Subj: Collinsport -- 76
Date: 12/1/00 2:30:12 AM Central Standard Time
From: DSRules

David spoke softly to the distraught young woman in front of him. "What do you need from us?"

Sister Lorna directed her gaze at the floor in front of her feet. "I can't remember who I am. But I do seem to know something about Collinsport. I found my way into town without trying, and I found my way from the lighthouse to Collinwood before Quentin directed me towards it."

"So you're saying . . ." David prompted.

"That perhaps I *am* Vicki Winters."

* * *

Quentin drew his arm back from Azura as quickly as if she had burned him. "What?" He exclaimed.

She rose to her feet. "I told you to get your hands off me. Laura told me all about . . . about you and her!" She spun around then and walked to the door.

As she walked out of the room, Quentin looked after her, wanting to pursue her, but feared to leave Zoe alone. He glanced helplessly at his daughter.

"I'll be all right, Daddy." The little girl said. "You'd better go after her."

Quentin cast a grateful look at his daughter and headed after Azura.

* * *

David sighed. "I can help you. If you really want me to."

"Of course I want you to." Lorna looked up at him, desperation in her eyes. "I don't know where else to turn."

"Well, it's not going to be as easy as you think. You see, I'm a psychiatrist. A really unusually successful one.

"And there's a reason for that." He paused to gather his strength to continue. "I have some tools that most psychiatrists don't have."

"Tools?" Lorna repeated. "You aren't going to proposition me, are you?"

David blushed. "No. Nothing like that. I just hate using the word 'powers.'"

Sister Lorna seemed to take this declaration in stride. "What's wrong with the word 'powers'?" She asked simply.

David shrugged. "I guess it sounds too much like something I would do *to* someone."

"Isn't it?" Sister Lorna blinked innocently, making David wonder what kinds of uses of magical and psychic power she'd been exposed to. Well, he'd be finding out soon enough.

"It's something I do *for* others." His tone discouraged further arguments.

* * *

Barnabas walked into his office to get some term papers graded before he went up to bed. There he found the envelope that Neil had left for him, which bore a Rockport address. {Nicholas is in Rockport. Well, then tomorrow after class, I'll go and see him, and get this whole mess straightened out.}

* * *

David led Sister Lorna into the dining room, where he took a candle and lighter from the sideboard. He placed it on a corner of the table, deftly lighting it as he set it down.

"You can sit over there." He indicated the chair at the foot of the table. After she sat down, he took a seat in the chair kitty-corner to hers. Sarah and Adam lurked in the background.

"Now, I believe in letting my clients know exactly what they're in for when I do this. In the interest of informed consent. My secretary's always after me to draw up a formal consent form for it." He rolled his eyes. "You'll understand in a moment."

~ ~ ~

"I never get tired of watching David do this," Sarah whispered to Adam as Beth came to the door of the dining room, carrying Penni with her. She quietly took her daughter from her cousin. Beth left the room.

"What's he going to do?" Adam asked.

"Shhh. He's about to explain."

~ ~ ~

"OK, now, basically, you and I are both going to stare into this candle." He paused. "While we do this, I'm sort of going to dig around in your mind and see if I can find your lost memories."

Sister Lorna gulped. "All right. I'm ready."

As Adam and Sarah watched, David put first Sister Lorna then himself into a trance.

Azura arrived then, "Daddy," she began, but Adam indicated for her to be quiet as he took her out into the hallway.

He could see that something was bothering his daughter. "What's the matter?" Adam asked.

"It's . . . . Never mind that." Azura responded. "Can you take me home with you? Now?"

"Of course," Adam answered, concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Let's talk about it at your house."

Adam stuck his head back into the dining room, tapping Sarah on the shoulder. He gestured at her that he'd give her a call later.

Sarah nodded her understanding, then smiled at her nephew as he left to take Azura home.

As David continued to delve into Sister Lorna's mind, Quentin came into the room. "David! I - oops." He belatedly noticed what was going on.

Sarah indicated for him to step out into the foyer.

"Have you seen Azura?"

Sarah nodded. "She and Adam just left."

"Damn!" Quentin swore. "I've got to go after them. But . . ."

Sarah knew what he was going to ask. "We'll watch over Zoe for you. Now go and see her."

"Thanks." Quentin said as he walked to the front door. Then he stopped and reached into the pocket of Sister Lorna's coat, which hung on a coat rack by the door. He pulled out the keys of the van that Sister Lorna had used to drive him to Collinwood. "Be back soon. With Azura. I hope."

He dashed out into the night. Sarah returned to the dining room. David and Sister Lorna were just beginning to come out of the trance.

"So?" Sarah asked as she saw the cat-that-ate-the-canary grin on her husband's face.

Sister Lorna started, obviously surprised to hear another voice in the room. She looked slowly around, then at Sarah.

The woman in the acolyte's robes sighed. "Oh, my God. It really is you, isn't it? Sarah? Sarah Collins?" She walked over to Sarah, looking down at Penni.

"And you and David have a baby. She really is just as beautiful as both of you were when you were children." She looked back and forth between Sarah and David.

