Eli went back to the Manning house after dropping Karen and Jessie off. He felt that he wouldn't be able to handle being in the same house with his mother. Jessie, on the other hand, was glued to Karen's side. She wouldn't go back with Eli.

That night, Jessie still refused to leave her mother's side. She slept with her mom instead of in her own room. In fact, she didn't even sleep. Jessie just lay there, watching her mother. Eventually though, Jessie still drifted off. However, it wasn't a fitful rest. The whole time she was plagued with nightmares. The same one over and over.

Karen, for her part, didn't sleep well either. She kept thinking about Jessie. Is something really wrong with her? Everyone else seems to think so, but I don't see it. It was disturbing for her to think that something was wrong with Jessie. It was also hard for her to come to terms with the fact that, if it was so, it was her fault. At least that's what everyone seems to be telling her lately.

Both of them were caught in a huge guilt trip the other inadvertently trapped them in. Jessie feels that she let her mother down by not being there and Karen feels that she is the source of all Jessie's problems.

Jessie and Karen were now awake. It is now only 7:30 in the morning. Needless to say, neither of them had slept well. Their thoughts kept going back to how they failed the other. In her mind, Jessie feels that Karen blames her for everything that has happened recently. Unfortunately, Jessie also feels that her delusions are not completely unfounded. As Karen begins to stir, Jessie smiles. I'll never let you down again.

Meanwhile, over at the Manning household, everyone is already up and around. Lily is making breakfast and Rick is getting ready to go to see Sam. Grace and Zoe are arguing over some trivial matter. Eli is the only person not busy.

Eli is watching cartoons and eating Cheerios in the living room. He keeps thinking about Jessie and her behavior in the past week. I've never seen her like that before. I hope she will be alright. Eli sighs. He is paying no attention to the Road Runner and Wylie Coyote. It is just not the same. At that moment, Wylie Coyote got hit with an anvil, again. Eli didn't even smile.

Grace noticed Eli's somber mood as she went stomping through the house. "Are you alright?" She asked, concerned.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Fine," he looked at her skeptical expression. "I'm just worried about Jess ya know?" Her expression softened as he continued. "Everything has just been so complicated lately. Something is really very wrong with them both."

"Yeah. I noticed too. They're both just so...so...I don't know," she said, looking at Eli to help her out.

"Depressed? Miserable? Gloomy?" He offered, studying his hands intently.

"Exactly. It's strange seeing them like this," she replied cautiously.

"Strange," Eli repeated, contemplating the meaning of this. "Strange, but not surprising," he stated, now looking up with tears in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" She was genuinely perplexed by the answer.

"Can you honestly say that you never once pictured Jessie being depressed?" He choked down a sob on the last word. Grace just shook her head. Yeah, she's thought it. "Jessie is just so, upset all the time. You know?" He looked at Grace with tears in his eyes.

Grace didn't know what to say. "Yeah. Lately she's just seemed so...sad," she offered.

"Not lately. I'm not just talking about this last week," he saw Grace's confused expression. "I can't remember the last time Jessie was actually happy."

"But I've seen Jessie happy a lot. It's just lately-" she tried to defend before Eli cut her off.

"No. She was faking it. Jessie is always pretending. She is miserable," he was looking intently at his Cheerios now. "When we figured out that Jessie was anorexic," he paused, his voice cracking. "When we figured it out, it only proved how much she hates herself."

Grace contemplated this. He was right. Jessie was miserable and has been for a very long time. It also proved that Eli was more observant than she thought. "How long do you think she felt like this?" She choked out.

He paused, a few tears sliding down his face. "A while. I think it started after our parents divorce," Eli stopped a moment before continuing. "She was only six. It's been going on since then. About nine years."

Wow! Grace thought about this insight into Jessie. She was now internally kicking herself for her wretched treatment of Jessie. "Oh my God," Grace managed to sputter out. Poor Jessie. How can she keep this locked inside for so long? Something like that would kill me before that long. She realized the same thing about Jessie.

Karen looked at Jessie watching her and smiled. "Sleep well?" Jessie asked, she then smiled.

"I slept alright. How about you Jess? You seemed a little...restless." As she said this, Karen's brow furrowed.

Jessie was startled by the question. "Uh...yeah. I slept alright. Nightmares," she mumbled the last part.

"Oh, what about?" Karen was curious, but she knew, somewhat, what it was about.

At this, Jessie got up from the bed and stood at the side. "Oh, you know. The usual. Dragons and monsters and creepy crawlies under the bed," Karen gave her a serious glare and Jessie smiled. "It was nothing important. I forgot already," she shrugged, obviously lying through her teeth.

Karen picked up on this. "Are you sure?" She quirked an eyebrow, still not convinced. She was definitely curious as to what , if anything, was wrong with her daughter.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Fine. Did you want to get up?" Jessie grinned, avoiding the question. Karen glared at her before going downstairs. However, Karen was still a little perturbed.

The rest of the weekend went by incredibly fast. It was probably because Jessie stayed firmly attached to Karen's hip the whole time. Jessie had totally refused to leave Karen's side. Karen was growing more and more worried by the day. Yet, she brushed it off as Jessie being paranoid about Karen getting hurt or hurting herself again. But still, there was something tugging at the back of her mind. There was another piece to the puzzle, she knew she was missing something.

