When Joey and I were little, we played all sorts of pretend games with the other kids in the neighborhood.  A favorite with the girls was 'house', playing with their baby dolls and kitchen sets, and despite we being boys and all, Joey and I did seem to play it a lot ourselves.

But when we were tired of the girls, we and a couple of the other guys would find a big piece of cardboard and make it our 'garage'.  We would pull our tricycles or big-wheels up onto the cardboard and let whoever was the 'mechanic' fix whatever ailed our vehicle.  Then when we got our bicycles, we started mimicking what we had seen Joey's dad doing to his Olds, and by the time we got our ten speeds, we had learned enough through general experimentation that we could disassemble, clean and lube the parts, then reassemble our bikes without getting too much grease on our clothes.

I guess everyone doesn't ride bikes like the kids in our neighborhood did.  The best times were in the spring and fall, especially after a rain shower.  You know... puddles.  Heh...  Nothing like the zzzzzzzz sound of rubber going through water.

Anyway, we were always thinking up something to pretend to be or do, and our bikes became lots of different things during our ventures into the realm of our imagination.  Joey and I used to argue about what we would be when we grew up, and we always ended up racing our bikes or something to prove we would be the best at whatever it was.

The memory of Joey and I trying to make our 'jets' jump higher in the air while chasing and evading pretend Soviet bogies from our patrol route flashed through my mind as the F14 Tomcat I was in went vertical.

Joey and I watched Top Gun I don't know how many times when it came out in '86, and we had even talked about me using my abilities to get us both a ride in one, but nothing ever came about it with Suzi being around to bring us both back down to earth.

Anyway, my dad has this... friend in the Air Force who my dad does favors for from time to time.  My mom and dad went to his daughter's wedding about a month before my graduation and somehow they got onto the subject of a graduation present for me...

Shit.  Up until the moment I felt I don't know how many G's pressing down on me I had been thrilled with the idea of flying in a real F-14 and experiencing some of those fancy maneuvers like in the movies first hand.  But then when we started tilting backwards... as in upside down, I started feeling nauseous and yeah... a bit scared.

"You okay back there?" Leroy said with some difficulty over the intercom in the helmet I wore.

"Uhhh..." I managed to peep out before my eyes caught the horizon just above me and my stomach did a couple of extra twists.

I wanted to close my eyes just shut down until it was over, but I could feel Leroy's own excitement over sharing what he felt was the greatest experience a man could have in his life, so I kept my eyes open and tried to keep breathing while my fingernails dug into the seat's material.

Man, was I glad I didn't close down.  Despite the fact that the entire world was hanging above me instead of below me, I couldn't help but feel that thrill coming back with great force.

I had mixed feelings when Leroy continued doing the loop and brought us back to being horizontal... right side up.  He was afraid I was gonna lose my cookies in his cockpit, and while there was no chance of that actually happening, I didn't try to stop him for I knew I was going to be late getting to the airport as it was.

I gave Leroy the exhilarated response he had hoped for, and I didn't fake it one bit.  And I didn't feel as big of a chicken when Leroy explained that you had to get scared in order for you to get the big rush that made it so great.

You can imagine how disappointed I was when ten minutes after I had nearly shit in my pants that he radioed the tower and started our decent for our landing.

I couldn't believe how shaky I still was when I unfastened my mask and belts and tried to raise myself up to get out of the cockpit.  I managed to do it on my own on the second try, and even got down the ladder without a problem, but then my legs started to shake like they were made of spaghetti, and I ended up having to be helped off the airfield after thanking Leroy pathetically sitting on the ground.

I felt better when I checked to see how big of a wimp Leroy thought of me as and found that he was still grinning to himself from realizing how big of a thrill it must have had been for me to cause that kind of shakiness afterwards.

"About time," Joey said urgently as I passed through the Air force's check point inside the airport's terminal.  "Come on.  They're probably prying Suzi from the door so they can take off now."

When I just stood there gaping at his crewcut, he grabbed my hand and started pulling me quickly down the terminal.  Somehow I managed to keep up with him despite feeling the unsteadiness of my legs.

"There they are," I heard Suzi's urgent voice just as we turned the corner and witnessed the terminal's door that led to the airplane being shut.

I was in a daze while trying to catch my breath and leaning heavily against the wall as the attendant processed our tickets and reopened the door.

