***Year Nine and three-quarters.
***
Helena walked into the Federal Building on her last day. It had better be her last day anyway. Or else. She headed up to the familiar office, flipping off the secretary. The woman locked the door so she knocked her out and used her thumb print to unlock it without her cooperation. She strolled in, leaving the woman there. Her present boss and his two bosses, including the head of the agency, were sitting in there. "Are we done?" she asked.
"You didn't get one of them," the big boss said. The others stared at him like he was dumb.
"No, I didn't. Why would I want to hurt the person who helps and supports me?" He looked stunned. "I'm dating Jigen, asshole. Get over it." She looked at her boss. "And?"
"We need to talk about the lawsuit," he said calmly. He had taken a lot of drugs to make it through this meeting. He'd heard plenty of rumors about this, and then the news stories started to leak, and suddenly some reporters found envelopes of things that they had put aside before interesting. The New York Times and the Washington Post had both run inquiries about this. The facts they had were making everyone look like the bad guy to the general public. The politicians were already making speeches and calling for investigations. It had been on the CBS news last night! They were all looking bad. "We need you to drop it. You're endangering other operatives, ones who are more fortunate than you are." In truth, they were starting to ask pointed questions once they heard. It was going to be a bloody mess by the time the rest came out. They only had the bare bones of the situation. Fortunately Chicago was on the verge of tears over this as well.
"I'm not dropping it. I'm going to make sure it never happens again."
"Young woman, you're in no position to demand anything. You've left your job undone, you've managed to stir up a hornet's nest of problems for everyone, and you're being a spoiled brat who's turned dirty."
She gave him a long look. "No one briefed you, did they?" He backed up when she laughed. "Oh, you poor political asshole. You have no fucking idea." She handed over a full diskette case. "My duty logs, in readable format since I know my handwriting is a bit cramped at times." He opened his new laptop and put them in, reading the first one. Within the first year's he had to run and get sick. "Now that he's out of the way," she said happily. "I don't care if you don't like it. You have my demands. It can get worse. After all, I never sent anything from the last year. That second whorehouse bust. How I ended up in the hospital last time. The really heart-rending things." He went pale and his boss went even paler. "How is Marion anyway?"
"She died two days ago," his boss admitted quietly. "She was found and killed in a drive by." He stood up. "We can negotiate if you keep this out of the press."
"If I keep it out of the press, you can do it again," she noted.
"You have our word."
She snorted, shaking her head. "That's not worth the toilet paper it's shit on. As proven by having this meeting." She shrugged. "You have my demands and know what's going to keep going if you don't capitulate."
"You still have that last person on your list," her boss noted dully.
She walked out, taking Lupin out of the car by his arm, and walked him inside. She put him in front of her boss. "Here. If you can keep him, you can have him. He agreed." She smirked. "Now. I believe I have a gold shield waiting on me somewhere? I also have a negotiation today with Chicago. Your choice. I walk out satisfied or I get evil and mean. I haven't even started yet. Lupin here and Jigen will both help me when my overly-tired mind starts to falter." They shuddered, that was something too horrible to consider. "Now, am I free and are you going to keep the promises made to me?"
"We will," the higher boss said as he came back. "I had no idea of some of the things that went on. Do you have a full set of logs with us?" She nodded. "Up to today?" She pulled something out and wrote in it, then handed it over. "Thank you, young lady. Your country thanks you as well. You were going to do what until we can fix the situation with Chicago?"
"She's always planned on taking a very long vacation to refind herself," Lupin said. "She went out when she was twenty-one and barely had six weeks on the job. Since then she's solved so many cases it's beat most detectives already on the force. You can tell them we said so if they doubt it."
"Also, I'll warn you now. I take memory erasers. That's why my duty logs are so detailed after a certain point. I'll be taking another one tonight before Jigen whisks me away for a few days locally. There'll be someone at my apartment so you can leave any messages with him."
