One more interview before lunch. Not on the schedule, but whatever, not unusual, and that's why they paid her by the hour and not by the job. Besides, she loved her work. It suited her perfectly. She only took her breaks because it was the law. That's what her programming told her, and that's what she chose to believe, regardless of the programming.

She sat in the small darkened room that was her office, looking at the screen in front of her. The analyst watched as the monitor came to life, information about the person in the next room appearing quickly. It was her job to interpret the information she was given in real-time. She fired up the recording equipment and settled into the chair as biographical information appeared.

"Katherine Hensel reporting. Subject is a white female, 28 years old." She parroted the information that she was given, the barest minimum of identifiers to make sure the recording could be matched to the interview. She didn't know why the woman was being spoken to, whether this was an interrogation or a report or something else entirely. Katherine was tested regularly, at least once a month according to protocol, so this might have been someone from AlterLogic there to make sure that she was still at the top of her game.

She had no worries on that front.

"Signs point to recent, and deep, Alteration, within the last..." Katherine paused a moment, scanning the information, "thirty-six hours, possibly twenty-four. No strong lingering suggestions. Evidence of emotional stress." Emotional stress was pretty much the default state for people in a police interview room, whether they were there of their own volition or not. Lack of emotional stress often indicated something else strange going on, usually substance-related.

"Subject appears calm, despite tension." She would be sitting in the interview room with a simple scanning helmet on, basic Alteration gear without the input option. It was a little more powerful than what you might find on the electronics sites—AlterLogic took pride in its proprietary hardware—but it wasn't much more powerful than high-end consumer gear.

The numbers bounced and jumped a bit. Katherine looked at the timer. "Five minutes and ten seconds, subject appears agitated, perhaps angry." This wasn't uncommon among people who she was analyzing. The police were not the most sensitive of conversationalists. Wasn't her job to comment. A line of Tennyson popped into her mind, about not reasoning why. It was her job to keep an eye on the subject and figure out if they were being honest—and if the officers were behaving themselves.

"Subject appears to be reacting poorly to questioning. No evidence of challenging speech." No lies, no obfuscation, in other words, so far as she could see. Katherine imagined that the woman was speaking directly and frankly to an insensitive interviewer. "Subject's agitation rising, showing clear signs of impatience." Likely she was here to report something, and the officers weren't paying a lot of attention to her. Wouldn't be the first time.

She tried to keep her assessment of her contract holders out of her assessment of the subject in the next room. "Subject seems open and honest. No evidence of Alteration changing her perceptions or responses, no signs of fear or deception." She looked at the subject's emotional state and at the time of the session. If the woman was here voluntarily, it probably wouldn't last long. If not, well, it wouldn't be the first time she'd watched the numbers as someone had an emotional collapse. She couldn't remember specifics, AlterLogic made sure of that, but she knew that she'd witnessed someone, at some point, having a total breakdown. Probably more than one person.

The numbers jumped, plummeted, zeroed out. "Subject appears to have removed scanner, and—" Unexpectedly, the computer let out a beep, an unusual error noise. A little message popped up. 'Optical nerve sensor damaged.' Katherine stared at the screen for a moment before breaking her silence. "—and the scanner appears to have become broken." Her training and her character led her to avoid making definitive statements about vague possibilities with no direct evidence, but it was likely that the interviewee had smashed the helmet.

It took her a moment to recover her composure. She was a professional, but she could still be surprised. "There is nothing more to report. Session concluded, twelve minutes and four seconds." She shut off the recording program, assigned it to the archive, and sat back in her chair. It wasn't that the interview had ended, but there was nothing at all that the analyst could possibly do with her equipment at the very least malfunctioning. With that in mind, she sent a flag to the technical team showing the readings, and knowing that someone from AlterLogic would be on site to fix or replace the scanner within a short time.

