After it's over:
"Joannie, you ok?" Elizabeth asks.

"If the car's OK, I'm OK. But if that tree came down, I'm dead," Joannie moans.

"No you're not. Dad won't get mad if an earthquake caused it. He'd be more upset if you didn't make it out of the car in time. Come on we better find Tommy."

"You're right. And then, if the car's OK, I'll go to the college and see how Susan and Nancy are."

The two sisters go off through the halls, pushing through the crowds, looking for Tommy.

"He'd better not have broken his leg again," Joannie jokes, "Because Dad won't be able to handle it if Abby has to go back to tutoring."

Elizabeth chuckles and they continue looking for Tommy.

They don't find him right off, and Joannie's beginning to wonder if maybe Tommy didn't cut school. ~If he did, I'll kill him.~ "Maybe he's looking for you, Elizabeth, and we keep passing each other."

Meanwhile at the college. Nancy rises from where she had fallen when the earthquake hit and starts looking for Susan to see if she's ok.

At the construction site a few men are rushed to the hospital. While others stay to survey the damage. David gets in his van and heads over to the elementary school to check on Nicholas, while at the Register a very frantic Tom is trying to call his children's schools, the construction site, and Abby.

Abby had just about reached the district offices when the quake hit, and she'd rushed inside to safety. A school class is in the building and Abby helps calm them and settle them down. She's busy calling their parents, telling them that their children are safe, and she tries to call the Register to check on Tom, but the lines are busy.

Nancy finds Susan in one piece and sighs in relief. And then wonders if Joannie was on the road when the quake hit she was going to give Elizabeth a ride to school, and what about the rest of the family and Abby?

"Susan, I'm going to go make some phone calls." She walks slowly towards the phones. She had sustained some bruises from the fall and they were choosing that moment to yell at her. She's unable to reach anyone. However, one hour later she finally gets through to the Register. "Dad are you ok?"

"Honey I'm fine, how bout you and your sisters?"

"Susan and I are ok. Joannie hasn't returned from dropping Elizabeth off yet. Have you heard from her? Have you heard from anyone?"

"Mary called a half hour ago, she's fine, but I haven't heard from the others," Tom tells her. "But no news is good news. You stay there till they say it's ok to venture outside." They talk a few minutes longer and then Nancy hangs up and returns to Susan.

Abby has no luck reaching Tom, but she finally does get through to the elementary school and hears that Nicholas is all right, that David's coming to get him. The high school doesn't know what's up with their students, and there's not much more Abby can do at the District, so she decides to try the Bradford house and see if anyone there needs help--there's no answer when she calls, but that doesn't mean anything; the lines may be down.

Currently at the elementary David finds Nicholas in one piece and just hugs him, very relieved his little brother is ok.

"That was fun," Nicholas replies.

David laughs and brings him home.

Abby gets to the house just in time for a small aftershock. She tries the door and finds it unlocked, so she goes inside to find a safe place to wait it out. After it's over she takes a quick tour of the house, checking, but there's no real damage, just fallen plants, some dishes shaken off shelves.

In Tom's study she sees broken glass on the floor, and near it is the picture of Joan Tom keeps on the windowsill. Before she leaves Abby cleans the remaining glass from the frame and rights the picture, putting it back where it belongs.

Right as Abby leaves the telephone rings. Tom sighs in frustration and worry when no one answers. He then tries Abby's place again with no luck.

Back at the college Nancy decides to split and head for the high school but not before telling Susan where she went.

Abby drives to the Register and is relieved to see the building looks OK, but the place is frantic, both because of the earthquake and because they're a news organization, and this is news. She gets to Tom's office but it's empty, and she goes inside to leave him a note.

Moments later Tom enters; he had just been out for a minute. He sighs in relief when he sees Abby. He hugs and kisses her, not wanting to let go.

"You're OK, you're OK," Abby keeps repeating until she can believe it. "I tried calling here, but I couldn't get through, and I tried the house, I even went over there, but no one was home. Nicholas and David are OK, and the high school's a madhouse," she reports. "But you're ok."

