She placed the cardboard box that she had taken out of storage on the table and next to the leather bound diary with the unusual lock. The photos inside the diary and the passages that she had read so far had been on her mind for days.

Kathleen first thought this was a cruel joke, but it did not make any sense why Mr. Guevera would have gone through all this effort to fabricate this diary. It was not about her life, but of Kathleen Valentine, Her Majesty's Royal Inquisitor; wife of Logan Guevera; and daughter of John Valentine.

( Discovering the truth )

(Before the AU plot)

She grabbed two crystal wine glasses out of the cupboard above the breakfast bar in her kitchen, and then placed them on the granite top of the bar. "It's very nice of you to bring a housewarming gift." She said to the brunette who was preparing to open the bottle of wine. "I'm glad you called earlier." Kathleen's face brighten with a smile. Her mood having greatly improved since the weeks after redecorating her apartment.

Gripping the cork screw, the witch tugged roughly and the cork was free with a pop, the fruity fragrance of the wine wafted up to meet her. "I have my good qualities." Lips curled, an almost wry grin worked its way over her features. Yes, she had her good qualities, buried under many of her bad ones. Moving forward, Purity poured liberal amounts of the red liquid into each glass before setting the bottle down. Her hand found its way onto the granite surface. Smooth and cool as her palm brushed over it. "I'm glad you picked up." The witch fired back, her words teasing as she lifted an eyebrow. "Should we toast to anything?"

Kathleen was glad as well that she answered the call. She held up her glass by the stem, "Mmm yes," she nodded. "To warm days and beautiful clear skies," she toasted. Some how the mention of her promotion to a major did not seem appropriate on that moment. She lean forward with her glass and clinked it against Purity's glass.

With her eyes focused on Purity dark green eyes as she brought her glass to her lips and slowly sipped her wine. She allowed herself to enjoy the taste of the fruity softness of the drink. It must have been more pricey than the average wine on the market, but Kathleen was not an expert on wines. "This is wonderful," she said after removing the glass from her lips.

( A glass of wine with a little magic )

The sun hovered in the west over the horizon before the period of Dusk, and caused long shadows to stretch from the boarded up buildings in this part of the neighborhood, that the locals said was part of Lincoln Park. Two Inquisitors walked on the sidewalk next to what was once a Walgreen's store. They were on patrol to find one of the fugitives at large.

"May I ask you a question, Sir?" asked Kathleen Guevera looking at her fellow Inquisitor. She was without her armor or sword, those items looked too out of place in this world, but instead carried a modified pistol underneath a coat.

Tobias' dark coat hung to about his mid-thigh length, concealing his belt and weapons quite nicely. Whilst he had left one pistol behind, he had his other one strapped to his thigh, held in place and just hidden by the lengths of his dark uniform jacket. He glanced up as they passed a building that had been recently renovated, the stench of paint still clinging to the air.

It seemed, to him, a rather pointless endeavour, all this patrolling, when they had left it so long in finding the fugitives that they could be anywhere. There was nothing to say that they would remain in Chicago. Why should they when they had a whole world to infect and ruin with their demonic smear?

( Questions and revelations of doubles )

( Rescue the fallen )

( Message for all Inquisitors )

Inside the abandoned warehouse that the Inquisitor's had made into a base camp, Mrs. Guevera sat on a wooden crate on the loading dock facing the western sky as the sun began to set. Kathleen pulled out her personal diary out of her tunic, one that she took with her to record her thoughts during down times. She placed her thumb on the reader of the brass locking mechanism surrounding the cover of her diary. The finger print scan identified her as the rightful owner of the diary and unlocked. She opened it to the next empty page, and began to write.

( Personal thoughts and discoveries )

“Attention Passengers, United Flight One Thirty-seven for San Francisco is now boarding at Gate C Twenty Five”

Kathleen still stood one person behind in line from the cashier, when she heard her flight number being called over the intercom in Concourse C at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Wearing a light pink long sleeve cashmere cardigan, white blouse and denim jean pants, no one in line with her would have known she was an officer in the U. S. Army. She would not be required to wear her uniform till tomorrow when she attended a meeting at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.

( California Bound )

( A voice message for Jill Andersen )

A half hour after Hayden had issued orders for the team found Patrick and Kathleen in an alleyway across the street from the only establishment that seemed to be open in the area this late at night/early in the morning depending on one's point of view. A digital clock on a building nearby had shown it to be nearly three in the morning, local time, and the only thing open seemed to be this place called a 'Seven/Eleven'.

There had been enough time for them to realize that the people in this version of the world were indeed human, though they did seem to have a strange way of fashion by the looks of those they had so far encountered on the streets. A fashion that Kathleen found a little odd but made her look out of place with her breast plate armor and long black skirt. In order to fit in a little bit, she had unrolled a thin black robe that had been tied to the small of her back and covered her armor and weapons as best she could.

In the shadows away from the streetlights, she stood beside O'Rourke as they observed the shop and its patrons coming and going from this store with a green and red 7 and 11 signage. "What do think, Sir?" she addressed the elder Inquisitor with respect. "Shall we investigate it further inside?"

"Aye, I think it's worth at least a look." The fashions were very different indeed, at least for the women. He was overdressed in his uniform, but that in itself wasn't as strange: there were a few men he'd seen wearing uniforms of some kind, perhaps factory workers. Women, on the other hand, he had yet to see them wear much of anything at all.

