Seven months in, Fran was in the kitchen on "light duty", excluded from anything too physically strenuous (i.e. tossing pizza crusts, delivering pizzas, bringing pizzas to customers' tables, getting drinks, essentially doing anything other than making change and filling the occasional salt shaker), and thus kept quite apart from her coworkers during the work day, try as she did to include herself.

One such morning, she popped in the kitchen during some downtime. Casey and Lily were laughing loudly, and Theo was rolling his eyes at Casey's rather lame joke as he refilled condiment bottles.

"I can't believe he said 'tarp!'" Lily half-shrieked with laughter. "Did he know?! Did he--"

"He had no idea! Theo, he had no idea, did he?" Casey leaned against the counter to steady himself, he was laughing so hard.

"Hey, guys," Fran said, trying to sound light-hearted. "What's everyone laughing about?"

The moment she announced herself, however, no one was laughing about anything. All eyes were on her, and all three were suddenly clustered around her, eyes wide, faces sober and eager to help. They had their customer service faces on, Fran realized, for crying out loud.

"Fran! What is it?!" Lily asked. "Were we too loud?"

"Of course you were too loud," Theo scoffed. "They can hear you down the block. You never pay any attention to--"

"Fran, come on, sit down, sit down!" Casey said, taking her hand.

"You guys never take anyone else into consideration," Theo was saying. "Fran, put your feet up."

"No, no, she can't. I saw her try the other day," Lily said quietly.

"Are you tired? I bet you're tired. Theo, take over the register for her!" Casey hissed.

"Why should I do it? You should do it. I never see you take any initiative around here anymore. The tarp story is proof enough of that, I think."

"Oh, it's like that," Casey nodded irritably. "Yeah, well, I can see where you'd think that, Theo. I can absolutely see where you would--"

"You guys, one of you better go on register!" Lily snapped. "Someone's coming!"

Fran hadn't said a word during the entire exchange; she didn't need to. They were always like this now; treating her as though she were some fragile, delicate wisp always on the verge of crumbling. None of them seemed to have any idea how to act around a pregnant woman, and truth be told, Fran did not know how to behave as a pregnant woman, either, so she didn't see where she had any right to fault them.

Instead, she complied. Because, it was true. They had been too loud; though, if she had gotten in on the joke, she would have likely laughed along with them, maybe even louder.

But her feet did hurt. And having someone take over the register for a little while wouldn't be so bad. Quite the opposite; it was heavenly, being able to sit down. She had a high stool she leaned against behind the register, but the chair in the kitchen was low, too low to see over the top of the counter, and it felt like sitting on a cloud. A beautiful, comfortable cloud of bliss.

"Fran, I forgot to tell you what RJ did today," Lily said, an adoring smile crawling across her face. "It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. He is going to make such a good daddy."

Fran smiled weakly. Another adorable RJ story. And how many of those had she heard over the last few months, she wondered. Too many, it seemed, to even keep straight. For RJ, it seemed, was always doing something unspeakably sweet or endearing, constantly proving to everyone what a wonderful husband he was now, and what a wonderful father he would be soon. She would have sworn it was a compulsion, that he was desperately, desperately attempting to compensate for something, were it not for the fact that she knew that was just who he was.

Well, she was in no mood to hear about it right now.

"Oh, yeah, right, was it the thing with the..." Fran made a vague hand gesture. She had no idea, no idea whatsoever what RJ had done today, but pretending to know was, she had found, an easy way to avoid having to hear yet another enthusiastic anecdote about how she had married the greatest guy in the world.

"Yes! You saw it," Lily squealed. "When he told her she didn't need a pony!"

Fran smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, that was... really nice," she said weakly. "Sweet. Really sweet."

Lily looked at Fran tenderly, and took her hand.

"Fran, listen... I talked to RJ--"

Of course you did. Everyone's talked to him. Fran thought, a little bitterly. He's talked to everybody. He's everyman for everyman.

"...And I suggested that we should take the day off, just you and me, and kind of have a little... girl time. And so... he gave us the rest of the day off. If you want to, that is. I mean, I know how much you love working the cash register all day." Lily grinned wryly.

Fran looked up at her. Now, that was the best idea she had heard in weeks. Literally weeks. Fran was exhausted, body and soul, both from living and breathing Jungle Karma (the smell of pizza and garlic never really went away, of course. Not even upstairs. Not even in bed. She could smell it in her sleep) for the last three and a half months, and from the gradually dawning realization that her childhood, extended and awkward though it was, was now (or would soon be) officially over.

And nothing was turning out the way she had expected it to. Adulthood, and married life, and no longer being Dolores and Frank's Little Frannie, and having that bizarre, foreign "Mrs." in front of her name on her bills, nothing was what she had expected. And while she could write a lot of her bad feelings off to hormones and exhaustion, there were still nagging fragments of doubt, of sadness, of loneliness that she couldn't reconcile.

She had all but shoved those feelings aside, and convinced herself they didn't exist, or they weren't relevant anyway. Everything was just fine. Everything would continue to be just fine, but the longer things remained just fine, the less that really meant.

