He gestured for her to come his way. She made her way through the
crowded party room towards him. He had been staring at her all night. And she
too, glanced at him every now and then, making eye contact. It was sort of a way
of communication, buy looking into his eyes she knew just what he was saying.
As she met up with him, not one word was spoken, just a smile and some actual
contact. His took her hand gently, not trying to scare her and slowly began to
walk into another deserted dark room of the house. As they were out of view from
the party and strangely enough she trusted him forgivingly. He looked into her
glistening blue eyes with a sexy smile and placed his hand on the side of her
face.
She wasn’t scared at all, yet so happy and excited because she knew he was
going to kiss her. She could feel the passion in the air. And it was going to
happen, very soon. As he leaned in for the kiss. Her heart quickened at his actual
beauty. Their lips were just seconds away from meeting when a loud very familiar 
and very annoying sound made her ears ring.

Emma groaned loudly as she reached for the alarm on her night table. As her
hand searched for the snooze button she became very frustrated. ‘Why do my
dreams always stop at the best part?’ she asked herself madly. She sighed
silently trying to piece together what had happened in her dream, then closed her
eyes and buried herself deeper into the covers of her blankets.
She suddenly had a feeling of dismay as she soon remembered that she had a
dentist appointment this morning, which she hated. The ten minutes, which to
exhausted Emma actually felt like two, had passed quickly, and she had to get up
and do her usual morning routine. Just as she was drying her hair she felt
something warm and soft brush up against her leg. She jumped at first but then
realizing it was only her small gray kitty Oscar she quickly reached over to pick
him up. 
“Hey what have you been up to?” she asked the kitty suspiciously as he  yawned
and looked back at her. He had a look of mischief on his furry little face and
Emma knew it.
She realized that she hadn’t fed him in two days and scolded herself for forgetting
about little Oscar. 

A sudden ring of the doorbell got her moving. As she made her way down the
stairs she wondered who it would be. ‘Probably Vicky and David’ she thought to
herself. ‘Asking me if I wanted to go on a picnic or something.’ The window she
had beside her door was not clear. But had a bumpy texture and a nice pattern so
Emma could only see the outline of people. Emma took a quick look though the
glass, seeing two silhouettes, hand in hand. ‘Yeah it’s Vicky’ she told herself
assuringly. But when she opened the door she saw something very surprising.

“Geri!” Emma just choked the words out. Geri was standing their with a grin from
ear to ear on her smug little face. As Emma’s eyes wandered she looked
curiously at the man Geri’s hands were entwined comfortably with. He flashed her
an alluring smile. She was feeling a little embarrassed as she was only in her
night gown.  Both the girls exchanged hugs and Emma let them in.
“This is Stephan.”  Geri said staring Emma strait in the eye. Then she looked
back to Stephan.
 “Stephan, this is Emma.” 
He held out is hand with a smile and Emma shook it. There was a look in his eyes
Emma didn’t trust, but Geri seemed to be happy, so she was too.
“So...” started Emma sitting down on the opposite and of the couch as the
gleaming couple. “What brings you here so very early this morning?”
 She took a quick glance at the clock making sure it was still fairly early, so that
she didn’t feel like an idiot. ‘Oh good’ she thought, ‘Only eight fifteen.’ 
 Geri looked into Stephen’s eyes lovingly and so sure with trust as her smile grew
bigger.
“Well...” she started. “I thought we’d drop by to tell you the news.” 
Geri looked back at Stephan and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Emma figured
what she was going to say. But still acted interested to impress Geri and her new
guy.
“News?” she asked trying to sound ditsy as ever. 
 Looking for Emma, to be very impossible, Geri’s grin began to get bigger. It was
now a smile, with her teeth peeking through the part in her lips. Geri didn’t say
anything though, she just held out her left hand with her ring finger slightly higher
up than her others. And there was a ring there all right, so huge Emma was
surprised Geri could hold up her finger for that long. Emma grabbed her hand
looked at her in the eye thinking she saw a twinkle. 
Both girls got up and squealed while embracing in a hug.
“Oh my gosh..” whispered Emma as soon as she got back her breath. Both girls
were now crying recklessly.
“I can’t believe.... I mean... Oh I’m just so happy for you!” Geri looked  into her
eyes now wiping away her tears. 
Stephan, still sitting on the couch, showed a gapping smile that almost changed
his whole face. ‘God he’s cute.’ Emma thought to herself jealously. But then
stopping her mind from wandering and back to the subject.
“Am I the first to know?” She asked curiously with an almost detectable grin.
“Yeah,” responded Geri proudly nuzzling deeper into his sensitive dent just
beneath his arm pit. He instantly became squeamish grabbing her waist gingerly.
They both let out a giggle and Geri closed her eyes driving her head deeper to
make him become more ticklish.

“Stop it” he finally blurted out “You’re tickling me.” 

‘Oh gag me...’ Emma thought to herself arrogantly. Trying not to make her
expression not so obvious.

Geri instantly sat up strait, her eyes focused on the ground.  She caught the look
in Emma’s face and became a little embarrassed. She was beginning to feel a bit
uncomfortable. Emma was feeling discomfort too and decided to speak up.

“When did you guys meet?” she asked clearing the room of silence.
“Erm...” Geri started searching in her mind for the date. “About a month ago?.....
yeah I would have to say a month.” 

‘They’d only known each other for a month and they were all ready getting
married?’ Emma thought to herself with a ghostly feeling. The memories came
flooding back. She knew Geri could tell that she disagreed with her little time of
knowing. Emma’s face became pale. 

“Emma?” Geri asked with concern in her voice. “Are you all right?” Geri got was
about to get up when Emma responded trying ever so hard to bring the colour
back in her face.

“Yeah,” she responded “I’m fine. Just got a bit of a head rush there. Must be
because I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast yesterday.” said Emma lying
through her teeth. Geri sat back in relief. 

“It looked like you were about to pass out.” she added tactfully still looking at
Emma making sure she was ok.

“Well...”  started Geri realizing the time “We should be on our way. We’ve got to
drive all the way to Liverpool to see Mel you know.” The couple began to get up
off the couch.  

“Hey, thanks for dropping by then. I’m glad you guys took the time to come over
here rather than just calling me up with such important news.”
 Emma grinned following the couple towards the half open door. Stephan held
Geri’s hand, as she zipped up her coat with the other. 

“Very nice meeting you.” he said politely, holding out his hand again. Emma
shook it. 
“You too.” she said  forcing one of her cuter smiles  ‘I hope this doesn’t look as
fake as it feels’ she thought to herself cautiously.  She hugged Geri goodbye,
smelling the gum she must have had for awhile. 
The couple made there way across the path silently. Just as they were about to
turn the ridged corner, Geri turned her head one last time seeing Emma close the
door her face once again a ghostly white. Geri frowned to herself wondering what
could be bugging poor Emma.

