It is the morning of the evaluation with Fern, and everyone was a little over the edge.
"Lauren Catherine Bazile, if I see this dog in my laundry one more time, I swear, it's moving in with your dad!" Cate yells as she walks into Lauren's room and puts the dog in it's pin.
Lauren is standing in front of her closet, looking at her clothes. "Mom, don't yell. You're scaring him."
"Why aren't you dressed?" Cate was dressed in a black suit like dress, and she was ready to go. Lauren on the other hand wasn't sure what to wear. She didn't even want to go.
"Because I can't find anything!" Lauren whines. "I don't understand why I even have to go to this. I mean don't you want me in school?"
Cate walks over to Lauren and looks in her closet. "Nice try. And we're a family. We are going to do this together." She pulls out a blue dress and a white sweater. "Here. Wear this."
Lauren stares at the clothing Cate just picked out. "A dress? Really?"
"Put it on and be happy." She says handing Lauren the clothes. "Five minutes!" She yells walking out of the bedroom.
Lauren sighs as she throws down the clothes on her bed. This was going to be a long day she thought.
In Fern's office, Cate is sitting on the couch by herself. Fern wanted to talk to them all individually before she talked to them all together.
"Well, okay. Last time I saw you things were a bit out of control." Fern starts. "How have the past few days been?"
"Good! We're just smoothing out the kinks." Cate tells her.
Now Baze is sitting in front of Fern by himself.
"What kind of kinks?" Fern asks him.
Baze smirks. "Have you met Bug?"
Lux is sitting in front of Fern now.
"Well, last night Baze helped me with my homework."
"Last night, I took Lux and Lauren to see a stage play. It had a very uplifting theme. Lots of dancing." Cate says, laughing.
"Um, last night, I played with my new puppy my dad got me for my birthday, and my mom went to work."
"Uh, last night, we partied on Rock Band for hours." Baze says exgerrating. "I mean up until bedtime which is at a strictly hard ten o'clock. No snacking after nine. Do you Rock Band?"
Now all four of them are sitting in front of Fern. Baze at the end, Lauren between Baze and Cate, and Lauren sitting on the other side of Cate. They sat there nervously as they listened to Fern speak.
"In all of my years in social working, I have never seen such a pathetic sherade. You would rather lie about your problems, than face them head on. And if that's the case, I have no other choice but to find Lux another placement."
"It was my fault!" Lux says panicing.
"Lux." Baze stops her. "It was ours. Cate and I, we were afraid to tell you the truth because we didn't think you'd let us keep her."
"And what is the truth?" Fern asks them.
"Well, we suck."
"But not for the lack of trying." Cate adds. Lux rolls her eyes at them, clearly annoyed. "I don't know if this is about Tasha or not anymore." Cate tells Lux.
"Tasha and Bug aren't like other kids. They don't have parents to support them. When they need help, they turn to me. And you made me feel like I could turn to you, and you weren't there for me."
"For you?" Fern asks her. "You mean for your friends?"
Lux hesitates for a second. "Um, yeah. My friends."
"You said for me. You said Cate wasn't there for you."
Cate looks over at Lux concerned. She was so desperate for Lux to reach out to her and talk to her. To open up.
"Yeah. She's wasn't. I asked her a favor and she wasn't there for me."
"And that's what this is really about, right? Cate not being there."
Lux shrugs. "I say, yes, and what? You send me away to live with someone else. I dont want to live with someone else. I want to work it out with Cate and Baze. I want to know my little sister! I just.." Lux wasn't sure if she wanted to go on. It was too much already. It wasn't suppose to be like this.
"I'm the one that determines if you stay together or not, but ultimately it's not up to me. It's up to you." Fern tells Lux. "If you can't be straight with me, then you'll never be straight with Cate and Baze, and then you'll be right back on my couch six months from now. So, you say Cate wasn't there for you. Tell me what you mean."
Lux was already on the verge of tears before she could speak. She looks over at Cate, and all she could see was worry. She never wanted to worry them. She felt bad for putting them in this situation, especially Lauren. She wanted better, so she guessed she needed to finally speak.
"Where were you?"
"What?" Cate asks, unsure on what Lux was asking her.
"I was out there. My whole life, where were you all that time? You never even checked, you never wondered what had happened, or if I was okay."