"That apartment is the one we moved you into," her boss noted.
"No, it's the one I bought. The other one I left after I was shot full of cocaine due to a dirty fed. That one's presently being rented by some old couple as far as I know." He nodded. "Anything else?"
"Where did that money you bought the apartment with come from?" her boss asked.
Lupin smirked at him. "For her help on a complicated job, which moved her closer to her initial goal, we paid her. Anything else?"
"You're not going anywhere."
"Bet me," Lupin said with a fond smile. "You remind me a lot of Pops. Ever met him? He'll tell you some fascinating stories about how I slipped past him. Speaking of, Helena, there's a convention coming up. Jigen wanted to know if you were going to go." He walked her out, ignoring the guards who tried to stop them. After the first one was gassed, the others backed away and simply watched them go. "You okay?"
"Fine," she admitted, taking the memory eraser and her flask out. She chugged the small vial, then took a long drink, handing it to Lupin. "You'll need to drive."
"Of course. I drive at least half the time within the gang. It's not like Goemon drives. As far as we know anyway." He got her into her side and walked around to get in. "What was that?"
"A memory eraser. The guy who made it was some chemistry genius. It works like an archiving program. It zips the memories together so it's harder than hell to touch them, but they're still there if you can unzip them." She slumped down as they took off. "It helps the nightmares. I've taken three other doses in the past. This time had to cover more years so I had to take more of it. It doesn't inhibit any skills, but it'll only give me fuzzy clues of things. Important things, like Jigen, are firmly still available but the others are like a secondary file level by the time it gets done. The scotch helps it work faster and easier."
"Wonderful. Is there an unzipper?"
"There is. Before he killed himself he sent me enough to erase sixty years worth of memories fully and enough Anti-Oblivitatus to undo about a third of what I've zipped, counting this dose."
"Wow. Oblivitatus?"
"Yeah. It's a great name. He got pissed at the world for using his creation wrong. He meant it to be used on trauma patients so they could get over things easier. People like me are more than acceptable to him. I had him check me over first to make sure it'd work on me. He wanted to know why I was using it and I told him the truth. He broke down in tears and hugged me." She gave him a tired smile. "I usually end up with a migraine of some sort for at least a day. Don't worry about it."
"I won't then. Jigen knows?" She nodded. "Good. Who was misusing it?"
"Some people were using it for every little bad thing. It's not meant for that and it frustrated him to no end. He finally took his formula with him to the grave. He left a long letter that ranted about the stupidity of some people. Certain people still have a short supply. I have some. A few counselors he liked. No one unethical. I'm one of the few who has the anti formula as well. As long as Goemon hasn't cleaned out my medicine cabinet."
"No, he noticed it in there and wondered so I told him I'd ask you. He'll be relieved." He pulled onto her street. "You staying here?"
"I like this place."
"So do I, but it is kind of small and the housing market is good right now if you wanted to move. We'd arrange it while you and Jigen were gone."
"You just want to play with my leather pants," she taunted, eyes drifting shut. "Hurry up so you don't have to carry me, I'm a cow again."
"You're not a cow," he said impatiently, but he did hurry up. She was gaining weight again. "Are you off your thyroid medicine?"
"The doc wanted me off for a month. I'll get it back in three days." She yawned. "Next left, shortcut. Less predictable."
He took the next left and realized where he was. "You never said. Would you like to move?"
"This place has the specifics I need," she noted. "I'll get a house when I fully retire. Whenever that is."
"I'm sure you will," he agreed, turning into her alleyway from the opposite direction. Jigen was leaning in the garage so he popped the door open on the vehicle side. "Want to take the bike?"
"Maybe," she agreed. She got out and stopped long enough to kiss Jigen and fell asleep against his chest.
Lupin got out, locking the car behind himself. "She took that memory eraser stuff."
"Wonderful." He picked her up and carried her up to her apartment, letting her nap on the couch while he went to pack for her. "She done?"
