At the studio Cate had decided to stop sulking over her new producing job and decided to imbrace it. She wasn't going to bitch and complain about the job considering some people didn't even have jobs. So, to make a good example for her kids, Cate got up every morning, she put on a big smile, and got ready to do very big producer things at the Ryan and Kelly show.
Cate walks in and sees Ryan stuffing his face with bagels before the show starts. "Hey, there you are!" Ryan tries to ignore her. "Hey!" She yells even louder. Ryan walks over to and she grabs the bagel out of his mouth. "You are not going to start the show with bagel mouth."
"Look just out of curiousity." Ryan says as they walk into the main room. "How long are you going to keep this up?"
"What up?"
"This whole type A producer eating no bagels thing." Ryan laughs as he takes a sip of his coffee.
"Until Corporate sees me as a professional."
"So it's going to be awhile then?" Cate rolls her eyes and hands the paperwork to Ryan. He walks over to his desk and sits down. "So, did you smooth things over with Kelly yet? You know, the whole golf ball in the head stuff?"
"We're professionals. I'm sure she's over it."
Kelly walks in. "Good Morning everyone. Lovely to see you, Ryan. Don." Kelly was clearly ignoring Cate's presence which meant that she was not over it. She reads the paperwork Cate had put on her desk. "What do we have here? Ten best places to make out? That's a bit trite, don't you think?" She asks, Ryan.
Cate decides to step in. She was not going to let Kelly just ignore her when they had to work with eachother, regardless if they were both happy about it. "We both have a job to do, Kelly. Why don't you just do your job and I'll do mine. Stick to the outline." She tells them as Ryan and Kelly get ready to start the show.
Cate walks out of the room and behind the window. She points at Ryan to begin. "Good Morning, Portland. It's Morning Madness with Kelly and Ryan!"
In the soccer field, Lauren is practicing with her team for the first game that was coming up. She was super excited to get back on the field after everything that had been happening to her and her family. Lauren figured it was time to get things back to normal, back to how things were before Lux came in the picture. Lauren ran and kicked the soccer ball right into the net. She still had it, she thought. The game was coming up so Lauren was doing a lot of practicing to get ready for it. Plus, ever since Jake told her he was moving away, she was trying to keep her mind on something a little more positive.
"Lauren, you ready for the game Friday!?" Coach ask her.
Lauren smiles, and shakes her head with enthusiam. "You know it, Coach!" She yells back.
Coach smiles and grabs the soccer ball. "Alright, hit the showers, girls. Our last practice before the game is tomorrow so be ready."
All the girls run off the field. As they were about to head back into the gym, Lauren looks over and at the corner of her eye she sees Jake making out with a girl. She couldn't believe this. Was Jake really moving, or was he just trying to occupy Lauren's mind with something else while he just made out with other girls? Lauren watches the girl move away from Jake and she starts running out of the quad. She didn't even go here. Jake turns to walk away and Lauren quickly makes her way into the locker room before Jake sees her.
At Baze's, Math is fixing himself some cereal. He turns around to grab the milk, but before he could pour it, Baze grabs the cereal and puts a protein shake in it's place.
"Hey!" Math groans.
"Hey, this sugar load of crap isn't good for breakfast in the morning." Baze tells him.
"And this is?" Math asks as he points to the shake in front of him.
Baze holds up his. "Uh, this is a high protein shake. We've got our first game coming up. We've got to be in top shape." Baze reaches over and grabs the handbook for the basketball team. "Math, I don't want to overstep as assistant coach, but however, I took the liberty of updating some plays for you."
"The JV girls basketball team has lost every game this season." Math tells him.
"Hey, this is Lux's first game. I want this to be a positive winning experience. It's time for a new attitude."
Math puts on a smile. "You're right. After losing 25 games in a row I'm sure all they need is a new attitude."
Baze takes a sip of his shake and tries not to throw up in the process. Math watches him and starts to smirk. He was wondering how long Baze would go with this. "Mmm." Baze looks back at Math. "Taste like victory."
