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~* Who’s That Lady? *~ “You don’t have to,” Nicole offered. “Tracy’s okay with everything. Really.” “No, I want to tell her,” Moira replied. “I don’t mind a handful of people knowing. I just need to know that you can keep it a secret.” Tracy slowly nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.” She paused briefly though. “Wait… I DO know you!”

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Ski lessons with Jennifer were almost as much fun as snowboarding had been, and I admit I tried really hard to get into it, but after getting used to the rush, trying to use poles and balance on skis just felt kind of awkward.

Still, I toughed it out. When Jennifer asked which I preferred, I told her I found boarding more fun, to which she smiled and said ‘Let’s head back to the hotel and get your board!’

“Hey there you are!” Nicole called cheerfully as we passed the ski lodge. Jennifer and I both stopped, turning back, and I caught her in a hug. She looked so adorable with her hair in a tight braid, her ski goggles resting snugly on her forehead. She smiled brightly.

“Hey Nikki. How was your lesson with Grandpa?”

“It was awesome!” Nicole replied. “How’d the ski lesson go? You didn’t get your poles stuck in a tree or anything did you?” she asked, giving me a sly grin. I giggled.

“No, but I think I still prefer snowboarding. I still plan on learning to ski eventually, but for this weekend I’m going to stick with what’s fun.”

“That’s the spirit!” Jennifer chided playfully.

“Darn right she is,” Nicole teased, adding, “Oh hey, have you seen Moira?”

“I think she’s on one of the more advanced trails,” Jennifer answered. “I bumped into her as I was heading to the bathroom this morning, and she said something about going to clear her head.”

“Uh oh,” I offered. Nicole nodded.

“My thoughts exactly. Let’s go find her. I’ll go get Ally,” Nicole stated.

“Meet us back at the hotel lobby. Robin and I are just going to go exchange her skis, and I want to get my rental board too.” Her expression seemed all-too-serious as she reasoned, “If we’re going to be cutting the hard trails, I want to do it with what I’m more comfortable with.”

We found Tracy hanging out with a couple of other girls in the hotel lobby. When she saw us enter, she stood, hurrying over to us.

“Hey guys, um, have you seen your friend Moira? I wanted to apologize.”

Jennifer and I looked at each other, and back at her. She sighed as she cast her gaze downward and shook her head. “I opened my big mouth again.”

“What happened?” I asked gently. She obviously seemed upset, and I didn’t want to make it worse. Moira was my friend, but honestly, I liked Tracy too.

She bit her lip. “I was talking to another girl about her. I mean, it just seemed kind of strange to me that she passed the background check and stuff, and yet none of us has ever heard of her before.” She glanced back over her shoulder to see the other girls she had been chatting with had scattered. She frowned, glancing back at us. “And that accent, where is she from anyway?”

“Ireland, originally, but she’s moving to New Haven,” I answered simply, giving her a chance to continue.

“Ah. Well, obviously you know more about her than I do. Anyway, I said it seemed kinda weird, and then I turned around and there she was.”

“Oh dear,” Jennifer offered softly. Tracy nodded, continuing.

“Yeah, you can say that again. She said she was sorry that she couldn’t tell me how she knew you guys, and that if I wanted she’d leave. She said she didn’t want to ruin anyone’s fun.” Tracy sighed, and I could see the beginnings of tears in her eyes. I instinctively stepped closer, pulling her into a hug, and she smiled a little as she rested her head on my shoulder. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear.”

“Tracy, it’s okay,” I tried to comfort her. “Moira’s a complicated woman in a complex situation, and at first she didn’t even want to come with us. She was worried about what people might think.”

Jennifer placed a hand on Tracy’s shoulder as she smiled. “That’s why she’s been rooming with Robin’s sister Margie, letting Kelly and Coach Greer swap off on staying with the younger girls while us older girls get our own rooms like we have. It was the only way she’d agree to come.”

“Wow, that so doesn’t help,” Tracy sighed, shaking her head. “I feel like such a jerk.”

“We’re going to go look for her after I exchange my skis, if you want to go with us?” I offered. She looked at me, taking a step back.

“You’d … let me go with you?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

She shook her head slowly at that, and started to laugh. “No, never mind. I already opened my mouth twice this trip. I’m not making it a third time. I’m sorry Robin. I guess I’m just a poor judge of character.” She smiled meekly.

