Alexis was stuck in court all day. As she was going out of the building, she saw Duane Edwards was also leaving.

"Hey, I have a question for you," Alexis said. "I was arguing with Ottinger about this. What if a personal injury plaintiff is an illegal alien? They can sue, can't they? If someone injures them in an accident."

"You're the immigration lawyer," he said, teasing her.

"I know he can be deported," Alexis said, laughing. "God, don't call me that, Duane. You can't believe how scary that kind of law is. Complicated as hell. But if the feds don't catch him and deport him and he's here, I don't see it as quite right that anyone can run him over and get clean away with it."

"Humm, but for cause," Duane said. "If he were where he was supposed to be, he wouldn't have been run over. No, I'm kidding. The defendant is still liable. The way it seems to work is this: he can make the claim. He just can't claim his lost wages. So at the deposition when they ask the plaintiff if they are legally in the U.S., I tell them not to answer, because they aren't claiming lost earnings, so it's not relevant."

"Ah, I see," Alexis said. "Wish I'd realized that. Logical, in its way. I thought some terrible thing would happen when he admitted he was illegal in a deposition, but it turns out the insurance company has no power of deportation."

They laughed over this. "Let's go see the band," he said. His daughter Yvonne was the leader of a rock band called The Dissenters.

"Are they playing?"

"Practicing, according to my text message."

"Has that line about the old man having a younger woman found its way into a song yet?"

"Nope, so far Yvonne is in the dark. She must not have talked to Valerie recently."

"Well, then, you really don't know. Maybe by email or phone Valerie has told her and you'll hear that line any day now."

"Thanks for warning me," he said. "I hadn't thought of that."

Alexis listened to the band for awhile. As it got later, the club began to fill up. The band kept rehearsing, as if on a roll.

The band did the song "California," and Alexis recognized it. They had played it at Zander and Quinn's wedding, but a differently arranged version. This version Alexis heard now was hard on the ears. Like a lot of the Dissenters' songs.

"Don't worry little one," she said, patting her stomach. "Not all music sounds like this."

"I wonder if it's bad for the kid," Alexis looked up to see Taryn and her mother Patti. Taryn smirked. She'd said that clever line.

"I was just reassuring him or her that there is other music out there," Alexis laughed. "Classical, even."

They sat down with her.

"There's that guy you like, Mom," Taryn said to Patti. "The one getting a drink at the bar."

"Oh, maybe," Patti said. "I asked him to dance twice before on two other nights I was here. I'm not doing it again. He asks or I'm not doing anything else, now."

"Wise decision, Mom," Taryn said. "There are plenty of fish in the sea."

"No need to rush," Patti said. "I think I'm just testing the waters."

"It's too early for you," Alexis said. "To do more than that. But it's good you can think of it."

"Yes," Patti said. "Thank you, Alexis, for giving me that name. Melinda Delaney. She was very good. I felt better after I talked to her. I wish you did domestic, but as long as you don't, Melinda is good. Mr. Edwards told me he doesn't like to do it either. Is it really so stressful?"

"Yes, of course," Alexis said. "Takes a special type. I've been veering into immigration lately, strangely enough. That takes another type of special type."

"Being a lawyer sounds like it can drive you crazy sometimes," Patti said.

Duane came back, with his and Alexis' drinks. "It's a short drive," he said, having heard Patti's remark.

Alexis took her orange juice from him and smiled. "No caffeine, no alcohol," she said, looking at Patti. "I'm sure you remember. Cheers."

A little while later, the band stopped their rehearsal. The manager started to play music, and a danceable slow song played over the speakers. Duane asked Patti, "Do you want to dance?" He remembered that seemed to make her feel better.

Taryn exchanged a knowing glance with Alexis. Alexis smiled and inwardly found it amusing. A seventeen year old girl. Well, almost eighteen, as Taryn so often reminded people.

Yvonne came over, with Toby. Toby started talking to Taryn, taking her hand and monopolizing her attention. Alexis told Yvonne how much she liked her music, especially the song "California," the way they did it at the wedding.

"I like the way you do it here, too," she said, realizing. "I'm just old, so I liked the way you did it at the wedding a lot."

"More," Yvonne smiled. "I've heard other comments about that."

"Your Dad?"

