Slider smiles over the rice box in her hand and she pours some on Richie's plate. "Here you go." she says. Richie and Nick have been staring at her all night. Richie is kinda cute but not her type, neither is Nick but the attention is nice. Jennifer smiles at Lars, he's such a nice dad. He reminds her of her own dad and her mom is just as sweet.

"So yeah to answer your question all our rooms are this big. They take up the whole floor," she says.

Lars nods, "Not bad. How much do they cost?" he asks.

"Nothing, it's part of our contract." Slider says.

Gwen flies back to Stormwatch Tower after the Nova Council meeting in a dark mood...feeling out-of-sorts. She flies to her own window, says the password, and it opens, letting her inside. She leaves the window open and paces around her apartment...trying to calm herself down before re-joining her family.
Today should have been the best of days! Her whole entire family's in New York...they watched her get her medals back...she captured Narcosis AND got to beat the shit out of her...

Gwen walks over to her desk and very carefully takes her medals out of their cases with a look that's a mixture of love, reverence, disbelief and awe. She lays the medals across the back of her forearm and holds them up to the light and gazes at them for a long, silent moment-- the gold of the medals contrasting beautifully against the black of her EuFiber gloves. She still can't believe she got her original medals...but there they are. Back at the Olympics she'd been worried that they might get mixed up with someone else's so she'd made a little special mark on each one. And there they are...the tiny GNs at the bottom of the back of each one. They really ARE her original medals.
She stands there for a long time, and then slowly puts the medals around her neck and turns to look in the mirror. She should be whole now...so why isn't she? She's happy beyond belief that she has her medals back and that the Olympic and World Records have been corrected. It's all she'd thought she'd have wanted or needed to make her life complete. But she still feels off.
She finally takes the medals off, kisses each one softly, and puts them back in their cases, and then hangs the cases on the wall. She needs to be with her family right now. She flies out the window, and the window closes behind her.

A few seconds later she's floating outside Slider's window, dressed in her new warm-up outfit. She folds her arms and waits to see if anyone notices her, and then taps the window lightly with her toe and grins.

"Well well!" Richie says smiling. "Look at the show off." he says pointing to the window.
Nick smiles and waves her in.

"Window open!" Jennifer says and the window slides open with a hiss.

"Too good to use the elevator?" Lars asks shaking his head. He looks at his daughter approvingly though, amazed at seeing her fly.

"Oh Lars let the girl show off for her brothers." Martha says patting his shoulder.

Pete and Umbra chuckle. "Hey if you got it flaunt it!" Pete says. "Hey Gwen! Come on in!" he says.

Gwen laughs. "Oh come on...I'm sure you get to see me fly all the time on the news!" she grins at everyone in mock-arrogance, looking pleased at all the attention and approval. She flies over to Richie and rests her elbow on his shower, crossing her ankles and looking down at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey shortie...how's it hangin'?" she smirks. Richie's the tallest of everyone in her family, standing 6'8". Pete's next-tallest at 6'6"...then Nick and her father at 6'5"...then Gwen at 6'2"...and then her mother at 5'7"! Poor Martha.

"Shortie is it?" Richie says with a raised eyebrow. "Come down here and I'll show you how short I am," he says rubbing his hands together and cracking his neck back and forth. "Or have you forgotten how much a whoopin I used to put on you?"

"Kids," Lars says crossing his arms. "I'm sure Miss Landers here wouldn't appreciate you smashing up her apartment," he says.

Gwen-- already cracking her knuckles and grinning eagerly-- pauses and glances over at her father, and then back at Richie and sighs in disappointment. "We'll take this outside...later!" she smiles. She noogies his head-- something she's never been able to do before-- and then quickly flies out of reach and lands beside Slider.
"I'm really sorry I had to leave you guys after you just got here. My boss was being a di-- ahem, a jerk, and said I had to fly to Italy immediately. I told him I needed to stay here with you guys and make sure you were safe, but he started yelling at me..." she sighs, "...so off I went...as always." she says a touch more bitterly than she'd meant to. Bob really had something up his ass earlier that morning! First Bob yelling at her...then Raoul insulting her in front of the entire Nova Council. Just lovely.
"At least I was able to find and arrest Narcosis, so it wasn't a wasted trip." she adds, unconsciously rubbing her knuckles.

"Good job, Gwen!" Jennifer says with a great big smile. "Bob was a great big jerk this morning wasn't he?"

Gwen rolls her eyes and shakes her head in exasperation. "Biggest jerk he's ever been...and that's saying something!"

"Oh don't you worry, Gwen," Martha says. "Miss Landers here has been a wonderful host. She's told us so much about your adventures here. I have to say I'm so impressed!"

"Yes Gwen, very impressed. Stopping a five-story building from crashing into helpless onlookers. Now that's impressive." Lars says.

Gwen shoots Slider a grateful smile and then folds her arms and puffs up her chest. "All in a day's work for Aura!" she grins toothily, and then drops the act.
"Thanks Mom and Dad. It's probably the hardest feat I've ever done as a nova. Normally I probably wouldn't have been able to catch that size of a building, but I suddenly had this huge rush of adrenaline and this burst of strength...I wish I could be that strong ALL the time! I got a quick peek into what life must be like for Supreme!" she smiles.

"She was great!" Jennifer says nodding. "Like she always is!"

Gwen raises her eyebrows at Slider and smiles. She's not used to a female being so complimentary and supportive of her all the time like this-- aside from her mother, of course! She doesn't know what Slider sees in her-- honestly! But then again, she could say the same of Ethan.

"That's awesome Gwen I saw some of that on the news a while back. Good stuff." Richie says nodding. "They said you took on Mal."

"That's something right there," Nick says.

Gwen has to hold back a laugh. If Slider weren't in the same room she might have embellished that story to make her look better in front of her brothers! "I tried to..." she admits. "That day he grabbed me and through me into Bob-- that's why Bob's in a wheelchair." she explains. "But then when he attacked this building a while ago I got him to calm down, and then when he walked past me I took away his laser-eyes!" she brags. "That's one of the things I can do with my aura...that's why I picked the name 'Aura.'" she explains.

"You took his laser eyes?" Lars says. "You can do that?" he asks incredulously. "Nice," says Nick from the couch.
Richie leans forward. "How'd that feel?"

"I've seen her do it. Very cool." Jennifer says. "She can take people's powers away from them for a short time. It's very useful. She can stop nearly anyone," she says.

Martha watches on with a smile seeing her family all here together.
Umbra and Pete sit on the couch softly talking to each other while the rest are all talking to Gwen as if nothing had ever happened.

Gwen smiles at Richie. "You can't even imagine how GOOD it felt-- to take away one of Divis Mal's powers! It made me feel a lot more confident, knowing I could do something that powerful against Divis. See, he used those laser-eyes to--" she glances over at Umbra and Pete, "--to kill Nick Jackson and ALMOST kill Umbra. I was worried he was going to try the same thing on someone in Stormwatch while he was in this building. The best part is that when I take a power away from a nova, *I* get to use that power for a little while!"
She looks at Richie and folds her arms, grinning. "When I took Geryon's size-power away from him I grew to 12 feet tall for about 5 minutes!" she grins toothily. "Too bad you were all the way in Seattle when that happened, huh!" she comments, cracking her knuckles again.

"Yeah you might have been a challenge then," Richie says with a smirk.

"Oh stop teasing your sister," Lars says. "So are you back for good now, Gwen? Or do you have something else to do?" Lars says.

"Oh be easy on the girl she's a policeman you know. She has to run on a moment's notice," Nick says.

"I didn't mean it that way, Nick. Sorry Gwen." Lars says.

Pete and Umbra are still cuddled on the couch talking to themselves without a care in the world. Umbra doesn't quite hear Nick's name. Probably for the best.

Gwen smiles, and almost panics when she feels tears trying to form in her eyes. It's her family, all back together again...talking to each other like nothing ever happened. She realizes why she took to Damage so quickly when they first met. He reminded her of her brother Richie, who she missed so much during their years of silence.
"No-- it's OK, Dad. I knew what you meant. I don't have any orders right now." she says, and then pauses. Does she want to tell her family about how Bob wants her to go talk to the psychologists?? No, no...she doesn't want to start Richie off on a kick where he teases her about being crazy.
"Bob wants me to...go downstairs for some tests sometime today if I get a minute, but since I don't have to sleep anymore I could always schedule it for late tonight. I'd rather spend as much time as I can with you guys." She hopes Slider doesn't ask her about the psychologists in front of her family!!

"Well there's your answer dad." Richie says smiling. "What kind of tests?" he asks.

Lars looks over at Gwen too. "Yes what kind of tests?" he says.

"Strength tests," Jennifer says piping up. "Every time she steals a power like that there could be a Quantum flux so they have to monitor her carefully to make sure she's ok." she says. She looks over at Gwen and smiles.

"So you could become more powerful each time you do this?" Nick says. "Cool."

