Cat: Yes, this is the epilogue. I just wanted to grab your attention because it might be a while between updates. Yes, I know I'm horrible to get you hooked (I hope someone gets hooked) and then not update, but I swear I will eventually. It just might take a while.

Disclaimer: No! I don't own it! Wanna make somethin' of it? Huh? Punk!

Bridget, Carmen, and Tibby sat down in their traditional spots on the floor. They had sat there so many times they could practically see the marks from where their behinds had worn the hardwood smooth.

Carmen dropped the stack of traditional bad CDs on the floor and stared quietly at the empty place across from her. She had the Pants, but she slid them out of her sight.

Bridget pulled her knees up to her hips, as though trying to make herself smaller. Lena's absence made her feel like she was on the edge. As though she might fall off.

Tibby shifted and pulled a plastic grocery store bad in nearer to her. The bag rustled horribly loudly, audible even over the music, to her at least. Tibby swallowed hard. She and Carmen had gotten together and, with Bridget's okay, decided that they had to have candles. In honor of Lena.

So Tibby had taken Lena's job and they went without snacks, but it felt odd. She had gone by Lena's house to pick them up and thought that that had been the hard part. At that moment Tibby realized that she was wrong. Sitting here, trying to take Lena's place, that was the hard part.

Her eyes filled with tears as she carefully pulled one candle after another out of the bag. She handed Bridget hers first, and Bee hugged it to her chest, just like her knees.

When Carmen received her candle she paused for a moment, then brought it close to her nose and breathed deeply. The candle smelled like the cheep wax that it was, along with the sent of the glue that she had used to decorate it with sequins and ribbons. Closing her eyes Carmen detected the faint sent of Lena's room, where the candle sat for most of the year. It was like acrylic paint and pencil lead, mingled with the smell that was purely Lena. Carmen put the candle down as fast as she could.

Tibby's candle was already sitting before her, and she moved very slowly, and with the utmost care as she handled the final candle. She put it down at Lena's point in the circle without really looking at it. She seemed to be staring through the floor. She couldn't focus on the missing person; she would cry and never ever stop.

Bridget relinquished her hold on her candle and completed the small circle in the center of the room. She accepted the pack of matches from Carmen and struck one. She and Tibby had both lit their candles already and Bridget proceeded to do so. The pack of matches weighed heavily in her other hand. She should hand them to Lena, but Lena wasn't there to receive them.

Her hand trembled and the matches fluttered in her hand briefly. Bridget dropped the pack with a thawp. The moment seemed to repeat itself over and over again in Bridget's mind. Even she wasn't entirely sure why.

Bridget, Carmen, and Tibby glanced at each other. "On three." Carmen directed softly. They held their candles carefully. "One, two, three." As previously discussed, they all tipped the flames from their candles forward, and used them to light the last one. Carmen watched the single tongue of flame through eyes blurred with tears.

There was a long silence, and, as tradition dictated, it was Carmen's job to end it. Tonight however, she was having trouble with that. She didn't want to break the stillness that had fallen over all of them recently. It was harder then it had ever been to talk to any of them, let alone about this topic. Finally however, she managed to speak.

"Today." She began, but her voice came out in a croak. She cleared it nosily, and unnecessarily loudly. The corner of Tibby's mouth twitched, but Carmen wasn't sure if it was out of humor or out of irritation. Carmen steeled herself, and tried hard not to cry as she delivered a series of numbers. "Today is 18 years and nine days after a very special person was born. It is also 34 days after," here her voice hit that high pitch that it did when ever she was feeling extreme emotions, "she died." Carmen swallowed.

Tibby was watching the floor in the center of the circle, and Bridget was gazing intently at the spot where the far wall met the ceiling.

"During those 18 years and nine days, the period of time that we went the longest without speaking to each other was 27 days, right after she died." Carmen seemed to be back in the driver's seat, at least temporarily. "Lena wouldn't want that." They all knew it was true. "I thought we could all go around and ask the questions on our minds." Carmen finished. She didn't add that asking questions was what the school shrink had suggested.

Much to their surprise, Bridget was the first to go. "Why did you have to go?" She asked Lena's quietly burning candle.

"Why did you have to leave us here?" Tibby wondered.

"Why wasn't I there?" Carmen berated herself and then the circle began again with Bridget.

"Why did you have to go now?"

"What are we supposed to do without you?"

"Did you do everything you wanted to?"

"Is there really a better place?"

Tibby slid down to the floor and laid her head down on her hands. Her eyes didn't shift from Lena's candle during the motion. "Why you?"

"Why do I feel like a part of me died with you?" Carmen asked.

Tears flowed freely now, and the candle still burned.

"Lenny, we need you here so badly." Bridget confessed in a sob.

"We miss you." Tibby agreed, her voice breaking.

"And we love you." Carmen finished

Cat: Thanks for reading! Remember: Reviews are fantastic!