Grienne

Thank you Mark for another great chapter! I think everyone has more or less run down the arguments about the email, etc. I more or less agree with the main theme of JJ was right to be upset, but maybe, just maybe, a little dramatic in his panic button/email response. Its JJ, say I'd say its pretty solidly in character. But the one point I think is being a little glossed over about Carullo - it's one thing to say he's free to sleep with whomever and that that they don't have commitments - but its quite another for Carullo to sleep with people right in front of JJ. He had every reason to believe that JJ would be home that night, and that this would make him feel badly - warranted or not - just because you don't owe someone to be faithful or whatever, doesn't mean its cool to rub it in their face. That being said - he didn't pick up a bunch of guys and bring him back... he's a 20 something where sex was being thrown in his face... so it doesn't seem like he had some goal of hurting special J, just that he didn't particularly take heed of his feelings. I think its less about being a decent boyfriend-type thing, and more about being a decent friend. I can completely see why JJ feels embattled and more than a little alone.

I'm super excited to hear that, Mark!!!!!

I truly do love this story, which the only reason i cant keep myself back from engaging here. I know plenty of ppl disagree, but I'm just throwing my two cents in. Here's my thing, i dont think JJ is perfect, i think he has made mistakes, and he should apologize for them. But his family (specifically in this case Will and JP) seems to be far more intentially mean spirited or vindictive. Maybe people will disagree but to me, a kid (everyone seems to agree JJ is less mature) being near-sighted, and as a consequence hurting people strikes me as a lesser sin (and more of a moment that requires parenting) then adults being the "mature" ones who knowingly hurt or bully someone. Also, Will really strikes me as disingenuous when he'll tell a perfect stranger the things that are wrong with JJ, even after the guy said he had been interested in him, and still claims he is in JJs corner. But hey, no one claimed any of the characters are perfect people, it's what makes them so great. So it's certainly not a criticism that I disagree with a character, just my reaction to what happened. I agree with those before me who said this is very well written and, as always, i do look forward to seeing how these guys move forward.

Yay, a new adventure, and a new lieutenant! I love Spencer wanting to see Granger open the box, that was hilarious. As a side note, I ended up not too long ago having a conversation with a couple historians, centering mainly on the French revolution. I was able to stick with it and throw in just enough to pretend I knew a lot more than I actually remembered from modern euro history ap 16 years ago entirely because of our Lord Granger and his exploits - I thank you most sincerely!

I have to say I agree with centexhairysub. And ill apologize at the top for my long rambling comments here - but i proceed. Even if you grant the premise that JJ has behaved badly with Carullo, this seems horrifically extreme. Ill certainly admit im a bit biased, I've always liked JJ. A couple points have made already and i wont rehash them. But a couple things that I find particularly galling I'll highlight. First is that JP has decided that JJ has been horrible, when all he's heard would be a summary of a couple minute conversation between Will and Carullo, and he heard it from Will. He has no idea what the actual story is here - and that seems like something he wouldn't normally just accept. Considering Will's interference is at least partly the problem between JJ and Carullo (I mean him telling Carullo things I don't think he should have and encouraging Carullo to try to spend time with and take JJ out against JJs wishes), Will seems like a particularly bad source for this - and knowing that Will has been a bit involved, you'd think JP would try to get more information. He was unimpressed when no one asked Marie why she wasn't comfortable with Will's friend at the Bastille day show down, this seems pretty similar. JP hasn't spoken to JJ as best we can tell, and no one has asked him what's going on in the apartment. The second thing, and I think the most cruel, is that they involved Bellona. They could have just asked that she get Will and Darius in, but they told her they were doing this to hurt JJ, at least enough for her to know that JJ being hurt was what she considered to be their "mission accomplished". For such a family focussed group, this confused me. Further, I'm not sure I agree that a 17 year old whose life is in freefall is just doing his normal duties in life by finding a place he can move on in, finding a way to look forward after losing skating, finding the type of school that would be particularly supportive for him and finding his footing in the new York fashion scene. I think it's hard not to be impressed by the way he handled the loss of skating and his first love without much if any guidance - especially considering he wasn't exactly on solid and supportive ground before that. Sure he can be bitchy, but is being bitchy and introverted so great a sin. Hes not cruel, he doesnt seem to be knowingly hurtful, unless im missing something. None of these guys can say that about their behavior. Now his family has decided to essentially take the world he's trying to settle into away from him. How can he have any confidence at all in that world anymore? Outside of something blatantly illegal like murder, rape or assault, I can't think of something that JJ would find more hurtful then what just happened. And the people involved know that. Do we really think Bellona will take JJ seriously anymore? He's tried to find a place where he can exist outside his brothers shadows, whether you think his judgment is fair or not, it's certainly how he feels. He found skating, which took a lot from him and then was taken from him, and now his family decides to take this? All in all, I'm just confused about the crime here. He has a lot of baggage around his sexuality and sexual encounters. This doesn't seem unreasonable in his shoes. Will is the one that owes JJ a serious apology for the information he disseminated when he knows JJ would never want that. Doubling down on JJs sexual insecurities like this is just torture. I know people are saying maybe stef will at the apartment when he gets home and they can work this out, but I hope not. I can't imagine JJ could possibly be in the right frame of mind to deal with that. Of course, like others have said, this is Mark's world, and we're lucky to be a part if it. And of course I love this series to a truly ridiculous extent - but I couldn't help but to weigh in on this as it was so shocking to me. I await eagerly the next installment.

