Josh and Jen looked at each other silently as Rachael played with the gun. Go, Jen's eyes pleaded. Nobody needs you getting in trouble. I'll be fine. I honestly don't believe she'll hurt me. Rachael's all empty threats.

Josh had no idea how he could read Jen's eyes so well. Every detail of what she was trying to say was etched into the lines of her face, and Josh somehow just knew.

His response was not what Jen wanted, and he knew it. But there was nothing to be done for it. I'm not leaving you, he insisted silently. If she's all empty threats, she won't hurt me either. Besides, Orli will be here soon enough. It'll all be fine.

Jen was still worried. You can't be sure she won't hurt you.

That annoyed Josh a little. He was surprised that Jen could manage to annoy him at all under these circumstances. His "response" was curt. No more can you.

She needs me. It's all part of her master plan. But she'd be happy for any excuse to hurt Michelle, especially if it's through you.

Josh hadn't thought of that one. He didn't know what to say.

Rachael cut in and saved him the trouble of having Jen think she was right. "Are you two quite finished talking yet?" Both of them jerked in surprise. "Fine, Josh, if you won't leave, if you insist on staying with Jennifer, here, then you'd better call your wife and tell her she'll regret it if she comes after you. I don't need any more complications than I already have."

Josh cocked his head, not bothering to hide his inquisition. "I'm sorry, but your friend over there has my cell phone."

"Oh." Rachael gestured to the other man to give Josh back his phone.

The call was brief enough. Josh didn't feel like arguing with Michelle, so he just called Orli, who confirmed that a man named Mark was indeed there, although at the moment he was "somewhat unconscious." Josh gave him explicit orders not to let Michelle go with Orli and Mark, if that was what ended up happening. And that was all it took.

"Very nice," Rachael declared. "Now, you two, follow me."

Josh and Jen exchanged glances and trailed slowly after Rachael. "Way to go, Josh," Jen hissed, angry. "You really didn't need to do that."

Josh felt his own irritation rise in response. "If it were you in my place, would you leave me when I told you to go?"

Jen said nothing for a moment, then, "Fine. Fine. Just… fine."

"Well then," Josh said, rolling his eyes, "is this fine with you?"

Jen whirled on him. "No, it's not fine! You could get hurt and you don't need to. You don't even need to be here at all! And now you're trying to get yourself caught up in this whole mess."

Josh groaned. "Jen, it's touching that you care about me. Really, it is. But like I said before, you wouldn't abandon me if I were in your position. So just… think about that. I couldn't leave you even if I wanted to."

Jen looked frustrated. "I don't want you to get hurt because of me, Josh!"

"Any more than Orli wants you to get hurt because of him," Josh responded evenly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jen cried, unable to come up with anything cleverer to say.

"It has everything to do with everything."

"Oh, well, could you be a little more vague?" Jen yelled.

Rachael turned around. "Could you two please shut up, it's getting so annoying," she snapped. "Let me make this simple for both of you: No, Jennifer, Josh does not have to be here, and I am no more thrilled about it than you are. Josh, nobody cares what Jennifer would do in your place, since she's not in your place, and she never will be. So just… just… just shut up."

Jen stared a moment. "Well, I feel… unclean," she announced. "Rachael Leigh Cook and I actually agree on something." She turned to Josh and stuck out her hand. "Josh, I withdraw my previous comment," she said formally. "You absolutely need to be here."

Josh took the proffered hand in his own, and shook. "Thank you, Jennifer."

Rachael sighed in exasperation, but said nothing more. Instead she led them silently to the third floor of the old house, which was actually rather nice inside, despite its musty appearance. Finally Rachael stopped at a wooden door that looked as though it had been recently put in. Jen had the feeling that had been, and also that it was there to serve an imminent purpose.

Rachael guided them inside and slammed the door shut. They heard her twist a key in the lock, and then soft footsteps padded away from the door.

Orli was not a happy camper. For one thing, Mark was starting to revive, and in a few minutes he would begin yelling again. Orli's headache had not fully abandoned him just yet, and he was enjoying the quiet.

For another thing, he was completely determined to go after Jen no matter what the cost. That hadn't been a huge problem until Josh had called, and now he had to figure out a way to keep Michelle from going with him.

He had no idea exactly how to accomplish this tremendous task. After all, Michelle's husband was with Jen, too. In Michelle's place, he would do serious damage to himself if he tried to stop her going.

