**...and traffic on Interstate 70 to the airport is heavy inbound to Denver, but only moderate if you're on your way out to DIA...**

With a smile Amrita reached for the console and touched a button. listening to the truck's state of the art stereo seek for music on one of several FM bands. It might have been more enjoyable to have driven her car, but there was still snow on the ground and some lingering patches of ice on the roads from the last storm. Jack pointed out that driving his AWD Ford made more sense, so she arranged to make the trip into Denver to pick up his truck first, leaving her sweet little Maserati in the garage below his apartment building.

Besides, it smelled like him, felt like him. As badly as she'd missed him over this trip, being in his truck for the drive felt like having him home all that much sooner. A woman much in love, she allowed herself to dwell for a lingering moment over the ruggedly handsome face in her memory, the sparkling blue eyes, lips curling upward in response to that charming smile....

Of course, if he knew the truth, we could dispense with drive times and all that, altogether....

The smile faded from her face's reflection in the rear view mirror, and she sighed softly. All her thoughts had come back to that in the past 36 hours, roiling in a mass of indecision that tried to obscure what she knew she had to do. They'd go back to Jack's place. She'd ordered a dinner in already, and one extra item that would be a bit of a surprise. Then she'd ask him about his trip, not that they hadn't been exchanging text messages and phone calls like mad while he was gone.

As the "seek" function hit KWLI (one of his favorite "new country" stations, she knew) she pressed the cancel button, letting the unfamiliar music fill the cab. In the distance, Amrita could see the airport lights artificially brightening the sky to the east and the tiny flickering diamonds in the sky that could only be inbound and outbound aircraft. In a bit less than an hour, they would be together again. That thought brought the smile back.

* * *

The flight from O'Hare was listed as being 30 minutes late, which was not as bad as the flight tracker on her smart phone had indicated before she'd left Jack's apartment building. Amrita sat near the picture windows, watching the planes landing and taking off, half-listening to the desultory conversations around her. She brushed off one attempt at a pick up by explaining she was waiting for someone ("Oh, that someone. Lucky guy.") and generally kept calm and centered until the 767 arrived and blotted out the view.

First class passengers were generally among the first to deplane. Amrita stood, checking her appearance in the glass one last time before directing her attention to the gate. When Jack Tyler finally emerged, wearing his favorite and well-worn blue jeans over cowboy boots with a white dress shirt tucked in, topped with a chocolate brown courderoy blazer, the rest of the world faded to nothingness. For her, there was only Jack, and she felt her whole being light up in response.

She was easy to spot, as tall as she was, and Jack's face broke into a wide smile when their eyes met. He changed direction to his right, walking with a brown leather travel bag slung over his shoulder. He let it slide to the floor as he approached so he could properly greet her.

In this case, "properly" was sliding his hands around her waist and pulling her in for a hug, and she melted into him as if her body had forgotten it had bones. He let his hands wander up to stroke her back and then leaned his head back to kiss her. He kissed her like he'd been thinking about kissing her for the past one thousand miles.

"Mmmm...I missed that," he said after the kiss was through. He studied her face with a humorous curiosity and added,"You get more beautiful every time I see you, I declare."

Amrita felt as if she wanted to be kissed like that again, felt it throughout her entire being -- but they were in an airport, in public, drawing quite a bit of attention even though they weren't the only couple having their moment there in the terminal. Her fingers drifted to caress the curve of his lip, so very sexy and endearing, and smiled her joy.

"Welcome home," she breathed. Unable to resist, she touched her lips to his once more, softly, before stepping back with obvious reluctance. "Let's get your luggage and find some privacy. Flight okay?"

"It was interesting," he replied while picking his bag up and slinging it back over his shoulder. He held his arm out for her to hold and started them walking towards the exits.

"The co-pilot played for UCLA while I was at Stanford. One of the flight attendants let it spill that I was on board and I spent the second half of the flight sitting in the cockpit jump seat talking football with the flight crew. The stories were fun and we had some good laughs but after the first fifty miles I was missing my reclining seat back in first class."

