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## alone with you (free again)

|| Laura de Mille/Shelley Byron/Holly McKenzie/Sachiko

The Bureau of Normalcy is not kind. They try to drill this into Laura; the metas are monstrous and yet weak, the metas are embarrassing yet frightening, the metas are everything and nothing and utterly meaningless to Laura.

They don't get it.

Only the Sisterhood can ever truly understand her. This continues being true. She tells herself that this will remain true forever.

They retreat into Shelley's mind. Her mind - both the way it functions and the shelter it builds for them - is beautiful. They all understand that. As they rest on the couch within Shelley's safe construction, Laura watches Holly run her fingers through Shelley's hair, her head resting on Holly's lap.

"Your touch brings me solace, Holly," Shelley whispers, her words soaked and marinated to perfection in complete love.

Holly smiles sheepishly. "I like to hear that."

"I'm inclined to agree," Laura says. "You - all of you - are like a… haven. It makes the boring Bureau work worth it. I'm not as good with words as Shelley is, but, you know, you get the sentiment."

"I don't think anyone is as good with words as Shelley is," Holly says, "to be fair."

Sachiko holds her gloved hands up, as if cupping something, and opens them again, like freeing something from its gate. A swarm of butterflies, each shimmering in different hues, follow her gesture and land on each of them. One perches on Laura's nose.

"I think we have an understanding now," Shelley says.