I shook my head. “Nobody’s perfect, and there’s no harm done. Now, come on. I’m sure Moira’s okay, but we’re going to go find her to be sure.”

“So can I ask how you guys DO know her?” she asked as we turned to head for the sporting goods store. As if choreographed by the Fates themselves, Nicole answered from behind us without missing a beat as she and Allison entered.

“Know who?”

“Eek!” Tracy squeaked, causing Nicole to giggle. Her cheeks flushed as she cleared her throat. “Moira.”

“Oh, she’s my adopted sister,” Nicole stated proudly. That caught us off-guard, myself included. I knew Nicole and Moira had some things in common, but where had that come from? Nicole smiled at the obvious confusion on our faces, continuing.

“Look, you guys all know Bob and Gina aren’t my real parents, but they taught me that you don’t have to be biologically related to someone to adopt them as family.”

Tracy started chewing her lip again. “Nikki, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know,” she practically whispered. Nicole blinked at her, and as we walked to Jonathan’s store together, we helped Tracy to relate to Nicole and Allison what she had told us.

I made certain to point out that it wasn’t Tracy’s fault or intention to offend Moira, that she was only curious, both for Tracy’s benefit, and for Nicole and Allison’s. The last thing we needed was another misunderstanding right now.

Just before we entered the store, Nicole pulled Tracy aside, they exchanged a few brief words, and then Nicole wrapped her in a hug. When they returned, Tracy was smiling a little.

“It’s up to Moira if she wants to tell Tracy how we met,” Nicole began, “But I promise to help sort all this out otherwise.”

Tracy nodded in agreement. “And the first thing I do when we find her is apologize. I owe her that, even if it was just a big misunderstanding.”

~oOo~

Rather than just randomly skiing down trails, we got together again at the ski lodge where a map of the mountain hung prominently on one wall. Of course, a group of girls discussing multiple ski routes and who should take what route for safety reasons was bound to attract attention.

“Excuse me, girls. Sally Johnson. I’m with the ski patrol. Is there a problem?” A slender middle-aged woman with light brown hair in a French braid, wearing a red-and-black ski suit with a bright white cross embossed on the back approached us.

“Well, we’re not sure. We’re just worried about a friend. We’re out here on a Girl Scout-sponsored field trip, and…” I explained everything to her about how we talked Moira into coming along, and that we were mostly just concerned about that ‘clearing her head’ comment. She seemed confused by that at first, until I related the abridged version of how I’d gotten lost and hurt when I wandered off alone to ‘clear my head’ back in the summer, before I became a scout.

“I think I understand now,” she replied seriously. “I’d like to help. It sounds like you’re just worried for your friend, so I can put out a call to anyone on the mountain to keep an eye out for her.”

“That would be great!” I answered, the others nodding their silent agreement. “She’s of average height and build, shoulder-length sandy brown hair, and freckles. She’s wearing a black and navy blue ski suit.”

“And she’s using dark red skis. I can’t remember the brand though,” Allison added. Sally nodded.

“That narrows it down. I can take one of you out on my snowmobile if you want, that way if someone radios in I can get you to her a little faster.”

Allison glanced at me then smiled. “I’ll go. Robin, you’ve got way better balance than me. You’ll do better on your snowboard. Jen, you should check Widow’s Run. You’re the only one of us who can handle the turns and jumps.”

Jennifer grinned at that. “I was saving that for my final run of the weekend, but I can’t argue with your logic. I’ll get my Grandpa to come with me so I’m not alone. Tracy, you, Nikki and Robin should stick together too. With the ski patrol helping there’s no sense in splitting up and putting yourselves at risk.”

“Alright, let’s meet back here in an hour,” Sally replied, and with a smile she turned to stare at Nicole for just a moment. “My daughter said she helped out someone named Nikki yesterday.”

Nicole’s cheeks turned bright red as she grabbed my arm. “C’mon you two, let’s get to it.”

~oOo~

The hour really flew by quickly. Due to our limited skill and time spent carving a steady zig-zag down the few trails we actually felt competent enough to tackle, we only managed to cover two before it was time to meet back with Sally and the others. Her snowmobile sat parked outside the lodge when the three of us arrived.

Inside we found Moira sitting by the fireplace, chatting quietly with Jennifer, while Allison and Sally stood a bit further back. She looked up at us with a wry smile when we approached.

