Reagan had been usually quiet at breakfast, speaking only when spoken to or just nodding when asked a question. Payton brushed it off as sulking since the girl had protested intently about the trip to see Dr. Connell this morning. She had insisted she was fine and didn't need to see anymore doctors as she soaked in the massive tub the evening before. Payton had managed to pacify her only when the promised lunch with the 'girls' and planned shopping trip were made part of the bargain. When that wore off the elder McAllister took a firmer stand and simply stated in her most commanding tone that the visit was set for the morning and that they would be there as planned. End of discussion! 'Perhaps,' Payton told herself, 'the kid was in quiet contemplation this morning or had taken heed of her warning and was making it a point not to whine over the issue.'

"That uniform has got to go." Payton remarked as she tugged at the dull gray jumper.

Reagan looked down at her attire as she moved a waffle around on her plate. "It's all I've got." She frowned.

"After today, you can retire it for good. You won't need it anymore." Payton smiled as she set her cup back in its saucer. "If you're ready, I think Henry has the car waiting."

Reagan wiped her face quickly with the linen napkin she had held on her lap. "I'm done." She answered as she slid off the breakfast nook bench and followed her sister to the main foyer of the estate.

Marjorie waited there holding the dark blue dress coat Reagan had worn the night she arrived at Mac an Bhaird. She slipped her arms into the coat as Marjorie held it out to her. The housekeeper turned the girl toward her and pulled both sides of the garment together fastening the matching blue buttons and flipping the child's long golden hair out over the small velvet collar. "You be careful and stay close to your sister." Marjorie whispered in her ear as she hugged the girl to her breast and quickly kissed her brow.

Payton pulled her knee-length burgundy coat closed and reached for her newly purchased briefcase. She turned to the hall mirror to adjust the silk scarf around her neck and tossed her own ebony hair over her collar. "Don't worry Marjorie, I won't let her out of my site." She put out a hand toward the smaller McAllister and squeezed firmly when her sister's made the connection. "Never again." She smiled at the worried young face.

Marjorie watched from the front porch as the McAllister sisters entered the long black limousine. She waved to the child who smiled weakly through the tinted glass and watched the vehicle until it disappeared over the small knoll midway on the long drive to the main gate. She tried in vain to shake the ominous feeling that had haunted her all morning.

The forty-five minute drive into the city seemed to drag and Payton found herself falling into the routine that calmed her nerves. She flipped open the briefcase on her lap and sifted through several files before pulling one from the case and losing herself in the terse wording of the formal contract.

Reagan's mind swirled with the worry reserved for those much older and wiser that herself. She blinked twice and quickly brushed away the tear that sneaked across her cheek. Her stomach flipped and she squirmed in her seat to convince it that losing its contents at this point was not a wise idea. Payton looked up from her contract, her eyebrows raised in a silent question. Reagan flashed an unconvincing smile and quickly looked away. Payton stared for a moment at the back of the child's head and wished that somewhere in one of the many files she carried were the words she needed to console the small girl. Part of her wanted to reach out to youngster and part of her held that same desire in check. Her internal battle raged between the need for affection and the fear of the same.

Reagan stared at the landscape as it seemed to speed past the car but she saw nothing. Dr. Connell meant questions and poking and prodding and more than likely more needles. She hated needles, really HATED needles. She looked at her sister quickly wondering if it would be a good idea to tell her just how much she HATED needles. Payton would probably tell her she was acting like a baby, just like everyone else always did. But needles hurt and she just HATED that 'little pinch' that was usually a BIG pinch and she wasn't exactly thrilled about where that big 'little pinch' was usually placed. She tried hard not to think about it replacing the thought with the anticipation of meeting the police inspector and having to tell him all of the details of her time at Brisbey. Payton had told her over and over that nothing that had happened there was her fault. Colin said the same thing, but she couldn't help feeling that she brought out the worst of the headmistress and somehow set off the entire chain of events. She had fallen asleep in that class and she wasn't very respectful to Miss Shea. Miss Thorne had told her over and over what a disrespectful belligerent student she had been and that she deserved every lashing she had been given. Miss Thorne had told her that was why she wasn't welcome at her sister's home, but Payton said she was wrong. Miss Thorne said Payton didn't want her. Payton said Miss Thorne was mistaken. She didn't want to have to tell Colin or that other man anything about what she had done or what Miss Thorne had done because of it. Her stomach churned again, protesting a bit stronger than it had before. She swallowed hard and took small breaths trying to calm it. The motion of the scenery outside the window did nothing to help. She closed her eyes and put her head back against the seat.

