A week dragged by, one slow day at a time, and Quinn didn't come around again. Ever since Quinn had walked out the door, a pit of dread had been growing in Crissy's stomach, day by day, until it was a gaping chasm.

Crissy had lost count of how many times during the past week that Amy had caught her standing in the kitchen, staring off into space, whatever task at hand completely forgotten which typically ended up in disaster. The same was true now as Crissy stood at the stove, her gaze seeming to blaze a hole right through the counter top, the butter she was supposed to be browning for coffee cake long since passed out of her mind.

Amy surged into the kitchen on Thursday morning and dropped her massive bag on the counter. "Sorry I'm late," she chirped. "Manu and I were arguing over baby names. I told him I wanted to think about kids a little more but it's kind of fun tossing names around every once in a while."

Crissy shook herself back to the present then swore under her breath as she caught a whiff of smoke. The butter had turned to a black-brown mix, completely unusable, and she hurried to turn the stove off. She growled and dumped the ruined butter down the drain.

"That's the third butter batch you've burned in as many days, cupcake," Amy pointed out. She leaned her hip against the counter and crossed her arms. "The only time I've seen you burn butter is when something is holding your attention more than food. And I can guess what that would be. Or I should say...who...that would be," she added with a smirk.

Crissy sighed and braced her hands against the lip of the sink. "It's just been a long week, you know?"

Amy placed a hand against Crissy's back. "How about we make it a half day and take a three day weekend?"

A long weekend would give her time to talk to Quinn. And she really, really needed to talk to him, even though the thought made her sick with worry and anxiety. But Crissy knew she would have to face him at some point. Things couldn't sit like this between them for too much longer, she would go absolutely batshit crazy. Maybe she could take him a peace offering on Saturday. That would give her the entire day on Friday to mentally prepare herself...

"Crissy," Amy said. "You were miles away. Come on back to me, girl friend. What's going on?"

Crissy glanced up at Amy, the small, understanding smile ever present on Amy's lips, soft dark eyes so steadily trained on Crissy. For as long as Crissy could remember, she had always told Amy everything. Ever since they were little, Amy had been her better half, inseparable. But there had been some things, about her ex-fiance, that she didn't tell Amy, some things she just couldn't bring herself to tell anyone because she'd much rather forget them. And if she told Amy what happened with Quinn, Amy would make the connection that Crissy hadn't told her everything and she would want to know.

"I long weekend sounds perfect," Crissy said instead. She turned back to the sink to scrub the sticky butter out of the pot. Amy squeezed her fingers into Crissy's shoulder for a moment then let her hand slide away.

"Suit yourself, sugar," Amy said. "But when you feel like talking, I'll be here."

The bell over the door jangled, jarring in the sudden stillness, signaling the arrival of customers. As Amy headed out of the kitchen, Crissy's stomach, already a mess with dread over Quinn, tightened even more until it almost hurt. She already watched Quinn walk away from her, but she couldn't bear to watch Amy do it too, not with the way Crissy was handling things at the moment.

Crissy wiped her hands on a towel and dove into the refrigerator until she found the pink and white box she'd safely hidden all the way in the back. She lingered in the kitchen until Amy had finished with the customers before she slipped up to the counter next to Amy and bumped her shoulder.

"Hey," Crissy said.

Amy turned and smiled at her. "Hey yourself," she said.

Crissy sighed. I don't deserve her, she thought. Amy always offered herself up, listened to Crissy's problems, and when Crissy shut her out, Amy didn't even flinch, just kept smiling. Crissy placed the box on the counter and slid it across to Amy.

"I was going to wait until tonight to surprise you with this when you went home but..." She shrugged, letting the sentence trail off unfinished.

"Is it going to jump out at me?" Amy teased, taking the box and unfastening the lid.

"That was one time," Crissy replied. "And only after you'd been pranking me for two weeks straight."

Amy snickered. "And you screamed every time, like it was so unexpected."

