Ian Brooster, M.D., had put his patient, Moira, in an induced coma. That was the only way he could deal with her. He had to save her life because even though she didn't look like it, she was dying. There was so much "juice" in her system that it was over powering her organs and they were starting to shut down. The juice was a steroid on steroids. It had made Moira more than just strong. It had made her super strong and very ill. Her heart was still strong, but her kidneys and liver function were low. Ian had her stable, but he had to leech the chemicals from her blood and try to clean them from her system somehow. He had taken all the notes he had written while he had been Moira's prisoner, and he had taken a large chunk of the notes Moira had written over the years she had been in the commune. He had an idea how to clean her out, but it would take weeks or even months. He looked up from his notes at the massively muscled woman lying in the hospital bed behind him. The rising and falling of her chest while breathing was more than enough to show off her massive, perfectly proportioned muscles. Ian grinned thinking back on the night Moira had basically raped him. He hadn't tried to put up much a fight, not that it would have done any good. If Moira was strong enough to take Lisa to the edge then he had no chance. Ian went back to his notes.

Lisa went back to her job after a dew days. She was back trying to land big advertising accounts for her bosses, and trying to find the best talent to put in tv commercials and print ads. She really liked what she did for a living, and she had gotten a promotion. She was now an executive vice-president. That meant a pay raise and a nice new hand painted sign for her office door, but nothing else. She traveled a little more and met with the heads of companies to win their business, but her boss had always made sure Lisa went with him on business trips. He had made a couple of passes at her, but she very slyly let him down easy. She wasn't really mad at him either, but she was starting to come to an understanding. No matter how hard she worked and no matter how good she was at what she did, the people at the top still saw her as a pretty face. The worse thing about it was that all the people beneath her respected Lisa for her abilities, but those weren't the people making the decisions. One day while sitting in her Mercedes-Benz CL500, Lisa knew what she was going to do. She was 28 going on 29 years old and ready to take the next step in her life. She started up her car and decided to go for a drive to think. She would get out of the city for a while and gather her thoughts. Lisa never liked to do anything spur of the moment.

A couple of months went by and Lisa's fight with Moira receded into memory. She had an account to finish up and then she would be ready to hand in her resignation letter. She had been working on it for at least a month. She had told her mother what she planned to do and her mother had told her that she should follow her heart. That was easier said than done. Lisa looked around at the things she had. She had a very very nice six figure salary plus a very very nice bonus a couple times a year. 2002 and 2003 had been good years for her. She had bought her car with her bonuses in '02 and she was thinking about saving this year's bonus to put on a new house for her mother and cousin.

Lisa was lost in thought when her phone rang. "Hello"

"Hey, Lisa, how you feeling?", Ian asked.

"I should be asking you that. You've been scarce the last few weeks. Still working with your main patient?"

"Yeah. That's what I'm calling you about. I think I'm ready to wake her up. I need you here."

"Why, Ian. What makes you think I want to be anywhere near that woman?"

Ian sighed into the phone. "She's not a bad person, Lisa. You have to know her like I do."

"Ian!", Lisa tried not to yell into the phone but failed. "That woman kidnapped you and held you against your will. Then she tried to kill me more than once. And you say she's not bad."

"That was the 'juice'. The person beneath all that is worth saving. You know me well enough to know that I don't waste time."

Lisa thought about it. That much was true. Ian seemed like a care free guy who floated through life without worrying about much, but really he was an intensely focused man who used his every talent to the fullest. Lisa had to admit that he didn't waste time. "When do you want me there?"

Lisa couldn't see Ian's smile. "Be here at the Warrmer Institute tomorrow around 7 pm."

Moira Kelly opened her eyes for the first time since passing out under the pressure of Lisa Sanchez's bear hug. Her vision was cloudy. She tried to move, but felt that she was restrained. She tugged at the straps, but didn't try to muster the strength to test them. She felt so weak. She let her head slump back to the pillow, and in a second her eyes were closed again. She struggled like that a few times more before her eyes shot open.

"Where am I!?!", Moira demanded.

"The same place we first met", Ian answered matching her intensity. Lisa could see that there was still anger inside him. His goodness overpowered it, but he wasn't over what she had done to him.

