See Part One (A) For Disclaimers

"There's more," Val commented as they reached her bedroom.  Renee blinked.  More?  As if what she had just learned wasn't enough, there was more to make things interesting around here?  Val nodded and said, "We could have problems for another reason.  Philip Callaghan is . . . was . . . a member of the Legacy.  He belonged to San Francisco House."

San Francisco.  Derek Rayne.  Oh yes, things were starting to make sense now.  And Val was right, more problems were likely.  Renee said softly, "Andy.  You're afraid Andy will give him a hard time, since he used to work for Derek Rayne."  Val nodded and Renee sighed.  Andy was a good man, but he had a blind hatred of Derek Rayne.

"That's exactly what worries me.  I can't blame Andy for hating Rayne.  There was something he could have done after my mother died, and he didn't," Val replied.  She paused, then added, "But that's not Philip Callaghan's fault.  What's more, I won't let Andy blame him for . . . well, anything which Rayne did before he lost his memory."  The precept of San Francisco House had nearly died in an explosion several months earlier.  He was recovering, but his memory had been shattered.  It was anyone's guess if his memory would ever return completely.

Renee was silent for several moments as she considered the new developments.  She also considered what she knew of Val, then said, "And that's the real reason why you told me about my resemblance to Kristen Adams . . . well, aside from the other part.  You know.  It's because you know Andy will make trouble for Father Callaghan, if he is, indeed, your godfather's successor.  Am I right?"

"Yes.  Renee, I don't know much about the circumstances of Kristen's death.  But I'm willing to bet Philip Callaghan will be more than a little protective of you.  I'm not asking you to fawn over him.  Just . . . cut him some slack," Val replied.  Renee nodded thoughtfully.  It made sense to her. And she never complained about a little chivalry.   Hell, as far as she was concerned, there was never enough chivalry in the world.

"I can do that.  But, we really should warn Andy ahead of time.  He's gonna be a bastard to Father Callaghan, no matter when he knows about it.  But if we spring this on him when Father Callaghan arrives, then it'll get really ugly," the young computer expert observed and Val nodded in  acknowledgment, the weariness returning to her eyes.

"I know.  I know.  I just wanted to talk to you first.  Are you okay with this?" she asked.  Renee bobbed her head.  She fully intended to learn everything she could about both Kristen Adams and Philip Callaghan, however.  Forewarned, as they said, was forearmed.  Val smiled, then yawned and said ruefully, "It's not the company."

Renee laughed and squeezed her friend's shoulder, saying, "No offense taken.  Get some sleep, and we'll talk more in the morning."  Val nodded and shuffled into her room. Renee remained in the doorway for a few extra moments, waiting until her friend was in bed.

Once she was satisfied that Val would be okay, Renee left the room, softly closing the door behind her.  She had a lot to think about, and the first thing she wanted to do was make sure everything was inside the House and the driver had been paid.  And then she would start researching both Kristen Adams and Philip Callaghan.

While Renee was the resident computer expert for Baltimore House, she was also a back-up researcher.  The truth was, they all did a fair amount of research.  Her first stop, in searching out information about Philip Callaghan and Kristen Adams, was the Legacy database.

While Kristen was dead, and Father Callaghan had left the Legacy a few years earlier, their profiles remained.  Renee had learned within her first month in the Legacy that the profiles of members remained even after their death.  Which was why she was now working on the fifteenth Legacy database.  After a while, all that information was hell on space.  Which was why she had divided the profiles into a timeline.

Renee ran lightly down the stairs, mentally planning out her own strategy.  As she had said, no matter when Andy found out, he would be a bastard.  Renee could guarantee that.  And it would be best if a friend told him . . . like herself or Val . . . rather than an outsider.  She was glad that Val agreed on that part.

*    *    *

Tatya missed her calling, Dani Grant thought as she and  her team-mates carried the last of Val's bags inside the House,  she should have been in the Marines.  They could have used a woman like her.  She opted not to say something to Tatya about that, however.  Tatya was her best friend, but she could be unbearable at times.

While Val had been correct in saying that she only had  two bags of souvenirs, in addition to her two pieces of luggage, she had neglected to mention the stop at the grocery store she had made on the way home.Dani shook her head in amazement as she peeked inside the grocery bags. How had Val known what they needed?  One time, she had asked Val if she had gotten her preparedness training from the Girl Scouts.  No, Val had answered, she had spent more than half of her life in the Legacy.

Unlike Andy and Renee, Baltimore House was not Dani's first Legacy assignment.  After getting out of the Marines eight years earlier, Dani had been recruited into the Legacy by William Sloan . . . the same man who had made Val a precept.  It was an unspoken bond between the two women, and a silent agreement to find a way to free Sloan from hell.  Or wherever he was.

The beginning of Dani's time in the Legacy had not been pleasant.  Her first assignment had been in Memphis, TN.  Within a year, she was transferred due to 'personality conflict.'  Which was a polite way of putting it, really.  Sloan came to her rescue, arranging for her to work in Chicago as a field assistant to his head of security.