Tom just hugs her again. After awhile, "Nancy, Susan, and Mary are ok. I haven't heard from the other children yet, but David and Nicholas are fine?" He sighs in relief and just continues to gaze at Abby. ~Tonight, if everything is ok with the kids, if they're fine, Abby and I are having that dinner.~

"Well, his school said that David had called and was coming to get Nicholas and that Nicholas was fine, so I assume David is, too," Abby says. She kisses Tom a few times. "I was so worried about you."

"I was worried about you too, I kept imagining the worse." Tom kisses her again. "It's really good to see you, lady."

"Oh, I always end up on my feet," Abby says. She caresses his face a while longer and then asks, "Should I go check at the high school? And where is Joannie? You didn't mention her, so I guess she wasn't in school this morning."

"She was dropping Elizabeth off at school. No one has heard from her since," Tom worries. "I'll go with you."

"She was Elizabeth's ride this morning?" Abby starts to laugh. "When we find her, I think I'm going to have to have a long talk with her."

"Why, what happened?" Tom asks as they head out.

Abby considers sharing her suspicions, but decides that Tom would either get angry with Joannie or be embarrassed, and that she's better off handling this alone. "Nothing important. Woman talk. I guess we should take your car; mine won't fit the girls and Tommy. Or should we go separately?"

"We better go separately but one following the other just in case. I don't want to leave your car here for looters to ravage."

"I don't think it'll get that bad, do you? You know, your front door was unlocked. Maybe, if you think there is going to be looting, you go to the school and give me your house keys so I can lock up," Abby suggests.

"No, we'll both lock the house and then we'll go to the school. Right now I'm finding it very difficult to let you out of my sight."

"Don't go getting overprotective of me, OK? I'm too glad you're OK to want to fight," Abby says, only partially joking.

"Ok," he says. They go lock the house up and then head for the high school.

Later at the high school. Nancy arrive and sees that a tree has landed on and totaled the sedan. She freaks out. "Joannie!! Elizabeth!!" She checks inside the car and doesn't see them so she rushes inside the school as fast as her aching bruises will let her go.

Meanwhile, Joannie and Elizabeth are still looking for Tommy. "Maybe we ought to stay in one place and let him look for us. We've checked the nurse's office three times. If he was hurt, they would have known by now," Joannie suggests.

"Yeah you're right." Elizabeth says and then starts looking around. "Hey what's Nancy doing here?"

"Looking for us, I guess. Hey, Nance!" she calls her sister over.

Nancy comes over and hugs them both tightly. "Don't ever scare me like that again." She says still freaked at the sight of the car.

"Like what?" Joannie asks; they've been inside since the quake. "Oh, no, the car! How bad is it?"

"Totaled," Nancy says. "Hey, where's Tommy?"

"I don't know. He's not in the nurse's office or the principal's, so I guess he's ok and looking for us. Totaled? Dad's going to love that. He just got the insurance money for the repair."

"Don't worry about it Joannie, better the car get hurt than you."

Elizabeth hugs Nancy a little too tightly causing her older sister to wince a little. Elizabeth pulls back. "Hey what's wrong?"

"It's nothing. I fell down during the quake. I'll be all right." Nancy says.

"Let's take you over to the nurse," Joannie says. "She won't remember that you've graduated, and this way we can make sure you're really ok."

Nancy protests but Elizabeth and Joannie take her anyway. The nurse checks her over.

"You'll be all right dear, just a few bruises, but if you start experiencing sharp pain go to the hospital. And why are you here? Didn't you graduate last summer Nancy?" The nurse remembers her for when she would play sick to get out of class.

"Yes, but I came her to check on my brother and sister," Nancy says to her.

"And when we saw she was in pain, well, you wouldn't have wanted us to just let her hurt, would you?" Joannie tries to butter up the nurse, just in case.

"Of course not." The nurse smiles at them.

"Has Tommy been in here by any chance?" Elizabeth asks.

"No he hasn't. Like I said the last time you checked he's probably looking for you don't worry I'm sure he's fine," The nurse assures her.

