If Love is a Game...

Chapter Twenty-Six

Nap Time

I wonder if she's forgotten or if she's just trying to forget. I wonder if she remembers, but hates it when her eyes become wet. I wonder if she stands firm behind her decision, holding back no regrets. I wonder if I would've given into those same threats. I wonder all of this, while on the inside I fear the worse. And as I sit here now, stiffly sitting beside my cousin, my family is the one I curse.

Lorena was beginning to wonder if she was a poet, and just didn't know it (severely cheesy, but oh well). It wasn't that she didn't feel good at it; she felt that she was terrible at it, which she much didn't care at all about. It was just a way she could sort her feelings out, trying to rhyme her sentences which tended to let her fade away from the thought of being forced to sit besides Lucius in Ancient Runes.

How in the world did that happen? Lorena wondered silently in the back of her mind as she let her Professor's voice wash right over her.

Oh yeah, now she remembered. Bellatrix Lestrange had tried to hex her for letting a few nasty words "slip", but she had "accidentally" hexed Peter instead and they had to rush him to the Infirmary. Krystyna, Sirius, Remus, and she had been the last ones to enter the classroom. And seeing there were just enough seats for only four on the Gryffindor side--and one right next to Lucius Malfoy--she had been a good friend. She had sat down beside Lucius. Lucky for him, she was truly not feeling well today so she let his words wash over her like water on a smooth rock and did not reply. He was really lucky that she didn't have enough energy to hex him.

"What is up with you, Lorena?" Lucius snapped agitatedly, after all his snide remarks had just seemingly bounced off of her. "Have you gone to Anger Management or something?"

Lorena looked over at him, unabashed by his comment. She shook her head. "No, I just feel ill today, that's all," she replied tranquilly. "So, if I ever get nauseous, let's hope you have a second pair of robes on the waiting for you." She looked back down at her book and he scooted his chair away from her. She liked that better; she smiled faintly.

Lucky for Lucius, the bell rang and Lorena hurried all of her things together and before anyone could stop her, she rushed out of the room and headed straight for the restroom. Remus watched the end of her robes whip out of sight from the door.

"Just relax, Remus; Lorena hasn't been feeling good since last Potions class," Krystyna told him serenely, seeing how nervous he looked. He sighed and frowned at her. "She'll be alright."

"C'mon, let's go to lunch," Sirius said lowly. They nodded their heads and exited the classroom. When they got into the Great Hall, they saw Lily, James, Sara, and Peter already sitting down at the Gryffindor table. Lorena was nowhere to be seen. They sat down beside them and Lily immediately noticed.

"Where's Lorena at?" she asked.

"She took a bathroom break," Sirius answered discreetly as he loaded his plate up with food like James had. Peter took a bite out of his large sandwich and watched them. Lily nodded her head, understanding what he had just said. They started talking about their last classes as the Great Hall filled up. When everyone was inside--except for Lorena, who had not come back yet (much to Remus's dismay)--Dumbledore stood up to--what looked like--make an announcement. Everyone looked up at him curiously and eyed him with anticipation.

"I am pleased to say that a certain holiday is coming up," Dumbledore rang with a warm smile. Most of the population of boys groaned inwardly and most of the girls became suddenly giggly. Everyone knew that the closest holiday was Valentine's Day. Sirius, however, sighed wearily. Since his Second Year, he'd received at least two hundred singing cards.

"The School Governors and I have thought that it would be a pleasant idea to do something festive in order to keep certain troubles outside of the school from your minds," Dumbledore continued on cheerily, smiling at them all. Of course, he was talking about the constant threat of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eater followers. Many students exchanged looks. Krystyna sank in her seat. Samuel and her father were two of those threats; she hoped no one was looking at her.

"The idea we have come to is to hold a first time ever, Masquerade on February the fourteenth," the old man said with a cheerful smile. Much commotion came over the Great Hall. Girls started giggling and talking loudly while boys groaned even more and sank in their seats. Krystyna was thrown off track. How was a Ball going to help them forget about Voldemort?

"You will be supplied with food, drinks, music, and much more for your delightful evening," Dumbledore told them cheerfully, still smiling. "You will be required to wear the dress robes that were on your list for this year and I'm afraid to say that it is only Third Years and up." Peter gulped.

