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Rachel looked him over and shooed him on, "Don't let me stop you."
It took him all of twenty minutes to shower and change and meet her back downstairs, dressed in his usual t-shirt and jeans and accepting the cup of coffee she offered. He looked at the cup of steaming coffee and then looked at Rachel "When are Derek and Sara coming back?"
They had gone to London to help Sloan readjust and help with the House. They had been gone for almost three weeks.
Sara Logan had gone to help Sloan as well as herself. Rachel knew the newest Legacy Member had some emotional things to sort through as well -- especially considering the fact that William Sloan was the biological father she had refused to have any kind of contact with during her childhood and teen years. Rachel had only learned the facts of the younger woman's parentage from a talk they had had before the four had left - Patricia and William Sloan, Sara Logan, and Derek Rayne. That, in a single moment when the two Legacy Members had thought their spouses had died in a cave-in, the two had given in to their sadness...and then in to each other.
Rachel sighed without meaning to.
Nick took a drink of the coffee, his thoughts more about when Sara and Derek would be coming back than with what had been revealed so many weeks ago when they had pulled Sloan back from hell. He missed Sara's early morning pre-grumble coffee moments. He wondered if Derek now understood Nick's teasing warning that Sara get her coffee before the morning meetings.
"I tried calling when I was upstairs, but they were out," he admitted with a slight frown.
"You also called last night." Rachel reminded him with a slight smile.
Nick's frown turned into a sheepish grin "Geesh, Rach, can't get away with anything, can I?"
Rachel chuckled and slapped his arm playfully "Ya scamp."
Nick cocked an eyebrow "Scamp? Oooh, and Sara was calling me a ...er, never mind."
He drank his coffee and turned to walk out of the kitchen, Rachel's chuckle following him out. He was grinning as he got his coat and car keys.
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Suzanne chewed her bottom lip and crossed her arms as she looked at the house. Doctor Rachel Corrigan was supposed to meet her there any minute. She, Suzanne, had insisted she meet the doctor alone, needing the time to just be one-on-one with the psychologist and needing some time to herself away from her own doctor.
She found herself walking, suprisingly, toward the house. She remembered the lights. Fortunately, it was still day light and she still had a couple of hours left before sunset. Being in the daylight helped her.
Her feet carried her to the front door. The breeze blew and the door opened on it's old hinges. She didn't know why, but she felt no fear.
That in itself should have worried her and, had she been able to feel it, she was sure she would have. But she continued to enter the house.
She never did know what happened to her father. She never saw him after that night.
She looked about the foyer, seeing the pieces of furniture and pictures no one had ever removed.
She felt a sense of vertigo and had to put her hand against the wall to steady herself.
"Ouch." she gasped as her palm was cut by an old rusty nail.
She brought her hand to her and looked at the blood that now dripped to the floor. She dug around in her pocket for a handkerchief and then pressed it to the wound. The room spun.
She gasped as, the room suddenly turning dark and the blood hitting the baseboards of the floor, she sank to her knees.
end of part 2