Title: Optional Illusion

Author: Pigeon Eve

Rating: M for later chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, situations or anything associated with "Jericho". Actually, I pretty much don't own anything.

Author Note - on the profile.

1. Running in. Literally.

It was already past noon and there still was a long road in front of her. Claire sighed and turned off the radio, it was starting to get on her nerves. She tightened her grip on the wheel and yawned. How was she supposed to know that getting out of Denver and going to a supermarket would take so long? Now she probably would not arrive in town until after sunset. Absentmindedly she noted that that really was not the reason she was feeling so vexed.

If the sun is set when she arrives, she still will be able to take some pictures with her night equipment and if not… Tomorrow is a new day, besides it was not like photographing was her job. 'I don't have a job, as the matter of fact,' she thought, besides the tavern she was supposed to stay at had no required check in time. Her arrival time at the Jericho was highly unimportant.

That decided she shifted a bit in her seat, not tearing her gaze from the road, and turned the radio on. It was a bit lonely without the annoying noise. The radio did not work. She frowned as she turned her attention to the dashboard as she aggressively pressed the buttons. It had no effect on the radio what so ever. Frowning and turning her attention back to the road, she barely managed to slam on the brakes before she collided with another car that skidded into her lane.

OIOIOI

Jake coughed as he drifted back to consciousness. 'This is not my day,' was his first half-clear thought. Only a moment later a nasty pain in his thigh cleared his mind completely. He leaned over but the movement caused a throbbing pain at the back of his head. He must have hit it pretty hard against the headrest. Jake looked more closely at the painful cut on his thigh and pressed his hand against it. "Ow!" he grunted. 'That hurt,'

He drew in a few calming breaths and let the pain in his head subside before he tried to get out of the car. The second collision had dented his door inward so he had to open it by force. That made the pain at the back of his head return. He slowly stepped out of the car being careful not to put too much weight on his injured leg and closed the door while looking around.

At the other side of the road was the car he had first collided with, he half-hopped and half-limped to it. In the car was a middle-aged couple, he guessed that they had been distracted by the explosion as well. He opened the passenger door to check on the woman, the windshield in front of her was damaged and she had not fastened seatbelt, so it was not hard to draw a conclusion. She had no pulse. He looked over her to the driver – it was obvious that the man if not already dead then soon would be. There was nothing he could do for them. Jake sighed deeply and shut the door.

A little further in the middle of the road stood another car. There were skid marks that indicated that the driver had tried to stop but clearly had reacted too late. Jake limped to the car hoping that maybe this one had made it. The driver was a woman and there was no passenger. She was lying with her face against an airbag. He opened the door and checked if she had a pulse – after a moment he felt it. It was quite steady, she was alive. He let out a relieved breath and carefully pushed her against the seat so that she could breathe more freely. He looked her over and it seemed that she had no visible injuries except the one on her forehead, obviously from hitting the airbag.

"Hey," he called her softly as he slightly shook her shoulder.

OIOIOI

Somebody was poking her, actually, shaking but that didn't matter to her at the moment. She frowned as she slowly came to awareness. She kept her eyes closed as she tried to perceive if she was injured or not and if yes, then where. These thoughts had a calming effect on her. Her head and face was hurting, she concluded that her mother had been right after all – an airbag was like a hard punch in the face. The thought made her gasp and she finally opened her eyes.

"Hey, everything's okay," Jake drawled in a calming manner when he noticed that she was finally coming around.

"My very first car crash," her voice did not quiver as she slowly said the words tasting them out, then she laughed.

"Hey… Listen, are you okay?" he asked. Jake did not rule out the possibility that she might be in shock. "Do you feel something strange?"

She calmly turned her gaze from the road in front of her to the man at her side. "No," she replied, not thinking much about it. Sure, her head was hurting but there was nothing strange about that and her arms were tingling, but that wasn't a particularly unusual feeling either. "You are bleeding," she stated when she had looked him up and down.

"I know," he replied with a smile.

She snorted and moved to do something about the airbag that was not deflating. The movement caused a sharp pain in both of her hands. She cried out and did not dare to move her arms again.

"You said you didn't feel anything strange," he said peevishly and took out his pocket-knife to pierce the airbag that was in her way.

"My arms are tingling, it is not a particularly unusual feeling," Claire replied as she propped her head against headrest. She tried to convince herself that the guy was just trying to help and did not deserve to be glared at even if his tone was a bit irksome.