"Does this mean we have to dance?" he asked them quietly. Krystyna nodded her head. Dancing, she just wasn't that type of girl and she didn't even know how to dance. Well, actually, that was a lie. She didn't want to know how to dance (confusing, yes, I know). You see, her mother had forced her into taking dance lessons so that when the time came, she would be able to dance properly. She despised her mother with every dance step she took in that class.

"Dance? We have to dance?" James repeated incredulously. Krystyna nodded her head again. Did he not pay attention at all? Or maybe he was just in shock about the whole thing. "Well, I guess all those dance lessons my mother put me through has come in handy. She always said it would one day..."

Sirius shook his head and muttered something under his breath. He couldn't dance. As much as his mother had tried to make him learn, he had failed at it. He hadn't been paying attention, yet again. You see, he never did pay attention during things like that--dancing and piano. And he knew that he had to dance with Krystyna, and even though he knew he wasn't that much of a dancer, he actually wanted to try it with her. Hey, might as well do it first with the girl you first loved, eh, he thought, thinking on the bright side.

"Dance...? I...I don't dance," Remus muttered uneasily, looking down at his plate. James patted Remus on the back teasingly and smirked. Remus looked up at him, knowing that James was about to embarrass him again.

"You don't dance? Why, my good friend, everyone must dance once in their lifetime!" James exclaimed indignantly. Remus rolled his eyes. "And I'm sure Lorena will want to dance with you."

"Just don't step on her feet, Moony, and you'll be alright," Sirius added in a quiet and sly voice. Remus felt extremely uneasy with the idea of dancing with Lorena. He still remembered the infamous "Choco Snogo Bar" incident and had been rather uncomfortable along the way. He liked the girl, no doubt in denying that, but he wasn't brave enough to dance with her. Dance with her! He especially thought up of dreadful, embarrassing moments during a slow dance. A slow dance with Lorena! He didn't know if his stomach would make it through the days to come.

"I...I can't do this," Remus told them seriously in a low voice. "I...I can't dance. I don't dance."

"Listen, Moony; there comes a time in every man's life when he has to do something he doesn't want to do--when he has to give up something he doesn't want to give up--when he has to sit back and watch as unspeakable horrors go on and do nothing about, but go with the flow," James explained, somehow making a supposed-to-be serious topic sound very...humorous. He clapped his hand on Remus's shoulder and took a dramatic breath. "And that Masquerade--that dance with Lorena--my dear friend, is all of those things we call nightmares."

"But...you don't get it--I can't dance!" Remus hissed worriedly. Sirius and James exchanged glances and looked back at him curiously. "I can't do it! It's just...I've never...it's impossible...I...I'm too clumsy... This is going to be ridiculously embarrassing."

"That is all too true," Peter muttered. He couldn't dance at all. He was the clumsiest boy in all of Hogwarts. He supposed that when he was in line, getting made in Heaven, God must've put ten extra doses of clumsiness in him because he could trip over less than oxygen itself. Sirius was lucky; he had stealth like no other and even if he couldn't dance he could probably make himself look like he could dance and even if that didn't work, the girls would still swoon and pine for him because of his dashingly good looks and fantastic charm. Peter, he was clumsy and not the best looking of guys. There was only one outcome to this Masquerade: Eternal Doom.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Lily quipped. Some looked at her as she was mad. "I mean, listen; it's better to be embarrassed and laugh that to be fearful and scared, right? We'll all be too worried about this upcoming ball thing to even think about You-Know-Who."

"Lily, if we're not afraid of You-Know-Who then we'll be scared out of our wits of this dance," Krystyna pointed out calmly, taking a sip of her drink.

"Oh, yeah, you're probably right," Lily sighed, her bright side immediately tarnished. However, she shrugged her shoulders and continued on with life. It wasn't going to end, after all. In fact, she couldn't wait to dance with James. It would be fun to see him try to dance with her. She really hoped that he would be able to keep up with her.

"What was the date? February Fourteenth, right? I'm sorry, but I shall be sick on that day," Sara noted, nodding her head knowingly. They all looked at her. "What? For the past eleven years, I have been sick on Valentine's Day; it's a tradition that I must keep!"

"If you're sick on that day, I'll pay you five galleons," James said seriously, giving her a bet. She thought about it and then extended her hand over the table to him with a sly grin.

