Tori walked inside her house, and the entrance hall lights turned on. "You're helping with dinner, right?" She asked her daughter. "I have to make an entire meal, and a family pot-pie. In... Three hours! Shit!"

"Language." Jasmin grinned, nodding her head. Tori chuckled. She hadn't talked about her argument with her Father earlier that day. She didn't want to cause any trouble, and he wasn't worth it. "Don't forger Connor's coming too."

"Right!" She exclaimed, as they walked upstairs. They discussed how many pies Tori should make, and if there would be enough time.

"If Grandma comes, you have to make two." Her child affirmed.

"I don't know, two pies is a lot." They reached the second floor. "Trina's not even coming this time, and you're not going to eat more than one slice."

"I'm always too full." She shrugged. "One is probably fine."

Tori stopped in front of her daughter's room. Jazz stopped at the doorway, with the door half opened. "By the way, did you buy your Prom dress?!"

"I'll show you after I shower." She held the doorknob, and began to close the door. Her Mom stopped her. "What?"

"Is it black?"

Jasmin rolled her eyes. "You'll have to wait, and see!" She closed the door, and went on to shower.

As Tori walked further into the hall, she noticed something was off. There was an expensive men's shoe laying on the ground. Not a pair, only a shoe. She picked it up, knowing it was her husband's. The door to his office and opened, with the lights on, but he wasn't there. The whiskey from his desk had disappeared. She took a deep breath, trying to find what patience she had left. It was the third time that week.

Steve had been throwing more parties than usual. At least that's what Beck told her. All she knew was that he delayed his departure to New York, because of work issues. He did go on more conference meetings than usual, and was getting too many business calls. Doubling up the workload made him double the alcohol too. She walked inside her bedroom, turning on the lights. She heard someone attempting at speaking, and failing. Beck laid in his stomach, facing down on the bed. His moth was open, searching for air. There was a drool stain on the pillow, and the shoe that was missing was in his left foot.

"Turn...Off..." He mumbled. An empty bottle of whiskey laid next to his head. She walked towards him, rolling him to his side. She took off the shoe from his feet, and grabbed the bottle. He looked up, to face her. "Don't...Don't..." He tried saying something else, but the words were coming in slowly.

Tori knew he wouldn't remember a thing as soon as he sobered up. "What is it?"

"You..." He opened a tired smile. "You look great, babe."

She rolled her eyes. The shoe was left on the corner, next to his pair. The empty bottle on the trash in her closet. She walked back inside the room, and found him sitting up. "C'mon, you need water."

She took a bottle out of her gym bag, and handed it to him. He refused to take it. "No...I...I...Don't want..."

"You need it." She trying handing him it again.

"No!" He shook his head, half closing his eyes. "What I need is some loving." He pointed his finger at her, before his arm feel back down.

"What?" Tori frowned. "You're drunk." He tried pulling her down to him, but failed. She ran away from his mouth, and stinking alcohol breath. "No."

He fell back, resting his body on his left arm. "We..." He tried sitting back up, but wasn't able to. "We haven't done it... In so long." He begged. "My assistant would never say no!" He tried reaching for her hand. "You're the only one who says no!"

She took a step back. "Why? Do you throw yourself at her too?!" Her heart began to beat faster, what was he trying to say. "Are you sleeping with other women?"

He laid down on the bed. "I never cheated." He raised his hand up to his temple. "But it's getting harder." He chuckled. "So hard." He raised the other hand, but couldn't reach his forehead. "I'm not very coordinate, my hand is bad."

Tori crossed her arms, as he continued talking about his hand. She never thought sex would be one of their issues. She remembered the electricity between them as if they had met only days before. Though when she thought about the present, the harsh truth fell on her shoulders. They were practically the opposite. She went over to him, and rolled him back to his side. "Well, I'm not going to sleep with a drunk."

He closed his eyes, and hugged the pillow. "Why?" A frown slightly appeared on his face. "I want to sleep with you, and you're a junkie."

As his words sank in her brain, her eyes filled with tears. She heard him snore, and walked away. She locked herself inside her bathroom, and cried silently in the shower.

Jasmin set the table, and took the pie out of the oven. She and Mother had successfully cooked a dinner for five, with both vegan and non-vegan meals. Tori opened the fridge, and wasted a few seconds staring at its interior. She pretended to check if everything was there, when she actually contemplated the night ahead of her.

She was going to have dinner with her mother, Connor and Jazz. That first part was easy. The second part on the other hand, was a bit more tricky. Right above them, Beck slept. She could only hope that he wouldn't wake up, and come downstairs. Not only because he would make a scene, but also because she didn't know how she was going to handle herself. The thought of facing him hurt too much. Knowing that he thought about her in such way was her worst fear, and she had it confirmed.

The doorbell rang. Jasmin ran to the front door, and smiled as she saw her boyfriend. He kissed her briefly, holding her hand. "I brought cookies, should I..."

"Just leave it in the kitchen." He nodded, as she locked the door.

"Hey Mrs. Oliver!"Connor waved, with a friendly smile. "My Mom made these cookies for you. She knows you like them."