Moira turned her head. "Ian! How did I get here?" She pulled at the straps. She turned her head to the left for the first time and saw Lisa. "You!", she yelled at Lisa who didn't even flinch. "I'm going to rip you apart!" Ian had used the toughest strongest material he could find to strap Moira to the solid steel bed she was laying on, but it meant nothing. Moira's muscles didn't care. Her arms shot up towards Lisa. Moira's shoulders bulged with power as they snapped the restraints as if they had been paper. Lisa stood there. She knew something like this was going to happen even if Ian hadn't believed it. Lisa was ready. Her slim, toned arms went from her sides up to meet Moira's massively muscled ones. Anyone watching would have believed that the power in Moira's arms was enough to squash the in shape, but much smaller Lisa flat. They would have been wrong. Lisa's hands met Moira's wrist as Moira brought her arms down to get to Lisa's neck. Lisa's slim arms absorbed the power. The floor actually shook from the impact of Moira's anger fueled super muscular arms getting stopped by someone more powerful. The change in Lisa's arms was awesome. Her arms ballooned with jagged striated muscle almost instantly. Veins appeared on her smooth copper skin and snaked up over her shoulders and then across her chest feeding her super muscles. Lisa's body pulsed with power. Her biceps cut sharp angles. Her shoulders, always nice and shapely, were now perfectly rounded caps of female muscle power itching to be used. Lisa's power only built up as moments went by. Her pecs and abs transformed too. Lisa had dressed for the occasion. Her sleeveless top still barely contained Lisa's swollen ripped muscles.

Moira tried to pull her arms free. Her biceps swelled and flexed with power. Her delts fired super humanly fast, but Lisa held her. Moira felt Lisa's fingers dig into her wrists. Lisa's forearms were thick with vascular powerful cords wrapping from elbow to wrist. They writhed and flexed as they held Moira firm. Their eyes met. Lisa's light brown eyes met Moira's blue ones and they stared. Deep down neither one of them wanted to fight again. It was Moira who backed down. Lisa let her arms go and stepped back. Her body still shook from the adrenaline, but she took some deep breaths to calm herself.

Moira's eyes had burned with anger, but she looked away. She looked down at herself for the first time and her breath caught in her throat. Her body would have been the envy of any bodybuilder. It was chiseled perfection. Her muscles were so perfectly proportioned and shapely that Ian had had to work at staying professional and not simply staring at his patient day in and day out, but the body she had now was not the body she had once had. Moira could not take her eyes off of herself, because even though her body looked perfect, there was less of it, a lot less.

"What did you..."

"I leeched the juice out of you, Moira", Ian said almost remorsefully. "I had to. The old formula was killing you slowly while the new formula was doing a much quicker job. It took me a long time to get this far and I think I've gotten all of it out that I can." Ian took a deep breath. You've lost nearly 140 pounds in that short time since you came in. It has been amazing to watch. I've documented it actually, but as we just saw, most of your strength has remained. I'm not sure how much without some tests with you awake, but some changes in your body are permanent

Moira didn't know how to feel. She wasn't angry. How could she be? This man had saved her life after all she had done to him. Her life as she had known it was over, but her head was clear. That little voice, that itch that had driven her for the past 12 years was gone. She searched deep within herself, but it was gone. That voice that told her that she had to be the biggest and the strongest. It was gone. Moira wasn't sure if she was happy that it was gone. That was the life she had lived for so long. She did know a couple of things though. She looked over at Ian. "I'm sorry. I can't remember if I ever told you that, but I am. I can't believe I did what I did to you."

Usually Ian would have had some clever to say, but he just nodded and turned away.

Moira turned her head to look at Lisa who stood off to her left. "I'm sorry to you too. I never wanted to hurt anybody. I just... I don't know. That wasn't me who did those things. That wasn't me." Moira's voice trailed off and she let her head rest back on the pillow. In a moment she was back asleep. Ian motioned for Lisa to follow him out of the room.

"That wasn't bad for a first conversation", Ian said.

Lisa wasn't so sure. "That's funny. I had to restrain her."

