It was Saturday afternoon, and Lil was supposed to be in Chuckie's room picking some nice clothes for him. Instead, when Kimi walked in with a straightening iron, she couldn't find her best friend.

"Lil, Lil where are you?" Kimi said.

"I'm right here," Lil said, popping out from a pile of clothes. "I can't find anything."

"Really?" Kimi asked in concern.

"Well, I do have one idea, but I don't know what Chuckie will wear, but I have a slight suggestion that he might like." Lil said.

"Chuckie, get in here" Kimi called down the hall.

Chuckie entered the room, and it was quite obvious his sister had been trying to straighten his hair, but to no avail.

"Alright, Chuckie, I think these mahogany jeans would look great with your black sweater vest and white dress shirt."

"I like the idea, I'll give it a try." Chuckie said, as he took the clothes and left.

Kimi looked at Lil and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you so much for being supportive of this" Kimi said.

"Its just fashion" Lil said in confusion

"No, not that" Kimi said, "Its how you are still so happy to help Chuckie despite the circumstances.

"Oh that, honestly, its nothing"

"You know what's coming up in a few weeks?" Kimi asked

"Yeah, the anniversary of the Nicole incident."

"It happened a year ago, but I remember it like yesterday."

A flashback all of the sudden came upon the 2 girls.

Chuckie was going to the library with Nicole Boscarelli. She was one of very few people who didn't see Chuckie as just simply an annoying, whiny dork, but rather took the time to know him. Chuckie had had a crush on her for years, and being that it was a new year, Chuckie decided to stop hiding. Upon leaving the school, Chuckie stopped Nicole and told her everything about his feelings for her, and even asked her if she would like to go on a date some time. Sure enough, she said yes, and all of the sudden, it was as if every problem Chuckie had ever had was gone, he wasn't scared of anything, and even had the confidence to stand up for himself aginst Matt, the school most brutal bully. Chuckie wasn't getting sent to Pangborn's office, and his grades shot through the roof that week. Then the weekend came, Chuckie picked Nicole up, and they went to the restaraunt, just like planned, but when crossing the street, things took a turn for the worst. A drunk driver turned around the corner in a giant food-produce truck. Chuckie and Nicole had no time to get out of the way. Nicole, without even thinking, pushed her friend out of the way. Chuckie tried to do the same, both were hit. Unfortunately, Chuckie couldn't pull Nicole away, and while he rolled over the hood suffering a dislocated wrist and arm, broken leg and nose, Nicole was completely ran over and was destroyed by the huge truck. Chuckie was treated in the ambulance, but Nicole required intensive care. Chuckie was emotionally destroyed within seconds. He could barely breath while calling 911. He remembered calling his house, Chas heard him on the phone and the family was on their way to the hospital within seconds. Chas offered to call Nicole's parents if it was too much for him, but Chuckie knew he had to do it. Chuckie could barely handle it. Nicole's parents liked Chuckie very much, he felt awful, the "nice young man" that they knew and respected so much was the man right now sitting right next to her unconscious body. Chuckie sat next to Nicole's hospital bed when the Finsters got to the hospital. Kira got out earlier than Kimi and Chas, as they had to park a block or 2 away as it was packed. It was so busy doctors said they were surprised that they had a spare room. Chuckie was an emotional wreck as he prayed for Nicole, he was just unable to stop crying for his friend. Kira came into the room, and she saw her son, crying at the bedside, she walked to the bedside and looked at her son in horror.

"Chuckie, what happened?" Kira asked

"S-she got r-run over by a d-drunk d-driver in a produce truck, s-saving my life." Chuckie whimpered. "Mom, they don't know what's gonna happen, and its all my fault." Chuckie broke down into a sob as he continued to grasp Nicole's hand, which he hadn't released since the ambulance. He told his mom the whole story, each part getting hard to tell until he finally talked about how he tried to reverse the situation and couldn't.

"Oh Chuckie, no," Kira said, grabbing a seat next to her son. She tried to wipe at his tears, but the flow didn't stop, and she grabbed him into a hug, as he cried like a powerless child. "you tried, but things just happened too fast for you to react, Nicole tried to be the hero like you and her attempt just ended up being the reality."

Chuckie still couldn't stop crying. Even as his mother rubbed his back, rocked him back and forth, and shushed him, he couldn't stop, he couldn't stop thinking about his friend, the girl who liked him for who he was, the girl who took the time to get to know him, the girl, who he had failed to save.

Kimi walked in, and she saw something that she hoped to never see. She saw her brother, once again emotionally destroyed and scarred for life. She saw him crying into his mother's shoulder, in a way she hadn't seen since he was 2, and adapting to her as an adoptive mother. She never thought she would see Chuckie like this, every problem Chuckie had ever had was back, and stronger than ever.

