"Eli! Get your filthy mouth OUT of the bottle!" Grace yelped as she grasped the bottle of milk away from his hands and wiped the opening of it with a paper towel. She put back the bottle inside of the fridge before walking over to the cabinet, and handing him a mug while still glaring angrily at Eli.

"That's a way to greet somebody a good morning. What crawled up your ass today?" Eli snapped and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Your foul breath" Grace snapped back.

"Yeah well don't forget Manning, you used to adore my breath." Eli smirked while Grace grimaced with utter disgust. Jessie, who heard the conversation between her siblings, turned the corner to face both Eli and Grace. She slumped into the kitchen with an annoyed you-woke-me-up-with-your-pointless-bickering look on her face.

"Guys, you are supposed to be the older ones of the Sammler/Manning offspring. Not two baboons that just escaped from the zoo." Jessie groaned. Grace and Eli looked at each other with raised eyebrows for a split second and chuckled.

"Don't forget to pick me up after cheerleading practice tonight Jess" Zoë reminded as she entered the kitchen grabbing an apple.

"What am I? Your dog? Get a ride from somebody else. I've got better things to do" Jessie protested as she turned her head to Zoë. Annoyance written on her face.

"Fine I'll just tell my mom that you are too busy sucking face with that guy Lucas than pick me up. I'll just get a ride from a senior. And if I don't get home, we'll see who gets in trouble then!" Zoë retorted while Grace, Jessie and Eli looked shocked at what Zoë just blurted out.

"Zoë that's enough, I will pick you up after work." Eli said sternly.

"Why do you even bother? She should learn how to respect other people instead of being a class a bitch all the time" Jessie hissed.

"I am so not participating in this conversation" Grace raised her hands and hurriedly walked out of the kitchen.

Soon Jessie and Zoë were bickering and yelling at each other. Lily and Rick walked into the kitchen and stared blankly at the scene in front of them.

"Nice to know nothing has changed" Lily sighed.

"Coffee dear?" Rick offered, ignoring the horrid sound of their kids calling each other all kinds of names.

[[Rick: You'd think that the older they get, the wiser they'd get. -Sighs in frustration-]]

"I HATE YOU" Zoë stormed out of the kitchen and stomped with her feet up the stairs into her room, including the necessary slamming door.

"YEAH WELL GO CRY ME A RIVER, YOU HORRENDOUS, IMMATURE BABY!" Jessie screamed after her before she grabbed her bag and stormed out of the kitchen door.

"Nuts" Eli sighed as he shook his head in distaste and he too walked out the door, leaving Lily and Rick behind with just utter shock and confusion written on their faces.

[[Lily: They don't mean that laughs nervously. We all love each other...-speaks doubtfully- We do!]]

"Honey, let's get out of here." Rick suddenly spoke out. Lily looked at him questioned.

"Yeah sure but not right now, I promised Zoë I'd drive her to school today and Justin..." Lily said turning to her watch.

"No what I meant was, let's get away for the weekend. Just the two of us. I mean now Grace is back, she can watch Justin or we can bring them over to Jake, or to Judy or even to Karen. I need to be alone with my gorgeous wife. No kids. No yelling and bickering. No exes. No family members. Just you and me" Rick said seductively as he wrapped his arms around Lily's waist. Lily ran her fingers through Rick's hair and smiled sweetly.

"Oh for Heaven's sake! You guys are married!" Zoë exclaimed appalled as she passed them by to get the milk and quickly left the kitchen again, making sure both Lily and Rick heard the gagging noises she made.

"As tempting as that sounds..." Lily started after the interruption

"We can't leave this household...I mean, Zoë is being the teenager from hell, Justin's...well Justin's just a bloodsucking toddler, Grace is being so secretive about college and NY, Eli's pigging out our whole food supply and leaves Jessie angry and hungry!" Lily summarized. Rick sighed; he knew his wife wouldn't jump in too quickly.

"You worry too much. The kids will be fine. Grace can handle Zoë and Justin. Eli can stay for the weekend so that Grace has some help with the kids. Jessie can take care of herself, or she can go to her mother's." Rick assured.

"MOM I'M GOING TO BE LATE!" Zoë growled as she waited impatiently by the front door.

