Clarice spent the entire day, well into the evening, flying children back to their parents. They hadn't run into any situations similar to Lexi's where their parents had sold them off, much to her relief. It had been an emotionally taxing day, making Clarice glad that she had a nonstop supply of positive energy charging her emotional matrix. Most of the parents had feared their children dead. Some of them had been missing for several years, enduring horrors that Clarice couldn't even imagine. Each time she delivered a child to their parent she felt an increase in her determination to rid the world of evil.
"How are you doing?" Aria asked as she flew down to land next to her on the widows walk. Her eyes were full of concern as she observed her sister.
"It's been a day of heavy emotional toll," Clarice admitted with a sigh. "If I wasn't an angel I think this would have crushed me."
Aria impulsively pulled her into an embrace. Clarice felt her positive energy intake double as Aria projected love into her meridians.
"You did some amazing good today," Aria praised her softly. "You don't just look like an angel; you act like an angel."
"Thanks, Aria," Clarice murmured, closing her eyes and soaking up the positivity charging her soul. "Knowing I'll always have you to count on makes a huge difference. I can't imagine what this must have been like for Calypso, being alone for all of those years."
"Especially since she can't remember being human," Aria added, wonder in her voice. "We remember what it felt like to be human. She doesn't have that same dichotomy to help her realize just how much better it feels to be an angel."
"I wonder if there is some way to unlock her memories," Clarice mused quietly. "Assuming she ever was human. It's entirely possible that she is an original angel or something. Otherwise, that begs the question of who the angel was that transformed her?"
"So, she either came from some kind of angel race, or there is another angel running around somewhere," Aria repeated with a frown. "We've had enough publicity by now that if there were another angel somewhere, you would think they would have stopped by to say hi or something. It's hard to believe there would be demons abducting children everywhere if there were other angels, but maybe they are like Calypso and aren't battle angels. My punch certainly didn't do anything to that demon. Maybe our angel fire is the only thing capable of killing them."
"Interesting idea," Clarice praised her. Her cheeks moved against Aria's neck as she smiled. "I know you're a physicist and everything, but you're pretty damn smart."
"Yeah, says Dr. Clarice, with a PhD in awesomeness," Aria teased with a giggle.
"Being awesome is hard work, I'll have you know," Clarice declared mockingly, her grin widening. "I have to remind myself how awesome I am at least a dozen times a day. Sometimes I even polish off my degree to remind myself how awesome I am."
They both heard Lexi snort a laugh from inside the house. Clarice stepped back with her hands on Aria's shoulders, her eyes full of mirth. "Did you hear something? It sounded like a prospective student making sounds of eager interest in the ways of awesomeness."
"Yes, it definitely sounded eager," Aria agreed with mock seriousness. "I think we'll have to properly induct her into the ways of awesomeness with a proper hazing ritual."
"I'm thinking a flight up to low earth orbit," Clarice suggested with a wicked grin. "Then we drop her into the pacific. It's not like it will hurt her."
"Yes, I'm game," Lexi called out eagerly.
"Oh," Clarice sighed, her face crestfallen. "You're not supposed to look forward to the hazing ritual."
"No, don't make me do it," Lexi deadpanned, her voice wry. "Please, don't drop me."
There was a sudden surge of light from down inside of the house that interrupted their conversation.
"That felt like a new angel transformation," Aria exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Dad," Clarice breathed, her lips curving up into an excited smile. "There's finally a male angel. I'm not sure how I feel about that."
"Well, you're just going to have to get used to it," her father declared in a much deeper and powerful voice. "Cause you're stuck with me now."
Aria looked at Clarice for a moment, then they were both racing into the house at angel speed. They burst through their parents' bedroom door, nearly removing the door casing in their haste.
Their father stood wrapped in their mother's embrace, looking no older than the rest of them. His eyes were a deep cerulean blue, rather than violet. His face was hairless.
"You've got a man's jaw now dad!" Clarice exclaimed in mock amazement. "People are going to start calling you Chad now."
He laughed a deep, booming laugh, charging the air around them with joy. Clarice and Aria both joined their mother, embracing their father with a feeling of jubilation. Their parents were finally both safe. Clarice had been terrified that a missile would somehow get through their vigilant monitoring, or some other attack. Now, all they had to worry about was their Uncle.
"Welcome to the angel club, Dad," Aria whispered in an emotion choked voice, silver tears running down her cheeks.