"Yeah, I know. Her first reaction was probably going to be negative, but trust me. She's going to get better."

"I worry for you, Ian. You're my best friend and I don't know what that woman will do if I'm not around."

Ian sat down. He looked so tired, almost like he was the one drained instead of Moira. "She could kill me easily, but I don't think she will. She could have done that a long time ago. I'm willing to see this out."

Lisa sat down next to him and put her arm around his shoulder. "You have some feelings for her don't you?"

Ian smiled his little boy smile. "Maybe. At first I wanted to deny it, but I just might. The only problem is that I don't know how she feels. I'm just going to wait and see."

The days wore on and Moira was alert for longer periods until finally the drugs were out of her system completely and she was on a normal day/night cycle. Ian had let her leave the Institute for a time. There were psychiatric researchers at the Institute and those colleagues were the only people who knew Moira was there. She went to counseling everyday for a time and then three times a week. After another month, she started helping Ian with some of his research. She was still fragile and still not very sure of her place in the world. She didn't have a place to live. She stayed in a spare bedroom at Ian's apartment, but she didn't have a possession in this world that was hers. Moira didn't feel sorry for herself though. She had made this bed.

Ian's dog Rex had taken a liking to Moira from the beginning. Ian thought that was a good sign, but he wasn't all that good at reading signs. For the first few days Moira barely came out of her room. She talked to Ian at night and about the research he let her help him with, but about little else. Moira felt different than she ever had in her life. Even before she had started taking the juice, Moira had been confident. She was the girl in school who never backed down. She was never scared to face whatever came her way. Now she was almost afraid to wake up in the morning. That sense of self was gone. Moira had always known what she wanted to do, but not now. These days Moira floated through life taking up space and sucking up air that someone else could have used for something productive.

Ian tried to stay positive around Moira, but deep down he was worried. He was worried that she seemed so unable to find herself. He decided that he had to get proactive.

"Moira, do you think you're ready to go through the testing we talked about?"

Moira looked at herself in the mirror before she answered. Moira's brain wanted to see her as she used to be, but her eyes saw her as she was. At her peak, Moira had been a mountain of pure seething muscle weighing 350 pounds. Her body had been so thickly muscled that she could have put any male bodybuilder to shame. Her strength had been more than super human. Moira had been able to toss cars and vans around like play toys. She could have ripped off the side of a building or knocked a bridge off the supports that held it up, but that had been then. Now Moira was almost afraid to see how strong, or more accurately, how weak she was. She put her head down until her chin touched her chest. She was so afraid. That triggered something deep inside her. A little voice spoke up. It was soft. It was faint, but Moira heard it.

She looked up. "Yeah, I'll do the tests."

No one thought anything of Ian and Moira going down to the lab in the basement on a Saturday. As Ian drove to the Warrmer Research Institute, Moira had pointed out that she didn't have any exercise clothes. Ian took care of that with a quick trip to a sporting good store. The lady who had helped them complimented Moira on her body and then told them that they made a cute couple. For some reason that made Moira feel even worse. She was still feeling down when she walked into the lab. She had beaten up four guards down in that lab and had abducted Ian. Moira looked at Ian as he hung his jacket up. He had his back to her. A tear almost came to her clear blue eyes. He trusted her so much. What had she ever done for this man to trust her so?

Moira warmed up and loosened her muscles before she got started. Ian had bought her a black and white sleeveless top and black lycra shorts. Her body filled them both out well. Moira had the look of a competitive bodybuilder. Moira weighed herself before getting started. Moira was used to weighing herself every day, but now she only did it three times a week. She weighed exactly 186 pounds. That was only fifteen pounds more than she had weighed before she started taking the juice.

"I'm as ready as I'm going to be, Ian."

Ian had on his white lab coat. His face was serious. He nodded and directed Moira to the first test he had planned for her. "Ok, I want you to grab that handle and squeeze it as hard as you can."

