Tam awoke to the smell of coffee and the sizzling of eggs on the stove. With a soft, tired groan he swung his legs over the side of the couch and let out a heavy yawn.

He’d rolled well on his Stealth check when he returned to Phoenix and Gigi’s house the night before — They were both asleep by the time he made it back, and as far as he could tell, he hadn’t woken either of them.

Gigi’s roll this morning didn’t seem to go quite as well… But then, she had to be at at least a -2 penalty with her houseguest sleeping in the middle of the living room.

“Need any help?” He offered as he crossed behind the couch to join her in the kitchen.

Gigi shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m fine… It’s almost done anyway.” As though on cue, she leaned forward quickly to turn off the stove. “Sorry if I woke you, by the way. Our bed’s free now if you wanna sleep a little more.” She offered.

Empty bed? Tam rolled a Perception check. Phoenix was nowhere to be seen, and he couldn’t hear the shower running either… “Where’s Phee?”

She shrugged, but did not seem concerned. “He was gone when I got up. I think he must’ve gone to the hotel to pick up Jasper… But I’m surprised he doesn’t have to pick you up too.” Gigi’s lips curled into a smile as she spoke. “We were sure you weren’t gonna bother coming back last night…”

It felt almost pointless to even attempt a Bluff roll, at this point. But Tam decided to give it a shot. “Guess I lost track of time.” He explained. “Me and Jas got pretty carried away once we got to talking… It was great.”

Better than great, really… It was amazing. And not just the epic makeup sex either — the parts where they actually talked were incredible too. Having Jasper back in his life made it feel like a terrible curse had finally been lifted. There was still so much work to do… But things finally felt like they were gonna be okay again.

“Uh-huh… ‘talking’… sure.” Gigi teased as she took a seat at the table. “Come on, Tam. Staying out so late without telling us, sneaking back home after we were asleep… Plus, you’re practically glowing this morning.” She shook her head, but smiled.

Tam chuckled softly. He’d totally botched that one. “Okay, maybe we did a little more than just talk…” He admitted.

“Ha! I knew it!”

“Lucky guess!” Tam let out another laugh. It was his turn to tease her. “But for the record, you stayed out late with your friend the other night and then snuck back home after me and Phee were asleep too…” He said with a smirk. “Are you telling me that’s supposed to mean something too?”

“No!” Gigi snapped suddenly. “That was different!”

Tam felt his stomach twist with unease. Why had she suddenly gotten so defensive? “I know. I was kidding…” His brow furrowed in concern. Jas told me we should try talking to Gigi… maybe this is my chance. “Gigi, is everything okay?” He asked softly.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” She replied, her tone suddenly softer than before. “Sorry… Haven’t had enough coffee yet, I guess.” As though on cue, she lifted the porcelain mug to her lips.

“Nice try.” He shook his head almost sadly. His Perception was way too high to fall for something like that. “Come on, Gigi… We’re friends, right?”

“Of course!”

“Alright, then as your friend, I’m telling you that I’m worried about you.” He confessed softly. It actually felt good to finally get off his chest.

“Worried?” She sounded almost nervous as she replied.

Tam nodded. “Something just seems ‘off’, I guess. It has for a while.” He chose his words very carefully — he wanted to be honest, but also didn’t want to let slip anything that Phoenix had said to him. So he stuck to other truths instead. “I could feel it when you visited back at Christmas… And every time we’ve talked since then too.” He explained seriously.

“Tam, I –”

“And I get it.” He continued. “I really do. I’ve played this level before with Jas… And it’s a doozy.”

He hoped she would understand what he was getting at. He watched as she furrowed her brow in thought for a few moments before finally opening her mouth to speak.

“You mean when Jasper went back to school.” Gigi replied softly. “When he started uni… and things started going downhill.”

Tam nodded slowly. “It changes everything… And that’s without adding marriage and moving overseas on top of it. You were brave.” His lips curled into a small smile. “You’re trying this thing on Super Expert mode.”

“I don’t know about brave.” Gigi let out a laugh. “Stupid, maybe…”

Tam said nothing. He could see through her laughter easily — she was finally starting to open up. He eyed her for a few moments, nervous but expectant.

He could almost see her fumbling with her dice as she fought to pass her Will save… But apparently she didn’t.

“It’s awful, Tam.” Gigi’s whisper finally broke the silence. “I’m just so tired.”

“Of what?”

“Everything. All of this… Pretending it’s all okay…” Gigi’s voice broke suddenly. “But it’s too late now.” Her voice was thick as a few tears found their way down her cheeks. “We can’t go back. And that scares the hell out of me.”

Tam’s heart broke at the sight of his friend so upset. It was clear she’d been bottling this up for a long time… and somehow he’d convinced her to let it all out. “Too late for what?” He asked gently.

“We can’t fix this. I fucked up so bad, Tam.” Gigi continued crying as she spoke. “I took everything out on him. I pushed him away, and then I…” She paused, shaking her head. “It’s just too late.”

“It’s never too late.” Tam assured her. “Just look at me and Jas. I really thought it was gonna be over forever. And now… Well, we’ve still gotta start back at level one. It’s gonna take a long time before we catch up to where we were before. But it’s not over yet. We’re still in it together.”

“Even after what he did?” Gigi asked sadly. “After what happened with that other guy… You’re still willing to forgive him?”

It was hard to ignore the slight pang of pain he felt at the reminder of Jasper’s betrayal. But his Fortitude save was high enough to brush it off. “I am.” Tam replied at last. “It hurt like hell. But he was drunk off his ass… And they didn’t go very far or anything. It could’ve been so much worse.”

“What if it was worse though? What if it wasn’t some random guy at a party? What if it was… I don’t know.” Gigi paused, biting her lip for a moment. “A friend he’d been seeing behind your back or something? And… what if they did more than just kiss?” Her voice was so small. “Could you forgive him then?”

Tam’s eyes widened slightly as the realization finally hit him. She’s worried about Phee and Lola… She thinks she lost him already.

“Hey, Phee loves you, okay? He’d never do something like that.”

Gigi shook her head but said nothing, a tiny sob passing her lips.

“You’ve just gotta talk to him, Gigi. Tell him how you feel.” Tam paused for a moment.

Gigi remained silent as her tears continued to fall.

“Look, I know how scary that is… It’s like a level ten Fear spell or something.” He sighed softly as he continued. He understood all too well what a difficult spell that could be to overcome. “I know Phee though. And trust me, it’s not too late yet, okay? But if you wait too much longer… it might be.”

She was silent for several more moments as her tears finally began to subside. With a slow, deep breath, she raised her eyes to meet his once more. “I really appreciate how sweet you’re being about this.” Gigi assured him. “But don’t worry about me, okay? And… Promise you won’t tell Phoenix what I said?”

Tam sighed. Phoenix was his best friend in the world, but he also knew that Gigi had opened up to him in confidence. “I won’t.” He promised softly.

And it was a promise he intended to keep… But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t tell Phoenix anything either. There was no way he could stay completely silent about this.

“Thanks, Tam.” At last, a small smile had found its way onto Gigi’s lips. “And thanks for listening too.”

“Any time.” He did his best to return her smile. “But can you promise me something too?” When she said nothing, he continued. “Promise me you’ll talk to Phee about all this. Promise you aren’t just gonna keep bottling all this up, okay?”

The sound of the opening front door reached their ears before she even had a chance to reply. Phoenix had finally returned home, with Jasper in tow, just as Gigi had predicted.

He’d never know whether Gigi would agree to his promise, it seemed.

But then, Tam had a feeling he didn’t have to roll anything to predict what her answer would have been.