After Jeanette got herself a change of clothes and picked up her phone from Eleanor's apartment, she returned to the hospital to find that Roberta was still incredibly groggy from sleeping off the sedative she had been given. She excused herself into a corridor, and scrolled through her phone's history to find Dennis' number to update him on what is going on.
"Hello?" Dennis answered.
"Hey Dennis," Jeanette answered, "it's Jeanette. Your not busy are you?"
"No, I'm on my break," Dennis said, "what's up?"
Jeanette sighed. "I just wanted to let you know about Roberta being in the hospital..."
"Oh, gee..." Dennis moaned, "what happened?"
"Well, after all she's been through these past couple of days, what with slashing her wrist, overdosing on drugs, and everything else, I figured she could use some medical attention." Jeanette said.
"Well, that was considerate of you." Dennis said.
"For the time being," Jeanette continued, "they've got her hooked up to plasma, they're detoxifying her, and they also have her sedated because she's been so erratic lately."
"Maybe I'll drop by after work to see how she's doing." Dennis said.
"I was hoping you would say that, Jeanette said, "I was also kind of hoping you'd sort of 'trade shifts' with me for the time being, I really don't feel comfortable with leaving her alone right now."
"We'll see," Dennis said, "I've got to get back to work, I'll see you sometime tonight."
"Thanks, bye." Jeanette and Dennis hung up.
Later that afternoon, Eleanor phoned Brittany again, and was met with a familar posh accent that had answered her call the other day.
"You have reached the Miller Mansion," the posh-accented voice said, "I am afraid Miss Miller is unable to take any calls at this point..."
Eleanor interrupted the servant's practiced and rehersed answering service, "Look, this is her sister Eleanor again, and if you don't put Brittany on the phone this instant, I'll see to it that you never work in this town again!"
"Is that a promise?" The voice asked her.
"Just get her!" Eleanor barked.
"One moment, please." The voice said.
Several minutes later, Brittany finally answered the phone, "what's going on now?"
"I want to give you a little history lesson Brittany!" Eleanor said.
"You had me pulled away from a very important contract negotiation to give me a history lesson?" Brittany asked. "Have you lost your mind?"
"Brittany," Eleanor began, "do you remember when we were in highschool, and Jeanette went missing for years?"
"Yeah." Brittany said.
"Remember that nobody knew what happened to her, or where she was, or if we would ever see her again?" Eleanor asked.
"Yeah." Brittany said.
"Remember how devastated we were at losing our sister?" Eleanor asked.
"Yeah." Brittany said.
"Remember how you found her and saved her, and how happy we were to have her back in our lives?" Eleanor asked.
"Yeah." Brittany said.
"She had been brainwashed into being a prostitute all those years Brittany!" Eleanor said. "She was selling herself for sex all those years, and she'd probably still be doing so if you hadn't found her and saved her! And your willing to forget all about that and completely erase her out of your life entirely just because she was in a relationship with a girl she no longer even wants to be in a relationship with?"
"Yeah." Brittany said.
"Did you just seriously say 'yeah' to erasing Jeanette out of your life entirely for being ina relationship with a girl, after all those years of sorrow we endured with her being missing because she was being brainwashed into a prostitute?" Eleanor asked.
"Yeah, look, whatever," Brittany said, "I have no time for all of this family drama, I got contracts to go over, songs to write, albums to record, and appearances to make."
"What happened to you Brittany?" Eleanor asked.
"Look, I gotta go, we'll talk another time." Brittany said before hanging up.
Eleanor tossed her phone aside. She was beginning to think Brittany had been corrupted by the evils of Hollywood. As evening fell, Dennis arrived at the hospital to meet up with Roberta and Jeanette. After being directed to Roberta's room, he found his little sister still sleeping off her sedation, with Jeanette sitting by her side, browsing through her phone.
"Hey." Dennis said, quietly.
"Hey," Jeanette said, "thanks for coming."
"Is she still asleep?" Dennis asked.
"Yeah," Jeanette said, "I think they must have given her a really strong sedative, she's been out of it for much of the day."
Jeanette and Dennis stepped back out into the cooridor to further their discussion.
"Do you think my conversations with her yesterday had any affect?" Dennis asked.
"Not at all," Jeanette said, "as a matter of fact, I... I... I ran out on her while you two were out yesterday..."
"Really?" Dennis asked, then sighed. "I guess you really couldn't take it anymore, could you?"
