As Odessa was sitting down to supper with the Fussell clan at five-thirty in the evening, across the world in Chania, Greece, it was almost midnight.

Mark Katsaros was lying awake in the bedroom he'd once shared with his four cousins: Samuel, John, Luke, and Peter. That had been long ago, when he was a kid, back before he and his parents had immigrated. He stared at the ceiling, remembering back to those simple days: falling asleep after hours of running through the streets with his cousins, listening to the calming sound of Peter's asthmatic breathing in the bed next to him, drawing shapes in the glow-in-the-dark stars his aunt had plastered to the ceiling when Samuel had suffered from night terrors.

Now, Peter was dead. He'd drowned when he was sixteen. Luke… Luke was gone. Nobody had heard from him in months. John was in prison for… something, but that wasn't unexpected. John had always been in trouble. And Samuel…

Mark shook his head.

No.

He wouldn't think about Samuel. He couldn't think about Samuel. The man who'd hurt Samuel… he was a bad, bad man. The man had touched Samuel in places he shouldn't have, and then Samuel went away to the house on the hill once his aunt and uncle had found out, once the origins of his nightmares had been unearthed.

Mark's mother had said that Samuel had gone away for a nice rest, but Mark didn't understand. That had been over fifteen years ago. Mark had only been five, but he remembered it so clearly: One day, Samuel was his cool older cousin, smoking in the alley and teaching Mark how to ride bikes and curse; the next day, Samuel was sobbing hysterically as the police talked to him, and then they took him away.

Tears trickled out of Mark's eyes onto his pillow as he stared around the now-empty room.

He wished he had Samuel back. He wished that Peter was still there. He wished that Luke would turn up on the doorstep, and that John would be released.

He wished he had somebody. He needed somebody to talk to, somebody to confide in. His father wouldn't do… he wouldn't understand. He could never tell his mother what was going on. Jamie… Jamie was special. Maybe he could talk to Jamie, but maybe he couldn't. What if she hated him after he told her?

Don't cry. Only stupid boys cry.

Mark clenched his eyes shut against the chiding voice in his head. He wasn't stupid. He knew he wasn't stupid.

He willed the tears to stop.

He had to be strong.

He was a good boy. He wasn't a stupid boy.


Back in Louisiana, Odessa was listening with fascination as Jamie's father Dennis talked about his work as an accountant, a great step up from his previous employment as a high school janitor.

They were sitting at the table, having finished eating supper. Jamie and Linda were washing the dishes in the kitchen, chatting over the running water.

Well, Linda was chatting. Jamie was listening halfheartedly, occasionally throwing in a grunt or a noncommittal "yeah".

Until the topic turned to Odessa.

"So, are you sure there's nothing goin' on between you two? You seem awfully close for just friends." Linda teased her daughter, nudging her arm. Jamie's cheeks went pink.

"Ma!" Jamie pouted. "Stop it!"

"It's just not healthy for you to be alone all the time, sugar! I mean, after all that with Sheila…"

Jamie gave a warning growl. Linda sighed.

"I just... I don't understand why you haven't moved on."

"Ma."

"I know, I know." Linda nudged her. "But you like her, don't you? You get all bashful when you talk to her."

"Ma!"

"You two would look so cute together. You balance each other out so well! And I think I've caught her taking a glance at your butt a couple of times tonight…"

"Ma! Jesus!"

"Oh, come on!" Linda slid her arm around her daughter. "I bet she likes you just as much as you like her."

Jamie lowered her eyes, shaking her head.

"She likes guys." She whispered. "She likes 'em big, strong, and dumb."

"Well, I think she just might need a little bit of a nudge in the other direction…"

"Ma, I swear to God…"

"Alright, alright." Linda giggled, her eyes twinkling with pure mischief.

"I'm serious."

"I know, I know. I'm not saying another word."

But Jamie still felt a little uneasy. The look in her mother's eye was far from innocent.


After a few episodes of Law and Order: SVU and a few cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Linda and Dennis went to bed. Jamie and Odessa followed soon after, leaving Ross on his own to ogle Mariska Hargitay.

