"Working late?" Dr. Raleigh asked Yale Johnson.
"Oh, yeah, I've got this speech to write." Yale said hastily.
"Should I...come back in half an hour?"
Yale sighed. "No, Angie, let's talk now."
"YOU think we should talk?" Angie asked.
"Yeah, what's so funny about that?"
"You seem nervous, are you nervous?"
"No-"
"I think you're very nervous. Why?"
"Helen's on her way down here." Yale told her.
"Well then let's go to my office, she wouldn't think we would be there." Angie offered.
"No. Angie, it's over." Yale said sternly, gathering his courage.
"WHAT?!" Angie yelled.
"Helen's on her way down and we're...going out dancing! Angie, I'm breaking it off. I don't love you."
"You-you don't mean that..." Angie sobbed.
"I'm doing you a favor." Yale said stonily. "Go."
"You're not doing me any favors you son of a BITCH!" Angie sobbed, putting her hands to her mouth.
"Angie please-"
"Yale, I'm PREGNANT!" She wailed.
"OH." Yale gasped. He found himself comforting the sobbing Angie in his arms. The Negotiator felt pity rise in him.
Unbeknownst to him, Ted, still in his pink prison uniform, was watching Helen drive down to Yale's office. He blinked, recognizing both the car and her, and then walked off.
"There's...no doubt on the father?" He heard Yale say from the office. "What are you gonna do?"
"I'm keeping our baby...what do YOU plan on doing?"
"Angie...I'm staying with Helen."
"Will...will you support our child?"
Suddenly Helen walked into the hallway. Angie and Yale looked at each other one last time before Yale walked out to meet her.
"Helen, there you are!"
"I was looking for you." Helen said. "How are you-"
Then she saw Angie leaving the room, walking away with her head bowed slightly, moving fluidly.
"You were with HER again..." Helen said, tone rising angrily.
"She screwed up a caseI was working on." Yale explained to her. "I was reaming her out, if you wanna know the truth."
"Reaming...her...OUT?" Helen asked. She was getting more annoyed.
"Yes. Now what do you say we go out dancing?"
"What does "reaming her out" mean exactly."
"Okay, how about instead we go out and get some Chinese food and then bring it home for a nice romantic dinner at home by the fire!"
Helen shoved him aside and angrily rushed into the Negotiator's office, grabbing the nearest blunt object she could find...the Negotiator's prize $12,000 violin that was a gift from his aunt.
"I'm gonna kill 'em! I'm gonna beat that lying, cheating sonofabitch over the head with a blunt object and pound his conniving brain into porridge!" She snarled to the Negotiator.
The Negotiator blinked. "..."
"Don't gimme that frightened deer look. Say something useful!"
"Why are you so upset?" He asked finally.
"I can't trust that sonofabitch! I can't trust anyone!" Helen yelled. "RAAAOOOOOHHHHH!" She screeched, waving the violin over her head, getting all up in the Negotiator's face.
"I understand. It's important to have faith in your fellow human beings."
Helen growled. "Yeah, but look at ME. I don't know WHO to trust anymore!"
"Well, it IS something you gotta build." The Negotiator admitted.
Helen blinked a few times. "...how do you do that with a lying, cheating, duplicitous scumbag?!"
"People become liars and cheats if they think they can get away with it." The Negotiator told her.
She waved the violin frantically in the air. "Are you suggesting that I bust this violin over my husband's stupid head!?"
"No, of course not."
"So...what ARE you suggesting?" Helen asked, eyes narrowing.
"Helen, why is your marriage so important to you?"
"...because it's a union that's supposed to lead to something bigger than myself. THAT'S why it's important."
"Your husband doesn't share that view?"
"Maybe, maybe not. He said he was...oh yeah..."bewitched" by that evil woman...but wait, it's not ENOUGH to punish liars and cheaters. There's something missing in your theory. What is it?" Helen demanded to know.
"Tell Yale that a greater purpose is served by making your marriage work." He explained to her.
"Yes! She's blinded him. But now I know what I gotta do. Thank you." She put her violin down and walked out to speak with Yale. They agreed to have a nice romantic Chinese dinner by the fire...
Meanwhile, a slightly sobbing Angie found herself walking away from a lake as the moon reflected in the lake.
Someone else was also near the lake...
"I'M FREE!" Ted Hartrup shouted, now wearing a very nice suit.
"I'M FREE!" The echo came back to him.
"Being free means I can do what I like, means I can DRESS how I like, and SAY what I like! Being free means I never have to say I'm sorry!...unless I've done something wrong." He admitted.
LATER, IN THE MORNING...
"Being free is not just a right, it is a responsibilty..." Ted spoke to himself as he walked in the park...
Unaware that, just to his right and underneath some long grass...
Was the oh-so-still body of Dr. Angela Raleigh, the faintest trace of tears still on her cheeks...