(Dixie cries into Tad's chest, he holds her close and tries to make her happy with no success)

"C'mon, Dix...he doesn't hate you."

"Tad, did you see that? He's out of control, and I don't know what to do or what I could've done. He didn't just snap, Tad...no one snaps, you know this has been building and I...I didn't see it. I was preoccupied, and I brought it on myself. It's me."

"Dix, sit down," he motioned to the couch. She looked around and flopped onto the leather, holding a cushion to her chest. "Remember what happened before you went to Laurel Hill? How Adam gaslit you into thinking you were trying to kill JR? Remember that?"

"Yeah," she mumbled as he sat down beside her.

"Yeah, well I was outside, just like you wanted me to be and I saw you through the window. I saw you hold him, and feed him, and mother him. I heard you tell him you loved him over and over again, even while Adam was deceiving you. But you thought you were trying to kill him. You were going to sacrifice your freedom to save your child---"

"To save my child from my own hands, Tad."

"Wait, wait. I got you out, didn't I?"

"Out of Laurel Hill? Well...yeah...Tad, what does this have to do with anything?"

"Dixie, that was the beginning, and I was there. I was there when you took him to Pigeon Hollow, and when you brought him back. I was there when he trashed the car and when he performed with his band...Dix, I was there."

"What are you getting at?"

"He doesn't hate you, Dixie. He can't. No one could hate you if you did everything you could to save him, to love him, to protect him. Dix, he's...he's just a teenager and he's rebelling. I rebelled in a sort of promiscuous way and this is where I am today, still apologizing, still screwing up. Dix, if you love him...let him go."

"What? You want me to sit here and watch a movie and eat popcorn while my son might be ODing on drugs in an alley somewhere? What if he's running away, Tad? Or going to a judge---he'll try and...oh, Tad..I'm so afraid because I don't know what he'll try or how far he'll go. I don't know what he's done or what he will do...I'm so scared. This is my son. I gave birth to him, I...I love him, Tad, and I can't let him go."

"For a little while. Let him calm down. If you trust him---"

"But I don't, Tad. Especially lately. He told me, you and I, that he'd never touch drugs again and he'll keep saying it just like Will--" she stopped herself.

"Just like Will what?"

Dixie stood up, turning away and fumbling with her necklace. "I...I...nothing."

"Just like Will what?" he repeated.

She turned around quickly. "I don't want him to end up like Will, all right? Dead; rotting in a grave somewhere. This thing with this girl...this Frankie, I just want to be with JR right now. I want him to know that his Mother isn't some self-righteous uncaring animal. I want him to trust me."

"You're his mother. You've got to decide what's in his best interest--"

"...and letting him go is going to be it? You think letting him roam around on his own, considering the way things have been going, is in his best interest?"

"I think he's old enough that he'll use the time, Dix. I think he needs some air. Just like you don't want him to end up like Will, I don't want him to end up like Adam. Self-righteous, invading--according to his intentions, he's a saint. JR just doesn't care."

"I want him to care, Tad. Maybe...maybe I need to go talk to this shrink he's seeing. Maybe I need to see him for myself. JR and I have...we have so many obstacles. I guess I've been oblivious."

"Well...then something else is on the line."

"What do you mean?"

"What we were talking about before JR came down," he looked into her eyes. "Are we getting back together or not?"

Dixie's hands flew up to the sides of her head. "Argh..., Tad! Do I really have to think about this right now?"

Tad stood up, his arms outstretched. "Dixie, I love you. I love JR. I want to help you, I want to encourage you, I want you and JR and I to have dinner and play Scrabble and I want to help JR with his homework and give him dating advice. But I need to know if you want me there! I can't just sit here with delusions of grandeur while the boy I used to call my son is prancing around town and his mother is putting me off! Dix, I need to know."

Dixie looked to the ground, and then up again. "I'm afraid to, Tad. Apparently, I'm afraid of everything and I'm afraid of surrendering to you and finding myself up against a wall again. Finding myself without a leg to stand on. I have so much love for you and...and I said I love you, and it's not a lie. I said I wanted to get back together, and it's not a lie either. But I'm afraid that in two weeks or two months or two years, when things start to settle down that you'll change your mind, you'll get careless and paranoid you're going to 'lose' me and I'm going to run away from that. I'm afraid of that, Tad. It's happened before...a million times before and I think...I just think that right now it's too much. What if I can't handle it?"

"Dix, you can handle anything. You don't have to handle me. When I look a you, I'm saved. I see you every morning and I realize what I've got--what I've had, what I lost, and what I've got. I want you, Dixie, I want this. I want to be 'Tad the Dad' and leave 'Tad the Cad' behind--"

"What if I can't trust that?"

"My word?"

"It's always been your word, Tad. It's been your vow, your promise, your jewelry, your jokes. It's alway been my wish. I'm too idealistic to give up but I can't keep holding on to someone that doesn't want me, to someone who'll give up on me."

"I knew this more than JR. I knew it was just adding fuel to the flame."

"Please Tad, stop thinking this is about you---"

"I'm thinking it's about you. It's all about you and how much I need you, how much we need each other and what we have to do about our family. It's got to happen soon, Dix. We're running out of time with JR and you know that."

"Tad, I...I need you. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"I've been waiting for ages," he said, smiling. "Let's go find JR...and then, we'll think of what we can do."