{{ SHIT! }} they both thought, scrambling to get dressed. Pants and shirts were being put on haphazardly. The two of them had just managed to get most of their clothes on and in some semblance of order when the elevator door opened.
Standing on the other side of the door was an elderly couple that looked lost. They saw the two women in the elevator and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what had probably been going on. But getting caught wasn’t the worst of it. Eliza noticed that the couple didn’t turn away, but rather started first at Veronica, then at Eliza, then back at Veronica. And Veronica was beat red! Eliza had never seen her girlfriend blush that badly before! Veronica began to stutter, then to speak.
“Mom?!? Dad?!?”
‘Oh my . . .’ Eliza thought to herself.
————- ——————-
Four days later . . .
————- ——————-
It had been an . . . awkward . . . few days for Eliza. She had finally met her girlfriend’s parents, and she probably couldn’t have made a worse first impression. When Abraham and Gloria Adams had heard the portal might be reopening soon, they decided to make the trip up, surprise Veronica (which apparently they did) and wait for their other daughter to come home. Veronica had been running damage control on Eliza’s behalf, reminding her parents that Veronica was an adult and tended to do adult things.
Eliza was actually impressed that they were taking things as well as they did. Veronica had told them of her transformation shortly after returning from being kidnapped. She had minimized the part about being tortured of course. That was one of those things that parents probably didn’t need to hear. Her parents had taken the news that their daughter was no longer human pretty hard, but she had eventually convinced them that she was the exact same person in a new-and-improved body. And within the last few days, Veronica had reminded her parents that Eliza had not only saved Veronica’s life, but she had been instrumental in bringing about the end of the Purity and setting things up for their other daughter, Victoria, to come home. While Veronica’s father reluctantly acknowledged that the woman who had been having sex with his daughter WASN’T completely evil, Gloria Adams decided that Eliza was a saint. So while Abraham stood around, smoking his pipe and acting grumpy, Gloria had spent the last several days doting over her daughter and the new woman in her life. Eventually, Eliza had even warranted an invitation to attend Christmas festivities that year.
{{ You should be impressed, }} Veronica had thought. {{ I’ve never had a girlfriend invited home for the holidays. }}
Eliza had been skeptical. {{ Then why does your father still look like he thinks that I’m going to start eating people? }}
{{ Actually, that’s his ‘cheerful’ face. }}
{{ You’re kidding? What does his ‘angry’ face look like? }}
{{ Pretty much the same, but with more yelling. }}
For the first twenty-four hours after Valar managed to get the portal reopened, only a few select World Council officials were allowed to go through, making sure the new portal was safe and establishing contact with the other side. Valar and Eliza had been correct in their assumption that the Purity hadn’t been working alone. A purist group known as the Swords of Cleansing had been operating on the Terran side to keep the portal sealed and had probably been responsible for casting the t-port mine spells. Several Terran sorcerers had lost their lives to those mines because they couldn’t be detected from the Terran side until it was too late.
Once the gateway was deemed safe, security was quickly established on BOTH sides of the gate that would deter even the most fanatic of separatists, which also meant that Eliza and her team could stand down. Within a day, huge crowds had arrived on both sides of the terminal, waiting for their chances to go home or to greet a returning loved one. Valar was the first Terran allowed to return home. He would inform the world leaders of Terra what had happened and had promised to return Ambassador Kelik’s body to his home province. Eliza had become teary eyed when Kelik’s stasis chamber was loaded onto a transport for his last ride home. Valar promised to send word to her when services would be held. The Ambassador had been a well-liked individual, and Eliza wasn’t the only one crying a bit when his body crossed the threshold of the dimensional gate.
It took another day until both sides were ready to manage the flow of those who wanted to return home. Commercial and other private traffic would have to wait another week or so. But Veronica and her parents were waiting anxiously as group after group of humans came down the ramp to the enthusiastic greetings of family and friends.
Eliza found herself almost confused by these peoples’ responses. She knew that if she were to walk across, there would be no one waiting for her. It was the nature of intelligent life to gossip, and she knew that her “dirty little secret” was probably already known back on Terra, leaked by the first group of Terrans trying to explain everything that had happened as quickly as possible. Being the daughter of a high-ranking official probably made things spread even faster. She found herself trembling, but from sadness or anger she couldn’t quite tell. She had spent a great deal of time and energy at great personal expense to find a way back to a place she would never be welcome again. It just wasn’t fair.
Veronica was torn between euphoria at her sister’s upcoming return and sadness for her lover’s mental state. Eliza had tried explaining her relationship with her father, but Veronica just couldn’t believe that everything Eliza had done would be discounted out of hand simply because she was gay. Surely her father wasn’t THAT heartless. She was getting ready to go talk to Eliza when she heard a voice from the ramp.
“Mom! Dad! Veronica!”
Veronica and her parents zoomed to the base of the ramp and surrounded their returning family member. Eliza couldn’t even see the girl through the mass of hugs that was going on, and was beginning to feel even more out of place.
“Oxygen . . . in short supply . . . Please . . .” came a voice from the middle of the group. One by one, Veronica’s family peeled themselves off the newcomer, and Eliza’s jaw hit her chest. Standing right next to Veronica was . . . Veronica, or at least someone who looked just like her. She may have been wearing more Terran garb, which was a bit more risque than anything Eliza ever would have tried to wear, but she was a dead ringer for Veronica.
‘Twins?’ Eliza thought. ‘She never mentioned they were twins!’
“Eliza,” Veronica said, obviously still giddy, “come over here and meet my little sister!”
Victoria Adams rolled her eyes. “Ten minutes! You’re ten minutes older than I am, so cut the ‘little sister’ crap, okay?!?” Despite her protestations, she was obviously pleased to see her sister again.
“Language,” her father scolded, earning him a half-hearted apology and a bat of those beautiful eyes. As gruff as he tried to be, his daughters had always had him wrapped around their little fingers.
As Eliza slowly wandered up, Veronica decided introductions were in order. “Vicky, this is my girlfriend Eliza. Eliza, this little brat is my sister Vicky.” Vicky promptly punched her sister in the arm.
“Nice to meet you,” Vicky said, offering her hand to Eliza. “Nice grip,” she said, giving Eliza a lingering glance. “Nice find Veronica,” she said. “Very nice,” she added, perhaps a little too demurely.
“Okay, hands off,” Veronica said. “Remember what I told you about hitting on my girlfriends?”
“The exact wording escapes me, but I tend to remember the threat of violence being involved. Still, I’m impressed. I never took you for dating outside the species, but she IS cute!” Yep, she and her sister were identical all right, and that included sexual preference.
Eliza actually blushed a bit, and she couldn’t help but imagine what being with twins would be like. Veronica picked up on THAT particular thought process and shook her head, smiling all the while. {{ Not in a million years, }} she thought.
“You have really pretty eyes,” Vicky said to Eliza. “I’ve never seen eyes like that before.”
Veronica sighed and removed her sunglasses, causing Vicky to gasp with surprise. “Now you’ve seen two pairs. Vicky, Eliza isn’t . . . actually a vampire anymore. To tell the truth, she isn’t ‘outside the species’ for me either.” Vicky was looking incredibly confused, glancing between her sister and Eliza. “We might want to head back to the hotel now,” she said. “This explanation . . . well, it might take a while.”