Interlude


Jacob Black owned three cars the year his only son turned seventeen. One didn't have an engine, one didn't have tires and the last one was being held hostage by his wife. For those reasons his eldest daughter had almost been unable to drive to Seattle the way she wanted.

Almost.

There was always the unwelcome thought in the back of Dinah's head that she was doing something wrong when it came to her younger siblings. The Blacks weren't like the Uleys. Those boys practically worshipped their big sister (to the point where Dinah could tell it made her best friend uncomfortable sometimes) and would have started a fan club for Brian if they had been allowed. Levi and Judy tolerated her, teased her, but didn't seem to need her all that much. They seemed to prefer their cousin to their sister and while Will would have let her blame him the way he always did, Dinah knew the fault was somehow hers. She wasn't sure how she had done it, but somehow she had screwed up.

But she wasn't going to let that stop her.

Judy was upset. Judy needed to be cheered up. The only thing Dinah could think of was to take Judy to Seattle.

Therefore, Judy was going to Seattle.

The End.

Too bad borrowing Will's car meant enduring torture in exchange.

"You can stand under my umbrella-ella-ella-EH-EH-EH...you can stand under my umbrella..."

The worst part of Marley's impromptu karaoke was that Judy was getting into it. Very into it.

"Where did you find this stuff?" Judy demanded when the song came to an end. The beat from Marley's music seemed to have entered her bloodstream; the young girl couldn't stop bouncing in her seat. "It's, like, the most amazingest stuff ever."

"I know, right? My mom had these boxes of old CDs hidden in our basement so Bert digitized them all for her. It was the only thing in our car one day so I got stuck listening to it and I suddenly realized it was the best road trip music ever!"

"Totally," Judy giggled. She was supposed to have a broken heart (and she did in the moments when she was lying in bed but wasn't asleep, feeling more not good enough than lonely) but she was too caught up in the moment. "What else do you have?"

"Did you know Justin Bieber had a bunch of albums when he was a little kid?"

"Really?"

"Swear. You wanna hear them?"

"Yeah."

And Dinah would have thrown Marley out of the car for daring to blare that kind of crap, but Judy was smiling so much it looked like it had be painful. Maybe she couldn't do the big sister thing right, but Dinah figured she could at least not make it worse. If Judy was smiling...bring on turn of the century crap.

Even Judy's enthusiasm for everything faded eventually. It was four hours to Seattle, after all, and she had been so excited about getting to spend time with her sister that she hadn't slept much the night before. Before they reached the national park, despite her best efforts, Judy was sound asleep in the back seat.

"Turn it down," Dinah said.

Lena didn't protest the command, though she rolled her eyes (to herself; Dinah was driving and scary, after all). The old music was only fun at loud volumes, so she flipped to something else. Even though she had also been up most of the night before, she figured she should at least try to get Dinah to stop scowling at the road. It couldn't be good for the other girl's face.

"So what are we going to do when we get to Seattle?"

"After we stop by the house to see Francy, I'm going to give my sister a tour of campus."

"Seriously? Doesn't that sound kind of boring? I always figured that if I got dumped I'd want to be with a bunch of people."

When Brian hesitated, when it finally occurred to Dinah that she had gone too far this time, that maybe they weren't going to someday magically get back together after all, all she wanted to do was be alone. The absolute last thing she would have wanted was to get stuck in a car for four hours with her cousin's vapid girlfriend.

But Judy hadn't minded when informed Marley was crashing their sister time. She'd been excited. Happy. So Dinah did not kick Marley out of the car.

"You're not Judy."

"I guess not. Listen, Di, I'm not trying to ruin your plans or anything. I just wanted to see Fran and I didn't really have another way of getting to Seattle."

Did that sound kind of insulting? Lena hoped not, but Dinah could get offended by just about anything. Lena didn't mean to be insulting because she would have liked spending time with Dinah (sort of), she was just getting the distinct impression that the other girl did not want to right then and what could she do then?

"You won't ruin my plans. Maybe my eardrums, but..."