But in the meantime, Michelle was off eating, and Orli had Mark to deal with. The other man had just woken up and was demanding to be untied. Orli stared him down, until he quieted. When Orli spoke, his voice was calm and forceful. "Listen, Mark. I need you to take me to Jen. And I need you to do it without a lot of noise. Michelle's not allowed to come with us. So I will go with you quietly if you can get us out of the house without Michelle realizing. And then Rachael won't destroy your television, and you can go home happy, and Josh and Jen can go home happy. I will not untie you until you agree to this. But as soon as you do, we'll be off."

Mark stared for a moment, sensing the power behind Orli's words. He nodded grudging agreement, and Orli untied him.

"Now we have to get out without Michelle noticing… I hope this works," Orli muttered softly, then turned around with Mark close behind.

Michelle was standing there glaring at him. "Too late."

Josh and Jen had nothing to do. They quickly found that their room had a bathroom attached, along with several windows, but there were no means of escape. After a few minutes they became bored and finally realized they were in for a long wait.

"So, have you had any lunch?" Josh asked conversationally.

"Nope," Jen responded. "I was a little… busy. But now that you mention it…" There was a little lurch in the inner region of her stomach, and she felt that her breakfast was about to come up. "Now that you mention it…" she began again, "don't mention it."

"How's that again?" Josh asked, confused.

"I'm going to be sick," Jen groaned. "That's just great. I'm getting sick." A sudden thought occurred to her, but she brushed it off. She was just coming down with the flu or something, that was all. And she was stressed. This was nothing out of the ordinary.

Josh didn't look happy. "Well, on the up side-" he began.

Jen interrupted with, "There's an up side?"

Josh glared, although not angry. "Yeah… at least there's a bathroom close at hand."

Jen groaned again. "Now I'm really going to be sick."

Josh looked visibly affronted. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

Jen waved him off. "Forget about it. Actually, I haven't felt all that well in a few weeks. It's nothing. I've just been overstressed lately."

Josh didn't look convinced. "If you say so…"

"Well, we're in for a long wait," Jen declared, deliberately changing the subject. "Do you happen to have a deck of cards on you?"

"Way too late," Michelle repeated. She looked extremely mad. It was cold, but Orli wouldn't have been particularly surprised if smoke started coming out her ears. Michelle did not appreciate being left out of anything, especially something this important.

That was showing.

"Michelle," Orli began, hoping he could reason with her.

Michelle cut him off with a wave of her hand. "I'm coming," she stated flatly.

"No, you are not," Orli and Mark chorused together.

"Josh said she would hurt him if you did," Orli lied. Actually, what Josh had said was that Michelle would regret it- that wasn't quite the same, he imagined. Still.

Michelle gave him her famous look, the Michelle-Hartnett-I-Know-You're-Lying-And-You-Better-Not-Try-To-Change-My-Mind-With-That-Crap-Or-Someone-Will-Get-Hurt look, otherwise known as the MHIKYLAYBNTTCMMWTCOSWGH look. It was a look she did not use very often, but just then she had it on with full force, and it made Orli cringe slightly just thinking what she might be considering doing to him"I'm not," he insisted in response to the unspoken accusation, reluctantly yanking his mind away from the much safer topic of the ridiculously complicated names the group gave to Michelle's Looks. Michelle's response was an even stronger dose of the MHIKYLAYBNTTCMMWTCOSWGH look, which, up till then, Orli hadn't thought was possible. He sighed, mildly irritated. He did not have time to deal with Michelle's drama.

So, he did the next best thing. "Michelle," he started.

Michelle gave him a Look. "Yes?" Her sugary sweet voice sounded more poisonous than not.

Orli sighed again and whispered a few choice words to Mark, who advanced on the smaller woman. It repulsed Orli to actually need this man's help in dealing with a good friend, but he had no alternative. He watched silently until Mark had both Michelle's arms firmly twisted behind her back (it was a brief struggle), then instructed Mark to Jen's darkroom, which she always kept a padlock on, lest Orli wander in and mess everything up.

The padlock was finally coming in handy, in Orli's opinion.

They locked Michelle inside and left the house quickly after that, despite her screaming obscenities (Orli was not looking forward to returning- if indeed he was able to return- to an exceptionally pissed off Michelle, but he would deal with that later).