"They said yes but she's got a negotiation session this afternoon." He smirked. "Which I'm going to. She said you'd stay local for a few days and we'll be here to take messages. She did say she'd have a headache tonight." Jigen nodded and walked up to the loft, sending Goemon down. "That bottle you were wondering about is a memory fixer."
"It's the anti," Jigen told them, leaning on the railing. "Should I even try?"
Lupin looked at him, then shrugged. "Maybe a small one? Let her pick out everything else?"
Jigen nodded, packing a small bag for them. She could help him shop too. He could use some casual clothes again. He came down and let Goemon pick up Helena for him, taking the keys from Lupin. They'd take her car since she was asleep. They'd talk about her bike after this was done. It was old and nearly dead. Maybe a real lover could rehab it. He got her into her seat and backed out carefully, narrowly missing a kid. She gave him a heated look but went on once he stopped. He shook his head and headed off to a local hotel. He did want to keep her local for a few days. She had been right about that. She'd have to do a lot of tearing down to rebuild herself and familiar settings could help.
***
Lupin walked into the meeting room, stunning her lawyer. "She's taken that eraser thing," he said in his ear. "She's asleep with Jigen in a hotel." He nodded. "So she sent me." He shook his head but Lupin sat down, looking at the massed cops and their lawyers. He leaned forward. "You've hurt the person who is like my sister," he started. "She's presently ripping down the personas she had to create because of you. She's going to be gone for the next few months. She sent me to negotiate on her behalf until she can come back with her boyfriend. Fortunately she did find some support, even though she got more from the local syndicates than from her own people and bosses." They all winced, even her lawyer. "I'll also let you know that I'm the one who moved the files to Walters' and Brokaw's office. Way back when, when she tried to get free after four years. She went for people in the Washington Post but they weren't quite visible enough. Now that they've been remembering that they have them, they've got full duty logs from her first four years. It's not that hard to find copies of the later ones and I do have copies of them.
"As I understand the law," he continued smoothly, "and I do understand the law very well, that could endanger thousands of cases in your beloved department. You'll have years of retrials and petitions. You'll have them anyway because she's not giving up. She wants to make sure that this can never happen again. She was sent out in eighty-one. It's now ninety-one. If this had went on another three and a half months, a mere ten weeks, it'd be ten years since you sent her out here to die. I think you owe her a lot more than you think. I also think she's being very nice to you by negotiating at all." His face hardened, an act because they were praying he'd finish what he was going to say. "Fortunately, she requested that I let you plead and beg. I will tell you this, each point gets higher the longer this goes on. We settle it today or each day will add another million to the total." He leaned back again, crossing his hands on his stomach. "I'm listening and you'd better make it good."
"We were handling it, Mr. Lupin," her attorney, Bill, offered.
"I'm sure you're brilliant. I've agreed with your strategy so far as I've watched over your shoulder. Now it's time for the bastards to come into play. When she's ready to come back, I want everything set and finished for her. And I do mean everything, including her job."
"She'll be a detective, second class. That's as high as we can promote her with her record," the Chief offered. "We can pay her backpay for those years we...neglected. We'll return her file to the records room, clean the mistakes in IA. We can't promise to hobble our undercover operations."
"You can promise a watcher on each case or for each operative if they're going out singly," Lupin countered. "You can and you will. Putting single people out there is dangerous to your people. Your people are finite resources and after this comes out, then they'll become even more scarce. She knows exactly how hard she's making this on herself at a later date." The chief bowed his head and nodded. "I'll also add a caveat of my own. There is no reason for a girl to go out on the street as a whore and have to actually do the job." The other side blanched. "Nor is there any real reason for the girls to go to strip clubs and have to strip fully. If there is a reason then the girl should agree first, or the man. Oh, that was another caveat. If you *ever* send another gay cop out as a gay hooker so he'll be beaten, killed, or otherwise forced to change his ways because he's forced to do that job on the streets, you won't be seeing her, you'll be seeing me as I save said cop and help him do this same thing. I don't care if you don't like the gay cops. I could care less if you're gay, straight, or bi. You don't do that to a cop who could be a good cop. You ruin a good cop that way and have ruined a great many of them."
