We drove back on Monday afternoon. I immediately went to check in with my office after dropping Mark off at the loft, so he could finish packing his stuff.

"Joanne, you're back," Kyle greeted me as I headed down the hallway to my office.

"Hi Kyle, I just thought I'd check in, see where we're at on some stuff," I said, as I turned on my computer, and tossed my purse onto a nearby chair. "Where's Sara?"

"Um, Joanne, have a seat," Kyle motioned. His tone indicated some very bad news.

"Kyle, what happened?" I asked again as I sat down, preparing for the worst.

"Sara went out to a club this weekend..."

"Kyle, they do that at her age. Where is she?"

"The concert there got out of control. She wound up in a stampede. She's banged up pretty badly. It will be at least a month, maybe two, before she can return to work."

"A month?" I repeated.

"She's broken multiple ribs, plus both legs are in a cast."

"How's Lisels's schedule?" I asked, thinking of other paralegals at the firm. I could not work without a paralegal, especially for an entire month.

"Brad has her backed up on his cases. Renee is helping with Lisel's load." "

How come Brad gets two paralegals?" I demanded to know.

"You know him. He has to be Mr. Perfect, taking on more then he can handle," Kyle reasoned, taking a seat. "I called a temp agency. They promised to send someone as soon as they can find one."

"As soon as they can find one?"

"Paralegals are hot right now. The ones who need employment have it."

I logged into my email, "That is just what I need to hear," I retorted as I scanned the emails I recieved.

"I'll be going now," he said, escaping into his own office.

My brain was swirling as I jumped into the course of calls, research, faxes, and emails. Before I knew it, it was 11:00.

"Oh my gosh," I exclaimed. My tummy growled as it scolded me for missing dinner. I locked my office and ran out of the building, jumping into my car, I drove as fast as I could to the apartment. Mark had probably taken a cab to get back. I unlocked the door, and found it empty. I hurried toward the loft, anticipating he'd be furious with me. Roger threw down the key to me from the balcony. He was playing around with some of his guitar stuff with Mimi next to him.

I opened the loft door. "Where's Mark?" I asked Collins who was sipping coffee. Collins motioned toward the door to Mark's old room. I went in and found Mark sound asleep, filled boxes stacked next to him. The room was almost completely empty. Carefully I removed his glasses and set them on top of the boxes where he'd be sure to see them, then threw a blanket over him. "Good night," I whispered as I kissed him, and softly tiptoed out.

I woke up the next morning to smell bacon frying. Curiously, I padded into the kitchen.

"Mmmm, Good morning," I greeted Mark with a kiss.

"Good morning."

"You're making me breakfast. That is so nice."

"Sorry I fell asleep at the loft last night."

"How did you get home?"

"Taxi. How are you feeling?" he asked as he rubbed my tummy. "Gizmo" kicked in response.

"You woke up the baby."

"Well good morning," he greeted my tummy. "Breakfast will be ready in just a second. It's just breakfast burritos, so it's nothing special."

"It will be nice to sit down and actually eat with my husband," I commented as I poured myself a glass of orange juice. "Ugh, you know how glad I'll be when I can go back to coffee?"

"I can only imagine," he replied as he dumped scrambled eggs into a serving dish.

"So what are you going to do today?" I asked, as I spread sausage onto a tortilla.

"Well, I have a few segments that I'm working on for Buzzline, so I'll probably get those finished up," he said as he sprinked some cheese over his eggs.

"I have to find a new paralegal. My old one went to a concert and nearly got herself killed."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Yea. She just broke some bones, but she's still out for at least a month, and all the other ones floating around the firm are backed up."

"What about Collins?" Mark asked.

"What about him?"

"As your paralegal."

"Mark," I hesitated, "Collins is smart, but I don't know.."

"He went to school," Mark assured me.

"Yeah, he's been to many schools, and been kicked out of every one. Collins is smart, but you need training to be a paralegal."

"He has been trained. He hasn't used it in a couple of years, but he knows how."

"How come I didn't know that?" I wondered aloud. Collins and I had been much closer since that night we thought Mark was gone. If Collins knew how to do the job, he might work out.

After breakfast I wandered over to the spot I had set up as a home office. "What do you want to do with these?" I asked, referring to a box of film that had been placed on my chair.