Payton glanced at the child again. 'What could be troubling her so much?' She asked herself instead of the girl. 'How do I approach this? Oh, lord I wish Connie were here. She'd know what to say, what to do. If I ask her and she tells me, I won't even know what to say or how to help. Why can't this mothering thing be as simple as running a corporation?' Reagan opened her eyes and fiddled with a button on her coat suddenly very interested in the fact that it was tighter than the others. The discovery seemed to calm her a bit and Payton relaxed as well being given a short reprieve. She would not have to ask anything for the time being.

'Miss Thorne,' Reagan thought. 'She is out there somewhere. Colin said she was outside our house…Payton's house.' It wasn't her house, yet. Maybe after all this Payton would change her mind. Miss Thorne would probably tell Payton everything that happened and maybe Payton would just let her take her away. Maybe Payton would be so angry she would hit her too. Payton could get very angry. She'd seen it herself. She rested her hand over the medallion buried beneath her coat. The tears she tried to catch, to stop, to brush away fell much too fast for her to do anything. Her stomach lurched, this time it would not be calmed.

"STOP! Please, Payton! Please tell Henry to stop! PLEASE!" Reagan cried desperately.

Payton jumped at the sound of the child's plea barely managing to hold on to the papers on her case. She looked wide-eyed at the girl who had grown ghostly pale and held both hands across her middle. She understood immediately and motioned for Henry to turn off the road as quickly as possible. She slid her file back into the briefcase as the car came to a smooth stop. Payton opened the door on the passenger side of the car and pulled Reagan into the cool morning air. The girl barely made it to the brush at the side of the road before losing the contents of her stomach. Payton followed in a clumsy attempt to comfort the child. Between coughing, gagging and sobbing Reagan made herself violently ill. A gentle hand on her back brought an anchor to her turbulent wave of emotion.

Payton rubbed her hand in a circle on the girl's back and steadied her shaking form with the other. Reagan was sick until all that was left was silent dry heaving motions. She struggled to catch her breath and calm her stomach. Payton made soft comforting sounds that she wasn't even aware she could make. Henry appeared with a flask of cool water and a damp handkerchief. He handed it to his employer and motioned toward the child then very discretely disappeared back inside the car. Payton turned the shaking child toward her. She wiped her face with the cool cloth.

"Hey, hey." She crooned wiping the sweat from the girl's forehead. "Why didn't you tell me you didn't feel well? We can do this another time."

"I'm…not…sick." Reagan managed between sobs and gasps. Her small hands shook uncontrollably as she reached for the cool hanky and wiped it across her lips.

"You're not?!" Payton laughed. "Well you do a very good impression of someone who is very, very sick!"

"It…it…just happens…happens…when I…get scared or ner…nervous…a…a…about something." The girl stammered in explanation.

Payton stared at the child for a moment. She hadn't realized the girl was terrified by the events of the past few days. How could she have missed something so apparent? "Oh Reagan, I am so sorry!" She pulled the girl into a tight hug half expecting her to pull away and not blaming her if she did. But the girl fell into the embrace wrapping her thin arms as far around her sister's waist as they could reach. She sobbed deeply.

"I'm afraid, Payton." The girl's muffled voice came from beneath Payton's arms. "I'm really afraid." She turned her head making her voice clearer.

"It's okay to be afraid, Reagan." Payton assured her squeezing her a little tighter.

The girl looked up resting her chin just above her very tall sister's waist. "You aren't afraid. I want to be brave like you."

Payton looked into the deep blue-green eyes that searched her own for an answer. 'Oh, little one, if you only knew just how afraid I am and that you are what I am most afraid of and who I am most afraid for.' She relaxed her hold on the child. Then raised both hands and smoothed Reagan's hair from her face, resting them on both the girl's cheeks. "I'm not that brave, Reagan. You have every reason to be afraid, but we will go through this together. You see being brave really means doing something even if you are afraid, especially when you know it is the right thing to do." She wondered where that bit of wisdom came from and smiled at the child encouraging her to do the same. "If you are afraid, you need to talk to me. I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong and I really don't know how to ask. So you help me so I can help you. Deal?" She waited for the girl to answer. Reagan nodded. "Then we finish this." She stepped back and held out a hand taking the girl's and leading her back to the car. Henry closed the door after the sister's were inside, slipped back behind the wheel and pulled the long vehicle back into the stream of traffic.