Josh groaned. "I'm so horrible at this. That's at least the fourth round of this ridiculous card game that you've won."

Jen shrugged unrepentantly. "Well, look on the bright side-"

"There's a bright side?" Josh asked, disbelieving.

Jen grinned. "That's exactly what I said to you before. But yes, there is a bright side."

Josh waited.

"We've played five games," Jen explained, when it became clear that Josh had nothing to say.

Josh glared at her. "Oh, great. So I've won once. What did you say this stupid game was called?"

Jen looked miffed. "It is not a stupid game, and I don't know what it's called. Besides, what would we be doing if we didn't have cards to play these wonderful games with?"
Josh laughed. "I still cannot believe I actually had a deck of cards lost in one of my pockets."

Jen snickered, resting her head on his shoulder. "Well, you have to be useful for something."

Josh shoved her head off his shoulder.

"Hey," Jen whined. "I was resting there."

"Yeah, well," Josh said shamelessly. "It is my shoulder, after all."

"No, it's not."

"Jen, we've had this conversation before. Crack is bad, and you really need to think about quitting."

"It is not crack. Will you get it straight already? It's just pot. There's no harm in pot."

Josh laughed. "You're too perfect to ever do pot."

Jen agreed with, "Yeah, I know. I'm just one of those perfect people." She dropped her tired head back onto his shoulder.

Josh looked down at her, eyebrows raised even though she couldn't see his face the way she was positioned. "You make me mad again, and your little head is getting bumped off my shoulder for good."

"Yeah, yeah," Jen muttered into his sleeve, sounding like a petulant six-year-old who always talked back to her mother.

Josh shook his head slightly, smiling. He was glad Jen wasn't alone. Otherwise, she wouldn't have a shoulder to lean on- both literally and figuratively.

Orli and Mark left the house in a tearing hurry. Unfortunately they were using Orli's car, since Mark hadn't actually had one. Orli wasn't quite clear on this, but from what he gathered the other man had come with Rachael and simply waited before going into the house. When he asked Mark why he'd had to come in at all, the man only grunted, "Just in case," and refused to elaborate further.

Orli sighed and impatiently jolted the car to a halt at a red light. He was taking directions from Mark, since of course he had no clue where he was going, but even Mark needed a long page of driving instructions to remember how to reach their destination. It looked like it would be a terribly long ride, and Mark was quickly proving to be equally bad company.

Slightly less than two hours later the two men arrived at a ramshackle farm, as Orli supposed it once had been. He stared at Mark. "This is it?"

The other man glared. "You were expecting a palace, maybe?"

"Not a palace… but maybe a little nicer than this… this… this dump."

Mark sniffed. When he spoke, he sounded offended. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Orli just shrugged. "Well, the word does have a negative connotation."

Mark just looked blank. In response to the unspoken question, Orli replied simply, disgusted, "Buy a dictionary."

Mark, exasperated, got out of the car and slammed the door extra hard, venting his aggravation. Orli followed, shaking his head.

Inside, Orli was surprised to discover, the house was a good deal nicer than it looked from the outside, rather as though someone had gone to great lengths to renovate it within the last few years. The flooring, countertops, furniture and doors all looked brand-new, and there was even electricity (which of course was a shock, all things considered). Mark wandered ahead of him to call through the silent house, "Rachael! Florida's here! Do you want me to bring him up to the third floor to see that Jennifer person?"

That gave Orli an idea- a wild, insane, hopeless, reckless idea, but an idea. He trotted off silently to find the nearest staircase and disappeared, quick as lightning. In a moment he found what he was searching for and began climbing. A few rooms over he could hear Rachael and Mark conversing rather loudly and wondered if one of them mightn't be hard of hearing. Orli caught his name, spoken in a loud, frantic voice, and several comments concerning him followed, which he found not pleasant but had no time to reflect upon.

In another minute Orli had found the third floor and was wandering down it, searching for locked doors and calling softly through them. After several unsuccessful tries, he heard Josh's voice on the other side. Looking down at the doorknob, Orli groaned. He needed a key to open this one, unlike several of the others. He looked around, desperate to find something even remotely useful, and his gaze fell by chance on a desk sitting in the hallway (it managed to look as though it very much belonged there). There were stacks and stacks of papers and bills all over it.

Several of them, Orli couldn't help noticing, were held together with big paper clips.

