Jim stared across the table at Amy and Gina and then shook his head.

"No," he said firmly. "You are wrong. She is not crazy. She's just…"

"We didn't say that she was crazy, Jim," Gina said. She looked at Amy and shrugged helplessly. Amy took a deep breath.

"It's a mood disorder," she explained. "She has trouble maintaining consistency in how she feels and deals with things." Amy slid a binder across the table toward him. Jim read the words on the cover. Manic Depression. He shook his head again and sat back in his chair. He pulled a cigarette pack out of the pocket of his tee shirt and dropped it on the table.

"It's her thyroid," he said. "She can't take her pills because of the baby. That's why…" Amy opened the binder and flipped through the pages.

"Hypothyroidism is a common misdiagnosis for Manic Depression….." she read aloud. Amy cast her blue eyes back to his face. He was white. He looked sick.

"Amy is a psychology major, Jim," Gina said quietly. "She has been watching Maggie for a while now. She's been talking to her professors…."

"Talking to them about Maggie?" he retorted defensively. "What kind of a...friend… are you?" Amy's face fell and Gina sat up straighter.

"A good friend!" she cried. "Both of us are. We have tolerated a lot from her for a very long time. No one else has been around. Not her family anyway. We are trying to help her. You should appreciate that. We love her too." Jim was silent as he glanced from one face to the other. He pulled the binder toward him again and opened the cover.

"Can you just talk to me about this?" he said finally. "I am not good at reading stuff." Gina looked toward Amy and a hopeful smile crept across her face. Amy opened the binder and leaned forward.

It was a lot to take in. He had sat at the table with them for well over an hour as they went through the information in the binder and compared it behaviors he had seen in Maggie. The girl that he loved more than anything he had ever loved before. The girl that had become his family. The girl that was about to give birth to his child. Manic? At times, certainly. Depressive? She had taken to her bed for four weeks after he left for Oklahoma. She'd locked herself in her room. She wouldn't eat. Wouldn't go to work. Dropped out of school…again. They'd finally taken her to the hospital. That's where they found out she was pregnant. That's why she decided to stop taking her medication. That's why she never returned his calls. That's why she had never written. And it wasn't the first time Gina had seen her do that. He had been wrong about them. They were her friends. Good friends.

Maggie looked up as the bell rang over the door and smiled at him. She wiped her hands on the white apron that was tied over her belly and slipped her order pad into her pocket. Jim stamped the snow off his feet and looked around for an empty seat at a table. The diner was pretty full and all of the waitresses were busy. He slipped onto a stool at the counter and watched as she carried two plates to nearby table. She said something to the customers there and they laughed. She cast her brown eyes toward him again, her smile widening.

"Damn, but she has been working like a banshee lately." Jim looked up as the diner's owner and main cook leaned on the counter in front of him.

"I think she could probably run this place if I let her," Louis laughed. "Take orders… cook…. dishes….she is everywhere!" Jim smiled wanly and then turned to watch her work the dining area. She was indeed everywhere. Checking on customers. Refilling water glasses. Chatting. Flirting. Constant motion. If he hadn't just spent the last hour with Amy and Gina, he would have thought she was just being bubbly….fun…..excited. But now he could see the traces of what they had been trying to tell him. His eyes studied her rounding belly and something was caught in his throat. Suddenly he seemed to be struggling to see and hear….and breathe. He just wanted to sweep her out of there. Run away somewhere. Take her and the baby and leave. Get away from this manic depression thing. Get away from the rest of the world and be alone. Just them. Protected. He would take care of them both.

"Okay if she takes a couple of days off?" he asked as Louis filled a coffee cup for him. "There's something we gotta do."

"Hell, yes," Lou nodded. "She needs the rest. But I think you might have some trouble getting her away. She told a customer about an hour ago that she planned to work till that baby drops out of her. Said she'd come right back to work after a break." Jim chuckled and turned back to watch her again. She probably would too.

Just five hours later they were snuggled together under the cheap but warm quilts of a motel bed. They were miles from home and anyone they knew. And they were married. At first she had protested the idea of eloping. She really fought him but then it kind of took hold. Getting married became an 'adventure'. And it was. Now they were stuck in a crappy little motel in the middle of a Minnesota snowstorm. The television didn't work. The wind was howling around them and he looked up at the ceiling as he heard the pelting sounds of icy hail on the roof. Nothing like being in their own little world.

Maggie shifted restlessly next to him and sat up, her hand pressing the small of her back.

"I can't sleep…." she said irritably. "I can't get comfortable." She stood up and stretched her shoulders. Sleep wasn't going to come anyway. It hadn't for days. She glanced up toward the ceiling and frowned. Jim watched as she moved to the window and drew the curtains back. There was ice forming on the window and it was impossible to see anything in the swirling whiteness of the storm outside. he could almost feel the panic that was beginning to build in her.

"I can't stay here," she said in a panic. "We have to get out! We have to leave. Right now!" Jim climbed out of bed and dragged a blanket with him. He pulled it protectively over her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her.

"I can't drive in this, baby," he said. "We'll be fine till morning. We have to stay here." She twisted in his embrace and backed away from him. Her eyes were round with fear….and anger.

"I can't stay…." she choked. "I just can't." Jim advanced with the blanket held open and Maggie shoved her way past him.

"Stop it!" she screamed. She pulled the motel door open and ran out into the storm. Jim dropped the blanket and shoved his feet into his boots. He held his arm up against the swirling wind and tried to see where she might have gone. She was barefoot and dressed only in his tee shirt. She couldn't have gone too far. He saw her standing in the middle of the darkened parking lot. It was obvious that she didn't know where to go. He ran to her and swept her into his arms. She screamed and buried her hands in his hair and pulled.

"Damn it!" he yelped as he carried her back to the open door of their room. He slammed the door shut behind them and dropped her onto the bed. She was in her feet immediately and tore at him with her finger nails. Jim grabbed her hands and twisted her arms around her chest till he held her against him.

"Stop it, Maggie!" he ordered. She screamed again, struggled and then opened her mouth to bite the hand that held her. Jim moved it just in time and pressed it against her belly firmly.

"Stop it!" he ordered again. "Stop it…..you'll hurt the baby." His voice changed to a croon and he felt her begin to relax a little. Her hands pressed against his on her belly as she remembered the baby there. Her chest was heaving and he kissed the top of her ice flecked head.

"It's okay….." he said softly.

"It's not," she said firmly. "I can't stay in here."

"We'll leave as soon as it's daylight. I promise," he said emphatically. "I promise, Maggie." She nodded and pulled away from him. This time he let her go. She shivered as she stood on the thin carpet in her bare feet. She hugged herself as goose bumps covered her skin.

"Come on," he said softly. "Let's get you in a hot shower." He took her hand and she let him lead her toward the bathroom. He pulled the plastic curtain back and turned on the water. Maggie waited until he was standing at the door again and pulled his wet tee shirt from her body and stepped inside the tub. She pulled the curtain shut defiantly and Jim leaned his head against the door jamb. He glanced up and his eyes rested on the simple gold band he wore on his finger above him. Damn. Just what was he in for?