"Yeah, welcome to the club Dad," Clarice beamed at him, her eyes wet with tears of joy as well. "We are literally going to be together forever now."
"Is it too late to revert?" their father teased, a wide grin on his chiseled face.
"Yes, it's much too late," their mother confirmed with a possessive look in her violet eyes.
Clarice jumped as a golden glow suddenly surrounded the four of them. She looked at Aria and realized their tears had touched when their cheeks had bumped together.
"What's with the ritzy glow?" their father asked with a bemused expression. "I feel like-" he broke off as they were suddenly charged with intense energy, just like the time before with Calypso.
When it vanished, Clarice blinked as the sensation of heat in her eyes grabbed her attention. She looked into Aria's eyes and they both gasped. Aria's eyes were no longer a shade of violet. Golden orbs of fire stared back at her, lines of energy slowly twisting around her irises.
"What are all of these energy lines I'm seeing?" their father asked curiously, his eyes looking all around them.
"I'd like to know that too," their mother added as she stared around intently.
"Those are the planet's meridians," Clarice informed them absently, absorbed with her own change. "You can also see radio waves."
"My eyes feel hot," Aria commented as she studied Clarice. "Some of the nodes in your meridians are a lot brighter to me now too." She looked at their parents and frowned. "Theirs are too."
"I have a feeling our angel fire is a lot more powerful now," Clarice murmured as she studied the bright nodes in the other angels as well. "I'm pretty sure if we focus our eye beams at the brighter nodes that it will do more damage. Remember how long it took to kill those demons?"
"I feel like it can go off at any moment now too," Aria observed, blinking slowly as she looked around. "It used to need a little time to charge. I don't think I need to work myself into a righteous fury to use them anymore either."
"I feel like I got put on the fast track program for promotion," their father noted with a wry smile. "Shouldn't it have taken me longer to evolve?"
"I think all it requires are the right conditions to be met," Clarice responded, her tone still far away. "I need to go somewhere remote to try something. You too, Aria."
"Is it a secret?" their mother asked dryly.
"No, I just want to see if I'm right before I tell you," Clarice explained patiently. "We'll tell you all about it once we figure out how and if it works. Come along, Aria."
Aria shared a wry look with her parents and followed Clarice out the door. Lexi came around the corner ahead of them, her eyes eager.
"Can I go with?" she asked hopefully. "I want to see what you can do."
"Let's see if we can get you some wings first," Clarice suggested with a wink. "Calypso, can we borrow you for a minute?"
Lexi's eyes widened and she began bouncing on her toes excitedly.
Calypso came out of the music room on the second floor and joined them with a questioning look in her swirling orbs. When she saw their eyes, her own eyes widened and she suddenly grinned.
"You two evolved again," she marveled with a wide smile.
"We had another angel tear exchange," Clarice informed her with a calculating gaze. "I have a feeling that different classes of angels cause different effects, and you're the only other class of angel in this house. We need to get Lexi some wings."
Without another word, Calypso pulled Lexi into a hug. Aria joined the hug a moment later. Clarice watched as their energy began exchanging, creating a maelstrom of light to her enhanced eyes. After a few minutes the energy seemed to reach a kind of equilibrium and Lexi suddenly started glowing faintly. A moment later, wings appeared on her back, tearing through her shirt.
"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that," Clarice apologized with a rueful smile. "Maybe we should go visit Tamra before we go do some field testing. She's on the other side of the continent, so hopefully it isn't too late for a visit."
Lexi nodded vigorously as she held the remains of her shirt up over her chest.
They exited the house and launched themselves into the air, waiting for Lexi to get a feel for flying. She still had to deal with wind currents, so they couldn't arc across the continent like they normally would.
Lexi was ecstatic to be going slower. She whooped as she flew high up into the clouds and began flying West. Clarice deactivated her hover ability and flew alongside her. There was something about feeling the wind in her hair that made flying more fun. Even fighting the wind, they were able to fly just under the sound barrier.
They passed a passenger jet a few thousand feet away. Clarice wondered if there would be videos of them online soon. They had made enough public appearances that she wasn't too worried about one more YouTube video of angels making the rounds. She was no longer worried about what the world religions would think of angels. They were probably all controlled by demons anyway.
It took them over three hours to fly to the West Coast and the sun was just sinking below the horizon when they arrived at Tamra's house. They dropped down onto the front lawn and then knocked on her front door.
"Measuring time?" Tamra asked as soon as she opened the door.
