Leanne offered words of comfort. "They can't possibly think you had anything to do with that plane."

Hank disagreed. "I'm pretty sure they found my phone, which proves I was there. And Aika had been there earlier. Our footprints are everywhere."

"But she wasn't there when the plane went down."

"No. But with Rio's luggage on the plane, and with her not having been on board, they might think Aika's prints are hers."

"And now you live with me," Rio added, her dread noticeable. "They could also believe Aika is to blame."

Leanne sprang into action. "I know powerful people. Legal beagles and that sort of stuff. Everyone knows you're innocent, and there will be Hell to pay if someone says you're not."

"I better get dressed," Hank said, as Leanne manned her phone and laptop.

"Get mahoutsukai out here," Rio said to Hank as an order. "You have the right to legal advice from the Personal Enhancement Program, and she is your PEP counselor."

"That's right!" Leanne confirmed. "You're not the first Dot to be accused of something you didn't do."

"Well, we haven't been accused of anything yet," Hank said in a calm voice. "We could be wrong, you know."

We're not, Rio said into his mind. I see.

"What's going on?" Anna asked, entering the living area through Leanne's bedroom door.

"The curse of a Dot rears its head," Rio replied with a glower.

Anna scanned the group. "What? Who says being a Dot is a curse?"

She had raided Leanne's closet, and sported a white business blouse and tan skirt. She also had Rio's hairbrush, and was using it on her wet hair.

Rio was not amused. "Everybody knows the whole world hates a Dot."

"Well, maybe your world," Anna said to Rio's face. "We don't condone that sort of talk at the Center where I work."

When the TV news repeated the story of the suspected terrorists, Hank offered it to Anna as evidence. "I lost my phone when the plane went down, and both my footprints and Aika's are there. Also, Leanne almost boarded a plane that then crashed in Europe."

With her headphones plugged into her phone, Leanne calmly nodded to the stare she got from Anna. She never missed a beat with whomever she was talking to on the other end of the call.

Hank and Rio remained silent as Anna watched the news. "You think somehow Leanne caused two planes to crash, on opposite ends of the world?" She took in the group's reaction to her ridiculous question. "No," she confirmed as the answer. "Or they think Aika did it? She's a guiding force for the Personal Enhancement Program. They won't suspect her for a second." Anna looked squarely at Hank. "And when she vouches for you, your name will be cleared as well."

Rio let out a huff, the sound of which Anna knew well, having made it often herself. She spoke to Rio as a matter of fact.

"You think the woman they're after is you. Oh God. You think they're blaming you and him."

I do.

"I can't believe you said that!"

"I didn't say anything."

Anna and Rio quietly stared at one another. "No. You didn't, did you? You didn't say a word. You thought it instead." Hank stepped in to intervene, but Anna turned towards him. "She can do what you do," Anna said in a small voice. "She can read your mind."

"Anna," Hank began, hoping to silence her.

She would have none of it. "No! It's true! I can see. It's not like mind reading though, is it? It's more like…" Anna stared hard at Rio. "It's like being with her in her head."

Rio send Anna a vision of anger, fear and terror, so much so that it caused her to physically rear back. "Wow," Anna said. "I wasn't expecting that."

Leanne put her phone call on mute. "What are you guys talking about?" she asked.

Anna stared at her. "You can't do it, can you?" She stared harder. "No. You can't. She's trying to prevent me from being in her head," Anna said, referring to Rio, "but you can't do it at all."

"Gao!" Rio growled before storming off to her room.

Leanne rephrased her question, demanding someone answer. "What is going on?"

"Nothing," Hank replied, silently commanding Anna to keep her big mouth shut. "We're just a little on edge."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Disobeying Hank, Anna continued her train of thought. "There's something about being a Dot that allows you to do certain things. You can't do them," she said to Leanne, "because you're not a Dot. But he can, and so can she," Anna furthered about Rio, now hiding in her room.

Hank stepped in physically, and got in Anna's face. "That's enough, please," he said as an order.

Leanne stepped in too, nearing Hank and Anna. "Rio is a Dot?" she asked.

Anna leaned around Hank in order to speak to Leanne. "You mean, you don't know?"

"That's enough," Hank said more firmly.

Anna became soft and loving. "You don't get it either. None of you understand. You don't know how special we are."

"We're just normal people, my pet."

"No, Sweet Tea. No we're not."

Anna stepped away and paced the room in small circles. She waved her hands in the air while organizing her thoughts.

"Okay," she began. "As a representative of the PEP, listen to this, first and foremost. We don't condone the slighting of Dots, even to the smallest degree. Dots are special people, just like other Geniuses, but we don't understand what they're good at doing."

Her pacing brought her to Hank, and her eyes filled with love. "But now I know I'm a Dot, and I know what being one means. I know why we're special."

"Please," Hank begged in a whisper. "Leanne doesn't know this. Let's keep it to ourselves."

"No. She needs to know. She deserves to know."

"If it involves my Rio," Leanne said, "I wanna know right now."

