Nachelle Ventura slowly sagged into the easy swivel chair in front of the control unit and heaved a sigh, placing a hand on her bulging midsection.

"Having pains?" 

She dropped her waffles on the attached tray and glanced up at her friend, who was sucking noisily at the straw in his carton milkshake. Denise Freeman was a colleague at the station, and also her partner and co-host of Your Take Talk Show that aired every lunch break in Atlanta.

"No," she answered, shaking her head, "I just feel so tired."

A worried look crossed her colleague's face. "Nash, you can take a break. Somebody else can always cover for you."

She scowled at him, slowly swinging her chair to face him. "Denise, I said I was tired, not dying."

Denise raised an eyebrow but said nothing, still sucking at the straw. Nachelle breathed in relief and picked at her waffles, eyeing her Samsung phone. They were bound to start the show in a few minutes, but she wondered if she could have time to call Courtney about the change of plans. Her babysitter had called just a few minutes ago, when she was at the food court, to inform her about some family emergency that needed attending to. Normally, on Mondays and Fridays, the girl picked Bikey her son up from preschool and took him home while her friends, Courtney and Cate shuffled the other week days while picking up their own wards.

And now that the babysitter wouldn't be able to pick Bikey up, she wondered if the girl had called either of her friends to let them know. She had been so worried about the baby turning in her stomach she had forgotten to ask. And the show would start in a few minutes. Ralph didn't like employees taking calls in the studio.

She picked up her mint chocolate chip ice cream and sighed. It would be a disaster if no one was informed and her son had to stay in school all by himself. The last thought snapped sense back into her. Snatching up her phone, she quickly dialled Courtney's number. She could have gone out to quickly make the call, but was extremely tired from the journey back from the food court, and she couldn't possibly wait till the end of the show. It ended in an hour, at half past one, and that was approximately the time the preschool closed.

"Hi. Courtney Wazowski," said Courtney, as soon as she picked up.

Nash rolled her eyes and relaxed back into her seat. "Hi yourself. Court, do you ever check your caller ID?"

There was a pause in which Nash heared a computer keyboard tapping away before it stopped all of a sudden. "Sorry, Nash. I wasn't looking at the phone. What's up?"

Nachelle hesitated, loathing to disturb her friend. It was obvious from the keyboard sounds she was busy at work, and Courtney's sales op job at the art deco home office was far more demanding than hers, especially at this time before their one o'clock lunch break. "Um, I was wondering if you could pick Bikey up today for me."

"Of course, no p. You can come get him at my pops, then."

Courtney drove to the preschool at her lunch break to collect her daughter and then dropped her at her father's place to go back to work. Her daughter in the elementary school got dropped at her father's place, too by the school bus.

"What happened to your babysitter?" Court asked.

"She couldn't make it. Family stuff. Thanks, Court. I gotta go now. Going airborne in a few." Nash started to cut the call.

"Nachelle, wait, wait," Court called. "Are you okay, babe? You sound stressed out."

Nash could see her friend frowning and pursing her lips to one side in concentrated worry on her side of the line. "I'm fine, Court," she assuaged. "Went down to get lunch and got winded a little is all."

"Uh uh."

Nash smiled, knowing her friend was not the least bit convinced. "I'm fine, Court. See you tonight."

"Bye."

No sooner had she dropped the phone than Vik came poking his head in. He was a wiry, thin guy with a mop of kinky black hair from Audio and was actually in his mid-thirties, although people would think he was younger than Nash and all.

"You guys set? You're going on air in five."

Denise tossed his carton into the small trash can at the corner and gave him a thumbs up. Nachelle nodded and swallowed the last of her waffles, accepting the small bottle of water Denise handed her.

"Thanks," she mouthed.

"Alright. Good luck. Denise, you still didn't tell me today's topic."

Denise winked and reclaimed his seat in front of the controls. "You're about to find out in five."

Vik rolled his eyes and closed the door after him.

"You ready?" Denise asked.

"Yeah." Nash dropped the bottle and slipped on her headphones. "I am."