“Hi guys,” she offered softly.

“Moira!” Tracy squeaked. “I am so, so sorry!”

Moira shook her head, waving her hand dismissively. She and Jennifer both stood as she replied. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry for scaring you guys. Really, I’m okay. I just needed time to think about where my life’s going, and if I really want to keep living in secret like this.”

“W-what are you talking about?” Tracy asked hesitantly.

“I mean, I’m not just some random person Robin convinced to tag along, but I have only known them for a few months. Let’s find some place quiet though.”

“There’s a back office we use during emergencies. You can use it as long as you want, so long as nothing comes up in the meantime,” Sally offered with a smile.

Moira returned the smile and nodded. “Thank you. I don’t even know who you are, and yet you went to a lot of trouble to help the girls find me.”

Sally chuckled as she extended her hand. “That’s right. We were never properly introduced. I’m Sally Johnson. And don’t worry, helping them was no trouble. It’s part of my job, plus my daughter spoke highly of them.”

Sally then led us back to the back office. After opening the door, she gave us a professional smile. “You folks take care now. I need to head back up the mountain one last time. Just pull the door closed behind you when you’re done, and don’t hesitate to ask if you ever need anything again.”

“Thanks Sally,” I and the others offered to varying degrees before we stepped through, closing the door behind us. The office itself was actually more like a conference room with a large table and several chairs. Two maps of the mountain, one on the wall and one stretched over the table, were the only décor. A bank of radio equipment rested quietly in one corner, only occasionally springing to life with communications chatter from the ski patrol.

Moira exhaled as she sat at one of the chairs. As we joined her, she leaned forward, resting her chin against her hands. “Where to start? The most important thing is I want you guys to feel safe, comfortable. That’s why I was reluctant to agree to come along in the first place.”

Tracy nodded softly. “I’m… really sorry about all this.”

Moira quickly shook her head. “No, it’s okay. Jen explained everything when she caught up with me. I’m sorry I scared you guys, and I’m sorry I walked away like I did. Tracy you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I didn’t?” she asked softly, looking up.

“No, you didn’t. I overreacted because I had other things on my mind. I'm sorry.” She gave Tracy a reassuring smile. “My job requires that I live two separate lives. That’s just how it is. If I want job security, I have to be careful who I tell what I do for a living because the backlash would be a nightmare.”

“Oh God. You’re not an undercover cop are you?” Tracy asked nervously. “Or like, CIA or whatever the British version is?”

Moira giggled. “A spy? No, nothing like that. But that’s a great analogy though. The truth is … I can’t even believe I’m saying this,” she began.

“You don’t have to,” Nicole offered. “Tracy’s okay with everything. Really.”

“No, I want to tell her,” Moira replied. “I don’t mind a handful of people knowing. I just need to know that you can keep it a secret.”

Tracy slowly nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.” She paused briefly though. “Wait… I DO know you!”

Moira looked at her with surprise. “What?”

“Yeah! I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you sooner! Weren’t you at the music camp Nikki and I attended last summer? You know, the big one in New York!”

Nicole blinked, staring intently at Moira. “You WERE there! Ohmygawd. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you myself!”

Moira smiled wryly. “Yeah, I was there. That was right after the incident with Kris. We were taking a break from touring, and I told our agent I needed some downtime away from the band, so he suggested I try my hand at teaching a course at a rock camp across the pond.”

“Your agent?” Allison asked nervously. “Is he the one Rose knocked out cold?”

Moira giggled. “Nono, that was our publicist. Well, former publicist. Anyway,” she reached across the table to offer Tracy her hand. “Moira Cameron, also known as Shadowfang of Heedless Despair, at your service.” She smiled.

Tracy squealed. “OHMYGOD! I LOVE you guys! But how… Why… I mean…” she fumbled.

Moira chuckled. “Deep breath, then try again.”

Tracy inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly. “Okay, why are you telling me all this, first of all?”

“You’re a friend of Robin’s, for starters, and you expressed a lot of concern about how I could just appear the way I did. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you all this because I want you to feel star-struck and totally trust me. I’d be worried if you did, frankly.”

Tracy giggled as she nodded. “I guess that makes sense, but still… Freaking Shadowfang. You gave Nikki that sweet bass. I should’ve known you knew each other. Nikki doesn’t call people ‘sister’ lightly.”