She laughed, but in truth he could have recited "A-B-C" and she'd have laughed -- his presence had that effect on her. "I'll bet. We'll fire up your jacuzzi when we get back and I'll serve you dinner while you're chest deep in jets of hot water. How does that sound?"

"Awesome," he answered quickly, "but not until after dessert."

He stopped and turned her towards him, her cheeks darkening into a deep rosy blush. The arm which had been guiding her once again slid around and pulled her in close for another kiss, full of passion and promises. He knew she wasn't into public displays of affection and in truth, neither was he. But dammit, he had missed her.

If her enthusiastic response was any indication, she'd missed him too.

When they finally broke, he just stared into those perfect green eyes of hers, eyes that were sparkling brighter than emeralds, and realized how much he'd fallen in love with this woman. It had happened without his realizing it, without even thinking about it, and as much as he felt in that last day back home the urge - the need - to get back to her, it scared him somewhere deep down.

Jack was familiar with fear. On the playing field, fear was ever present, but fear was something every football player learns to harness and use as fuel. Fear wasn't to be feared, and right then and there in that airport terminal he swore he wouldn't be one of those guys who gets cold feet and then does something stupid to drive her off.

This woman was too important to him, had touched him too deeply, for any fear to push him that hard. And that brought up another question entirely, which his mother had asked him, too. That question could certainly wait.

He started them walking again and asked semi-jokingly, "So, how's my truck? Do I want to know?"

Amrita laughed at him, making a fist to slug him -- gently -- on the shoulder. "I had it painted hot pink while you were gone. Mostly to cover the damage to the front right quarter panel. And to complement those pimp rims, of course. Hope you like it," she laughed. She'd been a great driver before the virus changed her and the enhanced reflexes and bolstered self-confidence she'd received had only made her better.

She momentarily leaned her head on his shoulder, so happy with him she could have burst. "I didn't even have to adjust the seat to drive it."

"That's my girl," he commended with a hug from that arm.

They were able to head right for the garage, Jack explaining that the only bag he had was slung over his shoulder. After he'd tossed the bag into the covered cargo compartment in the back, he took the keys from Amrita and soon they were off.

He was quiet for the drive back to his apartment. Jack had talked himself out on the flight and it felt good just to be there in the truck with her, her sitting right next to him on the front bench seat. She was quiet also -- never really a chatterer anyway, she mostly kept her peace during the ride, her hand on his leg companionably, trying hard not to think about confiding her only secret to him, and what might come after. Eventually, he asked about the concert. Knowing most of the songs and terms were unknown to him, she offered impressions and anecdotes and some juicy backstage gossip, passing the miles with reminiscence until he pulled into his parking garage.

The elevator ride up to his floor seemed to take forever, stopping at almost every floor for more passengers. On the plus side, it did press them fairly close together, a fact which caused neither of them to complain.

Once they were in the apartment he dropped his bag and sighed. He'd put a lot of time and money into the place to make it his and it was a comforting feeling to be back in his home.

"I called Marcini's to cater in a meal for us," Amrita said softly, putting her winter overwear and his in the foyer's closet. "They know what you like. It should be here shortly." She joined him by the window, slipping her arms around him from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder. "One of your games is on ESPN Classics tonight, did you know?"

"Yeah? Which one?" he asked, hoping it wasn't the 2000 AFC Championship. By any standard it was a tremendous football game - lead changes, high scoring, lots of emotion - but his Jaguars had lost that game to the Titans, ending their playoff run. he much preferred it would be somethign from the 2001 season, when they actually won the Super Bowl. His thumb found the finger where he still wore the ring that came with the title.

"I think it was the AFC Championship game against New England. I wasn't watching much football that season, so it would be good to catch up on a game with you, if you like."

It was the year the world changed, of course, the year the remnants of the Cold War had given way at last to the new war against terrorism. Amrita's mother had been one of the immediate casualties, her first husband a later and indirect one. "I've wondered recently if I could find recordings of your games from that season. It was such a good one for you, and I missed it almost entirely."