‘I don’t like that Stephan.’ Emma told herself silently. 

She couldn’t quite pin point what it was that made her feel this way. But there was
something in his eyes that made her feel uncomfortable. He reminded her of
Mike.  

Mike was the reason Emma had gone pale white when Geri told her that she had
only been seeing Stephan for a month. 

‘Rushing’ she thought.  ‘Everything was going to fast with Geri, something was
going to go wrong.’ And Emma couldn’t sense it and she also knew this from
experience. 

About four years ago, Emma was dating this guy named Michael Huting for about
a month. She was at first attracted to him by looks, but then as she got to know
him she began to realize that he was a real nice guy.
 There was always something about Mike that Emma didn’t like, but she figured it
was herself being paranoid and eventually learned to ignore it. Other than him
having a terrible drinking problem Emma was sure he was a keeper.
Only after a week that she met him, they decided to move in together. Things
were going pretty well, but Emma didn’t get to know Mike as well as she had
wanted to because he was always at work. 
One icy night, about 2 weeks later, Mike wanted to take Emma out for a few
drinks. She, being six years younger than him, a hell of a lot smaller and a bit
afraid decided to go. 
The night slipped away effortlessly. He got as drunk as a pig and proposed to
her.  She said she couldn’t answer him until he was sober, and then asked her
again. For some strange reason that really made him violently angry because he
hated when people told him that he was drunk. 
He demanded that she got in the car right now and that he was driving her home.
She really didn’t want him driving because she knew he was pissed drunk and
the roads were also very icy that night. But, she had no choice because he
grabbed her arm and forcefully dragged her to the car.
As the car sped down the road they began to argue. They older box like vehicle
slowly but surely started getting closer and closer to the middle of the road.
Emma could tell that Mike hadn’t noticed that they were looming nearer and
nearer to their death, and she reached over to straiten the car out. As her hand
touched the steering wheel he looked at her with that look in his eye she hated.
 Seconds later Emma was doubled over with her hands over her face sobbing
sickly. She couldn’t believe that he had just hit her. Smacked her, right across the
face. She wanted to be strong, she really did, but it was all too much. She could
already feel the bump forming on her face. 
Emma looked up at him timidly seeing him look back at her out of  the corner of
his cold eyes. 
“I know how to fucking drive you stupid bitch.” he responded in a tone she’d
never heard before. 
 As she looked once again out her foggy gray window she realized the car was
beginning to slip up. She was almost going to say something, but was afraid of
being hit again. Almost out of nowhere came a huge pick up truck. It to was also
a bit to close to the middle. As the driver panicked and tried to swerve away he
lost control. You can probably guess what happened next.
When Emma finally woke up from her consciousness, two days later in a warm
hospital bed she didn’t cry a bit. 
Supposedly, Mike was barely hurt and had left the hospital the night of the
accident. When she got back to their apartment all of his stuff was gone. And
since then, she had never heard from or seen Michael Huting again.

That was what she hated about Stephan. He had that same sort of look in his
eyes, the look she didn’t trust. 
‘It could be just jealously’ she thought to herself looking for other options. 
As she made her way across the kitchen to the far cupboard where she kept
Oscars food, she once again remembered that she had that damn dentist
appointment at 9:15. She quickly fed the kitty and made her way up the stairs to
get dressed.

Emma was impressed, only one cavity. And her dentist, Dr. Ried, had time to fix it
right there. It was a little past noon now, and Emma was beginning to feel a bit
hungry. On her way back home she stopped off at a corny little drive through to
get a vanilla milk shake.

As she pulled into her long driveway, then bright sun shone through the tinted car
window enough to warm her up comfortably. Geri’s car was parked in the
driveway, and Geri was sitting in it, alone. As Emma parked and got out Geri
rolled down her window.

“Hey Ger, where’s Stephan?” she asked scrunching her nose up from all the sun
light.
“He’s at home,” she started “I told him I needed to do some stuff, alone.” 
She looked at her feet when she said this.

“Well, come in.” insisted Emma while beginning to walk up the  porch steps.

“How long have you been waiting here?” She asked while tossing her coat over
the arm of a chair. She walked over to the garbage and threw away the empty
cup.
Geri sat down in the same spot she had been hours before. Her silk like blond
hair rested comfortably on the brim of her shoulders and her back.
“About 15 minutes or so,” She replied quietly. Letting her eyes wander about the
room. 
“I came back to see if you were ok.” she continued “Because you looked
dreadfully pale when we left this morning.” 
Emma took a seat on one of the wooden stools by the counter and looked at the
ground.
“I’m fine,” she assured, still staring at the cold, white tile.

 Geri didn’t believe her. 

She could still tell that there was something on Emma’s mind, worrying and
bugging her.

“Look me in the eye and say that.” she insisted, in a sort of snotty tone. 

Emma knew she wouldn’t be able to, she hated lying to Geri. And what position
was she in anyways to tell poor Geri that she didn’t like Stephan? She barely
knew the man and had already judged her own opinion. But, on the other hand,
she wanted Geri to know what she was getting herself into, from only knowing
him for a month. Emma knew you couldn’t learn everything about someone in just
four short weeks. She didn’t want the same thing happening to her best friend
that had happened to her. 
Emma became pale again thinking back on the incident. Geri saw her colour go
and began to speak.

“Em are you all right?” asked Geri frowning in concern. Emma didn’t answer. She
didn’t know what to do, or to say. She was so confused.
  Geri got up off the couch and walked over to comfort her nearly bauling friend.
She kneeled gracefully beside the bar stool, looking up at Emma’s face. Geri
couldn’t actually see her face for her hands were covering it up.

“Em...” she started so quietly it was almost whispering. She pulled Emma’s hands
away from her face, seeing that she was barely even crying. 
“What’s wrong? Come on, you can tell me.” she asked eagerly, still looking
Emma in the eye. 
‘Oh god,’ thought Emma to herself silently ‘How am I supposed to disappoint that
little face???’ But she knew that she had to tell her, she couldn’t keep her worries
inside forever, because if she did, she would end up with a giant hole in her
stomach.  

If the room was silent for a few moments longer Geri was going to freak out. ‘Why
is she doing this to me?’ she thought to herself ‘What could be upsetting her?’
Geri thought back to the early morning trying to remember what she might have
said to make Emma so white. She suddenly remembered, feeling chagrin. 
‘When I told her I had only known Stephan for a month, thats when her colour
faded’ she thought to herself happy but disappointed.

