A/N: Hey guys, sorry about the chapter stuff... I've never been much of a "chapter namer", and what with the prologue, everything is bumped back a number. I can change it if you all would like, if it would make things easier. If you'd like it changed, just let me know what you think would be a good method... not wanting to make the prologue ch. 1, but I don't know what else I can change short of naming the chapters.

Chapter 7

When Carmen got out of the car, laughing and refreshed from a game of tennis with her father, she was shocked to see Win sitting alone on the porch swing, his duffel bag lonely by his feet.

"What's wrong?" she called, afraid to know. She didn't like the look on his face.

"I need to talk to you, Carmen," he said, that troubled look in his eyes haunting her. Her father was standing nearby, looking almost as concerned as she felt.

"Go ahead in, Dad," she said, not taking her eyes off of Win's face. "I'll be there in a minute." After the screen door had safely closed, Carmen moved to go sit next to Win, then stopped. She pulled herself up so that she was sitting on the porch railing, facing him.

"What's wrong?" she asked, wishing she didn't have to inquire, that this was some sort of stupid joke, that everything was fine.

"Carmen, I don't know how to say this..." Win sighed. Carmen felt her eyes widen, she shook her head slightly, wanting him to close his mouth and stop the next words from tumbling out. "I came along with you and Lena because I thought maybe things would get better, and you and I would talk more, spend time together like we used to."

"Win, we do spend time together," Carmen said desperately.

He gave her a pained look. "Carmen, we've been dating for almost a year. You have yet to tell me you even really care."

Carmen wanted to blurt out every loving thought she'd ever had about him. She wanted to explain how selfish and awful he was, to tell him how good he was, how she didn't deserve him. She wanted to beg him not to say these things, and promise him that she would fix everything. But her mouth was overflowing with things unsaid, the same way it had been for a year, and she could only sit there and stare.

He stood up. "My flight leaves at five, I'd better go."

She looked over her shoulder to watch him trot down the path, feeling her long hair slide over her shoulder like a girl in a movie. The same thought she'd had last year, when she'd first met him. She wished she were the girl in the movie. Then this wouldn't be real.

"Win," she said in a small voice, still wishing she could put into words what she was feeling.

He turned, face laced with pain. "Goodbye, Carmen." He shouldered his duffel and slowly walked away, in the direction of the nearest bus stop. Carmen watched him over her shoulder until he disappeared. Finally, she let herself slowly off the railing and ran toward the door as though her life depended on getting there.

"Paul!" she called.

Carmen had stolen Paul for the afternoon. She felt like she hadn't gotten three seconds alone with him since she'd arrived, and she was sick of watching him sit there silently, impassively. So she'd cornered him in the kitchen and informed him that they were going out. She had been determined not to say a word about Win, but now that she was here, it seemed so much harder not to.

They were now at the Dairy Queen on the corner, she with a chocolate milkshake (anything but peppermint ice cream - no good memories of that, not anymore), and Paul was suffering through two scoops of bubble gum ice cream topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, and gummy bears.

"You," Carmen said, her voice falsely cheerful, "have the weirdest sense of humor of anyone I know." She had forbidden him to get plain old vanilla, so he'd promptly ordered the disgusting-looking concoction currently in front of him.

Paul gave a half-smile and shrugged.

"About Win," he began.

"What about Win?" Carmen wanted to know. Paul had this superhuman ability to see a person and know everything about them, Lena was similar. So maybe he had noticed what had happened.

Paul considered. "He cares about you," he said. From Paul, this wasn't a meager attempt to find something positive to say, it was a favorable judgement of Win's character. "How often do you acknowledge that?"

Carmen was confused. The fact that she'd rather talk about anything, anyone else, right now didn't help. "What do you mean?"

Paul sighed and shifted his weight, pushing his melting ice cream a little to the side so he could clasp his hands. "Carma, he's waiting for something. You can't leave him waiting forever."

Carmen wished he would say what he meant outright. Apparently Paul saw the confusion in her eyes, because he continued patiently.

"Win is not one of those people you can assume knows you care," Paul said. Carmen got the squirmy feeling that Paul was one of the people she did assume about. He smiled reassuringly at her, and she wondered if he knew what she was thinking. "I think he's waiting to be told."

Carma hated to admit it to herself, but she felt like dirt. She had thought she was never over-reliant on Win, that she was there for him as much as he was for her, but with what both Win and Paul had said, she realized that she had been wrong. She had a suspicion that Lenny had noticed, too, Carmen had been getting odd looks from her all week.