"I'll set the DVR so we don't miss any of it," Jack replied, turning from the windows. The remote was over on the bar, which gave him a good idea.

"I'm going to have a gibson. Can I make you one?"

The calculation was an automatic one: When had she last eaten food? It had been noon previous, lunch with Leah. With nothing in her system to absorb it, hard liquor would go straight to her head and make her stupid. "No, thank you love. I'd need to eat something first."

Can't tell him now, dinner will be here shortly... As if they'd heard her thoughts, the caterers knocked on the door, sparing her the need to conduct conversations around thoughts she couldn't yet share. Marcini's had a reputation for delicious food and efficient home catering. While Jack set the DVR for the game, they'd set the dining table, laid out the dishes on warming trays where needed, uncorked the wine, and were showing themselves out the door with the barest minimum of fuss.

"I wasn't sure if they'd feed you on the plane or not, so I ordered you a 4 oz. filet mignon with herbed potatoes and winter vegetables," Amrita said, pouring the wine for them in the ensuing silence. "I figured if you were still hungry -- for food," she clarified, grinning at him lopsidedly, "we'd go out for dessert later."

"Fair warning," he answered smoothly with a shake of his head as he pulled her chair out for her. "I have zero intentions of either of us going anywhere until at least tomorrow afternoon."

"Mmmm. I like the way you think, sir,"

Once she was seated, Jack took the bottle from her and poured wine for each of them. In truth, he was wondering what was up and wanted the opportunity to study her a little more closely. He'd only just begun to learn her moods, but clearly something was on Amrita's mind.

Deciding not to push, he simply gave her a kiss on the top of her head and then moved around to seat himself. The last good meal he'd had was the day before, and he was extra appreciative of the steak dinner she had ordered for him. At least she hadn't tried getting him to follow in her vegetarian footsteps, for which he was grateful.

Her own plate featured pasta and vegetables. It smelled delicious, but she wasn't hungry. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been truly hungry -- food was a social lubricant for her now and little else.

"I believe last night was The Big Party for your parents, was it not? The rented hall, caterers, friends and family converging from the far corners of the country?" Amrita said it with a smile, but also with knowing she needed him to fill the silence for a few moments while she gathered her own thoughts. 'Forty years is a long time to be married to the same person. You haven't said much about it, but I would like to know more, if you'll tell me -- around your dinner, of course."

Jack shrugged as he attacked his filet. "Well, they got married young, and...I don't know, I guess I never really thought about it. My parents just always were. I never considered them as anything but married, even though obviously they were."

He thought for another moment and then looked up and said, "Everyone says keeping a marriage together for so long is a lot of work, but I never saw anybody working."

He chuckled and added, "I guess they know something those experts don't."

"Maybe they're so good at it, they make it look easy," she said. It was still privately amazing to her, how good she felt about everything when she was with Jack. "Are you their only child? You don't talk much about your family. I am understandably curious."

He shot her a quizzical look and swallowed. "I never mentioned my family?" he dabbed his mouth with his napkin and went on. "Well, you know about my parents, and there's my big sister Joanne, and my little sister Jessica - both of whom did nothing but ask about you while I was home, so I guess I need to introduce you sometime soon."

"I'd like that," she admitted, spearing a penne and twirling it in the juice from the vegetables. "Sisters... that's really wonderful...."

As her voice died off, he took a pause to cut his meat and decided to finally ask, "Something bothering you, kid? You seem, I don't know...distracted."

The truth of it mixed with her reaction at the suspicious endearment and flashed through her -- Amrita was horrible at lying, and not much better at concealing her true feelings. Under normal circumstances, she'd trust her instincts about Jack and his feelings for her, but the unanswered possibilities regarding Paladin II confused everything, made it difficult to understand where she stood.

"Not `bothering' me, precisely," she hedged, glancing at him briefly before looking back down at her food. "Yes, there is something... but it doesn't need to interrupt your dinner."

"Are you kidding me?" he replied with raised eyebrows. Jack placed his utensils on either side of his plate and wiped his mouth with his napkin.