They had already disengaged the ramp from the aircraft, but there was only about a foot gap open between the airplane's open door and the end of the ramp.  Suzi agilely leapt across like a cat, Joey just stepped over like it didn't exist, and I...  hesitated.

"Come on... What are you waiting for?" Joey said impatiently when he noticed I wasn't directly behind him.

"I feel like I'm ready to faint," I admitted, still puffing from the run.

"Shit," he said while rolling his eyes and tossing his and my on-board bags to the ground behind him.

Everything just suddenly blurred a moment, then I found myself planting my feet to hold myself up while Joey's hand released the grip he had on my shirt just below the collar.  It took me a moment to realize I was inside the airplane, and then I dazedly followed Joey down the aisle as they sealed the door behind us.

I was staring over at the door as they finished when Joey said something I didn't catch but drew my attention to the fact that they had stopped and I managed to avoid walking into him.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you want the window seat?" Suzi repeated for him.

"No... I've ah...  already seen everything I could want to," I said with a weak grin while gently grabbing onto the back of another seat to steady myself.

"You okay?" Suzi said as she sat down in the seat they had offered me then motioned for me to sit in the middle.

I collapsed into my seat and said, "I will be.  Just give me a minute."

I closed my eyes and focused on relaxing, and then a minute later felt a cool damp paper towel wiping off my face.

I waited for Suzi to finish before opening my eyes and thanking her, then accepted her peck on the cheek and gave her one back in return.

When I looked over at Joey from his "echem," he playfully moved his head closer to make his cheek more accessible.

"Uhm...  Thanks to you too," I said while giving his chin a pretend punch with my fist.

"Shit.  I was the one who dragged him through the terminal and then had to pull him the door before he could..." Joey muttered, before sighing and saying, "Suz, you sure you don't want first class seats?"

"Yes, I'm sure," she said firmly.  "It's only an hour and a half flight, Joey."

"I know...  Oh well.  I guess it will just make us appreciate the first class seats on the flight to England and back," he said while running his hand over his crewcut.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but..." I said just before the engines roared and the plane started speeding down the runway.

I dug my fingers into the armrests out of excited anticipation, but once we were off the ground and the acceleration tapered off, I sighed with disappointment, then made a "hrmph" sound before noticing they were both watching me closely out of curiosity.

"What?" I said with a sheepish grin.

"That plane ride must have really been something," Joey said grinning.

"Shit.  You can say that again," I said while stretching my arms above me.  "What took two hours on the train going there only took less than thirty minutes coming back."

"What were you going to say before the takeoff cut you off?" Suzi asked.

"Oh yeah," I said while putting on my best straight face, turning towards Suzi and taking her hands in mine consolably.  "Suzi, I don't know how to say this but..  I think Joey's been cheating on you."

"What?" Suzi said surprised.

"What did you say?" Joey said from behind me.

"No he hasn't," Suzi said with a slight frown.  "He couldn't have..."

"He couldn't have what?" Joey said a bit alarmed.

"I know, I know, it's hard to believe he could, but..."

"Hey now!" Joey said sternly.  "What am I being accused of?  Tim, turn around and tell me before I..."

I turned around to face him, then couldn't help but let out a snicker before blurting out, "I seem to remember the last time you got a crewcut, you swore you'd kiss a cow's butt before you'd get another one."

"Shit," Suzi exclaimed before slapping me on the side of my shoulder a couple of times saying, "I KNEW you were joking."

I ignored the sting in my shoulder as Joey's blush reached his bare legs, then after he sat back in his seat without even a single cuss, I got concerned and playfully ran my hand across his fuzzy head.

"I was only trying to joke around," I said apologetically.  "It really surprised me.  I almost didn't recognize you."

All he did was sigh, then kept looking over at Suzi while I waited for him to make some kind of reply.

I suddenly understood it had been Suzi's idea and I got the impression he had done it without objection when she had asked him to do it.

I crooked my head and put on a thoughtful look while studying his new look, then admitted, "Actually, it doesn't look bad at all now that your ears aren't too big for your head."

"What do you mean?" Suzi said, trying to see around me and finally just stuck her head beneath my crooked arm.  "I think it's sexy on him."

"Yeah, but one summer a long time ago Joey and I both got crewcuts, and Joey got made fun of because his ears looked too big..."

"They weren't too _big_," Joey said a bit exasperated.  "They just stuck out away from my head more than...  others."