"Oh come on," Marley teased. "You know you love it. Weren't you the one who introduced me to Katy Perry?"

"I was trying to throw that out."

"Suuuure. I believe you."


"That's where you live?"

Dinah looked a little hurt, so Judy looked at the building again. It wasn't as bad as she had originally thought. Sure there was tape on one of the windows and and the paint was peeling, but there were a whole bunch of clichés about not judging a book by its cover, or whatever, so Judy just decided that maybe she should wait until they were indoors before she said anything else.

"Ew," Marley whispered.

"It's cheap and ours. You can sleep in the car if you don't like it."

And since Dinah was not joking, the other two girls were silent when they followed her inside. They even let her call out hello.

The room they found themselves in seemed decent sized—until it became obvious that was supposed to be both a kitchen, a dining room, a family room and a study all at once. Still, Judy liked the look of the couch, there was a working television and Dinah had found the kitchen had enough room to cook in. The heat worked and that was really all you could ask for.

"What are all you doing here?" Francine asked as she came out of her room. She smiled—and then winced when Marlena almost wiped out on the carpet, rushing forward to hug her.

"Okay, the carpet moved."

"Sure." Fran helped her stand up so they could hug properly. "It's so good to see you. And Judith! You're all...stop growing up."

"Dinah's trying to make her feel better," Lena whispered.

Francine didn't have a chance to ask what had happened because Judith was coming forward to say hello and Di was avoiding eye contact. Di hadn't called Seattle since she went home after exams.

"So this is where you live," Judith asked, all wide-eyed and adorable. It was impossible not to smile back at her even though the rooms didn't deserve her enthusiasm. "Cool."

"You want a tour?"

"Sure."

Francy let Dinah talk because that's the way they worked.

"Kitchen, living room. The door in the middle is the bathroom, the door on the left is Francy's, the door on the right is my room and...that concludes your tour."

"So Levi was totally right to mock you?"

"He lives with our parents, so no." Dinah felt her mouth twitching. "A little bit."

"It's cheap and ours," Francine reminded the room. "You guys here for long?"

"The weekend. I'm giving the kid a tour now and then I figured we could meet up for dinner and then...whatever, after," Dinah said. "We'll figure it out."

"I..." Finding someone to cover for her on such short notice was going to be a pain, but Fran tucked her long black hair behind her ear and smiled and did not think about the tips she wasn't going to be getting. "Sounds great. Judith has to come to school with us, so her stay has to be perfect."

"I'm coming here no matter what," Judy promised.

"Don't tell us that yet," Fran warned. "Let us bribe you first."

"Oh. Right."


Dinah had never given much thought to the caffeine content at the coffee shop. That turned out to be a very bad idea because halfway through the mochachino her already energetic little sister was bouncing up and down. Well, at least she was happy.

"And then Levi said he'd think about showing me a vampire if they could figure out how to get one into a cage and then I could look and they wouldn't hurt me and wouldn't that be so cool, almost as good as getting to be a werewolf, well, not really because they have whiskers and that would be—"

"Judy? Maybe you should keep the wolf stuff on the down low?"

"I can keep a secret."

Well, she didn't have a lot of practice with that. Her friends didn't bother with them because everyone always seemed to figuring everything out, anyway. Telling Dad was just the easiest thing in the world—and besides, it would be a betrayal of the super secret Daddy-Daughter Handshake of Epic Awesomeness to not tell him—and once she told her father she didn't want her mother to feel left out. Dinah always seemed to know everything, because no one could not tell Dinah things, and then Levi was just a really good listener so...

"Sure, kiddo."

"It's true. I keep lots of secrets."

"Name one."

"I never told you Levi and I read your diary back in high school."

"Did you really?"

"Yup. And you were working on a project with Brian and he was trying to do it all for you and you were really annoyed."

The laughter bubbled up before Dinah could stop it. That to have been ages ago. Maybe back in their freshmen year when she and Brian weren't quite the perfect team yet. He was smarter and in love with her and she hadn't quite worked out how to not take advantage of those two facts.