Which left a little less than an hour until lunch, and nothing to do. Well, it wasn't like they were going to assign her another case, not until the tech could replace the broken gear, which meant that she would have about a two-hour break on company time. She stood up, straightened and tightened her long ponytail, adjusted her jacket and did up the three buttons of her blue blouse that had been undone in the privacy of the small office to combat the warmth. She smoothed out her long black skirt with the hint of a smile, and stepped into her comfortable black canvas shoes. She'd have enough time to take a good walk through downtown.

Katherine slipped out of the office and into the hallway, headed for the changing room to get her purse, but as she turned, a familiar figure emerged from the public washroom right in front of her, a young Black woman with the deepest pink hair she'd ever seen.

The two of them stood for a moment in shocked recognition. The Black woman spoke first. "I... know you, don't I? We've met?"

"Yes, we have," Katherine replied. "You were with Spin and Idle last night, I believe, at Abley's. I didn't catch your name."

"Oh! Yeah, that's me. Midnight." The woman held out her hand. "And you're Tailor, right? I didn't recognize you with your hair up like that and all, uh... dressed up."

Katherine shook Midnight's hand. "Yes, I go by 'Katherine' here, but that's me." She was a bit embarrassed by her hobby, which wasn't known among either her co-workers at AlterLogic or in the police station, but she kept her composure. It was important to her to have a chance to do more than just analysis from time to time. "Nice to meet you, Midnight. What brings you down here?"

Midnight sighed, clearly worried. "I'm here with Idle," she began. "She came down to report that Spin's gone missing."

Katherine blinked. "What?"

"Yeah, um, I don't really get it myself, we, ah, we woke up late, and the minute Idle checked her messages on her phone she was dressing me up and calling for a Popcar and we were out the door and heading right down here so..." Midnight shrugged, looking small.

"Huh." Katherine tried to process the information "Was... Was Idle, or I guess, is Idle in there?" She pointed down to one of the meeting rooms.

"Uh, yeah, why?"

That explained something, anyway. Katherine looked around. "I'll tell you in a bit. You took a Popcar down?" When Midnight nodded, Katherine continued, determined. "Okay, I'm on break, I'll drive you two home or wherever you need to be after Idle's done in there. I was just going to get my things."

So much for that walk.

Midnight nodded again. "Thanks, Tai- uh, Katherine." She turned to head back to the waiting room, then turned back as something occurred to her. "Wait, get your things? So you, uh..."

Katherine nodded. "Yes, I work here. I'm an analyst. I'll tell you everything later, so I don't have to repeat it for Idle."

"Okay, sure." Midnight wandered back to the waiting area.

Spin had vanished. That was unexpected. And a dark-skinned non-binary Alterist would hardly be top priority for the missing persons department, unless it hit mainstream news. Maybe even not then. She sighed as she grabbed her purse from the locker. The weekly programming AlterLogic gave her made her happy to do her job and to do the best job she could, but did nothing regarding her impression of her employers.

When she returned to the publicly-accessible areas of the station, neither Midnight nor Idle were visible; she found the two of them standing outside a few feet away from the main doors. Midnight was holding Idle's arm; Idle was fuming.

Katherine reached out a hand to her former competitor. "Idle. It's good to see you again."

Idle took her hand, but her expression didn't break. "Tailor." She shook her head. "Fuck, please, please, please tell me you're not a fucking cop."

"Not a fucking cop." Katherine smiled. "Not any kind of a cop, actually."

"Okay, good." Idle let out a deep breath. "Sorry, I'm trying to keep calm here, and I'm not doing a great job."

"Your roommate's missing, I'd have trouble keeping calm if it was my roommate." Katherine stepped back, offering space. "Not that I have a roommate. Did you want a ride home?"

"Yeah, maybe." Idle sighed. "I wish I hadn't let Spin stop me from vaping, I could use... hah, something, anything right now."

Katherine nodded. "How about lunch? I'm famished," she lied easily. She was hungry, sure, but famished was a stretch. "I was going to hit up my favourite Indian buffet," she said, still untruthfully; her simple sandwich and apple would wait in her purse until later.

Idle turned to look at Midnight, who nodded. "Yeah, sounds good to us."

