"Mom?"

The puppies looked into the kitchen to see Barbara sitting at the table. She was holding Brian's flask in her hand as she drank out of it. To ease her pain, Barbara had taken up drinking.

"Mom, Marcus and I going to play ball", Ollie said. "Do you want to join?"

"No thanks", she said.

"Mom, do you want to come to the movies with Jenny and me?" Briana asked.

Barbara shook her head as she took another swig of whiskey. The puppies looked at each other sadly. They didn't know what to do about their mother. No matter what they did, she just wasn't going to cheer up. They didn't know how to fix a heart that was broken one too many times. Marcus and Ollie went out into the backyard while Briana and Jenny went out to the movies.

Lois came into the kitchen and sighed when she saw Barbara drinking.

"Barbara, I wish you'd stop drinking", she said. "You're setting a horrible example for the kids."

"I'm not", Barbara said. "My kids know better than to drink."

"They see you do it and they'll think it's okay", Lois pointed out. "Look at you, Barbara. Ever since Brian died, you've become a wreck. You need to get your act together."

"That's easy for you to say", she frowned. "You still have your husband. You still have all your children. You don't know what I'm feeling."

Barbara got up and walked into the backyard where Stewie was watching Ollie and Marcus play. She noticed Stewie was crying. She sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him as she cried too.

"I know", she said. "I miss him too."

The two of them cried until Vinny saw them.

"Hey, what's with the waterworks?" he asked.

"Oh, I just realized I paid too much for my muffler", Stewie lied, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Come on, kid don't cry. You're going to get your pants wrinkled. What's the matter?"

"You really want to know what the matter is?" Barbara asked. "You are. Ever since you showed up, it seems that no one cares about Brian anymore. Everyone forgot about him and seem to like you better. Well, I don't like you. I want my Brian back. I want my husband back."

"Look, I know it doesn't seem like it now, but you're going to be okay", Vinny said.

"You don't know that", Barbara said. "You never lost someone you loved."

"You know, before your family found me at the shelter, I lived with an old man named Leo. It was just him and me in a tiny apartment. We got pretty tight. He kind of became my whole world. When he passed away, it was real tough."

"So how did he die?" Stewie asked.

"He tried to go to a yoga class, and on the first pose, his ballsack split in half", Vinny answered. "So I guess Leo was my Brian."

"So how did you get over it?" he asked.

"Well, I met your family in the pet store. When I saw them looking for a dog, I kind of sensed you were all going through the same feeling of loss that I was. And it made me think 'hey, maybe I was meant to find these guys. Maybe we were meant to be together.'"

"Well, maybe for the rest of the family", Barbara said. "But, not for me. I swore on Brian's grave that I would never remarry."

"I respect that, Barbs", Vinny said. "Shows you really are loyal to your husband."

"So you can forget any chance you think you have about getting with our mom", Marcus growled.