Mrrow!

Faye turned and met the gaze of her cat, who was no longer a kitten but still just as spunky, whom sat on her desk eyeing her suspiciously. She knew something was happening and she was on edge. “I know Tess, me too.” She surveyed her quarters and immediately retracted that ownership. This was a set of rooms, nothing more. Crates of belongings had been neatly stacked, ready to be transported to her new assignment, and her plants had been given away with the knowledge that she was taking plenty of seeds with her. She would start more on the Athena. In her bedroom her wedding dress (a glitzy affair in pale green that she had unexpectedly been drawn to) hung from a hook on the wall. She had fallen asleep each night with the gown watching over her, a reminder of the beautiful and extraordinary things about to happen in her life.

The room she stood in was no longer her quarters. The signs that Faye Calloway had dwelled here were all neatly packed away and a part of her was sad. She let herself be. It was one of many signs that things had changed. She had changed. Faye knew that she was leaving the first place that had truly felt like home since Tracken. A few places had felt comforting, but were all too temporary.

And beyond the physical structures that made up the Manhattan, more than anything Faye was going to miss the people, even those she had drifted from, those that perhaps weren’t able to handle her complex issues. In many ways she had forgiven them, and herself, and was content to let things be. This was not to say that Faye Calloway had no issues to deal with. No, her BPD was still a daily battle, and one that due to the physical damage to her brain would likely be lifelong. Her need to have control over things had diminished and with it the anxiety that surfaced when she didn’t have control had been knocked way down. All she knew for sure was that she would have a rather intense and lifelong relationship with therapists, and she was now grateful for them.

Flipping the lid on a crate closed, Faye locked it, the snap sounding certain. Final. Tapping her commbadge, she exhaled slowly. “Calloway to Cochrane. Tell me where to meet you and let’s get this show on the road.” Part of accepting things as they came meant allowing Daggum to have his surprise. She knew very little of what was about to happen other than eventually they would have the ceremony she had planned and everyone would be there. Everything else in the middle? A complete surprise. She grinned at that thought, at the likely intense planning that her husband-to-be had done, all to make their wedding a magical event for the both of them. She had her own little surprise, but that would come later. For now, it was one step in front of the other and right now it was Alex who would guide her along. It was fitting for the man who had helped her navigate an utter toss up of her life that led to the love she never expected to happen, to guide her through this transition. Her chosen brother being the one to not only tell her where to go right now, but also marry them felt simply right.

~Faye Calloway, Bride-to-Be