Hiyo! I'm so sorry that it's taken me this long to update. I know that I promised you an update last weekend…but the family situation has gotten worse and I didn't have access to my laptop. I'm so so so sorry! I hope that this chapter will make you love me again. I promise that I'm going somewhere with all of this. I'm going to introduce some incredible new/old characters in Chapter Six! You're going to love it, I think!

Kountry101: You shan't be hanging for much longer! If you've read Gag Me with a Corncob, though, you should have guessed it…

1angelette: Of course I'd tell you, Lenga. Just PM me on Ushi whenever the site's back up and I'll be sure to tell you. But I think you'll be disappointed if you're a big Lumina fan. Not saying anymore here.

Hmgirly12: Oh! Oh! Am I detecting the scent of a new reviewer, or am I just stupid? Thanks so much for your review! Eeeeheee!

Libra1: Well…it isn't Karen. Karen's too busy being a pregnant hormonal nutcake at the moment…thanks for your review, though!

Moonlit Dreaming: Thank you, thank you, thank you! -hugs-

Awesome Rapidash: Oh…you are so sweet! Thank you so much! I have an even bigger cliffie coming up for you next chapter…man…I'm getting angsty just thinking about it!

Niraak: Behold! I reveal THE WOMAN this chapter! Thank you for your review, it made me smile!

Morgan Lee Faye: If you're getting angry with all the suspense, there's no relief in sight for a whole chapter yet…but on Chapter Six, I'll reveal it all and boy will you be surprised, I'm thinking!

Gamerzgal: Wah! I'm…speechless…that…is…so…SWEET! Thank you a million times! -huggles and huggles and huggles- I'm so glad that you enjoy it! You're one of those people that gives me that extra boost that gets me past the evil writer's block!

Momochan12: Thank you for caring about the issues with me lately. That's so nice of you. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well! Thank you for your review! -hugs-

Like red on a rose: Thank you very much! Ehh…poor Lumina…

You guys are seriously the best. All your reviews…well…they just make my day every time I read them! Thank you so much, all of you! I'm nearly in tears right now…ohhhh….ON WITH THE STORY! Squee!

CHAPTER FOUR: New Blood

Awkward described Popuri very well. She seemed to always trip over something or say something offensive at the very worst times, even when she was a child. At the age of twenty-eight now, she felt even more keenly the times when the air is dead and time seems to stop in the unbridled awkwardness of the moment.

But perhaps the absolute most awkward moment that Popuri had ever experienced was the day that Joanna Anders walked into the Snack Shack with a face full of fire. Natsumi was coloring in a coloring book on the floor of the shop in her floral pajamas and had been the one to answer the door when Joanna rang the doorbell. Popuri ran out of she and Kai's bedroom, dressed in a short bathrobe over and equally short nightgown, bare feet and her beautifully soft pink hair in a long plait behind her. She stopped short as soon as she recognized the newcomer, feeling her cheeks heat up and her lips tighten. "May I help you?" She asked, suddenly aware of her scanty clothing.

"What are you doing here?" Joanna asked harshly.

Popuri flushed deeper and scowled. "I live here. What are you doing here?"

Joanna waved away the question. "Get Kai for me."

"…" Angry at being ordered around in her own home, Popuri tightened the soft bathrobe tie around her waist and turned towards the back rooms. "Kai? Could you come here for a minute? Oh, and…please make sure you…have clothes on…please…"

The request was not unnecessary. He came out in his boxers and a white t-shirt. Joanna switched her weight nervously when he appeared. Kai himself stopped dead in his tracks and opened his eyes almost fearfully as he too recognized the woman in his restaurant. "Joanna. How…how are you?"

"Fine, thank you."

"If I may be so rude…" Kai moved over to his wife and slid his arm around her waist protectively. "Why are you in my shop at ten-thirty at night?"

"Like you don't know." Joanna snorted and laid down a stack of papers on the table. "I'm here for my daughter."