Odessa took in Jamie's childhood bedroom as she avoided watching the younger woman change into her pajamas.

Other than a few boxes that had been moved into the room, it seemed to have been untouched by time. The walls were painted blue with a black grid pattern that made Odessa feel cross-eyed. A number of swimming trophies and science fair ribbons decorated a shelf against the wall, along with numerous photographs of young, happy-looking people that Odessa assumed had been Jamie's friends. A pile of books laid on the soft, black carpet, their covers dusty.

Odessa plucked a book out of the pile and blew the dust off the cover: Principles and Application of Electrical Engineering, by Giorgio Rizzoni. She flipped through it, recognizing Jamie's cramped, rushed handwriting in the margins as she made notes on what she'd been studying. She noted, with a bit of a sympathetic twinge, the doodle on one of the pages:

(JF)+(SJ)=the truest.

And underneath that:

Mrs. and Mrs. Jamie & Sheila Fussell-Johansen.

A warm body cuddling up to her tore her attention from the book. She smiled down at the now-clothed Jamie, setting the book down and sliding under the covers with her. She slid her arms around the little one, sighing with satisfaction as Jamie's head found its place against her neck.

"Your parents are very nice." Odessa murmured. "Very, very friendly."

Jamie let out a dry laugh.

"Yeah. You're one of us now. You let Dad bore you with his accounting talk."

"I wasn't bored! I found it quite fascinating, actually."

Jamie smirked.

"Nerd."

Odessa chuckled, nuzzling Jamie's hair. "

Oh, right. I'm the nerd. What about you, little engineering student?"

Jamie's face flushed.

"Former engineering student." She corrected.

"Oh, former engineering student. My apologies."

Jamie smiled.

"You're forgiven."

Odessa tightened her arms around her friend, sighing happily.

"I'm so lucky to have met you, Jamie." She murmured. "I… I've never had such a close friend before. I feel I can truly be… myself with you."

Jamie looked up at her. Her cheeks went pink.

"Y-yeah…" She gave a nervous giggle.

Odessa looked down into the young woman's eyes, frowning. She'd grown tense in her arms.

"Jamie? What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, Dess." Jamie yawned, but Odessa could tell it was fake. "Just tired. Bed time."

"Alright…" Odessa kissed the top of Jamie's head. "Sweet dreams, little girl."

"You, too."


Jamie watched Odessa drift off to sleep, her cheeks burning.

Her mother had been right. Jamie did have a bit of a crush on her Russian friend. How could she not?

Odessa was absolutely beautiful. She was intelligent, she had that perfectly dry sense of humor, and that accent was, admittedly, extremely sexy. When she'd first started talking to Odessa, she'd done it with romantic intentions. Bringing her that cup of tea the first night she was there, that was her way of nudging the door open. When Odessa had fallen asleep on her as they'd been chatting, Jamie had been beyond thrilled.

But after she went back to her room, Jamie had stayed up the rest of the night, pondering. She genuinely liked Odessa. She felt insanely comfortable around her, something she couldn't say about anyone else so soon after she met them. Odessa would be better to her as a friend than anything else, she felt. Romance, if it existed, would only make things awkward.

So, with difficulty, Jamie forced herself to view Odessa platonically. She was relieved when she learned Odessa was straight, because that meant that she had literally no chance with her. That made everything so much easier.

However, Jamie couldn't completely kill the way she felt for the Russian woman. She was so much like Sheila, so serious and focused, so strictly by the book. But she had qualities that Sheila had lacked, qualities that Jamie had earnestly wished Sheila had possessed: Odessa was honest. Jamie didn't have to worry about whether or not Odessa was lying to her, as she had with Sheila. Odessa was also more compassionate, despite her general, Russian brusqueness. Jamie felt completely comfortable baring her soul to the older woman, and wasn't afraid that she would be ridiculed for it.

Jamie snuggled into Odessa's warmth, sighing softly. Odessa was her best friend. That was it. She had to be content with that. After all, she'd rather have Odessa as a friend than to not have her at all, and trying to make their relationship into anything other than what it was would certainly send Odessa packing.