Jupiter watched as Carmen stalked past him and he jumped to his feet. He put his hands on her shoulders to stop her from walking into the elevator doors. He spun her around so that she faced her. "Carmen? What happened?" he asked. She just bit her lip and shook her head. "Come on, talk to me, what happened?" he asked again. "I blew a fuse," Carmen replied. Her voice was thick, like she was about to cry. "Tell me exactly what happened," he said. He sat her down on one of the armchairs and then pulled the other one in front of it.
He grasped her hands and looked at her. "Evelyn asked me why I thought that Carol wanted to relinquish guardianship over me. I told her that I didn't know…then I told her what happened this morning," she said. She stopped and Jupiter could see that she was trying to keep herself under control. "She asked me if I wanted to leave Carol and Judy and I said yes. She asked me if I wanted to leave the city and I said no. During the whole hour I've been here, they've been talking about me like I'm a science experiment." Her voice caught on the last two words. "I told her to stop talking to me like that, I told her to stop talking about it like it's the easiest thing in the world. I said that both her and I know that I can't go back there…"
Her voice caught and a couple tears ran down her cheeks. Jupiter wrapped his arms and her and she put her head on his shoulder. "You don't have to go back," he said. "I promise you that you won't have to go back." Jupiter could tell that the man at the desk was watching them but Jupiter didn't care. "Carmen!" Jupiter could feel Carmen lift her head at Evelyn's call and he could tell that she didn't want to go back. "Come on," Jupiter said softly. "If you just get it over with, it won't be as painful. It can't be much longer now." Jupiter stood up and placed an arm protectively around Carmen's shoulders. She stood up and Jupiter led her down to Evelyn's office.
Carmen looked at him when they got to the door and he saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but he knew it was the wrong time. Instead he gave her an encouraging smile and watched her walk into the office.