He shook his head and carefully took her right hand in his. She hissed. "Where does it hurt?" he asked while studying her hand.

"My wrist," she heavily breathed out. Having him pawing at her already hurting hand was not a nice experience. "And, I think, on the left hand, it's my fingers," she thought, it was worth telling him of her suspicion if that would save her other arm from his examination.

"Hold your right hand close to yourself," Jake said, helping her press the hand against her stomach. "I think you have sprained your wrist. Do you have some kind of first aid kit?"

"What?"

"First aid …,"

"I heard that the first time," she interrupted. "I mean – can't we just wait till an ambulance arrives?" Her hand was not hurting that bad and she was willing to wait for a qualified doctor rather than doing something on her own or letting him do it. Secretly Claire was hoping for pain killers, she had no wish to move her hand again without them and she was fairly sure that she had none of them in her new first aid kit.

"Didn't you see the explosion?" Jake asked. He was a bit confused now although it was kind of funny how fast her hopeful expression became blank. Jake suspected that she was hoping for pain killers. He knew he wanted some.

"No," she answered. Claire had been busy with her radio and had not seen the mushroom cloud in the horizon. She intently looked at the man prompting him to tell her what he knew.

"It was a mushroom cloud. Somewhere… around Denver, I guess. All communication is off line, there is no ambulance coming," he told her.

Claire laughed bitterly. There was nothing else she could do or say, because there really isn't anything that one can say when one hears that some city not too far away probably got bombed off the face of earth a moment ago. 'Literally earth-shaking.' "In the trunk, on the right side. It's a big green box – you will know when you see it," she said resigned to her fate. She just knew that it was going to hurt and that probably was just the beginning. 'Someone up there loves me so…,'

About twenty minutes later her right wrist was braced and she knew the name of the man. She was sitting in the trunk of her car and the guy was sitting on the edge of it while looking over her left hand fingers.

"You're right. You have four dislocated fingers," he finally said. "I have to move them back. While it is possible that we'll get to town and to the medical center soon enough, it'll be more painful if it's done later and there's really no telling when we would be able to get to town," he told her looking down at her face. Jake really couldn't place her, but he was fairly sure he had seen her before, well, at least someone very similar to her. He shook his head convincing himself that he was being silly when no specific memory came into mind.

She huffed. "I really don't know why you are trying to convince me," she said after a moment. "We both know it needs to be done and giving me an opening for whining is not really helping, even if it is kind of sweet,"

"See, you do know," he said with a grin on his face. "It will hurt," now he was serious. Before she could make some kind of sarcastic retort Jake quickly wrenched one of her fingers back in place. From experience he knew that it was better to do it while the person was not expecting it.

Claire had no preconceptions about screaming when in pain. She yelled at the top of her voice when he jerked her finger. "It… Will… Hurt," breathing heavily she mimicked Jake. He let her mock him for a moment before wrenching another finger. She yelled again and hit her thigh with her other hand, needless to say that that hurt as well but served the purpose of diverting her thoughts from her fingers. Before she could say anything else he swiftly wrenched the other two dislocated fingers back into their sockets. She was breathing heavily and irregularly by the time he had bandaged her fingers together so that they were stock-still.

"There, that's all," he mumbled letting her hand go. "Better?"

She looked at her bandaged fingers, they were sore but now she could at least move her hand without whimpering. "Yes," she answered after giving it a moment of thought. "Thank you,"

"You're welcome,"

Then there was a moment of silence. She looked at his face, her mother had been a doctor and Claire was aware that not every person knew how to push back dislocated fingers especially with the amount of skill that Jake possessed. She for one did not know how to do it, but was grateful that he obviously did. Jake did not volunteer information about his knowledge and Claire did not ask. She was not a very curious person. "You should put a bandage on your leg,"

"What?" he asked. Jake had forgotten for a moment about the cut on his thigh. "Oh," he said.

OIOIOI

Everybody was doing something or rushing somewhere in the Sheriff's Office at Jericho's Town Hall and while the activity itself was not unusual, the agitation in the air was. However, Theresa paid no heed to the atmosphere; she came in half-running worried for her youngest daughter.

"Mr. Mayor… Sheriff! A bomb…," she breathed out. Theresa's eldest only now caught up with her.