Hey, I haven't read it in a while but if Matt and Wade know - for my money - I'd guess they found out in The Box. Everyone else on that trip already knew and pretty much the whole family's secrets were revealed. That being said, I'm not sure they do, and I'm pretty sure none of the youngins know. If JJ knows, I don't think he found out in any of the books.

Thank you, Mark, I'm absolutely loving the twists and turns. i spend a lot of time each week pondering what's coming next. Before the flight to new york, i was sure the drama in question was going to be around having JJ, Alex, Carullo, Buzz and Brad all in the same condo... because yeah, that would be a disaster. wow, was i wrong. I'm not sure I understand what Will is doing here, in the last two chapters he told Carullo, who Will knows JJ is attracted to, that JJ is a bum lay, and then told everyone JJ blew Buzz, but Buzz wasn't that into it. I get he's annoyed with JJ, and he's convinced himself he's got the right to spread this info, but for a guy who prides himself on being trustworthy, and who has a pretty strict idea of moral absolutism, this is very shades of grey. I think he's wandered far from his normal path. If JJ finds out (which re: the fam, he almost certainly will), I wouldn't blame JJ for being hurt, angry, and very distrustful of Will. Will has twisted his arm threatening to share romantic info before and knows how JJ feels about it. If I were JJ, I'd spend a fair bit of effort hiding my love life in the future - neither Brad nor Will will like that - if Brad notices JJ at all. Will may think he's protecting JJ, but he could have accomplished everything he wanted to on that front with a lot less disclosure. At the absolute very least, he didn't need to tell Carullo that Buzz wasn't impressed. I also thought it was interesting that his belief that JJ would take this badly was his justification for telling Carullo, but he was surprised that Stef was so concerned. I definitely think Wade's role will be interesting in the next bit here. Wade has bothered me over the last couple books, he pride himself on his honor, and considers himself part of the Crampton Schlutter clan, but this whole thing only worked so easily because he felt absolutely minimal loyalty to JJ - basically just so far as he was under his aegis in his house, and felt no need to even warn JJ that ME was up to bad tricks. He essentially gave ME permission, on a smaller scale, by asking her to just go easy. Maybe Wade couldn't have deterred much, but he's figured Liz's plans before, and he wasn't even interested this time. The lack of any effort proved that while Wade considers Matt, JP, Brad, Will and maybe Stef to be family, he doesn't extend that courtesy just based on their family ties. That would be fine, he's not family, but he puts himself forward as such, so it seems a bit..something. With Brad in Liz's crosshairs, Wade will certainly feel far more conflicted. I'm also confused by Nana, so her roll will certainly be interesting in the coming phase. As to Lord Preston's shade... I keep thinking about what business interest would align him against the Clan, but I haven't come up with anything good, this will certainly be exciting. Thank you so much, Mark, i can't wait for more, Rachel

On southwest Airlines, you don't get seat assignments, you get boarding groups. It used to be primarily based on who checked in first (at first at the airport, then online check-in) though A1-13-ish had been reserved for certain types of tickets, now you pretty much have to buy an earlier spot all through A and probably B. There are three boarding groups, A, B and C and there are numbers within each depending on the number of seats on the plane. If you're there, you line up in order (A1 being first, A2, and onwards) and board in that order, if you're not there you can board at anytime after your number would have boarded. Moral of my story, JJ was screwed with that assignment.