Gwen is barely able to disguise her surprise and then relief as Slider saves her from almost certain teasing from her brother/worry from her parents. She shoots her another quick smile, and then turns to Nick.
"Yeah! In fact, we recently discovered that if I steal someone's strength I have a short period of time where I have to hit something to discharge the power or else something bad will happen to me. That's what they're testing-- to see if I've suffered any adverse affects from holding in someone else's power. In fact--" Gwen say, getting into her explanation now, "-- a couple of days ago I caught the guy who was trying to kill the lawyer Ethan Crane, and he detonated a suicide-bomb to try to kill me and him both, and instead I absorbed the bomb's power! But I could feel it building and building inside of me and I knew I had to hit something quick or something bad was going to happen to me, so I flew back here and Damage let me punch him...and I ended up breaking his arm really bad! Luckily he has really fast healing so he didn't have to stay in the infirmary for very long!" she smiles.

Jennifer laughs. "He was so pissed! I've never seen him so mad."

"Wow you absorbed the explosive force? All of it?" Nick asks.
Richie leans in closer to hear this too. His sister has gotten quite powerful indeed!

"Wasn't that a little dangerous, Gwen?" Lars asks. "I'm not sure I like you taking all these risks."

Gwen gives a tiny shrug. "Yeah...but everything we do is risky, Dad." She sits on the edge of Slider's desk. "People expect it of you when you're a nova. If you're not out there fighting crime and arresting bad guys, regular humans think you're wasting your powers. There's a lot of pressure. And yet it seems like all I hear nowdays is how no one wants Stormwatch to be in the United States anymore...complain, complain, complain." she sighs. "Or maybe I'm just watching too much of the Jordan McDevitt Show." she grumbles.

"What a horrible man," Martha says. "I refuse to watch his show or even listen to it on the radio."

"Thanks Mom." Gwen smiles gratefully.

"He's an asshole all right," Richie says. "The guy just likes to feed everybody�s paranoia about Novas and make them look bad."

"Asshole," Nick says nodding in agreement.

"Major asshole is more like it. But he's an entertaining asshole at times. We should get Sero to go on his show. I bet she'd verbally tear him from limb to limb." Jennifer says.

Gwen gives a little laugh. "She can do it verbally if I can do it physically!" She gives Slider a sideways glance. "Mr. Asshole sure loves YOU, though! Did you know you're his favorite nova?" she grins. "Those bunnies sure were potent!" she wiggles her eyebrows.

"OH really? You think he'd like an autographed knuckle sandwich?" Jennifer says excitedly.

Gwen laughs loudly.

"So Gwen, what's your plans for today?" Lars says. "You know your mother and I haven't been to New York, and I don't think Richie or Nick have either."

"Oh yes Gwen, what are the plans?" Martha asks. "Nothing too heavy tho I'm still feeling a bit jet-lagged."

Jennifer winks at Gwen. "Well I'm sure Gwen has loads of plans!"

Gwen is looking at her mother with great concern. She's going to ask her what's going on...why she's so thin...and this time no more lies.
She realizes everyone's waiting for her to answer, so she forces a smile. "Well, I thought I could take you on a driving-tour of the city...show you all the famous things you've probably seen on TV or in the movies...and then let you guys decide what you want to see up close! Of course, we have to take the obligatory ferry-ride to the Statue of Liberty, right? No trip to New York would be complete without it!" she grins.

"Yeah the ferry ride is great!" Jennifer says. "You'll love it!" she says.

"That sounds good, Gwen." Lars says. "I'm sure we could all use a bit of a rest before we head out. What do you say Martha? An hour nap and then we can go?" he asks.

"Oh that would be wonderful." Martha says. "Is that alright dear?"

Gwen feels her stomach clench. 'An hour nap?? Why is dad suggesting an hour-nap to Mom?? The two have endless energy!'
"Sure...that's fine. I could always go down and do my test now..." she suggests. "Hold on and I'll call them."
Gwen gives a silent sigh and walks over to where she can use her phone in private. But instead of calling the shrinks she calls the technologies department first.

Richie and Nick look at each other darkly. Pete looks over to them as well.

Jennifer sees the looks and watches Gwen over by the phone. She sighs and takes a sip of her coke. "I'm sure you'll love the guest apartments. They are the biggest I've ever seen."

"Technologies, what can we help you with?" says a voice over the phone.

Gwen glances behind her to make sure none of her brothers have snuck up on her. "Hey, this is Aura." she says quietly. "I need someone to check my Hummer and made sure it's safe...make sure it hasn't been rigged to explode or anything like that. I received a threat on my family's life this morning, and I'm going to be driving them around in the Hummer in an hour. I'd just really appreciate it if someone could go down to the garage and take a look...maybe bring one of those gadgets that searches for bugs or explosives or something..."

"Absolutely Aura. We'll send a team down there immediately. We'll call you if we find anything." the voice says. "Is there anything else we can assist you with today?"

"Nope...that's it. Thank you." she says, and ends the call. Then she sighs, stares at her phone for a minute, and then reluctantly dials the psychology department while muttering a string of curses that includes Bob's name.

"Psych department? How may we help you today?" says a woman's voice.

The rest of the family is talking about their plans for the day while Lars and Martha head down to the guest apartments.

Aura is about to hang up, but then realizes her number might be on their caller ID, anyway. She grits her teeth and takes a deep breath. "Hi...this is Aura..." she says reluctantly. "Has Bob, uh...called you guys today...about talking to me for any reason?" she asks evasively.

"Oh yes we have you scheduled for an appointment with Dr. Karker." the voice says. "When can you come in?"

"Damnit..." Aura says under her breath. She might be able to bring herself to punch Bob were he in front of her at this moment! She comes close to suggesting to the psych secretary that why doesn't she go ahead and schedule Bob for an appointment with Dr. Karker while she's at it, but stops herself at the last second.
"I have a free hour right now...but that's probably too short of notice for Dr. Karker, right?" she asks with a note of hope in her voice.

"No no come on down. He'll see you right away, Aura." she says. "He's looking forward to meeting you."

"Oh god..." Gwen mutters as quietly as she can. 'Looking forward to meeting me??? WHY???' she thinks to herself worriedly.
"Lovely." she finally says, unable to disguise all the sarcasm in her voice. "I guess I'll be right down then." she says, and hangs up. She's about to re-join her family when she stops and pops her phone back open again and dials Bob's number.

"This is Bob go." Bob says picking up his phone at his desk. He sees it's Aura and winces. He's felt bad all day about yelling at her so harshly this morning. "Hey Aura...listen...I wanted to say I'm sorry for yelling at you this morning."

Gwen is stopped in her tracks-- her mouth open to yell at him and her finger already on the "end" button ready to hang up on him afterwards! She wasn't expecting an APOLOGY!
She's quiet for a long moment as her mind tries to adjust to this, and then she finally clears her throat. "Well...thanks Bob..." she says a little warily. Usually when Bob yells at her it's more of an exasperated yell. And not an actually voice-raised-yell, nor one laced with cutting remarks. It's going to take Aura a while to get over this morning's tirade. She goes quiet again.

"I was out of line. I realize that. If you want I can make the apology public to the rest of the team. I...I'm really sorry Aura." Bob says. He really has been feeling pretty shitty about it. "I hope we can continue our relationship as if it hadn't happened."

Gwen raises her eyebrows. 'Damn...Bob IS sorry...' she thinks to herself, continuing down the road of more and more surprised. Then she thinks about her activities in Bahrain...shaving Narcosis' head and beating her senseless...and wonders if Bob would take back his apology if he knew she did that. Damage won't tell him, but Mestre probably will. Or if not Mestre, someone in the Teragen might find out and make it public knowledge.
"I...uh...I'd like that, Bob. The relationship-thing...not the public apology-- you don't have to do that. I mean...if we're going to continue our relationship the way it was before, you'll be getting after me for something soon, anyway, right?" she says with a forced laugh. She turns around and leans her back against the wall so she can see what her family's up to.

"That's true, but I don't want to Aura. I shouldn't have to. You're one of the senior members of Stormwatch. We never had incidents like this past year before. What's going on?" Bob asks.

Gwen is searching the room worriedly with her eyes. Her parents are missing. Did they already leave to take a nap??
"I don't know, Bob...I guess that's what Dr. Karker gets to find out, right?" she says a little distractedly. "Jesus Mom..." she says under her breath, and then tries to focus on her conversation with Bob.
She sighs. "I'm having a bad day. You'd think it would be a GREAT day...right? My family all fly into town...I finally get my medals back...then Narcosis dominates some random human to come up and threaten my family's lives for her at the medals ceremony...I hug my mom and I can feel her bones and I know she's been lying about 'just being tired'...and here I thought I'd escaped the cancer-curse that strikes novas' moms...then you make me go to Italy and leave my family unattended right after all this...and then I come back in time for the Nova Council meeting and publicly apologize to Count Ortiz for what happened last night, and he decides to insult me up one side and down the other in front of everyone, and now I get to go talk to a shrink because I'm crazy! So no...I can't think of what could possibly be going on, but for $600 an hour you better hope Dr. Karker can figure it out, right? Or is that only the rate for your lawyer?" she rants, and then turns her back to her family and closes her eyes as the tears start to come.

