"I can't tell you how glad I am that you're coming with me to New York," I said, resting my hand on Emmy's leg. "Even if it's only for a few days while I get everybody settled in."

"I missed you very much while you were in Japan," Emmy said, resting her hand on top of mine and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Even just a few days would be too much for us to be apart right now."

"Have I ever told you that I love you?" I asked, leaning over to give her a kiss while we waited for the light to turn green. I didn't care that Jeremy was sitting in the back seat- he'd seen us be affectionate plenty of times before.

"Not often enough," Emmy answered with a pout. "You should tell me more often."

"I love you," I told her as we left the intersection. A few moments later, I said, "I love you," again. I said it several more times as we headed north on Vineland Avenue, earning myself a pleased smile from my beautiful wife.

I said, "I love you very, very much," one last time as I pulled up to the valet stand in front of the familiar round building at the Burbank Airport.

"I love you more than words can say, Leah," Emmy replied as she stepped from the X6.

All of our fellow travelers were already inside the lounge, so once we arrived the Lascaux's steward ushered us all out to the waiting jet.

As we walked I introduced Emmy to the Japanese contingent, who'd obviously never met her before.

Hayate, Hoshi and Jiro were all star-struck, but the elder Kanawa played it cool. Of course the three heavies all greeted her with formal bows and were very obviously pleased when she greeted them back by name.

Emmy spent a lot of the flight to Teterboro talking with the Kanawas with Jiro's help, but I'd seen enough of them. I spent the five hours poring through reports and market analyses, trying to see why our new Denver office was underperforming expectations.

Emmy seemed a little upset when I asked her to go directly to the townhouse with Wally and Tiny. I needed to get the Japanese situated, then I'd be home, I told her.

"Why would you think that I do not want to be involved?" Emmy asked, softly enough that she wouldn't be heard by the others, who were loading into a van driven by our crew.

"Heck," I said. "It's not as if I want to spend the night showing some ninjas their new apartment in Brooklyn, either. If I could hand the job off, I would. I was just thinking that you could go home and have a nice couple of hours while I'm taking care of this, then we can be together."

Emmy sighed, then agreed. "Tomorrow I want you to show me all that has been happening here in New York with our people," she said.

"Sounds good," I agreed, giving her a kiss and walking her to the big sedan. Wally had already loaded our luggage in the car's roomy trunk and was waiting patiently, holding the rear passenger open for Emmy.

I climbed into the front passenger seat of the unmarked silver van and patted Marcus on the shoulder in greeting.

"The apartment for the guests first," I instructed. "We'll get them settled in, then you can take Eddie, David and Nick back to the compound."

"The compound?" Hayate asked.

"You'll see it tomorrow," I assured him. "It's where you'll be working, along with Mr Kanawa. It's actually pretty close to the apartment- you'll be able to walk there from where you'll be staying."

Satisfied, Hayate didn't ask any more questions.

The four Japanese guys stared out the windows at the lights of New Jersey and New York as we drove. Unfortunately you can't get a view of Manhattan from the Holland Tunnel, but that was fine. They were going to spend the next half year in New York and they'd have plenty of time to do as much sight-seeing as they wanted.

Although I'd seen plenty of photos, this was my first time seeing our new facilities, so it was a pleasant surprise when the van pulled up in a cute part of Brooklyn. The old brick building on a corner held an empty space on the ground floor (that we were going to build out as a restaurant) and door on the side that opened to stairs leading up to the three apartments above on the second and third floors.

Only one had already been remodeled, so Mr Kanawa and Hayate Oshida would be living in the top front unit, facing the small neighborhood park across the street.

"This is very nice," Hayate said as we entered the apartment. We couldn't really claim responsibility for that since the work had been done by the previous owners, but I had to agree. The sellers had planned for the neighborhood's gentrification and were building out appropriately. The top floor apartment wasn't large, but the finishes were quality.

When I pulled Michael aside and told him he'd done a good job of selecting furniture, housewares and linens, he admitted that it hadn't been him- it was his girlfriend who had decorated the place.