"And you never told me."

"Never. Well, not until today. So you see, I can keep secrets."

"I know you can. You didn't tell Dad about Dan."

That felt subtle, right? Dinah hoped so.

Subtle or not, Judy's face fell. Asshole. Lucky asshole, because if Brian hadn't been in the room Dinah would have let Will shoot the bastard. Who cared if it wasn't exactly right? It wasn't right that Judy looked hurt like that. Sometimes you had to get dirty to do the right thing.

"Do you think Dad's mad I didn't tell him?"

Judy just hadn't wanted her father to think that she was too grown up to hang around the garage or take for ice cream just because or...anything. Mom said not to tell, too, and a girl was supposed to listen to her mother. But the thought that her father was angry (worse, that he was hurt) made her feel a little nauseous.

"No way. Have you ever seen Dad mad? Assuming Levi's not around?"

That got a tiny giggle out of the younger girl.

"After Uncle Paul told me about the wolf stuff he starting yelling."

That her uncle had managed to get around a twenty year old Alpha order accidentally didn't make much sense, but then, Dinah didn't quite understand werewolves.

"Yeah, but Dad's never going to be mad at you. Even if you did something to the car...well, I'm sure you could fix it before he found out."

"True." Judy gazed at her big sister, looking for the truth. "Do you think...you think that's why he didn't like me? Because of the car stuff and...you know? You think I'm too boy-ish—"

"If he thought that, then he's an idiot." High school, Dinah remembered clearly, sucked. High school boys (and girls) never appreciated the stuff that really mattered. "I can't see why someone wouldn't like that you knew about cars and football and things. Dumb and Dumberer seem to think it's the greatest thing ever that you know all that."

"Yeah, but they're related to me. They have to like me."

Since the list of people Levi liked was a very short one—and Will liked his brother, her brother and her sister and that was it—there was a very obvious flaw in Judy's logic. But the younger girl didn't care about logic right that second.

"You'll find someone who likes everything about you. It just wasn't Dan."

It could have been, Judy was sure, if she just looked like her older sister instead of...some kind of baby that liked rolling around in grease.

"Yeah."

"Hey, Judy," Dinah snapped in the voice that meant you had to listen to her or else. "You will find someone so much better who likes all the amazing things about you just the way you deserve one day. I promise. Okay?"

"Okay."

Dinah always kept her promises; Judy found herself sitting up just a little straighter. Habit, maybe, but it felt nice.

"Does this mean you're going to take me to meet college guys tonight?"

"Over my dead body."


Francy and Marley were in the middle of giving each other manicures when the sisters returned home. While Dinah wanted to point out they were setting women's rights back by, like, twenty years by being such stereotypes, Judy looked excited. In the interest of not having her little sister hanging around college guys (who were, if such a thing was possible, even worse than high school boys) Dinah decided that tonight was going to be stay in and do stupid girly things that she would die before admitting to doing.

Marley got started on Judy's toes (and giving a detailed tutorial on how it should be done) while Dinah slipped into her room to change into sweatpants. The door closed behind Francy. There was a solemnity in the action that Dinah noticed immediately. It was not going to be a fun conversation.

"Marlena has bruises up and down her arms."

Dinah stared down her reflection in the mirror. She hated this, hated how everything in her life had always revolved around Levi and now it wasn't just her brother, it was Will and Brian, too. How in the world was that fair?

"He wouldn't hurt her. If she's bruised, I'm sure it was an accident."

"That's what she said. And then she started talking about him like…like he's some kind of god. It's...it's weird, Di. Something's up with them."

It was more than weird. Those were most definitely bruises on Marlena and how was that ever supposed to be okay? Just because William was better than the others (because he never offered to show her what a 'real man' could do, just threatened to humiliate her for kicks, he was better? Francine was furious that she had to lower her standards so much) didn't mean he deserved the benefit of the doubt. Not when Marlena was acting like she had been brainwashed.