"We don't want their kind on our force," the chief told him bitterly, glaring at him.
"I don't care what you want. They've been there the whole time. They'll be around in the future. There has been and always will be gay and lesbian cops. You can panic and drag your feet as the world moves on around you, but it is moving on and you'd better figure it out." He sighed and slumped back in his seat. "Also, I'd be expecting a talk from Jigen about you telling his girl to go out and hook if she wanted a paycheck."
"The offer stands," Bill said quickly. "All those changes, the figured named last time...."
"Plus another two zeros," Lupin added on. "Inflation you know. Consider it interest."
"Plus another zero," Bill said, shooting a short glare at him, "plus all the involved parties retire." He handed it to Lupin, realizing it was futile to fight against him. He was doing more by showing up than he had in a few years of arguing. Lupin shrugged as he handed it back. "Plus those two caveats," Bill added.
The cops huddled and talked, then gave him a look. "We need an hour to consult. That is an enormous amount of money."
"Your insurance will pay triple that amount," Lupin said conversationally. "By the way, they do know about it at the corporate level. We had a chat with one of them about a year ago. He's quite...upset with your department and the FBI." He smiled sweetly. "Just think, after I get done with you, I get to deal with them, the CIA, and some minor politicians. You're not the hard ones and I could be much worse. If you leave this room, the figure goes up by another million automatically." He got comfortable, watching them from the corner of his eye as he looked at Bill. "There was a meeting this morning in the FBI building. The top boss outright agreed that they'd be negotiating soon or capitulating fully. Their person in LA got killed the other day when she was found out. Not because of the press, but because she was missing her daughter and staring at her picture in a bar. She'd been out for over a year, was a widow, and her daughter was forced from her care and put into foster care. You might want to talk to the daughter's lawyer." He slid over a card. "Helena doesn't know that they're doing the same thing. Her former sister-in-law took the child from the state and is pushing it now that she knows that the poor kid's mother wasn't a dirty cop. It was interesting watching her face when Goemon went to tell her that." Bill nodded, taking the card. "In better news, the top boss got sick when he started to read her first duty log."
"Good," he agreed. "It'll make it go faster." He looked over as the cops came back to the table, faces set. "We can always adjourn," he said smoothly.
"We can't cripple operations by spending that much money."
"And I repeat, you have insurance for that. This isn't touching the department's budget any," Lupin reminded them.
"It does; our premiums are going to go through the roof."
"Good, you deserve it," Lupin told him. "You may be able to bring this agreement to them, pointing out that the cause is gone. They may show some leniency. I did get that feeling during my own meeting. You'd have to go pretty far up the chain." The cops looked at each other. "I'm growing impatient, gentlemen, and I'm not known for my patience unless there's a very pretty prize involved. In this case, Jigen's happiness is important and so is Helena's, but my patience is finite for people like you." He gave them his petulant, bored look and they chatted again and then nodded. "Good. When can she anticipate the check? She wanted to expand her present loft."
"That wasn't the FBI's?" the Chief asked.
"That large one where she was found after someone tried to kill her by injecting nearly seven times the lethal dosage of cocaine into her body was. The present one isn't. She bought that one."
"With what money?" the Chief demanded.
"How about with all those bounties you guys paid her," Bill told him. "Her finances are none of your business."
"If you *must* know, Jigen floated her the money," Lupin lied, a little. They had decided together to pay her for that. "He is her boyfriend and he can afford to wipe his ass with that much."
"Which is dirty money," the Chief noted.
