Casey and Nicole

This was another piece of free-writing I used to capture an idea, it has since taken on new significance in Without a Song.
Two friends, Casey and Nicole, are talking about another, a close friend of Casey's problems at home, 6 000 miles away in England. The expatriate community is 10 000 feet up a mountainside in Saudi Arabia and centuries away from the 20th century. Casey knows that things between Stephen and his wife Sue are at a low ebb and fears that Stephen had received (in her words) the worst possible news from home.
Nicole has her own problems having been diagnosed with a borderline case of Lymphangioleiomyomatosis, a disease fatal for women.
Luckily for Nicole, Casey knows exactly who Nicole should turn to for support, but it's not going to be easy.