Moira frowned and looked at the chrome handle that looked like the handle of a caulking gun. She flexed her fingers and grabbed it. This was going to be the first time Moira had really tried to do something difficult. Her right hand fit perfectly around the handle. She took a deep breath and started squeezing. Moira's fingers lost color as she applied pressure. She closed her eyes and tried to squeeze her hand as hard as she possibly could. Cracking sounds came from the hardened metal handle as Moira's fingers compressed the metal. The chrome plating was flaking off as Moira's power bent the alloy. Her hand just continued to contract the metal until the two ends of the handle touched. They weren't supposed to move at all, but Moira had compressed them against each other. When her pinky touched her palm, she squeezed one more time and then let go. She opened her eyes. The handle now looked like a empty toothpaste tube. Moira shook her hand to get the circulation back.

Ian shook his head. He had ordered a new stronger handle, but it still failed. He looked down at the read out. At least it did a little better than the last handle. He was going to have to order a stronger alloy. "1392 pounds.", Ian stated as he wrote in his notebook. "Could you have squeezed harder?"

"If you had something that could take it", Moira replied.

Ian smiled and nodded. "Ok, I think I might have the thing over here. I'm working on something. You might like it."

On the other side of the room a large was what could have been in a medieval torture chamber. The black slab of steel had restraints built into it for both wrists, and ankles, but also thick braided straps that went across the stomach, upper arms, and thighs.

"Its not a torture device", Ian paused and reconsidered. "Well, I guess it could be used as one, but this is part of a system I've been designing. This is going to test the level of strength in all your major muscle groups. I tried to make it as strong as I could. You have an questions?"

Moira looked at the contraption and then over at Ian. Questions ran all through her mind, but she answered, "No. Let's just get started."

Ian strapped Moira in. It was really hard to lace the thick braided material through the clasps that held Moira to the slab. Ian had to lean over her and across her in order to strap her in. He could feel her breath on his face. She could feel the goose bumps on her skin as she laid against the cold slab of carbon steel. After getting her strapped in he went behind the controls of the machine and the test got started.

Ian warmed up the engine that controlled the machine and then there was this grinding sound as the locks that held the four pieces of the slab together unlocked. Moira felt the bands tighten around her as the machine started pulling. She could feel the pressure build on her arms and her legs both from the bands and the tension from the slab separating. Moira's body flexed on its own to fight against the tightening bands, but after a while the slab stopped moving and the bands stopped tightening. Moira's body was stretched in four directions and she could feel that the machine had pulled her just to the point of injury. She pulled a little, but not much.

Ian stood behind a short wall looking out at Moira. Her body was awesome. She just had such perfect proportions and such a naturally great shape it was hard for her to ever look bad, but it wasn't Moira's body Ian was worried about now. She had joked earlier. That had been a good sign, but Ian was bad at reading signs. Moira should be fighting. She should be pulling. She should be struggling with his machine. He looked at her beautiful face. He could see the pain, but he couldn't see the fire in her eyes that he has seen before. Ian felt his spirits sink into the gutter at the thought that Moira Kelly was just a broken person. He hung his head and wondered if he should make the machine pull her out further and spur the survival instinct. In the end he decided against it. The spark wasn't there. He exhaled though his nose and gave up hope. He still wanted the data on her strength though.

"Ok, Moira, see if you can pull the slabs back together", Ian instructed.

Moira swallowed, sighed, and started pulling. Moira's muscles were always hard. When she flexed them, her muscles became inhumanly hard. The bands had been squeezing her muscles, but when Moira flexed the bands went back to the surface unable to dent them at all. Moira pressed her teeth together and really turned on the power. She reached deep down and found that she had strength in abundance. Ian shook his head as Moira's body swelled and became shredded right before his eyes. Her muscles were as hard as living stone as she started pulling. Each muscle in her body flexed and bulged.

The engine that controlled the slab labored and struggled to keep the tension on Moira. Ian turned the dial higher. He wanted to see what Moira's body had in reserve. Moira just kept pulling and even when the engine changed gears to pull harder, it didn't even slow her down. After nearly 30 seconds the four ends of the slab slammed back together. Ian turned the dial all the way up. The slabs separated again.

Moira felt the tension increase. The motor was pulling with all it had. Moira didn't let the slabs get more than a couple inches apart before she stopped toying with the machine. She closed her eyes and felt that familiar feeling. She felt the strength surging through her. Muscles that had already been hard got harder. Veins and deep sharp striations spread all over her body. Her body vibrated with awesome unstoppable power. Moira grunted as the slabs slammed back together, but she wasn't done.