Maybe it was time to finally talk about it.

"Fran, um... have you had any tests done?" Lily asked as they strolled through the Oceanview Mall, side by side. Bright lights, loud music and a symphony of greasy smells surrounded them. It was hardly the place to go to relax, but Fran found it a pleasant change of pace nonetheless. And the company was certainly good.

"Um, what... what kind of tests do... do you mean?" she asked. Ooh, Pier 1 Imports.

"You know..." Lily grinned. "Do you know what it is? Boy or girl?"

"Oh, you mean an ULTRASOUND," Fran said, blushing a little. "I, uh... I didn't want to know. I told the doctor I wanted it to be a surprise."

Lily shot her an admiring glance.

"Not many people these days want to wait."

"I really want it to be a surprise." She took a deep breath; walking was exhausting these days, but she didn't want to look too winded or frail. The last thing she wanted was for Lily to get the impression that Fran was in a bad way and decide to call off the girl time for her sake.

They passed by an accessory shop; a cute, floral-print tote was all but screaming at Fran to come and have a look at it, and she sort of shuffled aside, making a beeline for the window. Lily giggled a bit and joined her.

"That would make such a cute diaper bag!" Lily exclaimed.

Fran sobered.

It would, she realized. It really would. But I just wanted it for me. As she looked back at Lily, she felt a pang of guilt, that here was pretty, carefree, single young Lily, floating through a shopping mall like a breeze, and she was more on point with soon-to-be-motherhood than Fran, who was the soon-to-be-mother.

"Yeah, look, it even has a pocket on the outside," Fran said lamely, "For... baby... stuff. Of some kind."

Lily glanced sideways at Fran, and then smiled conspiratorially.

"Or a book..." she whispered.

Fran found herself laughing aloud, a sort of deviousness rushing through her body. Lily gets it after all, she realized. She shouldn't have been surprised, of course.

"Or a book."

"Maybe a spicy romance novel," Lily was laughing.

"Yeah. With vampires."

The girls stopped laughing, and Lily took a long, hard look at Fran; poor, exhausted, red-cheeked and red-eyed Fran. Something was definitely up. Something more than mere health concerns, mere fatigue. There was something in her demeanor; so deeply-rooted that perhaps Fran herself didn't even see it. It was as though she was trying, taking painstaking effort to disguise something with exaggerated cheerfulness and quirkiness. And she did it well. Anyone else would be convinced That Was Just Fran. The fact that her "maternity wear" consisted of dresses and smocks that were better suited to a kindergarten teacher; bright, loud, clashing colors, overalls, a vast array of hats. And pins. Always pins. "Flair", someone had once called it. Pins with cute, ironic messages, children's book characters, cute anime cats and hamsters.

She didn't look like a married woman, Lily realized. She looked like a teenager rebelling against the changes in her body by wearing baby-doll dresses and tights.

Granted, she had a dignity about her. All pregnant women did, Lily supposed. A quiet, nuanced air of oneness with the universe, with creation itself. As new life formed within her, she had become quieter, more thoughtful. There were times that, during down periods at the restaurant, or while on break, Fran would simply sit and stare at her belly, hands clasped, a melancholy but truly wise expression on her face.

But when she was with other people, even when she was with RJ, the melancholy turned to false cheer. False, almost desperate cheer.

Would Fran talk about it? Would she say anything? How would Lily approach it?

She didn't know. Fran's attention was straying, and Lily put on a friendly smile.

"Come on, let's go to Hadlinger's. Get a whole new wardrobe."

Fran laughed. This time it was not a gleeful laugh. It had a bite to it.

"I can't fit into the pants I just bought last week anymore. Let's wait on the wardrobe. Besides... who do I need to impress? I'll be wearing t-shirts and mom jeans for the rest of my life."

Lily frowned.

"Fran, you're still young. And, I meant, you know. For after you have the baby. Maybe something kind of... sexy. You could be a sexy mom!"

Fran shook her head.

"No, I, uh... I don't do sexy."

Lily was at a loss.

"Fran, when's the last time you did something for you? Just... for you? Not for the baby, not for RJ, just for you?"

"I don't know. Oh, I, uh... I had iced tea the other day! Instead of... of soy milk. You know, with... lunch."

"As... adventurous as that sounds," Lily giggled, "I mean like... when's the last time you had a manicure?"

"Oh, I, uh... I don't do manicures. I like to bite my nails too much."

"What about a facial? Or a cute new haircut!" Lily gasped. "I was watching Maven of the Stars last night, and Carrissa Nance, you know Carrissa Nance? She was on Heck's Oven? She has the CUTEST new--"

"No, Lily... that's okay. I'm... I'm fine. I don't really..."