"You're on, James," Sara said in a voice that was much different from her usual one. He grinned and shook her hand, sealing the deal. Sara took her hand back, grinning to herself. You see, if she was sick on that day, James would have to pay up. By unknown Wizarding bonds, when you shake hands, you make it resolutely final. And James just shook her hand.

"That was a bad call," Krystyna chirped in, looking at James idly. "Sara didn't lie when she said eleven years straight."

James shrugged his shoulders; it wasn't like five galleons was going to make a dent in his wallet--mere chump change. Dumbledore had continued on to say that the Third, Second, and First Years were going to have a different party of their own during the day, which meant no school. They gladly took that offer.

However, lunch did not last very long. Even though Lorena had still not come back yet, they had to leave to head for Potions class. Remus, though plagued with the idea of dancing, couldn't help but worry about where Lorena might be now. They left the Great Hall, all hidden in their thoughts. James was thinking about--what else?--Quidditch; Sirius was lost in thought about how he might dance with Krystyna; Peter was wondering who in the world would want to dance with him; Lily was trying to fantasize at how the Masquerade might turn out to be like; and Sara was wondering what she might buy with those extra five galleons she was going to get from James.

But Krystyna, she wasn't bothered by such trivial things. None of that mattered to her at this very moment because she suddenly realized that January was ending faster than she would've liked. The passed few weeks of January had been rather uneventful for the most part.

She had stayed by Sirius's side, laughing and trying to spend the most time with him she could. She talked to Lily and Sara more often and became closer to them. She talked with Remus more during their Prefect patrols. She realized James was actually quite the comedian and genius so she paid him more attention. And she talked to shy Peter and tried to help his struggle in Transfiguration.

Lorena, she would be stuck with her for the rest of eternity probably. But she couldn't help, but feel distant with the girl, who was trying to act normal--by being set off by Lucius and staying exuberant. She felt guilty for not paying the girl much attention. Actually, she was beginning to become worried about her friend. Like Remus, she could see the emptiness in her now sometimes cold, gray eyes.

But, Krystyna had other things to worry about. Though she wanted to stay in January forever, that was impossible; February was starting tomorrow. And that meant that she had only fifteen more lovely days with Sirius and her best friends. She hadn't even thought about what she was going to do. She didn't want to think about it and forced it out of her mind every time she was reminded. How was she going to break it off with Sirius so badly that he couldn't think straight? What were the consequences going to be? She didn't want to think about any of it, but she had to now since it was closing in her on like a room that was suddenly getting smaller and smaller by the second.

How was she going to live being with Lucius and watch Sirius from the other side of the window? How was she going to live when she saw him with other girls after her? Would she fade away? Would she become just another girl he had charmed? Would she be marked off his list? Or would she stay in his mind forever? Would he dwell on what he'd lost? Would he be livid with her? Would he be angry at him? Would he hate her...? Could he hate her...?

Krystyna forced those words down her throat and out of her mind. She was not going to think that. She was just going to hope for the best. She was hoping that he would forgive and forget. She wanted him to forgive her--if just in his mind and heart--and then forget about her so he could move on. As much as she knew it would pain her, she wanted him to move on after her. She wanted him to have the life she would always dream of at night. That was just a small extent of how much she cared about him.

She would never be able to move on after him. She never wanted to move on after him. Where would she move if she did? Would she grow to love Lucius Malfoy? Certainly not; she wouldn't dare do such a thing, but she had to act it. Oh, she had to act she had moved on. She wondered if she would be able to handle to consequences. She wondered if she'd ever be able to speak to him again. She wondered all of this as she laid her head against his shoulder while they walked to Potions class.

~*~

To tell the truth, this had been the worst first thirty minutes of Double Potions with Slytherins in all of Krystyna's entire lifetime--and she had had many bad ones. First of all, she was paired up with Severus Snape, who was very skilled in Potions, but he kept fumbling with the things she asked for. He was still stuttering with her and couldn't look her in the eyes. What a silly boy, she always thought. Second of all, Lucius Malfoy was sitting on her other side with Jessie Fox, who, though in Gryffindor, batted her black eyelashes at him many times.

You can have him, Jessie; I seriously don't want him, Krystyna thought as she looked over at the poor misguided soul sitting beside Lucius on his other side.