Moira bent her right arm. The super thick braided straps were four times stronger than the ones Ian had used to strap her to the bed, but Moira didn't care. Loud pings echoed in the room as the steel clamps broke under Moira's onslaught. Her arm was at about 30 degrees and the strap holding her wrist tore completely. That allowed her arm to get near 90 degrees. If Ian wanted to test her, then he needed to watch this. Moira could feel the straps tighten to the limit trying to keep her muscles from flexing bigger, but Moira had other ideas. She looked at her right bicep and didn't even try to bend her arm further. She just flexed it. It flexed larger and larger growing in fits and starts against the power of the machine pressing against her with all the power the diesel motor could muster. Her muscle throbbed and ached as it grew, but grow it did, larger and larger. Muscle spilled over each side of the strap as Moira was determined. Sweat poured down Moira's body. She bit her lip and strained. The edges of the thick black strap started to fray, and then braid by braid the strap began to rip. Torn only by the growing of Moira's super human biceps. Finally, the material that could stop a bullet or tow a 18 wheeler ripped with a loud noise.

Moira turned to her left and started to do the same thing there. Her already hard sweat covered muscle began to rumble and swell like a volcano about to burst, but Ian had seen enough. He had seen the look in her eyes. He shut down the machine. "Great job!", Ian exclaimed as he came back into the room.

The straps loosened and Moira helped to undo them with her right hand since she had torn it loose. Ian was just happy to see that fire in Moira's eyes. That zest that he was used to seeing, but shortly after he got her loose and she relaxed, the fire was gone. Ian' spirits sank again. He rubbed Moira's shoulders and told her that they were finished for the day. After Moira left to take a shower, Ian went back to his office and wept.

Lisa decided to take the stairs from work this afternoon. Thirty-seven floors in heels wasn't so bad. She had extra spring in her step anyway. She had handed her boss the letter she had wanted to hand him for so long now. He asked her very seriously if she really wanted to leave, and then in a very undignified way, he had begged her not to leave. Lisa didn't gloat. It wasn't her style. She had another paycheck coming in a week, but after that she would be without a job. She had contacts though and she had an idea of she was going to do. The valet brought Lisa's car up from the garage for the last time. It took longer than usual, but Lisa didn't mind. Early October in the city was beautiful. The heat of summer was gone and the nip of fall was in the air. Lisa had even taken in a Bear's game already. The car came and Lisa settled in. She was so happy. She was going to call Ian, but he beat her to it.

"Hello"

"Hey, Lisa, I have to ask you a favor."

"Before you do. I want to tell you that I quit my job today. I handed him the letter."

"Congratulations. That means that you have lots of time on your hands. I need to take a trip. Its an emergency. I need you to watch after Moira while I'm gone."

"Watch after her? What is she a child? Am I a baby sitter? I have to get my new business started, Ian. I don't have time to do that." Lisa had been trying to avoid Moira as much as she could. She had seen her, and even spoken to her, but that was the extent of their contact.

"Lisa, this is really serious on both ends. I have to leave in a hurry, but Moira is too fragile to be alone."

Lisa pulled her car over into a parking lot. Thoughts raced in her head and she was having a hard time gathering them. "I don't really want to do this"

"Come on, Lisa. Its like Sister Maria Terresa used to tell me, 'It'll add stars to your crown in heaven'."

Lisa laughed. She hadn't had a Sister Maria Terresa, but she had had a Sister Mary Catherine who had said the same thing. "Ok, Ian, but how long are you going to be gone?"

"A few days. That's all I can say. I'll give you a call to let you know more once I get there."

Moira Kelly put all her clothes in one bag and rode in silence to Lisa's apartment. Once up the elevator Lisa showed Moira to her bedroom. The bed had been made up and was downright cozy, but there was coolness between the two of them that wouldn't go away. Moira had a tough night sleeping and woke up early. She went into the kitchen and was happy to find it fully stocked. Moira wondered if she could still make breakfast like she used to.