"Really? I could swear it came from the bank, which said it was clean. They had nothing to do with our entrepreneurial enterprises. Nor do the Swiss bankers really care to know how you earn the money as long as you make a lot of it for them to use. That's how it is in the rest of the world. No, she had nothing to do with the reason he got the money. It's older money from a long time ago. It was sitting in the bank and she's paying him back."
"On her back you mean," their lawyer snorted. He found himself pinned face down to the table when Lupin lunged over and grabbed him, pressing his head down.
"She is not with him for that reason. She is with him because she found someone she could trust and who believed that she could still be a good person after the shit you made her do. There is nothing monetary about their relationship. It is love, get it right. Their love makes Jigen think about retiring and makes her think the same thing." He nodded so Lupin let him go and sat back down. "As I said, she found more supportive people on our side of the fence than yours. He was one of them. He's the one who kept her from going after all of you. You might want to send a thank you card."
The Chief coughed. "Fine. The money wasn't dirty money really. Her relationship will be ending?" Lupin snorted and shook his head. "A cop dating a thief is a bit out of the ordinary."
"You'd rather have them both be miserable and have Jigen take it out on your city? As I said, being together makes *both* of them think about settling down."
"Fine," he agreed quickly. If she retired they couldn't do a thing about her but it could be swept clean. "Are they hoping for children?"
"Jigen's scared of kids. Helena's worried that they'll be in danger after what she's been through." They all nodded. "Are we in agreement, gentlemen?" They all sighed and nodded. "Thank you. I'll be at her place waiting on any and all paperwork. Ask any of the good courier services, they all know where Helena lives." He walked out, heading to report to Jigen that they have given in. Now he had to go find someone in Washington. It'd only take a few hours. There were many connecting flights through the day. He walked past Zenigata and it took him a moment to realize it. He turned and found the man staring at him. "I'm here helping a friend, not stealing."
"You're still wanted," he said, advancing on him.
"Make me miss my flight, keep that cop we talked about in deeper longer. We're getting her out right now. I'm off to talk to someone and make them very sorry for doing that to a cop."
Zenigata considered it. He was tired. He had been in three countries so far this week and it was only Tuesday. "For a fellow cop, I'll let you go. That shit is wrong. Go before I change my mind." Lupin nodded and left. "They're being helpful?" he said bitterly. "For a cop? This one I want to meet." He trudged on, going to check in at the local office. His meeting was pushed back but thankfully the secretary was able to find him a room. He walked into the hotel and had to shake his head when he *swore* he saw Jigen's back. He'd seen enough of it to know what it looked like, but this time it had a female's arm around it and Jigen never really touched women. That was Lupin's thing. He checked in and left an eight am wake up call. Then he went to bed immediately. He was obviously tired if he was imaging Jigen with a woman.
***
Jigen looked up from his book as Helena woke up, moving over to get her some water. "Hey," he said quietly, stroking her forehead. "If you want to go back to sleep, go ahead. He said you'd have a headache." She nodded, giving him a long look. "Still remember me?" She nodded, sitting up to sip her water. "Not that bad?"
"Bad enough but it'll go away in a few hours. I can't have anything for it."
"That's fine, I won't offer then." He sat beside her, letting her curl up against his chest, her favorite spot. "Did you decide where you wanted to go after this hotel?"
"I don't really care," she noted quietly, getting comfortable. "You know, it's odd. I know three years ago I couldn't remember my original last name. Now I can remember everything from my childhood perfectly. This drug can have some odd side effects." He shifted. "What?"
"I thought Nichols was your name."
"No, Nichols is my mother's maiden name. I didn't want to be associated with my father." He gave her a look. "Let me guess, you want to hear about my childhood?" He shrugged and nodded. "Later. When I'm not sore." He nodded, giving her a squeeze. "That felt good. Do it again?" He did it again, this time for longer. "I missed the casual human contact. No one even touched me on the street as I walked in crowds. It was like there was some invisible barrier around me, even when I was wearing nothing special and had my hair up. It was like they were afraid in advance of what might happen if they came near me, like they could see I was diseased."