“Emma I know a month isn’t that long.” She started now looking away. “But I
really do love Stephan, and you know how I am with trust.”
Emma was now sitting up strait clinging on to Geri’s every word, hoping that Geri
would help her out by talking a lot. Luckily for Emma, Geri was feeling very
talkative that day. 
“I mean, you know me Emma, you know that I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t
trust him. And I still don’t know why you’re so upset about this.” 

Geri stood up now holding Emma’s hands guiding her slowly to the couch. Emma
sat down and pulled her feet onto the couch too. Geri could see that she was still
pale and might be a bit afraid to tell her.

“Do you want some water or something?” asked Geri because Emma’s paleness
was making her sick. Emma swallowed making her thowt itchy. It was getting
annoying and she had to cough. She coughed just once only making it worst. She
couldn’t help it, she began to cough unbearably. Geri got up quickly to and ran to
the kitchen to retrieve her a glass of water. She spilled almost half the glass on
the way back, but managed to get it to Emma. 
As Emma drank the water at a normal pace, Geri was rubbing her back making
sure she wasn’t going to choke anymore.

“Don’t die on me here.” she said with sarcastically with a little grin.
 Emma almost smiled. Almost.
 She didn’t know what had made her cough, but she seemed to be ok now.

“Are you all right?” Geri asked still rubbing her back gently. Emma nodded and
grinned.  The room was silent for about a minute.

“So what’s on your mind Em?” she asked with a smile. Emma was ready to
speak, but was still figuring out how to word it.

“I just....” she started, stopping, surprised that her voice was so shaky. Emma
took a deep breath and  tried once again. She had Geri’s full attention.
“I just want you to realize what you might be getting into, that’s all.” 
Geri’s face stayed the same. 

“Emma, I am fully aware of the consequences.” She said, equalizing the load.  
Emma continued.

“I mean I don’t want you getting hurt Geri, like l’ve been before.”

 Geri was a bit confused by this statement, trying to remember when Emma was
hurt in love. Emma recognized her confusion and clued her in.

“You know, with Mike.” Just saying his name made Emma paler.

 Geri had been told several times before about Emma’s mistake with Michael
Huting, but for Emma to be comparing that creep to Stephan offended her. Geri
didn’t say anything though, because she knew that Emma only meant well.

“Mike was a creep.”  Geri stated, licking her lips afterwards.

“Only near the end,” Emma replied continuing  “For the first three weeks he was
almost a perfect gentleman, and he treated me like I was his only reason for
living. Ask Vicky, she knew him.”

Geri sighed, feeling a little annoyed with Emma. She was thinking about whether
Emma actually thought that Stephan was another Mike. But Geri smiled knowing
that Emma only wanted to help her. She could almost feel a tear welling up in the
corner of her eye. 
Emma was a bit nervous, because she couldn’t tell by the bland expression on
Geri’s face whether she was going to cry or burst out in fury. She did neither.
Geri spoke boldly

“I’m glad that you care about me Emma, but don’t worry your pretty little head
about that, Stephan isn’t another Michael.” she stopped and looked Emma strait
in the eye.  

“Trust me.”

Emma finally smiled and the girls both hugged with relief. Emma was glad that
she had gotten that out, and that Geri didn’t go totally ballistic.

“Is that all that was bugging you Em?” asked Geri hoping that was is it. Emma
nodded her head and replied with.

“Yeah, that’s all.”

Geri got up off the couch and stretched a bit. The leg she was sitting on suddenly
became numb. She grimaced loud enough for Emma to be concerned.

“What?” she asked. Geri hobbled over towards the door.

“Pins and needles.”

“Oh”

 Geri put back on her coat and told Emma that she had better be on her way
before Stephan began to get worried.  The girls hugged one last time. 

Geri opened the old wooden door of Emma’s house letting the light flow in
majestically. She quickly pulled out her sunglasses out of her pocket and placed
them on. As she began to walk out the door at a faster walking pace than usual
Emma spoke up.

“Geri?” she asked quietly.  Geri stopped in her tracks and turned around. 

“Do you really love him?” Emma asked with a bit of shyness but pure curiosity. 

Geri lifted her sunglasses onto her head so she could look Emma strait in the
eye. Emma stood there completely still waiting for a reply.

“I do” she started with a smile “Very much so.”

 Emma smiled with a satisfied look on her face and winked at Geri sweetly before
shutting the door.


TWO WEEKS LATER

Melanie’s car came roaring up Emma’s driveway and slowed down to a stop.
Emma could hear the beat coming from the mustang but didn’t recognize the
tune.  Melanie and Emma were going out tonight, for a few drinks but mostly to
talk because she hadn’t seen her in a while. It was snowing lightly and Mel had a
thinner jacket. Melanie rang the doorbell and shivered, her teeth chattering.

As Emma opened the door a gust of wind nearly blew Mel into her. She  walked
in closing the door behind her. Her face was red from the cold.

“Lovely weather we’ve been having eh?” joked Emma with a grin while slipping on
her shoes. Mel smiled contemptfully with glee.

“Oh yeah,” she started “I just love snow in March” Melanie rolled her eyes and
both girls giggled. 
The weather they had been having lately was really weird.  Only two weeks ago
Emma was ready to change into shorts and try to get a tan, but now it was
snowing. Weird.

“So, you ready for a night on the town?” Asked Mel with a smile. Emma looked
like she was thinking for a moment.

“Depending on what your version is of ‘a night on the town’” She replied while
stepping out the door and making sure it was locked. Mel just laughed.

They ended up at this weird place called “Mulligans” Neither of the girls had been
there before, and seemed t be enjoying themselves. They chatted about tons of
stuff. But mostly about Geri. To Emma’s surprise, Mel confessed that she too,
didn’t like something about that Stephan. She said that there was something
about his eyes that she didn’t trust, but as long as Geri did, she did too.

 Hours passed quickly and it was around midnight. Neither of the girls were really
drunk yet, but Mel promised she wouldn’t order anything else from the bar so that
she was capable of driving. 

They were quiet for about ten minutes when Mel noticed something. She nudged
Emma with her arm. 

“Em..” she said not very loud, but lower than her usual talking voice. Emma
looked at her dazely. Melanie continued.

“Isn’t that Stephan over behind us by the window?” she asked curiously. Emma
looked at her kind of weird and turned around looking where Mel had explained.

“Yeah,” she said “It is him” then she looked back again for a double take. “I’m
going over to say hi” she announced as she got up off her chair.

 Emma made her way over to the window section. Stephan looked up at just the
right time to see her coming.

“Hey, Emma!” he greeted cheerfully with open arms. She hugged him quickly
smelling the stronger alcohol on his breath. 

“Hey Stephan, how have you been?” she asked politely. He smiled at her really
weird this time. Emma saw that look in his eyes.

“Ok,” he responded.