I just feel bad for those boys stuck in an elevator with no bathroom. Each time I think of a new chapter, I remember Brad and Stefan, stuck in an elevator - I looked up this blackout, I can't believe I forgot all about that. It would have been summer after freshman year for me so I was either in Boston or Chicago, which appear to be the major cities surrounding but uneffected by the blackout. Good luck, me.

Mark, Mark, Mark, I'm going crazy now. I swear this is like the literary equivalent of edging. Please, please, pretty please don't make us wait too long for this New York summit. I am glad that Wade seems to get that he screwed up a bit with Will. I'm hoping he is expending effort to help the Crampton-Schlutters this time, my faith in his allegiance has been faltering. Thank you, Rachel

Wow, I didn't see that coming. We are certainly being lead to believe Zach beat up Trevor, but of course that makes me think there is something else going on. Zach did say he wouldn't do anything when speaking to JP when they all met up in New York, and Will refused to give his word. As Zach knows Will went after Julius, you'd think if this was his plan he's include Will. I also don't think that if Zach attacked Trevor himself he'd let Trevor live. Zach has a cold-side, and a calculating one. Trevor being alive means he could be a witness. If someone managed to beat Trevor that completely, they could made sure he died, too. Whoever did this didn't want Trevor dead. With both of these guys injured it makes it seem as though whomever is behind all of this wanted to get these families fighting again. Like the first volly was dying down too soon for whatever is going on. Someone wants the Danfields and the Crampton-Schlutters at war. Given that Wade would appear to be the person who could suffer most in such a war, I am surprised he isn't being more careful with his treatment of Will. Wade knows how much that accusation would offend Will. He has to know that there are at least a couple possibilities with the various machinations going about, on top of Trevor's own demons. I am not sure I understand what Wade could possibly be about here. I thought I had no idea what was coming before this chapter, and now I know I really have no idea, I can't wait for more, Mark. Thank you! Rachel

Hey Mark, I am so excited to see new chapters. I needed my fix! Thank you! Its clear we're on the edge of something, but this is the first time I've really had no idea what was about to happen. I really like the bite of JJs life. Do we know if JJ and Ella realize they Uncle/Niece? They are Jim and Rich's kids, right? I am a bit confused a bit; I went back and re-read most of Black Widow and I'm kinda confused. The dinner at Escorial and trip to Maui, the first time they get mentioned it sounds like they are already planned. When did that happen? I still remain confused about what Brad was doing in the gap between Streak and Black Widow. I get that he was being an ass, and I'm on-board with the idea he had a lot to make up for - especially with his family. But I don't get what was going on at work. It appears that everyone thought he was a complete waste and yet no one said anything. Stef acts like he never saw Brad, and he couldn't even get Brad a message that they were considering Buzz. Brad seems shocked that there are problems at work at the wedding, so he couldn't possibly be getting into arguments with Stef and Luke and he can't be MIA, if either were true he'd know that there was at least a bit of a problem. Its like they all just watched him screw up and flail in the wind while working around him. If I were Brad I would have a hard time working there, and I certainly wouldn't trust anyone. Stef made his argument for why he wants a new person, fine, and the reasons seem decent enough, so kuddos to Brad for getting over how the decision was made, and just agreeing with the end result. But Stef never seems to address that he fired him and lambasted his professional life in front of the whole family - and then he accuses Brad of being dramatic, wtf. To top off my confusion, Brad doesn't seem bothered that no one cares about him at that firm, from Stef and Luke down to Grace - he just apologizes to them and moves forward. I don't get it. Are Matt, Tiffany and two toddlers still in a tent in Africa? I can't wait to see how all of this unfolds. Rachel

I like "helloo Dolly". I also think "Dilly Dally", like someone who goes slow has some potential, unfortunately, especially if the kids isn't exactly bright. But here's the part that really gets to me... Dally Dalby... say that five times fast (especially after a couple of glasses of wine ). Yikes. At some point stuff like this must constitute child endangerment.

