In which Cissie leaves the Barge and hopes the Admiral dumped her in the right Chicago...

[cisskabob]

Leaving the Barge was hard. Saying goodbye to everyone still there was draining; Cissie almost wondered if Molly had the right idea, leaving behind notes and no time for goodbyes. Except she knew it was better to have closure, because it meant she wasn't going to be worrying about the people she'd left behind. She knew they would be okay. Trusting that the Admiral would uphold his end of her deals was another story.

Of course, when she closed her eyes in her bedroom and opened them to find herself standing under an overpass in the middle of a snowstorm, the only thing she could do was hope he had sent her to the right Chicago, at the right time. If Molly was six years old, or Murphy had no memories of the Barge, Cissie might have to go back to there just to give the Admiral a piece of her mind. Tibs mewed pitifully in his cat carrier, reminding her that staying out here in the cold, at night, was not an option for long. As she started hauling her things, all she could think was that she wished she hadn't packed her winter coat in the bottom of her suitcase.

Molly had left before they had planned a meeting place or time, and she had no idea where she was or how to find her. This meant it was at least a few hours later that Cissie hauled her things up the front steps to the porch of a house. She was soaking wet from the snow, exhausted and freezing, and she had no idea if it was the right thing to do, coming here. Maybe she should have looked up the Carpenters and tried introducing herself to Molly's parents--but how do you say "hi, your daughter's been living on an interdimensional prison ship for a few years and I'm her best friend, do you know where she is?" without sounding like a lunatic?

Cissie took a deep breath and closed her eyes, giving a little prayer that someone would be home, that it wasn't too late and most of all, that Murphy would know who she was. And then she knocked on Karrin Murphy's door.