Kristina Jenson was one of Duane Edwards' secretaries, and had been for a little more than a year now. Her older sister Dara had run into him in the courthouse hallway when he was looking for someone new and happened to tell her about it; and since Kristina had just graduated from high school and was on the market for a job and found the law interesting, Dara had pointed her in Duane's direction.

Today, Kristina was running late. It wasn't much of a problem. One of the good things about working for Duane Edwards was that if you were late, he didn't notice most of the time, only if he happened to be there and needed you right there and then. On the other hand, if he was doing something at 5 p.m. and needed you, it didn't seem to occur to him that you wanted to go home.

Still and all, once you got used to the ups and downs, you could appreciate the ups as well as the downs. You just had to learn his eccentricities. If you told him you had a doctor or dentist appointment, for example, he would always let you go, always assuming that to take precedence over whatever he was doing. So you were free to make appointments you needed to make without a lot of worry.

A down side was that he was prone to interrupt what you were doing to demand some other thing he needed right then and there. This made organizing one's day near to impossible. And what he had interrupted was work you were doing for him, after all. How to get it done? If you didn't, the lack would show up somewhere, and he could end up yelling at you.

The first few times he yelled or snapped at you, it was very upsetting, but when you realized that within the hour he would have forgotten all about whatever sin you had allegedly committed, it became more amusing than frightening, and a good laugh with your co-workers.

The biggest good point of working for Duane was your co-workers. Duane wasn't there a lot of the time. You and your co-workers told your stories about what he'd said and done. It got to the point where if he yelled at you, you had the best story and positively enjoyed it. You had more in common with your co-workers than with anyone on earth.

When Duane's daughter Valerie came to the office, it would sometimes feel at first as if you couldn't tell these stories, but then you'd remember that Valerie enjoyed them as much as anybody else, told her own, and then some of those were personal, and as you got to know the man more without talking to him, you realized he was not such a jerk as he sometimes appeared to be.

The clients were stressful to deal with too, but again, you shared them with your co-workers later and it all fell into a big laugh. Duane appeared to take them seriously, but every once in a while, you'd see a little glint in his eye that let you know he knew they were the crazy ones, not you.

There were a few good clients, too, who were super-nice to the staff, and sometimes dropped by while Duane was in court, and you could feel perfectly OK about shooting the breeze instead of working, because, after all, you were talking to a client.

Thus over time, Kristina had become close to Ann Marie Delaney, the longest-term employee Duane had, a mother of nine grown children (her youngest had just graduated from high school), who treated Duane with a motherliness that it was amazing to see him put up with. But you knew he knew he wouldn't know where he had to go next without her.

Ann Marie had a golden touch with clients and could calm an irate one down within minutes. The worst times in the office were her vacations, doctor's appointments, and times when she was busy doing something specific for Duane that had to be done that minute. It was then that you were on your own. But if a client made your life miserable, you later could cry on Ann Marie's shoulder about it. She had a way of minimizing the drama that helped you get a perspective that it wasn't the end of the world after all.

Whenever Kristina regaled Dara with stories of this office, Dara said sometimes it was better to have a job that was stressful but interesting, and that it was more stressful to have a job that was boring. To work her way through law school and college, Dara had held various dull jobs, and felt strongly that it was worse to do an easy but tedious job than to do a difficult and demanding one. This was the reason that Dara advised Kristina to try working in various fields first, and then go to college at night to train for whatever she was really interested in. This drove their mother crazy. College was a big deal to their mother, who thought of a college degree as if it were a panacea for all the ills that could befall a person in life.

"He wants this worker's compensation claim filled out by end of day," Kristina heard Alma saying to Ann Marie as she went in the door.

"He" was Duane, who they generally talked about in terms of "he" and "him." They knew which "him" they were referring to when they used it. Talking about clients did not figure in, because a client was "the client."

"He never does that type of law, but refers it to Lynn Farley," Ann Marie said. "I wonder what's up with that."

"You don't know how to do it either?" Alma's Spanish accent got heavier, as it always did when she was getting anxious. Alma Soriano was the newest employee of the office, and therefore, the one who was most prone to getting upset at not having something under control.

Ann Marie took the piece of paper Alma was handling. "Let's see if we can figure it out," she said. "Oh, look, there are instructions on the back."

Kristina greeted them, a grin spreading over her face. State forms and court forms often had instructions on them, and they were generally clearer than Duane's off the cuff ones.

"Hello, Kristina," Ann Marie said. "Alma and I are figuring out how to fill out a worker's compensation claim."