"I just wish we knew where he was," Joannie says. "Wait--maybe he isn't looking for Elizabeth. What's the name of that girl he liked? The one who was going with the football jock."

Meanwhile outside Tom and Abby arrive. And Tom freaks out when he sees the car. "Joannie!! Elizabeth!!" He rushes inside the school looking for them.

"Tom, we should check with the main office or the nurse--they'll know whose been hurt and who's all right," Abby says, trying to calm him.

Tom nods and they head to the nurses office.

"Joannie and Elizabeth brought Nancy in here awhile ago, but she's fine, just a few bruises. They went looking for Tommy," she tells them.

"See, Tom? They're all fine. They must have gotten out of the car in plenty of time," Abby says. "Let's go find them so you can see for yourself."

"Ok," they start looking. "I told Nancy not to leave the college. There are fallen live wires out. More could've snapped, fallen and hit her."

"You raised them to be very close--do you think none of them would go looking for the others?" Abby asks.

"No, but I don't want either of them risking electrocution either."

Currently a few feet away. "What are Dad and Abby doing here?" Nancy says.

"Oh, no, if they're here, Dad's seen the car," Joannie moans, still not convinced her father will forgive her so easily.

Tom and Abby come over. He hugs his daughters very thankful they're ok. "Nancy I told you to stay at the college."

"I know Dad." She hugs Abby. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. How are you? The nurse said you got banged up a little. Here or at the college?" Abby asks.

"At the college. I can't walk very fast right now, but I'll be ok. The fall was a lot worse than the results were," she replies. "Have you guys heard from David and Nicholas yet?"

"I spoke to Nicholas's school a while ago. Nicholas is fine, and David was going to pick him up. Joannie, Elizabeth, and Tommy were the only ones still AWOL. Have you seen Tommy?"

"No we can't find him anywhere. We've been looking for a girl he likes to see if she knows where he is." Elizabeth tells her.

"I know what to do," Tom says and heads for the main office. "Can you please page my son Tommy Bradford?"

"Mr. Bradford, we can't go paging students or this place would be more chaos than it is. We're going to try to get the students back into their homerooms so we can get a head count, but it will take a while," the secretary says.

"I'm only asking you to page one. He can be hurt and not might not be able to call out for help," Tom worries.

"If we make an exception for your son, then we have to make one for the daughter of the parents who called five minutes ago, and the ones who'll come by five minutes from now. We wouldn't be able to get the students organized. I'm sorry," the secretary insists politely.

Tom sighs in frustration.

Mary is so worried about her family she decides to go home but first stops at the high school to see if anyone needs a ride. She heads to the main office just as Tom is asking for Tommy to be paged.

Tom sees her and hugs her. "Mary, what are you doing coming out in all of this?"

"I was worried about everyone," she replies.

"Come on, let's go join Abby and your sisters. I'm not getting anywhere here." They return to Abby and the girls.

"Attention all students. Attention all students. This is Vice-Principal Gillette. All students, report to your homerooms. All students, report to your homeroom. Visitors are requested to stay in the area of the main office so we can conduct a head count."

Tom, Abby, and the girls stay in the main area and wait for them to finish the head count. Each lost in their own thoughts.

Nancy finally speaks up. "I wish I were home soaking in a tub of Epsom salt right now."

"You'd get all of five minutes before someone started pounding on the door," Joannie says and then lapses back into silence, waiting and wondering why her father hasn't said anything about the car yet.

"I saw the car," Tom says. "And I'm very glad you two got out in time."

"Look, Dad, I'm really sorry, I know I shouldn't have left it under a tree, but we felt it begin, and I just wanted to get in--wait, it's OK? You're not going to yell at me?" Joannie asks.

Tom smiles. "Why would I yell at you? You two are much more important to me than that car is."

"All right, who are you and what have you done with my father?" Joannie demands.

Tom laughs and hugs his daughters again. A little while later he observes Nancy she's starting to look worn down and to look like the bruises are really aggravating her. He turns to his other daughters. "Can one of you take Nancy home? She should be resting not running around."