"No, in fact. Some people who aren't all that old. My sister, for one. She does it by complimenting my voice."

"It is pretty, when you use it a certain way. Don't you think so?"

Yvonne just smiled. She looked over at Duane and Patti on the dance floor. "That's not the woman Val described," Yvonne said to Alexis. "When I talked to Val on the phone. She thought Dad had a girlfriend, but the woman she described no way is Taryn's mom."

"Val described a younger woman," Alexis said.

"Yes," Yvonne looked up, realizing Alexis knew more than she did. "A woman much younger than Dad."

"Do you think that's not a good idea?" Alexis asked.

"I suppose if Dad likes her, he can figure it out," Yvonne said. "I don't want him to get burned again, but if he's going to risk it, what can I do but be there for him if it doesn't work out?"

"That's a nice way to think," Alexis said. "You're really grown up if you're thinking you could be there for him."

"He always is for me," Yvonne said. "And Valerie."

Jason and Maureen, Sarah and Elizabeth, came into the London Underground.

"I'm so glad Patti's out," said Elizabeth, "I hope it will cheer her up. I wonder if that's the guy she was talking about."

"Talking about?" Maureen asked.

"She was interested in a guy. She was telling me about it."

"It's too early," Sarah said. "She's barely getting started on the divorce."

"Yes," answered Elizabeth. "too soon to get involved, but no reason not to dance, socialize. That will be good for her."

When the song and the dance stopped, Patti saw her sister-in-law. She went over to them.

"Glad to see you out," Elizabeth said.

"Thank you, Elizabeth," said Patti.

"Is that the guy you were telling me about?"

"Yes. Turns out we have something in common."

"What's that?"

"His wife left him for another man. Though at least, she waited until the kids were grown. But he has some idea of what I'm going through."

"Will he represent you in the divorce?" Sarah asked Patti. "He's very good."

"He says he doesn't do domestic relations law," Patti said. "Alexis recommended a lawyer at the Baldwin firm. Alexis doesn't like to do it, either."

"How did you know he's a lawyer, Sarah?" Elizabeth asked her sister.

"That's my lawyer for the accident," Sarah answered.

"Oh," Elizabeth said, starting to make the connection.

"Nice guy, really," Patti said. She looked over toward the table where Duane was now with Alexis, Yvonne, Taryn and Toby. "Attractive, though I guess you young girls wouldn't appreciate that."

"There's always one or two," Elizabeth said, looking at Sarah.

"Yeah, take Lauren Bacall, for example," said Sarah.

"Oh, sure," Patti said absently, not really attending. She excused herself to go back to the other table.

Elizabeth said, "So that's Mr. Edwards?"

"That's Duane, yes," said Sarah.

"Looks like you've got competition."

"Is that your older man, Sarah?" Maureen asked.

"Yes," said Sarah.

"He and Patti look really right together," Elizabeth said.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I knew whose side you'd take," was all she said.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Elizabeth protested. "I'm only concerned about you, Sarah. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I'm sure," Sarah rolled her eyes again.

"But look what they have in common. And they're the same age."

"Not a good thing to have in common," Sarah said. "A negative thing. And age, well, some might say I have the advantage."

"It is a negative thing," Jason asked. "It might not be good for them to get together when they have someone else leaving them after a long marriage in common. Trust issues up to the ceiling."

"There are better things to have in common," Maureen agreed.

"Patti obviously knows nothing about me," Sarah said. "But I knew about her. Duane told me about talking to a woman whose husband had left her and how he felt sorry for her. And he called her a potential client."

"That was a clever trick, trying to talk her into hiring him as her lawyer, since you know he can't date his clients, Sarah," Elizabeth said. "But why not tell Patti about you, then? Why dance with her? Why sit over there talking to her and not you? He hasn't even acknowledged you. He must not have told Patti he already has someone."

"He wouldn't presume on that yet, and I don't think he wants anyone to know, yet. I think the age difference makes him nervous and it'll take him awhile to get used to."

"I hope this turns out OK," Elizabeth said.

"For me or Patti?"

"You!"

"I wish you meant it."

"I do, Sarah. Honestly."

Jason smiled. He knew these two.

"Sorry," Patti smiled as she sat down. "I had to say hello to my sister-in-law. She'd over there with a couple of her friends and her sister Sarah."

