1Lisa woke up a few hours later, her knee still stinging. Jackson was dozing next to her, still clutching her in his arms. As she stirred, he woke up and smiled at her. "Hey."

She smiled slightly at him as he reached next to him and grabbed her cordless. "Just call Daddy and mom and dear old Cynthia and ask them to spread the news," Jackson handed her the phone and Lisa punched her father's number into it, emotionless. She was determined not to let Jackson see her cry again.

"What?" her dad answered in his usual gruff voice.

"Daddy, it's me," Lisa croaked.

"Hey honey," he said, brightening considerably. "How's the new job going?"

Lisa had very recently gone back to college to be a teacher, after discovering her love for children. Now, she was teaching first grade at the local public school.

"It's going good, Dad," she replied. "How's Marielle?" Marielle was her father's girlfriend.

"Good Leese, she's great," he answered, and then, hearing the crack in his daughter's voice, "Honey, are you all right?"

Lisa sighed in feigned exasperation. "Yea, Dad, fine. Just was up late grading papers last night, that's all."

"Oh, okay."

"I-uh...actually have something to tell you," Lisa began, taking a deep breath. Now came the part she dreaded. "I'm...um...engaged?" She unintentionally voiced the last part as a question.

Lisa's father was overjoyed. "That's great, Leese! I didn't know you were dating again! Who's the lucky guy?"

Lisa took another breath and closed her eyes. "Jackson Rippner."

There was a silence on the other end.

"Dad?" Lisa called out.

"You're funny, Leese. Just didn't think your sense of humor was that dry," he said with a forced chuckle.

"Dad," Lisa said loudly. "I wasn't joking." Her voice held a deathly serious tone to it this time.

"Leese?" he practically yelled. "What the hell? What are you talking about?"

"Well," Lisa paused, thinking. "He...um...was released from jail and came to talk to me and we're in love with each other and he's changed and the reason he was so aggressive before was because he was jealous that he couldn't have me." Lisa said quickly, her heart seizing up.

There was another silent moment on the other end.

"I know what's going on, Lisa," her father said, panic rising in his voice. "He's forcing you to do it. I don't know how, but he is. He's sitting right there next to you, telling you what to say. I know it!"

Lisa only wished he weren't so accurate.

"No, Dad," she sighed, lying through her teeth."I almost killed him before, he wouldn't be as stupid as to try and force me to do something again. I'm in love with Jackson, Dad, and I want you to be at my wedding, supporting me, walking me down the aisle. Jail changed him, Dad, really. He um...works for a major US corporation now, high-paying job. He's actually going to get me a job, too, in the um...daycare." Boy, she was becoming an excellent liar.

Mr. Reisert finally gave in to this silly belief and they hashed out the rest of the details. When Lisa hung up, she hand no chance to even think about crying before Jackson said, "Good. Now Mom."

The rest of the discussions went pretty much the same way. When Lisa finally hung up, she was exhausted and starving.

"You 'get your calls made'?" Jackson joked, standing up and stretching. Lisa glared at him. "So, I was thinking, if you wanted to behave, we could eat out tonight. Celebrate our engagement."

Lisa nodded. At least if they ate out, she'd be able to get out of the house and interact with other, normal people. Plus, she was starving.

"Great," Jackson smiled. "Go change. You have a little black dress? I thought of eating somewhere nice."