I had sat back to let Suzi silently study his ears easier which only made Joey blush again, but then he tried to make it seem like he didn't care when she announced his ears looked fine.

I was pretty tired from all the excitement, so I just sat back and closed my eyes to relax some more while Suzi watched the scene out the window and Joey silently rubbed his hand over hair, trying not to be too obvious that he really was measuring how far his ears stuck out from the sides of his head.

I was in the middle of recalling the cockpit of the Tomcat when one of the stewardesses asked the people in the row ahead of us what they would like to drink.  I decided I felt better after I stretched again, then nudged Joey and said, "She's right, you know.  It does look sexy."

"Yeah?" he said, letting his eyes follow the stewardess's ass as she walked back to the refreshment cart.  "So you'll get one before we leave for England?"

"Uhm.." I said hesitantly, then bit the bullet and said, "Yeah, sure.  Why not.  But I don't think it will look as good on me as it does you."

"Why's that?" he said while giving the stewardess an enchanting smile as she approached to ask us what we'd like to have to drink.

"I just don't have the muscle head build," I said with a little sigh and watched his already smiling mouth twitch a little due to his amusement to my words.

"So how was the wedding?" Suzi asked after we were handed our drinks and Joey got us some extra crackers with his charm.

"Yeah really.  And why were you so late?"  Joey inserted.

"I can't tell you the ending first," I said amused.  "It would ruin the story."

"Uh huh," Joey said before munching on a cracker.

I took the last gulp of my soda then reached out to the stewardess with my mind to get a refill before beginning.

"The train ride over there was neat.  I spent most of the two hours in the passenger car talking to this German girl and her mom.  I think I'd like to travel and see the world a bit this fall.  The images I got from their minds..."

"How old was she?" Joey asked.

"Jess was thirteen I think, and her mom was in her thirties," I replied.

"Oh," Joey said with a little disappointment.

"Go on," Suzi prompted me.

"Uhm, anyway, when I got to my stop, I didn't see anybody I recognized so I did a pulse to find out who was supposed to be there to pick me up."

"I thought Jerry was going to..." Joey said.

"He was.  And he did, but only because I had done the pulse and hadn't called a cab.  Jerry came running in about a half hour after I had gotten there without a shirt on dripping wet with sweat and marks all over his chest and back..."

"No shit?" Joey said with a lecherous smile.

"Isn't that bad luck?" Suzi said trying to suppress her own smile.  "I mean I take it Dana and he... That has to be bad luck, doing it two days before their wedding."

"Maybe the day before, but I don't think it's considered bad luck two days before.  Hey, you saw them a year ago...  Was Jerry... uhm... a little overweight or anything?"

"No," Suzi said squinting her eyes like it helped her to remember.  "At least I didn't notice if he was.  Why, is he heavy now?"

"No...  Oh, duh...  I know what it was.  Shit.  Why didn't I think of it before?"

"What?" Joey and Suzi both said.

"Oh, its just that later when I saw... more of him, I noticed what I thought were stretch marks on his legs and stuff.  But that must have been from when they burned the tattoos off."

"Burned?" Suzi said with a shudder just before Joey exclaimed, "They had to burn them off?  How?  Why?"

"Well, I didn't find this out until I had dinner with her parents that evening.  From what I understand, the only way you can remove tattoos is either by surgically removing the skin, or sanding or burning the skin down past where the ink is.  They had their faces sanded to get rid of those right away, but then after Dana had her baby, the rest were burned off using some kind of laser."

Joey and Suzi sat there stunned for a few moments, and I recalled my own reaction and thoughts when Dana's father mentioned burning the graffiti off in passing at the dinner table and I had peeked in his head to see what he had meant by it.

"How long were they... miserable from it?" Joey said, breaking the silence first.

"About six months, but they..."

"Six months?!?" Suzi moaned.  "Did they have it done all at once? Or did they do it a little at a time?"

"A little at time.  And they didn't really feel much discomfort from it because my dad made them sort of like it.  I didn't know this, but my dad's been taking care of their medical bills and stuff.  I guess that's why their parents were so nice to me and all."

(I had intended to stay at a hotel, but because most of Dana's family lived in town, nobody extra was staying at their house.  Dana's father insisted they had room for me and had me cancel the reservations I had made, but if I had known I was going to be taking her little brother's room with the tiny twin bed while he slept on a sofa sleeper, I would have kept my hotel room.)

