Alien Proliferation

most of them didn’t seem to know I’d died and come back, for which I was incredibly relieved. It upset Jeff too much when I said I didn’t remember it happening. Besides, my parents were with us for most of our relatives’ visits, and I didn’t want to risk seeing either one of them cry, Mom in particular.
    In addition to all the usual friends and family suspects, it felt as if everyone I’d ever even passed in the hallway at the Science Center came by to visit, too. We’d seen Jeff’s sisters and some of the older kids, all of whom were under lockdown at Martini Manor but came out to see the baby anyway. I had no idea where Jeff’s brothers-in-law were for this, but I was happy they weren’t with us—it meant that many fewer people handling the baby and asking me incredibly personal questions. I was getting concerned about Jamie being exposed to every disease in the world, but Tito and Camilla weren’t overly worried. Neither were any of the other Dazzlers, so I tried to relax about it.
    Interestingly to me, in a rather offensive way, was the fact that the Diplomatic Corps wanted a look at our child. I wasn’t a fan of any of them, and the head Diplomatic couple, Robert and Barbara Coleman, I despised with a passion. Happily, Jeff had point-blank refused to allow them access to Jamie or me. When they’d protested all the way up to the Pontifex, Chuckie had stepped in and tossed around some C.I.A. muscle to share that they weren’t seeing my baby until I wanted them to, which was likely to be never.
    They were still complaining about this, even though Chuckie had had them sent back to the Alpha Centaurion Embassy and told them to stay there “for their safety.” Considering how anti-interspecies marriage this group was, them wanting to see Jamie was odd and infuriating, since I didn’t believe for one moment that any of them had changed their stances in the last week. I wasn’t sure what their game was—but I was sure they had one. However, I didn’t want to have to be around them to discover what it was, so I chose to table these concerns for later. We had plenty of other things going on to occupy my attention, including diaper changes, which were moving up on my Least Favorite Things About Being a Mommy list.
    Finally back in the Lair and able to lock some of the madness out. Not as much as I would have liked, of course—we were in the middle of some kind of operation. None of us were sure what, which made getting anywhere difficult.
    In between visits and fending off the Diplomatic Corps, Jeff and Chuckie had spent a lot of time questioning Amy. The three of us were in the Lair, bickering about the results.
    “Look, I can’t get a thing from her other than confusion, fear, and jealousy.” Jeff wasn’t snarling, but I knew he wanted to be. “Unless she’s able to block me, she’s being used, not part of the issue.”
    “Confusion and fear I get, but what’s she jealous about?”
    Jeff sighed. “She’s jealous of you. And Sheila, but mostly you.”
    “Of me? Um, why?”
    He shrugged. “You’re happily married, just had a baby, have an exciting career, and an interesting life.”
    “She’s had an exciting career and interesting life, too.”
    “No husband and baby. Sheila’s been married for over seven years and has four kids, you’re married with an immediate baby, Brian same thing. The clock is ticking and Amy’s losing the race.” Chuckie didn’t sound surprised. “But does that mean she’s happy to be working against Kitty?”
    “I don’t think she’s working against anyone.” Jeff shook his head. “I’d like you to find the agent who was supposedly helping her.”
    “I would, too.” Chuckie shook his head. “No idea who it was at this point.”
    “Had to be someone involved in covert ops,” I pointed out. “The number worked.”
    “Yeah, and it traced back to the payphone Amy said she was at. But a lot of operatives had that number. It was an older number, but still active.” Chuckie didn’t look or sound overly worried, but his eyes said otherwise.
    “How old?” Jeff asked.
    “Five years. And, yeah, we’ve been checking the retirement files. So far, Amy has gotten a great look at every operative we have all over the world, but recognizes no one. Let me mention that she’s not leaving our control any time soon, if ever. All by herself she’s a major security breach, even if she’s innocent, let alone if she’s deeply involved.”
    “Can’t