"Yes Ma'am. So far there's no sign of any radiation. We'll keep checking around the town…," the Mayor misunderstood her worry and in a calm and drawling manner proceeded to explain that there was nothing to worry about. Yet.

"No, no, no. No, sir!" she interrupted him in one breath. "The school bus isn't back from the field trip with my daughter," she explained hastily.

It wasn't uncommon for a school bus to be late, however in the light of recent events it could be a matter of concern. The Mayor knew that and he was aware that Theresa knew it as well. Johnston half-turned to Eric to ask him when the bus was supposed to be back, after all, mothers were known to exaggerate when... "Well do something!" Theresa exclaimed when there was no immediate action taken upon the receipt of her news.

"I got it!" his son claimed the task. Johnston looked at him and nodded in agreement before Eric set off.

"You should be out there looking for Stacy!" Theresa said accusingly when Johnston turned his attention back to her.

"Ma'am," he started, but then decided to do the familiar approach. It always worked better on people who were distraught. "Theresa. This is the first we've heard of it, but we will deal with it, alright?" It was a rhetorical question, but he figured that a small token which would indicate that he takes into account her opinion would be helpful in calming her. The last thing he needed now was a hysterical and worried mother. "Just … Please don't worry," he said with a pleasant smile on his face.

Theresa was infuriated. Her child was missing with a bunch of other kids and all the Mayor could tell her was – please, don't worry? Of course she worried! She worried for her children twenty-four seven and now even more than usual. "That's easy for you to say!" she said coldly. She had noticed that he approached her as a fellow citizen now rather than Mayor. In other circumstances that might have had a calming effect on her, however now it did not. She did not want a fellow citizen, she wanted a Mayor who would solve the problem and find her little girl. "You don't have a child out there!" she spat.

Theresa was both – wrong and correct. Johnston's both sons were adults however a child always stays a child to the parent no matter how many years come to pass. Johnston may have disagreed with Jake on many, well, most things and been harsh with his son, but that had never meant that he did not love him. The relationship between father and son was complicated and definitely not the best one around, but it tore at Johnston's heart to think that something might have happened to his son out there.

His conflicting feelings must have shown on his face because Theresa ceased her verbal attack. She looked at him with pity in her eyes. When Johnston's face turned pale upon mentioning children 'out there' she knew that there was only one person her Mayor could think of – Johnston Jacob Green Junior - Jake. Theresa did not step away but she did settle down, finally letting her oldest daughter comfort her and the men do their jobs without hindrance.

OIOIOI

"Please, please, please!" Claire mumbled under her breath while sitting in the passenger seat. "Be a nice, little car and work! Be nice, little car! And I will... I'll buy you a nice air freshener if you will start!" she muttered while Jake tried to start her car. "You know you want it!"

They would never know if it was Claire's bribing or Jake's knowledge of engines, which was quite lacking, that got the car going, but it finally started. Jake laughed and Claire whooped without clapping. Neither of them had fancied the possibility of walking back to Jericho.

They had not gotten too far when Claire, who was looking out of the window, saw two children atop a hill desperately waving with their hands to get noticed. "Stop!"

Jake was first to get out of the car, Claire suspected it was because that unlike her he could open his own door without any problems. Absentmindedly she wondered how many problems her tingling fingers and wrist would cause her in the future.

"Mister! Help! Miss! Please!" a school-aged girl called out as she ran to them. "Miss! Help! Mister! Mister!"

"Mister! Miss! I-I think they're dying!" a boy of similar age blurted out looking between Claire and Jake.

Claire thought that the children were exaggerating and needed to calm down but before she could ask them anything …"Come! Get in the car, we'll drive," Jake said hurriedly.

They were driving as fast as they could as to not risk blowing out a tire on the mud road and that was only because Claire had insisted on that. Jake had glared quite nastily at her when she suggested for him to slow down until she justified it by saying that it would do no good to anyone if they were to break their necks on the road. Personally Claire had enough accidents for one day. It took about fifteen minutes for them to reach the school bus. The little girl would not stop talking and while most of it was prattle Claire managed to perceive some useful information and judging from Jake's expression she knew that she was not the only one.

"It just went crazy and it was running all over the road!" the little girl tearfully exclaimed when they got out of the car and pointed her finger at an animal that was lying by the front of the bus.

