"Could you tell me where I can get ice for this please?" Laura asked the nurse behind the desk as she held the plastic hospital pitcher in her hand.

As the nurse was giving her directions, Laura could see someone walking towards her through the corner of her eye. She looked over and noticed JC and her Aunt Dorothy walking down the hallway.  JC hands were dug deep down in his pockets as he walked through the hospital corridor towards his wife. He was noticeable uncomfortable with his surroundings and was constantly looking around at everything he saw. Laura immediately walked towards him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. JC was stunned by her reaction but wrapped his arm around her back to pull her closer while his other hand remained in his pocket.

"Thank you so much for coming." she said as she kissed his cheek and looked into his eyes.

He slightly smiled. "Thanks for picking him up from the airport Aunt Dorothy." Laura said as her aunt grabbed her hand tight to show her support.

"So how is she?" he asked.

"She fell down the steps. She was unconscious when the neighbors found her. She broke her ankle. They had to reset the bone so she was in surgery just a little while ago."

"Has she been awake yet?"

"No, not yet, but the doctor says she should be coming out of it any minute now."

"Laura, you look exhausted. Why don't you and JC go down and get something to eat. I will stay with your mother."

Laura doubled checked with her aunt to make sure.  Her aunt nodded her head and brushed Laura's hair back with her fingers and she held her cheek in her hand. Laura put her hand over her aunt's and hugged her before walking over to JC and proceeding towards the elevators. The two of them were silent as they sat in he hospital cafeteria and drank coffee. Laura ran her finger across the bracelets on his arm. "I appreciate you coming here. I know you don't like hospitals very much."

JC looked up from his cup. "No, it's not that. I'm just a little worn out."

"Do you want to go? I can ask my aunt to take you to the house." she asked.

"No. I just got here, Laura." he said as he began to stir the tiny red straw around in his cup.

"I know...I just..." Laura stopped talking and shrugged her shoulders as she ran her thumbs across her cup. JC didn't know what to say to her. He didn't know what was going on in her head. He wanted to ask her about the journal, but didn't that it was the time or place to bring it up. But it was eating away at him and he needed an answer and soon.  He sat up and leaned towards her so no one at the surrounding tables could hear them." Laura."

"Yeah?" she asked as she ran her hands through her hair before resting her chin on her knuckles. He looked down and started to fiddle with a packet of sugar as he continued to speak. "I...I really don't know how to ask you this, but I am a little concerned about something that I stumbled across a little while ago...And it is probably not the right time to bring this up, but it is eating away at me."

"Ask me what?" she said as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Are you hiidd---"

"Laura, your mother is waking up." a voice interrupted from behind. Laura quickly turned around and saw her aunt standing there motioning for her to follow her. She looked back at JC, who nodded for her to go ahead. She jogged towards her aunt and down the hallway. JC walked slowly towards the hospital room and could see Laura standing over her mother alongside the doctor. Laura's aunt was on the opposite side of the bed.

"Connie? Connie...It's Dorothy! Can you hear me?" she said loudly.

JC walked closer and stood up against the wall and watched the doctor flashing a light into the woman's eyes. JC noticed that Laura didn't look like her mother. Her long flowing strawberry blonde hair was neatly placed over her shoulders. Her face showed a woman who had been through a great deal in her life, but he knew that she was not as old as she looked. He remembered that Laura had told him a long time ago that her mother was younger than her aunt. As he looked at her mother and then at her aunt he felt there must have been some sort of mistake, because Laura's mother looked much older.

"Mom?" Laura said as she lightly rubbed her mother's arm.

"Laura?" the woman mumbled as she squinted her eyes to focus.

"Yes mom, its me."

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I came to see about you mom. I was worried."

"She took the first flight out to get her to be with you, Connie!" Dorothy said loudly.

"Damn, Dorothy! I'm not deaf." Connie mumbled trying to clear her throat. Laura poured her a cup of water and helped her sit up to take a sip. The doctor went out into the hallway to give them a few moments to talk to her alone. Dorothy followed him into the hall to ask him a few questions.

Laura's mother was still squinting and looking around as she tried to let her eyes adjust to the lights when she noticed JC standing against the wall. "Who the heck are you?" she asked.

"Mom. That's JC."

"Oh." she responded.

JC walked closer towards the bed to say hello.

"Ahh, I remember you."

JC and Laura looked at her in confusion. Connie rolled her eyes at their reaction. "I've seen pictures of him and Rachel at Janine's house." she explained. "Damn. I'm not senial yet, Laura." JC went to shake her hand but eventually pulled his hand back when she looked the other way towards the door ignoring his attempts. "Well, I see you here, JC, but where is Rachel?" she asked as she looked back towards them.

"She isn't here. JC is my…Good friend." Laura hesitated. JC looked at her as she looked up towards him feeling more embarrassed by the second. Dorothy walked back into the room with the doctor. "Connie, Dr. Grossman says that you will be able to go home in a couple hours. He just wants to observe you for a little while longer and he needs us to fill out some forms before they release you.

As the doctor spoke to the them about caring for her ankle, JC looked over and noticed Laura didn't seem herself. He placed his hand on her back to give her comfort. He didn't know if the change was all in his mind from what he read in her journal or if it was real. Dorothy instructed JC and Laura to go home ahead of them. She explained that she would bring Connie home in a while and for them to get some rest until then.

It was a very quiet drive to Laura's childhood home. JC would glance over at her while she was driving and could tell her mind was filled with a million thoughts. As they drove down the quiet little street, Laura pointed out a little blue house on the corner that had a small picket fence.

