"-but you're not around anymore sweetie, what was I supposed-"

"-Mom, you're never around either"

"Oh, that's not fair. Come on, sweetheart. I'm working, you know that"

"I'm working too"

"Oh, please, Michael. This is...this is ridiculous you're not working, you should..gosh, you should be studying and having fun-"

Pausing on the stairs, Grandpa tilted his head. He wasn't usually one for eavesdropping but, as he wiggled his fingers thoughtfully, he recognized a rare tone in his daughter's voice. Well, not rare...just one he hadn't heard since her teenage years.

From the sound of it, she was in the midst of a little fight and she was feeling hurt, frustrated. From experience, he knew those tones came from her being on the loosing side of a fight and feeling genuinely hard done by because of it. He could remember when she'd tried to sneak out with her friends to watch a concert and she'd begged, implored her mother to let her go. They'd had a fight right there on the stairs, his wife steadfast in her refusal to let Lucy leave - even more-so, upon finding she'd tried to sneak out - and poor teenage Lucy with her hair styled in the highest bouffant he'd ever seen, with lips frosted pink and lashes long as spider legs had plead her case.

Now that had been a long night.

He smiled fondly at the memory, unable to help himself.

It felt like his life was coming full circle and it was pleasing if not a little odd.

He could remember fighting with his parents, he could remember Lucy fighting with him and his wife and now, he could hear his little girl putting up with the same grief from her own child.

It was kind of poetic, but, as he head his daughter emit a scoff, he paused once more. He'd been making moves to go upstairs, to continue his route to the toilet but that scoff was new.

Was Lucy close to loosing her cool?

If so, something big was going down. She usually kept an even head, she was calm, very collected. It took a lot to rattle her. She was a great mother and he knew she got it from his late wife. She'd been a great mother, too. The boys were good kids, they rarely pushed her over the edge enough to snap at them and this was the first time since they'd all come to live in his home that he could actually feel some discord.

"-I just...this conversation, I-I...it's utterly ridiculous!"

He could hear disappointment in her voice, though he could tell she was trying to mask it.

She was trying to mask her anger, too...he could tell that much. He wondered if Michael could, as well.

The whole thing was interesting but strange, somewhat unpleasant.

An odd morning.

An odd morning all around.

He usually slept quite poorly, tossing and turning and unable to drift off comfortably. It was old age creeping up on him, faster than he appreciated but thankfully slower than it caught up to his old man. Aches and pains woke up when he went to bed and it had become a part of his life now. He could deal with it, he was accustomed to it. Funny how people could adjust to things. Sometimes he would have a shot of bourbon to loosen himself up, if it was a particularly bad night he'd take some tablets. His doctor was a total quack but he prescribed the good stuff at least but last night he'd needed nothing at all.

Last night he'd slept like a baby.

It had taken him a while to drift off but once he had? He'd not risen, not even for a second. He hadn't tossed or turned or shifted even once, it seemed. He'd woken up, still tucked comfortably under his comforter. It had been a long, solid sleep and he'd had the most wonderful dreams. He couldn't remember what they were about, not for the life of him, but he'd woken up feeling happy, refreshed.

It was a rare delight and, as such...it was odd.

He wasn't one to complain, but still. A well slept night, his daughter fighting with her son.

Odd indeed.

He frowned a little and craned his head towards the kitchen, still paused on the stairs.

"Look, Micahel, I'm your mother and I'm-"

"-I thought you asked if we were friends?"

"Oh, Michael. This is silly. Can't we be both?"

"Of course"

There was a softness in Michael's voice but there was a hard annoyance there, too. It was strange to hear him produce those tones, he was usually kind and softly spoken with his mother, and rightly so. He wasn't a bad kid, none of his grandchildren were. It was just strange, so odd to hear. A real morning of oddities, it seemed. Sammy was the one who got the Big Brother Brush Off and hearing Lucy on the receiving end gave Grandpa all the justification he needed to listen in.

"Friends talk, mothers talk with their kids. So why won't you talk to me? I don't understand, sweetheart..."

"Because I think you're being unreasonable, Mom. I already spoke with you about this, I've tried to explain my point of view and yeah..." there was a pause and Grandpa could imagine Michael shrugging, "...sorry, but you're being unreasonable. You are..."

"Me?"

There was silence before his daughter spoke again.

"Michael, I'm not being unreasonable, I'm not. I-I...I'm worried about you. I'm concerned, I-you...you, you said-"

"-Mom, I told you that I was thinking about dropping out when we came here. When we were moving in. That's not news to you, come on. I told you already..."

Dropping out? Grandpa frowned and slowly sat on the step.

