Finally, after a week of late nights and many, many cups of coffee, I handed in my last big article for a while, I now would get a bit of a break because I only had to do ‘best-of’ articles for the next couple of issues. It would be a very welcome break and a great time to relax and spend some time with my friends and especially Dana.   

I strolled in the Planet the morning after handing in my final article, whistling happily. I walked across to our table and smiled at my ‘family’, greeting them cheerily and taking a seat next to Dana. I couldn’t help noticing that Lara was not there, it had to be the first time in two months. I wondered why it was that the couple was not together. The other ladies were flicking through a catalogue of maternity wear, laughing at some of the disastrous fashion mistakes. I looked over at Dana and saw that she was not laughing, she was wearing a weak and unenthusiastic smile, showing she was not really interested in what the women were laughing about. Something was up.

“You alright Dane?” I thought it probably had something to do with Lara but didn’t want to ask straight away in case I was wrong.

“Yeah I’m fine” There it was- that weak smile again, along with the sad eyes.

I frowned at her but she just looked away from me. Around us, the topic of conversation was changing to birthing pools, which was what Tina had chosen for the birth of her baby. I continued to look over at Dana but she would not look back, she simply sat there, distant from everyone around her.

After about ten minutes of this, during which Dana seemed to be in her own world, obviously thinking very hard about something, she got up and excused herself to go to the bathroom. Shane looked at me with a “what’s wrong with her?” look and I shrugged. I took this is as my chance to talk to Dana alone, so after a couple of minutes, I walked over and pushed open the door to the bathroom.