"Christine... are you there? pick up if you're home... It's Lena. Christine.... Please call me as soon as you get in. It's important."

"Owlene! Please come back here.. I told you I gotta get outta here quick today!"

"I'm on my way - just hold on a minute Pluto. You've got some kind of nerve just showing up here unannounced. Y'know, Telpo thinks you're in Denver plotting some kind of debacle with Sammy anyway."

Owlene hangs up the phone and comes back into the kitchen while Krozabeeep is still busily stuffing his face and trying to talk at the same time. "Lee, ya want a hunka this pizza? We gotta get this figured out quick and I've gotta be on my way before that moron Eggs figures out where I've been. Did you reach Christine yet?"

"Never you mind about that! Besides she's not home; I'm sure she would have picked up when she heard it was me if she was. That is, unless Solly's gotten back with some news in the meantime. What about Monsignor Dipshit, any word from him yet?"

"Yeah, I called him earlier from the airport. Said Sol was there yesterday morning all tizzed about Lou and some other stuff about Sanduccia. So we shouldn't worry too much about him.... By the time he picks up on any of this, it'll all be settled anyway. Besides, I tried to tell him myself the last time. If Christine can keep him guessing awhile longer, we should have nothing to worry about.

"I heard from Lori that Christine was at Krelba's yesterday though. What the Hell was that about anyway? Do you know?"

Owlene tried to disguise her look of surprise from him but was too late. Krozabeeep realized he shouldn't have mentioned that little detail just yet. Trying to cover he asked "Do you think Eggs and T have a clue about what Sammy Sanduccia's really up to in Denver?"

"Telpo's got something on his mind about that, that's for sure. The second package from Christine's brother Phillip arrived today. I'm not sure what T did with the first one though. I just know he was none too happy about it and said something to me about an errand so I insisted on taking the afternoon off and came here right away. I also told him to leave Christine out of this or I'd go back to work at Plasmacorps but he insinuated that he already knew she was involved. Do you see any graceful way out of this? At least for Christine and Phiilip? Solly I think has a slightly different agenda, but I hate seeing her a part of his idiot fantasy."

"Lee, sweetie,,, Don't worry about Christine; she'll be fine. And, Phillip, well, we'll have to see... He's so proficient at stirring up adventure, we'll just have to hope for the best. Now, come over here honey. I've missed you the last couple weeks.'

"Pluto" she sighed, letting him slip her into his arms, "Ive missed you too. Everything always gets so damned complicated working for T. Maybe I should call Jenny at P-corps.... She said we should talk..."

"Owlene, that might just be jumping from the frying pan into the fire, Hon, it's too early to tell. Why don't you just quit and say the Hell with both of those clownfarms? You really don't need the money, especially if you'll reconsider us moving in together again."

"Look, I know the last time was a fucked up mess thanks to me, but things've changed now. And I know you know I still love you tremendously. Things'll be really different this time, I promise." he said, wondering to himself if they truly could be. He damned sure wanted to believe it himself, but...

Owlene sighed again. "Sweetheart, I still love you too. It's just that we've both managed to survive that transition once. I'm just not sure that I could survive it again if we didn't pull it off this time. It was just too hard and I want to be grateful for what we do have. It's a miracle we can manage to be together at all, after all of that. You'll always be dear to me-you know that. But I just don't know if I'm ready to risk all that again. Maybe when all of this settles down we can take another look...I just don't know..."

Pluto's pensive frown suddenly shifted gears into a weak grin... " Awww, Owlene, I understand. You know I do. But...never mind... You're right; we need to see where all of this goes before we take that step. Just know that I'm ready when you are. Okay? I guess we'd better get back to the business at hand if we're ever gonna find out. Telpo's bound to kick up a shitstorm if he ever does get wind of what Sammy's tryin' to do. I really gotta go; call me ifya find out anything?"

"Sure, baby.... I'll talk to ya soon. And, thanks, sweetie. I'll find out what I can from Christine."