Mia woke up that morning to the sound of someone crying. She rolled over in her bed and checked the baby monitor. Jesse wasn't crying. From what she could tell, he was still sound asleep. She groaned loudly and pulled herself up from her bed. She stepped out of the room and heard crying coming from the bathroom. She gently pushed the door open.

There was Rebecca, curled up in a ball on the floor and next to the toilet, sobbing loudly into her knees. Mia sat down with her and pulled her into her arms.

"It's okay," she whispered. "It's going to be okay."

"Let me go," Rebecca shook her head and tried to push the older woman away. Mia sighed and watched Rebecca try to get up to her feet, only to feel nauseous and turn to the toilet to puke.

"Still at it?"

"Go away," Rebecca muttered and heaved again. Mia pulled her hair back for her.

"Want to talk about it?"

"No. Please! This is humiliating enough!"

"You don't have to feel humiliated," Mia smiled and gently stroked Rebecca's back. "Our friend Mike stayed here one night a few months after his twins were born. It was his first night away from his wife and kids and he got so drunk he started guessing what his and my kids would look like if we had one. That was humiliating."

"Whatever I did, I'm sorry," Rebecca put down the lid to the toilet then flushed. "I'll pay you back whatever as soon as I can and…"

"You didn't take anything from us, Rebecca," Mia assured her and decided against bringing up the purse incident. "We found you drunk last night and thought you could use a place to crash. Do you remember any of that?"

"No, but the drinking explains the massive headache."

"Well, you kind of smashed your head against the sidewalk."

"Too fucking drunk to walk, I guess," Rebecca muttered. She washed her hands in the sink and then turned to Mia. "Thanks for putting up with me. I'll get out of your hair."

"Do you need us to call someone to pick you up?" Mia asked. "You're a long way from home."

"I don't have a home," Rebecca said. Mia grabbed her arm as she was about to leave the bathroom.

"What happened?"

"It's none of your damn business!" Rebecca shouted and pulled away. "Just raise my damn son properly and leave me the hell alone!"

"Rebecca…"

"We don't owe each other anything! Just stay out of my life!"

Rebecca stormed out of the bathroom and stomped down stairs, but Mia wasn't about to let her leave. She pulled her Samuraizer out of her pocket. Old habits were hard to break and despite the Nighloks being gone, Mia always had hers on hand. She traced a symbol and the wind blew strongly against the door. Rebecca couldn't get it opened and couldn't leave the house.

"Stop it!"

Mia shook her head. She walked up to Rebecca and pulled the teen in for a tight, loving hug. She knew Rebecca needed it. Rebecca wanted to pull away at first but after a couple of moments the hug felt nice. She didn't pull away but shook her head.

"My dad died."

"I'm sorry," Mia answered softly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's my fault," Rebecca said. "I ruined him. I ruined everything. He hates me, and he drank because of everything I put him through. He drank himself to death."

"Rebecca…"

"I'm a horrible daughter! I… I can't… I didn't mean to hurt him, Mia! I didn't mean for him to die like this! They told me to get out and stay away and I did and… I should have just stayed. I should have stayed! All the beatings in the world wouldn't hurt as much as this!"

"I doubt that," Mia shook her head. She looked down at Rebecca and pulled the hair away from her face, "Are you saying he did this? That healing black eye you're sporting is his doing?"

"If I had stayed, this wouldn't have happened. If I had never been born, like he said, he never would have gotten so screwed up! Mom might still be alive!"

"Rebecca…"

"I should have done something!"

Mia shook her head and held Rebecca's face softly in her hands so the younger girl would look up at her, "Before me, my mother was the pink Samurai Ranger. She had to leave and my father went with her. They left me in my grandparents' care. I was too young to get it at the time so I felt they hated me. When they both came back and tried to take me home, I hated them. I wanted nothing to do with them. My grandmother, Sobo, was the only mother I wanted in my life. Not long after that, my parents divorced. I was still living with my grandmother but… that's not something a kid ever wants to see happen to her parents. I blamed myself for the longest time. I blamed myself because I was just a kid and I didn't know any better."

"Did you kill your parents?"

"Yes," Mia nodded her head. "As I got older, I was still a little angry with them, but they were my parents. I loved them anyways. Then my dad started making a few mistakes that… they shook me up. One day, out of nowhere, he was in town. He wanted to take my place as a Ranger. That decision and me letting him come to the Shiba House with me got him killed. I watched helplessly as a Nighlok severed his head from his body. I blamed myself then too."

"I'm… I'm sorry," Rebecca sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "I didn't know…"

"It's okay. I bounced back," Mia smiled. "I stopped blaming myself for my parents' divorce. I was just a kid. The decisions they made had nothing to do with me. I had no control over what they did or chose to do."

