Normally a day that Daddy had taken off to spend time with Olivia especially would have put her on cloud nine, but not today, a rather gloomy Thursday that matched Olivia's mood a couple of weeks following her confession. The confession that caused Daddy and Karen to argue loudly from his bedroom at night, the confession that resulted in his deciding that all his daughter needed was a little attention, a little quality time with him. She might have enjoyed it if she hadn't known his intent was solely merciful. She could see Daddy trying not to notice that she was only picking at her breakfast, or that buying out FAO Schwartz no longer seemed appealing to her. Lunchtime came and he was still trying to pretend nothing was wrong. All Olivia wanted him to do was notice that yes, something was wrong. Ask me, Daddy! Why won't you ask…

"Here's an idea," he said pleasantly to his daughter while strolling more or less wordlessly through Central Park, "I'm sure Karen would appreciate it if we brought her a sandwich for lunch, what do you say? You want to stop by her office and surprise her?"

"I guess we could do that, Daddy," she said quietly, knowing that if that's what Daddy wanted to do, they would whether she truly wanted to or not. She didn't even comment as he picked up a couple of roast beef and swiss hoagies, one for Karen, one for Olivia, four for himself, knowing that she would just as soon have a case of Smirnoff, and would most likely work herself in an irritated frenzy at getting a sandwich instead.

Much as she did not want to see Karen, Olivia had to admit she did like the office she had recently begun working in with her friend Grace. It was small and cozy, and she thought it great fun to look at all the material Grace had stored there. Sometimes when Grace wasn't so pressed for time, she would show Olivia her latest sketches, and once even let her help pick out a color scheme for one of the bathrooms in an office building she was decorating. Olivia had chosen a pretty turquoise sort of color, and to this day was immensely proud of it.

A rush of relief surged through her as they stepped into the office and saw Karen nowhere, just Grace and her best friend Will sitting atop Grace's desk, working their way through cartons of Chinese and laughing over something in a magazine. Olivia had only met Will in the past month, but liked him. In the few times they had crossed paths, he was always nice and funny with her, and the fact that he usually had some kind of treat in his pocket to give her didn't hurt either.

"Well, hey," Grace greeted them enthusiastically upon noticing their arrival. "If you're looking for Karen, you just missed her."

"Oh, by how much?" Daddy set the sandwich intended for Karen at the edge of her desk; he had already finished his own, and Olivia, not particularly hungry at the present moment, hadn't even started on hers.

"What time is it now?" Grace glanced at her watch briefly. "Okay, it's twelve thirty now…by about three hours or so."

"The good news is you only have about another…" Will chewed his lip in thought. "Hmm, maybe three hours to wait for her."

Daddy shook his head. "I've never understood what she does in this office."

"Neither have I," Grace said absently, trying to catch the last few bites of shrimp lo mein with her chopsticks.

"And Miss Olivia," Will said, sweeping over to her, "to what do we owe this charming pleasure? Did you somehow hear these--" He dug a small bag out of his pocket. "Jelly beans calling your name?"

Olivia loved jelly beans. "Can I have them, Daddy?"

"Only if I have your promise that you won't open them until you have some lunch."

"Promise." She pocketed the candy and began unwrapping her sandwich, her appetite returning somewhat now that she was safe. Daddy and Will got into some long discussion about the law practice Will worked for and Grace got Olivia to share her sandwich with her by distracting her with a barrage of new sketches and wallpaper samples. She would have forgotten about Karen completely if it hadn't been for her voice just a little while later.

"I'm sorry I'm getting back so late, Grace, I know how much you hate it when I am," she sang out as she breezed through the door.

"Oh no," Grace said smoothly, not looking at her. "God forbid should you ever be on time, Karen, I'd be so disappointed in you if that were so."

"Oh. Well, honey, that's even better. I was doing mankind a favor while I was out there, and it means so much more that you understand."

"You were positioned at the edge of the Chrysler building prepared to jump?" Will inquired with interest.

"More like positioned outside the Palm Court assisting a group of homeless vagrants, if you must know."

"Karen, we already talked about setting living things on fire," Grace said in alarm.

"Oh, not that, Grace!" Karen waved her off. "Nothing that beneficial, I'm afraid. I didn't have time to do anything other than show them a little something that lured them away rather quickly from a location where the human race congregates."

"The human race?" Will repeated. "Well, I suppose that leaves you out."

"And Stanley, it's so sweet that you would come to call," she said. "What prompted this?"

"Well, Olivia and I thought you might like some lunch," he said, gesturing toward the sandwich.

"Oh. Something that requires chewing. It's a nice thought, Stan." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "My Stanley is full of nice thoughts," she announced to Will and Grace. "In fact, he had a particularly nice one last night--"

Daddy quieted her with a sudden warning glance that did not go unnoticed by Olivia.

"What's nice?" she asked anxiously.

"Good Lord, Stanley, do you mean to tell me you've spent the entire morning feeding this girl's desperate plea for attention and you never told her?"

Daddy cleared his throat. "Karen--"

"What did you not tell me, Daddy?" Please God, no, I promise to make my bed every day and keep my room clean and eat all my dinner and take care of Mason if…

"I'm not going to beat around the vodka, kid, if your daddy doesn't have the balls to tell you--and I don't know why he wouldn't, since…well, then I will. We're hitching up."

"Karen--"

"Stop it, Stan," Karen commanded. "You had more than enough time to break it to her--"

"But this isn't the way I anticipated--"

"To hell with how you anticipated telling her, if I'm going to be her stepmother it's better she knows sooner than later."

Stepmother?

"You're getting married?" Olivia said softly.

"In two months' time, you'd better believe it," Karen retorted, nodding adamantly.

Thanks, God.