The briefcase stayed on the floor for the remainder of the journey. Reagan sat close to her sister, her small thin fingers interlaced with the longer fingers of her older sister. Somehow this helped to keep the demons at bay. Together they would beat them. Even Reagan's very sensitive stomach relaxed. They would reach the doctor's office within the hour.

Dr. Connell looked over the top of his glasses at the thin child seated on his examining table. He held his stethoscope against her chest. "One more big breath." He ordered. The child obeyed drawing a deep breath and holding it until he asked her to exhale. He rested the shiny silver disk on her back and repeated his order, listening intently as she complied.

Reagan shivered as the doctor placed the cold instrument against her chest and again against her back. She wriggled a bit on the table wondering just how old someone had to be before a doctor thought it was not okay to just have them sit in their underwear and endure this routine. She looked at the small bandage on her middle finger and winced at the memory of the quick jab that drew a small drop of blood. A tall skinny nurse, that smiled too much, squeezed the drop onto a small glass slide and disappeared with it through a side door. Reagan wondered what nurses always did with all those little drops of blood they took and why they always smiled so much when they did so. The same happy nurse had filled out a yellow chart with Reagan's full name, birth date and residence. (Actually, that memory made Reagan smile just a little. It was the very first time she actually listed Mac an Bhaird as her home.) The nurse had pulled a file and placed it on the clipboard beneath her chart. She was the one who instructed the child to remove her outer clothing. She did the weighing and the measuring right before snatching her hand and stabbing it before Reagan had a chance to say 'ouch'. She pointed to the long examining table and asked if she needed help getting onto it. And all the while she never ever, not even once, lost her smile. Reagan wondered if it were stuck.

"Open." The doctor's soft voice ordered as he held a tongue depressor in front of her mouth. Again she complied then grimaced as the doctor pressed against the sides of her neck and the soft area just below her ears and jaw. It brought back the sharp pain she had experienced just before her trip to St. Hedwig's. She watched as the doctor made a quick note on the clipboard he had placed next to her on the table. He took another scope and looked into both of her ears, then made another note. He tapped a little hammer on her knees and looked at her fingernails. More notes. She tried to sneak a peek at the clipboard as the doctor moved from side to side, but there was no way she could decipher the man's penmanship. "Okay, sweetie, lie back for me." The doctor's voice never changed. It reminded Reagan of someone reading a story or maybe directions or a recipe. She felt her cheeks grow hot with a bit of embarrassment and a lot of apprehension. She looked at the doctor and wondered how a man could have such white hair and such black eyebrows. It defied anything she had ever seen. He lifted her camisole examining every bruise and welt across her small chest. He pushed his glasses from the edge of his nose into place on the bridge of it. "Hmmm." She swallowed hard. He repeated the process after telling her to turn over for him, examining the marks Miss Thorne's switch had left across her back from her shoulders to the backs of her knees. "Hmmmmm." He patted her gently on the shoulder and motioned for her to sit up again. He picked up his clipboard and made a few more notes before turning to Payton who had stood across the room during the entire examination.

"Payton, we need to step into my office. I'd like to speak to you." The doctor started in that same recipe reading voice.

Payton glanced at Reagan. "What you have to say concerns my sister, doctor. I think we can discuss that right here." Payton's voice was clear and left little room for discussion.

Dr. Connell nodded and continued. "Dr. Ratchford sent the records from St. Hedwig's. My findings are not that different from his. "

Nurse 'Smiley' entered the room and handed the doctor a small note. He looked at it and nodded. Her smile seemed to grow as she turned and walked back through the same door. Reagan shuddered. She wasn't 'out of the woods' yet.

"The eardrum is ruptured, but seems to be healing well. I'd like to make an appointment with an audiologist. I don't think there is any hearing loss, but there's no point in not ruling it out completely." The doctor went on as he turned back to Payton. "The prescription Dr. Ratchford gave you is mighty potent stuff. Be sure she takes all of it." He winked at Reagan who made no secret of her distaste for the nasty orange syrup. "However…" That did not sound good. Reagan squirmed again, wishing someone would suggest she get dressed. Payton listened more intently. "According to these records, Reagan is ten pounds lighter than she was six months ago and that is not good. Can't have someone so young losing weight. You need to be putting it on." He directed the last of the comment directly to the girl. "As a result she is anemic. What we are going to do today is give her a shot of B12 today and then I want her to take iron supplements as well as follow a plan of much better eating habits. A lot of fresh air and sunshine wouldn't hurt any, course this time of year it is a bit dreary in these parts."

