in Chad, and from there, one of the R & D team members -- the yellow-eyed Jamaal DeGavah -- would bring them home to the wilds of Kenya. Such were the hassles of lengthy travel, as few teleporters had the strength for ports of more than a few thousand miles.

Joseph knelt in front of his nieces and hugged them both goodbye, eliciting solemn promises from them to be good for their parents and to write to him. Lily even volunteered to spend summers with him, to which he smiled and told her she'd have to ask her mother for permission.

'Look out for my little sister,' he told Gar. 'And... thanks for everything.'

Gar grinned. "Hey, you're talking to the expert, here; I haven't been married to her for seven years without learning a thing or two -- like hiding under the bed when she's angry, or raiding Dick's chocolate stash to ward off a PMS attack. We'll be fine, don't you worry." He gave his brother-in-law a heartfelt hug. "Don't get eaten by a lion, OK? And remember -- ask before drawing any pictures of elephants. They get touchy about those wrinkles, you know."

He turned to Rose, neither of them able to find the words to express what they felt. They hugged each other tightly, silently communicating all they'd shared as well as all they'd lost. As she drew back, looking up at him, she realized that Aharon had been right; even now, she could see in his eyes the first tentative glimmer of the brother she knew and loved.

"Keep in touch," she whispered.

He kissed her forehead and smiled before turning and walking toward the Jeep. Kaia wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he settled into the front seat. With a wave that was almost a salute, Slade started the engine and turned the Jeep away from the cabin, heading down the path that would take the three of them halfway around the world.

The path toward home.

Author's postscript: Magneto's "real" name was chosen on the basis of his personal characteristics. Aaron (Aharon) was the first High Priest, very regal of bearing and charged with keeping the Law. Moses (Moishe), his brother, was the greatest of prophets, and one of the few men to speak directly with God. Both were of the tribe of Levi (HaLevi), the priestly caste. The name is thus the most charismatic, talented, and gifted name I could derive. � 2000 by Rachel Ehrlich Joseph Wilson, Rose Worth, Gar Logan, Dick Grayson, Koriand'r, Gotham city, Emil LaSalle, Bruce Wayne, and Slade Wilson � DC Comics Magneto, Hounds, and Sentinels � Marvel Comics Lily Logan, Rita Marie Logan, Kaia Kapp, Magneto's "real" name, and the American Resistance Coalition � Rachel Ehrlich