"Kara, yes, of course we are telling her." He eyed her intently trying to determine the cause of this sudden outburst. The obvious explanation was that she was afraid of her mother's anger and disappointment for going to a stranger's house to party. Honestly, he was still a bit upset about that himself. He was sure the conversation would eventually turn to the importance of Kara being responsible and taking better care of herself, but the issue at hand was dealing with the horror that she had witnessed and helping her through that trauma. Even Kara should realize that her mother's first priority was always the safety and well-being of the children. Children whom Dave had found himself loving and worrying over as well. Perhaps Kara's tantrum was residual and misguided grief, or maybe fear, from what she had witnessed earlier. He supposed that combined with her exhaustion may be to blame, but he was unprepared for the torrent of emotions which followed. New tears - how could there be any more - flowed down her face and she was practically pacing around the office as she kept insisting that there was no way they were telling Erin. He attempted to remain calm, but she was ignoring his every plea.

"There is no reason to tell my mother. Everything is fine. Nothing bad happened!" her volume seemed to increase with each proclamation and the only way he could find to snap her out of it was to match her volume with his own. "Enough!" he said, "something bad did happen. A boy died tonight!"

She physically recoiled as if he had hit her, and sharply took in air. The yelling stopped and the sobs took over as she collapsed back down onto the couch. Dave audibly exhaled the air he had been holding and made his way over to perch before her on the coffee table once again. Still unsure as to what had caused this display, he placed both his hands on her knees and gave her a moment to calm down.

"Take some deep breaths for me, honey." She tried a few time before successfully leveling out her breathing. "Alright, now I need you to talk to me because I don't have the slightest idea what this is all about."

He waited for her to say something, but an explanation was not forthcoming. Kara decided to escape his glare by attempting to rise and move away, but he moved his grip to her arm and she stayed put. Since she was not going to make this easy for him, he was going to have to make it hard for her.

"Stop! Look at me," when she did, he continued, the sternness of his voice apparent, "I don't know what is wrong but it is late and I'm tired. You have had a terrible night and I want to get you home. So stop pulling away from me and tell my why on Earth you would want to keep this from your mother."

"She'll be upset," she said in a whisper.

"Of course, she'll be upset. This is upsetting. Are you afraid she'll be mad at you?"

Kara's eyes lifted toward the ceiling. "No," she hesitated, "I just don't want her to be upset."

With her emphasis on that last word, the truth was finally dawning on Dave, but he thought it important to push her a little on this. "Why are you worried about upsetting your mother?"

This time she managed to break away from him, and he allowed it, as she walked once again to the far end of the room. 'I don't want her to start drinking again. She's been doing really well and I don't want to do anything that will send her over the edge. Okay?"

Remaining in his seat on the table he said, "No, it's not okay. Sweetheart, what happened tonight was awful, but I don't think this is going to make her start drinking again." Kara rolled her eyes and turned from him, so he rose from his seat and continued, "You need your mother for support right now, and she would want to be there for you. Always, she wants to be there for you and your brother and sister. She loves you all so much. You are the world to her."

"Yeah, we are the world to her. Except for when she's drinking. Then the booze is the world to her." She saw the pained expression he gave her then and toned it down a bit. She didn't want to hurt him. He had been wonderful for her mother, to her and to her siblings. If she was to be completely honest with herself, she had never known her mother to be happier than she was with Dave. He cared about all of them and was genuine. She had, after all, chosen to come to him on this terrible night. She trusted him completely. And now she was repaying him by causing pain. "You weren't there. You don't know."

Dave took a deep breath and closed the distance between them. He placed his hands on her shoulders and cringed inwardly at the pain he saw in her eyes. "Alright, now you listen to me." She averted her eyes but he put a hand on her cheek and waited for them to find his again before he continued. "I wasn't there before, but I am here now. And you have my word that, God forbid, if something happens to derail your mother's sobriety I will be there for her, and for you," he emphasized that with a little shake of her cheek upon which his hand still laid. "I love your mother and I love you. That is not going to change." When he was confident that she registered his words he continued, "What is going to change, however, is your tip-toeing around your mother, fearing her relapse. She wouldn't want that, and it is not good for you. You need to lean at her, especially at times like this. Lean on both of us, OK?" Her nod was his confirmation. "Good, now go wash your face and we will leave," he kissed her forehead and released her. She obeyed and and he breathed a sigh of relief that they would finally escape this building for the night.

Kara had fallen asleep as soon as the car hit the highway, and Dave used this time to reflect on all that had happened since she had entered his building a mere two hours earlier. He worried now for both his wife and his step daughter. On the verge of adulthood, she still had much to learn. Her own father was a presence in her life, but he relocated to the west coast a few months ago, and Dave waffled on how much of the slack he should take up with the kids. Laid back as always, he had decided to wait for them to come to him. And that is exactly what Kara had done tonight; she had come to him. His responsibility was to step up his involvement, and he was prepared to do so.

Kara slid down in her seat and put her head back, closing her eyes as soon as Dave hit the highway. Sleep was her first desire, but her brain refused to allow it. Too much chaos from the night was swirling around and she needed some order to it before rest would be permitted. Feigning sleep so Dave would leave her in peace, presented as a good solution. Her thoughts first drifted towards her father, starting a new life on the west coast, without her. He still kept in contact through email, and sometimes Skype, but it wasn't the same as having him here with her. She imagined going to him with tonight's dilemma, but quickly rejected the idea. His first emotion was always anger, and it would have been directed at her for going to the party in the first place. While Dave didn't seem pleased with her choice this evening, she recognized that he was holding off on expressing those feelings to her, trying first to help her through the emotional impact of what she had witnessed. While Dave wasn't her dad, and could never replace him, she was grateful for his approach.

Then there was her mom. Dealing with the drinking had been so hard for all of them. It was kept hidden so well that when everything finally exploded, it felt exactly like that - an explosion. If Kara were to be honest with herself, she had never really dealt with the emotions that arose with this aspect of her life. She preferred to push those feelings down so far into her being that they couldn't easily be accessed by anyone. It occurred to her that Dave had done just that - put his hand into her psyche and pulled out her deepest fear - and a chuckle escaped her lips.

"You ok, sweetheart?"

"Yeah, just tired."

He pulled into their winding driveway and activated the garage door opener. "Why don't you head up to bed and we will talk to your mother in the morning." Her deep yawn confirmed to him that this was the best option.

"Okay," she said, and they exited the car together.