"Jesus, Aura." Bob says leaning forward at the desk. "I'm sorry...Christ. Listen, talk to the guy and then take a leave of absence OK? Everyone will understand and I'll clear it through no problem. OK?"

Gwen rubs her temples with her fingers and is silent as she takes a minute to make sure her voice isn't going to shake when she tries to talk.
"Let me talk to my family first, OK? They haven't said anything about Mom...haven't said anything about her being sick...or tired...or suddenly too thin...but...I mean...I have to be realistic..." She sighs. "I'll talk to the guy...I'll talk to my family...then I'll call you back." She pauses for a long moment. "Thanks Bob..." she says in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

"Anytime Gwen. If you need to talk and you find the doctor too much...of a doctor, just give me a call. I'll be here all day," he says. Bob hangs up the phone and shakes his head. "Poor girl."

Gwen exhales and clicks her phone shut. Then she walks over to re-join Slider and her family. "So Mom and Dad went to their guestroom?" she asks a little somberly.

Richie nods, "They did. Mom's been tired since we left the airport but she wanted to be awake when you got back." He says.

"We tried to get her to take a nap but she wouldn't hear of it," Pete adds. "Everything is ok, Gwen. I saw your face. She went to the doctor the other day and everything came back fine she just has menopause." He says.

A part of Gwen exhales in relief, but another part doesn't buy it. "So...are women supposed to suddenly drop a lot of weight when they go through menopause? So that you can feel their ribcage when you hug them?" she asks, folding her arms and pressing her lips together tightly.

"Actually there is a bit of weight loss associated with it." Nick says. "We spoke to the doctor ourselves." He says. "It's just menopause. They checked her for everything and it's nothing serious."

"Yeah Gwen, we thought of that already but it's not cancer. Just a loss of appetite." Pete says.

Gwen closes her eyes for a moment, wanting so badly to believe them! But why would they lie to her?? She exhales and decides to let it drop for now. "So how are you guys doing?" she asks her brothers in a suddenly-jovial tone of voice. "It's been a long time since I talked to you and Richie!" she says to Nick, smiling like nothing's wrong.

"Good good," Richie says. "I love Seattle. I found this great apartment not far from the oceanside. It costs a pretty penny but hey, I'm making some decent money and I just signed on for three more years."

"At least you like your team. I can't stand playing in Phoenix. I'm hoping for a trade during this season." Nick says. "I hear the Giants have been asking about me."

"Really?" Gwen asks excitedly. "Hey-- then you'd be living in New York, too! That would be great! Ooh boy-- two Nielssons living on the east coast...think the family can handle it?" she smiles. Her entire extended family on both sides live on the west coast-- mostly California, but some scattered in Portland and Seattle-- and are all pretty opinionated about the west being best.

"I think so." Nick says. "That's if they trade me, Gwen. I'm still pestering them but I've got two years left on my contract. They might make me stay." He says.

"Jesus...I know how that feels..." Gwen mutters under her breath. She can't imagine how frustrating it must be to be a football player! No choice which team you go to...traded around like a piece of meat...

"The question is, can the east coast handle it," Richie says looking over at Jennifer. He smiles at her.

Jennifer purses her lips and rolls her eyes.

Gwen notices this and grins. Hey-- they might make a cute couple, considering the aspects Slider seems to like in men!
"So Richie! Still single?" she grins conspiringly, rubbing her hands together. "What about you, Nick? Still dating that cheerleader?" she asks, saying the word "cheerleader" like it leaves a bad taste in her mouth.

"Yeah don't mention it," Nick says waving his hand to close the subject.

"I am still single. Still haven't found a girl pretty enough, smart enough or sexy enough for me." Richie says smiling. "I wonder where I could find one of those?" He looks over at Slider. "Any ideas?"

Jennifer looks over at Gwen and gives her a dangerous look.

Gwen grins, and then bursts out laughing when she sees Slider's frustrated look. "Hmmm...no idea at all..." she says, putting a finger to the side of her mouth and pretending to think with a mock-innocent look on her face.
She wonders why Nick doesn't want to talk about it. Maybe he finally broke up with Cheerleader-bimbo! That would be a great day! Gwen is encouraged that she"s right based on his negative response and feels a little more light-hearted.
Then she glances over at Pete and Umbra cuddling on the couch and shoots them a little smile. She's so happy to have Umbra-- another female nova and someone Gwen approves of-- in the family.
But she also feels a ping of sadness seeing them cuddled together because she feels like she and Ethan don't have that kind of relationship anymore...or at least when they're not in Kansas. In Kansas Ethan is Dream-Husband! Cuddling on the couch with her...going on romantic walks/flying with her...being affectionate with her in front of his father and Radar. But whenever they're anywhere else-- around Gwen's family, out in public, or with other novas-- he always stands a step away from her and only touches her when he says good-bye...and sometimes not even then! Being married to the REAL Ethan Crane is heaven...being married to Supreme is really starting to suck!

She clears her throat. "So I called down and they have time for me to be tested right now, so I called Bob and let him know." she tells everyone. "Slider-- if you don't want to stay here and babysit my brothers, I wouldn't mind the company downstairs..." she says as a way to rescue Slider if she's in need of rescuing.

"You know I should go with you. Moral support and all," Slider says. "See you guys later!" she says waving to them and taking Gwen's arm.

Richie scowls at Gwen and waves to Slider. "Hope to see you later, Jenn!"

"Later, Slider," Nick says glumly.

Gwen pushes the button on the elevator and the doors open. "Oh stop it you two!" Gwen grins. "You've already had her all morning! Now it's my turn!" she says wiggling her eyebrows and pulling Slider into the elevator with her. "See you guys in an hour!" she waves. "And no looking through Jennifer's drawers!" she says in a sing-song voice as the elevator doors close.

Jennifer looks worried as the doors close. "They wouldn't do that would they?" she says looking over at Gwen. "I mean they are nice guys but I'm just not interested." She says. "And don't try to pawn me off on your brother!" she says wagging a finger at Gwen.

Gwen rolls her eyes. "Firstly, they won't go through your drawers with Pete and Umbra there, so don't worry!" she grins. "And secondly, you're not planning on staying single forever...are you? I mean...if I had to have a 2nd sister-in-law, I can't think of anyone better! And you're such a huge step up from the girls they usually date! Nick, anyway. Richie dates athletic girls so usually there's something bearable about them. I lucked out with Pete finding Umbra...why not make it two for two with the cool sister-in-laws!" she smiles sweetly. "Or at least keep him in mind...just in case one day you change your mind about the whole single-thing?"

Jennifer looks at Gwen and nods looking down at her feet. "He's really going to marry her isn't he?" she says with a small voice. She looks back up at Gwen. "He doesn't even see me...Songbird...she's a good person. I shouldn't say things like that. I should just be happy for the two and leave it at that."

Gwen shakes her head and puts her arm around Slider's shoulders big-sister-style. Having her whole family nearby has helped her revert back closer to the way she was before she erupted...not so angry at the world...feeling a little more carefree again...for the present, at least.
"He sees you, Jennifer." she says. "Do you know that the two of us sat at your bedside for 12 hours? And waited outside the operating room for a couple of hours before that? And he's the one who brought you to Geneva in the first place! He stayed with the doctors the whole time and offered his blood when you needed a transfusion. Songbird, Andre, and Caestus came to sit with us for a while, too, and when Songbird was tired and wanted to go up to her apartments, she asked Pumpkin if he wanted to go with her and he said no...he wanted to stay by your side." she says, hoping she's doing the right thing by telling Slider this.

Jennifer looks up at Gwen. "He just feels responsible for me. He is team leader, after all." she says. "I heard him on the phone with Songbird. I don't want to get my hopes up. I don't. I understand what you're saying, Gwen. But...she's my friend. It isn't right."

"It also isn't right for him to marry her just because he's comfortable with her and they've never had a reason to break up. I think his brush with death when Divis hit him jogged something loose in his head and he spontaneously proposed. But Jennifer-- no matter if he feels something for you or if he doesn't, I don't believe he's in love with Songbird. That would be my testimony in a court of law. You know how they even got together? He saw her picture and thought she was hot and wanted to ask her out, and I think that's about as deep as their relationship has gotten. Now I like Songbird as much as you do, but I don't want to see them make a mistake." Gwen takes a deep breath. "That's why I've decided to sit Pumpkin down and have a talk with him the next time we get a free minute together. Don't even try to stop me, Jennifer." Gwen says holding up a hand. "I've been his friend the longest out of everyone in Aeon, and in the absence of Watcher, I consider myself his 'best man.' This is my duty." she say simply.

