Afternoon, though it wasn’t always easy to tell that from the ground of Sector 5. Vast skyscrapers stretched out and crowded the streets leaving much of the sector in shade. For most that casually walked on the streets, this was a normal day. Nothing made it stand out as strange or off. Yet as the calm before the storm, the destructive force would catch all by surprise.

But the same for everyone was the same for Katlyn as she walked back from the store. She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten to get flour for dinner. It was too late to call in a delivery bot, they wouldn’t get to their home in time for dinner. So she had to make it on foot. Not that was a bad thing at all. Sometimes it was nice to get out of the apartment and just walk through the city. Such moments became something that she cherished more since having a family. Balancing work with children left her with little else on her hands.

Her stroll back stayed uneventful. A ride up the elevator to the hundred and twentieth floor brought her back home. The hallway only had a few doors. Each floor in this part of the building were condos rather than rented rooms. It gave them more stability to raise their family.

Passing three doors on her left, she came to their home. Placing a hand on the panel next to the door frame, a blue light ran down the panel scanning her hand. “Physical and genetic match confirmed. Welcome home, Mrs. Mills,” a woman’s voice said. Even though it was computer generated it easily passed for someone that you might meet off the street. Each voice was adjustable by the owner allowing for something pleasing for whatever the tastes might be.

Their door slid open greeting her home with the sounds of her children and husband playing off in a different room. “I’m back! Dinner will be in an hour!” she shouted through the room.

“Dinner!” shouted Abby running out of the play room into the living room to greet her mother.

Katlyn knelt down letting Abby see her before she started to cook. “That’s right, but it won’t be ready for a while. So you get to play with Daddy for a bit longer.”

“But I wanna help you!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Katlyn spotted her son, the youngest, poking out from around the door. Curiosity towards Abby seemed to have made play less appealing to him. Franklin stepped out behind him smiling to her silently encouraging their children in persuading her. “Alright, let’s all help out then!”

“I get to help!” Abby cheered bouncing around at her feet.

Handing over the bag that she carried, she directed Abby over to the counter. “Why don’t to take that over for me. I’ll start getting things prepared and you can help your brother get the rest of the ingredients. Dear, why don’t you help them out?”

Franklin knelt down picking up Stephen and putting him on his shoulder. “Looks like you get to be the big man tonight!”

Half way through the prep work, a call came through the speakers, “Mrs. Mills you have a call from a Mr. Brookwell at Arrow Technologies.”

She paused looking over at Franklin disappointed that their family night was being interrupted. But he nodded to her and picked up where she as working so that she could step away. Wiping her hands off the towel quickly, she stepped out of the kitchen. “Direct the call to the office.”

“Yes, ma’am. One moment.”

The lights slowly grew in brightness as she walked into the office. Behind her, the door slid closed. “Privacy Mode engaged.” While most of her clients that she still kept around didn’t regularly discuss or have secrets out in the room during calls, privacy was part of her trade. And she respected all of their work not to risk such things slipping out. Most of her clients, and by her years with them, friends, held important roles within various highly competitive fields. Stress came as part of the job and one that she was good at relieving.

She turned to face the wall as a holographic image cascaded down the ceiling like a waterfall projecting the image of a young and very attractive man. Mr. Brookwell, one of her oldest clients that she picked up in her first year. He trusted no one but her and could not give up her services even when she started a family. At the very least, he was generally very respectful of her life and didn’t pick such hours to call. She had regulated times for her clients to call and schedule, this was well outside of her window. ‘What’s wrong? It’s not like him to call me off hours.’

“Katlyn! I’m really sorry, I wouldn’t be calling you if it wasn’t an emergency.”

Seeing him filling up nearly the whole wall was shocking and walked her back a few steps. “Calm down, Jack, breathe a little.”

He immediately saw the look on her face and slight bit of fear. It sharply curbed much of his intensity as he fell back in his chair. “I’m sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you like that.” Breathing seemed to still be something he struggled with maintaining.

Working him through her normal routine with him, she took a minute to get his tension brought down to manageable levels. It was a bit of a surprise at times for her that he could be the CEO of the corporation with how badly he handled stressful situations. He used her services a lot during her regular days, but now he had to manage on his own more often. She feared he became too dependent on her help.

“What’s wrong, Jack?”

A sigh escaped his lips. “What’s not wrong!”

“Things aren’t that bad. What’s the current problem?”

“Oh right, I’ve got a big merger tomorrow that I have to attend and everything that can go wrong is going wrong. I’ve got most of the fires under control now, but my hands won’t stop shaking and I feel like my heart’s going to explode. Please, Katlyn, I know this isn’t normal, but I need you! I can’t calm down and I need to be focused to complete this merger!”

“I understand, but Jack I’m having dinner right now with my family.”

“Please, Katlyn. After dinner? I wouldn’t be asking you if it wasn’t important.”

“I know.” Her shoulders dropped a little knowing how sad that they would be hearing their mom had to leave. She took a moment putting it all together in her head. There was no other way. “Give me three hours, Jack.”

“Thank you so much!”

The call ended with a black screen appearing over the mist as it disappeared into the wall returning the soft cream of the room back. She walked back over to the door as it unlocked. “Privacy Mode disengaged.” Back out in the living room, Katlyn could see her children looking a little worse for wear with Franklin’s help. She smiled a little seeing them making progress if not a mess too.

She walked back into the kitchen joining them to finish dinner. While Franklin kept watch on the noodles and sauce, she pushed around the breaded chicken. “How’s Jack doing?” he asked.

“About as you expect.”

“That bad?”

“Unfortunately.”

“When?”

“After dinner, I’m sorry. We were going to spend the night together after they went to sleep.”

He leaned over and kissed her on the temple. “Don’t worry about it, I know how important your clients are to you and how much they need you. We’ll still have some time before my flight in the morning.”

“What are you talking about Daddy?” Abby nosed in with hands covered in a flour mix.

He patted her on the head a little. “Just what games we’re going to play tonight!”

One hour till the end…