Jack shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the silence seemed to grow louder and louder in the room. He leaned over towards Lauren, his voice barely audible but still easily heard in the quiet of the room. "This isn't like her."

Lauren shrugged. "Maybe something came up," she whispered, "Though she normally would have sent me a message or something. Anytime she's been late before it's been because …" She tilted her head towards Billy who sat with his arms crossed defensively over his chest at the other end of the table. "But obviously that's not the case this time."

"Have you tried her cell?" Jack checked his phone again, hoping he'd missed a text or a call. It wasn't like Phyllis to miss a board meeting especially one she knew was this important. They'd talked about this very thing this morning, about how much he needed her support and she'd given him her word which, oddly enough, still meant something to him even given their history.

"Three times," Lauren admitted. She didn't want to be worried. Phyllis was only twenty minutes late. There could have been traffic. She could have lost track of time. She could be stuck at a restaurant with a slow server. There were any number of perfectly reasonable, logical explanations. But still … why hadn't she messaged her? Her phone finally buzzed, it's screen lighting up and she felt her entire body relax. "Finally," she breathed. "Let me just take this." She stood up quickly and stepped out the room.

"Looks like I'm not the irresponsible one today," Billy smirked as he moved his chair a bit closer to the table.

"Don't start," Jack warned him. "I'm sure there's a good reason she's running late and I don't think you've got a whole lot of room to be taking any kind of high ground around here."

"Probably not," he chuffed, "but still, it's nice to know others aren't invincible."

It was something about the look on Lauren's face when she stepped back into the room. He wasn't sure he'd seen that particular look ever before. "I uh … I can't stay," she said quietly.

"Was that Phyllis?" Jack asked, the stress obvious in his voice. He could already feel his heart racing in his chest, the sound of her voice and the look in her eyes screaming that something was very wrong. He could see Billy out of the corner of his eye, his entire body suddenly rigid.

"No," she said, her voice still quiet and almost too weak to be heard. "It was Summer. She uh … She said …" She stopped then, swallowing, finding her mouth almost unbearably dry. "She's at Memorial. They're bringing Phyllis in. She wants me to meet her there."

"Why?" He was already on his feet as he looked at her. Jack waited for her answer as he grabbed his laptop and files and moved quickly towards the door.

Lauren said nothing as she still stood motionless, her brain spinning as she tried to process the question and formulate an answer.

"Lauren!" Jack said again, as he finally reached her and gripped her arm in his hand. "What did Summer say?"

"She doesn't know anything," she managed. "She said they just told her they were bringing her in. I don't know … I don't …"

There was no time for anymore questions. The questions didn't even matter right now. "I'll drive," Jack said simply.

He replayed the words in his head over and over a few times as he sat there, listening to sounds of the whispers in the room. It was like the worst possible kind of nightmare. The pain he'd wanted so badly to inflict had been orchestrated in the most diabolical way, but now he was watching it all spin out of control. This was never what he'd wanted. He'd wanted her to know how it had felt to be betrayed, but he'd never wanted this. Never. His legs felt weak as he pushed himself to full height. The eyes of everyone in the room were on him. His sisters watched him with such disapproval without even having full knowledge of his sins. They might never forgive him for what he'd done, but if he just sat here, and did nothing, he was certain he'd never forgive himself.

Jack searched the busy waiting room for a familiar face as he and Lauren rushed through the double doors. "Over there," he said quickly as he gripped her hand and moved towards Summer.

"Jack," Summer said softly. She threw her arms around him, needing to feel the comfort of someone who didn't know the extent of everything she'd done. "Thank you for coming." She looked over to Lauren. "And thank you. I didn't know who all to call so …"

"It's good," Lauren smiled supportively. "I'm glad you called me. I left a message for Michael. He's in court right now, but he'll get it as soon as he gets out. Did you call your Dad? I'm sure he'd want to be here with you?"

"I tried, but it went to voicemail. I left a message, but …" She felt her eyes burning again. "I'm not sure he'll be too eager to hear from me right now."

"I'll call him," Jack said quietly as he reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "What have you heard? Where is she?"

"I don't know anything." Her voice broke a bit as she said the words. It was one thing to want to hurt her mother, but it was quite another to have to face the fact that the horrible things she'd said to her might be some of the last words she'd ever have the chance to speak. "They haven't made it here yet. It was some kind of car accident. That's all I know."

Lauren pulled the chairs closer together as she led Summer to sit down. "Your mom is one of the strongest women I know, Summer. I'm sure she's going to be just fine."

"She has to be Lauren. There's so much I need to tell her." She looked over towards Jack who stood with the phone to his ear. "We haven't been getting along and I've just said some horrible things and …"

"Mothers and daughters are always going to fight honey. That's what they do, but that bond is always and Phyllis knows how much you love her and you know how much she loves you. That's what's important here and …" She stopped, looking up as she saw the look on Summer's face change.

"Hold on." Jack's arm was across his chest before he had a chance to speak. "This isn't a good idea."

"Jack," Billy let the air leave his lips in a measured breath. "I'm not here to cause trouble. I just want to know she's okay."

"I don't think your being here is going make that happen. Why don't you go back to the office and I'll call and give you and update when I have one? The last thing we need here is a lot of drama."

"And that's not what you're gonna get … not on my part at least. I have every right to be here. It's a free country. I just need to know that she's okay. I need to know what's going on Jack. Surely you can understand that."

Jack sighed. "It's not that I don't understand. It's just that …"

"Did you leave?" Billy's eyes shone in anger as he stared him down. "When the two of argued and she ended up falling down the stairs? Did you leave? Or were you here, in this waiting room, parked until you knew she was okay?"

His shoulders fell and the words ceased as he knew he'd been bested. "Fine," he relented, "Just please don't make this worse."