"I do!" Tori exclaimed. "I'll go by your house tomorrow to thank her." Tori placed them over the counter, and took off her apron. "Connor, honey, will you take the pie to table for me?"

"Right away." He grabbed the plate, and walked away.

Jasmin stopped by the door. "Is Dad joining us?"

Tori shrugged, looking down. "I don't know."

The girl walked away, and as if on cue, the doorbell rang again. She rushed to the door, welcoming her grandmother. "Hi Sweetie!" Holly exclaimed. "You look so pretty!"

"Thanks, Grandma." Jazz smiled. "I missed you!"

Holly rolled her eyes, as if she knew that was coming. "I know! I'm just so busy lately. You know, trying to move and all that."

Tori walked inside the living-room. "You're not moving, Mom." She gave her a kiss on the cheek. "It doesn't make any sense."

"It does to me!" Holly affirmed. "Now, where's Connor?"

The boy got up from the couch,, with the same smile from minutes before. "Holly! It's been such a-"

"I don't believe it!" The old lady said, walking towards him. "You finally listened to me, and took off that bull-ring off your nose!" She pressed her hands against either sides of his face. "I almost didn't recognize you."

He chuckled, as she retrieved her hands. "Yeah, you are very persuasive." He brushed his fingers on his septum.

"I liked that ring." Jasmin teased. He put his arm around her waist, and kissed her.

"No PDA, please." Tori said, sitting down at the table. "Shall we eat?"

Beck slowly opened his eyes, feeling nauseous. He felt the urge coming, and ran inside the bathroom. He fell on his knees, resting his arms, on the toilet. His body getting rid of all the toxins he had consumed. "Oh..." He said wiping the vomit from the corners of his moth. He got up, staring at the mirror. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. Before he was able to look at himself, the urge came back. This time, he didn't make it to the toilet.

"Crap." He mumbled, looking down at the dirty sink. He turned on the faucet, as the water washed away some of his mess.

He took ten minutes to undress, and get inside the shower. What had he done that afternoon? He couldn't remember. He only saw flashes. Women dancing in their underwear, and Steve on a stage. He knew he had talked to his daughter at some point, and that she looked annoyed. He shrugged. She always looked annoyed.

It took an hour for him to get out, dry himself, and get dressed. He opened the drawer on his nightstand, and took out a bottle of medicine. He took an aspirin, and a pill for the bad stomach. He sat down on the bed, and looked over at the bottle of water. He took it, drinking as much of it as he could. He turned on the TV, and laid back. He hated hangovers.

His phone rang inside of his coat. Beck dreaded the three steps he had to walk to get it. "Yes?"

"There's a problem." He heard on the other side of the line. "You have to go to work, we're having a conference call in half an hour. Can you go to the tower?" He recognized Steve's voice, and let out a tired sigh.

"Yeah, alright." He glanced at the clock. It was almost eight. How did his former boss sound so sober? Beck wondered what his secret was to drinking that much, and never having hangovers. He took a note to ask him his secret on his mental to-do list. He quickly put on good suit, shoes, and combed his hair. He walked inside his office to grab his suitcase, and noticed that the Whiskey bottle was gone. That explained the massive hangover.

Holly held her granddaughter's hand, as they sat on the living room, chatting. "I don't think I'm going to be able to make it to the slam-poetry competition tomorrow, honey. I'm sorry."

Jasmin rested her head on her Grandma's shoulder. "It's okay."

"You know sweetie, I've just been so busy!"

Tori let out a frustrated sigh. "Here we go again..."

"The nursing homes in Florida require a lot of paperwork! I sometimes wonder if it's even worth the trouble..."

"Why do you want to move to Florida, Mom?" Tori asked, annoyed. She had turned her life upside down to be there for her Mom, and suddenly she felt like moving away. It had been a month since she started talking about nursing homes. About living with people her age, instead of an empty house. In a place where's sunny year-round. "There are plenty of homes here!" She got up, to sit beside her. "I don't even understand why you want to go to a home!"

They heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and Tori froze. Beck ran his fingers on his head, stopping abruptly on the living room. "Holly!" He said, surprised. "The dinner..." He frowned. "I'm sorry to miss it, I've just been feeling a little under the weather, you know?"

He fixed his tie. "You have a cold, right?" Jasmin said, looking at him. "We heard you throwing up. You must be feeling really bad."

He sensed the sarcasm in her tone of voice, and chose to ignore it. "It's... Yeah." He glanced over at Tori, who stared at him with sad eyes. He was too busy, and too stressed to figure out why. He simply assumed it was the drinking. "Connor, hey buddy. How are you doing?"

"Great." He answered, before looking over at his girlfriend.

"Good!" Beck looked at the fifty-thousand dollar watch on his wrist. "I would love to stay and chat, but there's this emergency at work."

"Just go." Jasmin told him.

"Alright." He answered, uncomfortable. "Love you all, have fun." He rushed to the garage and took off.

Holly looked at her daughter, trying to understand what was going on. Tori got up, taking a deep breath. She tried to clear he husband out of her min. She smiled, looking at her family.

"Now, who wants more family pot-pie?"

A/N: PLEASE REVIEW