I'm pretty sure he did. In Flux, they met at the graduation parties Darius followed ME back east for "parties". Matt commented that he couldn't be held responsible for having slept with ME as far as Darius was concerned because he did it first. Darius later comments that he spent too much time with her - when explaining to Brad he can't go from 0 - 60 in relationships in no time at all. In Streak, JJ also calls and asks Darius for permission before sleeping with ME. We didn't get the story from Darius POV, so maybe they didn't actually have sex... but I think it was heavily implied.

Fair point, but I think if JJ keeps going for guys he meets through his family he's going to have to get used to guys that have slept with one or more of this brothers.. or fathers... or grandfathers. hehe. I love the the CAP'verse.

I agree with the comments above. I think the point that Zach was to be sacrificed anyway is interesting. What bothers me is that "the plan", as Wade discribed it, is doomed to failure regardless of what Zach does. Say everything goes as intended, he cuts off Will and Will doesn't come slash his tires... Zach knows he didn't do drugs. The moment that test happens zach knows he's getting screwed. At that point he'd have two choices: get help (probably from Frank or Wally) or likely lose his football career. In the former scenario, either Frank or Wally would almost certainly get the story out of him. In the latter, the blackmail is rendered useless without football to be considered and Zach has every reason to tell the whole story. Wade is pretty rigorous, so it's hard to believe that he hasn't also considered that ensuring Zach goes down regardless means Trevor is implicated regardless. On EDs motives, we should probably remember that at this point it seems ME may have more money than ED. To those that have a hard time believing she'd burn assets for ME, I think if ED is doing this for ME, she's doing it for more than the love of her child.

Wow, I'm kinda in love with JJ a little bit. I've tended to be a bit more pro-JJ than some, but yeah, that is awesome. It might fix JJs reputation, takes the heat off Alex, makes ME look kinda crazy. On top of that, there should be an award for awesomest ironic revenge act - this would take it hands down. That JJ had this to use was all down to her own manipulations, I love it. I'm also really glad he did it on his own. Will was tied with JP and Wade untangling this mess and making their plans. Wade admits that until the previous day the person most hurt was JJ and it doesn't seem like anyone made any effort to include him either in planning or even to fill him in on what they were learning. JJ is pretty consistently disregarded by the family except Will. I'm most enjoying Wade getting derailed by JJ. Wade has, I think, consistently demonstrated his lack of concern for JJ. As for Brad, I get that he caused the rift himself, mainly, but I still feel for how badly he must be doing. Will and Stef are hard people to reconcile with. They both require abject surrender and a fair amount of pride swallowing. With Brad and Robbie the reconciliations were often like post-mortems. Sure, it would take a bit to get there, but once they were ready, the person most at fault would have some work to do, but there was usually acknowledged guilt on both sides and they'd meet somewhere in the middle. Neither Stef nor Will really work that way. At least not as obviously. Not to mention, with regards to Stef, unless Stef perceived some malice in Brad's poor work performance, I think he's the one that needs to start the apology - but it doesn't even seem as though Stef sees any fault. As for how much we really know at this point... there seem to be a few gaps in the version Wade retold. Maybe Wade knows more, but is holding back, but if we accept his summary as the truth then I'm forced to ask: - Isn't there an easier way to get JJ out of England? Scattering a large powerful family to the four winds, orchestrating a drug scandal and blackmailing someone three degrees of separation from the situation, involving the US Navy? .. thats a lot of work to end a relationship. Especially when I'm not 100% sure why ME cares so much. - There are a lot of people involved that don't have an explained motive: What was in it for Alex's father? How'd they get Alex to help Marc? Who is the earl's friend that asked for JP to be included in the conference? Why are we believing a tabloid journo's confession about the source? Did Trevor actually say ED put him up to it? You've said Wade is pretty much always right with his family, but he must be holding something back on what the point of all of this is. I'm keeping my tin foil cap at the ready. This was an awesome chapter, I can't wait to see ME's response, and well everyone's response. Thank you, Rachel

Ok, so I will concede that the end goal would have to be unfathomable at the moment, but how about this: JP. A truly remarkable number of people who've been in relationships with JP are dead. And while I'm not sure if its required in the definition, the term black widow does usually refer to a serial widow (er) . Perhaps he has more on his mind then the war, and he is having a physical manifestation of the stress he's under executing a remarkably convoluted plan.