"What do you mean he made them like it?" Joey said after a moment's thought. "He didn't make them like the pain, did he?"

"Not exactly, no.  I'll have to ask my dad when we get back because I don't understand what he did.  Whatever it was apparently worked pretty good because Jerry's biggest complaint about it all was he and Dana couldn't fuck until they were both healed."

"Shit.  You'd think after all the fucking they did when Steven had them they would have burnt out of it by now," Joey commented.

"No chance of that happening any time soon," I blurted out.  "Jerry practically yanked me out to the parking lot then handed me his keys and asked me if I could do the driving.  He didn't even give me a chance to reply before he ran back to his van and got in the back."

"You're not making this up, are you?" Suzi said suspiciously.

"I swear this is really what happened.  When I got to van, they were in the back on the floor fucking like animals.  I mean, they were clawing each other, and if I hadn't known they were both doing it willingly, I would have said it was a rape from all the struggling they did.

"I watched them about ten minutes before I got too hot and started the engine and the A/C, then just tried to ignore them as I worked out how to get to Dana's house from the station."

"So you didn't... join them or anything?" Joey said.

"No!" I said, a little insulted.

"Didn't think so," Joey said with amusement.

"Shit.  I guess the thought did cross my mind a couple of times," I admitted.  "But once I got on the road I kind of tuned them out until Jerry asked where we were from the seat behind the front passenger seat.  At that point I pulled over so I wouldn't have a wreck after getting a glimpse of him sitting there with his legs spread so wide I could see his hole.

"I didn't sense a trace of modesty in either of them.  Dana was on the floor half asleep with their juices all over her, rubbing some teeth marks just below her left nipple.  She said hi to me, and it took me moment to say hi back.

"Jerry put his shorts and a shirt on then told Dana she better get dressed since we were only five minutes from her house.  Man, Dana didn't like that for some reason.  She told him to fuck off, that she'd get dressed when she was good and ready, then spent the rest of the trip arguing with him before rushing to get her clothes on when we pulled into her driveway."

"What did they argue about?" Suzi asked.

"Stupid stuff.  Like how he was going the long way, how he wasn't paying enough attention to his driving, how she was gonna get us pulled over from standing up front naked like that."

"So why was Dana being such a bitch?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, what did Jerry do?" Suzi countered.

"It's not what he did, but what he wouldn't do," I explained.  "Dana wants to have another baby.  I mean, she wants one now, but Jerry wants to wait until they can afford it and stuff.  Dana's mom explained that one to me.  Dana seems to think that they have to have a baby for them to really be married."

"Shit.  Sounds like Dana's a bit messed up," Suzi said sadly.

"Yeah, but I think she's gonna be okay.  I mean, her parents and Jerry's parents are practically best friends now and completely support the two getting married.  And I found out the next morning that Jerry and Dana are totally faithful to each other.  You remember her little brother Sam?  He was one of your kids at camp, Joey."

"I vaguely do," he said, calling up the time he had caught Dana sucking the ten year old's dick at camp.  "Just because she doesn't want to mess with her little brother any more doesn't mean she's faithful."

"Yeah, I know that, but Sam's thirteen now and apparently his dad ended up telling him the truth about what happened to Dana, Jerry, and us.  I kept getting weird vibes from Sam all evening, then he woke me up the next morning really early and wouldn't tell me why, so I peeked.  You'll never guess what he wanted."

"It's not hard to figure out really," Joey said, flipping his tray up after discarding his wrappers.  "What do all thirteen year old boys want?"

"Video games," Suzi said with a smirk.

"Besides that," Joey grunted.  "Oh, go ahead and tell us Tim."

"He wanted me to kidnap him and this girl he's nuts about, brainwash them, then undo it like what had happened to Jerry and Dana.  He wants to have that kind of bond with that girl, but when I dug out the memory of him and her doing it, he got really scared and basically started to fall apart on me."

"I know what you did," Joey announced.

"What did I do?"

"You called Dana in and probably played back some of her memories of what happened to discourage him."

"Actually, I did think of that, but I had the feeling he was just scared of what would happen if his parents found out after all the lectures they gave him about saving it for marriage.  He saw this as the only way to make it okay to have sex with this girl who apparently refused to do it again after the first time."