Lucius shot her very many smirks, obviously knowing what was going to come in fifteen days. She glared at him viciously from the corners of his eyes and looked away quickly. The routine was getting rather boring to her now. She wanted to end it by hexing him or something along the same lines. Third of all, she had been split up from Sirius, who was paired up with Cindy Newburg (much to James's relief), and was across the room from him now. Fourth of all, Lorena had not come back yet and was still M.I.A. (Missing in Action, if you didn't know)--which worried her a lot and Remus was looking worried to death (literally). Oh, and fifth of all, Severus has just managed to drop an ingredient on the floor--again.

"Snape, that was the last--key--ingredient we needed for the Tranquility Potion and it's all over the floor now!" Krystyna cried out, but not too loudly. His eyes fluttered to the ground where the green goop flowed on the floor, seeping under both of their shoes strangely.

"I--er--well--um--sorry--no--you see--I--didn't--mean--do--so sorry--" Severus stammered quickly, taking his wand out so he could clean the mess--he made--up and repair the jar. She rolled her eyes. If he couldn't get one sentence out, how was he supposed to get two spells out? She sighed agitatedly and pulled her feet out of the goop.

"I'll get us some more," Krystyna noted calmly, walking away from him and leaving a trail of florescent lime green footprints behind as she walked. Severus looked at every single step she made before he was brought back to reality when Lucius swore a blue streak; the goop had gotten underneath his shoes and that was not good.

"Sorry, Lucius," Severus managed. He cleaned the mess up and repaired the broken glass jar because Krystyna wasn't standing right next to him. When she came back, her footprints still glowing oddly, she put the ingredient in herself and stirred it herself, afraid that he might drop the ladle in their potion--for the fifth time--and ruin it.

Suddenly, the dungeon doors opened and everyone diverted their attention away from their simmering potions to the back of the classroom. Lorena had walked in, her books clutched tightly to her chest and looking extremely pale with sweat beading of her forehead. She wiped it off with the back of her hand and kicked the door shut with her foot. Everyone was silent as she made her way to the empty seat next to her partner, Rodolphus Lestrange. She dropped her bags and her books loudly before glaring at them all to make them stop staring at her. It worked; they looked away and continued on with work.

"Miss Fawcett, you're forty minutes late for class," Professor Lector pointed out unnecessarily. She looked up at him with those frighteningly cold and empty, gray eyes.

"Yes, I know that; I do have a watch, you know," Lorena replied calmly, glaring at him. It was as if she didn't care about getting in trouble anymore. She let her tongue do the talking and forget all logic, another one of her irrational actions.

"Perhaps you can't see then or read time; otherwise you might have been prompt for class," Lector replied mercilessly. He'd been in a bad mood because of Valentine's Day; he hated the holiday.

"Oh, I can see and I can read alright; I was just busy with more important things, that's all," Lorena quipped, her voice slowly rising with every word. It had been so long that she had burst out in one of her furious states. Lucius had not talked to them for two weeks now--thankfully--and when he finally did, she didn't have the energy--or the guts (literally)--to yell at him. And now, she had just recovered from it.

"Busy with more important things than my class, eh?" Lector growled angrily, furious with her. "What could that possibly be?"

"Puking my guts out in the bathroom," Lorena simply replied. A few girls began to gag and made retching sounds. Poor, Lorena, she really wasn't feeling well today. Their professor pulled a face of disgust.

"I think a night's detention will do you wonders," Lector noted calmly. "Maybe then you'll learn to respect your authorities and peers." Anger was bubbling in her veins, Krystyna could feel it radiating off of her. It was just a strange vibe she gave.

"Detention--in here--with you?" Lorena asked. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but unless you want to have detention with me in the Hospital Wing, I don't think I can make it."

"You'll make it, no matter what," Lector told her firmly.

"Oh yeah, alright, I'll come in here, vomit on you and then ask you what you think, huh, does that sound like a nice detention, professor?" Lorena shouted blindly.

"Three night's detention, Miss Fawcett!" Lector yelled over her shouts. "Do I make myself clear on this matter?"

"Yeah, you make it clear that you have no decency whatsoever!" Lorena screamed angrily. And before he could say anything else to her, she added, "I hope it's contagious!" She plopped herself down in her seat and folded her arms, huffing breathlessly. She closed her eyes and began taking deep breaths. She unfolded her arms and wiped the sweat off her brow, folding her arms again.