But Marlena promised everything really was as wonderful as she described. Marlena, who couldn't act her way out of a traffic ticket, seemed like a girl truly, madly, deeply in love. With William. Francine couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something huge.

"Things are weird on the rez right now."

Things had been weird for a while. Fran sighed.

"You really think there's nothing to worry about?"

"Did I tell you he was clean now?"

"Yeah. Marlena said something about that, too. I still can't believe it." The hope that sprang up in Fran was quickly squelched, though she still ended up asking, "You think...you really think someone could just stop like that?"

She was thinking about her father, Dinah knew, but Francy didn't know that Dinah knew and when did things become so complicated that she had to pretend that she didn't know this huge secret that was eating away at her best friend?

"No."

"Yeah," Francy sighed. "Me neither."

"But I figure if he was hurting her Marley would accidentally blurt it out well before it got serious."

Francy managed a smile. "I guess. She better be all right because I don't have time to cheer while you kick his bony ass."

Somehow it had never occurred to Dinah that Francy might not recognize Brian when she got home but it did then. Why should Francy recognize him? The twins had been almost the same height back in September—now Brian was a few inches taller than Dinah, who was closer to six feet than guys thought a girl should be.

Will was no longer the rail thin walking PSA he had once been and Levi was no longer the broad bodyguard beside him because now when people stood beside Levi the shadow he cast made it hard to see them. Hell, Levi might have been even taller than their father now. It was hard to tell, with the way Dad carried himself, but Dinah was pretty sure her brother was ever so slightly bigger. Not that she was going to tell the kid—the power was already going to his big head. Also, no one was taller than Jacob Black.

"She seems fine. You can spend the rest of our girly night from hell interrogating her."

"I think I will." Francy was laughing again and Dinah was pleased with herself. "Hey. Thanks for inviting her. I know you probably didn't want to but...I don't see how anyone can be upset around her."

Even before she had heard of werewolves and packs, Dinah knew that in times of crisis everyone banded together. It wasn't something she had to be taught—it simply was. So when Emily died, the community gathered around the Uleys and offered their help.

It wasn't her brother or her best friend that had gotten Francy through losing her mother. It was the airhead in the other room. It hurt to think about, so Dinah tried not to even if she was aware she had liked Marley before Emily Uley died. Something had broken back then and she could blame Marley and Emily, Levi and Sam, the werewolves and the tribe, the drugs and the alcohol...but in the end, Dinah knew their sisterhood had crumbled years ago and they had never figured out how to recover properly.

"I didn't invite her. Will wouldn't give me the car unless I took her with me."

"And you gave in?"

Actually, Dinah had refused. She'd even sworn that she'd rather walk to Seattle then allow Marley to ruin sister-bonding time. And then Will had gotten too serious (the way he sometimes did that stopped her from ever just writing him off) and explained: "I'm indestructible. The worst anyone can do to me is break a perfectly good baseball bat. But bad things might happen to a pretty girl when the people around her are indestructible and need to be taught a lesson. Do you understand, Dinah? Do you...no, you don't, because you're an idiot. Why do I bother? Just take Lena to Seattle, okay?"

While she might have hated what Will did, hated the world he revelled in where his girlfriend was just an extension of himself and not a person with feelings of her own, Dinah also trusted that he knew what he was doing (even if she hadn't, she wouldn't have risked anything happening to Marley). So after Levi promised Will really was trying to quit (he was practically retired, Levi swore, but an old friend had recently come back around and they needed to square a few things and, Di, can't you just do him a favour just this once?) she got Marley the hell out of town.

"It was the only way to get the car."

"You could have hitchhiked."

"My sister turns fifteen in a month. I'd like her not to get brutally murdered before then."

There was a sharpness in Di's voice, Di who didn't approve of walking home by yourself early in the morning even though you really couldn't afford anything else. And because Fran couldn't explain why she kept doing it despite knowing the statistics too well herself, she changed the subject.

"Have you thought about what you're going to get her yet?"

"She always likes it better if Levi's picked it out. He'll think of something; I'll pay for it."