Michael was going to drop out? Well it was shocking and sudden...but it wasn't such a surprise. Everybody knew that Elizabeth was the one who was going to excel in school and go on to a good college, definitely an out of state one, maybe an Ivy League. Sammy was likely to follow in her footsteps because she would make it look relatively easy and he'd have nothing else that much appealed to him. Michael was pretty sporty though and he did have a good head on him when he applied himself...there wasn't a reason why he shouldn't go to school. Admittedly there were no scholarships or fancy titles in his future but to drop out completely? He had the potential, it was there...

"You said it in passing! You were moving boxes and-"

"-but I was serious, Mom. I was. And now I've got an actual, real job opportunity with actual prospects for development and-"

Huh.

A job? Well, that was new.

A job...that was different. Thinking on it, Grandpa could see why college didn't appeal to the kid, especially since the move to Santa Carla. Maybe there was a little more going on in Arizona but there was nothing for a college grad here and it showed. Who wanted a college grad to work on the boardwalk? Who wanted a college grad to wait tables? Santa Carla was a town for tourists and the jobs reflected that. If Michael had been scoping the place out, maybe he understood it? So..really, a job could be the way to go. A trade, a skill to work with...

Grandpa tilted his head, listening with uncharacteristic seriousness, trying to absorb as much information as he could.

"-and health insurance? Dental? A livable salary? A career with upward mobility and-"

"-yes"

Grandpa blinked. There was no bluff in Michael's words and Lucy must have been stunned into silence for a second because when she spoke again, her voice was a little hurt, "oh, sweetie...you're doing this because-"

"-Mom. Don't...I was thinking about dropping out before I met her, we've talked about this already. I feel like I'm going around in circles with you..."

So there was a girl in the picture?

He knew there was a girl in the picture, of course. He wasn't stupid. The kid was out late, staying out overnight and he'd taken to wearing a leather jacket, kind of roughing up his style a bit but it must have been pretty damn serious if a girl was the reason he was thinking of dropping out.

Choosing a trade over a degree wasn't such a bad idea, not if you thought about the bigger picture but making a decision because of a girl?

Now that was a bad idea...or maybe it wasn't?

Grandpa didn't know.

Kids had changed so much from when he was a that age himself, it was impossible to keep up. They seemed to get older faster and nothing seemed as easy as it used to be.

"Oh, Michael, I made that exact same mistake-"

Grandpa shrugged a little, shaking his head with a small frown, a little saddened by the tone of Lucy's voice.

He'd never been overly fond of her ex-husband and hearing her speak with such regret made him wish he'd been more vocal about his concerns. He didn't like to hear his daughter acknowledge that she thought her youth had been a mistake. It wasn't. She'd given up her education, her chances for a career but she'd been a wonderful mother. She was the reason her family was as amazing as it was. She'd grown so much, she was successful in her own ways and in her own rights.

He hoped she could see it.

He understood why she wanted more for her own kids, but still.

"-it's not a mistake. I swear, Mom. It's a good job with good prospects. If I started now, I'd be management in five years. I'd be ahead of college grads, in no way does this not make sense. I'm moving towards something good and so what if there's a great girl by my side? You're just projecting your own insecurities-"

"-what?-"

"-and that's fine, Mom. I get it. Dad screwed you over and I hate that he did it to you but this is my life. Things will be different, I swear they will. I promise, things will be different for me. For us..." Michael's voice was kind, commiserating and there was some regret there, too but it was clear that he wouldn't be swayed.

When he spoke again, his voice was a little harder, "...but, Mom this is a two way street. If you can't accept and support that I'm moving towards something good then...I'm sorry but it goes both ways. I'm not meeting Max and neither should they..." Michael's voice was soft but firm.

Grandpa could only assume that 'they' meant himself, Liz and Sammy. So did that mean Lucy had said she wouldn't meet the girl Michael was involved with? Had Michael tried to arrange some kind of meeting? A dinner maybe? Lunch?

There was certainly something going on.

Lucy was silent and he could imagine her blinking, trying to process her son's words. He wanted to go down and comfort her but he knew she needed some space. There were times to interrupt and this wasn't one of them.

"Look, I gotta go. I have to study, believe it or not. I love you, Mom"

"...I love you too, sweetie..." Lucy's voice was small and hurt but it was clear she was trying to be strong and put on a brave front.

She was a good mother, there was no doubt about that.

As the little door leading out into the garden opened, Grandpa frowned, standing. Poor Lucy. She was a good mother and Michael was a good kid, too. Whatever was going on was just the result of miscommunication, he was sure. It happened. Heck, he could remember the many fights Lucy had with him when she was a teenager. It was-

-a creak on the landing behind him caught his attention and he turned, craning his neck. He knew Sammy was out walking Nanook and Elizabeth had been taking one of the longest showers he had ever known one of the family to take. He knew it must have been her but she was walking so heavily, it didn't quite sound like her.