I'm of two minds, I like the tin-foiliness of Brad as the mastermind, but it would absolutely blow my mind. I could see him coming up with a plan that would hurt Zach and Alex, but I don't think he'd want his kids wrapped up in anything public. Not to mention he's out of it. If Brad had gone 'round the bend and decided to make everyone come back to him, I would think he'd do it when he's around and can be seen as the guy who solves the problem and takes care of the family. All this is doing to solidifying their separation. But even something like that would be a huge reach for him. ... One thing both Liza Lou and ABC did well was find well-placed people with separate relationships with their targets who either had issues or could be motivated to use their position. They tend to motivate them differently but they can muddy the issue is they would independently have some motivation. (Think Brian Parnell, Cary Chase, Doug Childers, etc). Along those lines, more than Marc, I'm concerned about his ex. Zach and Will definitely got in his way and took away his control. He had enough time with Marc to have connections for an art show. I can't remember how off the top of my head, but I know he had some money. As for the Duke... I like the idea; this situation has turned out pretty well for him and is interests. I could see him being pretty concerned about ME. If this hadn't happened, Alex would have gone back to Boston, with ME taking up his place in society, she would have been in a great position to make life pretty challenging for him. Now with people not sure about her roll with the gutter press, and the unrefined, hysterical way she was portrayed, she'll be forced to behave very carefully, she can't keep ending up in the press without incurring social harm, so she has to be pretty careful of scandal and Alex doesn't trust her. On top of that Alex is back in London. My current half-baked thought is that maybe blackmailing Zach wasn't supposed to work. I think it would be hard to count on Zach buying Trevor's story without knowing Zach very, very well given the oddity of having Trevor be family's mouth piece, even if you buy anyone in that family being willing to risk incurring Will's wrath. However, it probably is known that Zach has relied on Will in difficult situations - and that Will's first call would be Wade on this. Maybe Trevor is a false flag. The drugs may be a distraction, or a frame-up, or something else. I do think that the connection between Zach and the drugs is what the master-mind is behind - and that it would have happened with or without Will. Let me preface this last thought with saying while I would find this entertaining, I would be amazingly surprised if anything like it were true. Nana has plenty of reasons to want Liza Lou destroyed. She knows about the Trevor issue, she helped with the banker. She knows Will is persistent and would find out what happened whether the blackmail worked or not - that gets Will and Wade on board with destroying ED. The ham-handed removal of JJ may be designed to separate ME from ED. The appearance of a threat to the family get JP on board. I still think ABC's youngest would be primed to play a roll, as may the other son to avoid treason. The former chairman of Triton, the father, may also be willing to payback the black ED provided Brad. Ha... you know who it is? The widow of JJs skating coach! Here's what happened: she decided these guys killed her husband, and we really don't know one way or the other there. She gets her Dad's medical files which gives her, between Brad, Robbie and Wade pretty much all of the information needed to screw with these guys pretty effectively, to find the right people to make their own attacks. And you probably don't need much money if the goal is to get the whole family taking shots at itself.

I wonder if, as much as the attacks, the fact that none of the family cares to pull him in to this crisis will wake him up (or make him go hyper control crazy - which always turns out well). He's going to come home and the following will have happened: Zach will have been blackmailed and drugged, Will will have helped him through with Wade and JPs help; JJ will have been semi-outed, broken up with the earl, taken a year off skating, moved to New York and enrolled in a new school; and his home will be surrounded by something entertaining of Will's choosing (for my money, Matt will also have some excitement in Kenya). For someone who finds his security in his knowledge of what's going on, and at least his chief advisor roll for everyone, if not his control of those closest to him, this might be a bit much. For whatever else people think of Robbie, they both acted as an anchor when they went off the deep end pretty consistently - and gave each other a path to pull themselves back when they figured things out. I worry that without Robbie, Brad is going to have a hard time making his way back. None of the remaining ringleaders tend to have the type of sympathy when angered that Brad seems to need. Maybe Claire will help him out. Complete speculation alert (one of my favorite pass times these days): Maybe Brad is the real target of this. He's certainly the most removed, even Wade and JP in Kenya and the Seychelles were near each other. And with Will being the anchor while everyone was thrown to the winds, and the characters that have been implicated in the schemes thusfar, it's foreseeable that Will would go to Wade and JP, sidelining Brad. This may have real consequences if Brad sees Will's more-or-less innocent scheme to rile him up, and Stef's apparent dismissal in front of his entire family and boyfriend at his Mother and Father-in-law's rehearsal dinner, through the filter of a larger concerted attack.

