"Oh, Chuck; there you are," Ellie said as she walked over to where he stood with Sarah and Casey. "Can we maybe talk for a minute?"

Chuck set down his drink and followed her to an area with less people nearby. "Sure, sis. What's up?"

Ellie bit her lip, as she always tended to do when she hated to say something. "It's about Gloria. Chuck, I'm worried about her."

"Is she hurt from the fall? She was awfully quiet when you and Devon escorted her back inside. Do I need to check on her?"

"No, she's fine. I'm letting her get changed and cleaned up inside. Chuck, it's more than that. I think she might be severely depressed."

Chuck gave her a lopsided grin. "Severely depressed? Here, in Burbank with us? Are you sure?"

Ellie didn't return Chuck's smile. "It seems that way. She's been pretty quiet since she's been here. She's also been waking up screaming a few times in the middle of the night and if Devon or myself ask her about it, she shuts down and says she doesn't remember. And I know she found out that Jeffrey is her half-sibling, but it worries me just how much time she spends with him. He's teaching her how to play video games, which isn't terrible, but God knows what else he and his creepy friend are teaching her. Can you please just talk to her?"

Chuck nodded. "Of course I will, but don't freak out. I think she's just trying to find her place. We're not in school anymore and now she is discovering more about her real family and it's a lot for her to take in. But I promised her very soon, we'd have movie night just like we did back then."

"Thanks. I think of her like a little sister, too, you know and it just breaks my heart to see her hiding inside her shell."

"Well, thanks for telling me. I promise to try and keep an eye out for her. I love her, too, so if something is bothering her, I want her to know she can tell me."

Ellue hugged her little brother and glanced at her bedroom window, where Gloria was getting changed. As eased as she felt by Chuck's promise, she still couldn't help but to worry something else was going on. Gloria was dealing with something she was keeping inside and all Ellie could do was hope and pray that Chuck could get her to open up before she lost herself completely.


Gloria slid her fingers down the side of a picture frame in Ellie's bedroom and smiled softly. The silver frame had the word "Family" etched into it with tiny hearts and flowers. Inside was a photo of Ellie, Devon and Chuck, although Morgan's head was peering out of a bush nearby. How she wished she had a frame like that in her home of her, Jeff and their mom. Or better yet, a photo of her with both of her birth parents. Her foster parents never took a family photo because they thought it was a silly Norman Rockwell-esque tradition. Not to mention, they never let her forget that she was only a charity case. Sure, they fed her and clothed her and gave her a place to sleep, but there was no warmth or heart there. Not like Chuck's family. They were a real, warm and loving family. Their dad might have been away more often than not, but the love between Chuck and his sister was genuine. And despite only being a friend, Morgan seemed to fit in as the goofy brother, instead. While Chuck's family was nowhere near perfect, it was pretty close compared to hers.

Get it together, Tipton, she scolded herself, taking the towel from her still slightly wet hair. She was wearing only a cream colored cloth towel around her as she looked through her duffel bag for a pair of pants and her green vintage Shirt Tales shirt.

Suddenly, she heard someone outside the door, but she didn't pay much attention. "Ellie, I want to thank you again for-", she began, turning around, but saw someone else standing inside the room. "Lester! Get out of here!" she screamed before he raised a camera and snapped a flash photo of her.

"Smile!" he grinned.

Gloria held her towel in place as she began to run towards the door, but the flash momentarily blinded her, causing her to stumble on the corner of the bed. "Lester Patel! When I get my hands on you, that camera will be permanently inserted up your ass!" she vowed. She had just earlier convinced herself that Lester didn't purposefully move out of the way so the man could push her into the fountain. Now, however, she wasn't certain. Little pipsqueak probably thought he could snap a photo of me in the shower. Good thing I locked the door.

She quickly changed-after locking the bedroom door-and pulled her hair back in a ponytail. The only baseball cap she had with her still had a mustard stain on the bill from her hot dog eating contest with Jeff a few days before. Jeff had won by a landslide, but both she and Lester left shortly after, only to come back with a huge bottle of Pepto-Bismol from Large Mart for him. Smiling at the memory, she opened the bedroom door, only to nearly run into Morgan, his hand raised and balled into a fist.

"I was just about to check on you; not that you need checking up on, but I just thought I would-," he rambled.

"Thanks, Morgan, but I'm fine. Just gotta make an appearance now to let everyone else know," she replied as they walked outside.

As soon as she exited, she was met by smiles and applause. "Wow, thanks, guys," she blushed. "I'm okay. Let's continue this party and I'll try to steer clear of that big wet cement thing," she joked, causing scattered laughter.

"Nice shirt," Jeff said as she made her way to his table, several empty bottles of beer lying there.

"Thanks." Involuntarily, Gloria reached up to play with her necklace, but froze when she couldn't feel it there. Where did it go? Last place I remember seeing it was on the dresser right by the bedroom door...

"You want a beer?" Jeff asked her, not noticing as her facial expressions changed.

"Where is Lester?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him for a while now. Why?"

Suddenly, Gloria's face turned red with rage. "Because that son of a bitch stole my necklace!"


Lester rolled his eyes as a bread truck pulled behind the apartments. He had been waiting for ten minutes and his patience was wearing thin.

"You're late," he growled as the guy, dressed all in black, hopped out. "Now I brought you what you want. What about what I seek?"

The man lifted up a suitcase. "It's all here. Fifty thousand dollars in small bills. You give me the necklace and I give you the money."

Lester chuckled. "Not so fast. I wasn't born yesterday. I need to see the money. I want to smell the enticing aroma of its monetary value."

The man glared at him. "Fine." As he opened up the suitcase to reveal the money, he quickly snapped it shut as Lester's face was inches away, causing him to flinch. "Now. The necklace."

Lester pulled the necklace from his pocket and handed it to him. "It was a pleasure doing business with you," he reached his hand out to take the money.

Suddenly, the man reached in his pocket and pulled out a .22 caliber and shoved it in Lester's chest. "Change of plans. Get in the back of the truck."

Lester's eyes grew wide in horror, but he tried to play it cool. "What sort of game are you playing, man? Unless there is more money in that abhorrent bread truck of yours, our deal is done."

"Your life is going to be done if you don't get in the back of my abhorrent bread truck. Now move it!" the man barked, cocking the gun.

Lester backed up slowly, his hands up. "So all of this was a set-up? Just how valuable is that necklace?"

As they got to the truck, the man opened the back and shoved Lester inside. "I needed bait. And the necklace wasn't it. You were, chump!"

Lester tried to get up but the man slammed the doors shut and bolted them. He had fallen into a trap! How could he have been so stupid? "Hey!" he yelled, getting up and peeking through the small windows in the back. As terrified as he felt a minute before was nothing compared to how he felt as he saw the one person he hoped he wouldn't see: Gloria. The man was right; Lester himself was the bait and his greediness and jealousy had led Jeff's half-sister right into a possibly deadly trap. "What have I done?" he whispered. "Good God, what have I done?"