"Alright, come with me," Katherine gave a wave. "My car's two blocks over in a surface lot, they don't let us mere contractors park at the station."

"Why 'Tailor'?" Midnight asked as they started to walk.

"Hm? Oh, me?" Katherine slowed in her pace a moment. "My middle name. So when I got online, it felt like a good place to start. Set myself up as 'Tailormaid,' uh, that's 'Tailor' as in clothes-maker, and 'Maid' as in house-cleaner."

"Homophones. Cute," Idle replied, her voice neutral.

"What about you two? I'm assuming that you're as much Midnight and Idle as I am Tailormaid-oh-two-four."

There was a brief silence, then Midnight spoke up. "A Midnight Rose is a clumping flower with pretty dark-purple leaves, and, um..." Her voice was a little embarrassed. "I dunno, I just liked it, and it fits me."

"Mine's just an aspirational pun. 'Adel' was close enough to 'Idle' to make the shift seamless, I guess, so  'Adelaide Richardson' became 'Idle Rich' in my mind." Idle was still clearly upset by whatever had caused her to break the equipment in the interview room. "So I went with 'IdleRichGurl,' because that'd be nice to be."

"Wouldn't it." Katherine shook her head. "It would be great to do nothing but sit in front of the Alteration machine and just do work."

"Uh, Katherine?" Midnight said as they approached her car.

"Yeah?"

"Did... I'm not imagining that, Idle, am I?"

"What?" Idle asked.

"It's just that, when you said that, you got all... quiet, and like... I dunno, you sounded like you were in a trance just there."

"I did?" Katherine unlocked the doors with the push of a button, the radio receiver reading the tag she carried in her purse.

"She did?" Idle asked, sounding just as confused.

"Sorry, I probably shouldn't have said anything," Midnight replied quietly.

"What did I say?" Katherine asked. "Go ahead, get on in."

"You said that it'd be nice to just sit at an Alteration machine and work all day," Idle replied.

Katherine laughed and shook her head again. "AlterLogic programming. It's potent stuff. We don't even notice when we—"

"Which is the point," Idle cut in. "Corporate."

Katherine started the car up. "Yeah, but they keep me fed." She shrugged. "I'm also a damn fine analyst."

"You play a good game of Fives," Midnight said. "Uh, I think. I don't remember much of your game with Idle, and I wasn't in the room for your matches with Bard and Spin."

"Thanks, Midnight. I really like the game." She took a breath, hesitating, as the small Black woman sat behind her in the car, while Idle in passenger seat fought with her seat belt. "So what makes you think that Spin's missing?"

"A text message this morning," Idle said.

"Okay, and why didn't the interviewer believe you?"

"Because—wait, how did you know that?"

"Deduction," Katherine explained. "You broke my scanner, for one thing, and you sure don't seem like you got the outcome you wanted from them."

She saw a flash of anger cross Idle's face. "Fuckers gave me a citation for damaging police property—"

"Which you did."

Idle chuckled darkly. "Which I did. And I paid it, too, so I hope you're happy with the new scanner."

"It'll be the same model brought in from storage." Katherine shrugged. "What you really bought me was a long lunch break."

"Then I guess you're getting lunch," Idle replied, still with dark humour. "Anyway, they say that there 'isn't enough evidence' or some shit because the message seems 'normal enough.'" Idle pulled her phone from her jacket pocket. "Here, I'll show you."

The car hadn't started moving yet, so Katherine accepted Idle's proffered phone and looked at the text message on the screen.

SpinDr: I'm taking off to an after party. Got an invite from a hot guy. Can you and Midnight go back to the theatre tomorrow and grab my car?

"And that makes you think she's disappeared?" Katherine asked, finally putting the car into gear.

"Yeah. Three reasons," Idle replied. "One. There was an after party, and no one invited me? Or you, I'm guessing. Or anyone else who was there, far as I can tell. I left early, so maybe I missed it, but you didn't get an invite, I bet."

"Alright, that's a good point."