Lisa frowned at she smell of frying bacon. Lisa had bacon, but usually had to throw it out after it went bad in the back of her fridge. Its not that she didn't want the bacon it was just that she never cooked breakfast. It was too much trouble. She knew she had to be dreaming. Then it dawned on her that she was not alone in her apartment. Lisa threw the covers off and looked around for the robe she had but never wore. She found it under a stack of papers. She slipped it on and walked out.

"Good morning", Moira said as soon as Lisa came around the corner.

"Good morning." Lisa walked into the kitchen and looked at the spread. Moira was finishing the bacon, but she had made eggs, hand made biscuits, and hash browns. A dietitian would cringe, but everything looked so good.

"I scrambled the eggs. I didn't know how you liked them", Moira said to break the silence.

"Oh, that's fine. I like my eggs pretty much any way but raw." Lisa looked over on the stove. She frowned. "You know how to make grits?"

Moira laughed. "Yeah, I went to school in Nashville. I had never eaten a grit before, but there was this IHOP near the campus and I had my first grits there. Do you like them? I mean you had some in the cabinet."

Lisa smiled for the first time. "Yeah I like 'em. Thanks."

Lisa brewed herself some coffee and waited for the food. She wanted to help, but she could see that Moira needed to do this alone. Moira served the food on plates that Lisa hardly used, and it was great.

"I have to say, Miss Kelly, that this is excellent."

"Thanks. I couldn't sleep and you keep your kitchen stocked."

Lisa laughed. "I cook dinner, but I hardly have time to cook meal like this."

The ice was broken and the two women chatted, and after a while realized that they had more in common than they would have thought. Both were high achievers who had gone to school and fought their way up the ladder quickly, but Moira had taken a detour while Lisa had stayed on track. They watched tv for a while and talked some more. Moira got on the internet. She had deleted all her old accounts and her e-mail addresses. She was trying to take her life back, but it was hard. She got off the computer and went back to the living room.

"So you have any family?", Moira asked Lisa.

"My father passed a long time ago, but my mother lives in Atlanta with my cousin. My cousin has a little bit of a mental handicap, but she gets makes it ok. She has a job and finished high school and everything. I try to get down there as often as I can. I have some family too in Puerto Rico and New York, but we're not as close. What about you?"

Lisa saw the emotion pass across Moira's face. Her brow lowered and she tried to hide it, but there was a sore spot there. Her face brightened and she answered, " I have 3 bothers and 2 sisters. My oldest brother, John, has a little girl. Or at least he had one little girl the last time I talked to him and my parents. My father used to be a welder at a barge company in St. Louis, but he opened his own ornamental iron business when we were little." Moira wanted to say something else, but she didn't.

"When's the last time you talked to your family?"

"Been a long time", Moira answered after a moment of thought. "Its been a long long time."

Lisa decided to let it go for the moment, but it stuck in her head.

Moira and Lisa got to know each other better as the days passed. Ian had called, but he seemed busy doing whatever it was that he was doing. Lisa could see that Moira was trying to reclaim her normal life, but there was a sadness in her. There was regret too. Lisa was not the best person to handle that type of thing, but she had an idea. She spent an whole day on the computer and finally she had her answer. She knocked on Moira's door the next day at 3 am.

"Get dressed. We have to go somewhere." Moira tried to ask where they were going, but Lisa only gave vague answers. They got in the car and headed down I-55. Moira went back to sleep after half an hour. Lisa smiled. That's the way she wanted. Lisa had a couple bottles of water and her music on her headphones. It was still dark as the Mercedes went down the road. Lisa smiled and gave it a little gas. She heard the engine respond. It had been a while. Even a car needed to stretch its legs every now and then. If she didn't get pulled over she would make great time to Missouri

When Moira woke up the Gateway Arch could still be seen in the background, but Lisa was past it. She was heading to a town an hour out of the city. Moira recognized the area soon.

"Lisa, what are you doing?"

"You know what I'm doing. You'll never get your life back if you don't reconcile with your family. You weren't going to do this yourself. I found your father's business online and then tracked down the home address, but I don't know my way around here so help me."

