Althea was shaking her head. "That was crazy."

"Exactly," Lucy said, jumping on it. "Not your kind of guy at all."

"Suppose we'd been together," Althea said. "Suppose we'd gotten married and suppose he'd gotten killed? He wouldn't have been there to take care of me."

"No, he wouldn't have," Lucy agreed, trying to put some indignation in her voice.

"And I just don't look good in black."

"Jewel tones," Lucy agreed. "Those are your colors."

"Right," Althea said, relieved to be understood. "So Bryce doesn't know?"

"I'm almost positive. And you know, I just talked to him, and he was going back to his room. Maybe if you-"

"I should go," Althea said and walked off in the darkness to her waiting car.

"Yep," Lucy said and went back into the camper.

She sat down and said to Daisy, "Bryce still doesn't know that Althea…" she glanced at Pepper, now nose deep in a comic book, "uh, dated Rambo, right?"

"I don't think so," Daisy said.

"Good," Lucy said. "Now, Pepper, exactly why does Wonder Woman have white stars on her blue underwear?"

"Because she fights for America!" Pepper put her fist in the air, the camper lights glinting off her aluminum foil bracelets.

"Got it," Lucy said and then somebody knocked at the door. J.T., she thought before Pepper could say it, and then the door opened and it was Gloom, his arms full of bags and boxes, saying, "I got cake."

"Yes!" Pepper exclaimed, and Gloom came into the camper and filled up all the remaining space.

He put the cake box on the table and opened it, and Pepper sucked in her breath in delight. The bakery had done a pretty good job on the Wonder Woman drawing, but they'd done it in icing so lurid it looked radioactive.

"It's beautiful!" Pepper said.

"Is it chocolate?" Lucy asked.

Gloom looked at her with disgust. "Of course it's chocolate. The ice cream is vanilla." He put the half gallon on the table next to the cake.

"Ice cream," Pepper said, and bounced a little.

"We were just discussing Wonder Woman." Lucy got up for plates. "When she's surprised, she says, 'Sufferin' Sappho.' So that's what we're going to say from now on. You can say it, too."

"How can I not?" Gloom passed a plastic bag over to Pepper. "This is for you, Swamp Thing."

"I'm not going back in the swamp again," Pepper said virtuously, and opened the bag. "A Barbie! A Wonder Woman Barbie!"

"You're going to heaven for that," Lucy said to Gloom, passing him the ice cream scoop.

"And it was not easy to find," Gloom said, prying open the ice cream. "Do you know how many Barbies there are? They had a Super-Girl. She was wearing white mittens."

Pepper looked up from her Barbie box. "I know. Isn't that the weirdest!"

Somebody knocked on the door and Lucy thought, For the love of God, and squeezed around Gloom to open it.

Stephanie was there, hugging herself in the dark. "Can I talk to you?"

"Just for a minute or the ice cream will melt," Lucy said and went down the steps.

"I've been thinking, and if you tell me that you re not going to use the stuff we shot today, I'll believe you." Stephanie looked at her sternly. "I've watched you. I know you're used to dog food commercials but you're taking this seriously. You know it's bad for the movie. Just tell me it'll never be part of the film, and I'll let it drop."

"It's not my call, Steph," Lucy said. "I'm not editing it."

"If you don't send them the film, they can't put it in."

"If I don't send them the film, I can get sued for four million dollars. And I've said that for the last time."

Stephanie looked at her in disgust. "That's it, then."

"That's been it from the beginning. Let it go. I here will be other movies."

"Not like this one. If you won't protect this film, I'll have to. You leave me no choice." She lifted her chin and walked away, probably congratulating herself on a great exit.

Now what the hell does that mean? Lucy thought, and then Pepper called, "Aunt Lucy!" and she went back inside for cake and ice cream.

She'd just stuck her spoon in her cake when somebody knocked on the door. "Sufferin' Sappho," she said, and while Pepper giggled, she swiveled around in her chair and opened the door.

J.T. stood there, his mouth open to speak, but when he caught sight of her, no words came out.

"It's WonderWear," Lucy said, surrendering to the inevitable.

"I know," he said, staring helplessly. "I just wasn't ready for it."

"J.T.?" Pepper stood up to look around Lucy. "J.T.! We have cake!"

"Great," J.T. said, still looking at Lucy. "Cake."

"You'll get used to it," Lucy said.

"I hope not," J.T. said.

"Come on, kid, give me your chair," Gloom said, and Pepper stood up so he could slide into her seat and then pull her into his lap.

"Usually we have root beer and cheese sticks, but today we have cake," Pepper said to J.T. as Lucy slid into Gloom's chair so J.T. could have hers. "And Gloom got me a Wonder Woman Barbie!"

"Whoops," J.T. said, climbing into the camper. "Guess you don't want this then." He handed her a Jax Comix bag and Pepper ripped it open.

"It's a different Wonder Woman Barbie" Pepper said, overcome by her good fortune.

"A different one?" Lucy asked.

"Jax." J.T. settled into the chair she'd vacated. "I told him to find one so he turned up with some collector edition. He said it was still a Barbie." He grinned at her. "I am learning."

Lucy smiled back at him, helpless not to. "Well, it's good you can be trained."

"She has a blue cape" Pepper said, almost vibrating she was so happy.

"Oh, and this." J.T. unbuckled something from his left wrist.

Daisy was shaking her head. "You can't give her your watch."

"It's not a watch," J.T. said. "It's a compass."

Pepper took it in both hands. "Cool! Can I wear it over the bracelets?"

"Yes," Lucy said. A Barbie and a compass. And he fell out of a helicopter for me. This is a good guy.

"I'll show you how to use it," J.T. said to Pepper. "That way you can always find your way home."

Okay, I'm yours, Lucy thought and tried to look uninterested.

Across the table, Daisy was grinning at her.

"Oh, almost forgot." He patted his pocket. "Major LaFavre sent you this." He tossed a package across the table and Pepper tore it open.

"Oh, cool," she said and put on the mirrored aviator sunglasses, which made her look like a very patriotic little alien. "Do they go with the WonderWear?"

"Yes," Lucy said.

"Definitely," Gloom said.

"You bet," J.T. said.

"Oh, God," Daisy said, and Lucy looked across to see her smiling at Pepper with tears in her eyes. "You look wonderful, baby."

J.T. leaned close to Lucy. "I like your hair loose like that."

"Oh," Lucy said and gave up trying to look uninterested.

"Cake?" Gloom said to J.T., and somebody knocked on the door of the camper.

"I'll get that." Lucy got out of her chair to slide behind J.T., trying hard not to brush against him and failing. "Sorry," she said as he slid over into her chair.

"This is so cool, J.T.," Pepper said and deserted Gloom to crawl into J.T.'s lap, much to his alarm. She turned the compass one way and the other, trying to find north, which was probably a lot harder through the sunglasses. "Do you know what Wonder Woman says when she's surprised'" Pepper looked up at him so that his reflection was mirrored in her sunglasses.

"Uh…" J.T. looked at Lucy, helpless.

Lucy smiled and opened the door.

"I need to talk to you," Connor said, his voice harsh, and her smile evaporated.

"I'll be right back," she told Pepper, not missing the grim look on J.T.'s face, and then she went down the steps into the darkness. "This is Pepper's party," she said to Connor. "Can't this wait until morning?"