"At least you have a system."

There was something comfortable about Francy's smile, so Dinah let herself laugh. How bad could girl talk be?


After Marley handed over the bottle of pretty decent quality vodka (bless her) and Dinah was generous when mixing it in with the orange juice, it turned out that girl talk was simply wonderful. And not only because she was slightly buzzed. There were was also something nice seeing Judy laughing about bad movies and the trials of college life and lots of things that weren't Dan. It was even kind of sweet seeing how excited Marley got over her graduation plans (had it really only been a year ago that she had done the same?).

"And all of you are going to the cottage?" Judy asked as Fran braided her hair.

"Yeah. All the old gang."

Like Ray. That was going to be awkward—she had mostly avoided her ex-boyfriend for the past while, but Lena suddenly found herself missing him just then. He'd been such a sweet guy, writing her little poems, sending her funny little jokes to make her smile, learning to bake cookies just because she said they were her favorite...she felt guilty, a little bit. Will would do everything for her, if she asked. But Ray had liked taking her to school dances and hanging out with all their friends and just...it was different.

Though Will was better looking. Sure, his cousin had the better body, but above the neck he was undeniably the best looking guy on the rez. And no one had ever loved her as much.

"Just you guys?"

"Some significant others, but Daddy wouldn't let me go if Will comes, so I will be all alone."

"Why won't he let Will come?"

"Because he thinks we'd just spend all weekend—uh..."

Why wasn't she like her little brother who never said a word unless he thought he could change the world with it? Dinah Black could kill her—and probably wouldn't feel all the sorry about it, either. Since Judy was still looking at her expectantly, Lena hurried to say something else.

"It just occurred to me that I'm only ever going to have two boyfriends. Doesn't that sound sad?"

Fran got as far as opening her mouth to laugh—Brian was the only guy around their age who was remotely mature enough to get married—before she realized the Black sisters were acting like Marlena should be taken seriously. Oh. Di was right. Things were more than a little weird back on the rez.

"No it doesn't," Dinah said. If she hadn't been such a bitch to Brian then...even knowing that he was supposed to move on Dinah couldn't stop herself from believing that everything would work out for the two of them. They were Dinah and Brian. No one else could possibly understand her the way Brian could. "I only planned to have two."

"Do you miss him?"

And if anyone but Judy had asked that Dinah would have thrown something or screamed or...anything that wasn't lying back on the couch and admitting, "Yeah."

"Sometimes people just grow apart," Francine tried. When Dinah came back from Christmas determined to get Brian back, she had been ecstatic for her brother, who was still hopelessly devoted. But if Brian wasn't interested, well, Dinah had dumped him despite Francine's best efforts to explain it wasn't his fault (without explaining what wasn't Dinah's business) and there was nothing to do but try to get them to be civil to one another.

"Like I don't know that," Dinah snapped.

And because the tension between the older girls made her uncomfortable, Lena interrupted: "Will says Brian's still in love with you. He says it's annoying."

Judy gave her a tiny kick, but Fran had assumed that was just another way of saying everyone on the rez could see it. No one was giving away any hugely important secrets. Even though Dad said the real reason they weren't allowed to tell Fran was to encourage her brother to get her to come back. Lena was all for having her friend back around, so she tried to keep her mouth shut.

"That doesn't mean anything. He's got someone else now." Dinah had been in love with him with when she broke up with him in September. Even if he loved her now, he had Ginger. What kind of name was Ginger? Sounded like a dog—and, wow, she had to stop hating a little girl.

"Dad sort of has someone else. The—oh, what's her name?"

Francine stopped braiding, glancing around the room in horror. Uncle Jacob had—?

"Something stupid," Dinah vaguely remembered. Her little sister was a genius. It was embarrassing how light she suddenly felt. Dad had an imprint, but he was also with Mom. So what was stopping her and Brian, really? Nerves and fear, but those could be overcome easily. All she would have to do was...