"No, I couldn't," Jeanette said, "but when she called me while I was over at my sister's house, and hearing how upset and angered and saddened she was... I felt so guilty, I was afraid she would kill herself... so I went back..."
Dennis shook his head. "I don't know what can be done for her unless she got herself some serious therapy."
"Actually, that's something we both agreed to," Jeanette said, "I agreed to couple's therapy if she agreed to get herself some therapy for herself."
"You really think a therapist can save this relationship?" Dennis asked.
"No, I really don't," Jeanette said, "but it was the only way I could get Roberta to agree to seek therapy for herself."
"I guess you have to do what you have to do." Dennis said. "I really hope she can get herself some serious help. I'd hate for anything worse to happen to her."
"Dennis?" Jeanette asked. "I know you guys didn't necessarily have a normal life growing up... but... how... how is it that you aren't as psychologically messed up as she is?"
Dennis shrugged. "I really don't know. Our parents never really seemed to abuse me as much as they did her..."
"Hopefully somebody out there can help her move past this." Jeanette said.
"Yeah." Dennis said.
Jeanette and Dennis stepped back into Roberta's room, and Roberta was slowly beginning to awaken from her state of sedation.
"How long have I been out of it?" Roberta asked.
"Almost an entire 24-hour period." Jeanette said.
"Really?" Roberta asked before groaning. "No wonder I feel like I just slept for the first time in weeks..."
"Gee, you little shrimp" Dennis began joking, "seems like everytime I look up, your in the hospital."
"Seems like everytime I look up, your sneaking away from work." Roberta joked back.
"Hey, my shift ended about an hour ago, it's almost 7:00." Dennis said.
"At night?" Roberta asked.
"Yep." Dennis said.
"How long have I been here?" Roberta asked.
"I brought you last night, remember?" Jeanette asked.
"Barely." Roberta said with a yawn. "How much longer am I going to be here?"
"I don't even really know," Jeanette said, "I guess until they feel your stable enough to leave."
"Gee," Roberta moaned, "I guess I'm going to have to request time off from work again... don't think the boss will be too pleased about that."
"Yeah, I doubt my boss would let me take any time off right now either," Jeanette said, "I kinda don't want to let you out of my sight right now..."
"Frankly, I'm a little nervous about that myself." Dennis added.
"Why do you just babysit me like you used to?" Roberta joked to Dennis.
"I may just have to do that." Dennis joked back.
Despite the reservations that both Jeanette and Dennis had for leaving Roberta alone, they were assured by the hospital staff that she would be checked on regularly. After nightfall, both Jeanette and Dennis went home for the evening, and as the work week resumed, Jeanette had trouble focusing at work. At the news studio, an interview was being recorded for a live broadcast between one of the anchors, and a special guest who was promoting a new book he had published. Three cameras were rolling, and Jeanette was on camera 1, which was focused on the guest, but she was so worried about Roberta, that she wasn't aware of the voice crackling over her headset from the control room when the guest held up his book.
"Camera 1," the control room director's voice crackled over the headset, "get a close-up of that book."
Jeanette wasn't aware of her directions.
"Camera 1," the director repeated, "get a close-up of that book."
Again, Jeanette was totally oblivious to her surroundings.
"Is anyone working camera 1 down there?" The director asked.
A fellow camera operator who was on camera 3 in the middle looked over and saw Jeanette not doing anything. He quickly stepped over and readjusted Jeanette's close-up shot, which broke her back to reality.
"What's wrong with you today?" The other camera operator asked in a whisper.
"Sorry," Jeanette whispered, "I've been having problems at home lately..."
The problems at home lately were beginning to create a strain for Jeanette, but she tried her best to pull through. Later that evening, after a less than ideal day at work, Jeanette returned to the hospital. Roberta had finished detoxifying, was rehydrated, had her slashed wristed treated, and the hospital considered her condition stable enough that they felt confident in releasing her. While driving home, Jeanette made a pitstop in a secluded area that offered a sweeping view of the city of Los Angeles. Before going home, Jeanette wanted to make sure that she and Roberta had a clear understanding about everything.
"Before we go home," Jeanette said, shutting the car off, "I... I want to talk..."
Roberta nodded knowingly, "what about?"
"I think you know what about," Jeanette said, "Robbie... I know you may not want to... but, I'm really hoping that your going to keep up your end of the deal for me, as I intend to do the same for you."