"Yeah, plus we have a new angel," Aria told her with a nod at Lexi.
Tamra's eyes widened as she observed Lexi in angel form. "Is that you, Lexi?"
"Hi Tamra," Lexi grinned at their tailor with joy in her eyes. "I'll never have to worry about some bastard taking advantage of me again now."
"Humans can become angels?" Tamra asked in shock. "I thought you came from heaven or something."
"We did just come from heaven," Clarice told her with a mischievous smile. "We flew through the heavens from the other side of the continent to get here."
Tamra stared at her for a moment, then began to laugh. "So, you're not from some paradisical realm of the gods or something like that?"
"History has been very inaccurate," Aria told her with a rueful shake of her head. "If there is a realm of divine beings, we don't know about it."
"There are a few things they got right though," Clarice acknowledged gravely. "Angels are innately good…we think. We find acts of evil repugnant. Of course, we don't know any other angels, so that's just a guess. I'm not sure what would happen if a human with a black heart met the requirements to become an angel. Maybe that's where demons come from."
"Demons are real?" Tamra stared at her uncertainly, unsure if she were joking.
"So, it would appear," Clarice grimaced, her mouth twisting with revulsion. "We rescued forty more children from a bunker where they were being tortured by scaly, horned demons. They were tough, like angels. They could tank one of Aria's punches. We had to rely on angel fire to destroy them. They were harvesting the blood of terrified children for reasons we do not yet understand. We plan to find the rest of their hidey holes and find out. There's no room on this world for both angels and demons."
Tamra shivered as she watched them, her eyes far off. She shook herself and her eyes came back into focus. "Let's get you all fitted. I'll find a loaner shirt for you to use until we can get something made for you, Lexi."
They spent the next thirty minutes getting measured. Tamra wrote it all down on an iPad before transferring the measurements to one of her PC's. It was like a miniature factory in her home with all of the plotters, automated cutting tables, and sewing machines. When they were finished getting measured she found a modest wing-fitted top for Lexi to wear.
"We'll send Calypso over with two more angels, if that's okay," Aria requested hesitantly. "We'll bring some money next time too. I totally spaced the whole money thing."
"There is no way that I will accept any money from you," Tamra declined, staring at them with determination in her eyes. "I'm not going to go down in history as the person who charged angels money for some clothes. Besides, the service you have done for me by rescuing my niece would pay for anything I make for you a million times over."
"If you ever feel like making a career change, let me know," Clarice told Tamra with a half-smile. "The only downsides to being an angel is that we don't think we can die, even if we want to, and we are pretty sure we can't have children. We'll probably find out soon enough, now that my parents are angels."
Tamra fumbled a piece of cloth that she was folding and stopped to stare at them. "You could turn me into an angel?"
"Yes," Clarice said simply. "Initially, we had planned on not changing anyone not in our family. However, when we discovered there are demons running the world, we decided there needed to be a lot more of us before we have a chance to take them all down. We don't know for sure if they have a way to kill us. We just barely discovered that they exist."
Tamra stared at them with narrowed eyes as she fidgeted with a ruler. "I'll have to think about it. Maybe I'll have an answer by the time your parents and Calypso arrive. Honestly, I wanted to have kids of my own, so I don't know that I'm ready for that kind of a change."
Clarice felt like a puzzle piece just slid into place and felt her lips turn up into a sly smile. "Tell me Tamra, do you like men with deep voices?"
Aria gave her a startled look, then burst out laughing so hard that tears started leaking out. Tamra stared at them like they had gone mad, her eyes askance.
"Sorry, Tamra," Clarice apologized through a barely contained grin. "My mom made me promise to be on the lookout for a wife for my Uncle Devon. He also doesn't want to become an angel until he has had a chance to have a family. Are you available?"
Tamra blinked, taken aback at Clarice's bluntness. "I'm not seeing anyone, no."
"How about I bring my uncle over when my parents and Calypso come over?" Clarice offered hopefully. "He's a good looking guy with a deep voice and a caring nature. He's the reason we lived long enough to become angels."
"Suuure," Tamra drew the word out, her eyes showing both interest and hesitancy. "Trot him on out and we'll see where the wind blows."
Clarice pumped her fist and crowed. "Slam dunk!"
"Give me a week to get all of these designed and tailored," Tamra told her dryly. "Go tell your uncle to start polishing up. I'm picky."
"You got it," Clarice grinned, waggling her eyebrows playfully.