"I really didn't think that I had to worry. They told me that you were going to be adopted. That you were going to have a better life. I really thought that I was doing what was right for you." Cate explains.
Lux was now getting really frustrated with all of this. "It wasn't for me! If it was for me, then you would have checked. But you did it for you. You did the right thing for you."
"Lux, it's not all on Cate." Baze tells her. He knew this was a lot for both of them. Cate looked like she was going to break at any moment, and well, Lux, she was already broken. "I wasn't there exactly either."
"You didn't know. And no one who knew you would have expected you to be there." Lux tells him in an obvious tone.
"I didn't have anyone to turn to." Cate tells her. "My mother was drinking her way into another divorce, and I barely knew my father. I wrote you letters, Lux, but when I didn't know where to send it, I realized I had no idea how to be a parent, at least not a good, not at sixteen."
"Then what about a few years after that? When you were twenty and had Lauren?" Lauren slid back on the couch looking away. She had her own tears falling. She figured she was going to be brought up somehow. And ever since Lux came back, it felt like she was the reason why Cate didn't look for her. Lauren felt like she screwed everything up. "Or when I was three, and stuck in a hospital where no one visited. Or two years after that when my foster mom shoved me into a wall, and told the social worker that I fell off the swing." Yeap, Cate was about to break. She never wanted Lux to go through those horrible things. No child should ever have to deal with that. "Where were you? We use to make up these stories on why we were given up, because we didn't want to believe that our parents, our mothers, who held us, their babies, would just give us up. You gave me away to nothing! Like I didn't matter to you, because I didn't!" Lux yells.
"No, Lux, you matter. You do. You matter now." Lux didn't want to hear it. "No, you matter!"
Lux stands up away from Cate. "No. Now doesn't count. I'm sorry. I don't forgive you, Cate. I don't." Lux grabs her bag and leaves the office.
"I know it doesn't feel like it, but what you had today was a breakthrough." Fern tells Cate and Baze. Lauren just sat there staring down at her hands. She wanted to run after Lux and tell her she was sorry. She was a mistake, too, but they kept her, and it felt wrong. "I know you tried shouldering the blame. But it doesn't belong to you. I'm not going to remove Lux from your care. If anything this shows me that you are a real family, through all the bumps and bruises that a teenager brings. And I think you two should consider having your parental rights reinstated."
Cate and Baze smile, happily. "Really?" Baze asks her.
"Is there really a chance at that?"
"Well, since you have Lauren, there's definitely a chance. I can see how much she means to you, and all four of you are a committed to making this work. Maybe Lux most of all. She's thinks she is risking losing you all over again." Fern says.
Cate shakes her head. "No, she shouldn't worry about that. Ever."
Fern smiles. "You don't have to convince me. You have to convince Lux."
Baze, Cate, and Lauren walk out of the building. They pretty quiet, thinking about what Lux had said.
"Well, that was exciting." Baze says trying to break the mood.
Cate looks over at Lauren who is being really distant. "Sweetie, you okay?"
Lauren gives her a small smile. "Can I just go for a walk? Please?"
Cate and Baze look at eachother concerned. "Yeah, okay. I'll see you at home." Cate tells her as she kisses her on her cheek. Lauren walks away slowly, stuck in her thoughts. "Should we be worried?" Cate asks Baze.
Baze watches his other daughter walk away from them. "Yeah, I think so." He says putting his arm around Cate.
On her way to Bug's, Lux sees Jones on the side of the road, working on his car. She runs over to him. "Jones?" Jones looks up, and looks a bit embarassed.
"Uh, hey, Lux. What are you doing here?" He asks her.
"I had some family stuff to deal with. What are you doing? Truck broke down?" Lux laughs looking over the hood.
Jones looks back at his truck. "Uh, yeah. I think it might be time for a new truck."
Lux laughs. "Um, Jones, I.." Lux was starting to talk, but she hears a motorcycle, and sees Bug riding towards her. She knew she couldn't lie now, Bug caught her.
Bug pulls up next to him and takes off his helmet. "What the hell are you doing, Lux?"
"I was walking over to your place, but I seen Jones here having trouble with his truck." Lux tells him.
"I don't think Mr. Abercrombie needs your help fixing his truck." Bug says angry.
Lauren sees Lux and Bug arguing, and Jones standing there awkwardly watching them go at it. Lauren runs over to them.
"Lux, what's going on?"