"You're not diseased," Jigen said quietly, stroking her back. "If you were, I wouldn't be like this with you." He kissed the top of her head. "Does this mean you want to talk?"
"I'm guessing that I'll be blurting out stuff randomly," she admitted sheepishly. "Most people get therapy. I get you and it's much nicer and better."
"And cheaper," he agreed, smirking down at her. "Then again, I'll make you face some of the bad shit."
"You might, but most of that's locked away."
He sighed. "I still think that's a bad idea."
"Jigen, I've got contradictory memories in there. I've got double memories of some days because I was doing my job while I was enjoying myself. It's the only way I'll ever get any peace with what happened. Besides, I know what happened, I remember some of it fuzzily. I remember all those people I had to wound or kill. I remember all the times I fucked up and someone paid for it. I remember all of it. Only it's slightly fuzzy and kinda compressed together. You know those zip programs on the computer?" He nodded. "My mind's now working like that. I've got one whole folder for the last six years. I've got one from the time before it. Then I've got a few nights where I just forgot that night existed. It was safer. I didn't want to remember why I was staring at Dean's young daughter like she was a steak dinner."
"She slipped some rophyenol into your drink," Jigen told her. "Her mother caught her doing it and drug her away. They put you up that night to make sure you'd be fine." He went back to stroking her back, making her relax again. "What other nights?"
"I don't know. I did a better job of erasing them."
"What happens if they suddenly pop back up?"
"Then I'll deal with them at that time," she noted. "When I don't have as much to deal with. Doing ten years is enough of a problem to deal with. Doing one night more might make me snap."
"Fine," he agreed, letting her move closer again. "What sort of place did you want to go?"
"Somewhere quiet, where no one knows me or who I was, that's not dangerous, and where I can sleep in for as long as we want."
He smiled. "Well, that could be a lot of places. Your reputation is now world-wide in some circles but there's no reason for them to put you and her together." She pinched him, making a point he knew. "They might connect you through me," he agreed. "That a problem for you?"
"No. You?"
"Hell no." He gave her a deeper kiss. "I don't care if people connect you that way. No one would dare come up to you when I'm there and it's not likely that I'll be leaving you alone anytime soon." She pinched him again, then nuzzled his chest. "You think I will?"
"I know you can take four months off, but I don't think you're moving back to Chicago."
"No, I'm not, but we've been doing okay and I know Lupin's planned a lot more stuff in this hemisphere for the next year or so." She gave him a squeeze. "Would you like a beach or woods?"
"Beach. I like the water."
"Okay." He considered the various beach places he was aware of in the US. He didn't want the hassle of trying to teach her to sneak through customs yet. "Florida's out for obvious reasons, as is New York. It's late summer but they're still crowded. I don't want to go to Texas this time of year or I'd roast in what little fat I had and you'd be miserable. California is pretty nice but then again they've got some massive amounts of crime near most of them and Japanese syndicates moving in. That'll make it more dangerous. Hawaii has a small drug enclave, but it's not bad," he offered. "It's pretty."
"And muggy."
"And muggy," he agreed dryly. "Anywhere tropical would be so that leaves out another part of Mexico. We could go to Prince Edward Island. That's just off the west coast of Canada. It's supposed to be pretty, but rural. I've never heard of any criminals up there outside of some muggers." She shrugged. "How about lakes?"
"I don't mind lakes. I never learned how to surf anyway."
He hit on the perfect target. "How about Lake Tahoe then? After the Godfather movies, none of the real gangsters ever considered moving that way. They mostly went to Vegas and Reno. Tahoe's pretty and has some decent enough beaches, plus some woods if you wanted to go for long walks. It'd be like that time in Colorado, only with a lake."
"I could stand that." She smiled up at him and kissed just above his beard. "Can we find a place that'll take us?"