Eli, on the other hand, avoided Karen by not coming over at all. His hostile feelings kept him from talking going over there, he was still blaming her for Jessie's behavior. The weekend was fairly tense for everyone, except Jessie, who completely ignored everyone, except Karen. The others called over to see if Jessie was alright. Jessie avoided the calls. She hadn't spoken to them since Friday.

But now it Monday, time to go back to school. Jessie was torn, she didn't want to leave Karen at all. She had no choice. Jessie was off to school and Karen was off to work.

"Bye honey. I'll see you in a few hours, okay?" Karen said as she kissed Jessie's forehead and headed toward the door.

"You're going to work?" Jessie asked, astonished. How could she go back after she...after the accident. She noted Karen's 'well, yeah' expression. "I just thought you'd give it some time, that's all." Jessie was looking down and fiddling with her necklace. She was allowing herself to believe that Karen's suicide attempt was really an accident.

Karen didn't know what to say. "I'll see you later today. Bye," Karen choked out, she hadn't known what to say. It's alright. Calm down. She'll be fine. Focus on your clients. You'll see her later. Just breathe. She sighed and walked out the door.

Jessie watched her mother with a miserable expression plastered on her face. School time. She cringed and walked out the door, dragging her back pack dejectedly behind her.

Upon entering the schoolyard, Jessie was consumed by an overwhelming fear. She couldn't describe it. Her breathing became ragged and she could feel beads of sweat forming on her face. As for the feeling, it sucked her in. And as she stood there, in the middle of the yard, she felt scared and she felt like she wanted to die. All of a sudden, a person flung them self on her. This was the icing on the cake, so to speak, for Jessie. She let the feeling consume her as she let her world go black.

As she came to moments later, she looked around confused. "What the hell?" Jessie wondered. She looked up and saw Katie looking down at her with an apologetic expression on her face. "Katie, hi. I...um...I wasn't expecting...Where did you come from?" She asked confused and slowly getting up.

"I'm sorry. I saw you and you looked a little distressed. I wanted to see how you were because you seemed a little upset the other day. Everything all right?" She could have kicked herself for freaking Jessie out like that.

"Oh, yeah. I'm great," Jessie lied, she faked a smile. She thought was getting better at it. However, Katie still didn't buy it. But she would ask later.

"How's your boyfriend?" She asked trying to be nonchalant, but was clearly distressed. Jessie gave her a questioning look. "That guy that got you Friday from the auditorium," she cleared up.

"Eli! Tell me you're kidding," Jessie started to laugh despite herself. "Eli's my brother. What made you think he was my boyfriend?"

"Tad and I just thought that maybe he was your boyfriend. He was acting all possessive over you. Besides, how were we supposed to know?"

"Eli's a total ass. He was probably paranoid about Tad." Katie started grinning too. They were both laughing when Tad showed up, grinning like an idiot.

A few minutes had gone by and he was frustrated at not being let into the joke. "What's so funny?" He finally asked, his smile fading.

"The guy from the other day isn't her boyfriend," Katie started, the laughter dying down. "He's Jessie's brother."

"Ohhhhh!" Tad said. Good. She's not taken. He smiled at the thought. Unfortunately for him, his momentary lapse left him lagging behind. Jessie and Katie had walked off, leaving him alone in the yard.

Jessie was in her last class of the day, English. She was about ready to leave, too bad the class had just began. The teacher began his lesson for the day.

"Okay class, today we will be starting our research papers," this was followed by collective groans across the classroom. The teacher continued, "I am passing out a list of people. They all are, or were, famous. I want you each to choose one of these people. Your paper will focus on their life." More groans followed. "This will be due in three weeks. We will go to the library Wednesday to begin research. I want you to have picked out your person by tomorrow."

Jessie got her sheet and began flipping through it. She recognized some of the people, but none really appealed to her. With a grunt, she folded the paper up and crammed it in her pocket before zoning out of the rest of the class.

The bell rang and she was the first one out the door. She promptly ran into Katie. Katie gave her a questioning look before smiling.

"Getting me back for this morning?" She smiled. Jessie smiled back, but didn't say anything, she was studying the list again. "Penny for your thoughts?" Katie asked, pulling Jessie out of her thoughts.

"Are you expecting change?" Jessie asked with a smile. She was relieved to have someone to talk to. "I got this assignment for English. I have to do a research paper on someone from this list. A biography I guess," Jessie shrugged.

"Let me see," Katie asked curiously, grabbing the list from Jessie's hands. "I haven't heard of half of these people," she said in a disgusted manner. All of a sudden, her eyes lit up. "Oh, wait. Here we go. Do Billie Holiday!" Katie exclaimed happily.

"Who's he?" Jessie asked, trying to place the name.

"Billie Holiday isn't a 'he'," Katie rolled her eyes and chuckling. "She was, like, this amazing singer."

"Why not? I don't know anything about these other people," Jessie smiled. Billie Holiday. That has a nice ring to it. She smiled wistfully.

"Hey Jess," Katie seemed almost nervous. Jessie looked at her, prompting her to continue. "Do you want a ride home?"

"Yeah. Sure," Jessie grinned.