Moira craned her neck to stare at Nicole, who responded with a sheepish smile. “Hey, I’m adopted. You’re as much my big sister as Bob and Gina are my parents.”

Moira smiled softly. “Nikki, that’s… that’s so sweet. I don’t know what to say,” she offered softly.

Allison smiled, “The thing is, Moira’s going to be living in New Haven for awhile, with Margie’s mom. It was Jennifer’s idea to try and talk her into coming along as a chaperone.”

Jennifer added, “Yeah, I expected we’d be seeing a lot more of her, and I thought it would be fun to try and get her involved as a Scout sponsor, to, y’know, provide a little taste of what civilian life is like.”

Moira laughed at that. “Civilian indeed. I’ll stick by the band. I mean, Jessica gave me a chance when nobody else would. I owe her so much, and I love music. I love performing and pretending to be some dark, spooky, mysterious chick, but it’s so nice to just be myself.”

Tracy smiled a bit at that. “So that tabloid article’s true then?”

Moira wrinkled her nose, but smiled. “You saw that, hey? Yeah, it’s true. I’m not really some powerful shadow sorceress. I just pawned my bass for thirty quid to pay rent. This crazy Brit walks in, sees my ratty old fallin’-apart bass on the counter. She smiles at me and says ‘Can you play that thing?’ and I say ‘Yeah, but it’s not mine anymore’. She says ‘prove it’.” She smiled fondly as she leaned back in her chair.

“To this day I don’t know what came over me. Maybe it was the twinkle in her eye, or the defiant smile. The shop owner says he’ll plug it in because he’s wondering if it’ll even work too, so I plugged it in, gave ‘em a few bars from Hendrix Experience's bass riffs, the next thing I know, I’m flyin’ to London to be part of a new band she’s putting together. That was two years ago. Of course, most fans are pretty rabid about NOT wanting to hear that story.” She grinned. “But I appreciate you girls indulging me. It’s nice to know the girl behind the black makeup’s not totally forgotten.”

Nicole smiled as she stood, leaning over to give her a hug. “Hey, I don’t call people ‘friend’ lightly, and I sure as heck don’t adopt them easily. I just feel like I can trust you.”

Before she could continue, the radio in the corner of the room sprang to life. “… confirmed missing, last seen in vicinity of Widow’s Run, white male approximately five feet, nine inches, average build.”

We looked at each other, Moira standing. “I believe that’s our cue to vacate.”

Tracy added as she stood. “Yeah. Listen, I’ll talk to the other girls I was talking to before and let them know you’re cool, that I was just being paranoid.”

Moira smiled as she pulled the door open for us. “Honestly, I’d be concerned if you weren’t. You were just looking out for your fellow scouts. I don’t know much about Girl Scouts. If we had ‘em back home I was never invited to join, but as far as I’m concerned, caring about others is a good quality to have, and I hope that never changes.”

I had to grin, wrapping an arm around Tracy’s waist as we stepped out. “I couldn’t agree more. Misunderstanding or not, you obviously care a lot more than you let on.”

“Yeah, well,” she blushed, smiling a bit. “I’ve been a scout since I was five. Most of our older girls quit when it stopped being ‘cool’, and I missed camp last summer because I broke my leg, but it’s in my blood. I want to be a Den Mother when I’m older. Just don’t tell anybody I said that. I’ve got a reputation to protect until after high school,” she added with a playful wink.

I giggled. “Our lips are sealed. Come on. Let’s head out for another run. The lodge is about to be overrun with ski patrol so we should get out of their way anyway.”

“You guys go ahead,” Jennifer offered. “I’m going to stay behind and see if I can help. I ran Widow’s Run earlier looking for Moira so it’s fresh in my mind. If you see my Grandpa send him over too.”

I smiled as I turned back to Jennifer. I wrapped her in a hug. “Good luck if you head out, and please be careful.”

She smiled as she nodded. “I won’t be going out unless they specifically ask me. They know the mountain better than I do. I’m just going to help coordinate with what I saw out on the trail. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

It felt weird, leaving Jennifer behind to help coordinate with Search and Rescue, but weirder was how easily Moira opened up to Tracy. I think, in some way, it actually brought Tracy and me closer together as friends though.

She always felt just a little detached until now, like she was afraid to talk to me or something, but now maybe things would be different.

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