"Sure," he promised. "We'll make reservations tonight and get you back in time to go to the convention?"
"I'm not sure about that yet. I don't feel like a cop yet, that would seem like I was acting."
"We'll see," he promised, kissing her gently. He wrapped her in his arms. "Go to sleep. We'll go shopping and make the reservations tomorrow." She nodded, closing her eyes and taking the comfort he was offering. Deep inside his mind he admitted that he might miss his angel, but she'd still be partially around.
***
Helena looked around the cabin he had rented. It was on the lake, it had a bit of private beach, separated out with a fence, and they had a wonderful view. "Wow." She squealed and hugged him as hard as she could, making him moan. "I love you."
"Love you too, princess." He kissed her on the lips then led her up to the bedroom so they could unpack first. He wanted to see if that blue bathing suit really looked as good as she thought. He found it and handed it over. "Change. We'll lay on the beach." She went into the bathroom, being modest for some reason. He got them fully unpacked by then and turned, finding her adjusting a strap in the mirror. He moaned and walked over, kissing her harder. That thing accentuated all her curves and made her look stunning. She needed to be rumpled and made less perfect. He pushed her back onto the bed and undid the front clasp of the top, leaning down to taste her gently. He was always gentle with her. She pulled him down, startling him, but he laughed and decided he could be a bit less gentle since she was so insistent. They could make it onto the beach for sunset.
***
Lupin used her computer to check his email account, smiling at the note from a friend at the airport. "Yes!" he suddenly shouted, standing up to hug Goemon. "He took her to Nevada!"
"The significance of that is?" Goemon asked, giving him an odd look. "In the future, do not grope me so."
"I haven't groped you yet," Lupin snorted. "Nevada. Home of quickie marriages? They went to Tahoe but I'm sure he can sneak it in."
"If she would consent it would cause problems," Goemon pointed out.
"No, not even close. She'll let him come work with us and we'll make sure she gets a real house." He went back to reading his email. "Hey, Pietro wrote. Paige decided to give him an heir. They're doing the sample collection and implantation this week."
"Perhaps they'll both learn discretion with another child in the house," Goemon noted, going back to petting the cat in his lap. She had run in the window earlier and hid under the couch until he had coaxed her out. The other was still under the refrigerator. Fortunately the others had already adopted them, they had given them full baths earlier. "Where were we finding them such a house here?"
"I don't know," Lupin admitted. "I guess we can wait on that part until they come back and admit it to us." He opened another message, finding one from Fujiko. "Ah, my babydoll." Goemon gave him an odd look. "Fujiko."
"I knew who you were speaking of. Where is she now?"
"Heading this way. She's passing through on her way to Florida from Ottawa." Goemon nodded, going back to petting his cat. Lupin sent her the address of the apartment and moved onto the next one. "Ahh, Pops can't go to this convention. He's broken his foot and is on complete bed rest. Apparently he kicked his desk too hard when no one could find out where we were hiding this time." He wrote that contact a quick note and sent it back, moving on. "And another letter, this time from Paige. She said she wants Helena to be a godmother and could we please ask her."
"She would make a stunning mother," Goemon offered.
"She would," Lupin agreed. "But can you really imagine a baby Jigen and Helena running around?" He looked up in time to see the shudder. "The baby would come out with a hat, leather pants, and a gun on and be a mouthy little brat."
"We would never win an argument with that child," Goemon agreed, shaking his head to clear that image.
"Yeah, but imagine if we can get it to follow in Jigen's footsteps," Lupin sighed. "That one could be the best gunman ever. Both parents are marksmen."
"Most likely the child will come out completely opposite. A book lover who only studies people." He put that cat aside but it crawled back into his lap. "Oh, dear."
"It'll be fine. She'll get used to living here with Helena," Lupin said firmly. Goemon was not going to be allowed to keep a pet while they were going on capers around the globe.