STORY--------------- Sandra piched the bridge of her nose and squinted hard, exhaling deeply, willing herself to relax along with the sound of her harddrive winding down. She loved dabbling in her "3D World" as Maddox called it but lately her sessions were growing shorter as her belly grew larger. She had been thrilled when he had come to her asking that she create some pieces to help him with his work. The timing could not have been more perfect as she seemed to have been at a creative block just then. He had given her enough inspiration "create some scenes for the Mayata series", along with enough free reign, "make the people as you see them." The decision to model Mayata after her sister had been a simple one. Lydia was always ranting on about the need for strong female role models in the books they produced. Sandra knew, even if he never said anything about it, that Maddox and Lydia would have been at odds over THAT issue more than once. She'd started with "Lydia business woman", natural choice since she already had some clothes modeled that approximated her favorite Armani suit. Sandra had been rather proud of the how close a likeness she'd been able to create between Lydia and her 3D double. The stpes from there had been somewhat evolutionary...Lydia in something akin to a tarzan/jane outfit had been too "jungly"....Lydia in something less spotted had been too raggedy, almost like slave-girl-Lydia...eventually she'd landed on her perfect Lydia-Mayata, slightly more muscular, very confident, and warrior-like. Pleased with her work she'd shown Maddox...but he seemed almost disinterested, remarking that they looked "fine honey". Sandra had exploded at that. While she DID enjoy the work it WAS for him after all and she had done a damn fine job of modeling. But his response to her episode was even more suprising...he exploded back. Of course most of it was the typical, "you don't understand how hard I work to put food on the table" nonsense with an expected dash of "you're just hormonal" thrown in for extra bite, but Sandra felt, or thought she did, something different. Was it possible that Maddox was having an affair? Worse yet was he having an affair with Lydia? Now, leaning back in her chair, she chuckled at the thought of it. "No my dear. I know both you AND Lydia well enough to know that could never happen. Of course back then I didn't yet know about the portal did I?" She smiled softly, shaking her head as she rose akwardly from her chair. "And even now you still believe it is your secret alone. You poor poor man...it is a damn good thing you have a wife who loves you." She wandered off to the kitchen to brew up some wamr Sleepy-time Tea before going off to bed. ---------STORY Sandra needed a little character dev I thought...nice twist :) Sorry for the delay, traveling back in Europe again.