The walk from Jovon's house was hell,especially with the heavy rain fall. And to think he said they were neighbours. Ah! If Ten miles apart made them neighbours,then she was loosing her marbles. Pride stopped her from going back for her purse,which held enough cash to get her by and all other necessities, and made her trek all the way to Lea's town house. Thank God Lea left the key for her or else,her pride would have proved futile.

Lifting the welcome mat, Annie retrieved the house key. Unlocking the back door of the town house, she stumbled inside and was subjected to an ardent wet kiss on the lips the moment she crossed the threshold. Annie bit back a scream at the sight of a large, longhaired golden retriever. Big soulful brown eyes adored her worshipfully now,while his tail beat a happy tattoo against her calf.

Lea didn't mention having a dog,much less a beautiful retriever. Which surprised her greatly. The dog, clearly a male, began to whine. It took her several seconds before she got what he wanted.

"Go do your thing," She told him,nodding toward the patch of backyard. "Use your doggie door." He whined again. Annie sighed. "Okay, I'll wait. But hurry."

He watered several shrubs happily,then dashed inside ahead of Annie.

"I feel so tired. Ten miles walk, isn't a trifle journey. And to think that douche didn't even come after me to apologize... Well, what's new,eh?
... I bet he think he's gotten rid of me." She looked at the dog,who tilted his head inquisitively. "Just checking to see if you were paying attention."

The dog followed her upstairs,and stayed with her until she found the guest bedroom, which was on the left at the end of the hall. Her travelling box and laptop bag were deposited,carefully, at the end of the hall. Annie briefly wondered who brought them all the way up here,but she remembered that Jovon mentioned that he had someone deliver her things. But who was taking care of the dog?

After taking a hot shower, Annie exchanged her soggy clothes for a Redskins jersey that came almost to her knees and a pair of gym socks. After  drying and running a brush through her hair, she pulled it into a ponytail. Regarding her reflection in the mirror, she mumbled, "Stunning." Then put her appearance out of her mind,and fired her laptop up.

While it was booting, she carried her soggy clothes down to the washing machine. By the time she returned to her room,the laptop had fully booted. Annie went through her emails,all of which consisted of her twitter notifications; Rolling her shoulders back with a sigh, she typed a quick e-mail to Cassie.

~   *  ~

To: Cassie_Mckade@mynetwork.Paris.com

From: Annie_Mckade@SGC. USA.

Hi! I apologize for not calling you earlier to inform you of my arrival in West Mercer. I would'va called,but I don't have my phone with me and my purse too. I got into a little accident on my way here,fortunately, I got away with few bruises and scratches,and unfortunately, the front of Lea's car was smashed up badly. The owner of the other car I almost ran into, offered to cover the insurance for me and also repair the car. Can you please tell mom about my arrival, I will call her when I get my phone back.

P.S: Lake Washington is breathtaking. I wish you're here to see it.

~  *  ~

Annie read the email again before hitting the send button. She forwarded the email to Lea,taking some to edit the names and some words before hitting send.

"What do you want for dinner?" She asked as she loped downstairs to the kitchen. She opened the pantry and recited the menu selections. "Tonight's dinner include Kibbies and Bits,also chicken and liver,or Gravy Train." He whined with disappointment. Annie was a sucker for brown eyes,so she searched her brain for options and could only come up with one.

"Pizza?"

Out came his long,pink tongue,and he began panting like a pervert at a peep show.

Her conscience told her to have a Lean cuisine for dinner,but what the hell? When you spent your evenings at hone in a football jersey and gum socks,conversing with a mongrel,in a cold weather, and having nothing to look forward to except hours of boredom,what difference did a few hundred grams make?

Annie found the home Rolodex and managed to find a place that delivered Pizza called, 'Luigi's', an odd name for a pizza parlor. While she was on the phone ordering two pizzas, the dog began whinnying to go outside. She covered the telephone mouthpiece.

"If it's that urgent,use your doggie door." The dog glanced disdainfully at the opening cut in the back door. It was large enough to accommodate the dog,but not so large that she worried about intruders. As she was reiterating her pizza order, she jabbed her index finger toward the doggie door. Looking humiliated,the dog crawled through it. She was waiting at the back door for him when he finished.
"The Pizzas are guaranteed in twenty five minutes or we get them free."

More search through the home Rolodex got her a number listed as,'Home'. Annie knew it meant Lea's family home,and since Lea was around,she dialled it. She was put through immediately by the house help.

"Hi. This is Annie."

"Omg! You wench! I've been calling you since like forever. Cassie and Kade have been calling me ever since."

"Sorry." She said sheepishly. "I got into a little accident yesterday."

"What?! How are you? Was it bad? I knew I shouldn't have let you go there all alone."

Annie rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm twenty-eight years old,you know. And to answer your questions, Yes,I'm fine. The car got smashed pretty badly and I met-"

"Annie,I have to go,now. I'll call you later,okay?"

"Okay."