"You look terrible, Lizzie..." he said, looking up at his granddaughter with wide eyes.

He stood slowly, his knees protesting a little.

He didn't want to be so blunt, not with her but damn if he wasn't telling the truth.

A morning of oddities indeed.

She was wearing her older brother's sweatpants and a faded, fairly ugly sweater. It was very faded, it must have been sun-bleached but he could tell by the pattern it was once Sammy's. He'd probably donated it to her after deeming it unusable himself. Her hair was obviously freshly washed but it hung limp, framing a face that was pallid, blotchy and shadowed with dark circles. She was a very pretty girl but today she looked a little, "like a goblin or something!"

"Oouch...thanks, Grandpa" Elizabeth winced, swallowing thickly.

She'd showered thoroughly, scrubbed every inch of her body in a deep, almost painful clean. She'd cleaned her teeth twice, attacking her tongue with her toothbrush as well as flossing and gargling. She had dug the tips of her fingers deep into her scalp, massaging foaming suds all over her head and hair...but still, she felt foul.

She had never really had a hangover, nothing more than a little headache but she couldn't have ever imagined just how much everything hurt.

Her head was pounding, her stomach rolling, her joints felt stiff and her knees were still screaming in pain from her crash to the floor.

The little wastebasket usually waited, unused and tucked away in her closet. She knew Dwayne must have put it out for her and she wanted to die from embarrassment because of it. He was so thoughtful but she knew she must have been a really, really big mess and the fact that he'd prepared the trash can for her to puke in solidified how terrible she must have been.

It was mortifying and only added another level to her pain. A nice slice of crippling, inescapably embarrassing mental pain to add to the breakdown of her body.

Grimacing again, she hated how eager, how excited and happy she had been to try the drugs Paul had playfully offered her. She'd been like a giddy little school girl. He'd told her all about the things she could feel and experience, he'd promised to keep her safe and she had taken a fistful of strange tasting tabs...and that's what she could remember. She knew she'd probably scoffed down more. He'd laughed, she'd laughed...but not once had she thought to concern herself with the next morning.

She'd been too in the moment.

Way, way too in the moment.

There was a pretty big jump from a joint to LSD but she hadn't even considered it. It had felt right and fun to just be with him. She'd felt free and easy and it had been amazing, there were no two ways about it.

She'd had an absolute blast, she knew that.

She'd downed some whiskey happily, too, though she didn't remember where it came from. They had wandered around the boardwalk for a spell, Elizabeth could remember hankering after some corn dogs but then everything else was a strange and confusing mess of events.

She couldn't have even guessed as to where she had been, where she had gone.

What she had done.

All she could feel with any clarity were the after effects.

She didn't doubt that she looked like a goblin.

"Oh. I say that aloud?"

"Yes"

"I do that sometimes" he grinned at her and walked to meet her at the top of the stairs, "you're not a goblin, Lizzie. You're beautiful..." he smiled, trying to be comforting, "...usually..."

She laughed, winced and then shook her head, wincing again, "..thanks"

"You still feeling a little sick, huh?"

"Sick?" she stuttered, wondering how she was going to get away with her appearance.

"Your stomach?"

"...huh?" Elizabeth asked, frowning a little.

She'd lied about her period, before...right? She didn't remembering telling any other lies.

"Yesterday, right?" Grandpa rubbed his neck thoughtfully, "well, now I don't quite remember but..you did say your stomach hurt, no? I'm not goin' soft in the noggin?"

"Yeah..yeah, no I did..." she shrugged, speaking slowly and shaking her head with confusion.

She was going to run with it.

She was tired, she was aching. She knew that she wouldn't be able to make anything up on the fly so if Grandpa had it in his head that she was under the weather - for whatever reason - she was going to go right along with it.

"...sorry, yeah. You're right...it's not you. It's me. I'm tired. I was kind of up all night with it"

"Uh-huh, well it looks like it, too, no offence. You were in the shower for ages, I thought maybe you were just pampering..." there was warm concern in his voice.

"No, I uh.." she felt herself blush a little and knew it must have stood out horribly on her sheet white, kind of green face, "my stomach really is kind of...uh...I'm not in a good place right now"

"Got the runs or the pukes?" he was so frank and Elizabeth found herself shrugging again, "both, to be honest..." she said, truthfully.