She was in Chicago for five years, and it was the most glorious time of her life.  In 1996, she was transferred to Baltimore when Sloan became precept of the Ruling House in London.  She was told the new precept of Baltimore House was only twenty-six, and she would need Dani's help.  The ex-Marine had been expecting a spoiled brat . . . either that, or a tramp who couldn't keep her legs together.  She was rather young to be a precept and Dani had a jaded view of the Legacy.

She quickly learned that while Valerie Barton had only been in the Legacy as an official member for eight years, she had been part of the Legacy's world since she was a baby. The term ‘Legacy brat' had been coined for children like her.  And, she was struggling to come to terms with her sister's death, as well as take care of her small niece.

That wasn't taking the behavior of Val's youngest sister Kerry into account, either.  Dani had then understood what Sloan had meant, about Val needing Dani's help.  While she had the aid of Father Nathaniel Hughes, Val was still struggling, both as a precept and as a mother.

Dani immediately stepped in and took charge of Kerry.   The fourteen year old was grieving for Melanie as well, but she was being difficult.  Copping an attitude and generally making everyone miserable.  Val didn't need the distraction. Dani knew that distractions got people killed.

That was where Dani came into the picture.  Over the next few months, as new additions arrived to rebuild Baltimore House, and the investigation began to take shape, Dani kept Kerry at her side as much as possible.  In part, to keep her out of Valerie's way while she was conducting her investigation.  And, to teach the kid some respect.

As long as Kerry didn't see the kind of work which the Legacy did, the danger which they faced if each section didn't do their job properly, there was no way she would respect them.  Much less accept that they really were trying to find out why Melanie had been killed, and who had done it.  Simply because she didn't know.

While Val was doing her job and trying to raise Jasmine, Kerry was receiving a crash course about the Legacy.  She learned about the hours of boredom, staring at the surveillance cameras . . . about the aches and pains which developed after sitting in the library or control room for hours, researching a given phenomenon.

She learned about the interview process, which questions to ask and how to ask them.  Within six months, Kerry had lost the attitude, and another bond had been forged between Dani and Val.  It was this bond which led Dani to the control room once the baggage was inside the House.  She was only a little surprised when Renee followed her a few minutes later.

But Dani didn't question the younger woman.  She had recognized the expression in Renee's blue eyes, the look of pure determination.  Tatya once called it her ‘don't get in my way look,' and she was right.  Instead, Dani kept to her own console.  On a whim, after unloading the bags, Dani had decided to see what she could learn about San Francisco and Boston Houses.  Or rather, what Boston House had been like before the massacre which destroyed it a year earlier.

Over the last several months, since the murderous rampage of Mordecai Church and Reed Horton, Boston House had slowly recovered.  It was still being rebuilt, with some aid from Bishop Hughes.  The new precept was a young girl aided by the Legacy some four years earlier, Cora Jennings.  Cora had called Val often in the last few months, asking her advice for various and sundry situations.  She wasn't a ‘child,' the same age as Renee.  But she seemed terribly young to Dani.

However, Dani's concern was now San Francisco House.  She knew a little about San Francisco, since both Andy and their precept had 'issues' with Derek Rayne.  And she knew that one of the women from Boston House had served in San Francisco for a time, the late Kristen Adams.  And a former member of San Francisco House now worked in Boston.

In addition, she heard things from people in other Houses, as did Val.  The young precept had served in Montreal for a time, and still had friends up in the French Canadian city.  Not for the first time, Dani wondered how on earth Val had managed in Montreal in particular, since she didn't speak a word of French.  She would have to ask Val about that.

But yes, she had heard things about San Francisco from other Houses.  She knew the House numbered four . . . the precept, Dr. Derek Rayne; Dani's counterpart in security, Nick Boyle; Alex Moreau, researcher and computer specialist; and Dr. Rachel Corrigan, consulting psychiatrist and medical advisor.  Dani still couldn't believe that someone could pull some  of the stunts which Corrigan had, and still be accepted in the Legacy. And accepted as a respected member.  Amazing, the things the Legacy put up with in its quest to protect the innocent.

*    *    *

When he was a young man, Nathaniel Hughes had lived in one place.  He was born and grew up in the same house in Baltimore, Maryland.  He could remember his neighbors, who moved in and who moved out which year.  Nothing in his early life had prepared him for the travelling he did as a member of the Legacy . . . or even for the travelling he did as a priest.

In the last three weeks, he had travelled first to San Francisco, to meet with the members of that House, then to Boston, to help Cora Jennings recruit new members for the House.  Now, as he tried to relax on his hotel bed, Nathaniel thought again about what had led him to this.  When Nathaniel had been made a bishop, he realized that he would have to spend less time with the Legacy . . . and with his goddaughter.

