Hank sat on the couch heavily. He was exhausted from the day's events, but what plagued him truly was Kate. She hadn't said but a few words since their conversation on the veranda and she had still not eaten a suitable meal. Hank looked over at her as she sat staring in the distance while brushing her long hair. She looked pale and painfully thin. Her eyes had dark circles around them and her cheekbones protruded more so than usual. Her lips hummed out a tune inaudible to him, but perhaps it was something that she remembered from her childhood because she began to weep quietly. What was he to do? He didn't know how to comfort her. Should he comfort her or just let her cry in peace?

"Ahem," He cleared his throat and sat his beer down on the coffee table. "Come here," He beckoned to her. She looked over at him weakly, tears still streaming down her pretty face. Her body seemed to lurch forward as she stood and Hank stood abruptly. "Are you alright?" He met her halfway across the room and helped her to the couch.

"I'm okay. I'm just… so sad..." She trembled and dropped her head on Hank's shoulder. He smoothed her hair and wrapped an arm around her. "I was thinking about watching the video," She whispered.

"Well, I think that's a good idea," He commented.

"Will you watch it with me?" asked Kate who had stood on wobbly legs.

"I will," He watched her as she made her way over to a large desk at the corner of the room. She thumbed through a book until the disk came into view. She pulled it loose and slid it into the DVD player under the entertainment center.

Elizabeth Blake-Devereaux came into sight first slowly followed by J.D Devereaux taking a seat along side of her. Elizabeth was blonde with bright piercing blue eyes and small feminine features much like Kate. Her graceful swanlike neck tilted softly to the side and she nuzzled her husband lovingly. J.D. was much younger than Hank expected, maybe even the same age as he with an athletic build and a handsome muscular jawline. The couple wore simple plain clothes, nothing extravagant aside from Mrs. Blake- Devereaux's large wedding ring which caught the light.

"My darling Katherine," Hank was surprised that Mrs. Blake-Devereaux was British. "I feel that we have done you a great injustice. We were not the mother and father you deserved. You deserved so much better from us," She looked as though she may weep. Kate wrapped her arm around Hank's and continued to watch, her eyes glistening.

"Katie, we spent an entire lifetime building what we thought was a better life for you," J.D said heavily, his own accent being that of a true New Orleanian. "But it was really a deprivation," He looked away and to his wife. "I remember the day we brought you home from the hospital. You were so fragile and beautiful. I vowed at that moment that I would do everything in my power to build a better world for you and your children and theirs too." He smiled and immediately Hank acknowledged the resemblance between Kate and her father.

"I'm afraid, my sweet girl, that we've failed you. I am so sorry that I was never there when you went to your first day of school, or there to kiss your booboos when you hurt yourself on the playground, or there taking pictures when you went to your first school dance and most of all I'm sorry you cried at night because other children's mother's did these things," Mrs. Blake-Devereaux wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. "I should have been there."

"You grew up so fast, I regretted very much that I wasn't around to enjoy it, but I want you to know that you were my inspiration to be great. You were the motivation behind my success and I'm afraid that without you I could have not been the man I am now…"

"Or I, the woman." Elizabeth chimed in.

"You are Devereaux Towers and J.D. Devereaux Incorporated. You have been the force behind all of this. I love you, Katie. You are my everything. I just wish I could have shown you better."

"Please Katherine, don't be sad, take this as the greatest opportunity of a lifetime and grow from it. Be what we couldn't. You are wise beyond your years and I know this will be something you can conquer easily. I love you more than anything in this world," Her mother said.

The screen faded to blue and Kate sank into Hank's arms deeply, tears streaming down her face. Hank knew this was more difficult for her than anything. He remembered the day that his father had passed on. All he really wanted to hear was that his father really loved him even though he never showed it and he knew this is what Kate needed to move on. Tomorrow would be different he hoped.