"Alright, just don't look," Jake instructed, although there was no real need for it. It just felt to him like the right thing to say.

Jake got to the bus first even with all his limping, which probably was a good thing, because Claire couldn't imagine how long it would take for her to open the doors. This was just another incident that firmed her belief that limping people always got ahead faster. It was some kind of bizarre yet true law of nature.

Jake got on the bus and the first he noticed was the driver. It seemed like today was his 'saving people that got into a car crash' day. As long as they survived he didn't mind. Jake checked on the driver and then leaned on the man a bit to steady himself.

"Is he alive?" a woman lying in the first seat asked.

Claire thought that that was a good question. She was wondering about it herself. Her mother might have been a doctor but Claire had inherited very little of mother's love for medical knowledge so she was once again very happy that Jake took the lead.

"Yeah," Jake answered and turned to lean on the railing in front of teacher's seat. "You okay?"

"Yeah," the teacher replied and paused, however before Claire could declare that then everything was peachy, Heather continued, "I think my leg is broken,"

"Pretty strange sense of what is fine and what is not," Claire murmured.

"You feel your toes?" Jake asked deciding to let Claire's comment slide. 'As if her sense wasn't twisted,' he thought referring to the incident earlier in her car when she was supposedly fine and crying out in pain.

"Yeah," the teacher replied a moment later. "Don't worry about me. Worry about them," she added, this time without taking a pause.

'Great, no pressure whatsoever,' Claire thought.

Jake took off his jacket and gave it to the teacher; he thought that she might be cold. Claire thought that this was another of Jake's 'sweet and useless' gestures as she had started to call them. Well, the name for them popped in her mind only now, as she remembered their talk before he nicely wrenched her fingers, but that wasn't the point.

Jake turned his gaze from the teacher to the rest of the bus. It was already quite dark but he could see enough to know that there were quite a lot of children. "Is anybody hurt? Huh?" Jake asked. "Anybody?"

The way he formed his question made Claire think that he was seriously looking for trouble. On the other hand she knew that she was in pain and lightheaded and probably not quite right in her mind at the moment so she supposed that her opinion might be a little bit biased.

"Stacy's sick! She can't breathe!" a kid somewhere at the back of the bus called.

"Oh," Jake grunted and then pretty quickly for an injured man took off to the back of the bus. Now that Jake was not blocking the entrance Claire finally got on the bus. "Hi," she whispered to the teacher and after a moment's hesitation went to the back to see what Jake was doing. 'Be careful what you look for…,'

"What's wrong? What happened?" Jake questioned the boy even though he was looking at the girl. Claire shooed another girl from the seat before Stacy's and sat down.

"When the bus stopped, she was like this," the boy told and showed that Stacy's neck was on the back of the seat in front. Claire refrained from grimacing and looked at the girl who was struggling to breathe. Stacy's injury looked and sounded painful.

"Its okay let me see it. Let me see it. See. Let me see, Stacy," Jake rushed out trying to get the girl to show him her neck. "It's going to be okay. It's okay," he murmured to get her to calm down. Claire thought that at the moment he was more worked up than the little girl, and she was concerned that soon his anxiety would get Stacy worried as well.

"Do you have an ice pack?" he questioned a moment later, turning to the teacher. "We've got to stop the swelling now!"

Claire counted it to be a positive thing that his voice didn't tremble. "Easy," she drawled while the teacher instructed some boy to get them the First Aid kit.

Stacy was getting more worried by the second. Claire feared that if the girl would become too worried she won't be able to breathe. "Stacy, that's your name right? Stacy, everything's going to be…,"

"Okay," Jake interrupted. Either that or he finished for her, but Claire doubted that he even was aware that she had opened her mouth. "Come on! It's alright. Just keep breathing. Breathe normally, alright? It's okay," he said hurriedly. The boy, Lucas, finally brought the First Aid kit and Jake took out the ice bag and put it on Stacy's neck. "You're fine. Just keep breathing normally. You're okay. Okay,"

"Please…," Stacy breathed. "Hurts…,"

Claire sighed deeply. Hurt children were a soft spot for her, but it seemed that it was a phobia for Jake. His fretting got Stacy agitated as well. Still Claire held her silence, first because unlike her he could use both of his hands and second despite his nervousness he did seem to know what to do, yet she remained and kept a close eye on both of them. She doubted that that was any kind of help at all, but it did make her feel better about all of this.

