Disclaimer – I don't own any of these characters.

- x –

Sometimes help really does come when you need it most, Ellie thought.

The day had been so incredibly long, and she'd felt anxious for most of it. She was worried about Sean, and she felt guilty about Craig for some unknown reason, and she felt like she'd somehow let Ashley down. All in all, it had not made for a good day. Ellie had been hoping for something, anything, to distract her.

Caitlin had granted her wish.

She'd phoned just as school was ending to ask Ellie if she could come in for a few hours; they were behind in editing a story on greenhouse effect and changes in climate that was supposed to air tomorrow, and they need Ellie to come in and do some fact checking. It wasn't her usual time, but, Caitlin had said, they'd be forever grateful if Ellie could squeeze it into her schedule.

Of course she could. Ellie jumped at the chance because it meant a few hours when she wouldn't have to think about everything that had happened today. At her locker, she was in such a good mood as she gathered her books that she was actually humming a tune. It was crazy.

When she closed her locker door, Sean stood beside her, leaning back against an empty locker and smiling adorably. There was something in his eyes though that made her think all wasn't right with him, though – he looked almost lost. But he tugged on one of her braids playfully, like a bratty little kid.

It seemed like a long time since he'd been this way with her, and she was happy to see him like this again. Still it felt strange, like he was forcing himself to act a certain way, not to please Ellie, but because he was afraid of something. It was the oddest feeling, but she couldn't seem to shake it.

"I've got a great idea," Sean said, all flirty. "Wanna hear it?"

"Sure."

"We get out of here right away, and you come home with me. You know, for some quality, one-on-one time..."

He reached out, and held her by the waist, pulling her close. She couldn't help but giggle, blushing in the middle of the hallway.

"That is a great idea," she told him. "But I'm gonna have to take a rain check."

Instantly, Sean's face fell, and he looked almost panicked.

"Why?"

"Caitlin needs me to come in and work on a project. It was a last minute thing. She just called about five minutes ago."

He nodded, but turned to stare off into space.

"Are you mad? I mean, it's not like we had plans or anything..."

She didn't know why she felt the need to reassure him. It must have had something to do with the fact that Sean was acting so strangely lately, and that he refused to tell her why. She normally wouldn't be so desperate to please him.

"I'm not mad," he said softly. "I just thought it would be nice."

He stood up straight, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Once again, he seemed distant and moody. Ellie reached out and patted his arm. He offered her a weak smile, but seemed a million miles away.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "I can call Caitlin and tell I can't come in if you want to talk about –"

"Don't worry about it," Sean said quickly. "I'm fine. I just wanted to spend some time with you. We'll do it another time. No big deal."

He smiled a bit wider this time, though Ellie still wasn't entirely convinced. She found herself nodding, and kissing him back when he leaned in to kiss her.

"Have fun with Caitlin," he said as he pulled away.

Without another word, Sean disappeared into the crowded hallway.

It wasn't a big deal; Ellie knew that. Yet she felt like she'd let him down or failed some kind of test. When she spotted Craig at the other end of the hallway and he waved at her, Ellie felt even worse. She ignored him, and slammed her locker shut.

After she finished with Caitlin, Ellie knew that she had to figure all of this out. Somehow, in the span of a week, her life had become an even bigger, more confusing mess than usual.

There had to be a way to fix it.

- x-

You've got to be grateful for the little things in life, Emma thought, as she washed the dishes from dinner. If not, you'll miss the big picture. This was especially true when it came to her family.

For the first time in a long while, Snake had sat to eat with Emma and her mom, and it was almost like the old days, when everything was fine and they were all relatively happy.

Well, it was almost like the old days if she ignored the fact that Snake had lost all his hair and could only stomach five or six spoonfuls of chicken soup in one sitting, that her mom seemed to have permanent dark circles under her eyes from all the nights of lost sleep, and that Emma herself felt like a stranger in her own life.

Ignore all that, and it's exactly like old times.

But of course, that was easier said than done. Especially since all Emma could notice was the way things were changing these days.

While she cleaned off the table, she couldn't help thinking about what Manny had said to her earlier. It echoed inside her head like lyrics from a bad song that she wished she could forget. This had been a problem all evening, so much so that even her mother, with all of her own problems and tragedies to deal with, had noticed.

"Is something bothering you, Em?" she'd asked, with Jack propped up against her shoulder.

In the past, Emma would always confide in her mother, particularly when it came to especially confusing issues like her feelings for Sean Cameron. In the past, she would have told her mother everything, how she'd felt when Sean talked to her in the hallway, how she felt when they ran into each other in the park, how she was worried that Manny might be picking up on something that Emma had been trying to ignore about herself with all her might. She would have told her mother all of it, no matter how ugly or embarrassing it might have been.