"You're a brat."

"Damn straight. Your life would be so dull without me and you know it."

Crissy let out a small wisp of laughter and leaned her head against Amy's shoulder. "I do know it. Now open it already before I open it for you."

"Yes ma'am," Amy said, tugging the box towards her again. "You're going to make a great boss someday."

Amy popped the lid open and sucked in a surprised breath. Inside, sat a small white cake, Amy's favorite chocolate covered strawberries nestled into clouds of icing around the rim, and in the center, carefully piped in purple icing read, "Mama Bear."

"I realize you haven't made a final decision yet," Crissy said. "But I've known you for most of my life, I think I can guess what you'll choose."

Amy grinned from ear to ear and wrapped her arms around Crissy in an unbearably tight hug.

After a moment, Crissy mumbled, "You're squishing me," and Amy pulled back with a laugh.

"Sorry, sugar, I just can't help it," she said. She plucked a strawberry off the cake and studied it for a moment. Without looking up, she said, "I went off the pill last night."

Crissy raised her eyebrows. "So you...you've decided? You're going to..."

Amy took a shaky breath and let it out. "I guess that's sort of making the decision, right?"

Crissy gripped Amy's hand. "Are you okay?"

Amy set the strawberry down and faced Crissy again. "It's terrifying but...at the same time, I've got Manu with me. We can figure it out together. And you. God, I can conquer anything with you, cupcake."

Crissy was quiet a moment until a thought popped into her head and the words slipped out, soft and awe-filled. "Does that mean I get to be a godmother?"

Amy blew out a puff of air in disbelief. "Now, hold up there, nothing is set in stone. I warned Manu, Mom had three miscarriages before me. There were all sorts of complications during her pregnancy with me and I was one tiny little baby. So...you know. No guarantees."

Crissy nodded. "Right. Shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves."

Amy picked up the strawberry again and a mischievous smile teased at her lips. She raised an eyebrow and peeked at Crissy.

"Besides," she said, "you would totally not be the godmother of my child."

"But..."

"You'd be an aunt. Aunt Sweetie."

Crissy grinned until her cheeks hurt and she pressed her hands to her face to ease the ache. "With lots of babysitting privileges?"

"Only if you feed him. Or her. Manu wants a baby girl so bad, you wouldn't believe it." Amy stopped, held up her hands and shook her head. "No, no, no, stop, we're not supposed to get ahead of ourselves."

"Yes, right, sorry," Crissy said, doing absolutely nothing to hide her smile.

"Go beat up on bread, stop smiling."

"Yes ma'am."

As she hurried off to the kitchen, Amy called to her.

"Hey, Cris."

Crissy paused in the doorway and turned. "Yeah?"

"Everything okay with you? Really?"

Crissy sighed and ran her thumb over the faded wood grain of the doorway. "Yeah, I just...have to work out a little misunderstanding. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Quinn?"

She nodded, her thumbnail digging into the wood.

"And you don't want to tell me because of the baby thing, right?"

Crissy hitched up one shoulder and dragged her gaze up to look at Amy. "You're happy. You deserve to stay that way for as long as it lasts."

"Cris, that is terrible, horrible, awful reasoning." Amy stepped towards her, arm outstretched, and Crissy took Amy's hand in a fierce grip.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," she replied. "Either way, I want to figure this one out on my own. For now, at least. Depending on how things go, I might be crying on your shoulder before the weekend is over so...." She gestured to the cake still sitting on the counter in its box. "Spoil yourself on sugar and argue with Manu over baby names some more."

Amy looked like she was about to argue but her expression softened and she squeezed Crissy's hand until Crissy's fingers tingled with numbness.

"When you get it cleared up," Amy said, "let's go out for milkshakes and French fries. Just us girls."

Crissy cast her a grateful smile. When. Amy was so sure things would work out for the better. She hadn't said if you get it cleared up, she had said when. Even if Crissy doubted, Amy kept up hope for the both of them.