"So she did decide to come to New York with you?" I asked, surprised and pleased for him. "That's great!"

"You'll meet her tomorrow," he assured me.

Emmy was asleep in bed when I got to the townhouse, so I just took off my clothes and slid in next to her. It only took me moments to fall asleep, too.

I was surprised to find Emmy having breakfast in the kitchen after my morning's workout in the small home gym.

"You're up early," I said, gladly accepting a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant from Luisa.

"I do not know why I could not sleep any longer," Emmy relied, and it was obvious she was still a bit groggy.

"Happens sometimes," I said with a shrug. "Since you're up, we can go over to the compound this morning before lunch."

"Mia keeps talking about 'the compound'", Luisa said, making air quotes with her fingers, "but she won't tell me what it even is. It sounds like some sort of military bunker or something."

"No, it's not like that at all. We bought a block in Brooklyn that had an old ironworks factory, a small bus garage and what used to be a furniture warehouse. Since it's several buildings, we can't really call it the office or anything like that, can we?" I said, making answering air quotes around 'the office'.

"What are you going to do with all that?"

"Well, we're honoring the leases of the tour bus operator and several of the offices in the old factory, but converting the rest of the space into our new headquarters," I explained. "You mean Night Children business, right?" Luisa asked.

"Well, and my property management company, too. We're going to open our office there when we get it built out."

"Right next to a bus yard?" Luisa asked, skeptical of the idea.

"To be completely honest, I haven't seen it in person yet, but from what my guys tell me you'd never know. The tour buses are more like really big vans, and their entrance is on the other side of the block, anyhow," I said. "But the neighborhood is gentrifying, and all those cool old factory buildings in Brooklyn are super hip these days. I mean, look at Williamsburg or especially Dumbo."

"Want to know something funny?" Luisa said, pouring me another cup of coffee. "Manhattanites generally do their best to never, ever cross the river. Brooklyn might as well be a different country as far as we're concerned, and Queens… That's the back side of the moon."

"I've heard that, yeah," I agreed.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

It was nearly ten that morning by the time Emmy and I were ready to leave the townhouse. Wally drove us down the FDR Parkway and through the tunnel, then past a very large housing project and eventually into the area where our compound was located.

Emmy really didn't say much as she looked curiously out the sedan's tinted windows. The weather was terrible and the day dark and miserable- the very worst time of the year to sightsee- but it still held her interest.

Wally pulled up to an automatic gate and held a card up to the access panel. The gate opened quickly, and soon we were in a parking lot entirely surrounded by ten-foot chain-link fence overgrown with ivy, effectively blocking the view from outside.

"Wally, it seems as if you've been here before," Emmy commented.

"Yes, Miss Emmy. I bring Miss Mia here quite often."

"What does Mia do here?" Emmy asked me, surprised.

"She's helping her dad," I said, helping Emmy out of the car and into the shelter of an umbrella held by one of our people.

Soon we found ourselves in a nice, modern office, a far cry from what I imagined Emmy expected. The small staff were awed to be visited by Queen Emmy, and it showed. It took Michael firmly telling everyone to get back to work for them to disperse to their desks.

"What is it that you do here?" Emmy asked Michael, gesturing at the office with its phones, computers and workers dressed in typical office clothing. The only thing that made it look any different than any of a million other offices around the world was that almost all of the employees were Night Children showing their faces.

"We are moving all of our nationwide services here," Michael explained as he led us back to his own office. "We had been scattered, but having it all under one roof is proving to be very helpful."

"You say 'services,'" Emmy said, her brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Housing assistance for our people, legal assistance, health plans… We do quite a bit," he said, looking to me for help.

"Em," I said. "We're a one-stop shop for all of our Night Children across the country- Canada, too, but not Latin America. We're setting up something similar in Cartagena. Our people need a place to live? This office will help them out. Our people need jobs? This office will place them, or set them up with a job training program. We also help them get any adult education they might need, and any costs associated with higher education."

