1. DENIAL:

"What ring?"

"He is NOT married!"

"Why do you assume it's a wedding ring? Just because it's gold and is on his ring finger doesn't mean anything!"

"That piece of gold is a college ring!"

"That's a friendship ring Weiss gave him. They're very close!"

Okay, some of us came to the realization that maybe he is married, but:

"Maybe he's married to Syd."

"Maybe he's wearing it in honor of Syd."

"Maybe it has to do with an undercover mission."

Ah, the rationalizations.  We were trying to protect ourselves from the truth.  Who could blame us?


2. ANGER:

"I can't believe he got married!"

"How could JJ do this to us?"

"Married so soon?!"

"What the %$#@!"

After we got past the denial, it was anger.  Lots of it.  Sleep with one eye open, JJ.


3. BARGAINING:

"Please, JJ, if you make this right, I'll give you my first born!"

"Dear God, I promise I'll watch less television and start spreading your word, just make sure JJ works this out to our satisfaction."

Okay, so we all know we crossed our fingers with the God thing (I mean, come on.  Less TV?  Yeah, right!), but maybe we'll actually go to church every once in a while or, if we already attend, we'll actually pay attention, rather than mentally writing fics or replaying S/V scenes in our heads.  (Tell me I'm not the only one who does that.)


4. DEPRESSION:

"I can't go on.  Four months is too long.  Where are my tapes?!  Where are my tapes?!"  

"I'm going to crawl under my covers and hope I don't wake up until September."

"How could this happen to ME?"

"What did I do to deserve this?  Is this punishment for watching 'Are You Hot?'  I swear, it only happened once and I was thinking about Alias the whole time!"

I'm sure there was lots of ice cream and chocolate involved in this stage.


5. ACCEPTANCE:

"Okay, he's married.  Vaughn is married.  To someone who is not Syd.  Okay.  All right.  I'm fine with that.  Really, I am.  Yes, I am!  You don't know me!"

"He's married.  And you know what?  Maybe it'll end up being good.  Syd and Vaughn can rediscover their love."

"He's married.  I still hate it and who knows where this leaves them, but at least I finally stopped crying."

If you've reached stage 5, congratulations. You've grown as a television fan and are a better person for it.

If you're still stuck somewhere between 1 and 4, don't worry, you have four months to reach 5.

Is it September yet? :)