"Get out of here, you weirdo," Tamra made shooing motions with her hands. "My opinion of angels has taken a real hit tonight."
Clarice laughed and gave Tamra a quick hug. "You just wait until you meet my parents."
Tamra's eyes widened as she felt the powerful love and positive energy of an angel channeled into her. When Clarice released her, she stared at her with new eyes.
"Okay, you have raised my opinion again," Tamra announced with a small smile. "I'll see you in a week."
The three of them let themselves out as Tamra immediately began working on her computer to design their clothes.
"You're really rocking that jacket," Clarice told Lexi admiringly. "It looks fantastic on you."
Lexi blushed but had a pleased smile on her face.
"Let's fly, ladies," Clarice exploded upward into the sky, followed shortly after by the other two angels.
"Where are we going?" Aria asked curiously.
"There's a military site in Utah called the Dugway Proving Grounds," Clarice answered with a wicked grin. "I figure if they can test their biological and chemical weapons over there, we can test our own firepower there without worrying about hurting somebody."
"Won't they send more troops out to try and stop us?" Aria asked anxiously.
"So what if they do?" Clarice shrugged with an amused smile. "They can't hurt us. We just keep doing our thing while they waste munitions on us. It might be good practice for upping our evasion skills. We can see how many bullets and missiles we can dodge. It would probably be good practice for refining our angel fire aiming too. We can try blasting any missiles or even bullets out of the air. We can see just how fast we really are. Just be careful not to get your clothes ruined or you'll be a naked angel."
"Just remember to cover yourself with your wings if you get caught in an explosion," Aria instructed Lexi. "They're great for shielding you clothes."
Lexi's eyes were bright with excited anticipation. She had always been the victim until now. Clarice was curious to see how she handled herself now that she had so much power.
It only took them thirty minutes to get to the testing range. Clarice landed on one of the small mountains. They were surrounded by juniper trees and sage brush. There were dirt roads running through the valleys and several concrete buildings.
"What was it that you were planning on trying out here?" Aria asked pointedly. "You have something more than angel fire in mind, don't you?"
"Can you feel the energy potential in your palms?" Clarice asked Aria, holding up her own palms.
Aria frowned as she concentrated. "Yeah, now that you mention it. What is it?"
"Watch," Clarice told her with a grin. She held her arms out wide and then brought them together in a power clap, releasing the energy potential she could feel in her palms. As they smacked together a brilliant white light exploded out of them. The sage brush, cedar and juniper trees in front of them was blasted away in a thirty degree radius in front of her. The devastation traveled for almost a thousand feet, vaporizing or uprooting any vegetation in its path. The rocky cliffs along the tops of the mountain around them shattered, sheering off the top ten feet of the hill.
"Holy freaking crap!" Aria exclaimed as she stared at the devastation in front of Clarice. "It's like a freaking bomb went off!"
"Pretty much," Clarice agreed with a satisfied smile. She picked up a rock the size of her head and casually threw it up into the air several hundred feet. As it reached its apex, she triggered the heat in her eyes and a beam of light instantly shot out, vaporizing the unoffending stone.
"My turn," Aria declared with an eager grin. She picked up another large rock and flung it a thousand feet up into the air. As it began to plummet, her golden eyes flashed a brilliant white and a beam of light shot out, incinerating the rock.
"How do you shoot light beams out of your eyes?" Lexi asked eagerly as she watched them excitedly.
"At your state of evolution, I had to change the positive energy into wrathful energy," Clarice informed her, frowning as she tried to describe the sensation. "The positive love you always feel charging your soul needs to change to a kind of righteous fury. I would suggest thinking of the guy Aria vaporized back in Beverly Hills.
Lexi stood still for a moment before her whole body burst into light. Clarice picked up another rock and threw it high into the air. Lexi began to glow brighter for a few seconds, then a beam of light shot out of her eyes and impacted the rock, vaporizing it.
"You've got it," Clarice smiled encouragingly.
"I'm going to try the angel clap," Aria warned them as she spread her arms apart. She brought them together with a lot more force than Clarice had, creating a gust of wind before her palms smacked together with a thunderclap. The surrounding mountains lit up like the sun for several seconds. When the light vanished, the hill on the other side of the valley had a large hole several hundred feet in diameter blown through it. Rocks and dirt began to fall as the area around it caved in.
"Wow, you really put some power into that one," Clarice breathed, whistling in amazement. "Apparently, we can blast mountains apart now."
