"I'll let you bring her back to the airport on your own," Crystal said, although her tone was definitely less agitated than it had been. "I'm not going through that mess again."

"How do you think we're going to be getting out here?" Laura queried in a teasing tone. "The car isn't going to come to us." Crystal seemed to think about that problem and frowned even more. Laura tried hard not to smirk but the pout on her roommate's face was too cute for her to keep a straight face.

"Smart ass," Crystal grumbled.

"Just pointing out facts, my friend. Don't forget Helen will probably have three or four suitcases with her."

"What's she doing, moving here?"

Laura smiled at that, her aunt notorious for having more luggage than any one person could ever need no matter how long the trip. "Let's just hope she's planning on staying for a few days. Any more than that and we'll need to use one of those valet carts."

"What we?" the blonde asked dryly. "She's your relative."

"That's fine. You can keep up with her and let her talk your ear off. I don't mind."

"I get the feeling I'm going to regret tagging along with you today, aren't I?" Crystal asked cautiously, fearing that indeed would be the case.

When the plane finally landed and passengers started to stream into the gate, there was no doubt to Crystal who Helen was. Dressed in brightly colored silks with a matching hat, Helen Chick stood out in a crowd. Laura nodded at Crystal's observation and waved to get the flamboyant woman's attention.

"Ooh Laura Elizabeth!" Helen exclaimed, her voice carrying over the throngs of people between them. Waving her hand excitedly, she forced her way through the crowd and wrapped Laura up in what appeared to Crystal to be a very painful bear hug.

"Aunt Helen, how are you?" Laura asked after taking a moment to get the air back into her lungs.

"Oh, I'm the same as always, pumpkin. Busy, busy, busy all the time."

Crystal's eyebrows rose at the pet name her roommate was called, fully planning on teasing the writer at a later time. Realizing that she was now the focus of attention, she held her hand out. "I'm Crystal, Laura's roommate."

"Of course you are," Helen said excitedly, pulling Crystal into a crushing hug. "What a pretty little thing you are." Too shocked to resist, Crystal allowed herself to be held at arms length. Closer now, she could see Laura's aunt clearly. Beneath the brightly colored hat was a mass of platinum hair surrounding a face that Crystal doubted ever saw daylight without makeup. Indeed now she could easily see the layers of base and shadow that created the image Helen Chick presented to the world.

"Uh thank you," Crystal stammered, looking over to Laura for help.

"Aunt Helen, she's" Laura began.

"Now let's get out of here before we spend an hour waiting at the light," Helen said, cutting off her niece. "I absolutely loathe this airport."

Crystal didn't know what loathe meant but from the look of distaste on Helen's face, she got the general idea. Of course there was the other i.e.she figured out from the earlier comment. Helen thought there was more than a roommate situation going on. However, since they were now moving toward the luggage claim area and Helen had gone on to list off the many things that were wrong with the local airport, Crystal decided to let the confusion over the living arrangements slide for the time being. Draped over Helen's arm was a carry on bag done in rich leather with gold trim. Crystal was dismayed to see a multitude of matching bags moving in a lazy circle on the baggage claim belt. She was certain it would never all fit in the Jeep and wondered if Laura had thought to bring cords to use for the luggage rack. After pulling one bag, however, Crystal was more concerned about her back surviving the task of getting them onto the baggage cart much less on top of the Jeep. Helen apparently packed everything short of the kitchen sink when she traveled but didn't concern herself with the weight of the bags, Crystal noted sourly as Helen spent her time pointing out which bags were hers and instructing Laura on which order they were to be stacked on the cart.

The instant they stepped into the warm August air, Crystal reached to her pocket for her cigarettes. Before it lit, however, a cloud of smoke blew past her, Helen apparently faster on the draw when it came to lighters. Crystal finished getting her cigarette lit and was stuffing the lighter back into her pocket when Helen yelped loud enough to startle her.

"You're a smoker too?" That earned the blonde a hearty slap on the back.

Damn she's strong. "Yeah," Crystal choked.

"No smoking in my car," Laura said firmly, stopping the cart just behind her Jeep. "Any preference on hotels?"

"Now there's no reason I should put out good money on a hotel especially in this little city," Helen said. "Your mother has plenty of room in her drafty old house."

Crystal, who by that time was negotiating two suitcases off the rack while holding her cigarette precariously between her teeth, noted the way Laura stiffened.

"Mom wants you to stay in a hotel. I guess she's not over what you said about the house last time."

"Nonsense. I come all this way to see her and she doesn't even have the decency to open her home to me? No pumpkin, the larger valet goes on the bottom."

"I thought this was the largest one," Laura grumbled, pulling it back out of the Jeep, only then noting the larger one Crystal was wheeling over to her. "You can't stay at Mom's house," she repeated.

"Hrmpf, fine." Helen crossed her arms, her cigarette sending little tendrils of smoke skyward. "If she wants to be like that, that's just fine by me. At least you have the manners not to throw a relation out on the street."

Crystal was trying hard not to become part of the conversation but found herself unable to keep her head from snapping up at that. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where Helen was leading. "Uh, Laura?"

"You still have that townhouse near the lake?" Helen went on, oblivious to the looks the younger women were sharing. "I bet that's such a pretty sight now that the leaves are starting to turn."

