Beep, beep, beep.

The sound of her alarm clock woke Kristy out of a deep sleep Saturday morning. She rolled over and locked at the clock; it was 9:00am.

Stretching, Kristy yawned and forced herself to leave the safety and warmth of her bed. Passing the mirror, she rang her fingers though her hair and tried to smooth out the wrinkles in her pajamas before she left the room. She walked across the room and knocked on Charlie's door.

"Wake up Charlie!" She called out. She then took a few steps to the right, and did the same thing for Sam. She waited about thirty seconds, and then repeated the process. Her brothers generally needed a lot of prodding to get out of bed.

Sighing, Kristy folded her arms across her chest. She tapped her foot as she waited impatiently for her brothers to make some indication that they were up. She smirked to herself. Charlie had wanted to talk to mom in the morning, and that was what he was getting.

She decided to give them about thirty seconds longer, and if they still weren't up, she was going to get her whistle.

Frustrated, Kristy knocked loudly on both doors once more. This time, Charlie opened his door rubbing his eyes.

"What do you want Kristy? The sun's not even up!" He grumbled.

"No kidding," said Sam, opening his bedroom door. "What the hell is going on?"

Kristy folded her arms across her chest. "We're going to talk to mom. You promised," she said pointedly.

"It's barely even nine o'clock!" Charlie exclaimed.

"I know," Kristy replied. "But you have a party to go to tonight, so I figured that you would want to get this done as early as possible. I know you can't bear to be away from school and longer than you have to."

"Shut up Kristy, he can do what he wants." Sam said, jumping into the conversation.

"Whatever," Charlie said, dismissing both of them. "Is mom even up yet?" he asked.

"I guess we'll find out," Kristy said, turning around and walking towards the staircase. Her brothers followed her begrudgingly.

The siblings walked into the kitchen, where Nannie was sewing one of Emily Michelle's dresses, and making pancakes for breakfast.

"I didn't expect to see any of you for at least a couple hours yet," she remarked.

"This morning is full of surprises for everyone then," Charlie mumbled.

Nannie wiped her hands on her apron. "Can I make anyone pancakes? David Michael has already requested a stack."

"I'll have some," Sam said eagerly. So far, this was the most emotion that he had shown all morning.

"Actually, we need to talk to mom," Kristy said definitively "Is she up?"

Nannie bit the bottom of her lip. "I believe so, yes, but maybe you should wait until later. She didn't get in until awfully late last night."

"We don't have time to wait," Kristy remarked.

"Actually, we do," Charlie interjected. "We'll have breakfast first," he said as Kristy gave him a sharp glare.

"That sounds like a plan to me," Sam said, pulling up a chair at the table.

"Fine," Kristy said. This was the downside of having two older brothers. They frequently teamed up against her, and food always came first.

Kristy and Charlie joined Sam at the table, and began talking about the Stoneybrook High basketball team. Soon they were laughing and more at ease. Sports always did that to them.

After about ten pancakes between them and twenty minutes later, Kristy began to get impatient. She was about to say something when her mom stalked down the stairs and into the kitchen. At first glance she looked fine; she was wearing Watson's robe, and her hair was freshly brushed and shiny. Her eyes, though, were another story. Kristy couldn't remember ever seeing her mother look this tired.

"Good morning," Elizabeth said, smiling tightly. "It's nice to have you home Charlie."

"Thanks mom," Charlie said, grinning.

Elizabeth walked over to the stove where Nannie was standing. Nannie put her arms around her daughter, and rubbed her shoulder. Kristy didn't really want to interrupt the moment, but at the same time she needed to get this started. She had always had problems with demonstrating restraint.

"We need to talk to you mom," Kristy blurted out.

Elizabeth grimaced and closed her eyes, almost as if she was trying to make the situation go away.

"Right now?" she asked.

Charlie and Sam looked at her, and then each other and shrugged. Kristy had obviously become the voice of the group.

"Please mom. It's important," Kristy explained.

Elizabeth sighed. "Of course. Let me just get a cup of coffee."

"Thanks mom," Kristy said gratefully.

