"Livvie you CAN'T not go!! What am I supposed to do?!...I know, I know...yeah, I understand you and Jack both have the flu...I know...It's just that I CAN'T be the only one in the class without a partner!"

Alison panicked on the phone as Livvie regretfully told her she wouldn't be able to make their first lamaze class, "No! That is SO not an option!...I know I said I needed a partner, but...Livvie!...Yes, I know Jamal said he'd do anything he could to help me out when I needed it...but, Livvie, you can't really expect me to call him and ask him to be my lamaze coach!...No, you WON'T call him for me!...Livvie!! Livvie?! Hello?!..."

Alison hung up the phone and let out an angry sigh, "She CANNOT call Jamal! Jamal can't be my lamaze coach. How weird would THAT be?!"

Before Alison could come up with an alternate plan, and less than a minute later, the phone rang.

"Hello? Oh, uh....hi Jamal. No, I told Livvie not to call you...Well, no I don't have another partner yet, but it's fine...really...it's fine, I'll just-...oh...well, I mean yeah if you want to....but Jamal! I don't want to put you in this position!...ya know...well, with me having Rafe's baby, and I know it's been hard for you to grasp and all, so it's fine, I'll go by myself...no, Jamal, really...Jamal...ok, ok, ok, fine!....I guess then, well, you wanna pick me up in like half an hour?...Alright, see ya then. Um, bye."

Alison could not believe the conversation she just had. Jamal was gonna be her coach?! So Jamal was going to help her deliver Rafe's baby?! Is that one for the books or what?! Alison was worried, and not too happy. She'd been doing well avoiding Jamal for the past six months. She'd run into him every once and a while, they'd exchange some typical hello's and how-are-you's, but nothing really more than that. Jack and Livvie had been good about not forcing the subject too often. It was just really hard for her to deal with all the emotions that came up whenever she thought about, let alone saw, Jamal. But she DID need a partner for class, and there was no one else, so it appeared that Alison was stuck.

"Ok, Alison," she reassured herself, "It'll all be fine...it'll be fine. Jamal's your friend now, and you really do need a partner. It'll be fine...really."

Alison got a nervous feeling in her stomach. By now she knew that feeling all too well, but thankfully the morning sickness had let up by now. For the first couple of months there she thought she'd just carry a bucket around with her wherever she went. She swore that stock in Saltines must have skyrocketed during her first trimester. But this feeling wasn't coming from morning sickness, it was the fact that in less than 30 minutes, her ex-boyfriend was going to show up on her doorstep to take her to her first lamaze class.

"Ok, Alison...just take some deep breaths....Ugh, where are those Saltines?!"

"Jamal!! Jamal's gonna be her lamaze coach?! ED!!!" Rafe burst into Ed's office.

"What is it, kid?! Jeez! What can it possibly be now?!"

Rafe was steaming, "Ok, so Jamal is gonna be Alison's coach?! Jamal?! C'mon! That should be ME!"

"Rafe, look, whaddya want me to do about it? Make the lamaze teacher's car keys disappear so class gets cancelled?"

"No! You know what I want you to do about it, Ed! I want you to let me go back down there where I should be!"

"Listen, I told ya. Not my decision. The council's workin on it."

"Well they need to work HARDER... and FASTER!! At this rate, by the time they make a decision my kid'll be goin off to college!"

"Rafe, I know this is a lot for you to take. But don't get mad at me or the council. Go be mad at Larry! He's the one who got us ALL into this mess! Ya should be able to find him with the horses right now, up to his neck in you-know-what." Ed laughed to himself, pleased with the punishment he'd come up with for Larry.

"Ed!"

"Ok, ok...I know. You're right, this is taking a while. But I'm tellin ya, kid, it's outta my hands. I mean, there's only so many strings I can pull."

"Isn't there something...ANYTHING? I'm not even talking about sending me back down there permanently for now...just give me something...please?"

Ed's heart melted as he saw the hurt in Rafe's face. His soft spot for him would probably never harden. He wanted so much to help him out. Hell, if he had it his way, he'd probably give into the kid and send him back down there for a nice, long lifetime with Alison and a houseful of kids. But that's not the way the rules work. Maybe there was SOMETHING he could do. But, he knows Rafe...and if you give him and inch, he'll WANT a mile! What if he gives him that little something he wants so much and then, just like before, it makes it even worse when he has to come back again? Oh, but just looking at those eyes.

"Ya know, kiddo, you're like a sad little puppy on the streets begging for some scraps. That face and those eyes...I'd give ya a whole plateful, but I know it would only mean you'd come back begging for more." Ed thought to himself.

"Ed? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Ed let out a sigh, "I'll see what I can do."

Rafe's face lit up. He certainly knew how to play on Ed's heartstrings. "Boss, I could kiss you right now!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Save it for Blondie! Listen, I can't promise you anything, all I can say is I'll look into it."

Rafe was satisfied. He'd seen that look on Ed's face before, and, like a little kid who knows just when he's going to get his way, he knew that Ed would do more than "look into it".