Now, though, it seemed so petty to be worrying over Sean when Snake was so sick and their family was strained to the breaking point. She couldn't burden her mother with such silly, insignificant problems. So she'd just shook her head after her mom asked, and told her, "Nothing. I'm just thinking about a book I'm reading for English."

Her mother had accepted that, which Emma knew she never would have done in the past, and went back to fixing dinner. That had only convinced Emma that her problems were hardly worth talking about.

She'd finally finished cleaning the kitchen when her mother came down stairs, and practically collapsed into a chair at the table.

"Jack is finally asleep," her mother sighed. "And Snake is resting too."

She rubbed at her temples, like she had a headache, and closed her eyes.

"It's funny but I don't remember it being this hard with you. Which is crazy because I was sixteen and didn't know anything about being a mother."

"Well, you've got a lot of other stuff to deal with now, Mom. That makes it a lot harder," Emma said. "A whole lot harder."

Her mother nodded. "I hope I'm doing right by Jack. By you too. It's just so tough..."

Emma sat down beside her mother, and tried to think of something comforting to say. Nothing came to her. She felt like a complete failure. And she hated herself for spending a single minute today feeling sorry for herself after what had happened with Manny.

"You know, before I had you, I was like any other teenager," her mother said. "Everyday something would happen that seemed like life or death. All the little things like if this guy liked me or if this girl had really said some terrible thing about me. It was all so unbelievably important."

Emma nodded. She knew what was coming and wanted to get up and leave the room before her mother finished. But she knew that she couldn't. She had to listen to what her mother had to say because she knew that it was true.

"Then I had you, and I realized how stupid all of that stuff was. None of it really matters at all." Her mother sighed. "I think I needed to be reminded of that. And Snake being sick has certainly done that."

There was nothing that Emma could say. She played with a loose thread at the end of the placemat in front of her.

"If you can learn this lesson now, Emma, you'll be way ahead of the game," her mother said softly. "The only thing that really matters in life is taking care of the people that you love, being there when they need you. The rest of it... it all sort of falls away."

The words hit Emma hard, and felt something like tears burning in her eyes. Her mother sighed again, and patted Emma's hand. She looked so old to Emma all of sudden, like the past few months had actually been like years for her.

"You look exhausted, Mom. You should go get some rest too."

Her mother nodded. "You'll lock up, Em?"

"Sure."

Her mother stood slowly, running her hand over Emma's head. She moved toward the doorway, but just as she passed through, she turned and looked at Emma again.

"You be sure to get some sleep too, okay?" she said, in the motherly tone that Emma knew so well.

Emma nodded, and her mother disappeared into the empty living room.

Alone, Emma sat quietly at the table, and tried to gather her thoughts. They seemed to be racing a million miles a minute inside her head. She gave up finally, and went through the house, locking doors and turning off lights.

When the house was dark, Emma went down the basement steps to her room. She didn't think she'd be able to sleep, but she had to at least try. She'd promised her mother after all.

You have to take care of the people you love, Emma thought, as she changed into her pajamas. None of the rest really matters.

- x –

Even considering all the crazy, stupid stuff he'd done recently with Jay and the guys, Sean hadn't been this scared in a long time. It made him feel like an idiot, but he couldn't stop his hand from shaking slightly as he raised it to tap against the window.

Just do it, he told himself. Don't be such a damn loser.

Finally he rapped his hand against the glass, and waited.

He could still see lights on inside, so he figured it wasn't too late, but he still couldn't even begin to imagine what sort of reaction he'd get. In the fifteen or so seconds that it took for the window to be opened, Sean felt like he'd waited a year.

But when the window was pushed out toward him, and Emma appeared in the open space, it seemed worth it.

"Sean?" she said, clearly surprised and a bit confused. She seemed to think for a moment, then held the window open for him to grab hold of. "Come on in."

As he climbed through the window, he worried for a minute that he was making a big mistake, but he brushed it aside because he couldn't bring himself to turn around and go home.

When he got inside, Emma stood before him, looking a bit worried herself. She was wearing pajama bottoms again, this time with tiny green turtles all over them, and a black tank top. Her hair was slightly messy, like she'd been lying in bed before he'd knocked on her window.

She tilted her head, like she was examining Sean closely for clues as to why he was here.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" he asked, feeling embarrassed.

"No," she said quickly. "I was trying to fall asleep but no luck."

