As it turned out, Pippa had a few tears left in her, frustration mostly, and she cried them in the shower under a cascade of hot water. She could not pretend things are all right. Every time she tried to put a smile on her face, it felt too tight, too forced and stomach lurched. She would just have to go out there and face him.

Rory, with his ability to break her in a single look or glance. Rory, whom she loved so much it hurt. Rory, whom she was so angry at, frightened of, shocked by. Rory, whom hadn't left her after all.

She left the bathroom clad in a robe and using a towel to dry her dark, tangled curls. It took Pippa a few minutes to actually come into the bedroom proper instead of standing just outside of it. Almost timid in the way she approached him, until she approached him and then she dug her heels in, "After I get dressed, there's something I want to show you, back on Murano."

She wasn't exactly asking him to join her.