The text message had come through a couple of hours into her excursion with Rachel. Her mother was called into work, and wouldn't be home until late. She was used to this, her mother's job, and Dave's too, was very demanding. It didn't particularly bother her. They were both very accomplished in their field, and she was proud of them, even if it did take time away from her. Her mother's text also made clear that she was still expected home for dinner and Dave would be waiting for her. She wasn't particularly thrilled about spending time with him.

The rest of her afternoon was filled with shopping and talking with her friend. Rachel had been her best friend since they were both put into the same ninth grade homeroom. They lived within a mile of each other and shared everything. Rachel helped Kara when her parents divorced, and knew about her mother's alcoholism. Kara was supportive of Rachel when her father lost his job and they thought they would have to move. Since enrolling in the same college,their lives drifted slightly with their varying schedules, but they tried to spend as much time together as possible.

A good part of this day was spent talking about the previous evening. Kara was relieved to know that Rachel was just as shaken up about what had happened as she was. She had even had a nightmare about it. Not surprisingly, her parents were upset, and had convinced her not to go out as planned this evening. Kara had mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, she was glad to have an excuse not to go out and didn't have to argue about it with her mom and Dave. She wanted a quiet night and a good sleep. Every time she closed her eyes last night, she saw the boy's face and jolted awake. It wasn't until the sun rose this morning that she finally slept. But, on the other hand, spending an evening with Dave, and then later with her mother, as they both tried to get her to discuss her feelings, was not a welcoming idea. Too many feelings were buried so deep and she was afraid that once she started dealing with any negative feeling, all the rest would come tumbling out.

After parting ways with Rachel for the day, Kara slowly started the drive home. She was listening to the radio and trying to get it to distract her from her thoughts. About a mile from the house, she slowed even more when it occurred to her that perhaps Dave was angry with her. He wasn't exactly pleased when she had left the house earlier, and she didn't know what to expect. In the short time that he had been married to her mom, she had developed a nice relationship with him, she loved him and trusted him, and she always tended to behave responsibly, so there wasn't much conflict. Last night was the only time he had ever even raised his voice to her, the only time she raised her voice to him as well. And there she was thinking about last night again. She stepped on the gas and raced home. She wasn't a child. She could control her emotions and not let Dave reach them again.

Moments before entering the house, Kara whipped out her cell phone and dialed her father's number. A conversation with her dad would help to distract her for a bit. Maybe she would even fill him in on what had been going on and he could say the perfect thing to make her feel better and go back to being a normal college student. The fact that it may prolong her impending encounter with Dave was a bonus for her.

The phone started ringing as she walked across the foyer and continued as she made her way into the living room. She listened to his voice mail message and then, unable to think of the words to sum up her situation, disconnected the call.

"Wrong number?" Dave asked.

"Something like that," she said, turning towards him. "I don't think I ever noticed your habit of sneaking up on people before."

Smiling was the only acknowledgement he gave of her flip remark. "Hungry?" he asked.

"Actually, yeah, I am."

"Come on," he said, leading the way into the kitchen, "I cooked."

They entered the kitchen and sat at the counter to eat since it was only the two of them. A big plate of linguine was placed in front of her.

"Did you get your mother's text?"

"Yeah, how long do you think she'll be?"

"Probably a couple of more hours. She wants you here when she gets back."

Trying to control an eye roll that so wanted to escape, Kara said, "No problem, Rachel and I decided to cancel our plans anyway."

Dave nodded his head and they ate in silence for a few minutes, until Kara said, "Dave, if you're mad at me, maybe you could just say something and we can get that out of the way."

He took another bite to contemplate what she had said before responding, "I'm not mad at you, Kara. I'm worried about you."

"Well, don't be. I'm fine."

Dave couldn't keep his feelings to himself any longer. "You have no business going to a stranger's house in the middle of the night for the purpose of partying."

"I didn't do anything wrong. That's is what people do."