( Delightful fascination  )

At the breakfast bar Kathleen glanced at the court papers once again before picking up the phone to make a call. St. Joseph Hospital and U. S. Army had their own lawyers on the case to defend against this unusual lawsuit. The lawsuit had some merit, a vampire bite resulted of mythical-origins, and the hospital did not have a mythical expert on staff and failed to seek a consult from one.

She heard the phone ring on the other side.

( Voice Message for Special Agent Jill Andersen )

Her foot falls made soft echoes as the short heels of her shoes made contact to the high gloss light colored floor of the hall way. The research center was relatively quiet at this time of day during the lunch hour. Kathleen had a light lunch in her office while she caught up on some reading of an online medical journal, when she received a call from the receptionist that she had a visitor. She had no appointments and did not expect any visitors today, especially someone from the Cook County Sheriff's office.

( What are they thinking? )

A female Army Sergeant stood at the podium in the corner of the room facing a small group of people from the Chicago National bio-defense laboratory and other invited guests. The Sergeant of small stature in the Army's blue service uniform leaned forward toward the microphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please rise for the reading of orders for the promotion of Captain Kathleen Forbes, M. D." The small group of military and civilian guest rose from their seats inside the room.

(  U. S. Army Medical Corps )

It took some time for her to gather her courage to drive to Toby's house to speak with him in person after work. She felt a terrible sense of guilt for lashing out at him in her email last month. Her first attempt to mend their friendship with an email had gone unanswered, and she was a little worried. Shortly after sending the email she did not think anything of it when he did not reply immediately, and possibly for a time did not care if he did, but it was different now. She wanted to reach out and fix it.

After parking her vehicle down the street and walking up to his house, she stood before his front door taking in one deep breath before pressing the door bell. Ding dong. She straighten her suit jacket as she waited for someone to come answer the door.

Alec was at home, having managed to score some time off in his somewhat busy and very hectic schedule. His plan of moving to Chicago to make friends and socialise a lot more was apparently failing miserably. His mother had already lectured him about not having a girlfriend, like that somehow made him less of a person. His mother had weird priorities.

He rubbed at Spacey's ears and then moved the cat as he got to his feet, placing a file down on one side. What? Nobody said he couldn't bring work home with him, it wasn't like there was a whole lot to do at home. Toby was doing that MIA thing and Alec was worried that he might get another call at ass o'clock in the morning again with another 'I've been attacked by a vampire' story. Next time it wouldn't be one bite, Toby would be dead and what good would that do anyone? He still needed to talk to the other man about what in the hell was going on. Something was, Toby just wanted to pretend otherwise.

( Here goes ... )

While sitting at a desk at the nurses' station Kathleen started to write the summary of her last patient's examination for their medical file. She was there because the desk was the only one available at the moment in the small health clinic for those with low-income or lacking insurance.  She did not mind. It had been the first time in a long time since leaving St. Joseph Hospital for the bio-defense laboratory that she felt a sense of gratification.  It had been a busy last few hours seeing patients with a whole range of medical needs, but unlike an emergency room most were minor ailments or wounds.

( Her time at no cost )

Sitting inside a sandwich shop near the medical campus for lunch, Kathleen wearing a white lab coat typed a message on her iPhone.

( Message for Purity )

Easter weekend had come and gone. Kathleen for the first time in her life skipped Easter services. This was something she would never have done if it were not for the circumstances. Even when she was in Colombia for earthquake relief years ago, she managed to attend an abbreviated service at the field hospital. Instead she spent this Easter at the laboratory going over recent research data. The new laboratory on the quiet Sunday offered her a refuge from the turmoil she caused between herself and her parents.

She had escalated the conflict with her mother by including her dad in her very cruel comments. The phone conversation had happened in her apartment at the time, after she had come back from a jog in the park. The phone call had started well enough, she apologized to her crying mother on the phone, but then as time passed she became annoyed and snapped at her mother again. It was disaster.

( Attempt to repair )


Email for Toby

She slammed the door behind her hard when she entered her apartment. This insane rage had built up inside her ever since she left Faith inside the interrogation room at the County Jail. The Slayer did not react the way she had hope to her false data about Slayer blood. Kathleen wanted immediate gratification to show progress in her work, but now it seemed this would not come anytime soon. The vampire slayer was suppose to be her big break, her chance to show others she was not some ordinary physician scientist.

( No Hope )

A recognizable and personal ringtone on her iPhone played when it received an incoming call. Kathleen picked up the smart phone from off her desk, and held it at arm’s length as her gaze fell onto the activated screen. She saw the small icon image of her smiling mother, a picture she had captured on her last visit back home in December. The call was not unexpected, her mother regularly called her on Saturdays. It had always been that way since she left home for college, so many years ago. They would normally chat about the week, and about other things happening in their lives.

( Lab results )

The military wing of St. Joseph Hospital had been going through a transformation since the order had been given a couple of months ago to clear out Lincoln Park of the mutant population. The wing was slowly being transferred back to civilian management now that the military presence would be reduced significantly by the summer. It was one of the reasons that Kathleen had been transferred to the new if not yet fully operational Bio-defense laboratory located on the Northwestern Medical Campus.

This morning the young hematologist had come directly to St. Joseph after she received a memorandum instructing her to transfer the blood and DNA samples from the vampire slayer to a military courier who was flying directly from Ft. Detrick to receive them. She had already begun to analyze the blood late yesterday, and now someone wanted to take her work away from her.

( This belongs to me! )