Lena, who had noticed Fran's bulging eyes, now returned Judy's earlier kick. How were they supposed to fix this? The younger girl shrugged. They were both thankfully when a phone went off, providing the perfect distraction.

"Sorry," Francine said as she quickly texted back.

"Who is it?"

The smile gave her away; Lena answered. "The boy."

"The man," Dinah corrected. "The old man who has one reason for dating someone seven years younger than him."

"You're such a romantic, Di."

"He keeps cancelling on you unless you can spend the night."

Di took it personally the way Fran didn't. She understood he really was busy. If she got lonely, which she didn't (she never had, she didn't think she ever would), she had Di. She had enough boys in her life, anyway.

Judy asked: "Does that mean you're sleeping with him?"

Fran finished up the last of the braids. They just had to be pinned up and then the crown would be complete.

"Yes, Judith."

"What's it like?"

Lena couldn't quite hide the giggles; Dinah finished her glass and poured herself another. They were going to kick her out of the big sister's club. Having a sex talk with her sister might have been okay if Judy would just stop knowing stuff already. Fourteen was far too young to go to third base. Dinah had waited until she was...fifteen? Ugh. It had sounded older at the time. Why couldn't all guys be like Brian? If they loved you (if they met the minimum standards of human decency), they should know how to BACK THE FUCK OFF.

Brian even asked before he kissed her the first time, after the two of them had slipped away from her sixteenth birthday and he told her she looked beautiful (he stammered, turned bright red). Somehow just then he wasn't Brian-her-best-friend, Francy's-other-half, he was just Brian, awkward and safe and kind, and so she said yes. And then she shoved her tongue in his mouth because he looked damn good in that shirt.

Lena was having a blast answering Judy's questions despite having never done anything like this before—Bert never asked questions, just quirked an eyebrow when he really had no idea what was going on. The kid was awesome, he really was, but he was happy in his little bubble and Lena had always not-so-secretly wanted a sister. Maybe one a little less mean than Dinah, but she would take what she got.

"And it helps if he's older, so he's knows what he's doing," she remembered. Not that Ray hadn't been super wonderful, but she hadn't had enough time to figure out quite what was going on the first couple of times and she still hadn't quite forgiven him for the disappointment.

"Though not too much older," Dinah interrupted. "Actually, stick with someone your own age."

"So it was good with Brian?"

Everything might have been strained between them, but Dinah could still count on Francy.

"Please, Judith, don't make me listen to what she did with my brother."

And so Judith let the subject go. For now. Beside Marlena Dinah was going through the bottle a little fast but she gave a small smile of gratitude and seemed okay, so Francine let her concentration drift back to pinning up Judith's beautiful hair.

"There. Someone give us a mirror."

"I look like a cooler version of Princess Leah," Judy declared once she had examined her hair from all angles. "Awesome."

"Me next," Lena called. The girls shifted positions so that the two sisters were beside each other on the couch. Lena and Fran were discussing possible hair styles while Judy begged permission to paint her sister's toes. With a wave of surrender, Dinah relented and relaxed, though she took the glass from her little sister's hand.

They talked of everything and nothing in particular, usually whatever popped into the younger girls' heads first, but it didn't really matter what they were talking about. Time had passed and they weren't the chubby little girls who were forced together at all sorts of ridiculous barbeques; they knew now that just because they all thought tag was fun they weren't going to be best friends forever. But despite how they had changed they all remembered the old games. It was reassuring to catch up again.

"And how's Kara?" Fran asked. If Lena hadn't assumed the older girls had known (someone had to have told them, right?) she probably would have answered differently. But she thought they knew so...

"Off doing whatever with Levi."

The sputtering and coughing occupied all their attention for the next few minutes. Lena would have sworn that Dinah was going to choke to death, while Judy pounded on her sister's back and tried to ignore the gross liquid all over her. Water was coming out of Dinah's eyes, but eventually she managed to breathe again.

"What?" she croaked.

"What?" Marley echoed.

"Kara's with Levi who?"

