She didn’t quite understand the little twinge she felt at that thought.  Ever since Helena arrived, she’d expended considerable effort to avoid her, or at least avoid being alone with her.  Helena was a very alluring woman, with not a little of the same seductive power that Susan had…just not so alluring that Tina was willing to upset her relationship with Shane. She was genuinely happy with her tomboi, happy in a way she’d never been before, and she wasn’t questioning the circuitous path by which she’d arrived at that relationship.  It was easy, it was settled yet still held that adventurous nature that appealed to Tina at this stage in her life.

            But Helena provoked Shane, in an edgy way that made Tina nervous; it seemed more than just jealousy, something a little darker, something more of Jo in Shane that seemed to be growing steadily over time.  That, too, bothered Tina. She cradled her chin in her hands and thought.  Jo was a very uncharacteristic person, and now Shane was picking up quirks that she was sure only Jo had.  Had that come with the blood?  More than likely, and what else had come of that small yet profound transfer?

            She tried to put that worry out of mind for the time being, knowing that eventually, they’d all have to deal with what Shane had become.  Whatever that was.  She shook her head and looked around the room again, watching Ivan and Kit stirring the heat on the dance floor, Marina and Jenny swaying slowly nearby.  Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement.  A small blonde figure in a waitstaff’s uniform, moving furtively along the wall, an empty tray held in front of her.  She blinked, thinking she must be mistaken.  It looked like Lacey, but it couldn’t be!  Lara wouldn’t have hired her, not after what she’d done to Shane!  But it was.  It definitely was.  And from her movements, Tina knew she was up to something. 

            She stood up, ready to confront her right here and now, but she saw Tonya walking back into the room just as Alice was approaching Dana with a flutter of her nervous hand.  “Oh this can’t be good,” Tina thought to herself, debating which one she should tackle first.  Watching Tonya’s face darken, and knowing instinctively that Alice had something serious to discuss with Dana, circumstances seemed to dictate her immediate course of action.