After what felt like the longest trip of her life, Elaine made it to Buffalo. As soon as she got there, she went to the hospital where her brother, Tommy, said she'd been admitted. Looking at her beloved great-aunt pained her. Her health had always been pretty fragile but never had she seen her like this. "She's incredibly weak right now, but I wouldn't give up hope just yet, she may come around." the doctor informed. In the meantime, they were told to go home since it was well past visiting hours, and that they'd call if there was any change in her condition. This was too much to take in. Elaine hadn't even known she was sick. Her family said that it was a sudden thing—as far as they knew anyway. Her aunt wasn't one who liked to lead on when something was wrong. They had to find out for themselves. It was the housekeeper who found her passed out and contacted the family and the hospital.

Despite the circumstances, Elaine felt kind of good to be reunited with her family. It had been a while since she had seen any of them. They were all to stay at her aunt's house while they waited. Growing up, Elaine loved visiting the house. It was big and beautiful: a small mansion made of brick with white trimming. Her aunt never had kids of her own, so Elaine and her three little brothers were spoiled. They all even had bedrooms there. Elaine and her brother Tommy each had their own room since they were the oldest, and her two youngest brothers, Brian and Dylan, shared a room. When she was little, Elaine always pretended that she was a princess and that the house was her castle. Silly, she thought, but it didn't stop her from smiling every time she thought about it. It was hard to believe that this could be her last time ever being there. She walked through the house, revisiting memories she hadn't thought of in years. It made her sad, but at least she was keeping her mind from wondering back to Alex.

It occurred to her that she should probably let Jada and the kids know that Tony would be the one showing up tomorrow instead of her. Despite the hour, she called. Once that was taken care of she decided to try and get some sleep. She had been resting for maybe an hour or two when she was awoken by Brian saying that they had to get to the hospital immediately. Unfortunately, they didn't make it in time. Their aunt had passed. They were at the hospital for a couple more hours before they finally went back to the house. She knew that there'd be no sleeping tonight, but she was very thankful that she had at least gotten there in time to start saying goodbye, even if her aunt hadn't been able to hear or acknowledge it.

She lied in bed and thought a lot about her aunt, it was all so sudden that it was making it nearly impossible to process. She'd been so busy with her own life that she hadn't even thought of her family in months. Maybe if she had, there would have been some hint of something being wrong. Am I just prone to guilt or something? Just when she was over the guilt from Arnie, she then felt guilty about Alex, and now before she could get over the guilt about Alex, she felt the guilt of neglecting her family. She started wishing that she could call Alex. She needed to hear his voice; but she felt odd about it. Though they'd been more civilized towards each other right before she left, there was still no pretending that nothing was wrong. She finally decided to get up and make herself some tea. When she got to the kitchen she was startled by Tommy there as well. "Sorry, I didn't think anyone else was up."

"Neither did I." he replied. Elaine managed a chuckle. Tommy went on, "You couldn't sleep either, huh?" She just shook her head as she started heating up some water. "Yeah... hard to believe she's really gone. Seems like only yesterday we were all kids and running around like maniacs."

"I think your memory is a little off: you, Brian, and Dylan were all running around, I was usually up in my room or out in the yard." she half-joked, and to which he responded, "Oh that's right... always off in some day dream."

"Hey, what's wrong with that? I was a very thoughtful and imaginative child."

"And uptight about everything. I remember once I was forced to help you clean your room as a punishment and you kept yelling at me because I wasn't putting things back in their 'proper places'." Elaine rolled her eyes, "First of all you were the one who messed it up, second of all I was entitled to having my things the way I wanted them, and lastly, do we really want to bicker about this now?" Noticing his sister had a sudden edge about her, he backed off. The kettle started to whistle and Elaine poured the water into her teacup. Tommy watched as he finished eating the sandwich he had made as a midnight snack. "Mind if I drink this here?" Elaine questioned. "Not at all." he replied. They were quiet for a little bit, and then Tommy asked, trying to make conversation, "So... it's been a while since we've really spoken... how's life been for you? Oh and how are the kids? How old are they now?" Elaine set her tea down as she answered, "The kids are wonderful. Jason's twelve and Jennifer's ten."