"Aunt Helen, we don't have the room for company."

"Oh it'll be just like when you used to come for visits in the summer," Helen said with a dismissive wave. "Now let's get these loaded so I can see just what Gail has done to herself this time. Since you don't seem to be that upset I can only assume she's going to be fine." "With time and medication, yes," Laura began. "But you just can't stay with us."

"Now my little Laura," Helen said as if speaking to a child. "Don't you remember when I came to visit and you and I had that nice long chat about your 'roommate'? There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I'm not that kind of roommate," Crystal finally spoke up. "I really do have a room of my own."

"Oh." Helen frowned and Crystal was sure that would be end of that subject but then the flamboyant woman found her own solution. "Well you at least have a couch, don't you?" The older woman laughed heartily. "I promise not to bring any young men home with me." Crystal looked to Laura only to see her usually self-assured roommate slump her shoulders in defeat. Guess we have company for a few days. Looking at the pile of luggage still waiting to be secured in or on the Jeep, the blonde had to just hope it was only a few days and not a few months.

In the end it was decided by Laura that Helen would take her room and she would use the couch, her manners refusing to allow her to do anything less for a guest, no matter how grating on the nerves the guest was. Helen took the passenger seat and promptly claimed control over the radio on the way home. Disco tunes spilled out of the speakers while Helen jabbered endlessly to Laura about the various relatives and what they were doing. Doing her best to stay away from either rear speaker, Crystal found herself sitting in the middle of the back seat and unable to miss various snippets of conversation. It certainly wasn't hard since Helen insisted on speaking louder than the music instead of turning the volume down to a more humane level. The image of Laura's family as being squeaky clean and perfect quickly flew from Crystal's mind as Helen went on.

"And the fool probably would have gotten away with it if he didn't sneeze while hiding in that storm drain," Laura's aunt said, finishing a story about one of the cousins. "He's lucky he only received probation."

"Uh huh," Laura said absently, her eyes on apparently most of her attention on the road. Helen turned to Crystal.

"So tell me is my niece still completely anal about keeping her house clean?"

"Um" Realizing she was a trapped audience, Crystal took a deep breath and surrendered. "Yeah."

"She needs to let her hair down and live a little," the older woman continued. "She's far too stuffy. Maybe we can get her to break out of her shell while I'm here. How does that sound?"

Oh please just come and take me now, Crystal silently prayed, visions of being dragged to bingo and museums passing through her mind. "Well, it depends on what Laura wants to do," she finally said. "I work a lot so I might not be able to go with you two." Please make all your plans for the weekdays. I hope Michael has lots of overtime.

"Nonsense," Helen replied. "We'll make sure to find the time."

Crystal frowned, realizing Helen was the type of person who never took no for an answer. "How long are you staying?" "I suppose a week or so. We'll see. I hate to set dates."

The answer did nothing to make Crystal feel better.

"She's driving me nuts," Crystal growled, flopping atop the beanbag. "Have you ever met this kook?"

Jenny, who had spent the better part of the week listening to Laura rant on the phone about the free spirited aunt who turned their home upside down, was ready for some type of complaint from Crystal but not quite the one she received. There was barely a hello before the younger woman shoved the composition book into her hands and began ranting about Laura's aunt. "What is she doing that is making you so upset?"

"Everything," Crystal huffed, using her fingers to straighten out her disarrayed hair. "I thought Laura was annoying at times but this woman takes the damn cake. You know how Laura always gets the answer to every question on the game shows?"

Jenny nodded, a trait she was familiar with. "And that annoys you?"

"Not as much as when Helen the human encyclopedia does it. The question asked which dam, not when it was built and its life history. So Laura says Hoover and Helen goes off on how it created Boulder City and she just kept going on and on." Crystal's dander was getting up and stopping was out of the question. "It was like no matter what Laura said, she had to add to it until they end up in this long drawn out conversation about something that has nothing to do with the question they asked in the first place. She's driving Laura nuts." Crystal shot a glance at Jenny. "Yeah, I know, we can't talk about Laura."

Jenny nodded and opened the composition book. "So it's been quite a busy week at home."

"Home, work, everything." Slumping down to make the beanbag more of a pillow than a seat, Crystal laced her fingers behind her head and stared off at nothing. "It's not enough Laura has to deal with her mother who keeps getting more bitchy each day she has to stay at the hospital but Helen's driving her up the wall." Apparently the rule forbidding Laura being a topic of conversation was forgotten by Crystal and Jenny hesitated in interrupting what was one of the longest trains of thought her patient had revealed to date. "I bet she's not getting much writing done even with the computer down in the living room now. I don't hear her typing and it's right below my room." The anger and agitation present in Crystal's voice when she first entered the room were gone, replaced by a much softer and reflective tone. "You know I never thought of that?" She smiled. "The bathroom is between our rooms but when we both have the doors to the balcony open, I can hear her typing."

"Why do you think you listen for her typing?" Jenny prodded.

"I dunno." Crystal gave a familiar shrug. "I guess it just reminds me that she's right there."

"Like your sister was right in the next room when you were growing up?"

"Kinda but not quite." The blonde stretched her legs out and crossed her ankles. "It's different than when I would listen for Patty. I can't explain it." Jenny, skimming through the notebook while Crystal was talking, looked up. "Do you want to talk about this dream?"