A/N: This chapter is dedicated to saffiremoon21, whose fic Realization (chapter 18 to be precise) helped me get a start on this chapter, which had me stumped for a while.

Day Twenty-Five: Best Friend

I'm late for my lunch with Tana. I had to call her and ask her to order some sort of pasta and a side salad. When I finally get there she's reading a book– a romance novel judging by the studly shirtless male on the cover.

"Sorry I'm late."

"It's all right. I ordered for you."

"How can you read these things?" I say, playfully snatching at the book before she can stash it in her bag.

"How can you read those trashy thrillers you like?" Tana shoots back, arms crossed and glowering.

"Yes but romance novels..."

"They're good!"

"They're drivel."

"Says the girl whose life is the plot of a romance novel," Tana retorts, rolling her eyes.

"What?"

She takes back the book and then holds it up as if she were reading the back cover. "A young heiress and the man charged with protecting her. For years they've been separated by circumstance, but when–"

"Okay, okay. Enough."

The waiter arrives with our food and it isn't until we've eaten a few bites that I speak again. "Seth isn't perfect, you know. He has faults and bad habits like anyone."

"Maybe, but he's perfect for you." She heaves a sigh and all at once the humour is gone from her features and she looks so forlorn that I'm worried.

"Tana?" I say, reaching across the table to place my hand over hers.

"It's... No, it's nothing."

"Tana, we've told each other everything since we were kids, right? Come on. What is it? You can tell me."

She shakes her head. "Not when it's about your brother."

"Did he do something?" I ask gently. Tana's right: it pains me to ask. I love Ephraim dearly. But I love Tana too, almost like a sister, and I hate to see either of them unhappy. I know they've gone out a few times, but I'm not sure whether they're officially seeing one another or not.

Tana shakes her head. "No, nothing like that. It's just... he's been hot and cold for a while now and I... I got a letter from Cormag.

"Oh. I see." She dated Cormag in college. He was a few years older and on leave from the Airforce to study engineering. He broke it off when he returned to the service and was shipped out to the Middle East. "What did he say?"

"Do you remember his brother, Glen?"

"Vaguely."

"He was killed in action last year."

"Oh! I– That's awful!"

"He says he's thinking of leaving the Airforce. His tour is almost over– he'll be back in less than a month. And he wants to see me."

I take a few bites of my fettuccine while I let it all sink in. I'm not certain how my brother feels about Tana. I think maybe Ephraim isn't certain either. He's taken on so much this past year. He puts on a such a brave front that no one can guess how hard it's been for him. But I know. I always know.

"Talk to him. Ephraim would never purposefully hurt you. The way things have been of late, though... Just... talk to him."

Tana smiles. "I think I will. Thanks. Now," she drawls, "let's talk about more important things– like your wedding!"

"That reminds me... I need to cancel our dinner on Friday– I'll be in France."

"W-what?"

I shake my head. "I had to go at the last minute for some company business."

"How long?"

"A week. I had to be back for Seth's birthday after all."

"Yeah," Tana says as she's tapping frantically at her blackberry's touchscreen. "It's on the... sixth, right?"

"Yes."

"And the next week I have a trip to London. And the week after that is your wedding." She huffs in apparent frustration and I tilt my head and peer at her.

"Is something wrong?"

"What about Thursday?"

"For what?"

"Dinner."

"But we just had lunch." I watch as her stylus is flying. I've never seen anyone who can text as fast as Tana– or in as cryptic a form of English for that matter.

"Are you free or not?"

I shake my head. "I'll probably have to work late on Thursday to make sure everything's in order before my trip."

"What about Wednesday then?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Is there something I should know about?"

Tana's eyes shoot up from her Blackberry to my face. "No. Nothing. Why?"

"You're oddly adamant about dinner."

"Can you do Wednesday or not?"

"I can do Wednesday." She's biting her lip and tapping out messages again. In another era she could've been a telegraph operator. "Should I be expecting company?"

"Eat your pasta before it gets cold," she says and that's the end of that conversation.