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Tim was getting worried--but then again, that wasn't anything new to him. He worried all the time anyway, but now this was a new, cutting type of burden. He was sitting at his desk, poring once again over the report he did on Claire's condition. Gray had run up to the Clinic, bearing the news that his wife's fever had reached a new height and her eyes were beginning to glass over. This bit of information completely flabbergasted the town doctor and, after grabbing a notebook and yelling up the stairs to Elli that he would be gone for a moment, followed Gray down to Clay Farm.

Claire was scrubbing the cabinets when the two men arrived at the farmhouse. Amazed and horrified, the blonde blacksmith called gently to his wife to 'please come lay down'. She turned around and, for a moment, Tim saw a flicker of a chilling panic in the fit, tan woman's eyes. The panic faded, leaving Claire looking as tired as he had ever seen her. He beckoned her over to her bed and she sat down compliantly. "This couldn't wait, could it?" She asked, despite the fact that she looked relieved to be able to rest for a bit. "I can just hear the twins making a mess upstairs."

Gray shook his head and sat down beside her. "No, they'll be fine. Please let him examine you. For my own peace of mind." Claire hesitated for just a second, but then relaxed and leaned against him. "How does she look?"

Tim wasn't sure what to say. To be honest, Claire looked simply horrible. Her face was flushed, her eyes were dull and she was visibly shaking from the top of her towhead to the toes of her sock-feet. Her hair hung limp and her skin, apart from the flush on her cheeks, was pale. If he said what he was really thinking, it would alarm Gray far past the useful stage. If he lied…Claire might consider herself well and run around the house, cleaning and whatever else! If she was anything like Elli, she wouldn't let Gray do any housework because he 'messes everything up', as Elli once informed Tim.

Stalling for time, Tim reached into his pocket and drew out a thermometer in a sterile case. He placed the tip under Claire's tongue and waited for three minutes before looking at the results. It was one hundred and one degrees Fahrenheit. The numbers jumped out at him and he looked up at the patient. "You need to lay down, right this minute. I'll go upstairs and put the twins to bed if you'd like, because Gray, you need to help her into her pajamas and put her to bed. Call me when you're ready for me to come back down." The doctor turned on his heel and ascended the stairs.

Five minutes later, after Tim had been fully tackled by Benji and Cat twice, Gray called him downstairs. Snapping the light off behind him, Tim came down the stairs, taking notes in his notebook and muttering under his breath. "Is there anything you can give her to bring the fever down?" Gray asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, there is. I'll have to run up the street and bring it back down here. If you don't mind, I'll step out and get it for you now." He excused himself from the house and started up the street. The Clinic was full of yells when Tim hurried up to it. Wondering why on earth Casey or Todd would still be up, he opened the door to find his sons scuffling on the floor over a toy. "Hey, break it up right now!" He said sternly, pulling the boys apart by their collars. "Why aren't you in bed?"

Casey stared at his father with mischievous eyes. "Mama never told us to go. It ain't our fault!"

"Well now I'm saying that you need to march straight upstairs and go to bed. And don't let me hear you saying 'ain't' again." Tim shook his head and began shuffling through a cabinet, searching for a particular bottle of pills. When it wasn't in it's usual place, he turned and began opening drawers in Elli's desk. "Who did you hear that word from?"

"Stu!" Announced Todd cheerfully.

Stu. I should have known. He shook his head ruefully and pushed farther into the drawer until he pulled out an orange bottle. Aha! Relieved at having finally found it, Tim did not question why it was in Elli's personal drawer along with her feminine pain relievers. "Both of you go up and brush your teeth now, please. I don't want to see a single one of you up out of bed when I return. Do you hear me, now?"

The boys skewed up their faces, obviously trying to find a loophole that would let them delay their bedtimes. After a moment, they nodded and hugged Tim's legs. "Goodnight, Daddy." Casey winked at his dad before pulling his brother up the stairs.

It'll be a miracle if those boys ever reach teen-hood. Tim took his time walking back to the farmhouse. The night was so…nice. He finally reached the farmhouse and delivered the pills along with the instructions on how many to take. Gray shook his hand heartily. He was sitting alongside Claire on the bed, smoothing her blonde hair with his hand when Tim left the house.