"You can't expect me to care about this," he gestured at his plate, "when I know something's bothering you. So c'mon, spill."

Amrita started to protest that it wasn't that serious, but closed her mouth over the words before they could arise. It was that serious, potentially. She sighed and sat back, putting her napkin carefully on the table.

But where to begin? There were good ways to handle this, and bad ways, and she felt she'd rehearsed them all in the last day or so. It was like traversing a maze over shifting sands, made all the worse because all the meditation in the world couldn't erase the feeling that she had something to lose in this.

Whenever you are faced with a journey into the unknown, start with the known and go from there. Her father's wisdom, his calm voice in her head from years ago, reaching into the "now" to steady her down, help her take this one step at a time.

"You know there have been... things... about myself... that I haven't been able to talk to you about," Amrita began, green eyes seeking his in a subdued plea for understanding. "It's been a... complicated... situation and you've been very understanding about it. I could have loved you for that alone," she added, smiling a little.

"You have had your secrets, I have had mine, and it's all gone well enough... but I realized over the weekend that in keeping my secrets, I made it impossible for you to make informed choices about... everything. That is not how I've ever chosen to live in the past, and I really don't wish to continue it now."

Abruptly her mouth went dry. Unused to feeling such fear, Amrita shook her head slightly and reached for her wineglass.

Jack stood up quickly and walked around to her side of the table. He'd never seen Amrita this way and it touched the manly part of his heart.

"C'mon...," He took her by the hand and led her up out of her seat and over to the couch where he sat down next to her. Jack took her hand in his and raised it to his mouth, his lips placing a gentle kiss on the back of it.

"It's okay," he told her in a comforting, reassuring tone. "We're just talking."

That sounded dumb to his own ears, so he added, "Look, I'm in love with you. Nothing you're going to tell me is going to change that. So what could be so terrible?"

Her eyes filled abruptly -- his kindness and essential decency could undo her intentions not to weep so quickly! "Even if I tell you I'm not entirely human anymore?"

Inwardly, Jack breathed a huge sigh of relief. Knowing Amrita's strong character of integrity, he figured this conversation was on the horizon somewhere and was fairly well prepared to deal with it.

"Slow down," he told her. Let her explain it in her own terms. "What do you mean, 'not entirely human'?"

Her breath caught -- the first step into the unknown had been taken. She dashed the tears from her eyes and forced herself back into a semblance of calm. "In layman's terms, the Chimera Virus rewrote my DNA. Given the increase in height and changes in hair color and eye color, I'm sure you must have guessed something of the sort," she said, holding his hand like a lifeline. "The cosmetic changes were the least of it. I'm much stronger than human norms, tougher too -- practically bullet-proof, in fact."

Jack listened attentively, subtly nodding his head to indicate his empathy and understanding.

She took a deep breath and brought her gaze back up to his. "In short, anything a tree or plant can do or somehow manifest, I can do. I have an... affinity with plant life now. Last year, when AEGIS recruited Wild Lotus for its new Denver team... they got me, Jack. I'm Wild Lotus."

Jack met her eyes and after a pregnant pause, replied, "Wild Lotus...you're Wild Lotus..."

Turning his torso all the way around without releasing her hand, Jack grabbed the cordless phone from it's cradle on the end table behind him. As she looked on with her wet, confusedly curious eyes, he dialed a number from the speed-dial memory.

"You know, I always thought she was hot," he told her with mock thoughtfulness as he raised the receiver to his ear.

After a startled moment, she giggled. "That's because she is. But who ---?" Amrita bit back the question when he held up his hand, obviously turning his attention to the phone.

"...Hey, it's me...Yeah, you know that awkward situation we discussed?...That's the one. Well it just happened...Mm-hmm...Oh, just having dinner. She picked me up at the airport...No, not yet...I'm sorry, Tom, but it's something I have to do...I understand...I'll see you tomorrow."

Tom...? This was an exceedingly strange conversation to hear half of, but the explanation for it began dawning as Jack spoke. Thomas. Thomas Morgan. Oh dear gods... Jack... is this your way of telling me?

