Once they got outside and a few storefronts from The Planet, Alice stopped walking and grabbed the woman’s arm. “Thank you, it’s a long story, well, no actually, not that long, but I owe you one. I’m Alice, Alice Pieszecki.”

“Hi. Dana.”

Alice smiled up at Dana, “I seriously owe you. Thank you.”

“It wasn’t a big deal.” Dana said with her eyes firmly fixed on the sidewalk.

“Well, it was to me. So, how can I pay you back, Dana? You name it.”

“Really, it wasn’t a big deal. I should really go.”

“Let me at least buy you lunch. It’s the least I can do.” Dana lifted her eyed from the ground and looked at Alice, who was had this big smile on her face and felt her anxiety dissipating.

“OK.” Dana said, “But are you sure, you really don’t have to.”

Alice grabbed Dana’s hand and starting dragging her up the street, “I know I don’t have to, but I’ll feel better. Come on, this café has great food.”

Lunch lasted for about five hours. And that was it. It wasn’t this epic story about how they met, but something changed for both of them that afternoon. There was something undeniable between them. Though it took them years to find themselves as a couple, the connection established that day was unlike any Alice had known before or since. That was why the idea of Dana in the hospital, literally fighting for her life, had Alice so distraught. If it was any of her friends, she would be upset, but there was something different about Dana. Dana was her sanity, well maybe not so much in the last few months, but for the years before then. Dana was her everything.

Before they crossed that line, Dana was already that constant. It was Dana who made sure the Alice was never alone on a holiday or her birthday. It was with Dana that she could laugh or cry, she could be as unreasonable as life at times made her feel and that was ok. It was Dana who made sure that Alice knew that she was loved as she was, for better or worse, and Alice knew the worse stuff happened a fair amount. Then came the night of Provocations. That was another of those moments a person never forgets. A moment of such clarity that is causes action and changes the course of a person’s life.