A/N: Well, here we are, the BIG 3-0, peeps. Thanks for sticking with me thus far. If you thought the pot was boiling over before? Wait for it. It's going to get a little hotter in this kitchen. Can't stand the heat? Well, you know what they say when that happens…
Read on:

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Chapter 30:

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She looked so beautiful, looking out the window at the rainfall. Her apartment was small, barely a room and a bathroom, and blandly decorated in only white and black. But it made her stand out all the more, in her silver dress, her blonde hair tucked behind her ear, and her small, guarded smile whenever she gazed his way. She knew that this was a forbidden thing, for both parties. But it made it all the more thrilling.

Their moments were stolen, and Joe barely felt conscious, he was so high on happiness. He was floating, even as he sat and drank his coffee, quite content at simply staring at her.

"We can't…" she breathed in the form of a question she was trying fearfully to ask. She took another breath, and pressed on through. "We can't be together tonight, can we?"

Joe pulled his coffee away from his lips. That was a deadly question, and he wished she had never even thought it. It meant he was now accountable for his actions, having been presented with his chance to turn back. He gulped back the lingering coffee in his throat and considered his next words carefully. He got up and went to her by the window, grasping her hand firmly.

"We shouldn't, if that's what you mean," Joe admitted calmly. "But I wouldn't be here if I wasn't prepared to give my whole self to you."

"You really mean it, huh?" she said with a faint smile. "This isn't some sort of a cruel dream?"

"I'm done dreaming," Joe replied firmly.

Delilah nodded in understanding, and smiled his way as she walked away from the window, and hopped onto her mess of white sheets on her large bed, stretching her legs out to the side of her and kicking off her heels. Then she looked up to him with a broad smile. Joe would never forget that look that she gave him then. She didn't have to say a word. Joe knew. He smirked and took his time to set his jacket down on the window seat, and took off his tie as well, folding it neatly and setting it on top. There was no need to hurry, in his mind. They had all the time in the world.

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James peered over the vast array of greeting cards, feeling more than a bit intimidated. He felt like he'd been here for an eternity, gazing over the same cards over and over. He wished he could just find a suitable one that said:

"Hey, people who raised me, I'm getting married!"

This was never easy.

He then happened upon a face that he recognized, inspecting bags of coffee grounds in the next aisle over. For a moment, her face stole his breath away, that tiny nose, those faint freckles, those tiny pink lips…

"Evelyn?"

"James!" she said with excitement, immediately coming around the shelf to embrace him. She still smelled intoxicating.

"How have you been?" she asked. "God, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," James agreed. "A while, uh, it's been a…while."

James began to remember that old familiar feeling of wanting to kick himself for his dumb mouth. That always happened around Evelyn, whether he wanted it to or not.

"I heard--" Evelyn was the one stammering for once, pulling her hair behind her ear nervously. "--I heard you were getting married."

"Oh," James said, oddly embarrassed because of the truthfulness in this fact. He looked at his feet. "Yeah. I am."

She nodded. She faked a smile that was gone as quickly as it came.

"Beatrice is a great girl."

James looked anywhere but at her.

"Yeah. She is."

Evelyn perked up.

"Oh, did you hear I have a boyfriend now?"

James furrowed his brow with surprise, and tried to act unfazed but interested.

"No. I didn't."

"Yeah, his name is Ben. He's really awesome. We hit it off really fast, and… anyway, he invited me on this trip, and well, I said I'd go."

"A trip?" James's heart fell. "Where to?"

"Can you believe it? Paris! I'm really excited."

"Wow. Yeah, Paris is great this time of year. Hey, when are you getting back? We should sit and chat sometime, catch up on things."

"Oh," Evelyn said seriously. "It's sort of… indefinite, you know?"

"Ah," James couldn't hide the disappointment in his tone anymore. "When do you ship out?"

"Next week, actually."

James felt his chest cave in unexpectedly, and he could barely breathe. A taller man came and put his arms around Evelyn's waist, kissing her neck affectionately.

"Hey, Evie, who's this?"

James held out his hand politely, even through everything in him screamed to slap the man across the face for laying his hands on the woman.

"James," he introduced himself. "You must be Ben."

"Ben, I am," he said agreeably, then turned back to Evelyn. "Are you ready to go, hon?"

"Yeah, I'm good," she replied hurriedly. "Bye, James. It—it was good seeing you."

"Yeah," James said with a small wave as the bell above the door chimed as the couple exited through it. "You too…"

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Rosalind stormed away from Glenn across the green, muddy campus of Spenser, while Glenn chased after her. He was in utter bewilderment as to what he did wrong. He suspected pregnancy hormones were at work here, but never would he dare say that aloud. Still, he followed the small, fragile woman until he was surely within her earshot.