Jack turned around again to replace the handset and then took both of her hands in his. He took a deep breath to prepare himself and looked deeply into her eyes. He leaned forward to kiss her again, feeling a little of what she must have been feeling.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear. Leaning back, he steeled himself and gave her the opening.

"Ask me."

The modulated voice under the helmet, the mystery that remained unresolved in the Guardians' ranks... now she knew. The easy camaraderie, Paladin's insights into her feelings, his unique understanding of her situation -- it all made perfect sense. Details settled into place as Amrita searched Jack's face for some hint of an explanation, her need to understand eclipsing almost everything else.

"I don't really have to, do I. I know the truth now. The truth you've known all along," Amrita said softly, squeezing his hands gently. "And didn't tell me. The biggest question I have now is `Why?' Was I somehow unworthy, Jack?"

He shook his head. "Of course not, don't be ridiculous. I was under contract," he explained. "Part of the deal I had with Morgan was that I wouldn't tell anybody. There were a ton of reasons why and most of them made sense to me. But once you and I started...well, I told him that if you ever came clean to me then I would have to do likewise, regardless of the consequences. And so here we are."

Jack squeezed her hands and tried to find some understanding in those deep green pools. "Can you forgive me?"

Understanding wasn't so hard to find, after all. "I should not have hidden the truth from you once I knew how we felt about each other. I thought I was protecting you. I realize now that was foolish of me -- even had you not also been Paladin," Amrita told him, releasing his hands to pull him into an embrace. "So if there is forgiveness to be had, I think it goes both ways."

Jack hugged her tightly, feeling very validated about his choices. Each of them had their integrity intact, and as far as their love for each other, nothing had changed - except maybe for the better. It may have cost him his position as a Guardian, but in the end, Jack still felt like a winner.

"Oh Jack.... I am the luckiest woman in the world, I must be. But tell me, who else knows?" The question was soft, breathed into his ear as they rearranged themselves for a longer snuggle. "Rod? Dudley? I need to know who to avoid the subject with," she went on, smiling the words. "Even as clumsy as I am at prevaricating, only my father knows the truth of my other identity. Off the team, I mean."

He shrugged a little, enjoying how it felt against her. It was as if a giant weight had been lifted. "Just Morgan and Bellar, unless they've told someone and I don't know, but I doubt it."

"Easy enough to remember." Amrita briefly thought about whether to share with him a secret that could mean her very life, deciding almost instantly that if she couldn't trust her life to him, she had no business trusting her heart to him either.

"There is one other thing I would like you to know," she finally said, enjoying the feel of his hand stroking her hair. "Well, there are probably several other things, but this one is important. Life and death level important." There was a moment's hesitation, as Amrita tried to figure out how to frame this in a way that wouldn't sound completely ridiculous. "Like the dryads in those old tales... I have this tree, you see... an oak tree."

Feeling self-conscious again, she stumbled on. "Well, I don't mean to say I own it, because I don't. It's more a matter of... bonding," she finished, and rather lamely to her own ears. "It's difficult to explain, but my life and its life are... bound together, now. Literally bound together. For life."

"That's...troubling," he finished, hoping to find a better word to describe his feelings but failing. "Where is this tree? In Denver?"

He felt her negate that with a shake her head. "No, not in Denver. It's... in California, actually. On State-protected land. I asked Thomas to help me navigate the necessary channels to add extra protections around that park -- against fire, vandalism, timber harvests and the like -- and we've done so." Amrita took a deep breath. "Thomas doesn't know about the tree, though. No one does, except me and now you."

Jack thought for a moment. His knee-jerk reaction was to see about moving the tree to his acreage in North Dakota. He owned a several thousand contiguous acres of well-wooded landup there and it was to his mind the best way to ensure the tree, and Amrita, were protected. Getting it out of the hands of the California state bureaucracy would be the hard part, but money solved a lot of those problems.

"How big a tree are we talking about? Could it be moved?"