Nathaniel wanted Val and her House to have protection, the kind of protection provided by a priest.  He supposed a rabbi would have worked just as well, and Val would have accused him of being biased, but he wanted another priest in the House with his goddaughter.  And not just any priest . . . he had to be special.  He had to have experience with the Legacy.  And he had to be open-minded.

He had actually had his replacement in mind for a while, ever since he learned that Philip Callaghan had left the Legacy.  While he hadn't met Philip until a week ago, he knew of the boy's reputation in the priesthood.  He was quiet, intelligent, and hard-working.  And, he had been in the Legacy before finally leaving two years earlier.

In addition, he had a fascination with languages, even lost languages, and he had earned the respect of the Jesuits, even though he didn't belong to their order.  That was what made this so perfect, now that he had it arranged.  Oh, it had taken some doing . . . convincing the Monsignor to release Philip . . . but it had been done.  The boy would be transferred from Boston to Baltimore.

Philip still didn't know that he was being returned to the Legacy . . . and Nathaniel didn't plan on telling him until they reached Baltimore.  At the moment, he believed that he was just helping out Nathaniel's goddaughter, a historian with a rare document from antiquity.  Sure, the kid could still turn back, but first, he would meet Val . . . and Renee Lawson.  Nathaniel was willing to bet the first time Philip saw Renee, he would be unable to leave.  That was what Nathaniel was counting on.

He was manipulating the boy, Nathaniel knew that.  But he also knew the Legacy needed Philip.  Needed his knowledge, his quiet faith, his gifts with people.  And Philip, whether he was willing to admit it or not, needed the Legacy.  The trouble was, as Nathaniel saw it, the House in which he had spent so much time.

That had been his gut instinct all along, and Nathaniel's journey to California had finally convinced him.  That wasn't even true . . . it had been his interview with Rachel Corrigan, the consulting psychiatrist, which had convinced Nathaniel.  The problem was no longer Derek Rayne.  The stoic and silent precept had given way to a frightened, confused man who remembered nothing of what had gone before.

No, Rayne wasn't the problem at all.  It was now Corrigan.  From what Nathaniel had learned, the psychiatrist had suffered a nervous breakdown shortly after Rayne's alleged death in the explosion which destroyed the Rayne castle.  And it was the priest's uneasy sense that Corrigan blamed Philip for both the explosion and her mental collapse, though he didn't understand how that could be.

He had also learned that Alex Moreau continued to miss the young priest, who had been one of her dearest friends before his departure from the Legacy.  He had learned that Nick Boyle, the son of Nathaniel's hated enemy, missed his friend as well.  And while Nick was a far better man than his father could have ever hoped to be, while Alex was a lovely, compassionate girl, and while Derek Rayne was no longer a driven, mission-oriented man, Rachel Corrigan was a problem.

In fact, after meeting with Derek Rayne, Nathaniel had come to the conclusion that the man actually had the potential to be an honest to God human being, rather than a machine for the Legacy.  That was something he wouldn't have believed even six months ago, much less eighteen years earlier.  He wondered if he should tell Valerie, then shook his head.  No, she would find out soon enough.

In any event, San Francisco House was no place for a young man such as Philip Callaghan, not with someone like Rachel Corrigan running amok.   Nathaniel knew his goddaughter was a far more stable presence than Rachel Corrigan . . . not, his experience had taught him in recent weeks, that this took a great deal of effort.

His only concern was with Andrew Ramirez . . . but Nathaniel had faith in his goddaughter.  He knew that she would find a way to keep Andy in line.  He was a good man, after all.  So, as he drifted off to sleep, Nathaniel contemplated his next task.

*    *    *

In San Francisco, a man sat reading the paper over dinner.  The wind blew gently, and he shivered in spite of himself.  While he had grown up in the Mid-Atlantic states, he had spent the last twenty years of his life in the South and Southwest.  San Francisco was a bit chilly for him.  Still, it was necessary to be here.  He had to know the status of his enemy.  Had to know what part of his plan he should implement.

It had been eighteen years, but the quest for justice continued.  It had to.  Derek Rayne had allowed the murder of his wife to go unpunished.  Had tried to say that the man's young daughter had imagined the entire attack, when the little girl had the spinal injuries, the broken ribs, and bruised kidneys to prove it had really happened.  For that, some retribution would have to be taken.  Derek Rayne would have to pay for what he had done.  But the man was unwilling to take the same path as Reed Horton.

Unlike the murderous former Legacy member, Dr. Douglas Barton had no interest in punishing innocents for Derek Rayne's crimes.  Nick Boyle was of no interest to him . . . nor was Alex Moreau.  Rachel Corrigan or her daughter.  Douglas knew that his daughters would have never forgiven him if he had acted against any of those innocents, especially young Katherine Corrigan.

But Derek Rayne would be punished.  He didn't remember his crimes, and Horton had killed his lover, fluff reporter Megan Torrence.  But he hadn't paid enough for what he had done to Barton's family.  For what Jonathan Boyle had done.  Barton didn't know what he would do, yet.  But eighteen years was a long time to wait for revenge.  For justice.

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