Lexi was gaping at the wholesale destruction in front of Aria. Her sister was also gaping at the unexpected display of power, her eyes disbelieving.
"We're still practically babies though," Aria whispered in shock. "What the hell can a fully evolved angel do?"
"I would imagine they could destroy the world, if they chose to," Clarice mused quietly. "I'm getting a feel for what biblical times must have been like if there were angels running around all over. Whole cities getting destroyed doesn't seem so fantastical now."
"Yeah…" Aria agreed uneasily. "I'm not sure anybody should have this much power."
"We might need it soon, depending on how powerful some of these demons are," Clarice reminded her gravely.
"I guess we got somebody's attention," Aria noted with a wry smile.
Clarice heard the sound of helicopter rotors in the distance and also smiled. "I guess we can get some target practice now." Clarice looked directly at Lexi. "Just be careful not to hurt anyone, unless one of them happens to be a demon. Most of these soldiers are just kids following orders."
Lexi nodded her understanding. Her eyes were filled with excitement and just a touch of fear. She hadn't experienced how invulnerable angel bodies were yet. She would lose that fear with experience.
There were over a dozen Apache gunships of various models and two F35's far off in the distance. The three angels waited patiently for the helicopters to arrive. As they drew close, Lexi began to glow.
"Should we glow too?" Aria asked playfully. "For the effect?"
"It would be in character, wouldn't it?" Clarice responded, her lips curving slightly.
The two of them lit up like Lexi, illuminating the surrounding terrain. Clarice was pretty sure it wreaked havoc on the night vision cameras the soldiers were using.
The six Apache gunships came to a halt and fanned out, making a half circle around them a thousand feet away. Clarice blinked in surprise as her mind began decoding the radio waves she could see transmitting between the aircraft.
"Hey Aria, I'm starting to understand what's being said in their radio transmissions," Clarice told her sister contemplatively. "Is that happening for you too?"
"Now that you pointed it out, yes," Aria answered with an appreciative smile.
"Targets are maintaining their position," a voice spoke over the radio. "They have not shown any sign of hostility yet."
"You orders are to eliminate with extreme prejudice," another voice replied crisply. "Unload everything you have on them."
"With all due respect, sir, I would like a reason for firing on what appear to be angels," the pilot said uncomfortably. "I don't plan to spend an eternity in hell."
"These are not angels, Lieutenant, they are enemies of the state," the voice snapped irritably. "They are mimicking the appearance of angels with advanced nanotechnology. They can appear as whatever they want. Open fire or there will be a court martial in your future."
One of the Apache's began shooting 30mm rounds while another fired a salvo of hellfire missiles. Clarice began vaporizing them at angel speed, the bullets slowing down to a crawl as her mind overclocked itself. To the pilots, it looked like a continuous beam of light shooting out of the angel's eyes. They couldn't see that every single bullet was intercepted before it arrived. The hellfire missiles didn't even move a dozen feet away from their bays before they were vaporized.
The sound of gunfire roared into the night for over five minutes as most of the gunships emptied all of their ordnance. When they finally ran out, the sound of rotors almost seemed quiet in comparison.
"Are you guys finished?" Clarice asked, broadcasting her voice into their transmitters. "We could do this all night if you want."
"Channel compromised, all pilots switch to alternate channel," a voice ordered.
"You don't have any communication mediums that we can't communicate with you on," Clarice informed them with a shake of her head. "Why don't you pack up and go home now. Playtime is over."
"All pilots return to base," the same voice commanded in a tone that showed just a touch of exasperation.
"Was there something you actually wanted from us, or do you just like using us as live target practice?" Clarice asked lightly.
"All pilots maintain radio silence," their commander ordered darkly.
"Are you really angels?" a pilot asked, ignoring the order.
"Yes, we are really angels," Clarice replied, floating up into the sky. "Thank you, those of you who refused to fire on angels. We will remember you when we meet again."
There was a gasp and a sudden sense of dread in the other pilots at her words.
"What was all that about?" Aria asked Clarice with a raised eyebrow. "Are we going to see them at the pearly gates or something?"
"I just wanted to get some rumors going among the rank and file in the military," Clarice explained, glanced up at the F35's that were now closing in on them. "It might make future encounters easier if everyone is terrified of shooting at the messengers of god."
"Not bad," Aria congratulated her with a nod. "I think you missed your calling in life. You should have been a spy master or something. You have a knack for psychological warfare."