He felt her answering shudder as if it radiated outward from her bones. "I... don't think so. It's about as old as I am, Jack. Thirty or forty feet tall, adult root system going that deeply into the ground... Moving it may well kill it. Would certainly weaken its defenses against pests and disease." It was a quiet horror to contemplate, but she brought herself back to calm relatively quickly.

"Hey, look," he said in realization that he may have said the wrong thing, "I'm just thinking about how best to protect you. I didn't mean to offer bad advice."

Her answering hug was immediate. "I know. And I love you for it.

"California has a good record of protecting public lands," she went on, trying to reassure him as much as herself, "and the monies being donated insure that the park around Sugarloaf Mountain should remain in the public trust for at least my lifetime. Given the worsening of wildfires in recent years, Thomas is helping me privately fund and equip a team of expert firefighters. They go all over the country to assist when needed, but that land is their first priority.

"It's what can be done, for now," she concluded quietly. "But you see why environmental issues are so personal, for me. Very personal."

Jack thought about it some more but decided against offering anything more on the subject. It was a disconcerting thought, being so tied to something out of your control and even out of your sight.

He held her tight and just rubbed her side with his hand. A lot had been revealed in the past fifteen minutes. He was sure that there would be plenty of time to ponder it all and what it meant. One thing was for certain.

"So... are we okay?"

"I think so." The smile was back -- but then, it never seemed to be far away when she was with him. "I'm okay. Are you okay?"

He sighed, but not a sad one. "Yeah, I'm good." He hugged her tight again. "Better than good. Or rather I will be once I settle up with Tom and find myself a new job." He shook his head ruefully "I might end up a color announcer after all."

Amrita went still at that. "Are you going to ask to leave the Guardians over this, Jack?"

"I don't think I have a choice, kid," he replied. "Morgan was pretty clear about where he stood on the issue and having told you, I'm in breach of contract. He told me to bring everything in tomorrow, so I'm assuming that means I'm out."

"I find it difficult to believe. He can't afford the time to train anyone else to handle the suit, and you know too much about it now anyway." She shrugged a little. "But if he's that unreasonable, then I'm out too."

"What? No!" Jack turned to her with alarm. "I appreciate the sentiment but I can't accept you quitting on account of this."

She, by contrast, was quite calm, pulling herself up a bit to catch his gaze. "Accept it or not, my love, it is my choice. My actions were partially at cause in this series of events, so I must accept my share of responsibility for the outcome." Her soft fingertips caressed his cheek, and she smiled a little. "But I doubt it will come to that. Thomas is a reasonable man. He will see reason in this. I'll be going in with you, of course."

Jack shook his head, clearly not comfortable with where this was going. "No. This is between him and me. And nobody is responsible for my actions except myself."

"So true." Amrita felt and looked so proud of him, so in love with him in that moment she could have burst. "I did not mean to say I was responsible for your choices. Clearly, I'm not. But I was and am responsible for my own -- Jack, I could not live with myself, could not function as a Guardian with my whole heart if Thomas kicks you out over this. It's really just that simple."

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of something to say but he knew in his heart she wasn't to be swayed.

"I--"

His response was cut off by the telephone ringing. Jack screwed his face up in frustration at the interruption and stalked over to the phone, and answered it.

"Hello?...what's up?... ... ... (sigh) Okay, see you then."

Jack pressed the off button on the handset and slowly placed the phone back in the charger, a look of resigned sadness covering his face.

"Tell me," she urged quietly.

"That was Morgan." He paused, as if trying to come to grips.

"He...apologized and said okay, I can stay."

He only paused another moment before shouting, "Mwa-hah!" in conjunction with her peal of delight, and with an evil grin leapt at her in a diving tackle that sent the two of them tumbling over the sectional and onto the floor.

Amrita laughed and rolled with him, more than willing to be pinned beneath him, kissing him between bouts of relieved giggling. This wasn't the end of their troubles, she knew it and suspected he did too. But it was a turning point, successfully negotiated, and she felt so happy she could have taken flight.

"Now I can ask," she said, murmuring the words amid kisses that grew more heated with each iteration. "Can I give you a plant for this place now? Please?"