In the school, Lux is trying to study in an empty room. She was having trouble figuring it out and so far all she had was a blank sheet paper looking at her.
"Lux." Eric walks over to her and looks behind her shoulder. "You've been staring at that practice test for ten minutes. The idea of a practice test is to actually practice." He says, making Lux laugh.
"This is awkward." She says, looking at Eric. "You tutoring me. It's like I'm in my sister's position, since she did date her tutor. Seriously, this tutoring thing is not going to help. Yes, it makes sense but as soon as I see this test I go blank."
Eric sits down in front of her. "Okay, well, go blank. Is it like nerves? Pressure?"
"It feels more like blank."
"Well, did it start at Westmonte? Or maybe Longfellow?"
Lux was surprised to hear that Eric knew about Longfellow. She and Eric both try to reach for the folder that is laying in the middle of them. "Did you read my file?"
Eric ignores her question and pulls his hand back from hers. "A lot of learning issues are psychological. So, it helps to look at a students past and shed light on the problems." He explains.
Lux laughs nervously. "Problems?"
"I didn't know you were in foster care. That can explain a lot." Lux was becoming less interested in this topic now. She just wanted to get up and run. "Did you miss a lot of school?"
Lux sighs and decides that running wasn't going to help because they'd just be back at square one yet again. "Actually, yeah. There was this one time I was in a car accident and I broke my leg and dislocated my shoulder. This woman, this nurse, she was taking care of me. She was nice. She seemed like she liked me. But then, then it got creepy. Like she was crazy or something."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. She started keeping me home from school and nobody knew where I was. And she told me write these stories. She told me she was my number one fan."
Eric stares at Lux before he starts laughing. "That's the plot of Misery." He tells her as Lux joins into his laughing. "That's messed up."
"Yes, but you bought." She says just as the bell rings. "Look, Eric, give it up. There's no deep dark secret that explains why I suck in school." Lux grabs her things and starts walking to class leaving Eric sitting there thinking that there was actually more than what Lux was telling him, or what her file was telling him.
At the station, Cate is going through some work, during the break, when Ryan walks up to her.
"Hey, what are you doing for lunch?" He asks her.
Cate shakes her head. She still couldn't believe about what happened during the show earlier. "I cannot believe you took her side."
"Look I didn't take her side. We were on air and I had to go with it." Ryan sits down in front of Cate.
"She had a serious problem with female authority."
"Or with you calling her an uptight hag with plastic boobies that no one wants to have sex with on air."
"Okay! I got it! Everything is my fault. How about you use your awesome powers and you help me fix it."
"Well, you could do what Alice did with you. Just take her out and pump her full of vodka and just kiss her ass until she does what she is told." Ryan jokes.
Cate starts packing up her things. "I cannot believe I have to cater to this. I mean, her book is ridiculous. We do not need a questionaire to know how compatiable we are." She walks over and sits next to Ryan. "Question 14. Finance: joint or separate accounts."
"Separate." Ryan says.
"Joint." Cate sighs. "This book is stupid."
Ryan starts laughing. "Okay, I don't care if you have a secret account in the Caymans, as long as we both agree to question 1. How many kids do you want? That is a no brainer. Six." Ryan says as Cate just stares at him. He looks back at her. "Two?"
"Including Lux and Lauren?" Cate asks with a smile.
"Yeah, funny." He laughs with her.
"Oh, I just seen Kelly. I'm going to take your advice and I am going to ask her on a date." Cate runs away from Ryan and down the hall to catch up with Kelly.
In the gym, the girls are practicing. Baze is sitting on the bleachers watching as every single girl misses a shot into the goal. Lauren walks in and starts laughing when she sees her sister running after the ball and missing it completely. She walks and over and sits next to her dad.
"Wow. Math wasn't joking when he said they really suck." She says. Baze just looks at his daughter and shakes his head.
Tasha is working on some homework just as ball hits her on the shoulder and knocks her down. "Whoa! Rose, Rose, Rose!" Baze yells. "It's a basketball. Let's not knock Tasha out. Alright, everybody, huddle up! You don't mind, right?" Baze asks, Math who looked a little bummed that Baze was taking his place.
