Holly quickly re-acclimated to the break neck speed of television while successfully avoiding Ed until one day the phone on her desk rang. "Blake, can you see who that is?" She yelled but Blake was apparently not at at her desk.

"Holly Lindsey" she said when she finally picked up the phone. She could hear the person on the other end crying softly. "Hello? Who is this please?"

"Holly, it's Michelle"

Holly threw her reading glasses on top of the reports she was reading. "Michelle, honey, what is it? What's wrong?"

"I know you're at work, but could you please come get me at camp? I really need to come home."

"Did you try to reach your dad?" Holly asked staring at the pile of work on her desk.

"He's in surgery, he can't be disturbed. Please Holly, it's an emergency."

"Honey, tell me what's going on?" Holly requested.

"It's awful." she choked back tears "I can't talk about it in front of anybody, but Holly it's terrible. Can you please just come get me."

Holly's shoulders slumped. "Are you sick? Did you hurt yourself?"

"Would you stop interviewing me. Can you come get me or not Holly?" Michelle was becoming more hysterical by the moment.

"Oh alright. What is the address?" Holly wrote it down on a piece of paper and then asked "Where exactly am I picking you up from?" Her eyes widened when Michelle told her the nurses cabin. "Ok honey, I am on my way."

Holly went to Blake's desk only to find it empty. She picked up Blake's extension, quickly dialing Ed's office number. When his secretary picked up, she asked to go to his voice mail.

"Ed, this is Holly. I know you're in surgery. This isn't an emergency, at least I don't think it is, but Michelle called me from camp. She's crying and desperate for someone to pick her up. She tells me she is at the nurse's cabin. I'm on my way to get her. I will take her back to my house. I'm guessing it will be about five before we get home. So, if you want to pick her up there when you're done that would be fine. "

She hung up the phone and quickly scrawled a note for Blake, advising her where she had gone and that she would be gone for the rest of the day.

Holly knew where the camp was located. She and her brothers had been campers there when they were little. What she didn't expect was that in place of old canvas tents and tee pees that cabins and a swimming pool would have taken their place. She stepped out of her car into the heat of the day. Children were splashing in the pool, others were batting at tennis balls, while others were riding horses in a small paddock. When she came across an older teen, she asked them where the nurses office was. The young man pointed his finger and indicated with his chin the direction she should go.

She knocked on the screen door and went in, her eyes adjusting to the dim light. "Hello, I'm Holly Lindsey" she called out.

The nurse who had been behind a fabric room divider came around and shook her hand. "Mrs. Lindsey, thank you for coming."

"My pleasure, where is Michelle?"

"She's in the bathroom, getting cleaned up."

"Cleaned up? What happened?'

The nurses hand fiddled with a button on her blouse. "It's the horror of every young girl wearing white."

Holly knew exactly what had happened. "Was it her first?" She asked compassionately?

"I don't know. She doesn't want to talk about it with me. She wanted to call you immediately but I made her reach out to her father first, but when he was unavailable, I let her contact you. I've given her a pair of pants from the lost and found to change into."

"How gracious" Holly said sarcastically. She went to the bathroom door and knocked. "Michelle, it's Holly. We can leave whenever you want."

"She's fine to return tomorrow. She isn't sick or anything" The unsympathetic nurse said.

Michelle poked her head out the door and looked around. She slowly exited the room wearing a pair of hot pink sweat pants that were a size too small for her height. When she saw Holly, she practically jumped into her arms. "I want to go home" She cried.

Holly wrapped an arm around her. "I've already called your dad. You're going to my house. He will pick you up there."

The nurse handed Holly a bag with Michelle's shorts in them. Holly accepted them with her free hand. "Thanks. Come on Michelle, let's go"

Quickly Holly ushered her back to the car, throwing the bag and her purse in the back seat. She turned the radio on and headed back to town. At the first red light she looked over to Michelle who had her head down and her arms wrapped around her knees. "Are you feeling sick or anything?"

"No, I'm just embarrassed. We were playing volleyball when it started. I was in the line by the net so everyone behind me saw what happened."

Holly reached out and laid a hand on her knee. "I can relate. I was in school when mine started. I had to wrap a sweater around my waist and then ran to the nurse's office praying no one would see."

"Did they?" Michelle asked, wiping her nose.

"If they did, they didn't say anything." She recalled. "But I was still so mortified that I begged my mother to let me stay home the next day. I was sure everyone knew what was happening to me."

"Well?"

"Well, what?" Holly asked guiding her car into the early rush hour traffic.

"Did anyone know what was happening?"

"Probably. My girlfriends did, but we didn't discuss things like you girls do today. Have any of your friends started?" Holly asked keeping her eyes on the road.

Michelle shrugged. "I don't know I really only hang out with Ben and Bill anymore"

"I see. Well, you don't have to tell them" Holly smiled.

"Will you tell my dad?"

"Don't you think he'd want to know? He is a doctor; he will figure it out eventually."

At WSPR Blake returned to her desk having completed a stack of memos that Holly requested be proof read and distributed to the department heads. Noting that Holly's office was dark she sat down and picked up the note Holly hastily left. She crumbled it up and tossed it in the trash.

"The heir and the spare" Blake muttered. "You never came running when I pretended to be hurt when I was in boarding school"

Picking up the phone she dialed Roger's office.

Roger and Jenna were in a state of amorous delight when the phone rang.

"Let it ring" Jenna said huskily, pulling Roger's tie from his collar.

"What if it's important?" Roger asked trying to reach around her.

"If you think whomever that might be is more important than me, then we have a problem" Jenna pouted.

Roger whose hand hovered over the phone pulled back and began to undress Jenna as she was him.

When his voice mail picked up Blake sighed and hung up.

Across town Holly and Michelle pulled into her garage. Looking at the time Holly asked "Are you hungry?"

"I don't know" Michelle shrugged.

"Tell you what, how about you get a shower, get yourself cleaned up and I will order some take out."

Once inside Michelle stopped short of the bathroom. "Holly, do you have anything?" Michelle asked.

"Check under the sink. As for clothes, use my robe. I will throw these in the washing machine" She held up the paper bag.

When she was done showering Michelle came out, hair wet and eyes puffy. Holly indicated that she should come sit with her.

"Do you have any questions?" Holly asked but prayed that she did not. Michelle shook her head no. Holly was relieved. She wasn't her mother, and she wasn't sure what Ed would want her to know.

"Holly, would you mind if I went to lie down?"

"If you'd like, that's fine. I ordered Chinese food, and your dad will be by in about an hour"

Michelle shrank away from her. "You didn't tell him, did you?"

Holly brushed Michelle's hair behind her ear. "I didn't. I just told him you weren't feeling well, but that you weren't sick. Your clothes will be out of the dryer before he gets here."

Michelle hugged Holly and went to Blake's room as Holly sank into the couch. She pinched the bridge of her nose, staving off a headache.