"I..." Lily muttered

[[Lily: Rick is just amazing....he knows exactly what I want and need. But sometimes he forgets that I have obligations....and right now my major obligation would be keeping Zoë away from sex, drugs and tattoos]]

"MOM!"

"We'll talk about this later, I'll see you tonight. Love you" Lily said hurriedly and briskly kissed him before heading to the front door. Rick wanted to protest but before he could, Lily had already left.

[[Rick: Lily's a great woman but most of the time she places our marriage last behind everything else...]]

"So...what are you going to do all day Grace?" Rick asked trying to make some conversation.

"Uh, I don't really know. Stay at home I think, watch TV" Grace said, her eyes not moving away from the TV. Rick blinked a couple of times.

[[Rick: Talking to one of the kids is always....fun]]

"Are you sure, you'll be alright here alone? If we had known you'd come home we would have taken some days off or something. I'm sorry Grace" Rick repeated what Lily just asked Grace half an hour ago.

"It's fine really." Grace gave him an assuring smile and returned to the TV.

"Oh...okay...well...I guess....uh....I should go to work then..." Rick said.

"Bye Rick" Grace said after him. Grace flipped off the TV and sighed boringly. As if on cue, the phone rang. She quickly reached for the phone, too glad that somebody ended her dullness.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe! Watcha doin'?" A female voice replied. Grace didn't have to ponder any longer on whom it was. She knew the voice of her best friend any time any place.

"It's so great to hear your voice. Everybody's gone and I am left alone again! Ugh, why did I ever stop with college..." Grace babbled.

"Grace! Will you hold your horses please! I have some big news to tell you. Well good and bad news. Which one first?" Lana said

"Bad"

"Okay....uh....don't get all crazy on me okay. Ashton, he, he got engaged last night with Jenna."

Grace almost dropped the phone. Her Ashton had gotten engaged to that bimbo that stole him away from her. She gritted her teeth, ignoring Lana calling Grace's name worriedly over the phone.

[[Grace: He's 22 years old for Pete's sake. Bastard -A tear slips down her cheek that she quickly wipes away-]]

"GRACE ANSWER ME!" Lana screamed over the phone. After overcoming the big shock she blinked a couple of times before gripping the phone tighter.

"Uh yeah I'm still here. H-how did you find out?" Grace asked.

"They had their engagement party at the restaurant where Amy works. She saw everything. Grace...." Lana stopped and sighed "You know he doesn't deserve you! Forget about that piece of trash."

"Uhm, what is the good news?" Grace asked softly. She wasn't in the mood to talk anymore. Not even to Lana. Right now all she wanted to do was crawl up her bed and hide beneath her sheets.

"Guess where I am?" Lana asked

"In Jason's bedroom?" Grace rolled her eyes.

"I'm in Chicago, honey! I'm home! My dad's going through his 5th divorce and he can't keep up with alimonies so he decided to pull us back home and go to community college here." Lana said cheerfully

"And that's great news?" Grace asked confused.

"Duh...we can be together again! Grace you and I are a duo. We're like Siamese twins that cannot be separated. Not now, not tomorrow..."

"Not ever" Grace finished, rolling her eyes. Lana giggled over the phone.

"Anyway, I am just exiting the airport so I don't think I will see you today but tomorrow, I will pick you up and we're going to catch up all right? Oh hon, got to go, Chad wants to use my phone to call his girrrrrrrrrrrrlfrieeeeeeeeend" Lana giggled obviously being a complete pest to her brother.

"Alright, CALL ME!" Grace ordered and hung up the phone. She quickly went to her room and did what she wanted to do ever since she heard about Ashton. She hid beneath her sheets and just laid there without a sound.

When she heard the front door open, she threw the blankets off her body and rushed downstairs to see who it was. It was Jessie just throwing her bag beside the door.

"I HATE THAT OLD WENCH. I have to do this report for English and it's like 400 pages. Has she totally gone senile on us? Wasn't college supposed to be fun? Ugh! To think that I was so excited about college. I don't know how you could do it all alone in New York. I would have crapped my pants" Jessie exclaimed in frustration and threw herself on the couch. Grace just smiled meekly at her. She remembered her first year in college, though tough but fun.