Moira knew she wasn't getting out of this. She gave Lisa the directions. Some of the buildings were new and there were a lot more houses around now than the last time she was there, but her town was the pretty much the same. The Kelly family had grown up in a hundred year old farm house. The area was no longer farm land, but the house remained on about 5 acres of land. Lisa pulled her Benz up the gravel drive to the house. The family cars were still in the driveway on a Sunday morning.

Moira just sat there for a long time. "Please get out before they call the cops", Lisa finally begged.

Moira's face was unreadable as she opened the door and walked slowly to the side door of the house. She couldn't breathe and her mouth was as dry as cotton as she went to the door. The kitchen door was open. It was a warm morning for October and her mother loved to cook with the door open. Moira could smell the food already. She wanted to run back to the car, but she was here now. Moira's legs felt so heavy. She could hardly raise them to go up the steps to the wraparound porch. Moira went to the screen door and looked inside. The appliances were new, but this was her home. This was the house she had grown up in. Then her mother came into view. There was a little gray in her long auburn hair, but her face was still full of life and her movements didn't show at all that she would be 60 on her next birthday. It took Moira five minutes to actually go up to the door. She raised her hand slowly and knocked.

Helen Kelly's face turned towards the door quickly. She wasn't expecting any guests. She had pulled a pitcher of cold water from the fridge, but it slipped from her fingers and her eyes went wide in her head. "Moira!", she screamed loud enough to be heard all over the house. "Moira, is that you!"

Moira pulled open the door and stepped in. Only Moira's strength kept her mother from knocking her over. The woman wrapped both arms around her daughter and hugged her close. "Yes, Momma, its me."

"You've come home! I knew you would. Thank you Lord! Thank you Lord for sending my child home! Ray! Ray, come down here Moira is home! Do you hear me!"

Raymond Kelly Sr. nearly fell running down the stairs. He knocked over an end table as he rushed to the kitchen. He couldn't believe his eyes. Ray Kelly had been a hard working man his whole life. He had a big barrel chest and long thick arms. His own reddish blond hair had gone gray, but he looked almost the same as Moira remembered him. His pale blue eyes filled with tears as he looked at his daughter from across the room. "Is this real?", he cried.

Moira went to him. "Its real, Papa. Its me." She slowly wrapped her arms around her father and hugged him tight. He laid his head down on her shoulder and cried. "We didn't think you were ever going to come home, but we never had a memorial. Something in my heart said you were alive, but you were gone so long. Not a word. Not a card. Not a phone call."

"I'm sorry for that, but I'm here now, and that won't ever happen again. I'm so sorry. I love you both more than anything."

Just then two little twins ran into the kitchen. "Grandma and Grandpa, what's wrong."

Ray and Helen turned and looked down with tears of joy in their eyes. "Nothing", Helen began. She bent down and hugged them both. The children looked to be about 6. Helen stood up. "Chris and Kristen, this is your Aunt Moira. She's come home."

A sob escaped Moira's lips and she put her hand over her mouth. She looked down at a niece and nephew she had never met. "These are Jill's aren't they?"

Helen smiled. "They sure are."

"They look just like her." Moira squatted down and opened her arms. To her surprise the children ran to her. She hugged them both. "You are both so beautiful. We've never met, but I love you both. Do you hear me? I love you both!"

The children smiled. "We know that. We pray every night with Mommy that you would come home. She told us all about you. She said that you were very pretty and very smart and really good at basketball. Will you play with us out back?"

Moira nodded because she couldn't talk. It took all her will to not fall on the ground. She let the children go, but Moira stayed on the floor for a while longer muttering over and over gain how stupid she had been and how much she had missed.

Her father reached down and pulled his daughter back to her feet. "I always had a list of things I wanted to ask you when you came back, but now I can't remember a damn thing. Not one thing. I'm just happy to see you. I don't have the words to say how I feel", Ray paused and had to gather himself again. "Helen, call everybody! Tell them the good news", he said finally.

Moira sat down at the kitchen table. She was still crying, but smiling at the same time. There were so many emotions that she couldn't have listed them all.

"How did you get here?", her mother asked after making 10 phone calls.