"Two," Idle continued, holding up two fingers of her left hand. "I do not drive. No license, no inclination. And I Altered Midnight last night, and Spin knew that we were going to play with our equipment."

"Right, so Spin would have known that neither of you could drive their car," Katherine said with a nod. "And three?"

"She 'got an invite from a hot guy,'" Idle said.

"Spin's not into guys?"

"Spin's not into anyone."

"Oh. Ohhh." Katherine nodded. "And so the officer—"

"Grant."

Katherine moaned internally. Vincent Grant was not the man to take this sort of a complaint, which was probably exactly why he had been assigned. "So Officer Grant suggested that Spin—"

"Yep. That they just got hammered and are sleeping it off." Idle let out an angry puff of air. "Which is also completely unlike them, although I guess not impossible. I just hated being dismissed like that. Fuck."

Katherine stayed silent, taking it in. For a moment, the only noise was the little hum of the wheels on the pavement and the cooling fans in the motor.

"Would you rather go check out Abley's?" she asked, finally.

"Huh?"

"Instead of lunch. Or in addition to lunch. Want to go to the last place we all saw them?"

Midnight piped up. "Maybe we can learn something?"

"That's what I'm hoping," Katherine replied.

"Better than sitting around doing fuck all," Idle said.

If the police won't help, maybe we can at least find something out, Katherine thought as she turned the car onto the highway. "So, uh... how long have you two been together?"

Midnight giggled. "What time is it?"

"Hm?"

"We just met last night," Idle replied, "although Midnight's known Spin online for a while."

Katherine blinked. "You two seem awfully close for such a short time."

"Can't prove anything, of course," Idle said with a bit of a growl that Katherine couldn't read, "but we think that Spin's been playing cupid."

"Doesn't matter to me," Midnight said. "I was a big fan of Idle's before anyway. Uh, far as I know."

"Oh yeah? You followed Idle?" Katherine looked over to the passenger seat. "I didn't know you had a presence."

Idle shook her head. "Not in Fives, I'm into Brainhack. Spin's my coach."

Katherine felt herself involuntarily making a face, and she knew that Idle had seen it before she could hide her distaste. Rather than pretend otherwise, she apologized. "Sorry, Idle, it's never been my sort of game. I don't even really like the concept of it. It's just—"

"It's okay, I get it," Idle cut in. "Some people don't like boxing, too, or, I dunno, football or something."

"Just that, for me, Alteration is about making people feel good," Katherine explained, "And too much Brainhacking is about hurting people."

"Then you don't know how it's played," Idle said defensively. "I just had a match yesterday, I lost, before you ask, and I lost because I couldn't resist that feeling of slipping into a warm bath. That good feeling. It's a battle, but it's not a brawl. There are fewer and fewer Caden Colliers in the world. Actually hurting people has been shown to be losing strategy, again and again."

"Hey," Midnight said from the back seat. "I think we're almost there."

"Right!" Katherine said. "Sorry, I got on autopilot there, nearly missed the turn."

"Autopilot for where?" Idle asked.

Katherine slowed down, looking for a parking spot. "Home. I live just on the edge of town in Copper Hills."

"Corporate work pays well, I guess," Idle said with a little edge in her voice.

"I'm just lucky to have a job that lets me use my creativity and intelligence," Katherine replied as she pulled into a spot in front of Abley's theatre.

"You just did it again," Midnight said. "You just went all cold-voice."

"I did?"

"Yeah, even I heard it that time," Idle answered.

Katherine shook her head, turning off the car. "Let's just go see what we can find."

Midnight undid her seatbelt and opened her door. "Is the theatre even open right now?"

"Probably not," Idle said, stepping out onto the curb.

"I'll take care of that," Katherine said, pulling her phone out. "Call Peter."

Midnight and Idle headed to the main doors of the theatre. "Yep," Idle said. "Opens at six."

Katherine heard a click over her phone. "Hey Kathy, what's up?" came the familiar voice of Peter Abley.