"That's Rachel's old house. Her sister Janine lives there now." she said as they passed by. About six houses down they came across a two story home. Laura pulled up into the driveway and turned off the car. She sat completely still as she looked at the bright white house. JC noticed that everything seemed to be so perfect. The grass was a dark, healthy shade of green and perfectly trimmed. The flowers were perfectly spaced from one another. JC felt he had been spun back in time to an episode of "Leave It To Beaver." He looked over at Laura who seemed to be frozen behind the steering wheel. "Are we going inside or did you want to sleep in the car tonight?" he asked.

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked towards him. "Huh? No." she smiled. "Come on, let's go."

She dragged herself out of the car. JC walked over to the other side with both their bags in his hand as he followed Laura up the steps onto the porch. Laura unlocked the front door and took a deep breath before going in. The inside was just as perfect as the outside. Everything was in its place, the hardwood floors seemed to sparkle. Laura showed JC around the house. As they walked down the hallway towards the stairs JC reached to open a door, "What's in here?" he asked. 

Laura grabbed his hand and pulled it away, almost as if she were scared for him to even touch the door knob.  "Nothing! It's just the basement.  Let me show you upstairs."

As they walked up the steps he glanced at various pictures of her when she was younger and family portraits of other relatives hanging on the wall. She led him upstairs into the guest bedroom and placed his bag on the full sized bed.  "This is where you'll be sleeping." she said as she went into the closet to get him some towels.

"Where is your room?" he asked. Laura smiled at him and shook her head. He followed her down the hallway. Laura stopped in front of the door and ran her hand lightly across the wood before slowly turning the knob and flipping the switch to turn on the lights.

Laura placed her bag on the floor and circled around the room in awe. "Wow. I can't believe she left everything." she said as she ran her hand across a unicorn figurine.

"What do you mean?" JC asked.

"Nothing...I'm just...I'm just surprised that she didn't get rid of all this stuff. I would have figured she would have changed it into a big sculpting studio by now."

JC looked around the room and noticed that there were four shelves covered with trophy's and ribbons. He saw the walls were decorated with different plaques and awards. He saw various pictures of Laura when she was younger at various music competitions. The mirror was covered with photos of her and Rachel from when they were babies up until their high school graduation.

"Wow." he said as he continued to look around. Laura sat on the edge of the bed and picked up a stuffed tiger that was laying on the light purple pillow. "You've been playing the piano since you were 4?" he asked in shock.

"Yeah" she replied. JC turned around and noticed her petting the stuffed animal. He walked over to her and grabbed the tiger and leaned down so that he was at eye level with her. "You okay?"

"Yeah...I'm fine." she said solemnly. "Let's get a bite to eat from the kitchen, she said as she stood up and walked out of the room.

JC followed her down the steps and past the stairway towards the kitchen. As they sat in the living room with their tv trays watching television, JC decided to look at more photos that were draped around the room and over the fireplace.

"Why doesn't your mother have any pictures of you at different competitions down here? You wanted them all in your room or something?" he teased. "I mean, she must have taken a million pictures of you in front of the piano."

Laura didn't speak as she followed him with her gaze. He turned to look at her to see if she was paying attention to him. "My dad took most those pictures." she said.

"Daddy's little girl, huh?"

"Yeah...At one time I was."

JC sat down next to her on the couch and rest his head on his hand. "At one time?"

"Yeah. Then I woke up one day and he just....He just wasn't there anymore." she said softly as tears began to fill her eyes.

"What do you mean?" JC asked as he placed his hand on her leg.

"He committed suicide when I was 9." she replied. JC placed his arms around Laura as she cried softly.

"I'm sorry, Hun. I didn't know."

"It's ok. It happened so long ago. Just being back here, brings back alot of memories for me is all." she said as she wiped the tears away and stood up to take their plates into the kitchen.

JC wanted to follow her, but didn't know what he could possibly say to her to make her feel better. He knew her father had died, but she nor Rachel never said anything else about it. Laura didn't really speak too much about her family. JC started to realize why when he was at the hospital with Laura and her mother.

While he was waiting for her to come back, he noticed a family album that was sitting on the coffee table. Laura came back into the room and looked over JC's shoulder and noticed he was looking through the album. She rounded the corner of the couch and could see him smiling to himself at pictures of her when she was a baby. She sat down on the couch next to him as she went on to explain the history of each and every photo they came across. She would try her best to skip past the embarrassing naked tub photos that everyone seems to have, but JC held her back while he laughed out loud to himself. "See, I knew you were a freak from way back!" he joked.

A couple hours later, Dorothy opened the door and helped Connie in with her crutches. They could hear the television was on and walked into the living room. Connie was about to speak until Dorothy motioned for her to be quiet. Laura's mother looked up and could see JC lying on the couch with his foot draped over the side on the floor and Laura lying between his legs with her head on his chest. Laura's arms were wrapped around him. JC's chin was on top of her head and his arm was draped over her back as they both slept peacefully. Dorothy grabbed a blanket from the back of the rocking chair and draped over the two of them. Connie quietly limped towards the two of them on the couch and saw the open photo album sitting on the coffee table. She noticed the picture of Laura's father and stood there for a moment staring at the book before she finally closed it. She went to leave the room and stopped in her tracks where she heard movement. Laura moved her hand and let it fall to the side of couch. Connie immediately noticed the ring on her finger sparkling in the lights reflected off the television.  She covered her mouth in shock. She tried to look at JC's hand but was interrupted by her sister telling her to let them rest. She nodded and limped over to the television and shut it off before leaving the room and struggling up the steps into her bedroom trying to figure out what she had just seen.