Jennifer nods slowly. "You're right. I don't want him to make a mistake either. But I also don't want Songbird thinking it's because he wants to be with me. I don't want her to think I stole him away...if that's the case." She says. "I hate this Gwen." she says. "But...but if he does marry her...I'll...I'll cry a little and try to get over it."

Gwen shakes her head. "I know...this whole situation is a mess. I know the potential is there that he secretly likes you, but...I'm really bad at this whole 'he likes her/he doesn't like her'-stuff. I didn't date much in high school...didn't date at all in college...this stuff is out of my league. I just have to go on my instincts, you know?" She gives a laugh. "Even now I still have trouble interpreting why Ethan does some of the things he does-- even though I know he loves me!" she grins. "Love..." she grunts, folding her arms and shaking her head. She glances sideways at Slider. "At least no matter what happens you have his blood running through your veins...right?" she says trying to make Slider smile.

Jennifer smiles. "I know," she says. "So how are you and Ethan? I know he talks about you all the time." she says. "I talked to him today when you were away. He says he thinks you guys are doing good, but I know you have a hard time with his Supreme image." she says.

Gwen sighs, looking down and absent-mindedly kicking at the bottom of the elevator wall with the toe of her running shoe.
"I don't have a hard time with Supreme's image. I'm really proud of Supreme. I just have a hard time with him thinking he has to be all dignified and proper and asexual around Aura when Supreme and Aura are in public! Why can't Supreme be affectionate with his wife? Why CAN'T he be all over her? Who made the rule that he can't? Does he think America will look at him in disapproval if he's affectionate with his own wife?? You know what I don't get, Jennifer? I can walk past him and pinch his butt in front of his dad and he laughs and grabs me and kisses me. But if I try to do that in front of anyone else-- even MY family-- he gives me this disapproving look and says, 'Gwen...' in this chastising tone! So not only do WE each have alter-egos, but our MARRIAGE has an alter-ego! Hot Marriage and fucking Amish Marriage! I didn't sign on for Amish Marriage, I can tell you that! And here I thought HE was going to be the one who was going to have the 'for better or for worse' challenge!" she shakes her head. She glances at Slider. "He talks about me all the time?" she asks in a little voice. "What does he say??"

Jennifer chuckles. "I understand why he does it Gwen. A lot of people look up to him. A lot. He can't act like that in front of the public. He has to be this stalwart defender of justice or whatever. But just think, the two of you are in private more often that in public." She says. "He says how much he loves you and that he wants so much to have a baby with you and live together in a real house and lead a semi-normal life."

Gwen gets tears in her eyes and turns away, swallowing for a moment. It takes her a minute to get her composure back.
"Ever since our honeymoon it feels like we're in public more than we're in private. But I mean come on-- who made the rules of how a 'defender of justice' is supposed to act?? Will America stop looking up to him if he kisses his wife on camera? If they will, it doesn't sound like people who *I* should care about! Talk about a fucked-up country if they approve of him punching someone, but don't approve of him kissing his wife! I know! I'm going to make him a deal! We'll check his approval-ratings, and then he has to kiss me on TV, and then we'll check the approval-ratings the next day! I bet you they'll go up!" she smiles, folding her arms. "Wanna bet on it?"

Jennifer chuckles. "Ok we'll get that to happen! I can't stand to see my favorite person in the whole world sad!" she says and hugs Aura's arm. "Gwen you are like an older sister to me and I'll not have you be so sad!" she says. "What can we do to get him to kiss you on camera?"

Gwen smiles at Slider, and wonders for the 1,000th time what she ever did to make Slider like her so much! If anything, Gwen finds herself very hard to get along with most of the time!
"Now that's a sad question, isn't it? What can we do to get my husband to kiss me?" she sighs, shaking her head.
She leans her back against the elevator wall and looks down, feeling depressed again. She has a quick flash where she realizes that before the whole high-school-fiasco-thing she'd never been depressed a day in her life. And if that had never happened, she probably never would have had a reason to be depressed before she erupted. Something about her erupting must have triggered this new dark version of herself. That's good-- she'll have to tell the shrink that!
"Hmmm...I know! I'll turn to him, grab his collar and tell him, 'Kiss me!' Then all of America will see that he's not the one who initiated it! And they'll realize that it would be very unnatural and odd for a husband to brush his wife off, so they won't be shocked if he kisses me! They'd think it was MORE odd if he didn't! They might even wonder if there was something wrong in our marriage if he didn't!" Gwen says excitedly. "It would be a win-win situation�don't you think?"

Jennifer laughs and jumps up and down. "Wonderful, Gwen!! That's perfect!" she says. "No way will he refuse if you were to do that! And hey he might even like it and loosen up a bit!" she says. "You come up with the best plans for these things!!" she says. So Gwen...I wanted to thank you for asking me to be your maid of honor. I know I was probably not your first choice but I was honored to."

Gwen gives Slider a look, and then suddenly grabs her in one arm and gives her a noogie. "Jennifer, you were my ONLY choice, now quit being a goof about it!" she smiles. "I didn't know I needed to pick a maid-of-honor and all that stuff until Ethan reminded me. If you hadn't noticed I don't exactly have hoards of chicks breaking down my door to be my friend. In fact, if you weren't crazy enough to want me as a friend I wouldn't have one, would I!" she smiles. She looks at Slider for a minute. "Ethan gets asked this question all the time, so don't be surprised when I ask you over and over again every so often. Whatever possessed you to want to be my friend, Jennifer? I'm like the Grinch-- I'm as cuddly as a cactus and as slippery as an eel, right?" she smiles self-deprecatingly. "And I even left you alone with my family for half the day...after all you've done for me with the medals and showing up with the cancer ward and everything! What kind of friend AM I?" she asks, her voice joking but her eyes serious.

"Oh stop your family isn't bad! And besides I take it as a sign that I'm a true friend. The one person you'd trust to protect your family!" Jennifer says. "'Cuddly as a cactus?' Where the hell did you get that?" she says shaking her head. "Oh hey! I'm going to the cancer ward tomorrow. So I won't be around to babysit your family," she says with a wink.

Gwen grins and rolls her eyes, and then suddenly her face pales. "Hey Jennifer...?" she asks, her voice quiet. She reaches out and pushes a button on the wall to keep the elevator doors from opening.
"You said your mom died of cancer...what...what was she like physically when she had it? Did she lose a lot of weight? Was she tired all the time?" Gwen asks, scared to hear the answer.

Jennifer nods, "I was only ten when it happened." She says. "My mom was always thin, she liked to run and jog a lot so I didn't notice anything different until her hair started falling out. And by that time my mom became almost a shell of what she had been. She stopped running, stopped getting out of bed, and soon stopped eating. It wasn't long after that that she died."

"Shit..." Gwen hisses, holding her forehead. She stands there for a minute, trying to think if her mom's hair looked any different today. She doesn't THINK it did. She paces for a minute, and then punches the elevator wall as she paces�leaving a fist-sized dent.
"I didn't ask to erupt god...thanks a lot...for everything..." she mutters to herself as she paces. The elevator doors start to open again and Gwen jabs the button to make them shut again-- almost breaking it. "I guess novas just don't get to HAVE moms...as if we're being reminded that we're not human anymore so we can't have human mothers around to confuse us...even Ethan's mom was taken away from him, as if to say, 'Sorry, Ethan, you're a nova and novas don't get to have moms. Even though she was your adopted mom she�s gotta go.' Only fucking Divis still has HIS around...his adopted mom..." Gwen is pacing back and forth muttering to herself, almost as if she's forgotten she's not alone in the elevator.
"And technically it's THEIR fault that all our moms are dying...that their sons turned out to be novas...that the rest of us erupted later on...oh boy if I could only meet them right now..." she says, rubbing her hands together eagerly. "Talk about not getting along with your in-laws, eh..." she continues rambling as she paces.

Jennifer listens to Gwen until she's done. "What do you mean their fault? Adopted son? What are you saying Gwen? Is Ethan adopted? Divis too? If you know something Gwen you better spill it." she says her hands on her hips.