"Be my guest." Math tells him.
"Alright, come on, girls. Bring it in." Tasha walks over and sits next to Lauren who is still laughing. The girls huddle around Baze. "Okay, tomorrow, you're going into our first game against Maplewood and I know what you're thinking: they beat you last year that some might call a massacre."
"I didn't think it was really that bad." Rose tells him.
"That's a great attitude. Seriously, what is the one thing we need to win this game tomorrow?"
"To be taller." One girl tells him sarcastically.
"Never hurts."
"Hand and eye coordination?" Another tells him.
"That would help. What we need is a winner's attitude. Now look, I may not know much, but I know of this. I know sports. And I know that you guys can do this. You're a winner. You are all winners. Now get out there and practice like the winners that you are! Come on, wasps!" Baze and Math start cheering the girls on to get them motivated while they run back onto the court.
"That was really beautiful, Dad." Lauren jokes.
"Thank you."
"But we're still going to lose." She says, running over to Tasha who is on the side goal shooting around and actually making it into the goal.
Baze looks over and is stunned by what he is seeing. "We need that." He tells Math. Tasha is continuously making into the goal as Lauren stands by watching. She couldn't believe it just as much as her dad and Math couldn't. "You got an extra jersery?"
After school, Lauren and Lux decided to walk home with Tasha. They couldn't stop talking about how Tasha made it on the team.
"I can't believe you made it on the team." Lux laughs.
"Did you see Dad's face when she sunked that three pointer?" Lauren asks. "The only time I've ever seen him that emotional is when we were watching Christian the Lion."As they are walking, Lux stops in front of a house that was really familiar to her. Tasha and Lauren stop walking, too, when they notice Lux staring at it. "Lux?" Lauren says as she nudges Lux a little to get her attention.
A woman walks out to get her mail and stops when she sees Lux. Lux and the woman stare at eachother for a few minutes. "Lux, let's go." Tasha grabs Lux's arm and pulls her away as the woman continues to stare at them. Lauren takes a seconds look before catching up with them.
At a bar Cate and Kelly are having a few drinks, and well they were drunk, and laughing like they were best friends.
"I'm sorry I was such a bitch." Kelly tells her.
"No, no, no, no, no, no," Cate says. "I was the bitch. You're not this radio meat pupput that has to do everything that I say."
"No, you know what the people want. I'm emotionally remote and people think I'm dead inside." Kelly says sadly as she bites on a lemon.
"No, you're not. Listen to me you're this smart, incredible, amazing, educated woman and that whole 29 point thing that you came up with. That is amazing!"
"27." Kelly corrects her.
Cate rolls her eyes. "Well, whatever. I took your test. And it turns out that Ryan and I, we, don't agree on major issues."
"Like what?"
"Uh, like finances." Cate tells her. "And kids. You know, Ryan, he wants a pile. Surprise, hi, don't want any!" Cate laughs.
"So how'd you work through that?"
"The point is.." Cate says, ignoring Kelly. "I just realized, as much as I don't even want to admit this, you do know what you're talking about."
Kelly smiles and stands up. "I think I need to use the little virgin's room." She starts to move but falls straight to the ground.
"We're going to need a cab." Cate tells the bartender.
"I think I'm going to hurl."
"Two cabs."
When Cate gets back, she drunkenly makes her way towards Lux's room, where Lux is just laying in bed.
"I thought those stairs were hard to climb sober." She says, as she walks up into Lux's room. "What are you still doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep." Lux tells her.
Cate stumbles towards Lux. "What? Why? Are you okay? What happened?" She asks with worry.
"It's nothing." Lux lies.
Cate falls onto Lux's bed and glares at her daughter. "It doesn't look like nothing."
"I just..when me, Tasha, and Lauren were walking home from school, we actually walked by one of my old foster homes."
"What? Was it bad? Did something happen?" Cate asks even more concerned than she was before.