"Please, Rose!" Glenn pleaded. "What did I do? I'm just trying to help!"

"You're smothering me, don't you get it?!" Rosie spat out. "You're always around, thinking I can never do anything for myself… I'm not crippled, Glenn, I'm pregnant!"

Glenn stopped in his tracks.

"Excuse me if I want you to be okay!"

"I'll be okay!" Rosalind insisted. "I said I'd be okay even without you!"

Glenn frowned and took a step back in horror.

"No… Don't say that…"

"Glenn," Rosalind said regrettably, her face falling sorrowful. "I think it's time."

"You don't mean it, Rose. Don't… you're just in a moody state--"

"Stop acting like you know everything!" Rosalind yelled, throwing her hands to the sky. "Yes, Glenn, you are smart. Probably the smartest person I've ever met—But you're only book smart, Glenn! You really don't get it! I don't need facts and figures or how your books say you need to treat me!"

Glenn looked around to see if anyone was watching; he hated having his business broadcasted. He stepped closer to speak in a hushed voice.

"Are you saying that all the time and effort I've invested into this relationship has all gone unappreciated?"

"'Invested'?" Rosalind exclaimed. "I'm not some piece of property, Glenn, I'm a human being!"

"In case you didn't know, I haven't done this before! I'm doing the best I can here. I wait on your hand and foot, I give you love and affection… What more do you WANT from me, Rose?"

Glenn panted through his anger, trying to catch his breath. He paced angrily.

"Damn!" he added on. "I'm not even the FATHER!"

Rosalind froze, her mouth closing abruptly. She stared at the grass, shaking her head in disbelief. Glenn regretted it immediately, biting his lip in shame, but it was too late to take them back now, and he knew it.

"Thank God for that," Rosalind snapped, and turned to go. Glenn went after her once more.

"Wait, Rosalind, I didn't mean it--"

"Yes, you did!" Rosalind insisted. "You don't want to be a part of this, fine. I don't want you to be either."

Glenn stopped following her. There was no use now; she was set in her decision. There was nothing left he could do, but watch her walk away. She was halfway to the parking lot, when Glenn finally called after her.

"You need me!" Glenn announced. "What about your parents, huh? They still think we're married! We're supposed to meet them again for lunch tomorrow! You'll come back, you crazy girl. You need me!"

Glenn snorted in contempt. He steamed with anger at her insolence and ungratefulness. Inside, he sure hoped she would need him. He didn't want her going through this alone.

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Wayne sighed at the world, sitting upright in his bed, clothed in only his plaid boxers. He slipped his legs out from under the covers, letting them hang over the side of the bed. He took a drink of the beer in the glass on the bedside table, then yanked open his drawer for something to ease the addictive pull inside his lungs. He picked up a red lollipop: what he had used as a poor substitute for cigarettes, then resorted to throwing it across the room. He snatched out his pack of Camels. He couldn't light it fast enough. He inhaled an entire lungful, huffing it out his mouth in sweet satisfaction. God, it'd been forever since he'd had a cigarette. Beatrice hated smokers. He had given them up for her. Now he was using cigarettes to ease the addiction of Beatrice. The irony was impeccable.

The naked woman still lying on his bed stirred to the smell of his thick cloud of smoke. She was still panting from the exertions he had just put her through. She rubbed his bared back affectionately.

Goddamn Desiree. He wished he had never met her. She had a control over him like no other woman, only because she knew exactly how his mind worked. And her tactics worked every time.

"Hey baby," she said softly, in her husky afterglow voice that he used to adore. "I thought you quit smoking?"

His hands shook so hard as he brought the cigarette back to his lips that he could barely get his mouth around the butt of it. Those simple words of hers brought tears to his eyes. He had quit smoking. For her… But now she was gone.

He felt Desiree sit up when he didn't answer her. His nose was clogging with oncoming tears he was trying so desperately to hold back.

"Oh my God," he heard her breathe. "You… You really love her, don't you?"

Wayne didn't answer. He just put his two fingers around his cigarette with one hand, and with the other, pointed to the door.

"Go," he said in a low, angered voice that warned her not to disobey.

"But baby…"

"GET OUT!" Wayne shouted, grabbing her skirt from the foot of the bed and throwing it over his shoulder and into her face. Desiree looked at him with amazement mixed with horror and surprise, but quickly threw on some clothes and scurried out the door.

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Signed,
--RedRogue