Gwen stops and glances at Slider-- an "oh shit"-look on her face. She shakes her head. "I promised I wouldn't�" She paces again for a minute, and then faces Slider again and sighs. She stands there regarding Slider for a minute, and then makes up her mind.
"James likes you. I don't think he'd mind me telling you-- as long as you know this can't get out." Gwen takes a breath. "You know that space station that exploded 25 or so years ago? The Galatea? Here's the story me and James have patched together from doing a lot of research over the month I was staying with him."
"Ethan and Divis' biological parents were astronauts/scientists on the Galatea. They were doing experiments to try to make themselves super-human. We think they were also experimenting on their two babies-- Ethan and Divis. We ALSO found out that the Russian man was sterile, so we think the American man donated his sperm to the Russian woman...making Ethan and Divis half-brothers. Yep. Real brothers-- just like Divis has been saying all along. I think he knows this whole story, too. That's kind of why I keep trying to act as a mediator between them...trying to stay on Divis' good side the best I can...trying to keep the two acting civil towards each other, but Ethan doesn't know any of this so DON'T even talk to him about it! It's a forbidden topic."
"So as you know, the space station exploded, and two pods carrying Ethan and Divis were programmed to fly back down to earth in the event of such an explosion-- one to America and one to Russia. James and Jessica Crane found Ethan's pod, and a Russian couple found Divis', and everyone born to mothers who were irradiated by the blast have grown up and erupted, and almost all those mothers have ended up getting cancer and dying." she says-- her voice a little tight at the end. She watches Slider's face. "So now you know who you have to thank for THAT. Both the eruption, and the dead mom." She says bitterly.

Jennifer listens with a look of horror on her face as she hears the tale. Finally she hugs herself, her hands clutching her arms. "Dear god...if this ever got out...it would destroy everything, Gwen...my god...all those mothers...my mother...." Jennifer says sliding down the wall of the elevator to sit down. "So those two are...brothers...jesus...that can never get out. Never ever ever...shit I won't tell a fucking soul, Gwen I swear," she says looking up at Gwen. "God no wonder you're so angry. How long have you been keeping that secret?"

Gwen feels so relieved to have been able to tell someone else, and to have that person's reaction be the same as hers! She could hug Slider so tightly right now...if she weren't sitting slumped on the floor, like Gwen feels like doing, too.
"Oh...since a while before our wedding..." Gwen says, thinking back. "Ethan knows he's adopted, but he doesn't know anything else. Actually...I'm sure he knows he was one of the space station-babies and Divis was the other, but he doesn't want to acknowledge any of it so he's made it a taboo-topic. He sure as hell doesn't know that he really IS Divis' brother. I don't know what it would do to him if he found out." Gwen says, standing next to Slider and leaning her back against the wall.
"Divis knows, though. It explains why he keeps calling Ethan 'brother' in the literal sense of the word. So yeah...I'm Divis' sister-in-law. That's why he keeps calling me 'sister' with that special emphasis. So when me and Ethan have a baby, it will be Divis' niece or nephew. Did I mention I stopped sleeping a while ago?" Gwen sighs.
"I can imagine why. But Gwen you need to sleep. You mind needs rest." Jennifer says. "Oh Gwen I am so sorry. This is terrible. That damn Divis wants to steal your baby. Well not on my watch he won't!" she says fiercely. "If you ever need someone to protect it. I will, Gwen. I swear it! No one will touch that baby."

Gwen nods gratefully. "Thank you, Jennifer. I hope we don't have to take you up on it, but if we do we will. I've been...kind of training Radar to be a watch-dog, so you'll have back-up if you're on babysitting-duty!" she smiles. Then she pauses in thought. "Hmm...remind me to mention the not-sleeping-thing to the shrink. And the nightmares. He'll probably love analyzing all of that." she says with a sigh.

"Hey Gwen, it sounds like there is a lot on your mind. If you ever need to talk, and I mean about anything, just call me ok? I'm here for you and I won't judge you or anything." she says. "And no notes for Bob to go over," she says with a smile. "But there will be a couch."

Gwen can't help but laugh hard at that last part. "A couch, hmm? THAT won't make me feel crazy! Nope, not at all!" she grins. "Yeah...now that you mention it, it's not too hard to see why I'm grumpy all the time. Hey-- do you think I can get away with telling Bob that you analyzed me and I don't need to see the shrink now?" she grins toothily. The elevator doors finally open and Gwen glances down the hallway nervously, as if expecting to see a team of orderlies holding a straight-jacket in expectation of her arrival.

"No, Gwen you should see this guy. Not just to make Bob happy. You never know, he might help." she says. "And besides, after you talk to him you can talk to me, and anything you touch upon with his session you can talk in depth with me since I know a lot more about what it's like to be a Nova and in the public eye than he does."

Gwen glances at Slider in surprise, keeping one eye on the hallway and still not making a move to exit the elevator. "Really? You'd do that for me?" she asks. She doesn't realize that her hand is gripping the bar that runs around the middle of the elevator walls tightly, as if in anticipation that she's going to be dragged kicking and screaming from the elevator!
"Jennifer...is there anything I can do for you? Honestly? I feel like you help me and you help me and I never do anything for you in return. What can *I* do for YOU? I'll listen if you want to talk, too-- I think I'm getting better at that. I mean, man-- after getting me my medals back I owe you the sun and the stars, really! Just name it. Come on..." she coaxes.

Jennifer smiles and looks down. "Sure we could talk sometime. I'd love that. And I love when we hang out too! Oh and keep your brothers away from me until I'm ready ok?" she says. "I mean if things...turn out the way they're heading I...may one day be ready but until then I just want to hope you know." She says. "You're the best friend I've ever had." She says looking at Gwen sincerely.

Gwen raises her eyebrows, about to say something like, "You must have had some pretty crappy friends then," but decides to actually accept the compliment without saying anything self-deprecating. There's a first time for everything!
"Thanks Jennifer. You know..." she says, thinking for a moment. "You're the best friend I've ever had, too." she says slowly as she realizes it's true.
'And the only female friend I've ever had.' She thinks to herself. 'I've had a lot of female teammates-- both in sports and as a nova-- but they've never wanted to hang out or be friend-friends. Me, either, for that matter.'
She finally slings her arm around Slider's shoulders. "OK...I'm ready to go meet this Dr. Klingon-guy...I mean Dr. Karker!" she grins.

Jennifer smiles beamingly and hugs Gwen. "Awww you're the best Gwen!" she says. "Alright well good luck and call me after you get out. I want to hear everything!" she says. "I'll walk you to the receptionist," she says putting her arm around Gwen and leading her out of the elevator.

When Slider said good luck and Gwen suddenly realized that Slider wasn't going to go into the actual session with her, her arm had tightened a little bit around her shoulders! But then after Slider said she'd walk her to the receptionist Gwen had calmed down a little bit. She doesn't know why she's reacting like such a coward to this whole shrink-thing!
"OK..." she agrees. The two walk up to the receptionist. "One for Dr. Karker please!" Gwen grins toothily, pushing Slider in front of her and patting her head-- trying to disguise her nervousness with humor, as normal.

"Ah Miss Aura, he's been expecting you," the receptionist says. She motions towards a door just behind her. "He's in there waiting." she says.

Jennifer turns to Gwen and shakes her head. "Alright you, I'll see you later." she says and pats Gwen's arm for support. She walks down the hall to the elevator and the doors close.

Gwen watches Slider leave, and then sighs and walks towards the doctor's door. "MRS. Aura." she corrects the receptionist under her breath as she passes her. She gets to the doctor's door and does two quick knocks before going in.

Dr. Karker looks up from his notes. "Come in," he says loudly. He stands when Aura enters. He's what she expects him to be. Tall with sandy brown hair and a beard and thick around the middle. He smiles at her and motions for the chair across from him.
"Aura, so nice to finally meet you. Please have a seat."

Dr. Karker looks so much like a shrink that Gwen gets nervous all over again. She wonders if she fails this meeting if Bob's secretly got some orderlies hiding in the closet with a straight-jacket and quantum-sedatives who will jump out and apprehend her. She glances at the door for a quick second-- anticipating her escape-- and then finally walks up to the chair and sits down.

"So...no crazy-couch for me to lay on?" she grins, trying to make conversation and not come across as nervous. She crosses one leg over the other and swings her foot.

"No," Dr. Karker says with a smile. "No couch and we're not here to see whether you're crazy or not. Just why you're so angry." he says. "Do you have any thoughts on that Aura? Why you're angry?"

Yikes. Talk about getting right to the point! She thought he'd have her look at some ink-blots...say what images she saw in them, and if any of the images were of her killing someone...or hypnotize her to find out if she was abused when she was little...something subtle like that! But nope! Just a straightforward "why are you so mad?"
She sighs and sits back, lacing her fingers on her stomach. "I don't know..." she sighs. "I just have this constant frustration boiling under the surface at all times, and you never know when something's going to trigger it to boil over." she says. She glances around the office. "Is this conversation being taped?" she asked paranoidly. "Is Bob listening right now?"

"Absolutely not. Whatever you say here is confidential." Dr. Karker says. "No one besides us will know what you say here." he says. "So Aura you said you're frustrated. What frustrates you? Do you feel you're being held back?"