"Levi's the only Levi for miles," Judy said, puzzled. "Though they can't be doing anything too...even if Kim works all the time, Kara's half his size. Wouldn't he crush her if they were having sex?"

"I'm sorry," Fran interrupted, giving Dinah time to stop freaking out, "But since when do...I thought we were talking about Kim's Kara?"

"We are."

"And she's with Levi?"

"They're going out," Marley said, grabbing her own drink. "For a couple months now. I could have sworn I told you."

"You didn't," Fran promised. "I would have remembered something that...unexpected."

"They're kind of cute in a totally weird way. Not that I've been out with them, but whatever. They are. I think I even heard her talk once, when he was around."

"Going out?" Dinah repeated dumbly. "Levi's going..."

She couldn't even complete the sentence. The idea of her little brother dating anyone was so ludicrous she was losing brain function (or maybe that was the booze). But Levi didn't...Levi hit on disease-ridden randoms at party's the cops inevitably ended up busting. He did not date. He really did not date little Kara.

Who had to be around Judy's age—great. Her brother who looked almost thirty now was going to get himself thrown into jail for statutory rape.

"I'm sorry," Dinah said. "My brain has currently entered a parallel universe where nothing makes fucking sense. Levi's dating? Like...dinner, movie, hand holding, meet the parents—"

"They haven't done that but most of the other stuff, yeah," Judy chirped. "And he walks her home from work everyday and they talk on the phone all the time and—"

"But Kara? Really? Is anyone else having trouble picturing Levi with someone—" STD free "—sweet?"

Judy protested. "Why can't Levi be with anyone sweet?"

Sometimes he was a bit bossy and he was always really super annoying, but Levi was also kind of awesome so why couldn't he be with whomever he wanted?

"Because he'll run right over them. Because he..." Because someone had to convince him listening to Will all the time was a dumb idea and Dinah couldn't picture little Kara in the same room as Will, let alone standing up to him. If Dinah could manage she knew it would be hilarious, but she just couldn't.

"She makes him really happy," Judy said, which just made Dinah's headache worse.

Levi always had better taste in girls than the whores he fooled around with suggested (hadn't he liked Francy during his freshman and sophomore years?), so it wasn't totally out of left field. No, even then it was totally out of character. Unless Levi had stopped being a superficial jackass...the thought was mind-blowing.

"I still don't get how he goes from Marely to Kara but...sure. Good for him." Dinah found herself meaning it.

"You knew he used to like me?" Lena asked. Just remembering made her laugh again. She and Levi had always been a little (a lot) flirty even though they could have been cousins.

"He is my brother. And Will bitched about it constantly. The joys of their co-dependency issues."

"Don't I know it," Lena sighed. "I feel like I'm dating Levi too, sometimes. If he hasn't just left Levi, he's going to Levi or talking about Levi or—ugh. We can't even go out on a date unless he clears it with Levi first."

"Yeah, but that's because of the pat—"

It hurt when Dinah pinched like that, but Judy realized just in time that she wasn't supposed to say that patrols were more important than dates. Oops.

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" Dinah hurried to say.

"Or reminded him that threesomes have incest free clauses?"

It wasn't that Francine hated the boys. She had avoided William most of her senior year because she was ashamed of what he knew, not because she hated him (he never went near her brothers and that's all Fran could ask for). Besides, when he disappeared that summer she was reminded that it was better the devil you knew. And she never came close to hating Levi, had just been annoyed at the awkward position he had once placed her in (his very obvious pining had been embarrassing and there was nothing she could do about it without offending Dinah, who wouldn't have forgiven a word against her little brother). But it was easy to understand a young boy's misplaced hero worship for his big sister. So she didn't hate the boys.

She did think they could stand to be made a tiny bit uncomfortable at least once in awhile.

"You were right that it totally freaks him out so much that I get at least twenty-four hours of Levi free time every time I mention it," Lena said happily. "But I don't want to abuse it. Even though...I mean, I love Will, it's just, Levi's pretty ripped and—"

"Okay," Dinah interrupted, "So I have just discovered the one thing creepier than thinking about Levi with a little girl is thinking about him with our cousin."

