It didn't seem strange to me that Russell was so much older than me, He certainly didn't look it. It didn't matter that he was a father to 2 boys already (Dion had died long ago), I had my own boys. I had my own grandchildren. The age of Lionel and Andre' didn't bother me either, so what if they were older than me; Lacey and Brian had done so much during their lives, and I felt that I had been through enough in my life that all these things just didn't matter anymore. I had the studio, and I was taking care of myself for a change.

Brien II, well that part of my life was over now. I don't deny that I loved him, because I did. The problem was that he didn't love me. He loved Sheri, and it had turned into more than that. It was an obsession, he raped her. And now there was a little boy named Elijah, that our son and HIS wife Sheri were raising. My son had been put in a position where he was raising his brother as his own child.

I spent a lot of time between my divorce from Brien II, and the beginning of my relationship with Russ; working hard to train my dance students, and playing with my grandchildren. Maybe Russ remembers how we met, I just know that I had never been with a man like Russell Chandler before. Yes, Ransom was wonderful, committed, and so much more to me than I can express, but things were different with Russ.
I think Sheri and Brian had their doubts about how things with Russ would work out, but I knew better. I knew Russ, there was no family obligation tying him to me, and no other woman that his heart was wrapped around; I knew the signs now, and they weren't there. I even went to see Ransom, well, his burial spot that is. It was more where I had buried things very close to him, that I had planned at some point to dig up and give to Lacey. I would have dug it up sooner, but it was too dangerous, I had to be sure that my family was safe from harm, and the war being over, now was as good a time as any.

It had been soo long since I had been to that place. Of course, Ransom and I had planned ahead and done this together, so it was the nearest thing to having him with me as there could be. I asked Russ if he would take me there, and when we arrived, I asked him to wait by the fence for me. I walked over to that special tree, and began talking to my dead love. This was more painful than I had imagined, and I was weeping before I had even begun to dig up the box. I asked him to forgive me for turning so quickly into Brien II's arms, and for all the things that I thought may have upset him over the years. I carefully dug up the box, but when I pulled it out of the ground, it's contents spilled out across the grass. Everything became fresh, the pain of losing him, the betrayal by Brien, Lacey's birth, everything came flooding back, and I collapsed. Russ came over to me; worried that I may be hurt, and held me, when I had calmed, he helped me to get up, and put things back in the box.
I had Russell take me back to the dance studio, and asked him to leave me there, I would be alright. I just needed to be alone for a bit. As I went through the box, I couldn't help but smile. Ransom had put something special in the box, just for me. It was made from a Shiman metal, which never tarnishes, I remembered looking at it on the space station. The woman had said that it was capable of holding thoughts, if you held onto it long enough. Then I thought more about it, and wondered at how it had gotten here, Ransom and I had put the box together before he died, but I had gone through it again carefully before burying it in the cemetery.
Holding it, I felt a wash of love, and it started to glow. What followed was like a dream, beginning with personal things between Ransom and I, and becoming a piece of jewelry that held secrets about so many "classified" things, that I began to get scared. I called Lacey, and arranged to meet him somewhere private. I told him the story behind all that was in the box, and suggested that he not handle the jewelry- but that he should put in a safety deposit box.