Gwen gives a loud laugh before she can stop herself-- thinking back to when Ethan had his hand on her arm, telling her not to kill Raoul. She really is glad she didn't kill him, but it's the first example that came to mind.
"Yes...that's a good way of putting it." She thinks for a minute. "When I first joined Stormwatch our job was to fight other novas or war-criminals. We had so much leeway to do this! If the person was a bastard we even had special permission to use whatever force necessary�up to and including death. If someone threatened our family or killed one of our friends, we were encouraged to make sure they weren't around to do it again, if you know what I mean. But somehow over the years all these rules have started being imposed on us to the point where I can't even stop and search a suspect on the streets without getting sued! We're a joke! Like just today we arrested a wanted Teragen member, and the first thing she does is demand her lawyer and a phonecall! Back in the old days when we didn't even HAVE a nova-prison she would have been a kill-on-sight case! Now she'll probably sue if she doesn't have silk sheets on her prison-bed! It's all a fucking joke-- pardon my language." she adds.

"No I understand your concerns, Aura. It does seem that criminals get more rights than the innocent, and who places these rules upon you? The innocents you're sworn to protect." Dr. Karker says. "These rules, Aura, why do you think they were placed upon you?"

Gwen shakes her head. "I don't know...probably because humans fear us and want to control us." she says. "But I still remember 3 years ago when we first started. Everyone loved us and let us do whatever we needed to, and we never had any business with regular humans-- aside from terrorists in the Middle East! We STILL don't, really." Gwen rubs her temples and shakes her head.
"I don't know. And see, back in the day I never had issues with 'teamwork' or 'obeying orders,'" she says, making little quotation-marks in the air with her fingers. "But as our public image has gotten more and more important to Aeon to the point where we're required to appear in commercials and things, our freedom to make our own decisions has gone down to almost zero! Sometimes I miss living in Geneva and having Caestus as our boss and doing important things-- not being bodyguards or security guards and crap like that! That's what I was doing before Caestus found me! It's gotten to the point where I've started doing little missions all on my own because it's just easier that way! There's no one to argue with or try to coordinate with! I get in and out fast!"

"Tell me about these little missions," Dr. Karker says. "Are they helping to ease your frustrations? Or perhaps making you feel even more constrained when you work with Stormwatch?" he asks tapping his pencil against his bottom lip.

Gwen sighs and looks down at her hands. "Every one of my 'little missions' has ended in more frustration. Well...except for one, but it could have just as easily been a failure. Frustration because I was trying to do something to help the nova-cause, and in each one something unexpected went wrong and I ended up getting yelled at by Bob and fired-- or almost fired-- and then re-hired later on. And the missions that didn't end in failure were frustrating because the Teragen had gotten to them before I had, so there was no resolution for me! I just had to go back to the tower in this anti-climax! I even tried using a disguise on some of the missions so that if they failed it wouldn't reflect badly on Stormwatch, and I STILL got yelled at! And I'm NOT a bad person! I never go after anyone innocent! And even when I finally have the guilty person, if they refuse to fight me I have a really hard time bringing myself to fighting them! I think I'm probably the most misunderstood nova on the planet." she sighs.

"Indeed, Aura. I would say that you are highly misunderstood. You just want to do what's right and just without the red tape." Dr. Karker says. "That is understandable. So what, to you, makes right? What makes you feel that you know what would be good for the Nova cause?"

Gwen sighs. "I'm one of those people that believes in nipping things in the bud. If a nova is obviously dangerous and everyone can see the future threat they're going to be, don't turn your back on them and let them get stronger and stronger and more and more of a threat just because they haven't done anything worthy of getting arrested for yet! Get rid of them while you can! It's like everything in life. If you hear your brakes squeaking, get rid of the old break shoes immediately-- don't wait until your break drums are scratched all to hell and suddenly it's an expensive mess to repair! If you feel a pain in your body, don't wait until you're spurting blood before you finally go to the doctor! I feel like I'm the only one who can look at these threat-novas and see the huge problems they're going to be! So I'd rather do something about them when they're a small problem and can be quickly handled! And the way the situation is now, that involves doing things behind our bosses' backs. You know what my new motto is? 'It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.' And it is...TRUST me."

Dr. Karker chuckles. "That is true to a point. But really what makes you think that you, Aura, are right and just and that you can see the future threat? What gives you this power to know what someone will do?"

Gwen shakes her head in slight-frustration. "OK, well take Michael Wycroft for example. He's currently using his nova-powers to brain-wash people and bring them to his compound, and he's stock-piling a ton of weapons, AND he just agreed to be a part of the Teragen. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure THAT one out! Secondly, the Directive. They follow us everywhere...they're in every city...they have special weapons that can take novas down...and there seems to be no limit on what they can do if they feel like it. Anyone read '1984?' Anyone hear of Big Brother? And there's no point in talking about Divis because no one can do anything about him. When my husband fights him he just flies away at the first opportunity. There are some other examples but I've probably made my point, right?" she asks hopefully.

Dr. Karker nods. "So do you feel these rules are Utopia's fault or society's fault? Perhaps even humanity's fault for putting you behind these rules?"

"I feel like it's Utopia's fault for giving me ultimatums all the time-- forcing me to choose between staying in Stormwatch, or doing what I think is right. So far I keep choosing Utopia, but as my frustration gets stronger and stronger I try to find ways to be sneaky and have both, but there's going to come a point where if I choose Utopia one more time and hold myself back, my head's going to explode! Seriously! I keep hoping I can make it to the end of my contract without getting fired again or going nuts!" Gwen exclaims. "Why can't things be the way they used to be..." she sighs.

"The world has changed since you erupted, Aura. You and yours can change the face of the planet if you should so desire. And as Stormwatch you are a police officer bound by the rules all law enforcement agencies are." Dr. Karker says. "Would you rather not be a police officer?"

Gwen looks at the doctor in horror, recoiling a little. "NO! No way-- never! A police officer walking the streets and driving around in a patrol car?? Yikes! Could you imagine how many more rules I'd have weighing me down then?? No...I think what I'm going to do is be an Independent who works with Utopia-- like what Supreme is doing right now. I'd rather be my own boss and have only me to answer to, and not have any organization that I might be reflecting badly on, you know? If I do something stupid, people will just say, 'Oh that's just Aura!' instead of saying, 'Ooh Stormwatch really screwed up THIS time! Let's ban them from the United States!' Because I really love the people I work with...MOST of them...and I even love Bob...MOST of the time...and I love having access to technology that will help me get my job done better, and I love living in the top of the building, but I want to do whatever I feel like and not have it hurt Stormwatch, but I still want to fly around with them, fighting with them. Does that make sense?"

Dr. Karker nods, "I do understand." he says. "So your frustration is with these newly-placed rules that confine you from what you see is appropriate action. Is that correct?"

Gwen thinks about it for a moment, and then nods. "Yes. I think that's the main thing." She looks down and continues thinking. "It's the main thing that causes me to boil over, but the fact remains that deep down I'm an angry person. I've been trying to figure out why I'm so angry, because I wasn't like this before I erupted. I mean, everyone in my family has a temper, but we all had our ways to work it out. Now that I'm a nova, each thing that makes me angry just adds a drop to the boiling mass inside of me-- even if I feel like I resolved it. I thought that maybe it was being in a fight with my family that was making me angry, so I made up with them. And I was still angry. Then I thought that after I married Supreme my anger would all evaporate. But I was still angry. So then I thought it was probably losing my medals and world records that was making me angry, so Slider helped me get them back. And I'm STILL angry. I want to know what it is that's keeping me seething deep down, and if there's something I can do once and for all to make it go away. I think that's the real reason I agreed to come see you, Dr. Karker."

"So the constraints only add fuel to the fire that's already there." Dr. Karker says. "Hmmm what other things do you believe you have failed at in life? It sounds like you have a few of them resolved."

Gwen looks taken aback. "Failed at? I've never failed at anything! I always excel! Unless you count losing the popular-poster-contest to Slider that first year." she adds defensively. "But I was still second place above everyone else...and now I'm best friends with the competition! So what do you mean 'failed?'" she asks, folding her arms and leaning back with a frown.

"Ahh I see. When I said 'failed' I meant things that happened to you that weren't up to your expectations. Such as losing your medals at the Olympics...being a Nova...things like this, Aura, not truly failures as you see them." Dr. Karker says jotting something down on his notepad.

Gwen watches him writing in his notepad and narrows her eyes, arms still folded. 'I'm not crazy!' she thinks to herself. 'So why is he writing in there?? Did I give a wrong answer! Damnit!'
She rubs her temples for a minute, thinking. "I was angry when Caestus found me..." she murmurs to herself. "Fighting with Team Tomorrow was an outlet...wrestling was an outlet...but none of it made the anger any less...it just held it back." Gwen suddenly gives a bitter laugh. "Guess what? I'm even too 'barbaric' for the Teragen! Count Ortiz told me so! Isn't that hilarious??"
She closes her eyes and sighs, and then covers her eyes with her hands so she won't be able to see the doctor's reaction to what she's going to say. "I want to kill someone. And not just anyone...someone who's death would bring me great satisfaction. I don't have a specific target right now...I just know that my gut is telling me that I want to kill someone. I bet you're going to write a chapter in your notebook now, huh..." she says. "When I killed Frost I was overwhelmed with waves of ecstasy to the point where I had to just sit there and let the feeling pass before I could move. It's been a long time since I killed her..." she says, and then falls silent...feeling like 'oh boy did I say too much this time!'