She sighed and pushed her milkshake away. She didn't want any more. "So, Paul," she said, trying to be nonchalant and not give him a clue about what had happened. "How would you go about fixing it?"

He gave her a very direct look. "Isn't it a little late for that, Carmen?"

She sighed. So Paul's powers of observation had outwitted her again. She nodded, feeling an odd mixture of pain and shame. "So you're saying I can't do anything?"

Paul shrugged. "I don't know anything about relationships, Carma. All I can tell you is what I see. But if I were you, I wouldn't chase after him."

"Then how do I get him back?" Carmen said earnestly, drawn in by the metaphor, waiting for some bit of sage advice.

Paul considered. "Back when my parents were married, we had this deer in our backyard. Krista was into Bambi back then, so she'd run out screaming to try to catch him. And, of course, he'd run. But I'd sit out there, silent, for hours on end, and eventually he'd show up. So I'd say, let him come to you, and if he does, show him you can be trusted, don't scare him away."

They sat in thoughtful silence for a moment.

"Paul?" Carmen asked. Her stomach was clenched into knots, deep down inside, from trying to keep her from remembering what had happened. She felt a desperate need to bring the subject to somewhat more neutral ground. "Since when do you tell people you care about them?"

"Just because I give advice doesn't mean I take it," Paul said, with another half-smile. Under normal circumstances, Carmen would have laughed. Even if she wasn't capable of being happy today, things seemed a lot better than they had a few hours ago. Though Carmen had the feeling she would be tossing and turning and trying to suppress things late into the night.

Tibby noticed how empty the house was. Her father was down at the police station trying to figure out what their next move would be, her brother and sister were at Bee's, and her mother... well, who knew? And there was nowhere for her to escape to - Brian was out of town today, Bee was babysitting, and Carma and Lenny were away.

The doorbell rang, and as lonely as Tibby was, she didn't feel like getting up to go answer it. But it could be her mother. This was the only thing that drew her to the door. When she opened it, there was a totally unfamiliar man standing there. Glad that she hadn't taken the chain off of the door, she narrowed her eyes, studying him.

"Can I help you?"

"I think so," he said. He had a nice smile, his voice was slightly accented but he spoke English very well. "Are you Tibby?"

"Who are you?" she countered.

He held out his hand, but she merely stared at it. "I'm Kostos. You might know of me through Lena?" He looked uncertain.

Tibby's jaw dropped. "You? You're him? What are you doing here?"

"I thought Lena would have explained," he said mildly.

"No, no, no," Tibby said impatiently. She pulled the chain out of the door and opened it all the way. "What are you doing on my doorstep?"

"Trying to find Lena," he said shamefacedly.

Tibby laughed disbelievingly. "So you showed up at Lena's friend's house hoping I'd tell you where she was? What made you think I'd tell you anything?"

"Nothing, actually, but I figured it was worth a try," he admitted. "Your friend Bridget slammed the door in my face. I did better here, at least."

She laughed. That was the sort of thing Bee would do. It was the sort of thing Tibby might have done if she weren't amused by the conversation. Amusing herself was one thing, but she wasn't giving him a single digit of the phone number at Carmen's dad's house.

"I didn't get to really talk to her," Kostos said. "I understand how this must sound," he said hastily, "because I don't doubt Lena's told you what happened. But I want to explain to her."

"Listen," said Tibby firmly. "I'll tell her you want to talk. But I'm not going to let you call her or anything. I'm not an idiot. I-"

"She's in South Carolina?" Kostos wanted to know.

Tibby hesitated for a moment, in surprise. That was all it took.

"What's the address?" he asked.

She shook her head firmly. "No."

Kostos sighed. "I'm not going to get anywhere without being completely open about this, am I?"

Tibby raised an eyebrow. "You weren't?"

He shook his head distractedly. "My grandmother's not doing well. I need to go back to Greece... I thought when I got here that I'd have a summer to let Lena come, if I waited. I'm out of time to wait."

"Then you know your answer," Tibby said. It would have sounded cruel from someone else, with Tibby it was matter-of-fact. "You can't chase Lenny down. You should know that if you know her." Tibby said pointedly.

"I made the biggest mistake of my life," Kostos pleaded. "One that cost me Lena forever, I thought then. And now things could go back, if she wanted-"

"This is not right," Tibby informed him. "You can't keep coming back like this, making promises you can't keep."