"Hi Pete, I'm outside with Idle, one of the players from last night" she said. "She thinks her roommate might've left something behind there and wants to take a look for it."

"No problem, I'll be right down."

"There," she said, putting her phone back in her purse. "We'll be inside in a moment or two."

"Who were you talking to?" Idle asked, curious.

Katherine shrugged. "Peter Abley."

"The theatre owner?" Midnight asked, eyes wide.

"Son of the owner. Pete just runs the place."

Idle gave an impressed whistle. "How do you know them?"

"They're family friends." Katherine shrugged again. "I went to school with Pete for a bit. He's a couple years older than me."

A tall dark-haired man opened the theatre door and offered his hand. "Idle! Welcome back. Congratulations again on your perfect record last night, I was very impressed."

"Thanks," Idle said, putting on a smile as Katherine walked up to them. "This is my friend Midnight."

"Nice to meet you, Midnight. Will we see you on the stage soon?"

"Uh, maybe in one of the volunteer chairs," she replied, also shaking his hand.

"And Kathy." Peter pulled her into a hug. "Like the old song says, two outta three ain't bad, right?"

Katherine laughed. "Met my match in Idle, here," she said as Peter ushered the three of them inside. "Maybe I'll do better in the semis."

"I think you'll have to, to beat her." Peter closed and locked the door behind them. "So what can I do for you three?"

Idle spoke up. "Spin contacted me this morning, wanted me to get some stuff they left behind." Katherine wasn't about to correct her; it was Idle's story to tell. She was here as a facilitator, and a curious observer. She shared a glance with Midnight, and she could tell the other girl was thinking the same thing.

"Sure, of course. Any idea where they might've left it? The cleaners haven't been through the place yet, they're not due until two. And of course we have another round of the Fives tourney tonight, if you want tickets."

"Already got plans tonight," Katherine replied, then gave Peter a grin. "Besides, do you think that any night will be as good as that first show?"

Peter nodded, as Idle cut in again. "If it's anywhere, they probably left it in the green room."

"Oh, of course," Peter replied. "Spin was back there quite a while after the match, I think well after we closed to the public. They might have gone out the back instead of walking through the crowd."

"Was anyone else here?" Idle asked, sounding a little eager.

Peter furrowed his brow in thought. "Hm. I could check the security footage, but that only covers the front here and the stage, for privacy reasons. Most actors don't want cameras in changing rooms. Are you worried that something of theirs might have been stolen?"

Idle shook her head. "Not really, no, just... do you mind if we go have a look?"

Peter shrugged. "No, it's fine, go ahead. It's just the four of us here, you all know your way back there?"

"Of course, and we'll just head out the back, too, when we're done," Katherine said. "Then you don't have to come back down to let us out."

"Sounds great, just make sure the door shuts behind you," Peter said. "Nice to see you both again. And to meet you, Midnight." He nodded to the three of them and headed off towards the box office.

"Let's go to the back," Idle said, the façade falling, her impatience shining through.

"What are we looking for?" Midnight asked as they moved through the theatre.

"Not a fucking clue," Idle admitted. "Something. Anything."

Katherine kept her eyes open as they walked. Theatres always looked so different when there was no performance in progress. The stage didn't seem so distant from the audience when the dramatic lighting wasn't on. The room was so quiet without the chatter and bustle and even the hushed breathing. Making their way to the wings and heading backstage by the lights of their phones was a bit treacherous with no stage manager to guide them, but somehow they all survived.

The green room had its own light switch, which Katherine turned on. She thought back to the night before. She had shaken hands with Spin, then headed out to the audience and the lobby, and eventually after what felt like a hundred conversations with various attendees, to her car and home.

"Hey, what's that?" Midnight asked, pointing to the couch.

"Fuck, it's their phone." Idle walked quickly across the room and picked it up. She held it up for the other two to see. "It's broken." The back panel of the device had been smashed open and several components had been removed. The glass screen was heavily cracked and bits of it had fallen out.

"That's deliberate," Katherine said.