Dr. Karker nods and continues writing. "This isn't as rare as you think, Aura. Veterans and police officers often get a...sudden feeling of power when they have to kill. It gives them the feeling of power over life and death-- almost a god-like state, you could say." he says. "Is that how you felt? Like a god who has given judgment?"

Eyes still closed, Gwen shakes her head slowly. "No...nothing like that..." she answers slowly, deep in thought. "What it is for me...is...it's all my frustrations over the years...all the things and people and circumstances that have really pissed me off throughout my entire life...the memories and feelings building and building under the surface, and then when someone does something to me or someone I love, or they threaten to, suddenly all my hatred and anger has a bullseye, and I channel all that anger and then unleash it on my target. So not only is this for what my bullseye did to me or threatened to do to me, but this is for the asshole bully who made fun of how tall I was in elementary school...this is for the girls who snickered behind my back because I dressed like a guy...this is for the first guy I had a crush on who rejected me...this is for the track-meet where I was stupid and didn't warm up enough and ended up spraining my wrist and getting yelled at by my dad...this is for all that SHIT that HAPPENED TO ME!!" Gwen growls, getting louder and louder while she flashes back through the dark moments of her growing-up-years-- eyes and hands clenched tightly shut as her Rage-persona peeks out.

Dr. Karker nods, "I see," he says writing down more notes. "So Gwen, let me ask you. Let's say your life is a movie. Are you the star or part of the audience?"

Gwen sits there breathing for a moment and then slowly opens her eyes, staring at Dr. Karker like he just said the stupidest thing she's ever heard. She fantasizes using her telekinesis to smash his head into the ceiling and then drop him back down into his fancy chair. That causes one corner of her mouth to curl up into a smile.
'I just bared my soul to him, and he says nothing about what I said! It's like he didn't even hear me! I wonder if he can even speak English, or if he's been programmed to just ask the same questions to every patient who comes in!' she thinks angrily to herself. She's going to have a word with Bob when this is over. Make that a couple of words!
She starts rubbing her temples again, trying to calm down. She came SOOO CLOSE to grabbing the empty chair next to her and throwing it against the wall. Dr. Karker will never know how close!
"Wait a minute...I just went really deep inside myself to find the answer to your question and I told you things I've never told anyone before and you ask me if I'm a movie star or in the audience?? What the hell does one thing have to do with the other??" she demands, trying to keep herself calm.

Dr. Karker shakes his head. "I think you misunderstood me. You said that when you become violent you take your anger out on your subject for all the "shit" that has happened to you. My question is to determine if you feel you have control over the shit that happens to you or do you feel that your life is out of control or in someone else's hands." he says calmly.

Gwen looks at him for a moment, and then folds her arms. "Well why didn't you just say so then." she says poutily. She thinks for a moment. "Up until I erupted I felt like the star. Everything I did had an immediate result. I knew I would win competitions if I trained hard...and I did. I knew if I DIDN'T train hard I would lose. Everything was in my hands...my future...everything. Then after I erupted I felt like...I don't KNOW what I felt like. I felt like the movie producer had kicked me off the set and sent me packing, that's what I felt like. I wasn't even watching my life anymore because I didn't HAVE a life. And right now I feel like no matter what I do, humans are still going to end up turning against novas and there's going to be a huge shit-storm. I feel like no matter how many commercials or posters or movies we do, they're still going to hate us in the end. We're only delaying things. Why do I feel this way, you ask? Because I know human history. Humans are curious about people who are different at first, but in the end they always try to convert or destroy, and in this case there ain't no converting, you know what I mean?" she says, sitting slumped in her chair.

Dr. Karker nods. "Very true, Aura. Very insightful as well." he says. "There must be a way to keep being on the good side of humans. Showing them that you are valuable, productive, and that you, too, have a right to life. How do you think that can be accomplished?"

Aura shakes her head slowly. "I don't know. I mean, Dave told me that my approval-ratings are down a little with men, so I should be seen at my brother's football games and that would bring them up. What the hell should that have to do with people liking me or not? I would think that they would like me because I caught the guy who was trying to kill Ethan Crane...or because I was part of the group who prevented the assassination-attempt on the president...or because we helped free Egypt from Apophis! THOSE things are dangerous, and things that humans wouldn't have been able to do, yet me going to a football game would be better for nova-rights than me saving an entire nation?? I don't get it." she says, staring down at her foot as she swings it.

"Public opinion polls are fickle. Are you so sure you should care what they think of you as an individual? As long as they like Novas does it matter if they like you?" Dr. Karker asks. "I'm looking at the paper today and you're in the top seven most popular Novas. Does it matter if you're number one or number seven?"

Aura's eyes fly open and she leans forward. "Hell yes! Who are the top seven?? Tell me!! Oh shit...no...don't tell me...I'll just be pissed...no no, tell me! I want to know...who I have to kill." she grins.

"'Who I have to kill?'" Dr. Karker says looking over the newspaper. "Interesting choice of words, Aura. Do you see this as a personal competition? Is there a prize for being number one?"

"Well I didn't mean it LITERALLY." she says, her eyes glued on the back of the newspaper as Dr. Karker scans it. "I see EVERYTHING as a personal competition. Life is a competition...now more than ever. Only in this competition I don't get gold medals and world records, I get to stay alive. I hate to lose...unless it's to someone who deserves it...as rare as those people are." she grins. "If Supreme was ahead of me I'd be proud of him. I mean...that's a big feat to beat me!" she grins a toothy grin. "Plus there's not much I can beat him at, and I'm Ok with that. Now read me the damn list!!"

Dr. Karker smiles. "Your husband is ahead of you, yes. Let's see number six is Totentanz, number five is Gothic Knight, four is Damage, third is Caestus Pax, two is Supreme and one is Slider." he says. "How does that make you feel?"

"Fuck..." Gwen says very quietly under her breath. She sits there silently for a while with her lips pressed tightly together. She wants to punch herself when she realizes she's fighting back tears! She imagines herself standing up and saying, 'this session is over,' and walking out the door...but she doesn't. She just hunches further into her chair.
"It makes me want to..." She goes quiet for another long moment. 'Yeah, he'd LOVE to hear me say, "it makes me want to kill everyone who voted!"' she thinks to herself.
"I don't get it. I guess BEFORE I punched everyone's lights out I'd want to ask them why they picked the people they picked, and what I did wrong that made them not vote for me. I suppose Supreme and Slider will just automatically always be first and second, no matter what. Wouldn't they like to know what 'America's Sweetheart' is REALLY like...especially when she gets drunk! See, that's the thing. It's all about perception to them-- the people. Slider can pose with bunnies and bat her eyelashes and everyone loves her! But me? I'm always battling upstream to get any kind of place in the top ten! Jesus...maybe I need to do another nearly-nude poster or something! See what I mean? They don't care if I save their lives, they just want to see my boobs! Or ALMOST see them!" Gwen goes back to hunching in her chair grumpily. "And what the fuck-- Totentanz is a fucking assassin!! Jesus Christ! I'm not even going to try. This thing is rigged." she hmphs.

"Hmm well I'd imagine Slider, Supreme, and Caestus because of all the press they get. They are in the public eye quite a bit. Damage and Gothic Knight I imagine get the kid-vote, Totentanz is a mystery to me. Who do you think votes for you?" Dr. Karker muses.

"I get press! Or I would if Bob didn't keep covering up everything I do. And speaking of the press, I thought I was their favorite! They know they can always count on me to say what's on my mind! And hey! I'm the only one who went with Slider to visit her kids! Why would Pumpkin and GQ get the kid-vote?" She sits there pouting for a minute. "Who votes for me, you ask? No one, apparently! Well...maybe my mom." At the mention of her mom Gwen's eyes start tearing up again. She draws her knees up to her chin and rests her feet on the cushion of her chair, looking depressed.

Dr. Karker takes note of this. "Aura do you want to talk about your mother?" he asks pushing over a box of kleenex on the table to her. "Is there something about your mother you'd like to talk about?"

Gwen is ashamed that her emotions are so clear on her face that the doctor offered kleenex to her. "She's got cancer and no one's got the balls to tell me. There's really nothing else to say." she says angrily. She rests her chin on her knees and stares at the kleenex box.

How do you know she has cancer?" Dr. Karker asks. "Are there any signs of cancer or perhaps cancer therapy?" he looks at Aura and smiles sadly at her. "How old is your mother?"

"51." Gwen says, still staring at the kleenex box. "I know she has cancer because A) I'm a nova, and all the novas I know's moms have died of cancer. It's one of those dark facts of being a nova. And B) a couple of years ago she started getting really tired, and Dad had to take her to the hospital, and I'm sure he lied about her suffering from 'exhaustion.' You have to know my mom to know what a bunch of crap that is! She's like the Energizer Bunny! She keeps going and going and going! And then today she flies into town and I hug her and she's skin and bones, and she keeps talking about how tired she is, and right now she's asleep in her guest-apartment." Gwen finishes.