"Maybe I should take her home," Abby suggests. "You'll need the station wagon to get everyone else home," she points out, "and the sedan isn't going anywhere anytime soon."

"I want to stay till we find Tommy," Nancy says sounding very tired.

"When we find Tommy we'll bring him home and you can see them then. Go home with Abby," Tom says.

"Oh all right," she says too tired to argue much.

"Will you call me as soon as you get there?" Tom asks Abby.

"Where?" Abby asks. "If they won't page one of their students, they won't page you. When you find Tommy, call the house. It shouldn't take more than 15 or 20 minutes to get there, no matter what's going on, probably less."

"Good point." Tom kisses Abby. "I love you and drive carefully."

"I always do," Abby assures him and gives him a peck on the cheek. She quickly glances at Elizabeth and Joannie to gauge their reaction--if she's right about this morning, they ought to have one.

Elizabeth smiles and turns away figuring that Abby has figured out about this morning and is glad she's taking Nancy home so she doesn't have to face the music yet.

"Well, Nancy, let's get you back home while there's still water for that Epsom soak," Abby says as she stands up. "I'll wait at the house for you?" she asks Tom.

"Sure I'd like that very much; if you don't mind?" Tom asks.

Nancy rises from her seat and waits for Abby to finish talking with her dad.

"Of course I don't mind," Abby tells Tom. "Besides, Nicholas should be home soon, if he isn't already, and he might want to talk, if he hasn't already told David everything, and someone will have to feed everyone as they get to the house. At some point I should go check what shape my apartment's in, but I don't mind waiting for you."

Tom smiles and kisses her and then Nancy and Abby leave. Nancy falls asleep on the way home but awakens again when the car stops and she sees David's van in the driveway. He comes out and greets them. "Are you two ok?" He starts to hug Nancy but Nancy stops him.

"Gently please," she asks of him.

He hugs her gently. "What's wrong are you hurt?" he asks.

"Yes, but nothing major." She slowly makes it inside and observes the damage. David had been cleaning some of it but he hadn't gotten to all of it yet.

Moments later David and Abby come in and find Nancy fast asleep on the couch.

David covers her up and puts a pillow under her head and then turns to Abby. "What a day huh?"

"You don't know the half of it," Abby mutters. Aloud she says, "How's Nicholas doing?"

"He was a little scared, but every now and then he'll start saying neat cool earthquake, but I think he's just trying to be brave." He observes Nancy. "Has a doctor looked at her yet?"

"The school nurse said it was just bruises, but when things calm down a little I think someone ought to call Greg Maxwell and see if he could see her," Abby suggests, waiting for David's approval, hoping she's not presuming too much.

"I agree, I'd call right now but she's sleeping too good. Are you thirsty, hungry? Nicholas and I have started dinner."

"You know, I've been running around so much I haven't even thought about food," Abby admits. "But I think I'd rather help you straighten things out here. It's bad enough about the car without your father having to see this mess when he comes home. He'll think we threw a wild party or something."

"What happened to the car? And which car?" David asks.

"The sedan. Joannie parked in under a tree when she went into the high school to drop off Elizabeth. The two of them are fine, but the car's going to spend some time in the shop again. Where do I find a broom and dustpan around here?"

David laughs. "Oh geez, that poor car, follow me." He brings her to where the broom and dustpan are.

"Thanks. I'll start with the living room. Why don't you--I dunno--why don't you straighten up your father's room?" ~I'm not going in there uninvited, that's for sure. I don't want to see what he may or may not have packed away yet, and I certainly don't want him to think I may have been snooping. I'm not Joannie, after all.~

"Ok," David agrees and goes to tackle the study. He finds the picture of his mom with the glass missing and makes a mental note to buy a new frame for it. When he's done he retreats to the living room and finds Nancy awake. He sits down beside her. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, where's Nicholas?"

"He's upstairs playing or doing his homework. How are you feeling?" She groans. "Do you want me to call Dr. Max?"

"Over aches?" Nancy exclaims. "He'll laugh in our faces."