"Are you quite finished?" Lector questioned quietly, a simmering anger vibe coming off of him. She didn't answer him out loud, but nodded her head stiffly. She really didn't feel good, but she supposed that if she felt queasy again, she could just head for the nearest empty cauldron. "I think, you'll be our tester of the Tranquility Potion, Fawcett."

Oh, great, that's another thing to add to the side effects of the Tranquility Charm, Lorena thought drearily, but said nothing when Lestrange handed her the flask full of their Tranquility Potion.

"Cheers, Rudolph," Lorena murmured before dumping the potion down her throat. She didn't even have time to set the flask down. It slipped from her grasp and crashed onto the floor, splitting into tiny shards of broken glass. Everything around her swirled and she saw Lestrange grinning thickly. "You prat, you added too much... too much..."

Before Lorena could even finish her sentence, she fell out of her chair and into a blissful Lestrange's lap, dozing in a steady sleep. Krystyna gaped at her friend's limp body in shock. A few girls squealed at the sight and a few boys laughed--one of them being Lucius. Krystyna stomped on his foot and his laughs became howls of pain. Remus jumped to his feet.

"What did you do to her, you idiot?" Remus demanded furiously, obviously terrified at what he had just witnessed. His partner, Narcissa Black, was in a fit of giggles. Sirius, thoroughly annoyed with his cousin's lame giggles, just so happened to be sitting beside her and pulled her chair out from underneath her when she went to sit down. She fell on her bottom on the hard, cold, stone floor and yelped with pain. He looked away from her, happy that her giggles were now weeps.

"I guess I accidentally put too much of that Flaskeron stuff in it," Lestrange answered Remus in an annoyingly delighted voice. Lector nodded his head, agreeing with the boy. Remus was to ring his neck until he turned blue--which he did not want to do to many people in his life. Remus was turning red in the face. Sirius was afraid he might have stopped breathing because he was positively fuming with anger while James was worried that he might murder Lestrange.

"Easy there, Remus; take deep breaths, that's it--in and out, in and out--breath deeply," James told Remus calmly, standing up and trying to calm his friend down. Remus was taking deep breaths and the redness of his face was toning down a bit.

"Just--just get her--out of your--your--lap--" Remus spluttered angrily, glaring furiously at the black haired boy. Lestrange sneered at him.

"No way, do you know how long I've been trying to get this to happen?" Lestrange replied smugly, chortling loudly and still sneering at Remus haughtily.

"Why you little--"

"NOOO!!!" James threw himself in front of a very shocked looking Lestrange when Remus suddenly lurched for an attack. Sirius jumped to his feet and grabbed on Remus's arm, pulling back on him as hard as he could. It never dawned on him that Remus was very strong. Before Sirius knew it, Remus was dragging him across the dungeon while he pulled back on him uselessly. Everyone watched in terror while James pushed and Sirius pulled on Remus away from Lestrange and Lorena. Professor Lector thought it was rather amusing. Krystyna, however, did not. She jumped to her feet and ran over to them.

"Remus, stop it!" Krystyna shouted over the three boys' grunts and occasional shouts. He didn't seem to hear her so she tried again. "Remus, get a hold of yourself!" Still, he didn't hear her. She rolled her eyes and looked around the room for something. She saw it glowing on Lector's desk. She jogged over to there and snatched it.

"Sorry, emergency; needed it anyway!" Krystyna explained hastily when Lector opened his mouth to object. She pulled the cork off of the flask and opened Lorena's mouth. Before she poured the antidote for the serum, she looked up at Lestrange. "She's going to hate you for this forever."

An even more shocked look flashed across Lestrange's face. And without further ado, Krystyna poured the antidote in her friend's mouth. She sat the empty flask down on the table and took a step back. She looked at Sirius tugging on Remus and James pushing and trying to calm him down at the same time.

"You're"--Sirius grunted--"making this"--he grunted again--"very"--he grunted louder when he tugged on Remus's arm even harder--"difficult, Remus."

"I don't care!" Remus yelled back at him, trying to pull his arm out of Sirius's tight grip. But Sirius was being relentless here.