He ran this by Josh, who ecstatically suggested that he pick the lock. Orli groaned aloud, suddenly remembering that he'd never learned the fine art of picking locks. But, with whispered instructions from Josh, he managed, and smiled in satisfaction as the door clicked open.

Jen was fast asleep within ten minutes, although Josh couldn't imagine that his shoulder was all that comfortable. He smiled down at her, laughing softly to himself in mild amusement. She looked so cute. Josh honestly wouldn't have been terribly surprised if she'd started sucking her thumb and making little baby noises.

That would have been absolutely adorable.

At any rate, Jen did nothing of the sort. After a few minutes Josh's shoulder started hurting, and he gently shifted her to a point where she was sleeping on the bed, with actual pillows. Jen didn't stir, but slept soundly on.

For an uneventful hour or so, Josh found little with which to entertain himself. Solitaire quickly became dull, and he had nobody else to play games with. There was no television or phone in the room. The CD player in one corner would have been more useful if there were any CDs to play. The radio attached didn't seem to be able to pick up any stations properly. So Josh wandered aimlessly around the room, and when he grew tired he subtly took a pillow from the bed and fell asleep on the floor (he had considered just sleeping next to Jen; after all it was a king-sized bed, but he decided upon reflection that this would not go down too well with Jen, Orli or Michelle, no matter how much explaining he did). It was not a particularly comfortable floor. Josh had noticed that much of the house looked new inside and wondered why Rachael couldn't have bothered to replace the worn floor in this particular room, or at least sand the wood down so he didn't have to worry about getting splinters.

Out of nowhere, Josh suddenly heard a soft noise on the other side of the door. He was a light sleeper and had only just woken up at that instant, so for a moment he thought he'd simply hallucinated. When the noise came again, he leapt up and hissed, "Orli? What the hell…"

"No time to explain anything," Orli whispered back. "It'll just have to wait until later." He was silent a moment, then groaned. "I need a key to open this stupid door… Great… Now what… Wait a moment…" He left for a moment, but swiftly came back, bearing the news that he had discovered a paperclip, whereupon Josh suggested that he could pick the locks if necessary. At this point Orli realized that he could not pick locks, and said as much. Josh was disappointed, and not at all sure he could explain just how a paperclip could be used to open a door, but he had to try, and their time was short.

Luck seemed to be with him in an unusually large quantity; after a very tense minute of fumbling, the door sprang open. "Where's Jen?" Orli cried, not seeing her immediately.

"Oh, right," Josh muttered, feeling sheepish. He would have realized in another three seconds that Jen was not standing with them, but he hadn't just yet. He felt like an idiot but did his best to hide it as he strode over to the bed and shook Jen awake.

Jen's initial reaction ran to the lines of, "Orli! Why are you here? They wouldn't have hurt me if you hadn't come…" And a feeling of déjà vu swept over Orli as he remembered his dream earlier that day (was it really only that day? It felt like a lifetime ago), wondering. But he quickly dismissed the feeling. All he had time to do was give Jen a warm, reassuring hug before the three quietly crept downstairs, as quickly as they dared. There was an especially frightening moment when they saw people on the second floor, opening and slamming doors, clearly looking for them, but they slipped past without earning any notice.

They had just gotten outside when Jen swayed suddenly and announced giddily, "This can't be right. This is too easy," at which point she broke away from Josh and Orli and was violently ill in the bushes. Josh whispered to Orli, "She's getting sick or something. She says it's just the flu… I don't know, but I don't think we have to worry about it, unless we get caught here." Orli nodded, but he was still afraid.

Jen returned, all smiles. "I think I'm delirious. Does a delirious person know she's delirious?" Whether or not she was, in the next instant, looking over Orli's shoulder, she frowned and sobered immediately. "Uh-oh." And Orli knew without turning around that Rachael had finally found them. But when he did turn around, he also saw a big, burly man who looked very ready to hurt someone.

Rachael's voice carried easily across the grass. "Unless you want your wife to be… severely wounded… I suggest you stop, Orlando."

Orli sighed. He had even less time to deal with Rachael than he'd had to deal with Michelle, and that was saying quite a lot. He pushed Jen behind him. "You wouldn't," he told Rachael, cool and distant. "There would be nothing for me here if you did." Josh and Jen frowned, realizing the truth of the words and wondering why they themselves hadn't thought of it earlier.

Rachael shrugged. "But there would be nothing for you at home, either."