“So...” she started up again, sitting down in his booth. “Where’s your lovely
fiancé?” she asked with a mischievous grin pasted onto her face. He didn’t look
at her, but took yet another shot of his drink.

“At home...” he started and swallowed “She wasn’t feeling that well.”

 Emma was surprised by this. ‘That’s real nice’ she thought to herself ‘Your fiancé
is at home sick and you leave her by herself and go out drinking’ But she didn’t
say anything. She kept her thoughts to herself. He suddenly moved a bit closer to
Emma making her feel uncomfortable.

“But I’m feeling all right” he said looking up at her with alluring eyes.

 He just stared at her making her feel confused.  It might have been the alcohol,
or it might just have been the look in her eyes, but whatever it was Stephan was
beginning to take a liking to Emma.

 Not a kind of liking where he enjoys having her as a friend, I mean the other
kind. She too having consumed a lot of alcohol, was beginning to give in.

 As he stared onto her beautiful blue eyes Emma knew his next move. Her mind
began to wander, wondering if he would make the first move. ‘Stop it Emma!’ she
told herself pulling back away. She didn’t like the route her mind was taking.
 
‘What the hell is he doing?’ she thought to herself as his arm slipped behind her
nearing her butt. She jumped up out of the booth and just stared. She could feel
the anger raise inside her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she asked stuttering a bit but not very
loud.  He smiled a bit then responded.

“I won’t tell If you won’t.” he offered with a look of business on his face. “Common
Sugar, you know you want to.”
 
 Emma couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Her best friend’s fiancé was
hitting on her.  Her mouth was left gapping open. She was almost sick with the
thought. 

 Emma glared.

“You creep.....” she started “You low life dog.”

Emma said that loud enough for Melanie to hear. Melanie looked over and got up,
just as Emma was turning around in fury. Mel could tell by the look on her face
that she was mad and needed to leave right now.  


“Shit, shit, shit, shit shit!” Emma swore aloud almost mad enough to kick in the
door of Mel’s car. 

Melanie followed her out keeping her distance. When Emma stopped swearing
she drew herself a bit closer.

“What happened?” she asked timidly, still not knowing if Emma was going to
burst into fury.  Emma looked at her still breathing deeply.  But told her of the
recent event.

“He was drunk Em....... probably.” insisted Mel trying to ease Emma’s mind. The
Girls began to get into the car.

“I sure as hell hope you’re right .” responded Emma as she did up her seat belt,
still a bit annoyed. They sat in the car for about twenty more minutes so that
Emma could calm down completely.

It was a silent car ride back to Emma’s. Both of them, especially Emma were still
a bit confused of this. Hoping for Geri’s sake that he was pissed on cheap booze
so that he wouldn’t do it again. 
Emma got out of her car as her skin jumped a bit at the bitter cold. They hugged
each other goodbye but before Emma shut the door she still had one more
question.

“So we don’t tell Geri right?” she asked. Melanie responded immediately shaking
her head.
“Definitely not.” she assured “Unless he tries to pull some more shit again, but
you come to me first.” Mel showed a serious look on her face.

“Ok.” replied Emma simply with a nod and a smile.


Emma stumbled in her front door, the bitter wind pushing her back and numbing
her ears. She took a deep breath of the warm air and took off her jacket placing it
in the creaky closet.   Her anger had now grown silent and she was ready to pass
out from confusion and just the fact that it was one o’clock in the morning.

She silently made her way up the stairs and strait to her bedroom.  As she
entered she felt a chagrin feeling.  Like a feeling of uncomfort, like someone else
was in the room.  She shrugged it off assuming it was her lazy cat.  Just as her
hand reached in the darkness for the light switch the door shut behind her and
she had a definite feeling of someone was there, right beside her. 

Emma’s heart and breath literally stopped for a second as she let out a sharp
scream.  A strong masculine hand covered it and pushed her to the dresser 
beside the bed.  Emma squirmed violently as the man forced his tongue into her
mouth.  
Emma hated this, and it was beginning to make her sick.  She needed to get
away somehow anyhow.  Realizing one had was free she reached behind her to
grab something she could use for defense.  Her hand trembling as she did so. 
The man was now kissing her so hard her mouth was begging to bruise and she
was almost going to cry.  He drew his mouth away from her and commented in a
whisper. 

“Not bad” he whispered “Baby you taste real good.” 

“No. Stop. Please, stop!” she commanded drawing her head away, only making it
more tempting for him to continue. She pushed and kicked, but her had all is
weight agaist her and she really couldn’t do much.

“Don’t worry baby. You taste like a lollipop.” he turned her head and sucked her
lower lip  “And I don’t bite lollipops.” He began to kiss her again.

Then finally some relief came, her hand opened the dresser drawer.

‘Oh Lord Thank you’ she prayed silently as she remembered what was there. 
‘Thank god...’ she thought as she gabbed her hand gun. At this point the kiss had
stopped, and this gave Emma the perfect chance. 

The man doubled over the wind knocked out of him seconds after Emma had
kicked him in the right place.  She didn’t want to shoot him because he wasn’t
trying to kill her and this counted as murder, she was just going to scare him.  Her
hand reached over to the light switch turning it on. 
She pointed the gun with a trembling hand at him, still doubled over unshowing
his face. She noticed her trembling immediately and strengthened herself.
‘Come on Emma, be strong, show him you’re not afraid.’ Even though at this point
Emma was absolutely terrified she denied herself otherwards.

Emma pointed the gun now with a steady hand. She needed to see his face.
“I’ve got a gun” she announced in a shaky voice not believing it was hers, but she
continued.  “Hands where I can see them” she commanded feeling like agent
Scully from the X-files. The man slowly raised his arms in the air. His back was
turned to her. “Turn around!” she commanded as his face came into view her
mouth dropped open.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!?!?” she asked, almost feeling like she was
going to cry of the surprise of who the bastard actually was.  “How could you do
this to me?? To Geri?? How could you do this to Geri??” 

Stephan’s head dropped in disappointment and his face changed to guilt.  Emma
was just glaring. She was beginning to wonder how he had gotten in. She was
positive that she had locked up the door before she left.  He looked up at her
once more will a look of pity in his eyes. 

“I’m sorry.....” he started sounding like he was going to cry. “I.. I don’t know what
came over me.”
Emma was still curious on how he had gotten in.  Her voice was more quiet and
soothing but still strong and steady.

“How did you get in?”

He began to reach for his back pocket when Emma point her gun strait between
his eyes. 

“Don’t want you trying to pull any more crap on me.” she said. “Don’t move, I’ll get
whatever is there.”

