Disclaimer: I don't own.

A/N: A little short, but I have to run to work and I wanted to update again before tonight!

Thanks to gsrmania for the suggestion of shnookums, and to my fiance for 'cuddle muffin' (oh, yeah, don't ask...), and to JBCC whose suggestions I only just got, but some of which I will be sure to incorporate into Catherine's dialogue. :)

Chapter Thirty Five:

"Catherine," I said, when Sara was well out of sight and earshot, no doubt heading to have the confrontation with her husband. "…You need to tone it down a little."

She shook her head. "I thought about that, what with them fighting and all, but… I mean, Gil, the woman absolutely hates me. Do you see the way she glares at me? I think we should keep it up."

I grit my teeth. "She's glaring at you because the way you've been acting is migraine-inducing. The next time you call me… shnookums or… cuddle muffin or—"

She snorted. "Cuddle Muffin? That's great! That's my next one!"

I groaned. "Okay, Catherine, let's have an honest talk, okay? You're right, I'm in love with her. I am. And she chose to marry him because she didn't think I knew what I wanted. …Having an overbearing girlfriend on my arm while flirting with her is… it's not projecting the image that I do, in fact, know what I want. Capice?"

She rolled her eyes. "So we stage a big breakup near the end of the trip, and you tell her that I was just a piece on the side while you were pining over her."

I sighed, putting my face in my hands. "…Catherine, dear… you know that I love you. You know that. So take it with a grain of salt when I tell you that you are absolutely, fucking crazy if you think keeping this up is going to help me." She looked at me in surprise, and I sighed. "I just… This fight they're in is… big. I mean, she would be more likely to forgive him if he cheated on her and brought home a venereal disease. …So I can't wait until the end of the trip to be 'available'."

She frowned. "Okay, right, but… We can't stage a break up right now. Then Jace will throw a fit about her spending time with you. I mean, really, do you have any idea how obviously the pair of you were eyeing each other in that pool? Not only did my little game make Sara jealous, it also put Jace at ease… even if you were eyeing up his pregnant wife, you had a hottie like me to take back to the room and release all that pent up sexual frustration."

"Oh, god, I'm not having this conversation with you, Catherine." I cringed.

She laughed, picking up her piece of pizza finally and biting into it. "Don't then. But we can't break up and you can't tell her the truth for… at least a few days. At the earliest. And hey, by then, we'll finally have some beaches, so I won't want to act like I'm with somebody anyway…"

I got up from the table, walking away from her. She was trying so hard to help me, but if it didn't work out, she saw me as out nothing. I hadn't had Sara, so I would lose nothing in this effort. The truth was that when I looked at Sara… when I was close to her, again… I felt like she was mine. If she chose Jace again, it wouldn't be going back to the status quo—it would be losing her all over again.

I went back to the cabin before Catherine, showering and changing for bed. I didn't sleep, though I pretended to be when she stumbled in around one. Instead, I laid awake, replaying the last few days in my head. Something was nagging at me, and while I'd been surprised just to see Sara again, much less on a cruise, and had been even more shocked when Catherine started groping me… Wasn't it weird that they'd come up to us at all? I mean, if I replayed the moment in my mind minus the all-too-distracting images of Sara in that tiny bathing suit… it seemed like Jace had been leading. He walked in front of her, he called my name, he spoke first.

He had wanted to talk to me, but it seemed that Sara wasn't so sure.

…Had she told her friend to lie to me about Jace to avoid making a scene? Because clearly if the man had yelled at Sara all night, right before their wedding, he could not always be so calm and reserved as he seemed. Wouldn't he have pulled her away from us or, I don't know, punched me on sight? Sara didn't seem like the type to lie. She had always been honest with me.

But what other reason would her friend have to lie? She clearly knew about us… she'd known about the kiss, after all. Maybe she had thought that Sara was better off with Jace, and she didn't want her making the mistake? …Because, if Sara hadn't told the girl to lie…if Sara hadn't been part of it… then she probably didn't know that I had been there at all. And she'd been looking for me, in that space of a breath before 'I do'.

I got up and dressed at five thirty, walking along the ship until some of the dining rooms started to open and I could count of getting coffee and at least something to occupy my time. My head was reeling with my new suspicions, and it was all I could do to avoid knocking on every door in Sara's part of the ship until I found her room and begged her to tell me that she hadn't known I was there, but had been looking for me.

To my very great surprise, Jace slid into the chair opposite me around six thirty. …He looked like hell. I mean, really… looked like he hadn't slept all night, nor had had a shower. His hair was rumpled, like he'd been perpetually running his hands through it, and his clothes were wrinkled. "Gil… I need your help."

I blinked in surprise, but quickly recovered my politely uncertain look. "…What can I do for you?"

"Sara is mad at me. I mean, it was bad last night, but she's got a temper… I figured it would have blown over, by now."

I swallowed a drink of my coffee. "And it hasn't?"

"No! She still won't speak to me, and I don't think either of us slept all night! I mean, I did what she wanted… I got the rollaway in lieu of a couch, I didn't talk to her because she needed time to process everything… but she was out of the room half an hour ago. I mean, she's always loved to run, so I thought maybe she was doing that, but her tennis shoes were still in the room. She wouldn't run in just sandals, would she?"

I flexed and relaxed my jaw. "I guess I'm not sure. …I mean, she hasn't been gone long. I'm sure she's just fine." I said, thinking he was concerned for her safety. He sighed, putting his face in his hands.

"Yeah, I'm sure she is. Did you know they have a judge on staff? Like, a legal, US judge? So that people can get married on board. Or, you know, divorced."

I sat up straighter. "…You don't think she would… Jace, she's pregnant. I mean, don't you think—"

"I don't know what to think! I… She was so mad last night. I… was such an idiot. I mean, Sara has a temper and sometimes she just needs to let it out… I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to intercede to tell someone to just let her go off, because if you say something or lash back, you're screwed, but can I take my own advice? Of course not!"

I was trying my very best to follow. The most I got was that he said something to make it worse, in their fight. "…What did you say?"

He threw his hands up in desperation. "Oh, you know, the usual. I said she was overreacting, I said she couldn't make me sleep on a rollaway because I had paid for the trip—which was one of my more brilliant moments, let me tell you—Oh, and I accused her of having an affair with you." His head moved back into his hands. "God, the only male friend she's had in years, she doesn't talk to you for over a year, and I tell her she's been misrepresenting your relationship. I mean, god, you've got a woman!" He sighed, shaking his head. "…I'm just fucked, aren't I?"

I swallowed. He didn't know. There was no way he could know that I had kissed her and be listing the reasons why he was crazy to suspect an affair. Was it Sara's lie, or her friend's? I took a drink of coffee to stall, and then sighed, thinking that this was a major conflict of interests. Really, the man should not be seeking advice from me, and I would never forgive myself if the advice I gave him were too good or too terrible. I searched for some sort of vague, general cliché.

"Maybe… she just needs time." That worked. She probably did need time, and while she was taking it, she'd need company….

"She threatened to leave me."

"…What?"

"When I pulled the money card. She… said that if I believed making more money and being the man entitled me to power, then I could enjoy my money and my power while she took the baby and half my income for the next nineteen years. Otherwise, I should get used to the spare bed."

My eyes were wide, and I felt so very guilty that I was fighting back a smirk. I mean, I felt bad for him… you could tell that he genuinely loved her. But man, he was fucked.

I nodded slowly. "Then… I would definitely give her some time… and sleep on the rollaway."

The look he gave me was nothing short of pitiful, but I couldn't feel bad for him… I felt too good for myself. And one question kept circling—Sara's lie, or the bridesmaid's?