#bergen_county

"Thanks to YOU." Piper nods, and hurries up the stairs with a light clip clip clop. Soon water is running.

"Well..." Kerri mutters to herself. "If it wasn't the one, it was likely to be the other, eventually." And she's off on a run to the pharmacy.

Singing in the shower! And damn, she sound good.

((End Scene))

((About an hour later....))

A quiet knock on the door of the room where Piper is resting. "Piper?" Kerri's voice inquires. "You awake?"

"I'm awake! Just resting my eyes a bit. Did I doze off?" The sound of standing, and the door opens. Piper is changed into the smallest shirt she could find on hand - which is possibly practically a sundress on her, cinched in the back to prevent swimming out of it. "Hope Sylvi doesn't mind I borrowed one of her tops.

"Oh, I'm sure she won't mind at all." Kerri moves to join her in the room and closes the door behind her. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better now." She admits. "I think maybe that was the last of it!" Hopeful!

"Well....possibly." She pauses. "I'm wondering if you'd be willing to, ah, test a theory."

"Like Musical theory?" She leans forward, intrigued.

"Not...exactly. Well, not at all. It's about you getting sick."

"Ugh. I know better now than to EVER trust a food craving like that again." She crossed her heart with a finger.

"Well, that's good. Because I think there's a chance you might have several opportunities to resist those cravings. A small chance, but...let's be sure. Now don't panic...." She hands over a small paper bag.

She accepts the bag, curious, and peeks inside.

A thin box that contains...a pregnancy test.

Piper blinks, then she snorts, amused. "Keeeeerri.... I get it, I do! But there's no chance. Honest."

"None? How do you figure?"

"Well, first of all, I'm on the shot. I've been every year since I was old enough to notice boys and have them notice me back." A small grin. "Two satyr moms, what can I say?"

Her smile a little rueful now, "And second, I've barely SEEN Jonas for the last couple months. First he was busy helping Ann Marie with that foster program out in... oh, one of those corn states, not the DeBuke one... and now he's on a dreaming quest. Don't get me wrong, I'm not lacking for lovin', but there's been a distinct lack of any Vitamin D if you know what I mean."

"I get exactly what you mean. However...humor an old troll Hearth, will you?"

"Sure, sure." She says, amused, and passes by to the bathroom. "So I just pee on this stick, right?" She asks, but it seems rhetorical. tinkle tinkle tinkle. Flush! Handwashing sounds.

"You fixed my stomach, I owe you at LEAST a bit of humoring."

"Thank you," Kerri says, knowing she's being humored. "So that takes a while to process. In the meantime, do you need more sleep, or are you ready for more calories? Soup?"

"Soup?" She perks up! "Tomato and grilled cheese?" Then a small laugh. "Sorry, I know you're not a restaurant to put orders in at. Anything you have would be appreciated. I'm still banned from cooking with fire - when Siv AND Jonas are away, I eat a lot of microwaved stuff."

"Tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich is hardly a hardship to make. You know I specialize in comfort food."

"You have strong Mom energy. Sorry, Hearth. It's very similar!"

She joins Kerri back down in the kitchen, setting the test aside casually without any concern.

Kerri's minding the time on that test with the same internal clock with which she avoids burning cookies, and she sets to work on the soup-and-sandwich. "So, what were your most successful performances on the trip."

"Oh! Have you ever been on a cruise?" She launches into a recap of how she headlined one night for a 60's themed bop, and another just played background music while the nice seniors played bingo...

"I haven't been on one like that."

"This was kinda a snowbird cruise, but they have the BEST stories, you know..."

"Were there any romances you got to see blossom?"

"Well, matchmaking isn't my forte, but there was this lady who had at least three gents tied around her finger. I thought I'd say something, but it turned out they all knew she was playing a game and it was as much fun for them all."

"Ha! Okay, as long as they're al having a good time, all's well."

She taps the countertop. "Pretty sure the time's up on that thing...." she nods towards the test.

Piper chuckles and turns over to see the test, then tilts her head. She squints at it. Then shakes her head. "They must have changed the readings on these things. Where are the instructions?"

Two little pink lines, clear as day.

Kerri takes a look, but doesn't say anything. She merely hands over the instructions and let's Piper sort it out.

She reads over it, once, twice. Then shakes her head. "It must be a bad test. " Certainty.

Kerri reaches into a drawer and pulls out another test. "It's always best to buy two, to be sure. I didn't want to give you both at once, but...."

"Oh, sure." She says, but a bit rattled this time as she goes to try out the second test.

The grilled cheese and soup are ready when she returns, and the first test has been put away out of sight.

She sets it aside and gratefully sips at the soup, while giving sidelong glances towards the test as though it spit in her soup.

"So...just out of curiosity....when's the last time you did see Jonas?"

She considers, tapping her chin. "Well, he left for that shelter project mid-April. He missed Beltaine - I'm afraid I made a bit of a fuss over that, and was off on a tour with my dad when he got back. I could have skipped it, but... to be frank, I was being a bit petty." She admits, looking guilty. "Then when I came back, we only caught each other for lunch before he had to head out again, then I got called in for a last minute show... and now he's on that dreaming quest. To use a Siv-ism, we've been like two ships, passing in the night. I mean, we text, and facetime, and all that..."

"Still, Piper...mid-April? It's only the end of June, now. That's about the right time where you'd really be noticing symptoms....I mean, besides missing periods."

A wince. "My periods are never regular. The shot does it, you know. But it takes TWO to tango. And... we were arguing before he left. I shut him out a bit. I've been... less than gracious about the time he's been off spending on helping Ann Marie. I realize that now, but... " She bites her lip.

A frown. "Piper...forgive my bluntness, but when's the last time you had sex at all?"

"I'm a satyr, for gods sake. I could go without, but that would be almost as bad as being VEGAN." A weak chuckle. "I have Siv, and she is MORE than enough to keep me satisfied. Man, you should have seen her outfit on Beltaine." A low whistle. "I don't remember MUCH from that party, but she was stunning." A grin, remembering. "Anyways, she's been busy too, but we just have had more chances to meet up, enough to keep me from wasting away."