“Dana?” Alice looked at her friend. She made herself ignore the sheen
on the athlete’s skin from her morning run. “So Dana.” She tried again
firmly.

Dana held her gaze, “So Alice.”

 ”Chuck E. Cheese and 6:30 in the morning at my place? Whatever
happened to running into each other at the Planet?” Dana appreciated
the joking tone but knew Alice wanted an answer about why she showed up
at her place yesterday morning.

 ”Yeah. About that.”

 ”Is it here yet?’ asked two high pitched voices in unison. Dana
looked over to see Wilson and Jun Ying bouncing up and down. “Hey
Guys!” she squealed with enthusiasm. “Great to see you!” She smiled
over at the reporter. Alice wore an amused expression at the tennis
player’s obvious relief to be saved for the moment by Helena’s kids.

 ”It’s not here yet. Hey, I know! Here’s ten bucks, why don’t you
go buy more tokens?” Alice suggested, flashing a ‘check mate’ smile at
Dana. The children were gone before Dana could process a reaction.

“You were saying?” Alice smiled but it grew fainter as she tried to recapture her earlier wariness of Dana.

 ”I wasn’t saying anything.”

“Dana. Before yesterday, the last time I saw you, you called me a mad
stalker and told me you didn’t trust me and now? You show up at my
door and ask to use my bed? What was that?” Alice peered into Dana’s
eyes. She wouldn’t let her duck away. “Dane?”

Dana couldn’t look at Alice. Her emotions were in a constant flux. She
couldn’t pretend to understand the ‘stalking episodes’ or tie them in
any sensible way to the woman she knew and loved.

Alice had more than apologized on multiple occasions and clearly was
both humiliated and freaked out by her actions. Looking back it seemed
certain to everyone that the Ritalin she’d been taking had influenced
her judgment but that didn’t lessen her anguish at the pain she’d
caused. Dana winced again remembering Shane and Jenny’s party.

“Alice. I’m sorry about Shane’s,” she began.

“Don’t be,’ the blonde interrupted her, ‘I’m not sure that you have
anything to be sorry for,’ Alice shrugged stiffly. ‘I’m just confused.
One minute you’re trying to ***** me in the pool,’ she ignored Dana’s
wince, ‘the next you’re telling me that we can’t fix this, and then
yesterday you show up at my door? You’re kind of sending me some mixed
messages here, Dane.”

Dana looked everywhere but at Alice for a long moment as she tried to gather her thoughts. Alice waited for her to look at her.

When she finally did, the tennis player’s look was unreadable.

“Yesterday was the first time I’ve really slept in weeks,’ she admitted
finally. “I am sorry I came over and just fell asleep like that; I know
it was unfair. I can’t explain it because I’m not sure I understand
myself. I just knew I would be able to sleep there and I was right. I’m
sorry,” she finished, looking back at the table.

 ”That’s it?” Alice looked back at her friend blankly.

Dana shrugged, nodding. “Yeah.” At least what she could articulate.

 ”You needed to sleep and your instincts told you you’d be able to
sleep at my houseso…. forget that you don’t trust me anymore, or
that for the most part, we aren’t even speaking to each other, when you
need a rest. call Alice?” The reporter was incredulous.

 ”Pretty much,” Dana glared back. She didn’t appreciate Alice’s
sarcasm. It reminded her too much of the many times Alice would retreat
into it when they were breaking up. The brunette stood up, signaling an
end to the conversation.

Alice stared at her, dumbfounded. Dana returned the gaze. “Well, I
should get back to my workout,” she said quietly. Alice nodded
agreement.

THREE NIGHTS LATER, ALICE’S APARTMENT,

 2:00 in the morning.

Alice answered the knock at her door. Taking in Dana’s appearance, she narrowed her eyes and frowned.

 ”Dana?”

Dana couldn’t look at her. “I have a tournament in Sacramento day after
tomorrow Alice. Can I sleep on your couch?” Dana looked everywhere she
could before finally settling on Alice’s softening face.

Alice gave her a worried half smile. She opened her door wider, letting the tennis player inside.