"What?" In shock, Spike dropped the plate into the sink that she had been washing. It clanged against the others as soap suds went flying.
"Can we adopt Rick? Well, not necessarily adopt him, but at least let him stay with us once he gets out of the hospital?
"Wha..?" Spike was at a loss for words. "Wa- Where did this come from?"
"I don't know. I was just thinking." Emma looked at her feet. It had seemed like a good idea until she had to defend it.
Spike's mouth hung open as she closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "Em, do you have any idea what you're asking?"
Emma bit her lip. "Mom, just think about it." She tried to sound as sincere as possible. "He doesn't have any family. He has no one that cares about him!"
"Em, I'm sorry about Rick, honey. I really am. But we can't just take him in." Spike was wringing her hands on a dish towel.
"Mom! He's not like some stray dog off of the street! He's my friend!" Tears tickled the corner of her eyes. "I'm the only person he has!"
Spike bit her lip and looked at her daughter. "Think about what you're asking me to do Emma. Even if your father and I were in any financial situation to take another child in, we already have too much going on. What with Jack, Snake recovering, everything else…"
Tears began flowing down Emma's cheeks. "So you're going to just leave him to die in the hospital?"
"Em, sweetie-"
Before Spike could finish, Emma had already run out the front door.
"Emma!" Spike ran over to the door and stuck her head out just in time to see Emma running around the corner of the street.
"Ugh!" Spinner groaned as the phone next to his bed began ringing for the millionth time that day. After Terri had completely blown up at him at the Dot, he went straight home. Now, Paige had recruited everyone she knew to call Spinner and check up on him. He was by no means exaggerating either. He had gotten calls from Paige, Marco, Jimmy, Hazel, Ashley, Toby, even Ellie!
"Honeybee, pick up!" Spinner groaned again as he recognized Paige's voice on the other end.
"Spin, I know you're there! Why don't you just pick up the phone?"
Spinner turned onto his stomach and pulled a pillow over his head.
After waiting a few seconds, Paige spoke again. "Look, it's not like you actually did pull off that paint and tampons thing on Rick. Terri probably just had it wrong."
Fuming in guilt, he picked up the phone. Screaming into it, he told Paige the truth. "Yes I did! I did tar Rick! It's all my fault!" Tears streaming down his face he slammed the phone down onto the end table over and over again. After a few minutes, the phone was completely destroyed. He flung what was left of the headset across the room.
Spinner lost it. He started punching holes into the wall next to his bed. After a few minutes of completely trashing his room, Spinner started to calm down a little bit.
He decided he had to get out of the house. He walked downstairs into the kitchen. Just as he was about to leave, his parent's liquor cabinet caught his eye. His eyes traveled over the bottles of alcohol.
What will happen between Emma and her parents? What will happen to Rick? Will Spinner give in to the temptations of drowning his guilt in alcohol?