Orli gave her a look. He didn't believe a response was necessary, but he gave one anyway. "There's someone at home for all of us right now. And even if there weren't, there would still be something. And there would never be anything here for me. So that's about the dumbest thing I've heard in pretty much my whole life."

Jen spoke up, pushing herself in front of Orli, voice steady now. "You can't use that gun. You only have it for show. You would have done something already if you could have made yourself."

Rachael looked angry, upset and just a bit defeated. "Fine," she admitted. "So I can't use this gun. That doesn't mean that I have a problem giving someone else the order to."

"It would still be on your hands," Jen reminded her.

Rachael shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Doesn't it?" Jen's words hung in the air for a full minute before anyone moved. Then Rachael snapped out of a semi-trance to shove her gun into the hands of the man behind her. "Do something," she instructed.

The man looked down at her, sadly. "You can't kill, so you want these people's blood to be on my hands."

"Can't you do that much? You were in the war!"

Nobody had time to wonder what she meant. All the man said was, "This is different. In the war I killed because I had to. I don't have to kill these three. They're helpless besides."

Josh and Orli resented that, but Jen barely noticed, too eager to see where this was going, and what was going to happen.

Rachael snapped. "Then give me the gun!" she screamed. "I'll kill Jennifer myself; I'm tired for waiting for my moment! Every time I have them in the palm of my hand, someone comes along and screws it up! First Tobey, now you…" She quieted a moment, reflecting on the words. "First Tobey… now… you?"

The man sighed gently. "I've always agreed with Tobey. But I was afraid to speak out. I've always since admired his courage, that he made the first move." He held the gun above her head so she couldn't catch him unaware and snatch it away, before looking to Josh and Orli, both utterly puzzled, and Jen, who was beginning to understand. "Someone… agrees with him… I have no idea who… No, you weren't wrong. But you believed you were…" Jen exhaled quietly, finally realizing that this was the way in which she and her friends would hold luck for the rest of their lives, which, thanks to this nameless war veteran, would be much longer than the next few minutes. The man looked at her and nodded slightly, realizing she knew what was going on. "Go," he whispered. "Go now."

Jen nodded, throat too tight to speak. She tugged Orli and Josh along with her. "Come on," she murmured. "This is our chance." She didn't even get to tell the man thank you, or goodbye.

But he knew. And she knew he knew.

Josh headed for his car and made Orli swear not to leave without him close behind. Orli and Jen climbed into Orli's car, which was still parked in the driveway, and patiently waited until Josh was behind them before they pulled away from that road, and made an unspoken pact to leave the past behind with the old house, so hideous on the outside but beautiful inside, the complete opposite of Rachael, Jen reflected.

She was glad to be leaving.

Orli glanced sideways at her as they rumbled down the highway. "Are you all right?" he asked gently.

She nodded without words, still lost in contemplation. He gave her an awkward one-armed hug. "I'm glad you're back with us," he murmured into her hair.

That reminded Jen of something. "What did you do with Michelle? I can't see her happily consenting to not coming with you."

Orli deliberately looked back to the road. "I don't suppose you would like to be the one who lets her out of the darkroom."

Jen stared in open horror, then started to laugh. "You locked my best friend in my darkroom?"

Orli sniffed. "I thought I was your best friend."

"Well," Jen amended, "you are. But…"

"It was the only way to stop her! Nothing else had a lock," Orli protested.

Jen grinned. "Well, I'm not going to be the one who explains that to her."

Just then Josh called, wondering the same thing. His reaction, however, was not the same as Jen's. "You WHAT?" Jen heard him yell.

"Josh, this is wasting my minutes," Orli answered patiently, "and I really need to think about driving. You were the one who told me to keep her away."

"Yeah, but not like that," Josh roared. "You- oh, forget it. Just… just… yeah."

"How's that again?"

"Shut up, Orli. You seem to have a prime spot on my hit list right now."

"Hey," Jen objected in the background. Orli laughed and hung up.

After getting over the initial shock, Michelle discovered that Jen had chemicals and photo paper out. She wasted no time in finding a permanent marker and writing ORLI IS ON MY SHIT LIST in very tiny letters on the beginning of a roll of processed negatives, which contained no picture. She contented herself with making an 8x10 of it.

It came out very nicely.

Afterwards, she reconciled herself to the fact that Jen did not keep food in the darkroom, and then she came to terms with the realization that a darkroom floor was not a comfortable place to take a nap on. So she made more pictures, but grew bored after about an hour and a half.