Anna approached Leanne and touched her on the cheek. "You do know," Anna said with love. "We all know why she's special, if you think about it." She addressed the room in general. "Okay. So listen to me. I know it's kind of against the rules, but I'm going to let you in on some secret PEP information. I did some digging and found out the police man who saved Fuji? The one who gave his life so that she may live?"

She waited for Hank to nod. "He was a Dot, just like you, and now also just like me. He saved my Fuji's life, just like how you saved Leanne by keeping her from boarding that plane."

"Hank didn't keep me off the plane that crashed in Europe. I just missed my flight."

Anna again spoke with love. "No, Leanne. That's not true. He kept you safe and free from harm, just like how he kept that soda truck from smashing into your car."

"He didn't…" Leanne began, before a look of realization came over her face. "I did almost die, didn't I?"

Anna nodded. "And because he was there, you were saved. Just like how he saved those people on the bus when the bridge washed out."

"You were there as well," Leanne said about the truck incident.

Anna hopped up and down on her toes, almost kissing Leanne on the lips. "Oh! I was, wasn't I? Maybe I saved you too!"

After a tense moment, Leanne spoke to clear the silence. "Okay. Again. What's this about?"

Anna took a calm breath. "Now you know the cop who saved Fuji was a Dot. He died so she could live. I think, based on what I've learned about Dots and what we can do… I think we are angels."

"Angels from Heaven?" Hank asked. "Sent by God?"

"I think we're put here on this Earth to do people good will. We help them make proper choices, and save them when they make a mistake."

"That's some heady stuff," Leanne surmised.

"The PEP has been around for only a few short years," Anna said, "but I think for centuries Dots have been persecuted. We get punished for trying to help, or maybe because people are jealous. Dots live among the stars, while those who are ordinary feel trapped in a cage."

"Or because some are the devil," Rio said to Anna after re-entering the room. "Demons upsetting things."

"I didn't say you're the devil," Anna said to her. "Oh," she then said, realizing. "You think I'm the devil."

"My little Tsun Tsun Ma!" Hank offered as a joke, trying to deflect the tension.

Anna strode up and took his face in her hand, turning it to expose his neck. She acted as if to bite him, but only licked an ear.

"Only tsun tsun for you, Sweet Tea." She purred. "Mmm. I could eat you like candy."

"This conversation is over," Rio said in a firm voice.

"Yes!" Anna agreed, speaking bright and cheery. "I do have my own work to do. I will look into this plane crash fiasco, if anyone's foolish enough to think they ought to be blaming you." She put on her shoes and picked up her purse before rifling through the closet by the door. "Could I please borrow a coat?" she asked Leanne. "It's gotten cold outside, and my hair is wet from lovely Hank washing it for me."

"You mean another one?" Rio growled, knowing Anna hadn't returned the last jacket she borrowed.

Leanne stepped up to the closet, pulling out a duster she rarely wore. "This will look great on you," she said to Anna. "You can keep it if you want. It's not my style anymore."

Anna found the duster to be a perfect fit. "Oh, I like this a lot. It does look great on me!" She gave Leanne a 'thank-you' peck on the cheek and headed out the door.

"Hey," Rio called. "What about the cat?"

"You mean Carolus? She now belongs to Hank."

"I already have a pet," he teased to Anna.

She gave him a passionate kiss. "Well then," she purred. "Now you have two." She glanced first at the dog, then at Rio. "Maybe you have more."

Rio growled again and stormed off to her room. After Anna had left, Leanne approached Hank with caution.

"Let's keep what I'm about to say to ourselves," she said in confidence. "I have just been told that until further notice, I'm officially on vacation."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't exactly know. Maybe it's just because I started poking around, asking for legal advice. Word travels fast in my business, and I think someone knows what kind of trouble we're in."

"Do you think they know something we don't know about this plane crash investigation?"

"That's a possibility. What I want right now, however, is to keep this away from Rio. She's a sensitive person, despite her hard-ass exterior."

Hank laughed. "I can't stand sometimes how sweet she is, bitching all the way."

Leanne laughed in kind. "Yeah, and that's my point. She's upset enough as it is, about Milton missing and now about Anna. So we're not gonna talk about me in front of her."

She gave him a sudden hug. Despite her own hard exterior, she trembled in his arms.

"God Hank, I'm scared fucking shitless. What if they do think you're somehow responsible for those planes? What are we gonna do?"

He squeezed her even harder. "Well, I didn't do anything, so I'm not afraid. The truth keeps me free."

A long tender moment passed, each holding the other for comfort. "You really did save me, didn't you?" Leanne asked. "You kept me from dying."

"Leanne, I'd give my life for you in a second. You're everyone's best friend, and the nicest person I've ever known."

He brushed her ocean of hair from his face to get his lips near her ear, kissing and nibbling her neck. She moaned while instinctively clutching his ass with both her hands.

"You are a hot hunk of man," Leanne said between moans and groans. "Where have you been all my life?"

He held her at arm's length, intending to offer more compliments, but a noise came from Rio's bedroom.

"Wa baka o kuso!" she hollered. "What did you do to my tub?"

"Uh oh," Leanne teased as Hank grimaced.