Abby sweeps the last of the picture glass into a trash bag, trying not to think of how much work she'll have at her own place when she finally gets there. "Nancy, do you still want to take that long soak?' she asks.

"Yes," she replies.

"Good while you're doing that. I'll call Dr. Max and see when he can come over," David says.

"You are such a big brother, sheesh," Nancy teases.

"That's right and don't you forget it." He kisses her on the forehead and then goes to make the call.

Abby goes off to tackle the dining room and all that broken china while David makes his call.

Meanwhile Susan makes it home from the college and enters the Bradford house. "Dad�Mary�" shouts Susan hoping for an answer from someone.

David comes out from calling Greg in the kitchen. He hugs Susan and sighs in relief. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Susan replies "Are you alright? Have you heard from the rest of the family?"

"I'm ok, Nancy suffered some bruises from her fall. We think she's ok but Dr. Max is going to come and check her over. Everyone else is fine, except we haven't heard from Tommy yet." He tells her.

"I hope he's all right," replies a concerned Susan. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah can you go and see how Nicholas is doing?"

"Okay. Do you know where he's at?" replies Susan.

"He's up in his room."

Susan heads up to Nicholas's room and knocks on the door to his room.

"Come in."

"Hey Nicky, how's it goin'?" asks Susan.

"Good and you?" Nicholas replies

"I'm alright I guess. What did you think about that earthquake we had earlier?" inquires Susan.

"Felt like a roller coaster," Nicholas says. "Where were you when it happened?"

"I was at school," replies Susan "I was lucky I didn't get hurt though. There was a lot of damage. How does your school look? You didn't get hurt or anything did you?"

"Just some books fell off the shelves; I was ok."

"Are you sure you're okay? You know if you need someone to talk to you can talk to me," Susan replies.

"I know; thanks Susan. Do you know when dinner is?" Nicholas asks.

"Nope, but I will find out and let you know," replies Susan as she leaves the room.

Nancy goes upstairs to soak in a bath of Epsom salts. After awhile she catches herself starting to nod off so she gets out, dries off and slips on something comfortable.

After he gets David's call, Greg comes to check Nancy over. "Any sharp pains?" he asks.

"Of course not," he smiles. "And of course you're tired. People tend to get that way when they run around all day when they should be resting. Get some sleep." He turns to Abby and David. "If she starts getting sharp pains call me. It doesn't look like she sustained any internal damage but it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Er, um David my boy no offense but I've tasted your cooking before. Abby run for your life," Greg jokes as he leaves.

"As bad as his father's?" Abby asks.

"Worse," Greg says.

"Hey thanks a lot. Hey Nancy tell her my cooking isn't that bad," David pleads.

"I'm too tired," Nancy uses her fatigue to get out of answering.

"Don't worry, David. So far your father's cooking hasn't killed anyone, so yours won't either. I hope."

Nancy laughs; so does Greg.

David mock glares at both of them and goes to check on Nicholas.

Nicholas is laying on the bed when David enters and he says "Hi."

"Hi big guy, what's ya doing?" David asks as he sits next to him.

"Just thinking about the earthquake," Nicholas says "It was kind of fun and scary at the same time."

"Yeah I know. It scared me too," David confesses.

Abby comes upstairs and stands in the doorway to Nicholas's room. "That was your dad--they found Tommy and he's OK. A little bashed up, like Nancy, but otherwise fine."

"How badly bashed is he?" David asks.

"Bashed up?" Nicholas asks worriedly.

"It can't be too bad," Abby assures them. "He's bringing Tommy here, not to the emergency room, and you know how he worries. So if there was more than just bruises, he'd be at the hospital so fast it would make your head spin."

"That's true," David agrees.

"Yeah," Nicholas laughs.

"So, Nicholas, you OK?" Abby checks on him. "Since no one's too hurt, it was kind of fun, wasn't it? Like a great roller coaster ride."

"Like I told David, fun and scary at the same time."

"It was, wasn't it? I'll bet Mrs. Duffek had a tough time keeping you kids from running out and enjoying it."