"Calm down," Jake said but Stacy was already closing her eyes. "Hey, Stacy!" Jake called but the girl did not respond. "No, no, no, no," Jake muttered, leaning over to hear if the girl was still breathing. She wasn't.

He looked at Stacy's face with his own expression blank. It couldn't be. Not again. For a moment instead of Stacy he saw another small girl, pale and dying. Drawing her last breath right in front of him. Because of him. It couldn't end like this. "Think!" he muttered to himself. "Think! Think!"

When Stacy stopped breathing Claire felt something in her throat tighten. 'No!' Her hands started to shake and tears sprang into her eyes. It wasn't just Stacy that threw Claire off balance, it were the memories that Stacy triggered. The little unmoving and unbreathing girl reminded Claire of how still her own sister, Layla, had laid - unmoving and cold in her arms, and how hot Layla's blood had been on her hands and robes. Claire turned her gaze to Jake looking for him to do something as she herself couldn't. She didn't see his inner struggle because of her own.

"Alright," Jake knew what to do. "Look, I need everyone's help right now. Who has a pen? Does anyone?" Jake was turning around, looking and hoping for someone to raise their hand. "Does anybody have a pen? Alright, I need a pen!"

"We have pencils," spoke the same boy who had brought First Aid kit.

"No, I need a… I need a tube!" Jake exclaimed. "Something hollow, um, a straw!"

"I have a straw!" a girl called out. Jake recognized her; she was the one whom he and Claire had picked up on the road.

After finding out that the girl's name was Julie and that other kids had straws too, he instructed them to give their straws to her and make them into a circle. He disinfected his pocket knife with an ethanol patch from the First Aid kit and concentrated on performing an emergency tracheotomy on Stacy.

Not a minute later Stacy was able to breathe again. Jake sighed and almost cried in relief when the child opened her eyes. He smiled at her and fell back onto another seat. He breathed deeply letting the events of last few moments to slowly set in. His gaze traveled around and stopped at Claire's face for a moment. She was pale and had a far-away look on her face… Her face. He had seen her before, he was certain. 'It can't be… No.'

His pondering was interrupted by an awed kid who asked "Where did you learn how to do that?"

Jake took a moment to recollect his thoughts "Uh… Military school,"

Jake's answer only impressed the kid more "Were you a soldier?"

Jake chuckled and said "No, a screw up,"

Claire shook her head in an effort to get rid of her obtrusive memories. She had tried to forget what had happened to her stepsister, she knew that it was wrong but she had no wish to remember. Her gaze became focused again and she looked at Stacy. Jake had saved her. Claire was glad that despite all his nervousness he had been the one in charge, after all, with all her smart attitude it was she who had freaked out in the end. Claire was angry at herself for losing control like that because if Jake hadn't been there, her inability to get a grip on herself could have cost a little girl's life. It wasn't going to happen again. She promised herself that. 'The past belongs to the past. It does no good to me or to the dead when I keep digging it up like that,' unfortunately she had been repeating that to herself for almost three years now. Well, practice is a charm. 'At least, that is what they say,'

"You okay?" Jake asked turning to Claire.

"Yes," Claire answered a moment later. He didn't look particularly convinced. "Really, I am fine and dandy," she asserted now sounding more convincing. Claire wasn't sure how true her words were, but she knew that she would be, after all, time heals all wounds and if the bomb in Denver wasn't the only one… The world was going to be a hectic place and she'll have no time to be anything other than just peachy.

Jake still wasn't convinced but at the moment he simply did not have the time or the patience needed to try and drag information out of her. To be frank, he wasn't sure he even wanted to try, he was afraid of what he might hear. He was afraid of what he might see when he would close his eyes. Jake was tired of nightmares.

He went off the bus to have a look at the tires. He hoped that there were none that were blown out, that would certainly add to their problems. "Where's the damn rescue party?" he muttered while looking it over. Thankfully the tires seemed to be fine.

He got back in the bus and brought Stacy to the front, to the seat just behind the teacher's so that she could keep an eye on her. After all, Stacy knew her teacher – he and Claire were strangers, he figured that a familiar adult face would help.

"How is she?" Heather asked quietly when he lied the child down on the seat.

"I need to get her back," he answered.

Claire who had followed Jake from the back of the bus said, "I can drive."