Moira stood up, went to the door, and motioned for Lisa to come in. Lisa didn't want to, but she did. She walked slowly into the house.

"Momma, Papa, this is the lady who helped get me well and get me here. She drove me all the way from Chicago this morning."

"You did all that for Moira?"

Lisa felt so uncomfortable. "Yes, Ma'am. I was just being a friend."

Moira almost started crying again. In the commune she had had followers, students, and partners, but Lisa was the first person to call her friend in years. She had wasted so much of her life. Moira shook her head. She dreaded seeing her siblings. Her parents told her that all her siblings lived within 100 miles and they were already on their way with their families. Moira finally decided to help her mother cook. That was the one thing she could still do. Lisa sat down at the kitchen table with Ray. Ray hardly ever stayed in the kitchen when his wife cooked, but he couldn't take his eyes off his daughter. He only left the room once. He came back with a framed picture. He handed it to Lisa.

"This was taken eleven years ago. She looks almost the exact same as she did then."

Lisa looked down at the picture of Moira smiling with all her brothers and sisters around her. She looked so happy. Not so different than she looked right now cooking at her mother's side. It was funny how quickly old habits came back. Lisa looked at the picture again. The years had been kind to Moira. She was 23 in that picture and sure enough she only looked a few years older. The chemicals had done their damage, but it didn't show on the outside. Her muscles were perfectly sculpted back then too. She was just blessed with great proportions. Moira was one of those people who didn't look tall until you saw her standing next to someone else. Lisa handed the picture back, and looked up at Ray. "She has good genes."

Ray and Lisa talked for a while. He wanted to know where Moira had been, but Lisa felt that Moira should answer that question. Ray understood and they continued to get to know each other.

Moira's sister Jill was the first to show up. Jill was about the same height as Lisa at 5'9". She was slim, even after having 4 children, with shoulder length blond hair. Her husband and two other children came in. One looked to be about 9 and the other 7 or 8. Moira and Jill hugged each other for what seemed like an hour. Patrick was next. He lived the farthest away. He had ran his pickup truck almost flat out the whole way. Patrick, the youngest of the family, and Moira had been the closest growing up. He had taken her absence the hardest. Lisa felt like such an outsider. She wanted to sneak out the door and actually tried, but Ray wouldn't let her go. He insisted that she stay for breakfast. Before the end of the meal the whole family had showed up. Many of them thanked Lisa for bringing Moira home.

Breakfast was excellent. They had cooked more after Moira had come home. Lisa could tell where Moira had learned to cook. Moira, Jill, and their oldest sister Brenda helped serve the food. It was really a beautiful scene.

"Moira, finish eating. We're all going to church now."

"Yes, Ma'am", she answered her mother instantly before realizing what had been said. Moira hadn't been to church in years.

Then Helen came over to Lisa, sat down next to her and hugged her suddenly. "I can't thank you enough for bringing my daughter home. I just can't. Ray's going to want to know where she's been and all that, but I don't care at all. The only thing I care about is that she's alive and well. She promised me that she's not dying of cancer or some other horrible disease. She's not is she?"

"No, Ma'am not that I know of."

"Good. We're all getting ready to go to church. We haven't gone to church like this, as a family for... Oh I don't know how long its been."

"I think its a wonderful thing, Mrs. Kelly. You have a beautiful family."

Helen smiled. "Now, its a complete family. Not knowing about Moira was like a hole in your life every day." Helen sighed and looked back at Lisa. "Why don't you come to church with us?"

"Thanks, Mrs. Kelly, but I just feel like I'm intruding. I mean your family is here. I just wanted to do the right thing. I don't want to get in the way."

"Nonsense! You are always welcome in this family. From here on out you're my 4th daughter. So please come to church with us."

Lisa couldn't refuse and followed the family to church. Moira walked into the church just behind Lisa. She looked nervous walking through the doors. "Do you know how long its been since I've been in church?", Moira asked.

Lisa leaned over. "Like riding a bike. You'll be fine."

This is a chapter in the ongoing story "Coping with Power"!  Check out the earlier chapters here:

Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter  8 -- Chapter 9

More coming!! Be on the lookout!!!