"Actually the last I saw of her was running out of the room," Nicholas laughs.

"Which one of you was running in which direction?" Abby asks.

"She was running out the door," Nicholas replies.

Abby laughs, but she knows there's got to be more to the story; an old teacher like Mrs. Duffek wouldn't be fazed by anything as small as an earthquake.

The three of them talk for a while longer and then go downstairs to check on the food.

Meanwhile, at the high school:

Joannie pulls Mary aside. "How are you doing?" she asks. "Really, not to calm Dad down."

"I'm shook up like everyone else, but I'm ok," Mary assures her.

"Really?" When Mary nods, Joannie decides to believe her. "I can't believe Dad was so calm about the car. I was sure he'd go ballistic. And I knew parking it under a tree was a bad idea when I did it."

"Well, I know Dad is just thankful that you are ok. It probably was a good thing you got out of the car when you did or you could have been in it when the tree hit it," Mary says.

"True, but I still don't trust him. He's too calm. Sooner or later he's going to break, and then watch out world," Joannie warns.

"Joannie, I don't think Dad's going to get mad. Don't worry, he's too glad you're okay to be mad," Mary tell her.

Tom is behind her when she says this. "Joannie, my sweet daughter. When are you going to realize that I don't blame you for what happened to the car? It's not your fault that the tree happened to be there and you didn't know if you had time to move it before getting to safety. It's not your fault."

"It's Attack of the Zombie Dads," Joannie says to Mary. "I think I saw this on channel 3 the other night. Don't turn your back on him." She begins to hum the Twilight Zone theme.

Mary shakes her head and laughs.

Tom laughs, shakes his head, and then goes to see if there's been any word on Tommy.

Meanwhile...Tommy is in the custodial closet, his leg trapped under some fallen debris .He finally comes to and calls "Help!"

Elizabeth is walking by she had gone to get a drink of water. "Tommy!! Dad!! Come quick, Joannie!!" She opens the closet door. Tom and Joannie are there seconds later.

"Man am I glad to see you!" Tommy exclaims

"Are you ok son?" Tom reaches for him to help him up.

"I think so," Tommy replies and then tries to get up and finds he has trouble walking on his leg so he starts limping.

"Joannie will you go and see if the nurse has any crutches? We just need to borrow them till we get him to the car." He turns back to Tommy. "I'm taking you to the emergency room. How bad is it?"

"Dad I am fine...I think I just twisted it." Tommy assures him "I just want to go home. How is everyone else?" Tommy asks.

"We'll let the doctors decide that. Nancy was bruised from a fall but after a soak in the tub with Epsom salt and a good night's rest she'll be fine. And the rest of the family is fine."

Joannie goes and gets the crutches. "She said to return them as soon as you can. You'd better not have broken your leg again, Tommy."

"Would I be able to stand on it if it was broken?" Tommy says.

"Thanks Joannie." Tom hands them to Tommy.

"Couldn't we have Dr. Max meet us at the house?" Tommy asks.

"Sure, first let me call there and tell Abby we found you." He goes to call home and tells Abby they found her and he needs to call Max.

"He's still here, teasing David. Want to speak to him?" Abby asks.

"Sure but why was he there? Nancy will be fine. Are David or Nicholas hurt?" Tom frantically asks.

"No one's hurt, Tom, relax," Abby assures him. "Obviously he doesn't have too many emergencies today, because he's just been chatting. One sec." She gets Max and tells him Tom would like to speak to him, then goes upstairs to check on Nicholas and David.

Greg gets on the phone and tells him about Tommy and then asks why he was there. Greg tells him and Tom shakes his head. His son is a worse worrier than he is sometimes. After awhile they both hang up and Tom returns to his son and daughters.

"Are you three ready to go home?"

"Yeah," Tommy says as he hops on the crutches.

"More than ready," Elizabeth says as she hugs Tommy.

"I am glad you are OK Liz," Tommy says.

"Thanks," she smiles. "I wish you were."

Joannie thinks about going home. If she does, Abby will be there, and she might have figured out the deal behind this morning..."Maybe I should stay with the car, you know, arrange a tow?"