"Now, Remus, you know that you really don't want to do this and you're over reacting just a tad bit about this," James noted hastily, trying to make his friend relax and turn him back over to logic. Remus looked down at a sleeping Lorena still in Lestrange's lap and glared at James heatedly. "Okay, so maybe you really do want to do this. Um... still, this is no reason why you should get yourself into trouble. Remember, Muggle dueling is not the way to go."

Then, with his free hand, Remus went to grab his wand that was in his pocket. James saw this move and began to jump up and down, forgetting that he also had a wand. "No, no, I didn't mean that you should use your wand instead; you're taking this all wrong, Remus!" James exclaimed frantically, shaking his head wildly with wide eyes. Remus brought out his wand. "Argh... Lorena wouldn't want you to do this, now would she, Remus, old buddy--old pal--hehe...?"

Suddenly, Lorena took a sharp intake of breath and opened her eyes only to come face-to-face with Rodolphus Lestrange. She shrieked with surprise and he moved his head so she could jolt in an upright position. She noticed everyone staring at her and heard some strange grunts behind her.

"What--?" Lorena looked down and suddenly realized that she was sitting in Lestrange's lap! "What the bloody hell?! How in the bloody world did I land in your bloody lap?!" She immediately got out of a grinning Lestrange's lap. She looked up and saw the scuffle between James, Sirius, and Remus.

"Bloody hell, what do you guys think you're doing?!" Lorena demanded, jumping to him feet and gaping at them, completely shocked. They all immediately stopped moving and making any noise. James turned his head around; Sirius peered from behind Remus; and Remus just kept his eyes on her.

"You're awake!" Remus said hoarsely.

"And out of Lestrange's lap!" James added cheerfully. That remark earned him a quick glare from Remus, who still had his wand pointed at Lestrange from underneath James's right arm. They were in a rather awkward position.

"I--what just happened?" Lorena asked, bemused, eyeing them oddly. They noticed that they were in a strange position and stood up straight in front of her, each grinning uneasily.

"Well--er--you see, that's quite the question," James noted gawkily, still giving her a toothy grin. Lily rolled her eyes at her boyfriend.

"Um, yeah, it's actually a long story and hard to explain, you see," Sirius added anxiously, grinning at her uneasily, waiting for something bad to happen. What it would be, he did not know. Krystyna was a little breathless at the moment as she watched him without blinking. Lorena looked softly at Remus, whose mind had just become completely blank under the look she was giving him.

"Er... what they said," Remus said uneasily, laughing nervously. She shook her head and collapsed into her seat, heaving a prolonged sigh.

"Never mind, I don't want to know," Lorena muttered under her breath, feeling extremely exhausted with the Tranquility Potion's effect wearing away slowly. They all looked at each other, giving each other forgiving looks, and sat back down in their seats. Krystyna hurried back to her seat between a startled looking Severus and still pained, yet priggish looking Lucius.

"I think we'll be having extra company for the next three nights, Miss Fawcett, isn't that right Mr. Lupin?" Lector said strangely cheerfully, with a hideous grin plastered on his face. Remus didn't say anything, but nodded his head nonetheless.

"What--why?" Lorena immediately asked curiously. Lector just gave her a simpering look and then looked at Remus, who was far behind her and sinking in his chair low. She looked back at him curiously. "What's this all about?" Remus gave her one of those I'll-Tell-You-Later looks and she frowned, but nodded her head and looked back up front.

"Now, before we were so rudely interrupted, let's see who else's potion is a fluke--too weak or"--he glanced at Lorena, who frowned at him again, and gave another one of his hideous grins--"too strong. Let us begin testing."

Krystyna had decided that after taking Severus and her fifth potion, she was never going to take another potion again. She filled the flask up and extended it out to Severus. "Bottles up, Snape," she said with a wan smile. He took it with trembling fingers and drank it slowly. She watched as he sat the empty flask down and was no longer trembling.

"Wow, it worked," Severus said tranquilly. It suddenly occurred to him that he didn't stutter at all in his last sentence. Even Krystyna looked almost thrilled to have gotten it right. "Wow, I said a complete sentence!"

"Amazing," Krystyna muttered dully, filling up another flask to hand it in for a grade. She smiled faintly when she saw Lucius fall into a deep sleep and fall out of his chair and onto the floor. Marissa squealed and began to apologize uselessly as she looked over him. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Too bad he couldn't stay asleep forever; that would sure solve a lot of her problems.