Hey Mark, I'm so excited as the curtain begins to be pulled away. I love this part of the conspiracy plots you've laid out. Always a bit of a curce. I was completely thrown by having Trevor be the messenger. It screams ED, but at the same time, kinda makes that less likely, right? Why would ED use someone Wade knows is her pawn? - unless that's the point.. Ahh, the possibilities! I'm not sure if Wade rushing in will make things better or worse, it's certainly predictable.. which is always disconcerting. ED used Wade's predicability regarding Carl Haupt to arrange the land deal. But either by Wade's investigation or by having the plan move forward triggered by his arrival, we'll probably learn more with Wade in London. I would be surprised if Alex's father and ED weren't in someway powering that engine. Either trying to extort something out of Alex, ME or Wade. If ED is being framed on the Zach issue, it would require knowledge that Wade knows Trevor is ED's man. If someone else is behind the excitement in London-town, then they would need to know about Alex and JJ, which may not be hard. But to get ME blamed, they'd need to know ME has been trying to get JJ out of their lives. I love the webs. Thanks! Rachel

I'm totally up for jumping on the speculation band wagon. I've gone on complete speculation safari here, just properly warning everyone. On the drug test, I think in the CAP-verse, arranging a drug test is well within ED's capabilities. If she can get Hammer on the no-fly list, arrange for him to be set up and investigated for child pornography and then in short order get him into the peace corp with a posting ready and be able to stop it all once multiple law enforcement agencies were involved... then I can't imagine getting someone to schedule UCLAs drug tests within a certain date range would be a problem (on that note, arranging the dates of Darius's cruise wouldn't be all that hard for anyone with a strong DC power base, the right Admiral, maybe lower, in their pocket and I would think it would be simple, including Brad's brother). However I'm not sure arranging the test would be required - depending on the time frame, it may not be a consequence of Zach's defection at all, but something that was always suppose to happen. So long as Zach is drinking that crap then sooner or later (I would imagine at least once a season, though I'm not sure) there would be pretty inscrutable evidence linking Zach to that drug. If some plot or frame-up would be more believable if Zach had access to a pretty specific drug, then having the drug test does its work completely outside the world of football. I agree its hard to figure how Zach playing football could really matter one way or the other. However, Julius having access to everything of Zach's, knowing where he is at all times, combined with isolating him from Will and the others, makes Zach pretty vulnerable. He may not have more to do with it beyond having that first bit of blackmail, that he's gay, made him convenient. There are, however, other possible issues at or around the LA area - for which having a fall guy in place may be useful. If someone found out that Jeff is Lark's kid, and they can't find Lark, Jeff may be used to lure him out, Kevin was related to this mess and he wasn't around two chapters ago, though its hard to imagine he'd have anything to do with a nefarious plot, but I suppose if its known that he helped Brad out he could be a target. ED was the one that provided the evidence of ABCs treason, so she could easily have the older of Brad's half brothers under her thumb - though I think there is a limit to what he'd do for his career. The younger brother had some sort of nervous break and hasn't been seen since, so he could be up to god knows what. Now that I think about it, he was connected to Brian, Lark and Kevin, and he lost a lot with the companies and his mother. The west coast cluster could serve his psychosis quite nicely.

