Ess was still buckling her seat belt when her phone rang again. She looked at the caller id. Shades. She took a deep breath, forced a smile on her lips and answered.

"Darling," she said, her voice bright and brittle.

"What the fuck?"

Ess held the phone away from her ear as Shades screamed on the other end

"Hello, lover. You're awake."

"Where the hell are you?"

"Coming home."

"Well, you can just get your fanny over here now."

"Yes, I said, I'm coming home."

"What? Oh, right, yeah. Well, just do it." Despite herself she smiled at his sudden floundering, like a drunk who has missed the invisible top stair that wasn't there. Then he recovered. "What the hell do you think you're up to?"

"My job."

"Your job? What? Don't you ever turn your phone off again. You left me here with the ugly sisters while you blundered into dangerous people, and you turn your phone off? Really?"

"How much did you pay?"

"What?" The sleeper she dropped across his train of thought had the desired effect. "What are you talking about?"

"When you bought me, how much did you pay to own me body and soul?"

"No, look, it's not like that."

"Only, if you don't own me, I'm pretty damn sure I can go wherever the hell I like without your permission."

"I was worried, right? More than that. I wake up in the shower with Thelma and Louise's grannies soaking me in cold water, and they told me I wasn't allowed to even talk to you? What the fuck, Ess! I'm not saying you need permission, but I'm not some bystander. They screwed with me as well as you. We're meant to be a team. Why would you want to face that alone? Jesus, I don't think --"

"Shades!" She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "I said, I'm coming home. We can talk about it then. Not now, sweetheart, because we both need to calm down, and I think it might be an idea for Oz to act as referee, or at least to administer first aid."

"No," said Oz. "I don't do other people's domestics."

"Really?" Ess turned raised eyebrows at him. "Only I seem to remember someone sticking his oar in big time recently." She turned back to the phone. "Babes, I'm going to hang up now. Stay there, make yourself a camomile tea and I'll be there in a minute." She hung up and turned to Oz.

"Besides, we need to formulate a plan, and as you insist on taking a cut, you should at least be involved in the work."