Stark was entering her last trimester of pregnancy, and getting ready for maternity leave. She was determined, however, to do two things: leave her work in perfect order, and take at least one more night for herself while she could ( Read more... )

Stark was feeling a little bit of her Catholic background, with a guilt sitting on her shoulders for her behavior of the last few days. She had been so concerned with worrying about his alternate universe counterpart - a man that she wasn't even sure she could get through to - that she felt like she had been neglecting her husband, or at least ( Read more... )

[Follows this and this.]It didn't surprise Stark that she had trouble sleeping that night, at least that morning. There was way too much on the calendar that day for her to be too comfortable. An hour before the alarm went off, she was awake, and reluctantly squirmed out of the arms of her sleeping fiancee to get a head start on the day ( Read more... )

It was all well and good discussing things with her boyfriend fiancee partner in the privacy of their his bedroom. But when it came time to own up and face the consequences of their whirlwind weekend, Stark found herself hesitating. There was a lump surprisingly wedged in her throat as she dressed, packed and made the drive she'd made a thousand ( Read more... )

[Follows this and subsequently, this. Takes place the evening of "The Lions."]If anything else in her life changed, Stark wondered if her brain might explode ( Read more... )

Stark woke up to the sound of "Faithfully" by Journey: the ringtone she'd assigned to Brian Steiner. Obviously, she'd forgotten her weekend habit of turning her phone off so she could manage to sleep in for once ( Read more... )

Slowtime as other threads get finished and I enjoy my summer vacation.

Baltimore, Maryland
September 4, 2008
Twenty years later

Northwestern High School was still alive at seven o'clock at night, long after its students had all gone home. It was the twenty-year reunion for the class of 1988, as evidenced by someone having found a 'best of the 80 ( Read more... )

Stark was pretty sure that she had no idea what she was doing.

Logically, she knew what she was physically doing: she was heading home after a long day at work, and her partner was coming over. The same thing they'd done a dozen times over the last three years, hanging out and having a couple of drinks while talking about anything from work to ( Read more... )

This demotion was going to take some getting used to.

You think you'd have done some research before you decided to come down here, Stark thought to herself, shaking her head as she tucked another couple of files under her arm. Her footsteps echoed in the empty basement hallway. But that would be thinking too far ahead. All you wanted was your ( Read more... )