"Miss Winters?" Sarah asked, awe in her voice. She saw her husband's grin widen.

The dark-haired woman's face broke out in a smile. "Yes. It really is me. But you can call me Vicki."

Suddenly, Vicki's vivacity returned as she swept first David and then Sarah and Penni, into warm hugs. "It feels so good to be . . . home." Vicki smiled as she said the last word.

"Well, we're certainly happy to have you back," David responded. "In fact, would you like to stay here with us?"

"Oh, I don't want to put you out . . ." Vicki began, but Sarah could see the hope in Vicki's eyes.

"Nonsense," Sarah interrupted. "We practically run a boarding house here, don't we, David?"

David nodded. "Yep. With Beth, Javier, and Sarah and me, and now Penni, there's plenty of space for you, if you want to stay here."

Vicki's eyes lit up. "I'd love to stay here. This is the first place I've ever really felt at home." She laughed a little. "Actually, it's the only place I've ever felt at home."

Sarah smiled and gestured for Vicki to follow her upstairs. "You may stay here as long as you like."

She indicated her vestments. "But I don't have anything to wear . . ."

"Nonsense. You'll probably fit into some of my clothes. And if all else fails, we've got some of your old clothes around here somewhere."

They led Vicki up the stairs and into an unoccupied room. "We'd put you in your old room," David explained, "but Javier's there now."

"That's all right." Vicki smiled as she turned to go into the room.

"Wait. I just thought of something." Sarah said, as Penni turned and gurgled in her arms.

"What?" Vicki turned back around.

"You'll be able to meet your descendants when they come to visit at Christmas."

* * *

Quentin took the steps to Adam's door two at a time and knocked on the door. It took a great deal of restraint not to pound on the door, but he knew that he wouldn't get anywhere with Azura or her father that way.

Silence.

Quentin knocked again, a little harder this time.

Still nothing.

He gritted his teeth. "Damn!" He swore, as he knocked still louder.

The door opened. "Yes, Quentin?" Adam asked testily.

Quentin raised up on his toes to see over Adam's shoulder. "I want to talk to Azura."

"She's asleep. And she doesn't want to talk to you."

"If you'll just let me in for a minute, I can straighten this whole mess out." He blustered.

Adam pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his chest.

Quentin decided that he wasn't above begging. "Please, Adam. I really need to speak to her. And I'm not going to leave your doorstep until I do."

He heard Azura's tired voice. "Oh, Daddy. Go on, let him in." She sighed.

Adam grumbled low in his chest as he stepped aside. "If you hurt her . . ." He threatened.

"I won't," Quentin responded.

Adam was nearly moved by the honesty he saw in Quentin's blue eyes, but the memory of his daughter's tears were still foremost in his mind, and he pushed that softening of his emotions aside.

Quentin moved past Adam to see Azura sitting in an armchair, watching the late-night Jerry Springer rerun. Her face was still all splotchy from her tears.

"Azura!" He rushed to her side, kneeling on the floor next to the chair. "What happened?"

* * *

"My descendants?" Vicki repeated. "Which ones?"

Sarah smiled. She hadn't taken into account that Vicki might have other sets of descendants out there. "The Bradfords. Peter Bradford's descendants."

"Peter Bradford." Now Vicki did walk into the room, sitting down hard on the bed. "I haven't thought about Peter in so many years . . ."

Sarah ached to ask about Peter, but thought better of it.

"He was one of the great loves of my life."

"One of?" David repeated.

She laughed ruefully. "You can't live as long as I have without having several great loves. And he was one of them. Perhaps even the best."

* * *

"You were there." Azura snapped, turning her face from him.

Quentin was at a loss. "But everything was fine. Wasn't it?" He thought for a moment. "Until Laura came into the room."

"Yes." She spat. "Laura. Your precious Laura. Who gave you the one thing you won't have from me."

"Precious? She wasn't anything to me. Just a way to . . . forget about things for a while."

"And the mother of your daughter."

{The mother of my . . .} Quentin couldn't wrap his brain around this statement. He sat on the floor at Azura's feet, placing his hands on her knees, his eyes pleading with her. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean that you told me you didn't want any children, but you had babies with everyone else." She sniffled. "Everyone. Beth, Amanda, *Laura*."

"But I didn't." He insisted. "I've only ever had three children - Jenny's twins and Zoe. You know that."

"And then there was - what was her name? Nora."

"Nora." Quentin breathed as he realized that he'd been doing math in the back of his head during this conversation. "Nora!" He whispered again.

Azura let out a long, unfeminine, sniffle. "What?"

"That bitch. She let me go on for 180 years thinking that Nora was my niece, when she was my daughter. The timing works out just right." Quentin said without inflection.

"What? You didn't know that Nora was your daughter? But Laura said . . ." Azura shook her head, as if to clear it. "Laura made it sound like you'd made some kind of commitment to them when they had your babies."

"Commitment? Like a proposal isn't a commitment. Speaking of which, you never gave me an answer."

Azura blinked. "An answer? An answer to what?"