Meet your friend on the way up.

As you enter the house you see Doe coming out of the kitchen. Her strawberry blond hair is pulled back in a ponytail. She has a pair of black slacks and a white button down shirt that is filled out more than you remember it. She has a cup of coffee in her hand and when she notices you standing in the doorway she almost drops the cup. "OH! John!"

You smile, tentatively, "Hey Doe how are you?"

She shrugs, "I'm okay I guess. Uhm, you going up to see your mother?"

You nod, "Yeah...you're on your way up I see." You wonder why this conversation is so hard. When you and Doe were kids it was so easy to talk to her. Like talking to a sibling. You'd both be motormouths and just talk for hours. Even if you hadn't seen each other in minutes you'd have the need to tell her everything that happened to you in those minutes, and she seemed to feel the same. "Do you have any test you have to perform?"

"No, I'm just bringing her coffee up then I have to go pick up Courtney at school."

"Courtney?"

"My daughter."

"I didn't know you and Hank had a child."

Doe raises her eyebrow, "You haven't been around to know, now have you?"

"True. Very true."

She smiles, "It's good to see you, come on." She says and moves towards the stairs.