Jolene had stayed in Lexington for five days.

Five days of taking care of her alcoholic and addict sister that hadn't told her until much later of what had happened to have made her return to the arms of her self-destructing vices. After cleaning up on her first day, she made sure Beth didn't drink or intake any more tranquility pills and had helped her to her room, bathing and clothing her in a silk nightgown with the oversized robe she couldn't seem to let go of, before getting a good night's rest.

When Beth was out cold to the world, Jolene had made it her mission to find every single pill Beth had hidden, and flush it down the toilet, along with the numerous alcohol beverages that was stocked in her fridge down the drain.

On her second day, she had cooked breakfast with the groceries she brought with her the previous day, scrambled eggs being the priority due to her pale skinned sister's never-ending fondness of the white and yellow colored protein. After making sure that the water for the coffee has been heated, Jolene goes up to Beth's room to wake her up, only to see her face neck deep into the toilet bowl, evidence of yesterday's activities heaving out of her small body. She walks towards the heaving body and holds her hair up, one hand rubbing her back to try and sooth her.

After what felt like a lifetime of heaving, Beth stands up to wash her mouth before looking at her miserable state in the mirror. She could see how dark the bags were under her blood-shot eyes and the hollowness of her cheeks from the lack of sustenance, skin paler than what she was born with.

What a sight, Beth thought. Jolene hands her a towel from the cabinet before flushing the vomit filled toilet and walking out to her room.

"Thank you" Beth said with a raspy tone. Her throat feeling parched and dry.

"Come down after you're done with that. I bet your throat sounds as bad as it feels." Jolene said before heading downstairs.

With a sigh, Beth grabs the robe she had discarded on the floor during her dash to the toilet, slips it on to cover her small fame, then follows the somewhat aromatic but nauseating smell coming from the kitchen

The cluttering sound of the cutlery was the only thing that could be heard at the kitchen of the of white Lexington house. While Jolene was slowly eating her food, Beth had taken to pushing the eggs around her plate, preferring to drink rather than eat the fluffy substance. She stands up and makes her way to the refrigerator, only to see it liquor free. With a frown, she then opens the cupboards but sees nothing but canned goods or an empty space.

"I threw it all down the drain if you're looking for them."

"What?" Her voice cracking from the sudden usage as she turns towards the dark-skinned woman.

"You aren't going to find anything, cracker. I cleaned this place of all the things you could further intoxicate yourself with yesterday except for the packet of smokes you have upstairs. Like it should have been at the first place." Grabbing the plates, Jolene throws the uneaten eggs and starts to do the dishes.

Beth's temper rises. How dare she? She had no right to throw away what was in her fridge!

A thought dawned on her as she processes what Jolene had just said. Her eyes snap towards the stairs as she runs to her bedroom cabinets, opening each one, only to see it free of the small glass bottles that she had stocked from Mexico. She kneels down to check under her bed, the boxes that contained the other dozen bottles no longer there.

There was a knock on the side of her door frame and Beth quickly turns her head, feeling slightly dizzy from the sudden movement. Jolene stood looking at Beth with sad eyes, conveying her thoughts of what Beth might have looked like as she desperately looks for the substances that had made her escape from reality.

"Give them back!" Beth had screamed. Her chest quickly rising up and down from her outburst. She needed them. She needed to feel numb.

"No"

"Jolene, please. I need them. I cant – I dont – "

"You don't need them, cracker. You'll be able to go on without them. I'm so sorry. I never should have taught you about it." Feeling guilty, Jolene bends down and takes hold of Beth's shoulders. She could feel it trembling, her breathing increasingly getting erratic by the second.

"N-no. You don't understand." Beth takes hold of Jolene's arms and her resolve crumbles. She falls forward as heavy sobs escapes her before she even notices it. Tears streaks down her cheeks as she held Jolene for dear life. It was too much. Everything was too much. Her mother, her tournament, Mr. Shaibel –

Benny Watts

Beth curls into herself, knees drawn up, head in between them and arms tightly around herself to shield her from the world. Seeing her so small and so vulnerable, Jolene's eyes starts to prickle with tears as she envelops her sister in a tight hug, Beth leaning into the warmth.

"You aren't alone, cracker. I'm here. We're here. Just as I always have when it was just the two of us." Beth clutches into Jolene's shirt even tighter. Her eyes screwed shut, but tears still streaming.

"Help me. Help me please. I don't know what to do anymore."

