Dateline: Wednesday, July 8, 1981, 3:52 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

Ashley could feel every nerve in her body pulsating with electricity. She wasn't exactly looking forward to her "calm and rational" conversation with Kim. When your best friend finds out you're in love with her husband, calm and rational should be the last thing on her mind. Her mind snapped back to that trip to the principal's office that one time in elementary school when she got in trouble for using her powers. The only difference between then and now was that Billy Krendall was totally asking for it.

Presently, Kim calmly strolled into the living room and sat down next to Ashley. Ashley tried using her telepathy to find out what Kim was feeling at the time, but she couldn't find anything.

"Before I say anything," Kim began, "I want you to know that I consider you one of my closest friends, and I don't want this little, uh, situation to jeopardize that. So, just before I destroyed your clone, she told me that she had all of your memory. And she told me that you have an infatuation with Dash."

"No, of course not! I would never have an infatuation with Dash! I wouldn't have an infatuation with anyone! Wait, what's an infatuation?"

"It means a crush."

"Oh, well, in that case, yes, I do."

Kim said nothing. Ashley could sense her anger building up, and that it was all Kim could do to keep from attacking her.

"Kimmy, I know you're upset…"

"Of course you know, you're the cause of my grief, you home wrecking tramp!" Kim gasped and covered her mouth. She couldn't believe what she just said. "I'm sorry, Ashley, I didn't mean it!"

"No, you did. You meant every word of it. You didn't want to say it that way, because you didn't want to hurt me."

Kim was astonished. "Okay, seriously, you have to start warning me before your go poking through my mind."

"Kim, this is exactly why I didn't want you to find out about this. I didn't want you to be angry with me over some man, because you're the first real friend I've had in a long time."

"Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but you couldn't expect to keep this from me forever, could you?"

"I was planning to tell Dash myself, when things settled down, and then have him tell you. That's what José and Violet said I should do, but then…"

"Wait a minute," Kim interrupted, "José and Violet know about this too?"

"Yeah, José sort of figured it out, somehow, and Vi, well she dragged it out of me."

"Right. Well, I don't think Dash needs to know about your crush on him."

This surprised Ashley to say the least. "Why not?"

"Because if he did, it will put a strain on my relationship with him. Even if he and I live together happily for many years, he's always going to be thinking about what might have been."

"True, but won't you always be thinking about that too, now that you know?"

"Yes. But it's too late for me."

Ashley paused for a moment. "Kim, you're a very good friend, and I don't want to hurt you. So I will try to stay away from your husband and not interfere with your marriage. My feelings for Dash are probably just superficial anyway. But you really love him, and I can see that. And he loves you too. So I wish you two all the best."

Kim breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she said. Then, for the first time since they met, Ashley removed her sunglasses. Kim could see her green eyes welling up with tears. She used her telekinesis to grab a tissue from the other room, then dried her eyes manually. "Ashley, do you want to…"

"I just need to be alone for a moment," Ashley said sobbing. Then she ran off to her room and shut the door behind her.

Kim was glad that was over, but she still had a bone to pick with Violet and José. She was so furious with those two for interfering with her marriage. With Violet back at her desk downtown, she sought out the Mexican. Yes, she was upset, and she did make it apparent, but don't assume that she turned the house upside-down looking for José in a fit of fury. No, she turned the house more of a sideways direction. Anyway, she found the one she was looking for in the kitchen, eating of all things.

"You've got a lot of nerve, you big meddling busybody!" she spat in his face.

"Chill out, Kim," he answered. "So what if I ate your tuna sandwich? We've got plenty more in the fridge!"

"This isn't about the sandwich, José, this is about you messing with my romance! And besides, that wasn't my sandwich, it was Vi's!"

"Oh. Wait, what did I do to mess up your romance?"

"Weren't you the one who told Ashley that she should tell Dashell about her feelings?"

"Oh, so you found out about that, did you?"

"Answer the question!" Kim demanded.

"Yeah, I did tell Ashley that she should talk to Dash about this."

"And why did you tell her that?"

"I figured if Dash let her down himself, she might get over her crush on him."

"So, you figured that Dash would break Ashley's heart, because he's vindictive and cruel?"

"No, that's not it at all, uh…"

"Then what? Were you trying to break us up?"

"NO!"

"Then why would you think it would be smart for Ashley to tell Dash about her feelings, huh?"

"I was counting on his love for you to help him resist the temptation!"

That last statement struck Kimberly mute, like the curse that was on her not too long ago. She needed a little time to process this before responding. Then…

"José, I know you meant well, but your idea sucks!"

"Huh?"

"I know Dash very well, and he's not the kind of person who can resist temptation easily. If Ashley came on to him, he'd crack like a clay pot. Then he and I would be arguing non-stop, and our relationship would go down the crapper, yadda yadda yadda. And I don't want us to 'yadda yadda yadda', okay?"

José was a little confused. "What's the 'yadda yadda' supposed to be?"

"If I wanted you to know, I wouldn't have said 'yadda yadda'. Now, I want you to promise me you're not going to tell my husband about this!"

"About what?" said a male voice behind her. Kim was shocked, because she recognized that voice. She spun around and saw Dash staring at her.

"Uh, how long have you been there, honey?"

"Long enough to know about Ashley's crush on me," he said somberly.

"Oh," said José, "I just remembered, I need to be anywhere but here!" He took off running.

"Kim, honey, can we talk about this?" Dash said motioning that they should sit at the dinning room table.

"I think I'm all out of talk, Dash," she said sitting.

"I know what you were trying to do, and I appreciate that you care so much about us…"

"I smell a 'but' coming."

"…But, I'm offended that you think I'm that susceptible to temptation."

"Oh, come on, I've seen you buy and eat chocolate when you weren't even hungry!"

"So? With candy, it's different; the damage done can be repaired with a little exercise. Of course I know better that to cheat on you! I may not know a lot of things, but at least I know that!"

"You're right. I should have known that you wouldn't betray me."
"So why did you feel the need to keep this from me?"

"I don't know, maybe because Ashley's been living with you longer than I have?"

"So, you think I would just drop you like yesterday's trash for some blind girl who fights with me on a regular basis, because I'm vindictive and cruel, like you said?"

"Dash, please don't do this to me! I feel bad enough already. I'm sorry I didn't trust you to be faithful to me."

"I forgive you. But you need to know this; there are going to be many people who will have crushes on not just me, but you too. We're superheroes, and that's just part of the job. If this marriage is going to work, we're going to have to trust each other, and not get upset over every superficial thing."

Kim sighed. "You're right. Hey, how'd you get to know so much about marriage?"

"I read a few of your self-help books one day when there was nothing good on TV."

She smirked. "It's nice to see you reading for a change, dear."

"Yeah. Now, where's Ashley?"

"In her room, crying. She said she needed to be alone."

Dash made a noncommittal grunt, then made his way to the refrigerator.

"Hey, what happened to Vi's leftover tuna sandwich? I was going to have that for a midnight snack! Why can't people learn to respect other's property?"

(A/N: For those of you keeping score, now everyone on the team knows about Ashley's crush on Dash, including Dash, who by the way, doesn't know that Violet knows. I'm such a girly man, or am I just a geek? I never can tell. Anyway, that's enough girl talk to last us a month and a half. I'll try to pick the action up again in Chapter 33. Until next time, review!)