 Emma slowly and cautiously walked behind him grabbing what was in his pocket. 
It was a key, a spare key to her house in which she had given to Geri in case of
an emergency. She flipped it over in her hand placing it in her pocket.  Emma
wasn’t feeling like anymore hassle.  She was going to hurl if she had to keep on
looking at him, so she decided to give him another chance and kick his ass out.

  She lead him down the stairs with the gun jabbed into his back.  As he
disappeared out of site she shut the door and double locked it.  Emma dropped
the gun and fell to the ground in tears.  


Geri was at home on the couch, lying under a warm fuzzy blanket in her pajamas. 
She was feeling like shit, her head pounded and her nose was all clogged up
making her feeling like she was going to puke every time she swallowed. Her
throat was dry and itchy, and she had figured she must have picked up one of
those 24 hour bugs. Geri had been sleeping since about 8:30 that night but was
now awake again because her headache had gotten worse. She slowly got up off
the couch making the room seem to spin with dizziness, but stabled herself and
walked towards the kitchen to look for some Tylenol.   

Minutes later, Geri shut off the TV and made her way to the bedroom, ready to
sleep once more. 

About half an hour later, around 2 o’clock, Stephan crept slowly into the house. 
Trying not to wake Geri, he took off his shoes and pants, and slowly climbed into
the bed, being as still as possible.  Geri was dead tired and didn’t stir at all. 

It was now seven thirty, Saturday morning.  Geri woke up with a cold yet relieving
sensation on her forehead.  She slowly opened her eyes only to see Stephan
looking at her with a frown.  He was patting her forehead gently with an ice cold
damp dish towel. 

“I woke up about ten minutes ago and you were boiling” he began to explain. “So
I’ve been trying to keep your temperature down for the last five minutes. But I
didn’t mean to wake you, sorry love”. Geri took a deep breath clearing her lungs.  

“What time did you get in last night?” she asked in her groggiest morning voice. 

“About 2” he replied starting to get up off the bed “Hold that there.” he told her
talking about holding the towel to her head. He got up quickly and made his way
to the kitchen.  Geri sat up and yawned.  She could hear him open the fridge door
and shut it, then do the same with the cupboard.  He came back into the room
with a glass of water. 

“Here you go,” he said handing it to her. “This should help with the fever.”  Geri
drank it up and laid back down.  

“Two o’clock” she started, looking at the digital clock beside her “Thats only five
hours, aren’t you tired?” 

“Not really...” he replied “I don’t usually need that much sleep.  But you should get
some more rest. I think you’ve got the flu.... I mean if you were still with a fever
this morning.” Her gently placed his hand on her pale white cheek.
“You just get some more rest, I’ll stay home to look after you.  I want some
colour back in that beautiful face of yours.”  Geri smiled at him.  He was so sweet,
she loved him so much.

“WHAT!?!?” Said Mel in one of her louder voices.  Emma sat opposite end of the
couch, bauling.

“No way...” she started “He wouldn’t stoop that low” Mel was totally in disbelief of
what Emma had told her.  Emma looked up at Mel saying she was serious.

“How did he get in?” she asked “Because I watched you lock the door before we
left last night.”

“He had a key, Geri’s key. He must have taken it after we left the bar. Geri’s
place is only a few blocks away from Mulligans.” She stared Mel right in the eye,
wondering what she would say next.

“I can’t believe... I mean when I said if he ever pulled some more shit on you
again I didn’t think he would actually do it.” Mel told her. “But remember he was
drunk.”

“Yeah but it was really weird Mel, I mean after I had him with his arms up I was
like ‘How could you do this to Geri?!?’ and as soon as he heard her name he
looked like he was about to cry with guilt.” Emma explained. “So what are we
supposed to do?” she asked. Mel sat up strait now, thinking of an answer.

“Well....” she started. Emma was hanging on to her every word, because she had
no idea what to do.  “Geri’s not dumb right? And I think if he was doing this sort of
thing a lot, she would catch on quickly.  I mean.... well you know what I mean
Em.” Emma nodded understanding what Mel was saying.  

“I think I’m going to call Geri anyway, to see if she’s all right.” Mel looked
confused
“Last night at the bar I asked Stephan why Geri wasn’t there, and he said she
wasn’t feeling very well.” Emma explained.

“Nope.” said Mel disagreeing “What if he answers the phone? If he knows it’s you
he wont give it to her. How about I call?”

Emma nodded her head once again. It was almost noon now, and Emma had
been at Mel’s for only fifteen minutes.  She was feeling so weird this morning, and
her mouth was still really sore. She licked her lips as Mel dialed the number. Sure
enough Stephan answered. He chatted with Mel for a sec, and she put on her
fake voice and laugh before giving it to Geri. 
“Hiya Ger,” Melanie started off.

“Oh Melanie, hi.” she responded, nearly coughing to death afterwards.  

“Ohhh Geri.... you sound awful, what have you got?”

“Mmmmmm flu, I think but I’m feeling a lot more better than this morning.”

“Well thats a bit better......... I guess.  Well I just wanted to see how you were
doing, but you’re obviously not doing so good.  How’s your stomach?” asked Mel
in concern.

“Not bad. I haven’t been sick yet today.” 

“Well do you need anything?” asked Mel “Some soup or something?” Geri paused
for a moment, and then answered.

“No thanks Mel but Stephan has been looking after me all morning.  He’s been
great,  and plus I wouldn’t want you to get sick too.” Melanie shuddered, at the
thought of Stephan being great.

“Well If you’re sure you’re going to be ok.”

“Yes.”

“Ok but I want you to call me sometime tomorrow so I can see how you’re doing.
Ok?” 

“Ok Mel, thanks for calling. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Melanie hung up the phone.  Emma looked at her anxious on what she was going
to say. 
“How is she?” asked Emma.

“She sounded awful.”


Three weeks later, 6:45, pm.

From the front door, down the hall, through the dining room, and to the couch.  
All in one breath, well one long ‘how was your day I’m home’ kinda kiss. Geri was
finishing up making dinner  because her housekeeper had caught geri’s flu and
Geri gave her the day off. She was just setting up the table when she heard the
click off keys in t he door. Geri raced to greet Stephan but got more than she had
expected, and she liked it.

Stephan dropped his suitcase, swept geri off her feet, literally, and carried her to
the couch and as he sat down first, gently placed her on him, still kissing her soft
lips gently.

When their lips finally parted, both of them were panting for air. 
“Jesus” she started. “That was quite different, wanna do it again?” She grinned
jokingly as her nose nudged his.

“I’d love too.” He responded still trying to catch his breath “But ‘I don’t know if I
can survive another one.   I mean sweetheart I’m still trying to catch my breath.”