The form looked simple, but it asked a lot of questions. The answers were not all in the file. Alma called the client to have him come in. Alma spoke Spanish, a big bonus for Ann Marie and Kristina. Dealing with the Spanish-speaking clients became Alma's job, eliminating what had been a tough one for either Ann Marie or Kristina.

"OK, he is coming in tomorrow," Alma said, of the client.

"Did Shirley Warren call?" asked Kristina.

"Many time," Alma said. "I do not know what to tell her."

The phone rang, and then the second line started blinking. All three raced for their phones.

"Everything looks OK," Sarah said. "Let's schedule you for your ultrasound. And amniocentesis." Sarah explained what that was.

Oksana winced a little. "Never had the ultrasound before."

Sarah smiled. "Technology has advanced since you last had a baby," Sarah said. "In some ways, you'll find pregnancy more uncomfortable because of the tests. But what they can reveal makes your chances much better. So far I see no reason you can't deliver a healthy baby, physically."

"I thought it was very risky when older."

"It is generally, so we don't really recommend people trying for it specifically, at your age, though it's up to the person. But looking at you individually, it's looking pretty good. Do you have a problem with the father? They're usually here, these days."

"Not a problem, exactly. My problem. That we talked about children. I talk to him about marrying me, because I am older, and he was not married before and has no children."

"Uh, huh."

"So," Oksana went on. "Now this is good news. I wanted to see you first. You say chances are good. I want to see about that first, before I tell him."

"OK."

"Still, I am – I do not know."

"You have a friend you can talk to about it? I could refer you to a counselor."

Oksana lit up. There was temporary relief. "You make me think of someone, saying that. Someone I can talk to, come to mind. Thank you, Dr. Webber."

"Talk to them soon," Sarah said. "If all goes well, he'll find out whether you tell him or not."

Oksana smiled. She looked down at her waistline, now so slim. "I tell him," she said. "I just need a day to figure out how and when."

Gail Baldwin was at her desk. She heard a tap on the door, which was half open.

Gail looked up. "Oksana!" she exclaimed. "How nice to see you!" Gail had seen Oksana professionally, with her son Zander, in the past. Their relationship had been strained to the breaking point before Oksana moved to Port Charles, and Gail had helped them with mending it.

"I do not want to bother you," Oksana said. "I want to make an appointment with you."

"Come in and sit down," Gail said, getting up and ushering Oksana to a chair. "How are things going with Zander?"

"Very well," Oksana said. "Married now, going to college. This is something else."

"To do with you."

"Me and my husband and my pregnancy."

"That's right, you're married now, too. I heard and I congratulate you. On both. Thank you."

"Thank you. It is - make me – very happy. I have one problem, though."

"I'm listening."

"When I get married, I tell him – say to him, you know, you are seven years younger, than me. You marry a woman too old to have children. You have no children. He says this does not matter." Oksana swallowed, nervously. "Then, I find, big surprise. Pregnant. Me. At my age."

"Is it a pleasant surprise?"

"Well, yes. Very. Now I can – he can have child after all. One, anyway. But I am afraid to tell him. Because I know I am old to have baby and if something go wrong, it is too hard for him to settle that he will not have a child, think he can anyway, then lose that."

"I understand," Gail said. "You're afraid of a tragic ending, and that it would be all the harder, because the original expectation was more than you had asked."

Oksana nodded. "Such more of a tragedy," Oksana said. "Maybe I wait for that test. Amnio. If all OK, then, I tell."

"I hope it will all come out OK," Gail said. "But if it doesn't, what will you do? Handle it all in secret, on your own?"

Oksana looked struck, as if she only now just thought of the impracticality of this.

"Then it would be his tragedy too," Gail said. "He's your partner, not your little boy."

"I am not used to having a partner, except business."

"Your first husband wasn't?"

"Too much older. This one, he is younger."

"To fall in love with a younger man does not change the nature of the relationship," Gail said. "He's your equal. You have two boys and were not looking for another one. Well," she said, "unless you're going to have another one. Do you want a girl this time?"

"I will take either so long as baby is OK," Oksana looked down at her waist, though there was nothing to see yet.

"Of course," Gail said. "I wish you all the best."

"Thank you," Oksana said. "I do better this time. I am more partner to his father – her father, and I learn from my old mistake."

"You didn't do so badly," Gail said, reassuringly. "Zander and Peter are fine young men."

Oksana took a deep breath. "Thank you, Gail. This helped me see. I should not put off telling him any longer."