(a/n - so Death is pretty much how I feel myself being currently if Martina was telling me about Joey Boswell. And gypsy Rosalie would probably be the same. Although judge wise, she will have to settle for being the skeleton fondly referred to by Death as Louie. I've grown rather fond of looking through Death's eyes. ^_~ Congratuverylations to her for converting another human to the Bread fandom also. We must rejoice!)

Chapter 7

Joey was different. No matter what he said to try and convince people otherwise, Joey was different. Things were happening in his life. Martina had gone. Whenever someone vaguely mentioned her name he wanted to cry. He had no idea why. His divorce was going through with Roxy. Hopefully it was going to be a short and painless proceeding. And his family. Well, they had accepted him back into the nest quickly enough. Billy was still there whilst not with Julie, and Nellie was thrilled to have her eldest back. Adrian kept calling by 'when the muse called'. More like, when he was ''angin by a thread' and wanted a good rant at somebody. Jack was off all over the place, doing as Jack did. Shifty had moved in with Celia who was intent on never letting him go. And Aveline was still swooning over Oswald. Freddie and Nellie were at some sort of truce. All in all, life was pretty boring in the Boswell bubble. Life ticked on as usual. Repetitive. Religious. Redundant.

Death smiled as Martina made her way to the afterlife on one of their breaks. He turned to the skeleton sat next to him.

"So, Louie, what do you think about the new judge? A nice set of lungs on her, yes? Unlike you. Sometimes, it is almost like you and me are on opposite sides of the world." Death rolled his eyes at his colleague's lack of response, then smiled as his colleague spoke about Martina seeming to like the Joey person on Earth. Death nodded.

"Yes, she seems to be fond of that one, Louie." He pondered slightly then looked at his friend who had mentioned something along the lines of Death being rather fond of Martina himself. Death would have blushed, if he was alive.

"Shut up Louie!" he shouted, whacking the other judge about the head, whilst the more feminine of the skeletons looked on mutely. Louie turned back to the desk, and began to eat. If Death knew one thing about Louie it was that he was fond of food.

Joey entered the living room after a drive in his Jaguar to be confronted by a very strange sight. Oswald, Nellie and the rest of the Boswell clan were all in the living room, teary eyed and sniffling. Joey wondered what was wrong, until he realised that one of their number was missing.

"Aveline?" he questioned, his voice booming through the thick silence. Oswald looked up towards Joey, the complete opposite of the composed man he usually was.

"Heart attack. She's gone. The Lord will have her now." Nellie looked up, about to make some sort of comment about their denominations of Christianity until Freddie placed a hand on her arm and she fell back at him, clinging to him for support. Joey was happy to see them together for once, though given the circumstances, Joey understood completely. He smiled weakly, trying to be the strong one as always. He couldn't. He made his way upstairs to his room and cried.

A divorce with Roxy, Martina commiting suicide, Aveline having a heart attack.

Why were all the women in his life being taken away from him?