"Kara's older than me," Judy pointed out.

This weekend was not the time to make Judy feel like a child Dinah realized. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure what to say. Fortunately, Marley interrupted.

"Is anyone else starving?"

So Dinah had no choice to admit bringing Marley hadn't turned out so badly after all.


The younger girls slept in that next morning, Marley in Francy's room, Judy in Dinah's, but the couch was not comfortable and the floor was even less so. Ten minutes after Dinah woke up, Francy leaned over from the couch.

"You awake?"

"No. I'm in the middle of a REM cycle."

"The beauty sleep isn't helping."

"Oh shut up," Dinah laughed quietly. It wouldn't do to wake up anyone. But she relocated to the couch. "My back is killing me."

"I told you I would take the floor."

"Uh huh."

But Dinah was the Amazon and Francy was built like the ultimate damsel in distress, always too fragile looking, a dancer's willowy frame without the firm body, and there was no way in hell Dinah was going to let her take the floor.

"I hope Judith is all right," Francine said.

"She'll be fine. He's just a guy."

"Still. It always hurts when something that was so good becomes..."

For a moment the two women stared at each other as Fran gave up searching for the right word.

"This?" Dinah asked.

Fran sighed. "Di, this isn't the time."

"You've been saying that since we were sixteen."

"What is it you want to talk about?"

"Levi's friends with Brian now," Dinah blurted out. Why start there? Who knows? She had to start somewhere and it seemed like as good a place as any. The boys came first now, after all. "They both got into that weird little boy's club our father's always had. So, Levi knows what's going on at your house. And he told me."

"And what's going on at my house?"

At Christmas it had seemed reasonable to wait for Francy to make up her own mind to tell. Forcing her to share seemed cruel. Months later, Dinah came to the conclusion forcing her to keep silent was even worse.

"I know about your dad."

"What about my dad?"

It was reflexive. Francine knew better than to lie to Di.

In response, Dinah rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Fran meant it, even if she would never have told if she'd been given the choice.

"Why didn't you?"

Weren't they friends? Were the years of sharing secrets (secrets Dinah only ever told Francy, secrets she made even Brian learn second-hand) absolutely nothing?

"Because this isn't something you can fix, Di, just by scowling at it. On top of everything, I didn't want you mad at me for not...I don't know, flailing around to your satisfaction."

"So you're just going to stand there and wait for everything to magically get better?"

"No. It—it doesn't get better." Scars never faded. They just were. "You just...you deal. That's all you can do. I didn't want you coming in and saying otherwise because..."

When Francy broke off, fanning her eyes, keeping the tears at bay, Dinah almost wanted to laugh. Once upon a time it had been Dinah's bad habit, that fear and pride that made it so hard to cry in front of other people. Maybe Francy was right; maybe it was better they stayed apart.

"I'm just going to be disappointed when he doesn't get better."

Leaning over, Dinah hugged the other girl, until Francy finally gave in and started to cry. She did calm well, but stoicism had never been her thing, even if the sobs were muffled so as not to wake their guests. It wouldn't do to frighten the younger girls.

Quietly, between the tears, Francine admitted, "I miss my Dad."

Dinah had no idea what to say to that. Judy would find another replacement for that immature little dick but this...even shooting Sam Uley wouldn't make Dinah feel better. Well, it would, but the twins (the Simon and Theodore to her Alvin, the Ron and Hermione to her Harry, which meant she had to look out for them) wouldn't appreciate it.

"You've still got me," she promised because it was the only thing she could think to say. "Even if you think I'm a judgemental bitch."

Fran couldn't help laughing, a little, as she pulled away.

"I prefer to think of you as demanding."

"Well, I'm going to use that vaguely offensive comment to segue into demanding you tell me everything you've failed to tell me lately."

The doors were closed and it was still early in the morning, so they weren't likely to be interrupted. Francine hesitated for a moment, but finally started to speak.

"At first, it wasn't so bad..."