So she sat down and waited. After a couple more hours she heard the door open and collected herself with a huge yawn, struggling to stand. She heard the padlock on the other side click, and then the door swung open. She blinked in the harsh light, having long since grown accustomed to the dim safelights of the darkroom.

Orli was on the other side of the door, looking quite ready to apologize. Michelle simply gave him her I'll-Kill-You-Later-I'm-Too-Tired-Right-Now (IKYLITTRN) look, which she had spent some time practicing in the darkroom, as she presented him with the pictures she'd produced and requested, "Orli, next time you absolutely must do something like that to me, would you make sure there's food and a bed, and a window so I have something to look at." It was not a polite question, but really rather a demand.

"Jen," she mumbled as she turned to the other woman, only half-awake and desperately in want of some food and sleep. "You're back."

"You noticed," Jen replied dryly.

Michelle revived enough to grin, and she and Jen shared a big hug. "Nice to see you again," Michelle whispered. "You really should stop running off to get yourself killed. It's a bad habit."

Jen laughed. "But it's my life, and I like it."

Josh cut in. "Go over to your own husband," he ordered Jen. "It's my turn with Michelle." Jen smiled and did as she was told, for a change.

"Now we can have our happy little reunion that we didn't have time for before," Orli murmured to Jen.

Jen gave him a fiendish grin. "What sort of reunion are we planning on having?" she asked innocently (although the look on her face suggested she was thinking some not-so-innocent things).

Orli looked at her. "Well, if you're sick…" he began.

"Jen's sick?" Michelle interrupted, overhearing. "Really now… I thought she was sick a couple weeks ago…" She looked as though she were doing some deep thinking ("Better leave her alone for an hour or two," Josh teased in a stage whisper). But Orli, watching her, suddenly had his first revelation, and understood why people's faces light up when that happens to them.

"Oh," he said simply, and nothing more.

Josh and Jen still looked puzzled, so Orli whispered a few choice words into Jen's ear.

She continued to look somewhat… blank. "I've just been stressed," she insisted. "It happens."

"You've been tired and cranky and you've had persistent headaches for weeks," Michelle contributed. "I looked it up online. And when was the last time you had…"

"I get it!" Jen cried, not wanting her normal monthly cycle to be discussed in front of Josh (even talking about it in from of Orli was pushing it, in her opinion).

"And haven't your…"

"Shut up, Michelle," Jen yelled, not wanting certain other feminine things discussed in front of the other two, either.

"You know I'm right," Michelle pronounced, sounding firm. "Orli knows too." She paused for a moment, frowning. "And Josh… judging from the look on his face, Josh is still not all here." She shrugged. "But hey… the rest of us…"

"No… no," Jen stated firmly. "No."

"I thought you wanted this," Michelle said, confused.

"No. Not now," Jen cried. "No… I don't know, it's so wonderful… but… I don't know. I wanted this… I wanted this after I had my life in order. I'm still trying to tie down a career I've barely started, and I want to dance, too, and Orli's still filming…"

"He won't be forever," Michelle interrupted.

"But…" Jen protested. "I wanted to settle down first. I'm not ready… Orli…" She turned to her husband in appeal, but Orli's face was impassive. "I'm as thrilled or as disappointed as you are, Jen," he said gently.

"I want this," Jen whispered, sniffling. "But… are we really ready?"

Orli put his arm around her and held her close. "Are you ready? Because I will be there whenever you decide you are, and I will wait for you because you are worth it to me. This is your decision."

Jen gave him a watery smile. "Thank you."

"I'm so lost," Josh contributed, contributing nothing.

The other three looked at him for a full minute without saying anything.

"What?" Josh asked. "I don't get it."

"Josh, you're such an idiot! I can't believe I married an idiot!" Michelle cried in disbelief, or perhaps denial.

"But it's old news to everyone else," Orli teased gently.

Michelle laughed. "But I've always been a little slow on the uptake."

"True," Orli reflected.

Michelle couldn't keep a straight face. So she didn't try. "But really, Josh…"

Josh, realizing he wasn't going to get a straight answer out of Michelle for a long time yet, turned to his next hope. "I'm so confused! Jen!"

Jen sighed. She looked so happy, and so sad, and so lost, and so complete all at the same time. "I'm… pregnant."