"Don't worry about the car. I'll take care of it. Let's go, Joannie," Tom says.

"Yes, Dad," Joannie says, thinking that she'll need all the allies she can get.

Soon they arrive home. Greg examines Tommy in the living room. Nancy finally wakes up again and ventures downstairs. She grabs a hold of Nicholas, hugs him, and kisses him on the cheek. "It's really good to see you Nicky." She then observes the others. "Hey what's wrong Tommy?"

"Well, Dr. Max what do you think?" Tommy asks.

"It's just a little twisted. You'll be fine in a day or two," Dr. Max assures him.

"Whew," Tommy exclaims, "Thanks, Dr. Max," and starts to get up.

"Tommy," Greg says firmly, "I said a day or two. Now remain seated."

"Dr. Max, I am fine," Tommy says.

"Tommy you don't want to make it worse than it is. Enjoy the people waiting on you hand and foot," Nancy suggests.

"This is just great; I had a date tomorrow night," Tommy gripes.

"Really, who with?" she asks.

"Wendy Springer," Tommy replies. "Does this mean I have to stay home for the next two days Dr. Max?"

"He probably wouldn't be on his foot much on his date Dr. Max," Nancy says.

"Hmm, if that's the case then I guess it wouldn't hurt if you kept your date Tommy, but she has to go easy on you."

"Thanks Dr. Max," Tommy says.

"Not a problem Tommy." After talking to Tom, Greg leaves.

"So how did you wind up in the broom closet?" Nancy asks.

Tommy blushes. "Never mind," Tommy says.

"Oh I see." Nancy tries to change the subject to save him further embarrassment. "So did you guys save me any dinner. "It's bad enough that I feel like an old lady with all these aches but I'm starved too," she says, not knowing that dinner hasn't been served yet.

"David and Nicholas are still cooking dinner. I'll go and see how much longer it will be," Mary says as she goes to the kitchen.

"Thanks, Mary," Nancy says.

In the kitchen Mary asks, "Nancy's ready to eat, how much longer do you think it will be?"

"Not much longer," David says. "Want to taste test for us?"

"Ok, I have to eat it anyway or starve," she says as she takes a taste. She makes a face and then goes back and tells Nancy that dinner is almost ready.

"Thanks, Mare," Nancy says.

"No problem," Mary responds.

"I'm really glad everyone is ok and that the injuries were minor, we got lucky," Nancy says getting all sentimental.

"Yeah, me too," Mary says.

A little while later everyone sits down to eat dinner.

The telephone rings. Elizabeth answers. "Hello?"

"Hi. Can I talk to Tommy, this is Wendy Springer."

"Sure, Tommy it's for you." Elizabeth says.

'Hello?" Tommy asks.

"Oh hi," Tommy replies "About our date tomorrow night.....I thought we go see a movie....what? You made up with Jeff? No I understand...bye."

Tommy hangs up the phone.

"What's wrong?" Nancy asks.

"Wendy just got back together with her ex-boyfriend who isn't an ex anymore," Tommy complains.

"In that case you can do better," Elizabeth says.

Tommy doesn't say anything and just sulks through dinner.

That evening, after everything's more or less straightened out, Abby asks to speak to Joannie and Elizabeth privately:

"Would the two of you like to explain this morning to me?" she says, hoping that she is right to ask them and not merely paranoid.

"Er, I think I should go check on Nancy and Tommy," Elizabeth says trying to get out of there.

"No way," Joannie hisses. "You agreed to this."

"By the way, Joannie," Abby says, too sweetly to be real, "I keep my eyeshadow on the right side of the medicine cabinet, not left. But good try."

Joannie shrinks a little, caught out.

"But Elizabeth," Abby continues, "what possessed you to go along with this scheme?"

"Well first let me tell you after I talked with you earlier I didn't want to go along with it anymore. We were worried about well uh um. You tell her Joannie."

"Coward," Joannie whispers to Elizabeth, "she didn't ask me, she asked you."