"You do all this?" Emmy asked, amazed.

"Em," I said, my voice soft. "This is what it's all for."

Turning to face me, Emmy took my hands in her own. "Have I ever told you I love you?" she asked.

"You have, but I never mind hearing it," I replied, giving her hands a squeeze.

After walking around the office for a while and talking with the staff members, Emmy finally asked me, "Where are the ninjas?"

"Our guests aren't in this building," Michael said, indicating the converted ironworks building that dated back to before the Civil War. "Follow me," he said, leading us outside. We took umbrellas from a stand near the door as we left, one for me, one for Michael, and one for Jeremy to hold for Emmy.

We circled the block and entered an unmarked door into another brick building of similar age, but this set of offices were a whole lot less nice. It's not that they were shabby, they just weren't as bright and modern as the other building's had been. Through the mostly empty offices and out into the open warehouse floor, we came to what was essentially a large gym, divided up into various areas. Off to one side were a bunch of guys (and a few women) lifting weights under the watchful eyes of Ron Wright, one of Grant's ex-Marines, who gave us a salute when he saw us.

In an open area with mats on the floor Mr Kanawa, Hayate and Jiro Watanabe were speaking with a large crowd of Night Children.

"Ah, Queen Leah, and this must be Queen Emmy," Mr Kanawa said, as both Hayate and Jiro translated.

"Let's go back to the way we did it in Japan," I said. "Jiro translates for us, and you, Hayate, you translate for Mr Kanawa."

Both nodded, accepting what I said.

I introduced Emmy to the three Japanese men, while the various heavies stared at her in adoration. Emmy obviously was aware of the looks she was getting, so she went around and greeted all of our people, asking them their names. I just knew that she was going to greet each and every one of them by name next time she saw them, too.

"We are introducing ourselves and evaluating our… ability to be trained in ninjutsu," Jiro translated for Mr Kanawa. "Not every one of your people is a suitable candidate. You, for example," Mr Kanawa said, pointing at me, "Would not be. Neither would Queen Emmy."

"Why not?" Emmy asked.

"You two are too distinctive. You could never disappear in a crowd."

"Fair enough," I admitted, recognizing that what he said was absolutely true. Looking around at the candidates he'd O.K.ed, I could see that they weren't particularly tall or short, fat or thin. In fact, they seemed to have been selected for their ordinariness, which made sense once I thought about it.

"Mr Kanawa- how is the apartment?" I asked. "Are things satisfactory?"

"Yes," he replied. "It's very nice. Much nicer than I had expected."

"If you need anything at all, just tell Michael here," I said.

"I have already spoken with him about some things I need for training," Mr Kanawa replied. "He has been very helpful."

"He's my right hand," I said. "He's the man."

Driving back to the townhouse, Emmy was quiet. I could tell she was processing what we'd seen at the compound, so I let her think about it on her own.

For lunch we went to a little Paris-style French bistro a block and a half from our place. After starting in on her vegetable couscous, Emmy finally said, "I had no idea that you were doing so much."

"What do you mean?" I asked, but I was pretty sure I did know what she meant.

"You have an actual office with real employees to deal with Night Children problems," she said, after glancing around to make sure nobody else could hear. "You have people running a scholarship program! Others who work with Night Children on job placement! I do not think my parents do these things, and they have far, far more of us in their nation."

"I've had an office for years now," I said with a shrug. "It used to be in San Jose, but we've decided to consolidate everything here in New York."

"And the staff- they just moved? Just like that?"

"Not everyone did," I admitted. "Those who didn't want to leave the South Bay got transferred into one of my other departments. Most did, though, and we picked up a few new hires."

"I saw several day walkers," Emmy said.

"Yeah, we have a few," I replied.

"Do they know?" Emmy asked.

"Know what?" I asked, trying to keep my face as guileless as possible, but I couldn't help but break into a smile. "Of course they do. They're all somehow Night Child-adjacent. Wives or husbands of Night Children or something like that. They knew about Night Children before getting hired on. That reminds me- we have a dinner date tomorrow night over at Michael's new place- we'll get to meet his girlfriend Vivian and her little daughter. They're day walkers."