He smiled and nudged her nose back. He shifted his body and held her closer.
“Anything else we could do?” he asked. Geri pretended to look like she was
thinking hard about his question. 
“Well......” she responded looking mysteriously out the corner of her spirit filled
blue eyes. “If I tell you will you promise to pick me up again?”


The creaky bedroom door slowly opened as Stephan walked through with Geri in
his arms. She was so tiny and light compared to stephan.  He placed her gently
on the soft covers of the king sized bed. 

“So..” said Geri “You like my ideas?” she grinned as he, still standing up kissed
her forehead.  He didn’t have to respond because they both already knew the
answer.
She pullled him onto the bed and they started to kiss again.  Geri’s hand ran
through Stephans thick brown hair as his fingers glided softly along the small of
her back. Geri stopped moving completely as she quickened. She let out a bit of
a wimper.

“What?” he asked in a huskier than usual whisper. Geri beamed to see his
concern.

“Oh, your hands.” she started “They’re freezing” 

He smiled in relief as they began to kiss, once again. After about 30 seconds
stephan was even more out of breath than before and spoke up.

“I thought you said we could do something where I could actually breath.” he
smiled goofily at her.

“Don’t worry” she responed “We’re just getting started.” Geri rolled both of them
over so she was no longer squashing him. This way he was squishing her a bit,
but thats the way she wanted it.

The sterio on the dresser had been on since the afternoon on the radio.  It was
on very low and the couple hadn’t noticed it until now.

“Geri?” asked stephan breaking away the kiss to speak. He looked at her
beautiful face and into her beautiful eyes.

“Yes?” she responed, with her eyes still closed.

“I love you.” he said as if the there was nothing in the world but her. Geri smiled
her eyes slowly opening as she could feel them filling up with tears.

“I love you too.” She responded, trying to hide the tears.

The radio quietly, but loud enough for the couple to hear  began to play  truly,
madly, deeply by Savage Garden as the couple silently, and slowly began to
make love.


It had been quite a while since Emma and Geri had spoken. At least a month. 
She had called there several times but no one had picked up, she’d always get
the machine.  Latley she had been thinking a lot about Geri and Stephan, and
had considered just bringing the whole thing out, but decided otherwise thinking
of  melanies advice.  She was also someone Emma hadn’t spoken to in a while,
Melanie.

Today Emma was going to Geri’s place, just to see if she was ok. Because it was
very weird for her to not be answering her calls.  

Emma’s parked seeing Geri’s car in the driveway. This seemed to make her a
little more anxious being as Stephan wasn’t there.

After about 2 minutes of waiting, Emma was about to take off when I thought
suddenly crossed her mind. ‘Nobody answers the phone, Or the door, and a car
is in the driveway....’ she began to worry about Geri wondering if she was ok. 
Just out of curiousity, Emma wanted to see if the door was unlocked. To her
surprise it was. She crept slowly into the now silent house, her eyes searching
through everyroom she could she from the hallway.

“Hello...?” she asked her voice in a fairly loud hollow volume. No answer. She
took a few steps down the hallway.  Emma could here somebody, she could hear
them sobbing. Even though the sobs were very soft, she knew exactly who they
were coming from.

“Geri?” she asked. Once again, no answer. As the very wide hallway emergerd
into the kitchen, Emma had spotted what she wanted.

There, now very silent, sat Geri with her face buried in her hands. Emma was
about to say something when Geri spoke up first. 

“Get out.” she said, not even lifting her hands from her face. Emma didn’t move.
“Emma,” she started again “Please, leave” Geri’s voice was a little more loud this
time. At this point, Emma took a few steps back, but she was still confused on
why Geri was so upset.  Her mind was an ugly web of thoughts. Emma wanted to
help her friend when she was upset like this, she just didn’t know how.

“Geri” she started softly taking a shy step foward. “Geri, whats’s wrong hun?
What’s happened?”

Finally, as if it wasn’t coming to Emma all along, Geri looked up at her and lost
total control.

“Emma!” she screamed, eyeing her with anger “Get the fuck out of my house!!”
Her face was red with anger, she had a black eye and tiny cuts covered her
mouth.  Emma froze completly still at the site.
Geri stood up and pointed towards the door. She was shaking all over. Emma
had noticed the tear marks on her face a while ago and could now tell that Geri
was on the verge of breaking down into tears.   Geri, still seeing Emma not out of
her house, didn’t seem to help her temper.

“NOW!” she commanded once again.

Emma obviously didn’t want to make Geri any angrier and wanted to try to calm
down her friend.

“Geri.....” she started softly in her sweet Emma voice “Please calm down,
whatever is wrong we can talk we can-”

“Bloody Hell Emma!” she screamed grabbing the nearest thing around her which
just happened to be a china dish. 

Geri heaved it across the kitched aiming for emma, but luckly it shattered agaist
the wall beside her. She jumped back realizing talking was no use at this time. 
Emma walked carefully out of the house not wanting to turn her back, she could
feel the tears already strreaming down her soft, now white skin.  Emma was filled
with emotions and thoughts, she was angy, frightened confused worriend and just
plain wating to hurl all over Geri’s front porch. As she shut the front door she
could hear very clearly the shatter of another dish somewhere in the house.

She had been waiting outside on the porch for about twenty minutes when
stephan pulled up into the driveway.  He looked like he hadn’t gone any sleep at
all and Emma assumed he already and had probably caused Geri’s reason for
being so upset, just by the expression on his face.  Normally, if stephan had
showed up Emma would have been halfway across town. But not today, not in
this situation. Emma was almost glad to see him. 

“Hey Emma.” he greeted in a bland voice. He noticed the tear marks on her face
and immediatly knew that she had been with Geri.

“Hi Stephan.” she responded back, also very bland. She gave a kind of half smile
then looked away.

“So...” he started. “How’s she doing?”

“Well she might have calmed down a lot now.” Emma began to respond “But
about twenty minutes ago she was horrible. I tried to talk to her to calm her down
but she got super mad and the next thing I knew I had dishes flying at me!”

Stephan chuckled a bit.  

“Well it’s a huge improvement compared to last night.” he opened the door seeing
before him a smashed china dish.  He actioned for emma to follow him.

“Are you sure you want me to get involved? You know this is you two’s problem.”
whispered Emma politely. 

“Too late” he whispered back. “Your already involved.”

‘Well’ though Emma to herself as she entered once again. ‘That explains a lot’
The house was relevantly silent except for the sobs both could hear.

“Geri?” he asked innocently as he began to walk down the hallway. Emma
followed making sure she was behind him. She didn’t want to risk getting
smashed in the head with a dish.

“I thought I told you to leave Stephan.” Came a strong, yet over cried voice from
the kitchen. Stephan didn’t respond to this, he just kept walking.  Emma meekly
followed.