"That's right," Abby says, having heard Joannie as clearly as Elizabeth did. "And I fully intend to ask you a few questions, too, Joannie, but first let's let the innocent have their say." She turns back to Elizabeth expectantly.

"Well you see Joannie and I were thinking about� Well, Joannie didn't see any birth control stuff in your medicine cabinet, and both you and Dad are adults, so why would you wait til the wedding night?"

Abby just stares at the two girls--she's assumed that this morning was a fishing expedition, but she hadn't thought it would be that bad. She alternates between wanting to yell at the girls and wanting to shake them. "First of all, adults can practice restraint. Second of all, if you know anything about a wedding, you're a step or two ahead of me. And, you know, there are other places besides a medicine cabinet, and birth control isn't the exclusive province of women. And which of those statement might apply to my private life--well, that's private, isn't it?"

"Yes," Elizabeth says quietly. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Joannie says. "Look, I'm sure you want to get back to your place and see what the damage is, so why don't we discuss this some other time?"

"You want to avoid the lecture?" Abby guesses.

Joannie nods. "I'll get enough of one when you tell Dad."

"I'm not going to tell your father."

"You're not?" Joannie repeats, too shocked to say anything more.

"How come?" Elizabeth asks.

"Your father's relationship with me is personal, which means I don't report to you about it, and your relationships with me are personal, which means I don't report to him about them. Understand?"

Elizabeth nods.

"In other words, if we want you to keep our secrets, we shouldn't pry into yours," Joannie says.

"Exactly."

"Does that mean there's a secret to pry into?" Joannie tries to dig for information.

"Joannie," Elizabeth chides.

"What? Sheesh. Can't blame a girl for trying, can you?"

Elizabeth laughs and shakes her head.

"You are incorrigible, Joannie, aren't you?"

"I try."

Abby rolls her eyes and leaves the room in search of Tom.

"Whew. That was close," Joannie tells her sister.

"Why did you make me tell her everything?" Elizabeth grouses.

"Seniority."

Elizabeth boils over with anger. "Well, that's just fine. I'm not talking to you for the next two hours, Joannie Bradford." She stomps out of the kitchen and goes upstairs.

Joannie follows her up and stands outside Elizabeth's room. "One hour, 59 and a half minutes. One hour, 59 minutes. One hour, 58 and a half minutes. One hour, 58 minutes."

Nancy opens the door. "Joannie are you sure you're all right? You didn't hit your head in the quake or anything?"

"Ask--one hour, 57 and a half minutes--Elizabeth--one hour, 57 minutes."

Elizabeth laughs at them. "Ok I'll talk to you if you stop counting like that."

"Smart choice," Joannie says. "I can be very persistent."

Nancy shakes her head and goes back to bed. "Weird both of them. Must have hit their heads," she mumbles.

"Yes you can be," Elizabeth says to Joannie.

"You going to stop being mad at me?" Joannie asks Elizabeth.

Elizabeth smiles. "Yes."

Downstairs, Abby finds Tom. "Well, I'm off to see how bad my neighborhood is, and my apartment. Wish me luck."

"Good luck, do you want me to come with you?" Tom asks. "For moral support."

"I'm not sure. If things are fine I'll feel like I dragged you away for no reason."

"If things are fine you're not dragging me away for no reason," Tom says with a gleam in his eye.

Abby smiles at him. "No? What excuse will you give your kids if you stay a while and celebrate coming through the earthquake all right?"

"That I want to spend some time alone with you."

"You spend any more time at my apartment instead of here, and they'll file a missing persons report on you," Abby says.

Tom smiles. "Ok, I get the point. Will you call me when you get home?"

"Assuming I'm not knee deep in broken glass and downed phone lines I will," Abby promises.

"Thank you, I love you," he says as he kisses her.

"Now don't start with that or I'll never get out of here tonight," Abby says.

Tom smiles. "Ok, I'll ease up."

"Not forever, but at least long enough for me to get home tonight," Abby tells him.

She leaves and soon thereafter calls Tom to let him know she got home safely and that her place came through relatively all right.