Robyn was becoming delirious. The late afternoon sun had warmed the box, the stagnant air thick with moisture from her labored exhalations. She stared woozily up at the featureless metallic ceiling, just a foot or two above her face, and listened to the sound of her own whimpering.

And all at once, it hit her. Kendra! Robyn had heard her pitiful mewling the day she was dragged into this lunatic asylum, those terrified eyes staring out at her beseechingly. As bad as it was for Robyn, she couldn't imagine what it must have been like for a woman of her girth. How, Robyn wondered, had she even fit in this constricting space? She bizarrely pictured Kendra wedged in here like bread dough in a baking pan.

Robyn had never, she realized now, seen Kendra after that first encounter. What had become of her? Robyn had been too wrapped up in her own problems to even ask about her.

She felt ashamed of her indifference. Ashamed, too, for all the smirking, behind-her-back comments she had made about the size of this sweet and delicate woman. A woman Robyn had the audacity to call her friend. Her shame metastasized into self-loathing and she found  herself experiencing a heavy, weary regret for all the choices she made that brought her to this moment.

Why, she wondered, had this been so important to her?

She began to lose consciousness, succumbing to the sticky heat, hunger and dehydration. Without realizing it, Robyn slid off into a fuzzy, feverish stupor. She dreamt that a huge and delicious-looking wedding cake had come to life and was trying to murder her. 

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In the end, it was the table cloth swatches, of all things, that brought Hurricane Julia to Tenacity's doorstep. Once she learned that Brian had agreed to FedEx them — and don't get her started on how fucking stupid that was — there was a trail to follow. A few bureaucrats had, unwisely, tried to stand in her way, but she brushed them aside with threats of lawsuits and criminal complicity.

When Julia pounded on the front door, demanding entry, nobody knew what to do. They had no idea who she was or where she came from, but even through the fish-eyed lens of the security camera, she radiated such authority and intensity that they knew that getting in her way would be a grave mistake.

"I guess we let her in," Debbie said, resignedly. The left side of her face was swollen and bruised and it hurt for her to talk.

"Go ahead," said Brando. "It's not like we have anything to hide, right guys?" He was expecting a chorus of agreement and became quite agitated when it failed to materialize.

Debbie pressed a button. The front door buzzed as the lock unlatched.

"I'm looking for Robyn Layne," Julia said forcefully as she strode into the main office. When she looked around at the half-dozen Tenacity staff members — all in spectacular shape and wearing the identical form-fitting uniforms — she felt like she had wandered into a highly successful eugenics experiment. "You!" she barked, pointing at Brando.

"I'm not with them!" Brando protested, his voice cracking.

"Jesus, Brando," Dave muttered. And then, to Julia, "I'll get her."

"You do that." When the door to the courtyard clanged shut, Julia turned to Debbie. "What the hell happened to your face?"

Robyn was awakened by the snap of a padlock releasing. The door to the box opened, creaking softly. Robyn opened her eyes, disoriented. Night had fallen and it was dark now. She could dimly see the grainy outline of an exquisitely handsome face.

"Robyn," said the face, which she realized belonged to Dave. "Wake up."

"What's going on?" asked Robyn, still not quite free from delirium's grip.

"There's an angry lesbian here to see you."

In the five minutes it took for Dave to return with Robyn, the Tenacity staff mostly looked at the floor, or worriedly at each other. They were like teenagers who had thrown a wild party while their parents were away, and Mom had come home unexpectedly. Now they were trying to figure out how to explain the empty beer cans in the living room, pot smoke in the air and dried semen on the cat. 

When Dave came back in with Robyn, Julia was mortified by what she saw. Her eyes were hazy, her face was filthy and her hair was a mess — sticky tendrils clumped together thanks to her ice cream orgy. But when Julia's eyes traveled down her body, the message became decidedly more mixed. She was lean and shapely and strong, with swooping curves and well-defined muscles. 

Despite what everyone thought, Julia was not a lesbian. But if she had been, she definitely would have been all over that.

"You came for me," Robyn said, on the verge of tears. "I knew you would." She hugged Julia tightly, gratefully.

Julia gave her a maternal smile. "Of course I did."

"Um, I don't think she's actually a cop," Brando whispered to Dave.

"Then I guess you peed yourself for nothing," Dave whispered back, disdainfully.

Julia broke her embrace with Robyn. "You ready to get out of here?"

"More than ready." Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait!" She turned to Debbie. "I want my file back." Glumly, Debbie handed it to her.

But as they took a step towards the door, the Tenacity staff decided to make one last stand. Dave, flanked by Brando and another hardbodied trainer who Robyn had never seen before, moved to block their path. Robyn shrank back, but Julia stared, unflinching, into Dave's eyes. Gunfighter style.

"You sure?" she asked, almost daring him to make a move. In the face of her ice cold confidence, Dave relented. Sometimes, Julia knew, self-assuredness is more powerful than a gun. Although she also carried a gun, because sometimes it's not. Alertly, Julia guided Robyn towards the exit. 

Julia understood that the smart thing to do was just leave and drive Robyn to the police station, but she simply could not resist one final tirade.

"Each and every one of you," she admonished, "should be ashamed. It's bad enough that the patriarchy is still pushing this antiquated notion of the pure, white, virginal bride, but what you do is far, far worse. You make women feel bad about their bodies. You make fat women feel ugly and thin women feel fat. And they will literally go through torture to live up to your bullshit beauty ideal, as if a woman's worth was only determined by the size of her waist. Robyn was a prisoner here, but really, aren't all women prisoners of your unrealistic expectations?"

A different audience might have applauded at this point, but the six Tenacity employees just stared at her uncomprehending.

"You may not get what I'm saying now, but you'll have plenty of time to think about it. Because once Robyn tells the police what's gone on here, you're all going to jail." She pushed the door open. "Robyn? After you."

Robyn didn't move. She had her file open and was looking at it intently.

"Robyn?"

"You see this?" Robyn said. She held up a photograph. It was the full frontal picture that Dave had taken of her on that horrific day when she first arrived. Compared to Robyn's new, svelte figure, it looked grotesquely distorted, a nightmarish reflection in a convex funhouse mirror.

"Um... TMI, Robyn."

"I am not going to look like this at my wedding." She said this slowly, quietly, resolutely.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with this picture. The natural female form is—"

"I am not!" she shouted, on the edge of hysteria. "Going to look like this!" She waved the picture in Julia's face. "At my wedding!"

Surprised by Robyn's forcefulness, Julia took a step back. "What are you saying?"

"I'm staying here."

Brando pumped his fist. "Yes!"

"Are you out of your mind?!" yelled an incredulous Julia. "In case you forgot, they fucking kidnapped you!"

"Go home, Julia." Robyn's tone was frosty now, and it stung.

"Seriously, Robyn. Going through all this... just for stupid Brian?"

Robyn put her fingers over her eyes, shook her head and let out a very faint chuckle that went on for an uncomfortably long time. "What makes you think," Robyn said finally, "that any of this is about Brian?"

"I don't understand." Robyn could hear the hurt in Julia's words. 

"I know you don't," Robyn said, tenderly now. "And I appreciate what you've done for me. Really. But go home."

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