"Yeah, no shit," Idle said, sitting down heavily on the couch. "What the fuck is going on here?"

"How did they send the message?" Midnight asked.

Katherine looked at her, curious. She saw Idle do the same from the corner of her eye.

Midnight shrank back a bit, "Uh... I mean..."

"No, no," Katherine said, trying to be encouraging, "that's a great question. Idle, if that message had arrived last night, what would you have thought?"

"I would have caught it right away."

"Is there a way to time-delay a text message with your phone carrier?"

"Huh?" Idle blinked. "Uh... I don't actually know. Spin would, they're the programming genius."

Katherine held out her hand for the phone, which Idle gave her. She looked inside. It was a familiar model, a few years out of date. She'd had one like it when she first got her job after graduating. "The SIM chip is missing. Using that, I could send any message to you from any device and it would show up with Spin's number."

Idle put her head in her hands. "Well that's just fucking great, isn't it."

"At least you were clued in by the message," Midnight said.

Katherine pursed her lips. "There's a lot going on here." She looked around. Nothing else seemed out of order in the room. "What comes next?"

"Think the phone's enough for the police to act?" Midnight asked. Her voice betrayed doubts. Idle's expression concurred.

"I think you've already been dismissed," Katherine replied. "It'll take something big to actually open a case."

Idle leaned back in the couch with a groan. "Something big. You mean like a body turning up."

"Something more than we've got, anyway," Katherine said diplomatically, though privately she agreed. "Should we check the alley?"

"Yeah, probably." Midnight walked over to help Idle to her feet. "Nothing more to find in here, right?"

"I'll get the light," Katherine said. "Mind if I keep Spin's phone? I've got friends who might be able to get something from it."

"Nah, go ahead," Idle replied.

Katherine slipped the broken device carefully in her purse and stood by the light switch, looking around as Idle and Midnight headed past her and into the hall. One couch, two chairs, a coffee table. A small powder room. Nothing else of note.

She had been the last person to see Spin, so far as she knew, anyway, before they'd disappeared. She tried to imagine what might have happened, what someone standing where she was standing might have seen. Given where Spin's phone was found, Katherine imagined that Spin was probably sitting right where they were when she'd left the room. That meant no struggle, unless the phone was deliberately replaced afterwards.

"I'll be right there," Katherine called to the other women in the hall. She dashed over to the table, pulled Spin's phone from her purse, and put it to the edge of the table. The angle of the break matched the edge, as though someone had put the phone to it repeatedly with some force. Sure enough, where Spin had been sitting, Katherine spotted some bits of plastic and glass in the rug. So Spin either didn't struggle, or... Katherine stepped quickly back to the door, gauging the position. Someone could have shot her, but there would be blood everywhere. Anaesthetic dart? The stuff of science fiction, generally, though not impossible. Not very likely, and then why leave the phone behind? The damage couldn't be accidental; it wasn't dropped, it was battered. The phone had to have been left behind because... because it could be traced. The SIM card must have been a necessary and acceptable risk; Katherine doubted that it would be anywhere near Spin by now.

A narrative started to form in Katherine's head. Two narratives. Perhaps Grant was right; it was possible that Spin had run off, that they would turn up in short order after a wild night. But the more likely story was that Spin had walked away with someone who had taken them.

And if they went willingly...

"They were Altered," Katherine whispered. "They had to be."

She took a moment to go over the evidence in her head, to be certain. She didn't like having uncertainties in her conclusions, but she couldn't see anything else that made sense. The phone had been deliberately broken, possibly by Spin, and the card removed, also quite possibly by Spin or by someone else with them. Spin had to have gone willingly, and that meant they had to be in a different mental state. The only uncertainty left at the moment was whether Spin had been Altered or more directly threatened, and Katherine found it pretty unlikely that someone would have come backstage to make a threat, forced Spin to break their phone, taken the time to remove vital components, before shuffling them off to a waiting vehicle in the back alley, and all with no one noticing. Both explanations were plausible, but hypnotism made a lot more sense.