"It's too dangerous." His frustration with her lack of acknowledgement of this fact was evident in his tone and volume which he was no longer even trying to control.

"Oh my God, I'm fine. Why won't you listen to me?"

"Because it is very obvious that you are not fine."

"Really, how? Because I don't want to talk about it?"

"For one, yes. And then there is the attitude towards your mother."

She let a small laugh escape her lips, "The attitude isn't different. It's just that you are finally aware of it. The attitude has been there for awhile. I'm only now throwing it her way to avoid-"

"To avoid what?" Erin asked. Neither of them had heard her enter through the back door.

"Great!" Kara rose and moved away from the counter. "Now you are sneaking up on me, too? This is just great." her phone beeped in a text message so she grabbed it and headed for the stairs.

Erin's initial shock at what she had heard her daughter say wore off quickly and she grabbed her arm, effectively pulling her back. "You are not going to make comments like that and then walk away. Go sit back down."

Kara turned her eyes towards Dave, "Don't look at me," he said, "I'm on her side with this."

Kara weighed her options. Neither of her parents looked like they were going to let her out of the room, and while she could probably grapple with her mother, there was no way she could get away from Dave if he didn't want her to. So she sat. Her phone beeped again but her mother started in on her before she could check it.

"Now let's take this one step at a time. Why are you trying to avoid a conversation about what happened last night?"

Kara started in quickly but Erin stopped her, "Give an honest answer. No beating around the bush and no lying."

"Oh, now I'm a liar?"

"Answer the question," Dave said.

Kara took a deep breath and decided that the only way out of this was to be honest. "I'm just trying to be strong. Mom, you and Dave have seen and been through way worse stuff than that and neither of you ever crack. I feel bad about what happened to that boy. And I'm worried that I didn't do enough to save him, but I'm just trying to not let it get to me. I'm trying to be strong." The tears that covered her eyes betrayed her.

Dave started to clear the dishes out of the way and Erin approached her daughter and tried to put an arm around her. When Kara flinched away, she took the hint and kept to herself.

"Oh, honey, you're so wrong about this."

"No, mom, I'm really not."

"Listen to me," Erin said, "for starters, Dave and I feel the horrors of our job more than you know." Kara could not control the eye roll that time.

Dave took the last plate to the sink and sat at the counter with them. This was not an easy thing to explain but she needed him. "We have spent years learning how to deal with horrible things as quickly and efficiently as possible so we can get on with our jobs. Otherwise, our work would suffer and more people would be hurt. It doesn't always work, and we aren't always good at it, but you don't even have to try. You have the luxury of expressing your feelings about what you witnessed with no repercussions. No one will think less of you for falling apart a bit, certainly not your mother or I."

The tears fell down Kara's face and for the first time since last night, she didn't feel ashamed of them. She leaned into her mother and allowed herself to be comforted. Erin smoothed her hair and said, "It's ok, honey, you did everything you could to save that boy. There was nothing more that could have helped him. None of it is your fault. We are just worried that you were there to begin with. It doesn't seem like a good idea to go to a stranger's house for any reason."

They were all quiet for a moment while Kara continued to cry. When she lifted her head she said, "I know. Dave has made that point clear a couple of times now. We just went to see what was going on. I don't know why we went."

"Please be more careful. You're not sixteen anymore. I can't keep track of you like I used to. But that means you need to take better care of yourself."

Kara's silent nod satisfied Erin enough to switch topics, "So, about the attitude you're throwing my way-"

Kara stood from the counter and let out a soft, guttural noise. She was not going to talk about this. Luckily, her phone beeped again, and this time she checked it. She was still walking away from her mother, and was aware of the fact that she was being called back, but the text distracted her from all of that. Three new messages registered on her phone, all from Rachel, and each more cryptic than the previous.

"Going back to the house."

"Found something in my bag that I think belongs there."

"Did you put something in my bag?"