Lux shakes her head. "No, nothing happened. It just brought back some memories. Don't worry, though, I didn't tell Lauren anything."
"Okay, well, from now on if you guys decide to walk home let's try a different route. Just please steer clear of there, okay? I don't want to risk something happening again to both my daughters. Got it?" Lux smiles and nods her head. "Okay. Is Lauren asleep?"
"Yeah, I think so. I heard Foster and her arguing over something. She was yelling and he was barking, but I haven't heard anything in awhile." Lux laughs.
Cate stands up and rolls her eyes. "I swear, that dog." Cate walks over to the stairs and turns back to Lux. "Hey, everything will be okay. I promise."
Lux just smiles again and Cate walks back down the stairs, wobbling on the way, making Lux laugh a little.
In Lauren's room, Cate walks in and finds Foster laying sideways on Lauren's chest as they are both sound asleep. She walks closer to Lauren and bends down and kisses her on her forehead. But as goes to stand back up she falls right on the side of Lauren. "Well, this is comfortable." Cate whispers and decides to stay where she is at.
The next day, Cate and Ryan are in the office talking about something when Kelly walks in.
"Good morning, compatriots." Kelly says, happily. "Cate, you look lovely today." Cate takes off her sunglasses and smiles at Kelly. "I brought you a salmon bagel."
Cate reaches for the bag while she tries not puke at the same time. "Okay. This is the outline for today's show." Cate hands her the paperwork for today.
"Looking forward to it." Kelly gleams as she walks out of the office.
"Hey, Portland, you're joining the Madness with Ryan and Kelly." Ryan announces through the radio.
"Today's topic is make-up sex." Kelly tells them. "Is it worth the arguing?" Kelly smiles towards Cate who is watching from the window.
"Okay, Kelly, making love to make peace. Yay or nay?"
"Definite yay." Kelly tells him. "But sex is not a solution for waiving your issues."
"Well, maybe not for you since you're not getting any like the rest of us."
"Oh, really? So, you're telling me that sex can solve all of your problems with Cate?"
"Yes."
"What about finances?"
"Yeah."
"What about your family?"
Cate's smile fades when she realizes that Kelly is bringing the topics of last night's drink session onto the air. "Okay, I defy you to name a problem with my relationship that sex can't fix."
"What about not wanting kids? That's a big issue. You want a litter and Cate said without a doubt she doesn't want..." Cate bangs on the window for Kelly to stop talking. Kelly looks over at Cate then back at the mic. "..any."
Ryan glares at Cate who is just as surprised as he is, but for different reasons.
In the hallway at school, Lauren closes her locker and starts walking to class when she runs into Jake talking to the same girl he was making out with the other day. She had about enough and storms over to him.
"So, are you really moving or just moving fast with another girl?" Lauren asks. She was angry. Jake had never seen Lauren this angry before and he was kinda feeling bad for it.
"What are you talking about, Lauren?"
"Seriously, Jake? Are you seriously going to act dumb right now? I seen you making out with this skank the other day after my soccer practice. So, like I said before you just wanted me to think you were moving, but you were actually going out with another girl!"
"I don't even go here." The girl tells Lauren with a snotty attitude.
"I'm not talking to you." Lauren tells her.
Jake stands between the two and looks at Lauren. "Lauren, I really am moving. Ashley is a girl I met when I went with my parents to check out the new school I'm going to. It's not that far from here."
"Yeah, so how about you go play barbies or something with your little friends."
"Really!?" Lauren yells as she pushes Jake away and tackles the girl on the ground.
"Get off of me!" Ashley yells.
"Not so big now, huh!" Lauren yells as she pulls Ashley's hair and Ashley pushes her hand against Lauren's face.
Baze walks out from the commotion while he was at practice with Lux and sees his youngest on the ground with a girl. "Lauren Bazile!" He yells, running over to them and quickly grabs Lauren, swiftly, with one hand. "What the hell are you doing?"
Ashley stands up and Jake pushes her back. He couldn't believe Lauren actually started a fight. "I hate you Jake!" Lauren yells. "I wish you would just move already!"