"Grace, have you been like this all morning?" Jessie asked looking at Grace's apparel. Her hair in a messy bun and still in her PJ's.

"Yeah so?" Grace asked.

"You need to get a life" Jessie muttered and turned on the TV.

"Oh you're the one to talk, besides I was waiting till one of you would come home so we could do something" Grace rolled her eyes.

"What you want to do?" Jessie looked at Grace as she shrugged.

"Get an ice cream or something, anything" Grace replied dully.

[[Jessie: Something's up with Grace...as if she's going to talk to be about what's bugging her -rolls her eyes- ]]

"Sure..."Jessie hesitated and Grace dashed upstairs, screaming that she will be dressed in 5 minutes. Jessie could only oblige. And true, within 5 minutes Grace jogged downstairs in her casual outfit. Jessie grabbed her car keys and they left.

After a quick drive they arrived at the ice cream parlor. They ordered a banana split and shared it together in silence.

"Eli" Jessie suddenly blurted. Grace looked up to face Jessie in confusion.

"What about Eli?"

"Did you leave because of Eli?"

"Partly, I left because I wanted to. Nobody forced me Jess."

"Why'd you come back?"

"What is this? The 20 questions?" Grace snapped and seeing Jessie's hurt expression made her regret her bitchiness.

"In New York I met this wonderful guy, Ashton. We dated for a good two years. Until I found him screwing some chick I introduced him to. I don't know, after that New York became too small of a city for me. I had to get away from him, just get away from the whole situation" Grace continued. Jessie was shocked that Grace actually opened up to her. They weren't on bad terms when Grace left but they weren't exactly peachy keen either.

"Wow. What about college?" Jessie asked

"I'll tell you if you promise not to tell a soul about this" Grace said taking a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

"Oh my gosh, it must be bad?" Jessie replied scared.

"Well it depends how you look at it. If you look at it from my point of view it's not that bad. If you look at it from my parents' point of view it would pretty much be terrible. But you know, I am 21 for God's sake...If I am allowed to drink alcohol I'm probably allowed to make my own decisions right? I mean..."

"GRACE! You're babbling! Just tell me alright?" Jessie forced

"I quit college." Grace whispered softly and after that Jessie's spoon dropped, making everybody look at their table.

"Y-y-you quit? Lily's going to kill you! After that, Jake will and after that the whole family will. Have you totally lost your mind? You just had to stick for one more year Grace and you would be done! You would have succeeded in letting your parents' dream come true" Jessie cried.

"But okay, damage is done you can always finish here. I mean you do want to finish college right?" Jessie continued, calming herself down.

"Well..." Grace doubted on how to put it gently.

"GRACE!" Jessie shrieked as she jumped from her stool.

"Jess, you're acting like an insane person!" Grace pulled her back down.

"Yeah it takes one to know one! Grace what happened to you? You were this person I looked up to. When I last saw you, you were this smart, determined, organized girl and now you're...you're....you're a big mess!" Jessie cried

"Thanks a lot Jess! You know why I told you? Because I thought that out of all the people here, you would be the one I could talk to and trust. Obviously I was wrong, big time" Grace scolded.

"You know you can trust me but it's just, wow Grace give me some time to get over this shock. I mean, you do realize what Lily would do when she finds out right?" Jessie got no reply from Grace so she continued.

"Let me get this straight, you're not going back to college and you're trying to hide this from the family for...how long?"

"I don't know! I don't know anything anymore. All I know is that I failed almost all my classes, got dumped by my boyfriend who claims to find the love of his life which by the way isn't me, I'm back in Chicago with my mother and step-father, and I have no clue, absolutely no clue when everything will be just alright! I want my old life back. Can you help me with that Jessie? I just want my old life back" Grace yelped.

[[Grace: That felt really good -breathes out-]]

"It's going to be okay" Jessie could only mutter.

[[Jessie: Wow the great Grace Manning isn't so perfect after all...How come I'm not too pleased about that? -looks questionably at the camera-]]

"We should get going, Lily must be home by now" Jessie said softly. She paid for the ice cream and the two of them went home again.