Allison called her daughter Valerie, who was in graduate school in New York City.

"I didn't see you this trip," she complained.

"Sorry, Mom, I just did not have enough time between the party and hanging out with Quinn and Zander later. I guess I thought the maid of honor has a duty to welcome the new bride home after her honeymoon."

"I saw Quinn, she's very happy," Allison said. "How did the party go?"

"Great," Valerie said. "The whole band showed up."

"You're kidding!" Allison laughed.

"Yes, they took the time from rehearsing," Valerie said. "Just for social purposes."

"How is school going?"

"Great. How's Glen?"

"Very good. Thank you for asking."

"Have you seen Yvonne lately?"

"No, and I'm in the same town. I think I'll call her. Ask her if the party was worth it."

Valerie laughed. "Who knows how the history of music has suffered?"

Allison called Yvonne and got her to agree to part from her band mates long enough for a dinner.

"Do you want me to be here?" Glen asked.

"Of course," Allison said.

Sometimes Glen resented his stepdaughters' lack of friendliness. But Allison thought it would go away in time. She had told him often especially not to worry about Yvonne; if she wasn't friendly, her mind was on her music.

Glen was even more leery of Yvonne than of Valerie. One of Yvonne's songs, California, seemed to him to contain lyrics directed at him. But he couldn't say that to Allison. She'd think he was crazy, though sometimes he thought that Allison was dense not to pick up on it. Allison had been born in California and so had Valerie. Allison and Duane had met at Berkeley when they both went to college there. They had moved back to Duane's hometown, Port Charles, when he started law school. Yvonne had been born in Port Charles at Mercy Hospital.

The song was written as though from a woman's point of view. Still it told the man to take his new girlfriend and go somewhere far away, like "your old home California," and never come back.

Maybe "old home" just fit there and filled out a line. Maybe the concepts in Yvonne's head were just strung together randomly. The song made as little sense as her other songs. Maybe she just threw in Allison's words from the past – maybe Allison referred to their old home, California and it was just one of Yvonne's memories, and she just attached it to a song about a relationship breaking up. She probably didn't want her mother to leave and go somewhere far away. But her father might have wanted that, and it would be like Yvonne's "artistry" to pick up on that and use it.

It was frustrating to Glen how you couldn't just ask Yvonne what the hell she meant, or get her to admit she meant nothing. There was no way to hash this out. You couldn't accuse anyone of anything. It was all "artistic."

When Yvonne arrived at the house, he let her in said hello with a cool politeness.

Yvonne hugged Allison and went to the kitchen with her. Glen sat in the living room and turned on his computer and tried to look at the latest properties for sale.

He could hear the conversation drifting out.

Yvonne was helping with stirring some mashed potatoes. Well and good. Let the little brat do something useful.

"It was a great party," Yvonne was saying. "Val just does everything you did, Mom."

"I trained her," Allison was saying.

"There were some new Baldwin lawyers there, younger ones," Yvonee said. "Sean, who represented the defendant in the Breyer/Webber case. That was a big case. Those clients got hurt bad."

"Another big case."

"Yeah, that one settled fast, too. Skye Quartermaine, the defendant, just plowed them down in a parking lot."

"How awful."

"One of them was there."

"A client?"

"Yes. She's a doctor. An intern, they call it? She's Dad's girlfriend now. He finally has one."

"That could be good. Calm him down. On the other hand, he'll probably do something to upset her, or her kids."

"She doesn't have kids. She's like about two years older than Valerie."

"Oh, dear, that'll never last," Allison said. "She'll want more attention that she could ever get from your dad."

"She seems to be crazy about him."

"So was I, once upon a time."

Glen wished they wouldn't talk about Duane Edwards, but he was Yvonne's father. Glen tried to feel mature about it. At least her daughters were grown up. The dealings with their father were minimal. He had dated a nurse last year, and her children had been young, and their father had been in Glen's face once or twice, even though Glen had barely gotten involved with their mother.

But Duane finally having his own girlfriend was good news to Glen.

They ate dinner with Allison attempting to get Yvonne to talk to Glen. Allison got Glen to go along to hear Yvonne's band whenever possible. Glen went, knowing it helped him out in the cause of getting a stable relationship with her daughters. He knew this was so, because of the way Allison tactfully brought it up to Yvonne, often, that Glen went to hear her band.

"Glen told me he thought the band sounded edgy the other evening," Allison said.

That would sure please Yvonne, Glen thought. "Yeah," he said. "That song, Wall Man, it's downright frightening."

Yvonne smiled.

"Then there's California," Glen said. "That song improves. And I like Insomnia. Always did."

"Thanks," Yvonne said. "Toby still works on the guitar line. He is trying to get it to sound like something that would keep people awake."

Glen kept his mouth shut and tried not to think about that. If he did, he would burst into laughter. There was nothing Toby played, nothing, that would ever fail to keep people awake.

After Yvonne left, Glen tested the waters with, "I think it's great if Duane has a girlfriend. You're not doubtful of it working out because you don't want him to, right?"

"Of course not," Allison said. She was always having to reassure Glen. But she didn't mind. He needed her attention. She liked that. "I just don't want to get my hopes up, is all. Woman like to be paid attention to and taken into account."

Glen knew that as far as Allison was concerned, Duane was terrible at that. "There's no accounting for tastes," Glen said. "An intern is busy with her career, so that could be ideal. She needs someone who will let her go to work and not complain that she's never home."

Allison went over to Glen and massaged his shoulders. "You're right. If that's what she needs, Duane is ideal. Positively ideal." She laughed a little. "You were wonderful with Yvonne, darling."

"Why thank you," he said. "Just call me the Dissenters' biggest fan."

Allison laughed again and hugged him.