Life: Still Altered - 4.03

"You're going to be a
grandmother." Dana
teased Alice, who was still in shock, two hours
later, at Daisy's stunning announcement.
Pregnant, Alice
thought to herself. Dana,
Alice, and Shane
were sitting by the outside fireplace.
Each with a glass of the superb wine that Sam
had brought, being warmed by the fire, the three musketeers.

"I'm not old enough,
no way," lamented Alice. Dana giggled
as Shane Shane leaned
over, kissing Dana's wine drenched lips, Dana
grabbed her neck, kissing her hard. Shane refilled her glass of wine.
pulled away, smiling sheepishly.

"You are," stated Shane. "What happened, with Quin?" asked Shane
finally. Alice
sighed softly, looking over to Quin, who was talking to Daisy. Both Peabody's
sitting close, Rosita talking to Carmen and Lara
just a few feet away.

"I screwed up. I pushed her until she quit playing in a
band, quit playing period. Then got
pissed when she got all cold Quin on me.
I was in New York,
and Helena,
whose wife died not so long ago, was I
don't know, it happened, and I didn't tell Quin. Helena
told her, confessing, or actually, apologizing.
She thought I'd told Quin. She
didn't tell me she knew for a month.
Then just popped me with it, 'I know'.
That's what she told me. I fucked
up."

"You slept with Helena?"
asked Dana, mouth hanging open, forcing Shane
to reach over and lift her jaw closed.

"Yeah" said Alice,
then wiped a stray tear, "I gave up the best thing to ever grace my life, for a
radio show and fame." Alice
watched as Daisy and Quin spoke to each other in quiet tones.

~*~*~*~*~

"What made you decide
now?" Asked Quin. Daisy leaned against her, watching Rosita as
her girlfriend sat down at the table with Carman,
Lara, Tina, and
Cassandra with a domino set. Soft laugher
and easy banter could be heard from where Quin and Daisy were sitting.

"With the new job,
moving again, we thought it was time to start our own family. I want a Peabody
in the family. Eden and
Braden are Helena's
kids, but not really blood Peabody's
you know? I want to continue that line. My friend, Mack,
from school?" Daisy asked, and Quin
nodded, "He donated the sperm, I went first, and in a few years, Ro wants to
have one too. Mack's
blonde, with dark skin, hazel eyes. He's
a good pick, likes music. His twin
brother is a writer and is gay"

"I get that, but,"
paused Quin, trying to put it into words, "Does this have anything to do with Alice,
and I's problems lately?"

"No. We've been talking about this for a long
while. I hate mom right now," admitted
Daisy. Quin reached over, pulling Daisy
closer to her. Daisy caressed Quin's
cheek, "I do, she broke your heart, and I hate her for it," venom in her voice.

"I don't," said the
stoic Quin.

"Huh?"

"I don't hate her, Daisy. I still love her, I hate what she did, I hate
she hid it from me, but I don't hate her," admitted Quin. Daisy said nothing, Rosita raising her hand
and waving to her lovingly from across the covered patio. Daisy smiled, feeling the love from across
the span of the backyard. At least
something was right in the universe.

~*~*~*~*~

"Do you have every
double in the deck?" Cassandra asked,
slamming down a tile. Tina Rosita
kept a straight face; Lara Bright blue eyes studying the Latina's
face, and found that there was nothing to read there.
giggled, Cassandra hated to lose. peering at her over
the edge of the table, her chin was resting on the cool wood.

"You are scary, Miss
Navarro," stated Lara,
but still, Rosita kept a straight face. Carmen
licked her lips, picking up a tile from the overturned tiles. Grunting at the tile she got, waving for Tina
to take her turn. Tina
popped a tile down, and Rosita quickly placed her tile on the free line.

"She doesn't
talk?" CarmenTina, and Tina
shook her head.
asked in a stage whisper to

"If Rosita wants to
play Barrio bad ass, then she's gonna play, Barrio bad ass," explained Tina,
and still Rosita remained silent and serious.

"Stop driving them
crazy, what did they used to call you, Picardo?
What did that mean again?" Bette
asked, hand on Rosita's shoulder, Rosita looked up at her, sticking her tongue
out and sighing.

"It means rogue,
doesn't it?" Carmen
asked Rosita.

"You're move,
Cassandra," stated Rosita, which only made Bette
laugh. Sam
slid up behind her, giving Bette a glass of
wine. Bette
took it, Sam's warm fingers caressing hers. Sam smiled,
just the left side curling up into a smile, a deep laugh line appearing on Sam's
face.

"Carm? Lara? Want something?" Sam asked.

"Rum and coke," said CarmenLara waved off the offer.
with a grin,

"Rum and cock on the
way," said Sam, everyone laughing
at what she had called the drink. Sam
moved away into the house, having gone from guest to host for some reason. Sam just liked
taking care of people, it was her strong suit, and sometimes her weakness.

"Why is the doctor
playing barkeep, and not playing doctor?"
Rosita asked Lara. Lara
paled. Carmen reached over, touching her
hand, making the redhead smile.

"Sam doesn't want me
talking about it," admitted Lara.
Silence as they all placed their tiles, one after another, Sam coming
back with Carmen's drink. Sam's grey
eyes washed over the table. Tina was
sure that Lara had had something to do with Sam's sudden fall from doctorly
grace; something had been whispered about it at The Planet a few days before
while she'd been there for a lunch meeting.

"Ok, subject at
hand?" Sam asked, hands on hips, her
shirt riding up and Bette saw the flat stomach of the butch doctor. Cassandra saw Bette's dark eyes wandering
over the butch cutie.

"Dana" Bette covered. Sam looked down at her hands, nodding.

"She's got great
doctors, prognosis is good. She's taken
great care of her body, and has a hellva shot at being okay. Darci knows what she is doing, she's one of
the best in her field, she's got a way of visualizing the cancer, and knows
just how to attack it." Sam assured
them.

"Still, she could get
sicker," stated Tina.