Dr. Karker nods. "Do you feel that she should tell you? Or do you think she'd want you to respect her privacy and let her deal with this before she mentions it to you?"

"Respect her privacy?? I'm her DAUGHTER!! And it sure looks like she told everyone else! I feel like they're all keeping this a secret from me! Why wouldn't they tell me?? And hey-- if she has cancer shouldn't I know so I can spend as much time with her as I can before..." Gwen finally breaks down and covers her head with her arms to try to muffle her sobs.

Dr. Karker continues to sit in his chair and waits for her to stop crying. He taps the pencil on his bottom lip. When she's done he gives her a look of sympathy. "Why don't you ask her about it. They just arrived. Maybe she wishes to have one day with you without such a dark cloud hanging over everything."

Gwen rests her chin on her knees, staring at the desk. She's silent for a long moment, and then finally responds with a low, "Maybe..."
She exhales. "Let's change the topic, OK?"

"We're almost out of time." Dr. Karker says. "I believe we've made some progress today so we'll let this be your time to rant to me about whatever is on your mind right now." he says looking at her with a smile.

Gwen feels both relieved and confused when he says their session is almost over. 'How can it almost be over? I'm not even fixed yet!' she thinks to herself in frustration.
"Well...what's wrong with me?" she asks with a touch of impatience in her voice. "What are you going to tell Bob? Or is this where I exit your office and the men in white coats grab my arms and drag me off?"

Dr. Karker laughs. "I'm not going to tell Bob anything, there are no white men in coats outside the door, and let me ask you this last question and then I'll give you my opinion alright?" he says. "What do you think is wrong with you?"

Gwen brings her hand up to her forehead and starts massaging slowly with a sad frown on her face. This has probably been the worst day of her life. It started out with her being forced to sit in the infirmary at about 2 in the morning while doctors ran tests on her to make sure Pumpkin's fist-to-the-head hadn't done any irrepairable "damage."
Then Bob holds a meeting with Stormwatch right there in the infirmary so he can yell at her and insult her, and then orders her to see a shrink.
Then she spends the next 4 hours moping in her room when she SHOULD have been bouncing with excitement at the thought of getting her medals back.
Then she picks her family up from the airport and realizes her mother has cancer.
Then they go to the medals ceremony where Narcosis threatens to kill her family.
Then she arrests and tortures Narcosis and gets disapproving looks from Mestre and the others.
Then she comes back to New York to attend the Nova Council meeting and Raoul lets everyone know what a moron he thinks she is.
Then she finds out that not only do novas hate her, but humans do, too! She doesn't even know if she was #7 on the list-- she decided not to ask.
And now she's sitting in a psychologist's office about to find out what's wrong with her.
"I think what's wrong with me is that I didn't go move to a deserted island back when I first erupted, like I'd been thinking about doing." she says in a tired-sounding voice. She sighs. "I think I have multiple personality disorder, or something." she says, resting her cheek on her knee. "But I don't even know how to diagnose that because I'm 'unintelligent.' Did Bob warn you about that before I got here? Yep. Oh, and I'm a barbarian, too. Watch out." She sighs again.

"I don't think you have multiple personality syndrome. I think you're very frustrated with how the system works that you're currently in. I feel that you believe your hands are tied...that right now-- when you can protect thousands of lives-- the system holds you back. You have so much potential, yet you feel like those who run the system are keeping you in chains. Is that about it?" Dr. Karker says.

Gwen thinks about this for a moment, and then nods her head. "Yeah...I think that about sums it up. I even danced around joining the Teragen a couple of times because I thought they must have TONS more freedom to do whatever they want to...only to find out that the Teragen is turning into some kind of religious cult! I WANT to belong to a group...I LIKE belonging to a group...I wish I liked belonging to Caestus' group because I genuinely like and respect him, but I'm feeling more and more miserable with how tight the reins are getting...to the point where I know I'm going to have to leave, and THAT makes me miserable, too! The thought of free-floating out there as an Independent makes me unhappy, but there doesn't seem to be any other solution right now. Unless enough other members of Stormwatch feel the way I feel and want to leave together. It's all a mixture of misery and uncertainty right now." she says, finally looking up at the doctor.

Dr. Karker nods. "There may be other options." he says. "But for the moment I'm going to have to stop here, Aura. I'm going to schedule you to come in every Wednesday at three if possible. The two of us will sit down and talk about your week and see how things are going. But I definitely think we've had a few revelations here today. I want you to think about everything you've said today about your anger-problem and really put it into focus for next week." he says standing up. "I believe we can get a lot accomplished, Aura."

Gwen looks up at the doctor in surprise as he ends the session. "Every Wednesday? No WONDER you guys are rich!" she grins, standing up. "Don't be mad if I have to re-schedule all the time. It always seems like just when I finally have a free minute we're called out to do something. So...how long do you think it will take before I'm...fixed?" she asks tentatively.

"Well that depend upon you, really." Dr. Karker says. "There are some anger therapies we can work on and I'll send you home with some literature on each of them," he says digging through his desk. He grabs some pamphlets and hands them to her. "There now take these and read them and find out what sounds best for you."

Gwen raises her eyebrows and glances down at the pamphlet-titles. 'Shit...here we go again with the anger-management-thing. At least it's going to be one-on-one instead of some group-thing.' she thinks in resignation.
She walks slowly to the door. 'Hmm..."Confronting Your Anger and Releasing It...' she reads to herself. 'That sounds like fun...' She waves absent-mindedly at the doctor over her shoulder, and exits his office. It's not until she's back in the elevator that she realizes she was supposed to be looking out for orderlies lying in wait with straight-jackets to capture her! She gets a little grin on her face and pulls out her cell phone and dials Slider's number.

Jennifer reaches into her jacket pocket and digs out her cell. "Hello Aura! How'd it go?" she says walking down the street. Several passersby stop to see if she is who they thought she was.

"Help-help!" Gwen cries in mock-terror. "They locked me away and threw out the key! The doctor said I was an incurable case!" she cries. "Oh no! Here they come with the straight jacket and sedatives!"

"What?!" Jennifer says stopping dead in her tracks. "They did what? Oh my god! I'll call Bob right away!!" she says and puts Gwen on hold. She starts to dial when she suddenly scrunches up her face and takes Gwen off hold. "Not Funny Gwen!!"

Gwen is laughing hard on the other end. "Oh my god Jennifer! That was great! Did I really sound scared?? AWESOME!" she grins. "Hey, hey...don't be mad! I didn't think I'd be convincing! I didn't mean to REALLY freak you out!" she quickly apologizes.

"Oh you are sooo dead when I get back from the ward. I am gonna kick your ass!" Jennifer says loudly into the phone and then hangs it up. She smiles to herself and puts the phone back. "Let her stew on that for a bit," she says with a chuckle.

Gwen grins. "Awesome!" she says again, clicking her phone shut. She takes the elevator up to her room to change for the tour with her family. When she's done her eyes fall on the framed wedding picture of she and Ethan that's sitting on her desk. She smiles softly and takes her cell phone out again. She activates the text message-feature and types a message to him:
"Hey baby...I hope you didn't get in trouble for leaving the trial...from now on we won't call you in the middle of trial unless we KNOW we can't handle it...thank you for coming though...I want you to know I'm proud of you and all the work you're doing on this case...I'm sorry I don't tell you enough...I'll try to be a better wife...I'm taking my family on a tour of the city...do you know when you'll be off for the night?"

"Hey Hun! I'm just outside the courtroom right now waiting for the judge to come back from lunch. Thanks for the compliment, love you much!! We'll talk about all this tonight when I come home, see you then and have a fun time with your family!" comes the message back from Ethan.

Gwen smiles when she reads it. She's finally figured herself out a little. She can handle them being busy doing their own things all day...she just needs a way to be able to reach him. Texting sounds like a good solution because it won't get Ethan in trouble with the judge!
She writes back:
"OK! If you get off early feel free to join us! I want you to get to know Richie and Nick better before they have to go back home...I can't wait to talk to you tonight...I have so much to tell you...love you handsome...good luck in there!"

"You too! Love ya!" He texts back.

Another text arrives from Jennifer, "Boot to the ass baby!!"

Gwen starts cracking up and gets into the elevator, pressing the number for Slider's floor where her brothers are camped out. As the elevator goes down she texts back:
"Oh my god...brothers trashed your room...underwear and bras everywhere...huge mess!"
Gwen snickers and presses "send."

"See you later, A-hole!" comes the message back.

Gwen grins and clicks her cell phone shut as the elevator doors open into Slider's apartment. "Hey boys, did you miss me?" she calls cheerfully as she walks in.

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