"She is being more than a little codependent today," Damien said, folding his legs and sitting on the grass beside Jack.

Jack stopped working on the paper sword he'd been folding into shape and stroked Duchess's soft head. "Do you think she can sense that S-T-A-R-K is still not feeling one hundred percent? Do you think she knows he's not coming back tomorrow?"

"Well, maybe. She is extraordinarily intelligent, but my guess is she's more worried about you climbing up there than Stark being tired and tardy."

Jack fluttered his fingers at the eight-foot ladder that sat open and ready not far from them. "Oh, there's nothing for Duch or you to be worried about. That ladder is perfectly safe. It even has an extra hold-it-open latch that makes it totally steady."

"I don't know. It's awful high up there." Damien gave the top rungs of the ladder a wary look.

"Nah, it's not so bad. Plus, it's not like I'm climbing up to the top--or at least not much. This poor tree has limbs that are hangy-downy now. You know, ever since he burst up from under it." Jack said the last sentence in a stage whisper.

Damien cleared his throat and gave the big oak they were sitting under the same wary glance he'd shot the ladder. "Okay, don't get mad, but I really need to talk to you about choosing this particular spot for Zoey's Celebration Ritual."

Jack held up his hand, palm out, in the universal stop signal. "I already know people are going to have issues with this location. I've just decided that my reasons for it are better than the reasons against it."

"Honey, you always have the best intentions," Damien took Jack's hand and held it in both of his. "But I think this time you need to consider that you might be the only one who can see anything positive about this place. Professor Nolan and Loren Blake were killed here. Kalona escaped from the earth, ripped open the ground, and split the tree right here. It just doesn't feel very celebratory to me."

Jack's free hand covered Damien's. "This is a place of power, right?"

"Correct," Damien said.

"And power isn't negative or positive in its unused form. It only takes on those characteristics when outside forces take over and influence it. Right?"

Damien paused, considered, and then reluctantly nodded. "Yes, I suppose you're correct again."

"Well, I feel that the power in this place--this shattered tree and the area here by the east wall-- has been misused. It needs a chance to be used for Light and goodness again. I want to give it that chance; I have to. Something inside me is telling me that I need to be here, getting Zoey's Celebration Ritual ready for her return, even if she and Stark are going to be late."

Damien sighed. "You know I wouldn't ever ask you to discount your feelings."

"So you'll support me in this? Even when everyone is saying your boyfriend is super crazy?"

Damien smiled at him. "Everyone isn't saying you're super crazy. They're saying your zealous need to decorate and organize has tainted your judgment."

Jack giggled. "I'll bet they didn't say zealous or tainted."

"Their words were synonymous, if inferior."

"That's my Damien--the wordsmith!"

"And that's my Jack--the optimist." Damien leaned into Jack and kissed him gently on the lips. "You do what you need to do here. I know Zoey will be appreciative, when she finally gets home." He paused, smiled sadly into Jack's trusting eyes, and added, "Honey, you do understand that Zoey might not be coming back for quite a while? I know what Stark said to you, and I haven't talked to Z herself yet, but Aphrodite says Zoey isn't herself--that she isn't really staying on Skye because of Stark. She's staying there because she's withdrawn from the world."

"I just don't believe that, Damien," Jack said firmly.

"I don't want to believe it, either, but the facts are that Zoey isn't coming back with Aphrodite and Darius, and she really isn't talking to anyone about when she is returning. Then there's the whole Heath issue. Zoey comes back to Tulsa, and you know she's going to have to face the fact that Heath isn't here--that he'll never be here again."

"It's terrible, isn't it?" Jack said.

Their eyes met in perfect understanding. "Losing someone you love that much would be awful. It has to have changed Zoey."

"Of course it has, but she's still our Z. I have a strong feeling that she's going to be home sooner than you think," Jack said.