"You mean therapy?" Roberta asked.
"Yes," Jeanette said, "while you were sedated in the hospital, Dennis and I were talking about things, and he and I both feel that you really need help."
Roberta didn't respond. She turned to look out the window at the view instead.
"We're not doing this to attack you, Robbie," Jeanette said, "we're both very, very worried about you... we don't want to see anything bad happen to you. Dennis doesn't want to lose his sister, and I certainly don't want to lose my best friend..."
Roberta sighed through her nose. Jeanette reached out and placed her hand on Roberta's shoulder.
"I know this hurts Robbie," Jeanette said, "but the only way you can move forward is to realize that what happened in the past is past, and that your future is your's."
Roberta turned to face Jeanette. "And what about our future?"
Jeanette shrugged. "Like I said, I intend to go through couple's therapy for you if you seek therapy for your own self as well."
Roberta didn't respond.
"Does anything I'm saying to you make any sense at all?" Jeanette asked.
Roberta nodded. "Yes, it does. And I agree... I'll get help."
"Good." Jeanette said. She started up the car again, and drove for home.
The following morning, Jeanette made the necessary appointments for herself and Roberta. Roberta had a session with respected psychologist, Dr. Rutter Wisenheimer, while she and Jeanette would see a couple's therapist later in the week. That afternoon, Roberta visited elderly Dr. Wisenheimer, whose once brown hair had streaks of silver in it, and her face exhibited a few more wrinkles. Roberta laid across the couch, as went over her entire life story with Dr. Wisenheimer. She recalls she was adopted by a pair of seemingly nice enough parents with an already older son, but that the dream of having a family quickly turned into a nightmare. Through-out much of her critical years, Roberta spent most of her time being locked in her small and dark bedroom. Dennis, already infatuated with his new little chipmunk sister would often try to play with her whenever their parents weren't around, which was the most human contact the young Roberta would receive on a daily basis. Otherwise, whenever her parents did have contact with her, it was almost always abusive. Roberta did poorly in school, and whenever she brought home report cards with poor grades, her parents would beat her and ground her, removing almost every recreational item she had in her room. If Roberta ever did the slightest little thing that bothered her parents - chewing with her mouth open, wearing noisy shoes, playing with her hair - the beating would commense. While Dennis hated seeing his sister treated this way, he was too afraid to see the authorities, for fear that it would mean he and Roberta would be split up and placed into foster care. As they grew older, Dennis took on the role of raising Roberta himself, as their parents were mostly slackers who often left their children to fend for themselves. Dennis would help Roberta with her homework, would make small meals for her, and take her to school. In addition to doing poorly in school, Roberta also didn't make friends very well, often reclusing herself from her peers, and hardly speaking a single word to anybody, which made her seem virtually invisible. That is until she was in junior high, and she caught the attention of a few bad seeds, who introduced her to drugs and self-mutiliation, and as a pre-teen going through puberty, Roberta would often combat the abuse she endured at home by drugging and cutting herself. While Dennis wasn't a model student himself, he didn't like seeing Roberta harm herself as such, and as they both continued to grow, he would do what he could to get Roberta to get off the drugs and stop cutting herself. As a teenager, Roberta surprisingly reached physical maturity that would often make other girls envious, but would also attract unwanted attention from boys who would try to hit on her. Roberta didn't trust people who took interest in her, because she was sure they had something up their sleeve. At the same time, she also quickly came to realize that despite boys always being attracted to her, she actually had an attraction to girls. Dennis was the only one she told this to, knowing if she told either of her parents, they probably not only would beat her, they would probably kick her out as well. Because she often reclused herself over the years, Roberta developed an interest in reading fiction, because the fanciful stories she would read would make her long for a more ideal life. She often spent time in the school library, and when she was finally old enough to leave home and never look back, she decided to take a job at a bookstore, so she could be surrounded by books all day. For almost a year, Roberta would sleep on park benches, or under freeway overpasses, until she save dup enough money to get herself a small, yet liveable apartment. Dr. Wisenheimer was astounded at Roberta's life story. It was clear that so much of Roberta's problems were, indeed, brought on by the years of abuse she endured growing up, but she could also sense that Roberta also had an underlying sense of independence, which she believes is what makes her a little headstrong, but also rough around the edges. Dr. Wisenheimer decided to schedule further sessions with Roberta to see if they could work on strengthening her independence and weaken her inner demons.