Lux could see the worry in Lauren's face. "Nothing. Lauren, go back home."
"No. I'm not leaving you."
"Yeah, maybe you should listen to you sister, Lux. I think white bread here just wants to know what it's like to hook up with damaged goods." Bug says bitterly.
Lux couldn't believe Bug just said that about her. "Bug.."
"Man, I think you better leave." Jones tells him, stepping up in front of Bug. Bug bows up to him.
"What you gonna do Abercrombie?"
Lux gets in between them. "Bug, stop it!"
"Whatever." Bug says putting his helmet on and drives away.
"Jones, I am so sorry."
Jones smiles at her. "Don't worry about it. Can I walk you and Lauren home?"
Lux looks at Lauren and smiles. "Yeah. Thanks."
The three of them start walking away together.
At Ryan's, Cate walks up to the door and knocks until Ryan opens the door.
"Hey." Ryan could tell something was upsetting Cate. "What's wrong?"
Cate walks in, not waiting for an invite from Ryan. "I need your help. Lux says she can't forgive me for giving her up, and I can't really get through, and neither can Baze, so I was thinking for another person who can't forgive me, you can, um, you can talk to her?" Cate was more like pleading with him to talk to Lux.
Ryan knew by the look on Cate's face, she was desperate. "You can't keep coming to me like this."
"I know." Cate says nodding her head, understanding what Ryan was talking about. She just didn't know what else to do. "I'm sorry." She sighs and starts walking towards the door. Ryan turns around and watches her. But Cate stops and turns back around. "Well, can I at least tell you something?" It was hard for Cate to make eye contact with Ryan, and he could definitely tell she was uncomfortable, but at the same time truely sad, and hurt. "I've never told anyone this before. I've never held Lux after she was born. I mean the nurses kept wanting me to. They kept bringing her in, but I knew if I held her, then I'd want her. I push everyone away. I've done it my whole life, until recently. I know, Ryan, you say that I have to change, but what you don't realize is that I have. I mean I started to change the moment Lux walked back into my life." Ryan sits down, listening to carefully to Cate. "Because for the first time in my life, I felt a possibility. You know, for the first time in my life, I saw, I saw a dream that I wasn't afraid to want. I'm not saying that I've changed overnight. It has been slow, and I have made a lot of mistakes. I know that I lied to you about Baze. I know that was wrong, it was beyond wrong. But at the time, I thought I had to, or I would lose you. But it wasn't about losing, it was about losing the person that I was becoming with you, and Lux. I wanted us to be a family. But so much has happened, I don't expect you to understand, or forgive me. But can you at least just help me?" Cate begs him with her eyes. Ryan looks away, unsure on what to say.
At Baze's, Lauren had already went in, but Lux stayed behind with Jones.
"Hey, thanks for walking us home. I could tell Lauren was a little freaked." Lux tells her.
Jones smiles. "No. It's okay. He didn't mean what he said." Lux looks at him, confused. "Bug."
Lux shakes her head. "Yeah, um, I guess he's been really angry lately. He doesn't have anything, ya know. So, he's trying."
"No, you're wrong. He does have one thing, he has you."
"Had me." Lux corrects him.
"Yeah, you don't deserve to be treated that way, Lux. You're better than that, and I mean it. How he spoke to you, that's not love, Lux."
"Thanks." Lux says, smiling at him, before turning away and heading inside.
In the loft, Lauren is sitting on the barstool as she watches Baze cook.
"Since when do you cook?" Lauren asks him, curiously. He never been one to cook, just mix drinks.
"Hey, there's more to me than mixing drinks. Plus, since you and Lux have been here a lot, I thought it was time to fix you guys a good nutritional meal instead of fast food. I think you get enough of it at your mom's." Baze tells her, laughing. Lauren smiles at him. "Speaking of your mom, she is really worried about you."
"Why?"
"Well, you seemed a little off after the evaluation, and I seen it, too. Are you okay?" He asks her as he leans down on the counter in front of Lauren.
Lauren shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. I mean, hearing Lux talk about her life in foster care, it kinda hurts, ya know? I feel really bad."
"Why do you feel bad? It's not your fault." Baze tells her.
Lauren snorts. "Are you sure about that?" If it wasn't for me, maybe Mom would have went look for her. I was a mistake, too, but you guys kept me."