Lux peeks her head out from inside the gym and sees Baze carrying Lauren down the hall. Her face was red with fury and not just because their was blood trickling down her face from Ashley's nails.
At Ryan's, Cate walks in without knocking. She had to explain herself to him especially since Ryan wouldn't even finish the show and he just left.
"Ryan!" She yells as she walks to the kitchen where Ryan is sitting down. "You stormed out without letting me explain myself."
"To explain what?" Ryan asks as he stands up to become face to face with his girlfriend. "That you're telling the coworkers something that you're not telling me, or that you don't want kids?"
"Alright, look, it shouldn't have come out that way. Kelly, she shouldn't have said anything."
"Oh, okay. So, now it's Kelly's fault. You want to take responsibility for anything you do?"
"Ryan, I had an entire bottle of champagne. I wasn't thinking clearly."
"So now it's the champagnes fault!? Cate, if we are going to fix this relationship that we have going right now then you need to discuss things with me. Not go and discuss them with some strangers. Don't you think that I want some kids of my own? Not just Baze's!?" He yells. "I want kids, Cate!"
Cate sighs and looks up at Ryan with sad eyes. "I already have kids, Ryan."
Ryan shakes his head. "Lux and Lauren aren't my kids, Cate." Cate rolls her eyes. She knew this wasn't going to work. "You know what? This is actually very simple. You either want to have a kid with me or you don't. And if you don't, then I don't know why we are trying to make this work in the first place." Ryan walks away leaving Cate with her thoughts. She knew what she wanted. She was happy with what she had. But now she was definitely going to end up losing Ryan for good if she couldn't figure out things.
It was after school and Baze is dropping off Lauren and Lux, but instead he decides to walk in with them so that he made sure that Lauren explains exactly what happened in the hallway today with Jake's new girlfriend.
"Ugh, why are you coming in?" Lauren groans.
"I want to make sure you tell your mom everything." Baze tells her as he follows Lux and Lauren into the house.
"We're home, Cate!" Lux yells as she drops her school bag on the ground along with Lauren's.
Cate walks into the living room. "Hey, how was..." She stops when she sees Lauren's red face. "What the hell happened!?" She asks while running towards Lauren to examine her face.
Lauren rolls her eyes as Baze nudges her to tell her mom. "I got in a fight." Lauren tells her.
Cate stands back and glares at her daughter. "You what?"
"She got in a fight, Cate, with some girl that doesn't even go to Westmonte." Baze explains.
Cate was confused. "Then why did you get in a fight? Why was she there?"
"She's Jake's new girlfriend." Lux laughs.
Lauren goes to lunge at Lux, just as she runs up to her room, but Baze grabs her like before. "Put me down!" She yells.
"No. Not until you explain to me and your mom why you tackled that girl." Baze tells her.
"She kept making jokes about my age. And Jake is moving. He's moving closer to her!" Lauren yells as she tries not to cry. Baze and Cate notice and Baze sets Lauren down gently.
"Jake's moving?" Cate asks her, sadly.
Lauren closes her eyes to make her tears stay clear of her cheeks. "Yeah. And he just brought another girl to make out with in front of me before he does. I hate him." She whispers. "Can I go to my room now?" She asks.
Cate and Baze exchange looks. "Yeah, go." Cate tells her. Lauren runs upstairs and slams the door to her room. "Do we even know why she broke up with Jake in the first place?"
Baze shakes his head. "No. But I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Math says her grades have been slipping again."
Cate sighs. "What?"
"He's going to get her another tutor, that's a boy, and hopefully that will straighten her out. And hopefully, if Jake is really moving like she says he is then maybe we'll finally have our old Lauren back."
"What was her punishment?" Cate asks.
"No soccer." He says, sadly. "She has to miss her first game."
"What?" Cate says in surprise. "But she's been looking forward to this game since she started. Ugh. Great. Now I have to deal with two bitchy teenagers."
Baze laughs. "Well, I'll see you tonight at Lux's game." He tells her as he walks out.
