Evinna is worried. Her husband's mission is two local weeks overdue. A week ago, Jack's CO, Major Tanaka, had briefed the families, saying that no communication had been heard from the missing men. "I know it doesn't look good, but things happen. Equipment fails. They may be perfectly fine but unable to let us know their situation." The Major gave the usual pep talk and promised to let the families know the moment anything changed. With each passing day after that, Evinna's and others' anxiety grew. The silence was deafening--and frightening. What bothered her the most, though, was that just before Jack left, she had learned from the doctors that she was pregnant with their first child. Evinna had held off telling Jack because there seemed to be no good opportunity to say anything. He was too busy getting ready for his mission. The timing was just off. Now, she wished she had said something. If he had died, at least he would have known he was going to be a father. In the late afternoon, when the stars began to appear in the eastern sky, Evinna began to take long walks, trying to rid herself of the growing tension from her fears of gathering loss. The walks helped only as long as each lasted. When she returned to their quarters, she found no comfort. The rooms always seemed too empty. Evinna walked, slept, and breathed in fear. ____________________ Not a happy story but for families of America's Armed Forces and the various peacekeeper and NATO nations, it happens all too frequently. My heart goes out to them. Thanks for all your comments, visits, etc. All are appreciated. Jeremy CREDITS: Vue6 Pro Studio, Poser6, PostShopPro5. Figure: DAZ's Victoria 4.2++; KookNfat "V4A4 J-Suit" (DAZ) with Orion1167 "Azusa Boots." Oddoneout's "Evinna" morph (ShareCG) with moonbunnie's "Yaana and Anya" skinmorph (Renderosity), Neftis's "Ceazarius Short Hair" (DAZ). Ecosystem: Some of Vue's standard Alien Plants; "Red Bottle Fern," ," and " "; some ferns from Martin J. Frost's "Temporate Fern pack" (Cornucopia3d); individual moss models from "Wabe Moss" by Walther Beck aka Wabe (Cornucopia3d. Grass texture: from Flink's Grass photo-textures (Renderosity) but color tweaked in Vue6 by me. Buildings: originalmoron freebies from his site. Atmosphere: created by me.