“Take care of her?” asked Rosita of Lara, and the red head nodded, getting a feeling that it was far more than what Rosita was saying it was.  Ro walked passed them and out the door quickly, Alice still shaking her head. 

            “Alice…,” said Lara softly as Alice walked into the living room.

            “No, there has to be a way out, a loophole, or something…  Canada, she can go to Canada…,” said Alice, snapping her fingers and thinking they could live in Whistler or Vancouver.  Anywhere where Rosita was safe, even if they weren’t together, as long as she was alive and well.

            “This is her decision, Alice,” said Lara softly. 

            “They are making go, she didn’t sign back up, they are forcing her!” yelled Alice loudly.  This wasn’t happening, there was no way that she’d found someone knew and that George W. Bush was going to take her away.

            “Alice…,” said Lara quietly.

            “Get out… please, just leave…,” begged Alice and Lara nodded, knowing when she wasn’t wanted or needed.  Alice walked away from Lara, and Lara felt that overwhelming wash of being the odd man out again, just as she had when she’d been the only one to know what was going on with Dana.

            Alice waited until Lara had gone, and rushed into the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet, tears falling from her eyes, shaking uncontrollably, Alice threw herself back, curling her knees up under her chin, rocking back and forth.

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            Rosita slipped into her car, rubbing her hands on the steering wheel, a sadness washing over her, knowing that soon she wasn’t going to be here anymore.  In LA, or in Alice’s life, Carmen would be alone again, and her life could end at any moment. 

            Ro started the car, and as she began to pull away from Alice’s apartment, she saw the redhead, Lara Perkins, leaving as well.  Rosita put the brakes on, the front end of the car dipping towards the road. 

            Swinging the car door open, Rosita yelled to Lara, “Where are you going?”

            “Home!” said Lara, unlocking her car door from across the street, “I suggest you do the same.”