Cate looks up at the stairs and groans. This was not going to be a fun day she thought.
At the game, Lux's team was doing horribly. Lux is sitting the bench, which she was happy about, and Baze has Tasha out on the court. Tasha was doing well, it was just the rest of the team that weren't so great. Lauren, Cate, and Ryan are sitting in the bleachers watching. Jake walks in and Lauren notices him and goes to stand up, but Cate grabs her daughter's arm and sits her back down, closer to her. Lauren looks at her mom who gives her a stern look to sit or else. She rolls her eyes and focuses back on the game.
"That's alright, girls! Let's be strong on D!" Baze yells to the team, but the opposing team makes, yet, another point. Baze watches Rose grab the ball. "Come on, Rose!" Rose looks nervously around before throwing it off to the opposing team. "Rose!"
"Alright, Lux, get in there. Rose!" Math switches the girls out.
"Come on, Lux!" Ryan yells.
'I'm going get something to drink." Lauren tells them.
"You better come right back." Cate tells her.
Lauren rolls her eyes and starts walking away. "I will."
Cate looks at Ryan and gives him a small smile. "Thanks for coming."
"Well, I wasn't going to miss Lux's first game. And if Lauren was at her game tonight, I would be there, too." Ryan tells her.
Cate sighs. "Even though they're not your kids?"
Ryan was stumped on what to say. "I'm sorry that it came out that way."
"I'm the one that should be sorry because I've been secretly afraid since we've started things up again, that what we want may not be compatiable. When Lux came around, I just assumed that she would be our kid. We already treated Lauren like she was both of ours when Baze wasn't around. I thought that would be enough." Cate explains.
"Cate, it's not that the girls aren't enough. No matter how close we all get, I'm the guy on the outside. Lauren made that clear few months ago. I'm never going to be the dad that gets invited to career day, or gets to give them away at their weddings. I'm the guy sitting up here in the nose bleed section. Cate, if I could be that guy to Lux and Lauren then I would be, but they have Baze. And I see what they have. I see what you all have. It's all I want."
Cate holds back her tears and looks at Ryan nervously. "You know, the first time I got pregnant wasn't the best experience and sadly, obviously, neither was the second. I was really scared. I was alone, so..."
Ryan quickly takes Cate's hand, lovingly. "Cate, you're not alone this time."
"I know that I'm not. I know. I do. I want more kids. It's just taking me a little while to come around. I just don't want to lose you, Ryan. Not again. Look, I don't even know what getting pregnant is going to be like. I don't even know if I can."
"Cate, we'll try."
Cate stares at Ryan and smiles. "Okay. Let's do that. Let's try."
Ryan bends down and kisses Cate gently on the lips. Lauren walks up and starts making gagging noises. "Geez, we're at Lux's game guys. Can you be more embarrassing?" Cate pulls Lauren down next to her and kisses her hard on her forehead, making her daughter swirm. "Ew, Mom, you just kissed Ryan!"
Cate and Ryan start laughing. "Nice." Ryan tells her.
They start watching the game again and as soon as they do they see the basketball going straight to Lux and hits her square in the shoulder, knocking her down on the ground. "Oh! Hold on!" Lux yells. Her teammates help her up. "I think I broke my butt." She says, hobbling over to the bench. Lauren starts laughing hysterically while Cate and Ryan are watching in horror. JV officially sucked.
In the locker room, all the girls are standing and sitting around sulking about the game. They were losing and they were feeling horrible about it. Baze and Math walk in.
"Everyone come here." Baze says as everyone comes closer to him. "I'm sorry for acting so unprofessional out there. And I'm really sorry for lying to you about our chances. I guess I didn't think you guys could deal with the truth. And the truth is.." Baze looks at one of the girls. "Patricia, you're not going to lose the weight by homecoming. It's physically impossible, and team, we're just not good." He says in all honestly. "But none of that means that you should give up. Because Patricia, you are going to lose that weight by Prom, and team, we are going to keep trying because even if there was a 99% chance of us losing, then that is what it is. It's not what is on the scoreboard at the end of this game. Winning is knowing that we have eachother's backs, and that we are going to take care of eachother on the court and off. So, ladies, what I would like you to do is get your game on and I want you to give them a run for their money!" He yells as he gets everyone amped up. They all leave the locker except for Tasha and Lux.