"Are you ready for some more target practice?" Clarice asked as a missile shot off from the F35.
Lexi disintegrated it before it had gone more than a few hundred feet. The other F35 launched several missiles at them in rapid succession. Aria zapped them all out of the sky. The first F35 was banking in preparation to come back around for another volley.
"I wonder how much taxpayer money they've wasted on us tonight?" Clarice commented critically.
"Here we go again," Aria groaned in despair. "You've moved from infrastructure to DoD wasteful spending. It's not like you even pay taxes anymore."
"That's because I already paid enough for a lifetime," Clarice retorted with a toss of her hair. "I'll bet each of those missiles cost over a hundred grand. We just watched them throw several million tax payer dollars away in less than 10 minutes. Considering we've already demonstrated how ineffective their technology is against us several days ago, I think it's a very relevant complaint. Who's the moron that keeps sending helicopters and fighter jets after freaking angels? A real genius, no doubt."
"I can't argue with that," Aria admitted with a snort of laughter. "Seriously, you would think they would have taken a different approach after a nuclear missile failed to hurt us."
"You got nuked?" Lexi gasped in amazement.
"Yeah, when we were taking out their satellites," Clarice responded, absently destroying several additional missiles as the F35 went past again. "They had a space based nuclear station, and they detonated a nuke next to us. It totally incinerated our clothes. We had to run back to the cabin butt naked. At least I followed last and got a good view."
"Isn't Aria your sister?" Lexi asked, her face curious. "Who checks out their sister?"
"First of all, she is my step sister, so we have no blood relations," Clarice declared airily. "And second of all, she is freaking hot. You would have to be blind not to see it. Are you telling me that you don't think she's hot?"
"There's no safe way for me to answer that question," Lexi pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"Sure there is," Clarice disagreed. "You just say yes, she is hot."
"If I say she's hot, you'll ask me if I'm coming on to your sister," Lexi argued with a level gaze at Clarice.
"Wait, what?" Clarice demanded, askance. "You're coming on to my sister?"
"Yes, Clarice, I'm coming on to your sister," Lexi stated flatly.
"Well, I don't blame you," Clarice sighed lustily. "She's freaking hot."
"I think I'm getting replaced as Tweedle Dee," Aria murmured sadly.
"I'm sure Mom will have some new names for us," Clarice assured her confidently. "The three stooges or some such."
Lexi was watching the two of them wistfully as the waited for the F35 to return.
"What's that look for?" Clarice asked her suspiciously.
"I just love how close you are with your family," Lexi explained with a sad smile. "It's awesome to see how much you all love each other."
"You're a part of that family now too," Clarice told her firmly, her eyes softening. "We love you too, Lexi."
Lexi froze at her words. She closed her eyes, and quicksilver tears ran down her cheeks.
Clarice destroyed the next missile, then flew over to Lexi and pulled her into a warm embrace. "We love you, Lexi. For real. You really are a part of our family now."
Lexi pulled Clarice tight and laid her head on her shoulder as more tears flowed. "I've never had anyone tell me they love me before," she whispered, a smile on her lips. "It's amazing how powerful such simple words are."
"Words have power," Aria told Lexi as she flew over to them. She kissed Lexi's forehead and continued. "I've seen Calypso use words of power before. I think love is one of those words of power. It's criminal negligence that you haven't been shown the love you deserve before now. But we're here for you now, and you're going to be stuck with us for all eternity."
Lexi's face lit up with a contented smile. "Thank you two, for everything. I love you too."
Aria blasted another missile out of the sky, then tapped into their pilots comms. "We're trying to have a moment here, would you mind giving us a minute?"
Clarice snorted a laugh, prompting a questioning noise from Lexi.
"Aria just tapped into their pilots radio and asked them to give us a minute because we were having a moment."
"You can tap into their radios?" Lexi asked in amazement.
"Apparently so," Clarice grinned mischievously. "We've been carrying on conversations with the pilots while they've been trying to find secure channels. It's petty, but fun."
Lexi giggled and pulled Clarice in tighter. "Words can't express how grateful I am that you rescued me and how happy I am to be here with you now."
Clarice stroked her hair affectionately, letting her love flow into Lexi's core. "We know, Lexi. The only good thing about your whole ordeal is that we ended up meeting you and bringing you home. Life is only going to continue getting better for you every day from now on."
Lexi nodded, her head still buried in Clarice's neck as her tears flowed freely.