Chas followed in seconds later. Kimi and Chas joined Chuckie and Kira in a group hug, although seconds later, Chuckie released himself from it when he saw a sight he was horrifically fearing: Nicole's family. He braced himself for what was coming, and as Kira got ready to explain on her son's behalf, Nicole's parents ran up and hugged Chuckie, and were joined by her younger brother and older sister.

"Are you alright boy?" asked.

Chuckie couldn't answer, still crying.

"Chuckie, don't cry, our neighbour witnessed the accident, she heard you yelling "I'm sorry" don't ever think you are to blame for this. You tried to save Nicole, and she did the same. Thank you for caring for our daughter enough to try risking your life for her, we don't blame you at all." said.

"But I still am the reason Nicole was run over." Chuckie replied, slowly re-gaining his breath.

"That doesn't mean you're to blame, it means our daughter loved you so much, she thought you were worth the risk, and we are grateful that you saw her the same way." ensured Chuckie.

"Thank you so much" Chuckie replied, receiving one more squeeze from the Boscarellis before they let go, and Chuckie gave Nicole's hand to her younger brother.

Chuckie immediately retreated back to his parents arms as they gave a quick group hug and then left the room to give the family some time with Nicole, as a doctor came in to talk with the family.

In the waiting room outside the door, Chuckie sat on a couch, petrified of what was about to happen next. While Kimi held him the same way Kira was just doing, and Chas trying calm his son down by talking to him to calm him down, telling him to stay calm, as Kira went to a doctor to talk about Chuckie's Physical state, as well as his injuries. Despite his father's efforts, Chuckie couldn't help but fear the worst case scenario for Nicole. Luckily for him, he wasn't gonna have to wait much longer, as Nicole's doctor finally came out. Kira arrived back, barely in time, as Chas held onto his son tightly, getting ready for whatever result they would get.

"How is she doc?" Chuckie asked

"I'm afraid Nicole's injuries are just to severe, we don't know how long she has left, so we recommend you go into to speak with her now, she has already spoken with her family." The doctor replied.

Chuckie's heart sank when the doctor said those words, he was immediately crying again, as his father tried to calm him down.

"Let's go buddy." Chas said

Chuckie re-entered the room, and he saw Nicole, barely awake, but concsious and smiling, despite the pain she was in, and having knowledge of what was going to happen to her in just a few moments. She looked at Chuckie and her smile grew bigger. She motioned for Chuckie to come to her, he walked up, limping on his crutches. Once he was close enough, she did the unexpected. She hugged him, with all the strength she could conjure together.

"Never blame yourself for this Chuckie" She said in a weak voice. "Never blame yourself for this. All I want from you is for you and my family to move on."

"I promise to do that." Chuckie said, beginning to whimper again.

"Can I ask one more thong from you?" Nicole asked

"Anything for you Nicole." Chuckie replied

She asked both families to close their eyes so they could get some degree of privacy, and once in private, she pulled him into a kiss.

"I love you so much, I wanted to die with your breath inside me." Nicole said.

Everyone looked up again, and turned to Nicole, she knew that her final minutes were now seconds, and so, she said one last thing to everyone: "You've all played a part in giving me a wonderful life, I love you all, Thank... You."

All of the sudden, she blacked out, for one last time. The her heart stopped beating. The doctor gave s quick check.

"I'm sorry, she's gone"

Chuckie couldn't handle this misery any longer. He fell to the floor on his knees, and released an uncontrollable crying fit. His mother got him up, and both families huddled together, and began crying together.

"I had never seen Chuckie like that before, it was as if fate itself didn't want Chuckie to live happy and confident in himself." Kimi said

"I remember that" Lil said

"The thing is though, you don't know how bad it was that night. Chuckie was hiding something, and it's reveal nearly ruined our relationship with him." Kimi replied.

The night of Nicole's death, when the Finster family was asleep, with no one in the house expected to wake up for another hour, Kimi woke up to a horrifying sight: Chuckie was having an abnormally severe asthma attack, and in his sleep. Kimi tried waking Chuckie up, and her screams woke up their parents, who rushed immediately to see what was happening. Chas got out the inhaler, Kimi tried to hold him still. Chuckie needed a doctor, so Kira rushed him to the walk-in clinic where one of the family's friends, , was working.