"So what did you do?" Joey sighed.  "Tell him to live with jerking off at night until he's old enough to get married?"

I blinked at him, then said, "Yeah, basically."

"Really?" Joey laughed.  "How did he take it?"

"Not too good.  Sam even tried to threaten me by saying he'd become a homosexual if I didn't help him, then he nearly shit in his pants when I told him about Eric and I.  He opened up after that though.  He sort of admires what Jerry and Dana have.  He's seen them go from yelling and screaming at each other to crying in each others arms in apologies, and a few times watched them make love when his parents didn't know he was there.  At some point during our talk I scanned Dana's mind and confirmed she didn't seem to even think about anyone else but Jerry, and later I found Jerry felt the same way."

"I guess they've been through even more stuff than we have," Suzi said softly.

"It's more than that, Suz.  They've both been put through the same things at the same time more or less.  Nobody else has as much in common with them as each other.  Same thing goes with their parents.  They're really good friends because they always have something in common to talk about, namely their kids.  It's no wonder Sam felt the way he did.  He's like been left out of having someone else who had so much in common with him."

"Did you say anything to Dana's mom or dad about Sam?" Suzi asked.

"Indirectly, yeah.  After talking about sex for so long, the poor kid was really aching to get off, so I told him he could have his room back for a while and closed the door after me.  I managed to pull his dad into the master bedroom and asked him to sit down on the bed, then I formed a one way between Sam and his dad and left.  I had to make up excuses for them missing breakfast, then about half way through the meal Sam and his dad came out together with grins on their faces."

"Sam wasn't pissed at you?" Joey said suspiciously.

"Why would he be?  As far as he knew his dad just walked in on him right after he had jerked off and they had a man to man talk about stuff.  I couldn't think of a better way of making his dad understand what was going on than to just let him experience what Sam was thinking and feeling.  I kept the one way up almost the whole time I was there.  I think Sam's in good hands.  He and his dad spent a lot of time talking those couple of days I was there."

"Enough about Sam already," Joey said.  "How did you fix Jerry's and Dana's baby problem?"

"What makes you think I fixed it?" I said seriously.

"Oh come on, Timmy," Suzi said.  "You wouldn't leave a thing like that behind without trying to fix it."

"Okay, you're right about me trying, but...  I made the mistake of trying to talk to Dana about it, and after getting an earful, I had to get her to look me in the eyes to get her to calm down.  The only thing I could have done to help her was to command her not to want to have a baby right away, but I think that would have messed her up even more."

"You mean she still wants to have a baby as soon as possible?" Suzi asked.

"Yeah.  And that's sort of why I was late.  The wedding was fine, and they even kissed okay at the end, but at the reception they kept smooching and getting wrapped into it more and more until finally they had to be kept apart until it was time to leave for the airport.

"Because they were going to Florida for their honeymoon, Jerry's dad was driving the three of us to the airport.  Well they were on the floor struggling to get into their clothes before we even got out of the reception hall's parking lot. Jerry's dad just sighed and shook his head, then asked me to try and get Jerry's tux off him before he messed it up since it was a rental.

"Heh.  I surprised his dad when I came back almost right away with the tux.  I guess he forgot who I was and all.  But he didn't get to say anything for that's when Dana started screaming for him to get off.  I mean, screaming, screaming.  Like Jerry was killing her or something.

"Jerry was as surprised as we were, and when he got off her, she started yelling 'I want a baby!' over and over with her legs spread open.  Jerry tried to talk nicely, then tried to get her to argue with him, and then tried to ignore her.  But when we got to the airport, she refused to leave the van and screamed kicked when Jerry tried to make her go."

I had to pause to drink the last swallow of my soda, then for a moment thought they both had stopped listening to me from their distant stares into nothing.

"So?  What did you do?" Joey said finally, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

"What could I do?  Nobody was asking me for my help, and I didn't know what I could do that might not make things worse later.  But I wasn't about to leave them with Dana in the state she was.  She was pretty close to losing it, you know?"

"Fuck, Tim.  Just tell us what happened," Joey said desperately.  "This isn't fun for us, you know."

"Yeah, I know.  Sorry.  Jerry lost his temper and started yelling at her, how she didn't care about anything but having a fucking baby, but he was going to fuck his wife on his wedding day one way or another and just...  well, he fucked her.  For all I know she could be pregnant now."