He nodded, and followed her into the main part of the room. The sheets on her bed were a mess, like she'd been tossing and turning for a while. Emma sat down on the corner of the bed, pulling her legs up under her, and looked at him intensely.

"Is something wrong?" she asked quietly.

He could tell that she was trying hard not to push, or at least, make him feel like she was pushing, but that she was worried about him. That made him smile for some reason.

"I just had a crappy day. No big deal or anything but I ..."

Sean stopped because he didn't know why he was here. He'd felt on edge all day, even before Emma had talked to him in the cafeteria, before he'd blown off Jay, before Ellie had had to turn him down because of work. It was a sort of desperate move to reach out to Ellie anyway; he'd felt himself teetering on the brink of something all week and he'd thought that she'd take his mind off it. Everything felt so easy with Ellie, like he didn't have to think about any of the crap that was guaranteed to put him in a bad mood. He didn't have to feel any of the crap that got him so confused. He could just be.

When she'd had to go do some work for Caitlin, Sean had gone home alone. He'd sat there as long as he could, trying not to think but finding it impossible. Finally, he'd left to go for a walk. This time, though, he wasn't planning on wandering around without knowing where he was going. In fact, he knew exactly where he was headed.

For Emma's.

It crossed his mind as he headed there that maybe that's where he wanted to be all along, that he'd asked Ellie to come over because he knew he shouldn't see Emma, that he didn't have a right, that it was unfair to everyone involved. Maybe it was really Emma that he wanted to take the edge off for him.

It made him feel like a jerk to even think it, but maybe it was time that he got honest with himself. Even if he couldn't be honest with anyone else.

"I know the feeling," Emma said, pulling him out of his thoughts. She seemed to realize that he was following her. "About having a long day. This week has felt like it's lasted a year."

He nodded, looking down at his shoes. It was the strangest thing, but even though he felt uncomfortable and unsure of himself, there was something about being here with Emma that he couldn't get from anything else. Good or bad, she always seemed to make him feel something, so when he was with her, the deadness inside went away. He didn't really understand it, but he felt it every time.

"You can sit down if you want," she told him.

She nodded toward the other side of the bed, and Sean moved to sit opposite her. He sat down gingerly, like he was afraid to disturb any of Emma's things. It felt weird, like the two of them were strangers, starting all over from scratch.

"So you're still having trouble sleeping?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's weird, though, because I'm so tired." She turned so she faced him fully. "But every time I get in bed, nothing happens. I just lie here and stare up at the ceiling."

"Been there," he told her.

They smiled at one another, and for a moment, Sean felt like it was old times. Silence fell over them, though, and he wished that he had something to say to her, something meaningful and impressive. Nothing came to him. Emma hugged one of her pillows to her chest, and sighed. There had to be something he could tell her...

All of a sudden, she sprang off the bed.

"Check this out," she called across the room as she flipped off the lights.

Above their heads, the ceiling was full of glow-in-the-dark stars, all bright yellow-green. They were in crazy, swirled patterns, and they seemed to light the room even though they were so small.

"That is really cool," Sean said, laughing.

"I was going to do all the major constellations, but it was just too much work. I settled for this."

Emma's voice was closer, and he realized she was back on the bed with him. He turned to look at her, and she was lying down, stretched out like she was ready to fall asleep. The room was dark, but he could still see the dreamy look on her face as she stared up at the stars.

He didn't know what possessed him, but he laid down next to her, tentatively placing his head on the pillow opposite hers. He pulled off his ski cap, and sneaked a peek over at her. She was watching him, and there were green and yellow shadows on her face. He couldn't get over how pretty she looked.

"I like you better like this," she whispered, reaching over to gently touch his hair. "You seem more like yourself or something."

Sean smiled, feeling strangely pleased.

"I like you better like this too," he whispered back, running a hand over her messy hair. "It makes you seem more like yourself."

Emma smiled too, then turned to look at the stars again. He did the same, and for a long while, they just laid there in silence, looking up at the glowing stars.

Finally, when he looked back at her, her eyes were closed, and from the way she was breathing, he could tell that she'd fallen asleep. I should go now, Sean thought to himself, as he watched her sleep. But he didn't get up. Instead, he kicked off his shoes, hearing them clomp to the floor, and closed his own eyes.

As he fell asleep, Sean could still see those greenish stars, glowing into the darkness.

a/n – Again, big thanks to everyone who's following the story. For those who are interested, I'll be on vacation for the next couple of weeks (woo hoo!) so there won't be any updates for a while. But I promise that the story will be finished – I've got most of it outlined in my head anyway, so it's just the actual writing part that's got to get done. :) I hope you all hang in there with me. The story is about to get really, really juicy...