"No, you can't," Jake replied. His answer was quick and automatic; he had not given it much thought. He wondered what the hell Claire was thinking.

"I can," she persisted. "No, listen!" she put her hand in the air to signal him to hold his silence and let her speak. "I can drive, it won't necessarily be fun but I know I can do it. I will get Stacy to town faster by car than you can by the bus. It has to be me driving the car because the teacher has broken her leg and I have no idea how to drive a bus," Claire was of the opinion that she could figure how to get the bus going if the need be, but at the moment she was trying to make a point.

"By car?" he questioned. "No, let's just all stay together and go by bus, who knows what can happen if we split up," he wasn't going to let her drive off. Jake wasn't sure that she even knew how to get to town. 'This is madness.'

"We are wasting time. I know the road to the town," well that wasn't entirely untrue – she had had to look at the map to find out where Jericho was, before setting out from Denver so she did know the general direction. "I could get there and get help," she stated and went around him to stand on the steps by the door.

"You could get lost in the dark besides you can't drive, or have you forgotten?" he asked, indicating her bandaged fingers while getting more and more irate. "No, I'm not letting you go it's as simple as that," he stated and went to drag the bus driver to an empty seat. His turned back clearly told her that this conversation was over.

Claire snarled. She supposed that he did have the right to not let her take Stacy and go, but he had no right to forbid her from going by herself. She played for a moment with the thought of going by herself only to make a point, but decided that that would be fairly masochistic and stupid. 'Damn him,' she decided not to continue the quarrel as it was obvious he wouldn't take her objections seriously and they had already wasted time. That is – for now. 'Stupid male, …'

Heather watched the passages between them with a bit of amusement. "How long have you known him?" she asked Claire while Jake was dragging the bus driver to an empty seat. Heather had the impression that they had known each other for some time.

"Him?" Claire asked indicating to Jake and leaning on the handrail in front of teacher's seat. Heather had interrupted a pretty long string of curses directed at Jake in Claire's mind. 'Pity. I was getting innovative,' "Not too long. Three maybe four hours, I guess,"

"Oh," before Heather could say anything else Julie settled by her side. Heather had to admit that Claire's answer made her feel … 'Content, I suppose.'

"Miss Lisinski?" Julie questioned. It was obvious that the little girl was tired. "Are we going to have school tomorrow?"

"We'll figure it out, honey," Heather replied soothingly. She could make no promises but, personally, she thought that they should be granted a holiday tomorrow. Heather was an enthusiastic teacher but even she had no wish to wake up at 6 AM after this eventful night.

"I vote no," Julie muttered.

"Me too!" Claire chimed in. "That is if I get to vote," she added with a smile.

"We'll figure out that one too," Heather said with a quiet laugh.

"Goody!" Claire exclaimed. Moment later Jake fell into the driver's seat and groaned loudly. Claire looked at him; it seemed that his leg was bleeding again. She had to admit that she felt a bit sorry for cursing him in her mind when he looked so pitiful. After all, it wasn't nice to kick a man when he's down. "Not so goody," she muttered. "You are bleeding," Claire stated.

Jake looked at her with an annoyed expression. He knew he was bleeding and hurting, and while, generally he could appreciate the humor… Frankly at the moment it was getting on his nerves. It wasn't like he could do something about it and he certainly didn't need reminding. "I know," he growled.

Claire raised her hands as to signal 'don't shoot'. "No need to get aggressive," she muttered more to herself than to any others however both Heather and Jake heard her. Julie apparently was busy telling something to Stacy and hadn't heard her. Claire figured that was a good thing, if Stacy's attention was focused on something it was less likely that the girl would panic.

"I meant that maybe you should let me drive the bus. At least while you take care of your leg," she said calmly.

"You said you don't know how to drive a bus," he retorted slowly and suspiciously.

"Oops?" she offered. "Look, I really have no experience in bus driving but I figure that neither do you and as I am not the one bleeding to death…," she had to refrain from adding 'Duh!' at the end of her speech. It was one of those pointless and useless and childish things that just irked to be said or done no matter how old you got.

"She has a point," Heather offered assistance to Claire.

Jake thought for a moment before he nodded in agreement. It seemed that Heather's opinion had had the lead role in convincing 'the male' as Claire referred to him in her latest thoughts not really meaning to be offensive though unable to correctly recall his name.