"Wow, time sure has flown by, hasn't it? I haven't seen them since they were what... six and eight?" Elaine nodded, "Yeah... boy, it really has been a while. I suppose I should be coming home to visit more, huh?" Tommy shrugged, "Or we should come visit you from time to time."

"Oh come on, you hate New York City. The last time you went you nearly fainted because you were so overwhelmed by everything going on." He looked back, and after a pause said, "Yeah, you should come home more." She then asked him how things were in his life. He talked for a little while and she listened, though towards the end, Tommy noticed her drifting. "Well, I think I've gone on enough. I'm starting to bore you." She looked up, "What? ...oh no, sorry go on, I'm listening."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." she brushed off, "Guess I just have a lot on my mind, that's all."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Nah, it's just some relationship stuff… and of course I'm still trying to get it through my head that Aunt Claire is really gone." He nodded sympathetically, agreeing, and then questioned, "You still seeing that same guy you last told me about? What was his name again... Arnie was it? I know it was something like that." At the mention of Arnie, Elaine started tearing up. This, not going unnoticed by Tommy, gave him the impression that she wasn't. "I guess not." he said. She rubbed her eyes, "No, it's not that... I stopped dating him over a year ago... But it's because of him that I may have ruined my current relationship."

"Want to talk about it?" he asked again. She felt bad because she felt like she shouldn't be complaining about silly relationship troubles when a beloved family member had just died, but Tommy insisted that it was alright. She told him everything that had happened in great detail. She felt a little bit better after getting it all out to someone who wasn't going to take sides; or at this point, anyone.

Once she was back in her room, she decided to call Alex. She'd have to call the garage though seeing as he was probably still at work. Louie answered and she asked if by any chance Alex was around. To her disappointment, he wasn't. But Louie offered to put the call through to Alex over the radio. She was hesitant because she knew that this meant Louie would hear every word of their conversation, but she decided that she didn't care.

Louie said to Alex through the transmitter, "Reiger, I'm putting a call from Nardo through."

"Alex?" she started.

"Elaine, hi. How are you? How's your aunt?" he questioned genuinely. Elaine weakly replied, "She passed away earlier tonight..."

"Oh Elaine, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks..."

"Are you alright?"

"I've been better." she answered truthfully. "I don't really know why I called. I guess I just wanted-" Alex didn't have to see her to know that she was struggling to hold back tears. "Elaine, it's okay to cry."

"No, it's not. I am so sick of crying. The last thing I needed right now was another thing to cry over. I know that's a terribly selfish thing to say but I am just so sick of crying. I'm sick of feeling sick, I'm sick of feeling drained, I am just so sick of everything right now." Alex was at a loss for words; and though he probably shouldn't after everything that had happened, he was starting to feel bad for how he had been treating her—whether she deserved it or not. Nonetheless, there were definitely some things that didn't really need to be said. No matter how mad she might have made him, he absolutely hated seeing her... or hearing her this way. He just barely heard her whisper, "I wish I'd let you come here with me." Not acknowledging her last statement, he said, "You really should try and get some sleep. Call me again when you get the chance, alright? It doesn't matter what time, just call me when you need too. Again, I'm so sorry."

"Okay... and thank you."

There was a brief pause and then Alex concluded quietly, "I love you." Never had she ever been so happy to hear him say those words. Letting out the slightest sob, she murmured, "I love you, too."

Once she had hung up, Alex said to Louie, "I'm going up to Buffalo." Louie bit his tongue, he didn't want him leaving in the middle of a shift—and more importantly taking one of the cabs with him, but he let him go. After giving Alex his consent, he said to himself, "I'm gonna hate myself in the morning."