"Michael has a day walker girlfriend?" Emmy asked, astonished. "And she has a daughter?"

"Named Amy," I confirmed. "I've seen pictures of the two of them, but haven't met them in person. Amy's a little cutie."

"How did I not know this? How long has Michael been seeing her?"

"A few years now," I said. "I knew they were pretty serious, but Michael wasn't sure if she'd be willing to move to New York with him. I guess she decided that it was the right thing to do. I don't know if she managed to get a job transfer or what. I guess we'll find out at dinner tomorrow."

"Are they thinking about marriage?" Emmy asked, her eyes wide.

"I haven't asked," I confessed. "I didn't want to pry."

Emmy leaned back in her chair, remembering her food. After a few bites, she asked, "Why did you not tell me all of this?"

Shrugging, I said, "It never came up. It's not like I was trying to hide it or anything, it's just not something that's come up in conversation."

Emmy's expression turned thoughtful. "We really do not speak much of Night Children things, do we? I am supposed to be the queen, and yet I ignore them almost entirely."

"Em," I said, laying my hand on hers. "Let's be honest. You've been doing exactly the right amount. You're the perfect figurehead. Distant enough to be perfect, perfect enough to be universally loved. I have no problem with you leaving the day-to-day with me."

Emmy sighed, her shoulders drooping. "I feel very guilty about burdening you with this."

"We've been over this too many times to count now," I replied. "I volunteered. As far as I'm concerned, that's that."

Emmy sighed, but didn't reply. I think I understood her guilt, but to my mind it was just so unnecessary for her to beat herself up about it. I was taking care of things so she could be that figurehead her people needed. It was as simple as that.

"I think Jeremy is in love a little bit with Luisa," Emmy said after a while, changing the subject. "I see it in the way he looks at her sometimes."

"I can't blame him one bit," I replied, savoring my crème brûlée. "I mean, besides the obvious fact that she's really pretty and a great cook, she's nice, too, and she helped nurse him back to health after Atlanta."

"All very good reasons," Emmy agreed, sneaking a little spoonful of my dessert.

Luisa made us a wonderful lasagna that night. Emmy had suggested we go out, but I may have begged a little to get her to reconsider. I pointed out that I'd had just one night at home in over half a month, and all I wanted to do was snuggle by the fire with my honey. After all, the weather was terrible outside, anyway, I pointed out.

Relenting, Emmy gave in. Snuggling by the fire in our parlor didn't sound so bad, she admitted.

I opened the bottle of wine Emmy had brought up from the cellar and poured us a couple of glasses while Emmy got the fire started and turned the lights down low.

"This wine is from a vineyard a few kilometers from ours in Médoc," Emmy said when she accepted the glass I handed her. "My father has offered many times to buy the winery, but the family refuses to sell."

"I hope he doesn't pressure them into it," I said, knowing just how persuasive Emmy's dad could be.

"No, I do not think he does," Emmy said, taking a sip. "I think he simply makes it clear that if they ever do wish to sell, he would be happy to buy it and keep it as it is. That idea- that sort of continuity- is very important in that part of the country. They love their traditions."

"I can understand that," I said as I lay back and indicated that Emmy should drape herself across me, which she promptly did.

Once Emmy had found the right position and draped the knit afghan across the two of us, she let out a soft, satisfied sigh.

"You were right. This is much better than going out," she said, her voice soft.

"This is very nice," I agreed, kissing her hair, breathing in the soft jasmine scent. "The nicest," I added.

We lay like that for a while, listening to the crackle of the flames and the uneven downpour of the rain against the windows. I wasn't really thinking of much besides how nice it was just to be with the woman I loved, when Emmy interrupted my train of thought, such as it was.

"Thank you, Leah," she said, leaving me to wonder just what I was being thanked for.

"You're welcome," I replied, unclear on what we were talking about.

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