"Your parents probably never blamed you," Rebecca muttered. "Dad flat out told me…"

"While he was beating you up?" Mia interrupted. "Are you really going to trust the man who did this?" Mia pointed to Rebecca's eye. "You being born isn't the problem. You choosing to protect yourself and walk away before shit really hit the fan isn't the problem. The problem started with him."

"I…"

"Can I take a shot in the dark, here?" Mia asked and Rebecca nodded her head. "Look, I don't have all the details, but given what happened, given what you're telling me now, it sounds like your father was really mad at himself. Leaving behind a wife and kid? Screwing up two marriages? Beating up his daughter? That's a lot to carry. You can't blame a man for turning to alcohol. You also can't blame yourself."

"But if I…"

"Sweetie, people don't change because someone wants them to. They change because they want it. If your father wanted to be a better man, a better father, and hell, if he wanted to still be alive right now, he would be. And if he's blaming you, it's because he can't handle blaming himself."

Rebecca turned away. Mia hugged her again.

"If you ask me, if you ask anyone of my friends, or even your friends, I'm sure they'd all tell you the same thing. You did the right thing. You got out. It may not have saved your father, but it did save you."

"Saved me from what?"

"Your father was really angry, wasn't he? All that anger at himself, he let out on you. If you stayed with him, like you're saying you should have, he'd have easily killed you."

"He wouldn't! He's… he's my dad. He couldn't… could he?"

"It's hard," Mia nodded her head. "When you're a kid you think everything your parents do is because of you. You're just… not experienced enough to know that parents make their own decisions. I didn't understand half the shit my parents went through until I had Riley. You won't understand until you have your own child."

"I do," Rebecca muttered. "He's upstairs, remember."

"I meant… Mia bit her lip and then smirked. "Actually, you have a point. In a few years, when Jesse learns he was adopted, there's not a doubt in my mind he's not going to think you gave him up because he wasn't good enough."

"That's… that's ridiculous. You're going to tell him, right?" Rebecca asked. "You're going to let him know I couldn't be a mom. He was perfect. He was… he deserved a better life."

"I'll tell him that but… kids don't get it. They can't get it. Just like you don't understand that your dad did this to himself, Jesse's not going to understand that his adoption had nothing to do with him."

"Mia…"

"Yeah."

"Even if you are telling the truth… it doesn't hurt any less. He was my dad!"

"I know."

"He's dead!"

"I know."

"I just wanted him back!"

"I know," Mia nodded her head and held the younger girl tightly in her arms until there was a knock at the door. She reached out with one hand and opened the door. Mr. Burrows stepped in. During the night, thanks to a few phone calls, Kevin managed to get the Burrow's home phone number and let them know Rebecca was safe with them for the night. It seemed Mr. Burrows had gotten up and driven all the way out to Panorama City first thing in the morning to pick her up.

Mia let Mr. Burrows take Rebecca in his arms. He held her warmly. He kissed the top of her head.

"We were worried sick," he told her. Rebecca sobbed into his chest.

"It's not fair! I want my dad! I want my family! I want to go home!"

"I can't give you your father back, Rebecca," Mr. Burrows said. "But we're going to make sure you have everything else."

"You can't."

"We can, and we want to," Mr. Burrows said. "We're getting in touch with social services and the lawyers. We'll do anything so you stay with us. So you have somewhere you know you're welcomed with open arms."

"Why did he have to do that? Why couldn't he just go to therapy? Why couldn't I be enough for him?"

"He lost his chance," Mr. Burrows assured her. He gave her another soft kiss and continued to hold her as he looked to Mia, "Thank you so much. You have no idea how worried we were."

"Take good care of her," Mia chuckled. "It may be weird taking in our son's birth mother, but I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Mia put her hand on Rebecca's shoulder, "Your dad may have let you down, but you've got a whole family still who'll never make you feel this way again. Go home, Rebecca. Be with them. I know it seems impossible, but they'll help you get over this."

Rebecca nodded. She pulled away from Mr. Burrows and wiped her eyes.

"I'll just… say goodbye to Kevin," she whispered. "I don't really remember last night but… he was there when I woke up."

"He took good care of you," Mia nodded. Rebecca walked up the stairs slowly. When she was out of earshot Mr. Burrows turned to Mia again.

"Seriously, thank you. If you hadn't of taken her in… She's grown on us. The house feels so… weird without her. We can't imagine what it'd be like to lose her."

"Then don't," Mia said. "Seriously, Mr. Burrows, step it up for her. She needs someone to fight for her. She needs to know there's someone out there who'll do anything for her."

"She's got it."

"She needs to know she's got it. Riley had a tough time blending into our family, especially with Kevin. All he put up with just to show her he was going to stick out really paid off in the end, but it was a lot of work."

"I'm willing to put that work in," Mr. Burrows promised. "She's just as much a part of my family as my other two kids. No one's taking her away."