Sam visits Sadie over Labor Day after playing Master of the Revels and calls it her best work. At Unfair, the team worries how to market an erudite, multi-POV mystery about Christopher Marlowe and censorship. Because Sam is more famous, publicity outlets push for him to join the tour. Sadie resists credit confusion, but Sam promises to emphasize that the game is hers.

On the November road trip, journalists focus questions on Sam and often assume he and Sadie are a couple, which Sadie tolerates for the game’s sake. Sadie develops persistent nausea she blames on bad oysters and motion sickness. In Texas, after repeated vomiting, she buys a pregnancy test. In a cramped suite, they wait together as the test turns positive; Sadie, overwhelmed, rests while they prepare for their next event.

In December, during a Game Story cover shoot in New York—Sadie styled as Elizabeth I, Sam as Shakespeare—the photographer assumes they are married and suggests children will change her mind about marriage. Afterward, Sadie rushes to the bathroom with more nausea.

Meanwhile, a publicist receives a text about an active shooter at a tech company in Venice, near Unfair. Sam discovers missed calls from Marx and fails to reach him or the office. He enters the women’s room to alert Sadie; she sees his alarmed face as the chapter closes on rising uncertainty.