They were able to calm him down and stabilize him again, although when Chuckie woke up, it was clear to what had caused Chuckie's asthma attack, a nightmare. The clinic's psychologist did a quick test on him, and determined that Chuckie was suffering from an anxiety disorder that had been slowly developing for 2 years, with Nicole's death being the last bit of stress his heart could take. Things went a little rough between Chuckie and his family. They were confused as to why he hadn't brought this to their attention before. Chas, Kira, and even Kimi started being way more protective of Chuckie. Kimi was following Chuckie around the school and following up on how he was acting in classes and how he often apeared in class. When Kimi wasn't Investigating, Chas and Kira were. One night, Chuckie became suspicious of everything. He decided to do some investigation of his own. One night, he told his father that he would be spending the night at Tommy's house to watch an anime movie marathon. What Chuckie really did was hide in his closet for a whole 4 hours. Eventually, he saw what he was expecting to see: his father searching his clothes and drawers. He popped out of the closet screaming when he found his father red-handed.

"What are you doing in here?" Chuckie asked.

"I was just checking for dirty laundry" Chas replied.

"My basket is right there, where it always has been" Chuckie said, pointing to a corner where a rectangular bin sat. "What were you really doing?"

"Alright Chuckie, I was looking for drugs, that's what I was doing, I thought you might've started using anti-depressents and was just taking it upon myself to search." Chas admitted in defeat.

"Well you found nothing, now get out, what right do you have to search my room" Chuckie yelled as he stepped closer to his father, at the same time, Kira and Kimi came into the room.

"Chuckie, I am your father, that means that I do as a matter of fact have this right, heck, it's more than a right, it's a responsibility." Chas said firmly, giving his son an obvious warning.

"This is unbelievable, get out, you searched my room and found nothing, now leave." Chuckie exclaimed. "Mom, Kimi, you 2 get out too."

Chuckie and his father fought more and more, and arguments were very easy to trigger. Kimi became scared of Chuckie presence type of attitude took weeks to fix, but eventually, was taken care of. Unfortunately, Chuckie still did act like this occasionally, and still had a very strong anxiety problem.

"I didn't know things affected him that bad" Lil said.

"It's just sometimes as if he is estranged by almost everyone in the whole world. Know one wants to get to know him, they just think of a stereotypical whiny, wimpy, freakish dork, and that's not what he is." Kimi said on the verge of tears. "He once told me that he didn't have crushes anymore, saying he was one of those people who love was like a poison for. No one is supposed to think like that. He got over this idea as well, but every time he gets scared to talk to a girl, you can tell how disappointed with himself and how he feels that if he could just get over one fear, he could get through all. You're really helping him by being supportive."

Lil looked at her friend and smiled. "Thank you"

Chuckie re-entered the room. He was dressed in the outfit Lil had chosen, and definitely showed a liking for it.

"Thanks Lil, this is awesome. Kimi, how much time do I have left to straighten my hair?"

"None Chuckie, I've got a better idea." Kimi said. She took out a pink pink rubberband from her hair, and walked up to her brother with it. "Now hold still."

She tied her brother's hair into a ponytail, and the look was settled. "Thanks" Chuckie said, as he left the room.

"Good job Lil" Kimi said, as the 2 girls high fived in their achievement.

Downstairs in the living room, as Chuckie put his jacket on, he came across 4 pictures (think the ones Kira and Chas look at back in chapter 4). He smiled at the picture of his friends and let out a tiny chuckle at the one with his family. When he saw the picture of Melinda, and the other of Nicole, he put his hands on them and smiled.

As he went to open the door and leave his house, he was all of the sudden wrapped into someone's arms, and planted with a kiss, he saw in his reflection on the door's window that there was a dark red lipstick mark, so he knew it washis mother who had hugged him. He urned around to look at her and saw her smiling at him.

"Yes mom, do you need something?" Chuckie asked.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck Chuckie." Kira said.

"Thanks." Chuckie replied as he gave her a hug.

"And be careful, promise me." She said with her son still in her arms.

"I promise." Chuckie replied. As he turned around once more to leave, his mother spoke again.

"Chuckie?" Kira asked.

"Yes Mom?" Chuckie turned back once more.

"Let me get that for you." She said, as she licked her thumb and wiped of her lipstick mark from her adoptive son's face, as he tried to escape and wipe it himself, but to no avail. "Don't want her to think you've been kissing any other girls tonight, now do we?" Kira said as she finished cleaning the spot.

"Yeah, now instead of a lipstick mark to make her think I'm a player, I now have spit on my face, so she'll think I'm a momma's boy." Chuckie said jokingly, as he left the house.

"Be back by 11:00, remember your curfew!" Kira called.

"Yes mom!" Chuckie called back.

As he entered his car, he thought about the picture of Melinda, and the other of Nicole. He sighed and looked.

"Thank you, for looking out for me."

Hope you guys enjoyed that extra long chapter, sorry if it was a little too long. Just to be clear, the "Ninth grade incident" that has been referenced is not Nicole's death, it is something else, that although not as severe, still means something as to Chuckie's self-esteem issues.