"Hey, Lux, can we talk?" Tasha asks her.
Lux turns back around and sits next to Tasha on the bench. "Sure."
Tasha takes a deep breath. "You've been acting really weird since that walk home the other day. I wasn't going to bother you about it, but now you're kinda worrying me. What's going on?"
Lux was not expecting Tasha to bring that subject up again. "I used to live there." Lux tells her. She had a hard time even saying that. Tasha looks at Lux with worry. "I was twelve or thirteen. That woman that came out is Valerie. She didn't have a maternal bone in her body. It just got really bad when I was there."
Tasha grabs Lux's hand. "Hey, forget it. You don't have to explain anything."
"It just brought up bad memories. I'm sorry. But I'm fine now. I promise."
Tasha smiles and brings her friend into a hug. "Okay. Let's get back out there."
On the court the team was actually doing really well thanks to Baze's speech. They were doing amazing in defense and the other team was actually missing shots. Baze and Math were exstatic. Lux takes the ball and runs it down the court. She dribble and put her hand up to set up the play. Tasha runs to the other side and Lux throws the ball to her. Tasha throws the ball up and it makes it clear into the goal. Cate and Ryan shoot up from their seats and are jumping up and down in excitment. Cate pulls Lauren up and makes her jump around with them. Lauren had to admit she was pretty happy for Lux and the team, so she started clapping and ran down the bleachers and hugged her dad. Lux and Tasha hug eachother and then Lux runs over and hugs both her sister and her dad. Baze couldn't believe what just happened, even though they lost, they scored!
Back at the house, everyone was calming down from the game. Lauren is up in her room, on her computer doing homework, when an email pops up on her screen. She opens the mail and sees that it's from Jake. 'I'm sorry for everything. You won't have to worry about seeing me again, though. I am moving tomorrow and I won't be back at school. I will always love you, Lauren." Lauren lets her tears fall as she stares at the computer screen. Downstairs, Lux walks into the front door and picks up an envelope that was slipped under the door. Her name is written on the front of it. She knew that handwriting. Up in Cate's room, Cate and Ryan were doing something that was unexpected. As they layed in bed, Cate on top of Ryan, it wasn't marriage, but it was another step. Cate was still unsure, but she wanted to make things right with Ryan, even if marriage wasn't the way for them right now.
"I think we just proved Kelly wrong." Cate laughs along with Ryan. "Make sex can fix any marital issue."
Ryan looks over at the flowers on Cate's nightstand. "The flowers are nice. You know, Kelly must have really felt bad. Hey, why don't you call her and just let her know that everything is okay."
Cate nods her head. "Yeah. Okay." She laughs. "I think I should just let her worry for a little longer." Ryan laughs and rolls Cate over off of him so that he can get on top.
"So, we're really doing it, huh?" He asks. "We're gonna try for a baby? So, you're going to stop drinking champagne and get off the pill?"
"After my night out with Kelly I can barely look at champagne."
"Well, tell you what. I'm going to put the rest of that in the fridge and we're going to have some fun trying for a baby." Ryan bends down and kisses Cate one last time before he gets up. Cate flips over and gets her purse from the floor. She digs in it and grabs her pills. She stares at them before dropping them into the trash next to her bed. Cate really wanted to be sure about this.
Upstairs Lux is sitting at her desk and opens the letter from Valerie. She sees the picture of herself and Valerie. They were happy. She starts reading the letter and smiles as tears fall down her face.
Cate picks up the pills from the trash and takes one out. She looks around to make sure Ryan doesn't walk back in and she takes it. She settles back down on her pillow.
Lux rips the letter up. She was angry that Valerie ruined everything that they had, but she had something better now. She had her real parents and her real sister. Valerie couldn't mess this up for her. Not now.