“We have to talk.” he announced as he entered the kitchen. They both saw geri,
in the same spot as before but this time seemed to have a little more confidence.

“No we don’t.” she started “I mean Stephan, what’s there to talk about?!? You’ve
got exactly what you want right beside you!” Geri looked right at Emma when she
said this. Emma’s jaw dropped open.
 
“No Geri, you don’t understand. I-”

“I understand perfectly!” she screamed back cutting him off. “What the hell are
you doing here anyways?!?!? Shouldn’t you two be fucking in the back of a car
somewhere?? Or were you planning on picking up Melanie first?!?!?!” 
 Geri got up off her chair and began walking towards them. Stephan and Emma
were speechless.
“You know what Stephan??  I’m going to help you out, You know, give you a
head start at this!” Geri grabbed his hand.  “Now as soon as you choose between
Emma and Melanie you can spend the rest of your bloody life with one of them! 
Because....” She was furious now, but surprisingly her whole emontional point of
veiw changed. 
Her expression was suddenly more sad, then mad. She continued in a regular
voice. “Because you can’t have me.”
Stephan was furious. Emma looked at him, and she knew exactly what he was
going to do, and the bruises and cuts had given her a little more approximation.
Emma closed her eyes because there was really nothing she could do, and didn’t
want to see Geri getting hurt.
 
Seconds later, when she opened her eyes back up again, Emma saw Geri, but
she wasn’t on the ground from the what seemed to sound like a painful hit. Geri
had a sour look on her face, and muttered to stephan in a husky voice.

“You bastard. You stupid bastard. You’re going to regret this very soon, beleive
me, you’ll be in jail and there is no way out this time because I have a witness.
You’ve just screwed your whole life up today stephan wareing.”
    

Geri made her way quicky up the stairs to the bathroom leaving her engagment
ring sitting in the palm of Stephan’s hand. He turned around and stomped out of
the house. But before shutting the door he screamed up a final comment.

“Your lose! I never actually loved you, you stupid whore”
  


Inside the bathroom Geri was leaning agaist the far wall trying to contain her
tears. But she couldn’t help it, they just wouldn’t stop. Finally her knees became
weak and she slid down the wall until her butt softly hit the ground. Geri pulled
her legs into her body and buried her face betwen her knees. She grimaced a
second, from the tenderness of her eye. Her body was racking with sobs and all
the crying was making her feel nauseous.  She was thinking about everything at
once. 
The room was getting very warm and made her get a little dizzy.

‘Oh god’ she thought to herself with a wince ‘Here it comes’ Geri knew she was
going to be sick from all the pain pretty much circulating her whole body. She half
crawled her way over to the toilet which luckly wasn’t far at all.

She grabbed the sides of the bowl with her unsteady hands and hurled up, which
was really nothing because she hadn’t eaten in a day. Even though it was nothing
but water really, she kept it up a lot.  After about a minute she finally stopped and
wiped off what seemed to have formed cold sweat from her forehead.  From
downstairs she heard Emma’s concerned voice.  

“Are you ok in there Geri?”

Geri flushed the toilet and managed to stand up. She was even more dizzy than
before. Her focus kept bluring in and out. 

“I’m fine.” she responded while opening the window for some air.
Geri was really warm and seemed to be getting hotter. Her head pounded from
the heat, and she placed it softly on the counter top beside the sink.  Geri finally
took a damp towel and patted her face and forhead gently, making her feel a little
more refreshed.  Afterwards she swished a little cool water around in her mouth,
trying to get rid of the vile taste that she could still feel in her throat.

Her trembly hand attempted to brush her teeth but the smell of the tooth paste
was making her feel sick again. So she decided agaist that. Geri curled back up,
in the same corner as before. Her stomach was still wrenching and even agaist
her own will, she had begun to cry again.

There was suddenly a soft tapping on the bathroom door.  
“Geri, are you ok?” it was obviously Emma, and thank god it was because if
stephan were there she probably would have killed herself. Silence for a second,
then Emma again.
 
“Geri I’m coming in. ” The door silently opened, and emma stepped in.  She
immediatly went over to Geri hudled in the corner. Geri didn’t look up at Emma,
because she was embarrassed, ashamed, and just plain too weak to lift up her
head.  
Emma finally got geri to stand up and cleaned her up a bit, got her to stop crying
and to told her to have a shower to make her feel a lot better.


Emma drove home, late that afternoon in some relief, but still feeling sympathy
towards Geri.  She explained what had happened and Geri apologized deeply.
Emma also now knew how Melanie was invovled in all of this. It had seemd to be,
that the night before, Melanie had phoned up Geri, in hysterics because stephan
had tried to pull some stuff, along the same line as he had done to Emma. She
was so upset the probably disregarded the fact of the secrecy and blurted it out.
Emma wasn’t mad at melanie for this, she was actually feeling sorry for her and
wondered what she hadn’t told her first. 
After Geri had talked to Emma, she freaked out and wouldn’t tell Emma her
problems. She broke down in tears again, and Emma offered to stay with her, but
Geri said she needed sometime to herself to think about things, and that she
would call her when she was ready. 

 It had been about four or five months, and no word from Geri, but Emma had
been very busy most of the time. She had heard from Melanie that stephan had
tried to come back quite a few times. Everytime he had been rejected.  She knew
Geri didn’t love him anymore, not after the abuse or she would have given him a
second chance by now.

Right now, it was after dinner and Emma was enjoying a peaceful evening alone,
relaxing. The phone rang making her jump a bit. But this phone call she wished
that she hadn’t taken.


Mixing alcohol and sleeping pills together wasn’t very smart. Unless, like in this
case it was suicide.  Another long red light gave Emma some time to think. About
the note, stephan’s last sober thing before he sent himself to his grave.


 The note that was not too short, small but meant so much. Emma hadn’t even
read the ote yet. She didn’t know if she was going to cry or not. She was
confused with her emotions. Emma wasn’t even going to go to the funeral,
Melanie wasn’t. But Geri called her, pleading her to come, and really Emma felt
sorry for her friend. She really didn’t know why Geri was even going. But she
must have had good reasons, which Emma was going to find out soon enough.  It
was a rainy miserable autumn day, perfect for a funeral. Too bad it was outside.

 Emma had brought her umbrella which just happened to be black and entered
the cemetery it was being held at. Not many people were there, and at the
moment everyone was still standing still and looking down. Emma spotted Geri, in
the back of the small crowd. She was wearing from what Emma could tell, a long
black dress with short heeled black shoes and a big black over coat practically
past her ankles. Emma walked up to her slowly seeing Geri close her eyes as the
warm rain dripped down her face unaware of her presence.  Emma stepped
silently behind her sheltering her from the rain with her umbrella. There rain
wasn’t hard, it was soft. Soft rain, and warm. Geri opened her eyes, turned
around and smiled slightly.