"I'll keep David Michael and Emily Michelle occupied," Nannie said. As she walked out of the kitchen, she lightly rested her hand on the small of Elizabeth's back.

Elizabeth filled her cup with coffee from the pot, taking time to mix in cream and sugar. After she finished this, she set down the spoon she was stirring with and set it on the counter, making a sticky mess of coffee and sugar. She remained at the counter for a moment, staring out the window, stalling for time.

Finally, Elizabeth approached the table and her children. She pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Okay, I'm ready," she said.

Charlie, Sam, and Kristy all looked at each other, all of them suddenly rendered silent. After a moment, Sam cleared his throat.

"We're really worried mom. About Watson. And the entire family," he stammered. "What's going on?'

Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Watson has been having some problems."

Kristy waited for her to say more, to elaborate in some way, but nothing came.

"We kind of noticed that mom," she said gently. "Is he going to get better?" she asked, her youthful hopefulness clearly shining through.

"I really don't know honey. I haven't the slightest idea. This has been going on for some time, but at the same time everything has happened so fast. I still haven't really made sense of all of it," Elizabeth said, almost apologetically.

"He needs to get help Mom," Charlie said. "I know I haven't really been here, but Kristy and Sam filled me in. And I'm really worried."

Elizabeth nodded slowly. "I am too," she said softly. "I went to see him last night. He's been staying at this office, but when I was there he wouldn't even try to reason with me."

Kristy furrowed her brow. "I thought you were working late last night."

"I know that's what I said. I didn't want you to worry. But I guess that happened anyway," Elizabeth said apologetically.

"Of course we are worried Mom!" Kristy's voice was rising now. "We've always been a team. And you never used to keep things from us. We just want to know what's going on."

"I know you do. But I don't really know what is going on right now. And even though the three of you have always been responsible, you are not adults. I am not going to tell you everything," Elizabeth explained. "And you are going to have to respect that."

Kristy nodded slowly. Even though she didn't like it, it made sense. She hated being so young.

"I'll do whatever it takes to keep this family going, like I always have," Elizabeth continued, "But you are going to have to trust me. Okay?"

Sam and Kristy nodded. Charlie looked at his watch.

"If we're done, I better get my things together. I want to be out of here by noon."

"You're going back already?" Elizabeth asked.

"I have a lot of studying to do," Charlie explained.

Kristy snickered. "I hear the library is like a party on Saturday night."

"What would you know about college Kristy?" Charlie shot back.

Elizabeth closed her eyes. "Just be responsible. All of you. I really don't need anything else to deal with at the moment."

"Yes mom," came a chorus of mumbles from the Thomas teenagers.

"I'm glad we talked," Elizabeth said, rising from her seat. "I need to go check on David Michael and Emily Michelle."

"See, I told you that mom has it under control," Charlie said, looking at Kristy and Sam. "Do you to feel any better now?"

Sam nodded. "You're right, I think that mom mostly has things under control. We just need to trust her. And I can step up if she needs anything. We'll be fine."

"What about you Kristy?" Charlie asked.

Kristy shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't exactly convinced that everything would be fine. How could things be fine when Watson hadn't been home in three days?

"I guess," she said uncertainly.

"Don't worry about it Kristy. Seriously. Just go to Sam or call me if you need anything. In a month this will have all blown over, I swear," Charlie promised.

Kristy nodded. "Okay."

Charlie, Sam and Kristy left the kitchen together, leaving all of their breakfast dishes on the table for Nannie to clean up. Once upstairs, they all went into their separate rooms.

Kristy went to her bed and lay down, pulling the covers over her head. She didn't feel very good at all about the conversation that they had just had. As much as she wanted to believe that everything would be okay, she couldn't. She really didn't have any reason to, besides the fact that Charlie said it. But that really wasn't enough anymore.

When she was younger, anything that Charlie said had been enough for her. She has really looked up to him. Now it seemed as if he was just trying to placate her. She wondered if that had been the case all along, and she was just now staring to realize it. It was a very real possibility.

Kristy closed her eyes. She just needed to sleep, and to forget about everything for a little while. When she woke up she resolved to call Abby. They could do their homework all day, and then hang out tonight. She needed to have some fun.