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It was a sleepless night all throughout the town. Lumina tossed and turned fitfully as Monami cried incessantly. Manna spent two hours of the night yelling at Duke for hiding whisky behind the grapevines again. Karen paced the house nervously, keeping Rick awake with the sound of her tapping feet. Elli kicked her cover on and off over and over again, trying to find a cool place in the sheets without bothering her husband. Only Mary slept the whole night through, dreamless though it was.

If anyone had tried taking a walk to remedy the insomnia, they might have seen and become interested in a dark shape standing tirelessly beside the Inn, seeming to smile in the darkness. It was a human--or human shaped, at least. The figure never left the Inn's side, and yet it wasn't there when Ann shook out the tablecloths the next morning.

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May was miserable. When May was miserable, Stu was miserable. Consequently, both Stu and May were miserable, sitting on the bench outside of the Snack Shack. The air was cold, breezeless and about as miserable as the two teens on the bench. "But…" Stu scratched his head and tried yet again to make sense of what had happened. "She can't legally take you away, right?"

"I don't know, okay? Quit asking me that question." May was feeling waspish and was drawing a picture of a foaming rapid. "She has papers. I haven't read them yet."

Left with nothing to do but twiddle his thumbs and worry some more, the boy nodded and began to whistle an off-key song. He sat back and stared up at the sky, noting the dark clouds converging over the town. "It looks like rain. Perhaps even snow." He commented. May 'mmmmm'ed and otherwise ignored the statement. Stu nodded again and observed the ground, jumping when the Snack Shack door was opened.

"May, dear, could you please step in here and talk with us for a minute?" Joanna was leaning out the door, her face flushed and her eyes dangerously squinted.

"No." May answered, her eyes never moving from the paper pad in her lap.

Joanna looked ticked off. "Come in here, please. This isn't a question."

"No."

"May, come here right this minute! I am your mother and I am telling you to!" Joanna stepped all the way out into the sand and pointed into the Shack. After ten seconds of gazing coolly at the woman, May stood up and went inside. Amazed, Stu watched apprehensively as Joanna followed her daughter.

Once inside, May turned to Joanna and muttered fiercely, "You may be my mother, but you aren't my mom." Taking the anger in Joanna's eyes to mean victory, she sat down at a table beside Kai and Popuri. "Talk away."

Kai threw a scathing look at Joanna, but dropped his eyes to his daughter with an unmistakable glow of approval. "May, you have to go with your…with Joanna now."

"What?" May opened her black eyes wide and looked around desperately, keeping her eyes away from Joanna. "Why?"

"Because the court orders it." Kai rubbed a hand over his face and sighed mentally.

Everything that Stu had been badgering her about bubbled into May's mind. "That's legal?" She nearly shrieked. Both Kai and Joanna nodded, but Popuri's head was in her hands. Sixteen years. Sixteen years. Sixteen…effing…years. Blood pounded in May's ears.

"If you'd please, I'll be thanking you to pack a few things and come with me after we finish here." Joanna attempted a smile, but it wilted under the heat of her daughter's glare. "Don't look at me like that. It's time that we spent some quality time together."

Sixteen years. "Really?"

"Yes. That's what moms and daughters do."

"Oh? Moms and daughters?" Sixteen years. "I've already told you that you aren't my Mom. My Mom is sitting across from me."

Joanna's face darkened further. "I'm sorry, Mothers and daughters."

"So you're my mother now? Where was my mother sixteen years ago? Where was my mother when I was a toddler living with my grandfather? Where--" May stopped and took a deep breath. "where was my mother when I was crying in my room, thinking that my mom hated me?"

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A woman stood at the gate of the Aja Winery, watching a sweaty, tan, brunette man working hard at strewing extra straw over the newest grapevine sprouts. She smiled slyly and entered the yard finally, pulling her cream colored crocheted shawl tighter over her shoulders. She wore a long, soft, lace edged dress that reached her feet. It was a cornflower blue check. Her hair was long and pink--just like Popuri's, really. When Cliff looked up, he was struck for a moment by the pure feminine beauty of the girl. He was also mystified by the fact that the only two girls he'd ever seen with pink hair was Popuri and Lillia. Pink hair was attractive.

The woman seemed to be heading for the main building, but when she caught his stare, she altered her course and walked over towards him. "Hello!" She called out, lifting her skirt as she stepped over a particularly marshy area of the yard. "I'm new here. What's your name?"