She knew what she was suffering from. She'd heard of it and she was mortified to be living it but it was just another level on the ladder of indignities her body was going through. The alcohol shits. Devastatingly painful and uncomfortable and on top of that, she was sure the LSD was the reason for the continued thudding headache.

Or maybe it was the lack of water?

She tried to smile in reassurance, keeping her thoughts to herself. Grandpa hadn't asked for the cause, only the symptoms.

She had no idea why her abs were cramping and sore, it felt like she'd done a set of planks or a thousand sit ups. Even her calves and the arch of her feet were aching.

It felt like her whole body was punishing her.

"Luckily your brothers are out. You'll have the bathroom all to yourself, kid"

"Good to know" she said, grimacing as her stomach threatened another little heave.

"You sure it's not the flu? I don't remember exactly what we said it was?"

"Stomach bug, I think" she lied easily, wondering where his misinformation and her ability to go along with it came from. Before she could really think about it, she found that she was speaking again, "I think I just ate something a little funky the other day. Guess it's making itself known now...or made itself known last night, I guess..."

"Well, now you know not to eat food from the boardwalk stalls, kiddo. Rotten, it is. Sure I told you guys this already. Never did have the constitution for it myself"

"Yeah, I'm done" she assured him, meaning it fully.

No more whisky. No more LSD. No more late nights partying with Paul.

She would be teetotal. Totally, utterly teetotal.

...maybe.

Her stomached rolled again and she grimaced.

"...I don't want to think about it" she said, shaking her head again.

"Go see your Mom. I'm sure she can rustle you up some chicken soup. Get your stomach settled an all that. Tell you what, I think it'll make her happy to spend time with her little girl. Anyway, Bethy, there isn't a single ailment that a good chicken soup can't help!"

"...third degree burns?"

He gave her an indulgent look and Elizabeth laughed shortly, grimacing in pain, "sorry"

"You gonna be OK to day camp tomorrow?"

"Actually, yeah..yeah, I think so" she tried to smile, "fresh air and some exercise sounds kind of nice"

"It does?"

"Mhmm, besides I feel like this is kind of the tail end of it all..."

She wasn't lying. She needed it. She needed some exercise, she needed some fresh air. She needed some good, clean fun and she knew Paul would laugh himself to tears if he heard her thoughts. She could imagine Marko's humorous smirk, too. They'd talked about how she was a nice person, she'd tried to defend herself against it but in the end she was clamoring for some nice, wholesome activities.

"Well that's great to know! Are you sure? Don't feel pressured, OK?"

"I'm sure" Elizabeth promised, "I feel a lot better, if I'm honest with you..."

That was a lie. She felt utterly rotten, she'd heard of hangovers from hell and for the first time in her life she was slap bang in the midst of one but she knew that tomorrow some walking, some movement and some of the great outdoors would do her wonders. She would take it easy today, she would take it easy tonight and with any luck she thought she would be over it by tomorrow.

She'd been afraid before but now she had thrown herself headfirst and with confidence into Dwayne's world.

She loved it. She loved him and she loved those crazy boys but for her own sake, she had to go slower.

She knew that now.

They were wild, free and limitless and she, without a doubt, had some pretty firm limitations.

She wanted to envy them but in that moment, more than anything, she wanted to curl up on Lucy's lap and let her mother look after her.

"Oh yeah, I believe you. I always say things are better out than in. That's why I'm a free farter, you know Sammy complains about my tooting but-"

"-stop" Elizabeth begged, tucking her hands into her sweater and swallowing heavily.

She wasn't a princess but her stomach was far too fragile to think about her Grandpa's gas.

"Oh, right" he chuckled, "anyway I'm off to use the John but I'll use the boys' shared one. Sure they won't mind. Gonna see some of Sammy's hair stuff...you go see your mother, Lizzie. Like I said, there absolutely isn't any medicine like a mother's love..."

"Chicken soup?"

He squeezed her shoulder gently as he passed her, "sick but sharp, huh kid?"

She tried to laugh and moved to step down towards the kitchen.

"Thanks, Grandpa"

"Anytime, anytime.." he winked, "and if your stomach's not settled...maybe avoid Sammy's room for a spell, huh? Don't want you to ralph again..it rots your teeth"

Nodding, grimacing and wishing she'd stuck to just water and Paul's vivacious company last night, Elizabeth ambled down towards the kitchen.

She was in a world of pain of her own doing but she knew Lucy would be there to make her feel better.

A/N: As always, thank you so much for the reviews and for sticking with me! Elizabeth is comfortably settled with the boys and it seems that Michael and Star are well on their way to starting a nice little life together...things move fast in Santa Carla! I'm glad to see Michael and Star happy but certainly I hope they're not going to cause any ~~trouble~~. Have a wonderful week everyone!