"Shit," Joey said a bit relieved.

"Did they catch their plane?" Suzi asked.

"Yeah.  Their plane just had problem after problem until they got on," I said with a little grin.

"Heh," Joey said. "Well, I guess things turned out okay.  I mean, it sounds like their families will get them through the rough times if they need it."

"Yeah, I guess," I said, feeling a little disturbed about it.

"Timmy," Suzi said, snuggling up against me.  "You didn't cause their problems.  Steven did."

"I know, but," I sighed, but then looked down at her and smiled.

We talked off and on about little things for a while, then when Joey got up to go to the bathroom, I decided to do the same and followed him to the back.

"Hey Joey," I said, catching him before he closed the door.

"Yeah?"

"Uhm, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for picking on you."

"Picking on me?"

"Yeah.  You know.  The hair."

"Oh.  That's okay.  I'm used to it."

He shut the door before I could comment, so I entered the one next to his and made myself go before returning to the seats without Joey.

"Tim, I'm worried about what we're going find when we land," Suzi said as I sat down.

"You mean if we find Candice messed with Eric's head."

"Yes."

I sighed, then said, "I talked to Candice over the phone yesterday after she finally got around to returning my call from last week.  Yes, she's altered his perspective on a few things, but she swears she was only trying to help him.  I agreed not to try and change things back if Eric agrees that he wants to stay the way he is and if I think he is capable of making that decision freely."

"You could have called me and told me," Suzi said a bit annoyed.  "I worried about what she might have done all night last night."

"Sorry.  It kind of slipped my mind with all the stuff going on yesterday.  We still don't know exactly what she did, and I got the impression Candice isn't going to tell him she did anything until she has to.  But I'm more worried about what I'm going to say when I see him."

"Well, you'll just have to work that out on your own," she said crossly while getting up.

"Where you going?" I asked as I let her by.

"Think about it."

"Shit," I said, realizing I was in the dog house now.

Joey came back while she was gone, and when he asked where she was, I replied, "She said think about it, so think about it."

"Oh," he said, looking back down the isle, then sat down beside me.

"Joey, what did you mean about you being used to it," I said a moment later when it occurred to me.

"You know Suz..."

"You mean she makes fun of you?"

"Tim, I know you're just being... yourself, but don't worry about it.  It's just part of the package."

"What package?"

"Me being her love slave," he said simply while blushing a little.

"Oh," I said a bit dumbfounded.

"You know, its strange..."

"What is?"

"Well, until you mentioned it, I didn't care whether or not my ears looked funny with this hair cut.  But then I thought maybe it might make Suzi look bad, and I had to check myself out in the mirror for five minutes to make sure I looked okay...  Weird, huh?"

I looked at him, and for the first time saw the aura of submission around him that I had been picking up ever since I first saw him in the airport terminal.

"You really are, aren't you," I said softly.  "When did you..."

"I don't know..." he said while blushing deeply.  "Sometime before the haircut, but definitely after you left and we broke the share link."

"Huh...  I knew you were worried about what would happen when Suzi wouldn't be able to take control of you, but I didn't think...  You feel okay though?  You definitely aren't acting like yourself."

Joey smiled and said, "That's because I'm not _my_ self.  I like gave that up for her.  I'm now her self.  If that makes any sense."

"Yeah, I guess so.  But are you happy with that?"

"Happy? I'd have to say I'm content which is something I haven't been for a long time.  So yeah.  I'm happy with it."

"I'm glad someone is," Suzi said, slapping Joey's knees then mine to make us make room.

"So you don't like it?" I asked her after she sat down.

"Like what?" she said coolly.

"Doesn't she know?" I asked Joey.

"I don't know.  I don't know how she'd miss it though."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Suzi snapped.  "What are you two talking about?!"

I covered Joey's mouth before he could reply, then looked her in the eyes and said, "Ask him later when you two are alone, okay?  This isn't the place."

"Fine," she said huffily and turned away to give me the cold shoulder.

"Suz," I said, not used to her acting this way with me.  "I'm sorry I didn't think to call you and tell you about what I found out yesterday.  I swear I had every intention to tell you both before we got there.  I didn't mean to leave you in the dark."

She sighed then turned back towards me and said, "I'm sorry too.  I'm just so worried about Eric."

I gave her a kiss on the forehead and said, "Believe me, so am I...  So am I..."

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