Baze takes Lauren's hand, lovingly. "Lauren, none of this is your fault. I mean, yeah we should have been better parents and looked for Lux, but we didn't know she was in trouble. We kept you because we wanted you. We wanted Lux, but we were sixteen, we thought there was better life out there for her. We love you and Lux just the same. I wish I could have watched Lux grow up just like I did with you, and I'll probably always regret it, but we did what we did and it's done. Now, all we can do is try to fix it, and make it better for Lux." Lauren nods her head understanding, but she still felt guilty.
The next day, Lux is sitting at the park, looking out onto the water. She sees someone walking up to her and smiles when it's Ryan.
"I thought I'd find you here." He says sitting down next to her. "You're thinking spot?"
"I've had a lot of thinking to do lately."
"Yeah, I know the feeling. Lux, I think it's more than not forgiving Cate" Ryan says jumping right into it. "You and Cate are so much alike, it's crazy." He laughs. "You're both scared you really want things. You're scared if you do, it'll hurt too much if you don't get them, or they disappear. Cate's not going anywhere. She's changed, Lux, and you're the one who changed her."
Lux was trying to absorb everything in that Ryan was telling her. Trying to understand, wanting to believe him. "You don't really believe that?"
Ryan nods his head. "Yeah, I do."
"Then I don't get it. You come here, to find me to tell me that Cate's changed. That I should give her another chance. But if you really believe that that's true, then why can't you?" She asks him.
Ryan looks at her then sighs. He was unsure how to answer that. He was trying hard to make Lux understand, that he wasn't trying to make himself understand it, either."
At the loft, Lauren is looking through her school work when she hears tapping on the door. She looks over and sees Jake standing there. She smiles and runs to open it.
"What are you doing here?" Lauren laughs.
"I think I owe you a birthday present." He says holding up his guitar.
Lauren looks confused. "What are you talking about?"
Jake sits down and starts playing Lauren a song on his guitar. Lauren just stares at him, completely happy, and surprised.
Lux knocks on Bug's door. When he opens it, he smiles at her sadly.
"Lux, hey."
Lux makes herself into his place. "Hey. This won't take long. You know, I was telling you the truth when I said I was coming to your place, but I seen Jones."
"Did anything ever happen between you and Jones?" Bug asks her.
"I went to Winter Formal with him." Bugs throws his plate of food down that he was holding. "Nothing happened. We just went and we danced. When Baze found the condom he thought it was Jones, but it wasn't."
"Do you like him?" Bug asks her, avoiding contact with her.
"I don't know. You were so mad, Bug. I deserve better then how you treated me in front of Jones and Lauren yesterday."
"You want better, go find better. No one's stopping you." Bug says, looking at her. Lux looks at him and laughs, not believing what he just said. She starts walking towards the door. "What!" Bug yells, stopping Lux. "What am I suppose to say!"
Lux starts crying. "I don't know! Anything! I'm sorry, maybe?" She yells walking up to him. "I don't get this side of you. It's like you turn into your.."
"Don't say it." He interrupts.
"it's true. You've become your dad."
Bug shakes his head. "You should go be with Abercrombie."
"That's not what I'm saying."
"No, you're right. You deserve better." Bug tells her. "I don't want to be my dad. I never want to be that guy with you."
"No, Bug.." Bug walks over to his door and opens it.
"You need to go." He tells her. Lux looks at him, sad, and confused. "You shouldn't be with me."
Lux looks at him one last time, then walks out the door. Bug slams it shut and then punches his hand against the wall.
Lux walks into Baze's loft and goes outside on the roof. Baze is out there drinking at beer. Lux walks over to him. "Hey, can I talk to you?"
Baze scoots over and puts his beer down. "Of course." Lux sits down next to him as Baze wraps a blanket around her.
"So, I've been doing some thinking. You, me, this." She laughs. "Before I moved in, I had Lauren with me. I had my sister, and it actually felt like we were a family. A broken one, but a family. But lately, it's been less happy, hot dog races, and laughs, and more fighting. And I don't like it. I don't want to fight with you, or Cate, and especially not Lauren. She's already screwed up from all of this. I just want to make things better for her, and help her understand that I'm not going anywhere anymore."
"You've become a pretty good sister, Lux."
"It hasn't felt like it." She tells him. Lux takes a long breath out and looks back at Baze. "I want to go back. All this trying to be a dad stuff has gotten in the way. I want to go back to just being friends with you."
