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Julia hung up from yet another phone call, another museum
now up to date and paperwork complete as she wrote out the final notes in the
file's assigned section.
Yup, she thought, she really did like these headphone type
phones.
She looked at the clock and calculated the time in London
before dialing out the House's number.
Four rings, in double quick successions as most oversea
phone lines were apt to do and the secretary to the London House was answering
the phone "Luna Foundation, London Branch."
Julia smiled "Hello, Patricia, is Sloan in?"
There was a slight pause and then, in a pleased and kind
of surprised tone "Julia...? I should have known you'd call."
And what else could she have said to the woman that had
come back from the dead? Patricia asked herself, remembering the woman she had
known before that fateful day in Ireland.
And she was back?
"Hold on a second." she said before patching the call into
her husband's private line.
William Sloan answered a second later "Hello......
Julia."
"Hello..... William." Julia replied in like fashion,
although her tone was obviously humorous and with a measure of mocking "You need
to get your act together and take care of something."
"Actually I was speaking with Cross about
you."
"Ah, lovely. So when will you have this all hashed
out?"
Sloan paused. She sounded like Julia and had the
same no nonsense way about her, all the way down to the mocking tone. But
was it Julia?
"As soon as we do the standard tests and checks.
You're keeping busy I assume?"
"Yup." she answered, not giving him details and getting
the impression she was being giving the stall routine. And frankly, she
wasn't in the mood to really be baited into one of their infamous debates and so
started to end the call "And on that note I need to get back to it. But
now you know I'll be bugging you until this matter's resolved so... just like
old times Sloan. Talk to you later."
With that she hung up, just as Alex entered and grinned at
the gadget on Julia's head.
"Look at you, miss executive assistant." her friend teased
her. Alex then blinked at the stack of paperwork - not because of the
amount of it but the lack of amount of it and knowing it had been a lot taller
yesterday. "You ready to go?"
Julia stood and took the headset off, laying on the desk
as she opened the drawer she had put her credit cards in and slipped them into
her front pocket.
"Of course. Get enough sleep?" she asked in turn,
taking the keys from her other pocket and both women heading out the door and
then downstairs to the front door.
"You will soon find out." Alex teased, both of them
knowing her fondness for shopping.
Julia chuckled as they neared the UV, Alex whistling in
compliment as she got in and fastened her belt, only to look around the new
auto.
"How did you get this?" Alex asked, thinking of the
trouble Julia would get in buying a new vehicle.
"Mmmm, I think Derek got tired of me taking his baby."
Julia quipped as she started the UV and started out from under the covered drive
and toward the gate "So he bought it."
"Wait." Alex looked like she was about to do a double take
at that "It has a red stripe on it. Red, Julia. Derek buying
something with red on it?"
Julia looked over at her after they cleared the gate and
drove toward the ferry "Don't pick on him. I like this
puppy."
Alex grinned and was already looking at the entertainment
center in the back seat "Egads, has Kat seen this yet?"
"This morning. I'll be picking her up when she gets
out of school so she'll be probably be at it again then too."
The ferry was there and she pulled up on the boat, rolling
down the windows and turning off the engine as it started forward. They
had pulled up to it just in time.
* * * * * * * *
"Two hours does NOT a shopping spree make." Alex stated
when they exited the latest store they had visited. Whereas Julia was
still carrying one shopping back from the different places they had been to,
Alex was already counting four and about to start on a fifth "And are you
feverish?"
Julia laughed at that as they headed toward the eatery
"I'm just fine, thanks. I'm not ready for a complete buy out
fest."
"Ha, you haven't even made a dent in that credit card, my
friend." Alex teased her "What gives?"
"A contributor." Julia replied with a wink as they got a
couple of sodas and made their way to a vacant table.
"Hardy har har." Alex mock laughed before taking a sip of
her drink and gazing at her friend thoughtfully, who was enjoying her own drink
and looking out toward the center of the eatery before feeling Alex's gaze and
raising an eyebrow.
In truth, Julia had bought a couple of outfits consisting
of slacks, blouses, more casual shirts and jeans and had made arrangements for
it to be delivered to the house while she and Alex continued their outing but
she didn't think the looks she was getting now pertained to her lack of going
shop-mad and so waited.
"I have loads of questions to ask and not sure where to
start." Alex admitted with a half smile, taking another sip of her
drink.
"Try asking the first one that comes to mind." Julia
suggested with a light tease "It's not like we haven't dove into mass
questioning gigs with each other before."
"True but I already know the answer to one of the
questions I have."
Julia raised an eyebrow "What question is
that?"
"About........ you and someone else."
"And the answer is?" she asked with the same
grin.
"That you love him and to let it stay between you
two."
Julia tilted her head to the side for a full minute and
then nodded, chuckling "Yup, that would be the answer."
She met her friend's gaze and explained "It's not that I
don't trust you, Alex. You're my best girl friend. But
-"
Alex smiled at that, glad Julia said so and then raised
her hand to stop her friend's explanation "I understand. And I don't blame
you in the least. This way you concentrate on each other without having to
deal with an audience. Why do you think we haven't said anything out in
the open about it?"
"And let's face it, neither one of you are
exhibitionists." she added, grinning when Julia covered her mouth over an
outright laugh.
"You know....." Alex said with a slight, slow smile as she
thought of the past "Looking back at things now, with the way we ended up
sending you to him about things we knew he'd shoot down, I think we all knew on
some level that you were different with him."
Julia grinned, remembering but also pointing out "There
were times he told me no too. He's no wuss."
Alex chuckled that time and nodded "True. Very
true."
They sat in companionable silence before Alex asked her
next question "What was it like? Being over there?"
'Over there' obviously meant 'the other side' and Julia
looked at the center of the food court thoughtfully, turning her thoughts inward
before answering "You could feel that you were surrounded by holy Beings and
that you were supposed to find a serenity there. But I never
did."
She looked at Alex and answered honestly "There wasn't a
day gone by, even when I was helping with things there, that I didn't want to
come back here."
"But how did you.. well what finally changed Their minds
about letting you come back?"
Julia paused and stirred her drink thoughtfully with her
straw "Thinking about it now, I think they always had the thought that I should
be back here. It's just a feeling I have. Something just had to
happen first before I could come back and it did happen. Matter of fact I
remember one of Them saying I was being returned to what should have been before
evil interrupted something it shouldn't have."
They both fell quiet then, thinking about that. Then
Alex grinned and stood, picking up her bags "The rest I can ask you while we're
shopping some more. Come on, Walker. We have to get you back into
shape for the shop-decathlon at Christmas time."
Julia laughed at that and followed, tossing her near empty
plastic glass into the nearest trash bin.
<to be continued>
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