So I'm sorry, I should have reserved that look solely forhim," She smiled, and I laughed, a little nervously, still unsure of howto respond."Yvonne, ...y the way," she said, holding out her hand."I'm Alexis," I replied, taking it to shake as she smiled warmly at me,feeling the tension start to leave my body again. Another test I seemedto have passed for now."Is that your boyfriend you were sitting with?" Husband. Nick," I said, glancing down at the rock on my left hand,where it rested. ' he snapped through the link and I shut it down not wanting to hear his rant.I started humming an Earth song I had found as I worked on bringing the boy back to life. Ten minutes later the system chimed. I smiled as I watched the faint heartbeat get stronger and stronger. Picking up a hypoinjector, I walked over to the bed holding the boy and reached through the sterilization field. Pressing the canister to the boys chest, I felt the needle punch through the harden foam and into the frail body. I wondered if Winn would be up for anything after her very long day.I put the food in the centre of the small table on the large porch, and pulled up a chair. Cindy handed me a drink as she sat beside me. As she lowered herself into the chair, I noticed a lot of movement under the thin cloth. °She's naked under that dress,° I thought. °This neighbourhood is nuts!° For the next hour the conversation flowed nicely, lubricated by the sangria. Jen joined us eventually, realizing that I wasn't. Jim accepted for himself and Donna and they agreed on Saturday evening. When Jim got home that night and told Donna, she was all excited and insisted that the two of them go right out and shop for a housewarming gift for Lupe. Jim described the apartment to Donna, based on Lupe's reports to him. As soon as Jim mentioned the balcony, Donna knew just what to get.When Saturday finally rolled around, a bemused Jim and an excited Donna headed off to Tustin with the car top down and a seven foot tree.