woo .. first time contributing a discussion forum, so bear with me if my comment is off-base or out of place... First regarding impunity's question, I believe Brian was Bill Hendrickson's son, via a Ms. Parnell of western PA. So yes any other Parnell, if related and not spawn of Brian would be related via his mother. Or, you know, Bill sired other unknown Parnells. He certainly was a travelling man, so you never know. I've definitely been wondering about the Parnell issue.. it bears pointing out that Elizabeth knows all the moving parts of Brad scheme, she threatened Brad with it when Jeanine was wreaking havoc. So if Brian is connected to anyone, then she'd likely be able to get to them. It seems like there have been a few indications that Elizabeth (or in my mind, Liza Lou) may have something to do with the brewing storm. She was in London for the christening. I was totally sold on ME being the leaker (and yeah she's totally beat a lie detector), but I was totally surprised by how tone deaf that was for revenge. I would imagine the best way to get be kept at arms length in the British aristocracy is to be seen as someone who either uses intentionally or unwittingly gabs to the paps - and if she was in anyway, to any extent, being truthful with Wade then she wouldn't want her revenge to be so public as to earn her a reputation like she had in VA. So maybe she didn't do anything. Don't get me wrong, regardless of who's at fault, I'm really looking forward to whatever JJ cooks up for ME. There will be magic -- really, really, really bitchy magic. I'm envisioning him somehow getting her on the worst-dressed list for every event she goes to for years.

Mark! Another amazing instalment closed. Thank you! I agree with most of the others, I do like Will's insight and friendly antagonism with both JJ and Tiffany. Naming the kid Robert is adorable and I'm really glad Matt gets the kid this time. I remember the night of Shock and Awe when the war started. I was in Boston as well (well, Cambridge) living with a bunch of ROTC kids, I became affectionately referred to as a dirty hippy for the next four years (they did it with love ) I am kinda annoyed still at Tiffany. We all agree that the way she announced it was bogus, but her decision in the first place is bothering me more and more. On first inspection her decision to be a full-time mom for her three kids seems fair. However when you consider she had a large role in the raising of JJ, in recent years, larger than his other parental figures, and she certainly had allowed JJ to count on her as such, and finally that we aren't talking about an 80-hour/week job here - it kinda muddies the waters. The way she said that she was watching this kid she has been help grow up for 4-5 years succeed hugely at something they both have worked tirelessly for, and not care.. struck me as amazingly cold. JJ is right, she is clearly stating that she doesn't care that much for JJ. Now she is annoyed that he is still upset, or acting wounded that it is still an issue. Its like if a girl dumped a guy publicly right after they went on some epic vacation together and everything seemed perfect, then expected the guy to be completely cool with being friends the next week, and acted injured because the guy was hurt. Further as best as we can tell I think, Tiffany has apologized for how she told him, but I seems to think that abruptly leaving, if she had told him in private would be just fine. Given JJ's issues with his parents, and with his previous coach, Tiffany should be far more careful with keeping JJ from feeling abandoned (whether that's having a co-coach for a while, easing out between seasons, or some such thing). It doesn't seem like Tiffany if terribly apologetic or conciliatory about treating the decision to quit so casually. Yeah, maybe JJ will (or should, even) get over being actively angry at Tiffany, (though I think he is being remarkably fair by being civil) but why JJ should have to like her or have any relationship with her at all, in the future, is beyond me. Tiffany doesn't get to have it both ways. She thinks its fair to choose her family over her just her job, treating JJ like there is only a professional relationship, and at the same time she expects JJ to treat her like family and not an employee that screwed him over. Further while the many relationships involved make things more complicated, but it seems like Tiffany only had JJ mad at her for her stunt and for ditching him. Given her relationship to the kids, Wade and Matt I'm not saying she should be shunned. But I think it would have been fair for some of the family to have expressed their displeasure as well. I'm torn as to what would be best for JJ in the future. Insofar as it would be fun to spite ME, and because Alex really has been a good guy for JJ, I hope they can stay together. In my opinion JJ deserves it. On the other hand I don't see why JJ should be forced to stay in that house while he deals with the challenges he'll be facing. I can't wait to see how things progress, both interpersonally and with the war. Rachel

Yay JJ. But Tiffany is now on my list of people who deserve a bit of CAP-justice. She just delivered a blow better than ME ever could. The implications are really mind-boggling and the timing... Hard to believe that was just careless. At best it was extraordinarily selfish. JJs only reason to be in Boston is tiffany. But that's also what may keep him near Alex. Why she couldn't finish out the season working with another coach is beyond me. this just seems exceptionally cruel especially with the timing (the championship, press conference and going into the wedding). I can't wait for the reception this should be fun. Thank you! Rachel