Author's Note: This story is based on the CBS television series The Jeffersons and as far as I know, it is the property of Columbia Pictures Television, Sony Pictures Television, TAT Communications Company, Embassy Television, Shout! Factory, and of course, CBS. No infringement is intended. I also want to add that yes, I know that I originally planned on doing a series of four stories. However, there were a number of scenes that I had wanted to write in the beginning that I either forgot to write or chose to scrap because I was so anxious to get the series done. Having these leftover scenes in my head that I'd really wanted to write but didn't has been driving me up the wall. Therefore, for anybody out there who may still be interested in the Horizon series, y'all get a new (small) Horizon story. I hope you enjoy. ((HUGS)) to anyone who needs one in these crazy times. Happy reading and God bless you all.

Chapter Summary: When Angie sees George reading her mother's old diary, he offers to let her read it in the hopes that she finds comfort from it.

Chapter 1: Fort Knox

It was nine-thirty on the morning of the first of October, 2002, when Angie Jefferson Rogers stood before her mirror in her bedroom and put the finishing touches on her makeup. It was a Tuesday morning, and she had that week off. With her husband, Dr. Tim Rogers, away at a medical conference for the next two days, Angie normally would've had their small apartment to herself. However, with Tim gone and Angie really not feeling up to traveling right now, she didn't want to be all alone, so she asked her father, George Jefferson, to stay with her until Tim came back. Naturally, her recently widowed father, who was just as lonely and depressed as she was, agreed. When Angie's mother and George's wife, Louise, died last December, naturally, it was devastating to both of them, and it didn't help that Angie had been pregnant at the time. And today, it was six months to the day that Angie, who'd gone into labor at twenty weeks into the pregnancy, gave birth to her baby girl who died hours later. With Angie losing her daughter and George his granddaughter, on top of losing Louise, it was a horrific double blow to say the least, and they were both struggling. If George weren't staying with her now, Angie probably wouldn't have bothered with makeup, or even with getting out of bed and getting dressed. But because her father was there, she made the effort.

"Sorry, Dad. I overslept, so breakfast will be a little late this morning," Angie told George as she walked out into her living room. Her father George was now sitting on her living room couch reading a thick, reddish-brown, leather book.

George shook his head and told her, "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I'm not all that hungry anyway."

Angie then sat down beside him and admitted, "I'm not, either. But it's important that we eat anyway, even if we don't particularly feel like it. You know what they keep saying at our support group at church. It's important that we force ourselves to get up out of bed in the morning, get showered and dressed, eat, and keep on doing those mundane things that feel so pointless now. Even though it feels pointless, it's important that we keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going on with our lives, for the good Lord's sake, because it's important to Him, and for the sake of the people we lost, because we know that they, too, would want us to take care of ourselves and not stop living."

"I know, Angie. I know. I'll make you a deal. If you'll let me stay here and keep readin' my book until eleven o'clock, I'll take us both out for brunch. How does that sound?"

"It sounds fine. What's the name of that book that's got you so engrossed?"

"It's one of your mother's diaries. Whenever Weezy would write in her diary, it always drove me crazy, wonderin' what it was that she was puttin' in there that she wasn't tellin' me. I had to respect her privacy, of course, but it still drove me out of my mind. I just loved her so much that I wanted to know everything about her. Everything. Now that Weezy's with Jesus, I figured she wouldn't mind me readin' it."

Angie knowingly nodded and said, "I bet her diaries are a gold mine to you."

"I'd say they were Fort Knox, but not even Fort Knox is enough to describe it."

"I understand," said Angie with a smile. "I know that reading Mom's diaries, getting to learn things about her that you didn't know before, must give you so much joy."

George smiled and told her, "You're right. It does." Then a couple of moments later, George looked over at his daughter and said, "You know what, Angie? I bet this diary would give you just as much joy as it's given me. Why don't I let you borrow it for a few days so you can read it?"

Angie's face lit up then as she told her father, "Wow, Dad, you're really offering me quite the treasure trove. I'd be a fool to say no. Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Yeah, it's my pleasure, baby girl. I know that this year has been pure hell for you. I know how bad you've been hurtin' ever since we lost your mother and the baby. You took a double kick to the gut, and that's puttin' it mildly."

"You can say that again," Angie agreed.

"I think it's a lot like what they keep tellin' us in our support group, you know? It's a lot like a pregnant woman goin' through labor. I don't mean to be insensitive, bringin' up pregnancy and all, but I think that our support group is right. I think that what we're goin' through with losin' Weezy and the baby is a lot like a pregnant woman givin' birth. The agony of it is so bad and so intense that it's all we're able to think about at the moment. The pain's so awful that we just get lost in it sometimes, and we can't imagine that it'll ever come to an end. It feels like it's just gonna keep goin' on and on forever."

Angie nodded and said, "That's exactly what it feels like."

"I know, sweetheart. I know. That's what it feels like to me too. But like you and everybody else in our support group keeps tellin' me, even when the pain's at its worst, we have to keep remindin' ourselves that it's only temporary. I know it sure don't seem like it right now, but we are gonna come out on the other side of this thing one day. We are gonna be with your mother and with our Little Louise one day and all of our pain will be gone one day. You wait and see."

Angie nodded again and told George, "I know that, Dad. I know. And thanks for loaning me Mom's diary."

"No problem, baby girl. No problem at all. You know what I think you should do?"

"What?"

"I think you should keep your mother's diary for the next week and read one diary entry every day."

"You know, most of the time, it's so hard just to work up the motivation to get up out of bed every morning, much less do any reading. But I know it's like I said earlier about how important it is to force yourself to get on with the business of living, no matter how hard it is. And even though it's really hard to motivate myself to do things now, I'm pretty sure that reading some of Mom's diary entries will be a good thing for me."

"I think so, too," George agreed. "It'll be like gettin' to know your mother all over again. That's what it's been like for me, at least. I wouldn't trade any of Weezy's diaries for all the money in the world."

"I know you wouldn't. Thanks again, Dad. I don't think I could get through this without you."

"Believe me, love; the feelings are mutual," George assured her. He then lovingly kissed her cheek and pulled her closer to him, and she rested her head on his shoulder. And as Angie was sitting there with her head on George's shoulder, she really began looking forward to looking through the treasure trove that her mother's diary was. It couldn't completely take away all her pain, of course. But even so, there was no doubt in Angie's mind that getting to know her mother again through her diary entries would go a long way in soothing her aching heart, and she couldn't be more grateful to George for giving her access to her mother's diary. For giving her access to Fort Knox.