"Oh don't worry about that, Dr." Payton assured him. "Marjorie will see to her getting more than her share of healthy meals and so far I haven't seen any lack of appetite. As far as the sunshine goes, we'll think of something. After all, I…WE own an entire fleet of cruise ships."

Reagan heard nothing after the word 'shot'. Nurse 'Smiley' appeared again this time carrying a small silver tray. She stood in front of the doctor as he drew the glass hypodermic from the it. He held up the 'weapon' and flicked it a few times and stepped toward her. "One little pinch and we're through." He smiled, actually smiled! Reagan was almost indignant. She held out her arm hoping against hope that it was the correct body part. Something just had to go right today. The doctor smiled again and took her arm gentling turning her away from him. She really wanted to cry, more out of frustration than anything else. Instead she clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could, waiting for that 'little pinch'. "OUCH!" It slipped past her lips before she realized it, but just as quickly her moment of mortification was over. "All done!" Dr. Connell announced. "You can get dressed." He turned back to Payton. "I want to see her again in a month." Payton nodded and moved to help Reagan with her uniform. The doctor stopped with his hand on the doorknob. "Oh and by the way, Payton, I haven't seen you in a while either so make an appointment for yourself as well."

Payton smiled and nodded. Reagan giggled noticing the almost stricken look on her older sister's face. Payton glared at her and the giggles stopped abruptly...for a split second before they burst into a full laugh. It was good to hear that laughter it signaled that one of the day's hurdles had been eliminated. For just a short time they could relax, regroup before attempting the next. Across town a lawyer and a police inspector waited for a small child to tell a tale of terror and torture, but for now the child was relaxed. For now she was relieved. They'd take their time. Colin and Larzy could wait.

TWENTY-TWO 

Getting inside the Bhaird Building was no obstacle to L'sandra Teschner, she'd had a multitude of practice. She knew enough about people to be sure that they were much more concerned with their own routines and business to worry about anyone around them. She knew enough to make herself inconspicuous, to simply blend in with her surroundings, to become one of the invisibles - the people who existed but no one ever actually acknowledged that existence. L'sandra had waited and watched outside the building until those people began to arrive and simply blended in with them. They were the charwomen, the janitors, the washroom attendants, and all the others who worked along side the executives, secretaries, lawyers, doctors, and various tenants of the twenty eight-story office building. These persons, these shadows of humanity, entered through the rear, unseen by doormen or lobby security.

L'sandra pushed the dark-rimmed glasses up on her nose and entered the workers' locker room following the motions of the others around her. No one seemed to take any particular locker. She pulled open the door on the last green metal 'closet' and removed her dark raincoat. She hung it inside and pulled her dull gray uniform dress, straightening it around the padding she had added to her thin form that morning. Her normally meticulous hair had purposely not been washed and hung lifeless in a drab ponytail, tendrils of uncaught strands fell around her face. Her lips were pale against her even more pale face, since without any trace of makeup L'sandra Teschner seemed to be a ghost of the many identities she had stolen. Without this bit of feminine vanity the woman had created the simplest of disguises.

"First day?" A deep gravely voice came from behind her. She turned to the dark skinned woman bent over tying a soft-soled shoe.

"Yes." She answered in a quiet almost subservient voice. "Yes, first day."

"Come on then." The shorter woman motioned with her head as she walked toward a screened in area. She jingled a large set of keys and opened the screened door. "Take what you need, only what you need. Don't want to be carrying it all over the building. Come back when you need more. The door'll be open till six." She walked inside, pulled a cart away from the wall and began filling it with cleaning supplies. L'sandra did the same, mimicking the older woman's motions. "You must be here for Florence. Bout time they replaced her, the extra work was getting to us. Lucky you! You have the eighth floor employee's lounge. That's McAllister main offices, good luck." She finished with her cart and wheeled it away, leaving L'sandra alone with the supplies. The woman had barely looked at her, never even asked a name. Here among the invisible even a peer became untouchable. L'sandra smiled she filled her cart with the same supplies she had seen the other woman take and wheeled it toward the service elevator. She would take her time reaching that floor, then find the other lucky person who was responsible for the penthouse lounge with Payton McAllister's reputation and a with bit of bribery and just the right persuasion she should have no problem 'trading' positions for the day.