Day five of staying at Lexington and Jolene couldn't fathom how Beth was able to hold out for so long since coming back from Moscow. A day after she was able to coach Beth into talking to her, it was as if a dam had broken and Beth had told Jolene of how it all started with Alma's death and that she had never gotten past it, her first loss against Borgov, her humiliation during the Kentucky tournament that she had been invited to play at and how she had utterly made a fool of herself, then the news of Mr. Shaibels death.

The countless amounts of liquor and pills were the only salvation Beth was able to turn to, giving her the focus she needed to reaching her goal and blurring everything else which had just made it worse with no one stopping her or impacting her enough to stop.

That is, until she had been offered to go to New York city by Benny Watts. A name Jolene had noticed that Beth had spoken in such a longing manner and that seemed to draw her in so much that a soft and fond smile was plastered to her face, never once leaving nor wavering as she recalled their spontaneous five week training camp.

"Sounds to me like this Watts person is something special." With legs crossed and one arm spread on top of the couch, Jolene payed rapped attention to Beth, consumed in the memories going through her head.

"He is. I believe he is." The oversized robe tightly wound around her body, a hand caressing the fabric.

"I guess that's why you never take off the smelly robe?"

Beth chuckled and continued to caress the fabric. She looked over to Jolene, her eyes finally brightening with life. She hadn't intended to kidnap the robe at first. But after getting used to the daily citrus scent, she couldn't bring herself not to bring a piece of him to her trip, a good luck charm for her tournament.

"He told me to go back to New York after I lost in Paris. I said no and didn't call him until I needed help going to Moscow. I hurt him and he said never to call him again. The last time we spoke was when he helped me win against Borgov the day of the tournament. We haven't spoken since." She looked down, her hands trembling from the withdrawal.

"Look at me, cracker" Glistening eyes stared at Jolene. "You need to talk to him"

"But Jolene – "

"He called you in Moscow. He helped you, even when you kept shooting him down and when he said not to call him again, it was still him that made the first move you nitwit. Doesn't that mean something to you?" She had to make Beth see. She had to help her realize that she needed to move. "He's waiting for you. You know that as much as I do, just by hearing what happened. What's holding you back? And don't tell me it's because he told you not to because I know you would have gone to him in a heartbeat if you really wanted to. Unless, of course, you don't want him? Which is a shit-ton of crap if you say no.

Beth lets out an exasperated sigh. Her hands roughly rubbing her neck.

"Of course I want him! I've done nothing but think about him that it's become so fucking frustrating Jolene!"

"Then what the hell's stopping you, cracker? Just go to him!" Jolene knew her sister could be stubborn. It was the reason why she had been able to persevere after all. Why she was able to continuously be at the top of her game. But this was just a whole new level of stubbornness. Stubborn denial.

"What if he doesn't want me anymore? What if I hurt him too much to even be friends with me? I can't go through that again Jolene. I – "

" – You will never know any of that unless you actually talk to him" Beth freezes and closes her mouth. "You told me yourself, You have nothing else here but an empty house. So why keep staying in Kentucky when your home is obviously waiting in New York?" Jolene stands up and grabs the handbag beside her, slinging it on her shoulder. She's done everything she could but she couldn't stay here after five days of missing work and being away from her fiancé anymore.

"You're leaving already?" Beth asked, her tone sad as she tilts her head up to look at Jolene. The older Methuen sister reaches for Beth's hand and gives it a squeeze before giving her a hug and a kiss on her cheek.

"This isn't good bye, cracker. I'll see you when I see you. But right now, you have to make a decision if you don't want to lose what's important to you. Either leave now or let him go, for good."

With that, Jolene releases her hold on Beth and walks towards the door. Leaving Beth staring at her departing guest. As the door closes, Beth spends a few moments on the couch as she clutches the now wrinkly roble, her eyes slowly closing shut.

Their memories once again resurfaces from where she had been repressing them, as she feels the tingling feather light kisses placed on her forehead each morning, the languid caresses on her forearm and spine when they were within an arm's reach, and the intense look that she would often catch him staring at her with, which was the only thing that had always and without fail, made her feel alive.

Beth snaps her eyes open, thirsting to once again be under those intense blue eyes, her senses being filled by spicy citrus. With a hardened resolve, Beth Harmon searches the newspaper for the next flight to New York, finally giving into what she had been longing to do.

Wait for me Benny, I'm coming. And this time, I don't intend to let go.