Baze looks down at his hands and sighs. "Um, it doesn't work like that. I can't just flip a switch and go back. You can be my friend, that's fine. But I will never stop being your dad."
Lux smiles at Baze. It finally felt right. It felt like she truely had a dad. But now it was time to be a daughter to Cate, and a sister to Lauren.
At Cate's, Cate is going through her laundry again, when she sees the puppy laying in the basket. She takes the puppy out and sets it on the floor.
"Lauren, what did I tell you about this dog!" She yells towards the ceiling. There's a knock on her door as she groans and puts the puppy in it's pin. Before she could walk to the door, Ryan opens it and lets himself in. Cate stops, confused.
"Hey. I was just thinking about you." She says going back to sifting through her laundry.
Ryan walks towards her. "Yeah?"
"Yeah, I mean, I was just thinking about your hot legs and my cold feet." She jokes. Ryan smiles. "And why it's so hard to keep a pair of socks together, but I'm thinking this puppy here is eating them since he enjoys my laundry so much." She says looking over at the puppy.
Ryan stares at her. "Um, you got a puppy?" He asks surprised.
Cate laughs. "Yeah. Baze got him for Lauren for her birthday."
"And you allowed it?"
"Yeah, I couldn't break that little heart. She's been through so much already."
"Yeah, but I bet she isn't the only one." He says moving away as Cate watches Lux walk through the door. She stares, flabbergasted. Lux smiles and walks towards her. She had tears in her eyes that she couldn't control.
"Hi." She says to Cate, as Cate walks slowly to her. Lux puts her bags down. "Look, here's the thing, I can't promise that this is going to work. That I won't get upset, and that I won't take it out on you. I broke up with Bug. And I know that I seem like I'm okay, but I'm more messed up inside than you realize. The truth is, I don't forgive you. I don't know when I'll ever be able to forgive you. But I want to be with Lauren. I know we don't know eachother, but I want to know her. None of this is her fault, and I know she's been beating herself up for it."
Cate shakes her head. "Lux, you don't have to. You don't ever have to forgive me. I'm never going to be able to forgive me. I just want a chance to make it right with you." Cate was starting to cry. "Can you tell me what I have to do to make it right?"
Lux laughs through her tears. "Let me come home." She tells Cate. Cate sighs, happily, and runs into Lux embracing her lovingly as Lux cries on her shoulder. Cate rubs her back soothingly.
Ryan looks on smiling. Successful with what he's done. Now he had to fix things. He had to make things better with him and Cate.
Later, Ryan is making a fire when Cate comes back downstairs. He looks over at her.
"Well?"
"Well, she is with Lauren, and they are unpacking her things." Cate tells him. "I can't believe it. I never thought she'd come back." Ryan chuckles. "How'd you do it? What'd you say to her to make her come back?"
"The truth." He says. "And I know that earlier you did, too." He walks closer to Cate. "Look, I don't like being lied to, and I don't like being played. And it would be hard for anyone to put themselves into your shoes the day Lux came back. And that day was life changing. For all of you. What you and I were, or weren't, is not an excuse for what you did. I'm just saying. And you were right. You were changing. You didn't lie because you hadn't changed. You lied because you did. I just wanted to do the right thing, ya know? Take my own advice. I want to be able to forgive you, Cate. And I want to be there for Lux, and for Lauren."
Cate nods her head. "Yeah, I know, but you can't." She says trying to figure out where this was all going. "Ryan, I only wanted to be a person that was worthy of you. I still do." She assures him. "Whether or not we're together. My girls love you, and so do I. I can't thank you enough for everything."
Ryan laughs. "You kicking me out now, or what?"
"No, of course not." She laughs.
"Cause I could stay. I could help you find those socks, because I really don't want to deal with your cold feet tonight." He says moving closer to Cate. Cate looks at him. Ryan touches her face and leans in to kiss her.
Lauren and Lux walk in, smiling widely. "So, does that mean you're staying?" Lauren asks him.
Ryan and Cate pull apart and smile at them. "I'm staying." He tells her.
Lauren squeals happily and runs over into Ryan's arms, hugging him tightly.
Cate puts her arm around Lux. "I love my necklace by the way."
Ryan laughs. "I knew that you would. But I think we should change that picture." He pulls out his cell phone and moves himself and Lauren closer to Cate and Lux. They all smile as he snaps the picture.