“Hey.” said emma in a quiet voice. She smiled back.

“Hey.” geri greeted back, her voice around the same volume. “Thanks for coming
Emma, I really apprciate it.”  She took a long deep breath. Emma was still
confused on why Geri had come and her expression showed it.  Geri read it like a
book, not responding immediatly by word. The two girls hugged and that was all it
took for Emma to understand. She now knew why Geri freaked out and hadn’t
told emma why, she knew why Geri had come to stephans funeral. She also
knew why Geri was wearing a huge jacket over top of her clothes and why it was
shut. It wasn’t because of the rain and it wasn’t because she still loved stephan.
Emma was suddenly filled with joy, she could feel tears well up in the corner of
her eyes. A smile spread across her face.

“Geri..” she started with a grin. Geri could tell that Emma knew. She just
answered plainly, bearly hearable.

Both girls were still entwined in the same hug, not being able to see each others
faces but still feeling every move and emotion in each’s body and mind.

“Mmm hmm?” she responded. Emma smiled again, feeling a grin grow across
Geri’s face. Geri once again took another deep long breath, bringing closer to
Emma Geri’s secret.

“Geri, when are you due?” she kind of had a half giggle afterwards. They hugged
even tighter. 

Everything came together, right then, right there. Emma knew and broke away
the hug, still leaving Geri in tears. She was glad Emma knew.

“Around your birthday Em.” she started “January, the 14th.” Emma smiled again. 

“Well,” she started “Congratulations, even though we’re at a funeral.” Emma took
a step back, because the minister had started to talk. Both girls were totally silent
for the rest of the funeral.
 
Afterwards Emma invited Geri to her car just for a minute. She needed to tell her
one more, very important thing. Geri sat down in the front seat, to sight making
her stomach a little more like it should be, for being almost halfway through. She
wasn’t big at all, but you could defenatly tell when you hugged her. Geri had
cried, that was defenatly obvious. She was just trying to stop the sobbing now. 

“Are you ok?” asked Emma with concern.  Geri was really trying to stop from
crying now, and Emma could tell.

“Yeah, it’s just.... I just got to read it. The letter.” Geri pulled out a neatly fold
peice of white paper from her pocket and passed it to Emma. She opened it
carfully, and began to read it in her head.

‘Even though we’ve had our differences,
I want you to know I have always loved you since I first spotted you.
And to my very last day, I still do love you.
I know I let alcohol get the best of me, but I can’t stand living with the guilt and
the fact that I hurt you. I’m sorry I have to do this, but I would rather have our
child grow up with know father, then a drunken alcoholic who hurt their mother.
You can get through this because you are strong, 
And don’t worry, our child will be fine, because we made it during that one night,
that one sober night, where I realized I truley loved you, and I hope for you the
same.
You’ll be ok, our child will be ok, everything will be ok,
Trust Me.’

Emma was speechless, she didn’t know what to say or do. It was all so beautiful,
yet sad, yet over whelming. Yet, well, yet everything. She finally looked at Geri
who was crying hard, but silent.  

“Geri.” was all she managed to spit out, not beleiving she even said that. Geri
looked up at Emma out of the corner of her eye.

“Geri.” she repeated, making the name seem so solitaire and sensible. Emma
continued. “I know. I know why you came today.” Geri wiped a tear off her cheek
as she noticed Emma’s eyes becoming watery too.

“How do you know that?” she started, trying to stable her voice. “I mean, I don’t
even know why I came.”

“You came because you knew that he loved you still. And loved his unborn child.
You knew all that Geri, you knew it. And even though he was such a bastard, you
knew you couldn’t bring his child into this world without seeing him, one last time,
peaceful. You couldn’t bear to, even though the child isn’t born yet, you needed to
let the baby somehow know that he infact was peaceful, and ok forever.”

Both girls were silent and stayed dead still for about a minute, bbefore Emma
finished up.

“That’s why you came Geri, that’s why.” Geri shifted in her seat a bit, she was no
longer crying, just amazed on how precise emma had been, and how it had been
right.

“You know you really would have made a great psychiatrist Em.” she said with a
smile. Emma smiled back, but not a full one. Geri cleared her throat and her mind
and spoke up because the silence was driving her mad.

“What was it you called me in here for originally Emma?” she asked pretty loud
trying to beat out the sound of the rain.

“Oh,” started Emma clearing her mind as well. “Oh I just wanted to see how you
were about all this baby stuff.”
Geri sighed a bit before answering. She had obviously thought about this a lot
during her time alone.

 “Well Emma I’ve thought a lot about this you know. And of course I’m happy
about all of this, I think it’s a blessing really. I mean I know I’m perfectly capable
of raising a child on my own, and I know that they need a lot of love and attention
regularly when they’re young.” she stopped and looked up at Emma. She frowned
with confusion and nodded her head as if telling her to continue.

“But you see the thing is, well I wanted to do more than this. I mean before I met
stephan I had so many different things I was planning on doing. Going to places,
meeting people you know. But when stephan asked me to marry him it was
different.  I mean, those things, I can do with him. But with a baby Emma, I really
wasn’t planning on this.”

“Is that it Geri? That’s all your worried about??” Emma was beaming and a sly
grin spread across her face. Geri nodded her head a little confused on why
Emma was so happy.

“Geri, you can still do all those things, and even more. I mean, hey hun! What are
friends for? I can take care of him or her when you’re gone, most of the time
you’d be happy to bring them with you.” Geri grew a smile form ear to ear.

“Oh, Emma I’m so lucky to have a friend like you. Are you sure I wouldn’t be
putting you out?”

Emma responded immetiatly, as if she were offended by this last question.

“Of course not! I would probably rather spend the day with your kid then sit in
front of the tele all day which is basically what I do now.”

“Really Emma?”

“Yeah Geri. I give you my word on it.”

Both girls began to hug. Geri knew Emma was smiling and the same for Emma
too. They just stayed like that for a while.

“And no more worrying about anything like that. You can make it through all of
this. You’re going to be fine.  I know it.” 

Geri let out a kind of half wimper half sigh as her whole body shuddered with
releif. Emma’s did the same, letting all that out, and almost hoping this would
bring her closer to Geri as a friend. She had a feeling that Geri still wasn’t sure
about all this, that Emma had to say something else to convinse her. 
As the rain began to calm down, and the skies became a wee brighter Emma had
figured it out, what she had to say two simple words you could probably guess by
now.  The words left her mouth in a soothing voice. Because for once when these
words were spoken, they were actually meant.

“Trust me”

-----The End -----

Halliwell, Jennifer Ann
6.4 lbs
Born January 21