Disappointed,Annie hung up. While waiting for delivery,she went for exploration of the house. The top floor was a self-contained apartment, which was currently not occupied,but neat nevertheless. The second floor had about three bedrooms,one for Lea,and the other two for guests,she presumed. Annie was about to pour herself a glass of Merlot when the doorbell rang.

She glanced at the time. "Damn! Twenty-four minutes,thirty-nine seconds. You know,brown eyes," she as they went down stairs. "I think they did that on purpose just to build our hopes up."

A short,rotund Italian with a rosy sweating face,cherub lips,and a mop of curly black hair- on his chest. His head was completely bald- stood on the threshold.

"Miss Mendo- oh." He looked taken aback for a minute. Then recovered as quickly. "You're not her."

Obviously.

Annie tamped down the urge to roll her eyes,and smiled in answer,instead. "No,I'm not. But I'm her friend."

His eyes took in her attire. "The extra pizza is for a lover?"

She should be offended,but she couldn't bring herself to be. "Nope. It's for the dog."

He glanced at the dog who was doing an ecstatic do-si-do around her feet. The dog's circle,the Merlot, and hunger were making her dizzy.

"Brown eyes,as always."

"Excuse me?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's the dog's name."

Talk about coincidence.

"Oh." Annie reached for the two boxes. "How much?"

"I put it on Miss Mendoza's bill."

"Thanks." She closed the door and bolted it for good measure.

Brown eyes, Annie made a mental note to change the dog's name, was whipping himself into a frenzy,so she served him his pizza,box and all. Then she sat down at the kitchen table with her pizza, another glass of wine. The pizza was scrumptious. The second glass of wine went down even smoother than the first. By the time she got ready to go to bed,Annie already formulated a plan in her head.

Jovon would never know what hit him.

~        ***       ~

Ella watched familiar buildings wheeze by as the car made a steady glide down the road leading away from the Philadelphia airport. Her mind couldn't stop playing over the fact that William didn't bother coning out of his study to stop her from leaving with the children.

He didn't even bid the children farewell.

It was as if everything suddenly turned around to mock her. She had been craving love and affection and she got it alright. But now, everything's gone sour. And She didn't have the slight less idea about how to fix it. The baby was past the abortion stage,at twenty-six weeks, or else she would have saved the both of them from the trouble of fighting over their unborn child.

What are you thinking Ella? Are you really capable of killing your own baby?

Ella took in a shaky breath as she leaned her head against the cool glass. She was stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea,with no choice. She couldn't very well kill her own blood,yet she didn't want to loose her husband either.

"Mommy?"

Ella looked away from the window to see Aggy watching her with a concerned look on her small face.

"Yes,baby. What is it?"

"Are you fine?"

Even though her façade was threatening to crumble, she smiled affectionately. "Yes. Aren't you excited to see Grandma and Grandpa?"

Tina,who had been toying her barbie doll's hair, turned to eye her mother with her nose scrunched up. "No. I want to go back home and stay with daddy."

Aggy frowned at her sister. "Says Daddy's pet."

"I'm not daddy's pet!"

"Are too."

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

Tina let out a thin screech before grabbing her sister's hair. She gave a strong pull. Aggy screamed in pain as she too grabbed her sister's hair and twisted it.

"Stop it!" Ella wedge her hand between them and managed to pry their hands from each others hair. "What's wrong with you two?"

"She started it!" They said simultaneously. Then turned to glare at each other.

"I don't care who started it,apologize to each other now."

Tears streamed down Aggy's face. "B-but Tina started it first."

Ella rubbed her throbbing temples with her palm. "Just apologize to each other."

"Sorry." Tina jerked out her chin as she picked her doll from the car floor.

"I'm sorry too." Aggy replied with a sniffle.

Ella sighed as she pulled both girls into her arms and rested her chin atop their head. "Please,don't fight ever again. I'm stressed out as it is,and I hate it when you to fight over trivial things."

"We're sorry,mommy." They said simultaneously, again. Something Ella was used to. They did that often,when they their speech became clearer,and then it lessened as they grew.

"Good." She dropped a kiss on their heads as the car came to a halt in front of the Mckade's mansion.

The valet, Bradley, hurried to open the car door with a smile.

"Mrs Mckade." He nodded at her,before going to the car trunk to get their bags.

Arabella Mckade, her mother-in-law slash mother, was waiting for them at the top of the stairs with her hands clasped in front of her.

Cries of "Grandma" filled the air,when the twins spotted their grandma. They both ran up the stairs and launched their small body into her arms. By the time Ella got to them,the children were asking of their grandpa.

"He's in his study." Arabella replied after kissing their cheeks. "What happened to you Aiglentine? Your eyes are red."

"They got into a fight." Ella answered for them. "But it's all settled now."

"Oh,good." Arabella eyed Ella,before turning to the children. "Why don't you go and meet Grandpa? The apple pie Aunty Grail is making would be ready soon."

As soon as the girls were out of sight,Arabella pulled the other woman into her arms. It was then the floodgates opened.