She was being a spoil-sport, and she knew it. But she didn't. She DIDN'T go in for things like manicures and facials and cute new hairdos. Much as her mother had pleaded with her during her adolescence, to just, Frannie, take a LITTLE interest in how you look! You can't have your nose stuck in a book the rest of your life! What about a husband?, she had never gotten the hang of maintaining any kind of beauty regimen. A quick comb-through of her hair, a quick side-sweep of her bangs, quick pigtails, a quick once-over her face with a washcloth and a little chapstick was all she had ever found routine in.

And look at me. I found a husband real easy. All I had to do was get drunk.

"Well, then... how about... books? Let's... head over to Boundaries and Gallant. Sit down, and read a... a book," Lily was still smiling, though her enthusiasm had waned significantly.

"Oh, no, no. You'll be bored. I mean, when I get into a story, I can just sit there for hours and hours and hours and... and hours."

"Hey, this is your day off. Let's do it! Let's find some really trashy romance novel and make fun of it."

Fran couldn't conceal her amusement. She loved making fun of trashy romance novels.

"You know what I think?" Lily asked, a little too loudly. She was on her fourth Minty Mochappuccpresso and the caffeine was really starting to get to her. "Man, these are great. Best thirty four dollars I ever spent! Anyway, you know what I think? About Maribelle and Stephan?"

Maribelle and Stephan were the heroes of Gynna Amelie Pipp's 99 cent bodice-ripper classic, Alone and Undignified, probably the worst novel either of them had ever set eyes on.

"They're really... two-dimensional," Fran giggled. Her lite, caffeine-free white tea was nearly full. Nonetheless, she was having a good time. A better time than she had had in months. The girl time was turning out to be a brilliant success, even without the facials and the gossip and the... other things that girls did together.

"I mean besides that! I think that the reason Stephan won't kiss her in front of his parents isn't because he doesn't love her!" she gasped. "It's because he loves her SO MUCH he wouldn't be able to control himself and he'd want to have her, right then and there, right on the floor like... like a dirty guy!"

Fran was laughing so hard she struggled to catch her breath.

"No, no, Lily. You don't even know. I skipped ahead while you were in the bathroom."

"What?" Lily swatted at her across the table. "You cheater! So, what happened?"

Fran covered her mouth, shaking.

"The coffee table. The coffee table. After the barn burned down and she was dressing his wounds."

"They did it on the coffee table?!"

"I guess he loved her after all!"

The two girls roared with hysterical peals of laughter. The cashier at the cafe shot them a disapproving look, but could do nothing; they had bought nearly forty dollars worth of drinks, even if they weren't going to buy any merchandise, she had no impetus to throw them out. Not yet, anyway.

"Wait, wait, how did the barn burn down?" Lily asked.

"Melody did it! She saw them in there together and kind of went... crazy, a little."

Melody was Stephan's jealous, overprotective old maid sister who hated and despised Maribelle for taking her darling baby brother "Steffie" away from her.

"No! I liked Melody, I didn't think she was going to turn out to be like that. So, read me where they do it!"

Fran blushed. Lily had been doing all the reading aloud up to that point; she had read where Maribelle's pantyhose had caught on the rosebush and torn away, revealing the young beauty's shapely, supple calves. She had read where Maribelle and her emotionally abusive ex-fiance had made out on the balcony, been startled, and had nearly fallen off, only to be rescued by a towel-clad Stephan. She had even read, in a strangely perfect Jamaican accent, the passage where Einie the housemaid had given Maribelle a pep talk for dealing with emotionally distant men. But here was the most explicit scene in the entire book; the scene depicted on the cover; man and woman on a coffee table, limbs askew, hands everywhere, practically tangible passion etched on the faces of the two lovers.

"Uh... no, I'll show you where it is. You read it. You do voices better than me."

Lily folded her arms and leaned across the table. And there it was again. Fran was hiding from something.

"Come on, Fran, it's just a book. Just a... really... crappy book. I bet it'll be a hoot. I want to hear you say..." Lily skipped to the sex scene. "'Oh, Stephan, yes, there. Yes, right there. Oh, your hands are like fire.' 'Only because you burn me up inside.'"

Fran laughed.

"No, no, you... you do it so much better."

Lily sighed, shaking her head.

"Fran, it's just... you know you can talk to me, right? I mean... right?"

Fran immediately became all but engrossed in her glass of tea.

"Of course. You're my friend. And we've been talking!"

"Not... not really."

"We talked about Maribelle and Stephan! And we talked about--"

"Fran!"

Fran picked up the book and began flipping absently through its pages.

"There was another really, really good part. You were in the bathroom an awfully long time, and I found..."

Lily leaned back in her chair. Fran had completely shut down, emotionally. She clearly wanted to pretend nothing was going on. She wanted to pretend so badly that she wouldn't even acknowledge that anything had taken place.

Lily could not think of a way to get through. In the end, she chugged her Minty Mochappuccpresso and grabbed the book from Fran with a grin.

"Okay, get ready. I'm going to ham it up like you've never seen."

Fran grinned, cupping her face in her hands, blinking repeatedly.

"I'm ready."

Lily sighed.

"'Oh, Stephan. You do care. You truly do care--'"