"Cliff Sacchar. And your name is?" He wiped his hands off on his jeans and stood up.

The woman smiled. "Eva. Nice to meet you." She shook his extended hand and looked around. "So you work here? Is it neat seeing how wine is made?"

Cliff shrugged and gestured towards the plants. "I wouldn't call it the nicest smelling job in the world, but yeah, I enjoy it most of the time. Are you just passing through or…?"

"Oh, yes. I'm just hanging out here for a while. I needed to get away from the city and collect my thoughts." She blinked twice and Cliff suddenly realized that her eyes were a clear, pure, unadulterated gold, almost exactly the same as Lumina's eyes--except that Lumina's were flecked with brown. "I guess I'll go get acquainted with the rest of the town! See you around!" Cliff watched her walk away briefly, then turned, shook his head quickly and returned to his work.

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"Karen…what are you doing?" Rick asked upon walking into the house after a hard day's work and finding Karen sitting on the floor, unmoving. Dinner or something like dinner was sitting in a pan on the oven--burnt black.

Karen looked over at him angrily and put her finger to her lips. "Ssssh!" She hissed.

Nonplussed, Rick turned off the oven and walked over to his wife. "What is it now?"

"Don't talk to me."

"Why not?"

"They told me not to talk to you."

"Who did?"

"They did."

Rick began to sweat. "Who is 'they'?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I'm going to make dinner now. Would you like any?"

Karen nodded. "Now please stop talking to me."

"Alright, dear." Rick sighed and straightened up from his crouch beside Karen. Concerned and slightly hurt, he opened the fridge and began searching for something edible.

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Cliff sat down on a bar stool, enjoying the air conditioning and feeling hungry. Ann slowly descended the stairs, fussing at Alex for ruining one of her good pair of shoes. "I've told you at least twenty times not to wear your Mary-Janes when you go to the lake! What about that did you not understand? Now I don't want you out of this house for three--oh! Welcome home, Cliff. How was work?" She had stepped out of the stairwell and had noticed her husband.

"About as enjoyable as can get lately. Duke's been skulking around looking like a whipped mutt. Manna's no better…always muttering under her breath and shooting nasty looks at Duke."

"Let me get you something to drink." Ann poured him some milk and set it on the counter before asking, "Have you been around Popuri today, Cliff?"

Cliff shook his head and drained the glass. "No. Listen, I'm going to go see how Gray's doing, alright? I'll be back for supper."

Ann watched him go and felt a twinge of anger. As he stood up, a long pink hair strand fell to the floor off of his coat, the reason for her question. Why would he lie to me? She put his glass in the dishwasher and began planning dinner.

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Lumina approached Stu cautiously, not wanting to disturb the boy who was sleeping soundly upon the bench beside the Snack Shack. She tiptoed over to him, but tripped over a rock and crashed right into him. "Whaah! Wh…wha…what happened?" Stu asked sleepily, not fully awake yet. When his vision cleared and he realized who it was, he blushed and sat up quickly. "Oh, hello, Lumina."

"Hi. What are you doing sleeping on this bench?"

"Well, May's been in the Shack talking to Joanna and Kai for a really long time. I must have fallen asleep." He scratched his head and yawned. "Wow…it must be dinnertime."

Lumina sat down beside him. "Yeah. Listen, where are you going to eat?"

Stu shrugged. "I usually eat with either May or Sis. Why?"

"Would you like to come eat with the gang up at the Inn?" Lumina opened her speckled brown and gold eyes wide and gazed imploringly upon her friend.

Her look melted him. Still…it wasn't quite right. "I would love to…but I should probably wait for May…"

"That's alright! You're welcome anytime, remember that! I'll be going back to help with dinner now." She bobbed a tiny curtsy and began walking away. It didn't take long for Stu to call out to her and run to catch up, muttering an excuse about how long May might take.

Naturally, May stalked out of the Snack Shack eight minutes later to find the bench deserted and her best friend gone. She stared at the bench and felt a gnawing anger bite her insides. So he'd just run away, huh? Well good for him. She sank into the seat to wait for his return.