He looked utterly defeated, and she knew she had voiced the thoughts he himself had been trying to suppress. He did love Lena, she could see that, because he had been lying to himself all this time to keep himself going with the thought of her. And the knowledge that he had hurt her and was hurting her again with every reappearance was chewing away at him from inside, when he bothered to think about it. All of this Tibby knew without a doubt.

"Look," she said, more gently now. "When does your flight leave?"

"Tomorrow," he said glumly. "Noon."

Tibby mentally went over how much money she had upstairs. How long Bee could keep Nicky and Katherine. How her dad would react. She shook her head, trying to come up with an alternative. He could use the phone, if Carmen's cell was on.

"Wait here," she said, and went in to the kitchen to dial Carma. "Carma?"

"What's wrong?" Carmen asked, immediately knowing from Tibby's tone that something wasn't quite right.

"Don't worry about it, Carma," Tibby said. Carmen had enough to think about. "Where's Lenny?"

"Out with my dad and the rest of them," Carmen said, puzzled. "They went camping." Tibby almost smiled. Carmen hated camping - too many mosquitoes. An afternoon of tennis was more her idea of outdoorsy.

"When are they coming back?" Tibby asked, all business again.

"Not until tomorrow afternoon, I think." Carmen answered. "Why?"

Tibby lowered her voice. "I've got this guy Kostos on my doorstep... heard of him?"

Carmen gasped. "What's he doing there?"

"Wants to talk to Lenny."

"Well, what are you going to do?" Carmen wanted to know. "None of them has a cell phone, not with them at least. Wilderness experience and all that."

"Carma," said Tibby in measured tones. "I believe I am thinking of flying down there."

"You're going to make her seriously unhappy." Carmen reminded her.

"I'm going to make sure he knows this is it, that things are over, what kind of person do you think I am?" Tibby snapped. "Lenny needs the closure, and I think he does too. And he's got to see for himself that he needs to give up chasing after her and let her go on with her life. That just because he made a mistake doesn't mean he can keep making Lena pay for it. He'll realize that if he can see it in her face, in person."

Carmen sighed and Tibby knew she'd won. "Tibbadee, there's no reason for you to fly down here on top of it all. I'll pick him up at the airport and get him to the campground."

"No," Tibby said firmly. "Carma, I want to see you anyhow."

"I'm fine, Tibby," Carmen insisted, but Tibby could hear the smile in her voice, the kind of smile that came from knowing you were a loved person. "I'll handle it."

"And who's going to handle you?" Tibby said matter-of-factly.

"I will," Carmen said. "It's not as bad as all that, Tibby."

"You, Carma Carmeena Carmabelle, are lying through your teeth," Tibby informed her. "I'll call you when I get a flight."

After saying her goodbyes to Carmen, Tibby reappeared in the front hall.

"We're flying to South Carolina.," she told Kostos. "And throughout this entire flight, I don't know you, I've never seen you before, and you don't exist."

He looked confused, but he nodded. "I'll see what I can do to get a flight to Greece that departs from there. Money's not an object, I need to talk to Lena again before I go home."

"I'm going to get you to see Lenny," Tibby told him, "but that doesn't mean that I think this is a good idea, or that we're friends, or that I even like you."

He took it in stride.

"We'll be arriving at our destination in a short time, temperature is seventy degrees Fahrenheit, and it's a beautiful evening. The seatbelt lights will be going on momentarily, please buckle yourselves in when they do. Thank you for flying with us, and enjoy your stay in South Carolina!"

Enjoy your stay? Tibby thought idly, popping another piece of gum into her mouth as her ears popped for the zillionth time. She wasn't much likely to enjoy her stay, not until she'd gotten rid of the baggage that was Kostos.

As the plane descended, she chanced a glance in his direction, all the way across the aisle in another window seat. He was reading one of those free airline magazines. Same page he'd been staring at an hour ago when she'd looked. So maybe he wasn't reading it.

She shouldered her backpack as people crammed the aisles to disembark. She waited patiently. An extra fifteen minutes didn't matter. She was in no hurry.

Carmen had parked and come in - the outside pickup was apparently a nightmare no matter when you tried to get someone. But it always was at airports. Of course, Tibby got none of this explanation for several minutes, until she had finished hugging Carmen and Carma had tried very hard to maintain control of herself. Kostos stayed silent through all of this, keeping a respectful distance away. Tibby couldn't tell if he was on his best behavior, or if this was the way he would have behaved anyway.

Once they'd buckled themselves into the car, Carmen maneuvered them out of the airport and on the highway towards the campgrounds.

"Here we come, Lenny," Carmen said quietly. "Ready or not."

She and Tibby shared a look and simultaneously took a deep breath.