Satisfied, she shut off the light and walked into the hallway. "Sorry for the delay," she said to Idle and Midnight. "This is getting wild. I want to talk with you two a bit, can we go somewhere?"

"You promised us lunch," Midnight said with a little grin.

Katherine couldn't help but laugh. "I did. Yeah, let's go look in the alley and then go get some food. But I'm pretty sure what we'll find out there."

Idle perked up a bit. "Yeah? What?"

"Nothing, sorry. If we find something, that'll be great, but I bet it'll be nothing."

Idle's face fell. "Right."

"Hey, I've got some ideas. But let's check anyway, if we do find something it'll change the theory."

"And then lunch," Midnight added. Both Idle and Katherine looked at her. "What? We rushed out so quick I didn't have breakfast."

"I promised," Katherine said with a bright smile. "Let's see if we can figure this out."

As expected, nothing turned up in the alleyway between Abley's and the block of offices behind it. Less expected was the excellent sandwich stop that Tailor had taken them to. They didn't have time for a proper sit-down meal, so they ate as she drove towards Idle's home and filled them in on her theory—that Spin had walked away willingly with someone who had Altered them—and the evidence that she'd accumulated for it, all of which Idle took in with few comments and a mounting feeling of frustration.

"So that's about it." Katherine said as she stopped her car in front of Idle's apartment block. "I would love to keep the conversation going, but I have to get back to work. Should I call you after I'm done?"

"Yeah, that's be nice," Idle replied, not entirely feeling it. "Sure you won't come up?"

Tailor shook her head and tapped her temple. "Don't have a choice. I have to get back to work."

"Corporate," Idle said with a good-hearted chuckle.

"Pays the bills." Tailor smiled. "I'll keep thinking about what's up and I'll be back in a few hours, okay? Stay safe, ladies."

"Thanks for lunch!" Midnight said with a cheerful wave as Tailor drove off. "And for the lift."

Idle paused at the door. She took a moment to process everything that had gone on in the last twenty-four hours. "Last night, I was just coming home with a gorgeous woman who wanted me to fuck her mind."

She felt Midnight walk up behind her. The smaller woman took her hand in support.

"Now..." Idle let her breath out. "Fuck. Jesus fuck." The words were angry but her voice was neutral. "Jesus fucking Christ on a fucking crutch."

Midnight squeezed her hand. Hard.

"Spin's fucking missing and probably fucking kidnapped." Idle was tired. The fire wasn't there. "Some son of a bitch has my roommate, my coach, my best friend in his fucking basement and... and..." She couldn't continue the thought to any conclusion. She was too wrung out, emotionally.

"Let's go in," Midnight said with sympathy in her voice.

Idle nodded and produced her keys. The trudge up the stairs felt slow, weighty. Midnight's hand never left hers, the small dark presence a comfort at her side, just a step behind, just over her shoulder if she needed a smile.

She didn't need a smile, but it was still nice to know that it was there for her if she wanted it.

Idle didn't break down in tears when she went through the door; she suspected that she might have, if she'd had more energy.

Midnight helped her out of her shoes. She barely registered the presence, but she knew it would have been badly missing if it wasn't there. Gentle hands guided her towards the bedroom, sat her on the edge of the bed, slipped her shirt over her head and undid her bra. There were kisses on her fingers, her hand, her arm, across her chest and down the other side.

"Katherine's going to be back in a few hours. You maybe should have a nap."

That sounded like a good idea. She curled up under the covers. She felt Midnight slip into bed behind her, felt a bare chest against her bare back, and a flurry of kisses on her neck and shoulders and spine, as well as an arm draping over her and a hand cupping her breast.

It was nice. The touch was relaxing, with no pressure, no demand. The soft noises that Midnight was making, humming and mumbling, were something like a lullaby, and the few words that Idle could make out were comforting.

She felt Midnight withdraw just as reality started to mingle with dreams. One last kiss on her jawline sent her into sleep feeling, if not good, at least better than she had been.