Alexis glanced at Duane. He looked across the room. He saw Sarah there, talking to two other girls and a man.

"That's Elizabeth's old boyfriend, Jason," Patti said. "They are still friends. Amazing."

"Who's the pretty woman, next to him?" asked Alexis.

"I think that's his girlfriend now," Patti said. "Too bad, he's perfect for Sarah. They're both doctors and they're both children of parents who are both doctors and they both work in the same hospital with both their parents."

"Half the doctors and nurses in that hospital are related by blood or marriage or affinity at any given time," Duane said, looking down at his glass and twirling the liquid in it around. "Sounds like they have enough in common to drive each other crazy."

"Yeah," Alexis laughed. "Young Dr. Webber isn't interested in Young Dr. Quartermaine that way. I know she's interested in someone else."

"That's good," Patti said. "She is so smart. Such a self possessed young woman. I was nothing like her when I was that age. I guess a person has to be confident if they're going to be a surgeon."

"She is a confident one," Alexis said. She was sitting next to Duane, and she stepped on his toe under the table. He tried not to smile.

Later, in bed that night, Elizabeth told Paul about the conversation.

"Well, in all honesty, Patti is better off not dating yet," Paul said. "It's an ego thing, when Kevin left her for a younger woman, she needs validation she's attractive to men. And for the same reasons, this guy, the lawyer, he's better off with Sarah."

"If there were only two women in the world," said Elizabeth.

"He's not the only man in the world," Paul said. "Sarah is single. And as a younger woman, she must be tempting."

"I just always think of Sarah as just like my parents. She sort of belongs to some other doctor, her age, who will end up being her best friend."

"You took care of marrying a doctor, for that family," Paul said. He smiled, and stroked her arm. "You want to be the only one at family gatherings who isn't a doctor?"

"I don't mind," Elizabeth patted his hand.

"Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Someone just like Jason."

"I can't picture Sarah with someone her age," he said.

Elizabeth thought awhile. "You have a point," she said. "Sometimes you get me thinking - or seeing what I really think. I picture someone a little older than you."

"You've got it all set, you just have to find the guy. Does it have to be a doctor? What's wrong with a lawyer?"

"I guess a lawyer is all right. It is nice to go home to someone who does not have exactly the same problems, I suppose. Mom and Dad were forever talking about their work issues. But then they helped each other."

"Well, if Sarah and her lawyer like each other, then I hope it works," Paul said. "The age difference isn't the end of the world; it's worked before."

"Yeah, I know, Lauren Bacall," Elizabeth said. "Sarah mentioned her."

"Exactly, she was about fifty years younger than Humphrey Bogart," Paul exaggerated. "Sarah would be the expert on it, now!"

Elizabeth laughed, and cuddled closer to him. "She is," she said.

The Irish were friendly, and that included the Gaeltachta. Many of the people there, Quinn found to be most kind when it came to Zander's attempts at their native language.

"This is interesting Quinn, about the warrior queen, Grace O'Malley," Zander said, reading something. "She was also known at the pirate queen."

"I like her already," Quinn said.

"Well, while rebelling against the English - do the Irish ever do anything else besides sing, dance, drink and rebel against the English? – she was forced out of Ireland and into the sea. At age 45! And if that wasn't enough, she gave birth at sea. To her first child. Toby."

"And this was centuries ago?" Quinn said. "No amniocentesis. No ultrasounds."

"It was in the Tudor era. That's the 1500s or 1600s."

"Definitely no advanced maternal age care program."

"And if that weren't enough, some Turkish pirates raided her ship. An hour after giving birth, came out and shot some of them."

"A tough one, was old Grace."

"Something like Quinn Connor, I think. Then at age 63, she sailed up the Thames to parlay with Elizabeth I."

"OK, so we know she survived this pirate raid 18 years earlier."

"Of course she did," Zander said. "Irish pirate queens always win."

Quinn laughed, and then leaned over and kissed him.

"She who kisses in public often kicks in private," said an Irish voice nearby.

Zander and Quinn looked up at the person and laughed.

"She kicks very hard," he said to the elderly man who had quoted the Irish saying. The old man laughed and then said, "And she's a pretty one."