Kristy shook her head. "That's not possible. Mom didn't even meet Watson until I was twelve, which means that David Michael would have been six. It's not possible. "

Nannie reached over and put both arms around Kristy, and started slowly rocking her back and forth. "Honey, you are certainly a responsible young woman, but there's a lot that you don't know yet about the ways of the world."

Kristy knew she might not know much about the ways of the world, but the pieces were starting to fall into place, putting together a picture that she in no way wanted to see. "Is that why Patrick left in the first place? Because mom had a baby with someone else?"

"Nothing is ever really that simple. Your mother and father were having problems before you were even born. That marriage simply wasn't meant to last."

Despite Nannie's ambiguous answers, Kristy was hearing everything that she was leaving out. "Your mother cheated on your father, not the other way around. He left because she was pregnant with someone else's child. Your mom and Watson kept everything a secret. You have been lied to all of your life."

Kristy had heard enough. Almost. There was one more thing that she had to find out to complete the mess that her family had become. "Does Charlie know?"

Nannie sighed, and nodded again. "He was old enough to know that something wasn't right from the beginning. And your mother depended on him, especially in the beginning, to help take care of things. He needed to know, Kristy. We were just trying to protect you."

"I think I need to be alone for a little while," Kristy said, her voice thick with tears.

"I understand," Nannie said simply, rising off the bed. "Kristy, if you could, please don't mention this to your brothers and sisters just yet. I promise you that in time, everything will come out…but we have enough going on here right now. "

Kristy didn't respond, and instead turned away from Nannie, curling herself into a ball on her bed.

"I love you, Kristy," Nannie said as she closed the door. "And so does your mother."

Alone the tears came fast and free, and Kristy cried as she made long and hard. She continued to connect the dots, more lies becoming clear. "David Michael is only your half brother. Charlie knew all along, and he lied to you along with everybody else. David Michael and Karen are only months apart, which means that Watson was cheating on Lisa while your mom was cheating on Patrick. This has been going on for years and you never even had a clue. Everyone lied."

Climbing out of bed, Kristy sat at her desk and once again attempted to make some headway on her homework. It was such a relief to have a tangible problem to work on, where the solution was within her grasp. Blocking out everything else that was going through her head, she worked throughout the rest of the afternoon, catching up on everything that she had been assigned, and even getting ahead on her readings in English. She didn't even look at her clock, or realize that it was after six, until Karen flung open her bedroom door.

"It is dinnertime," Karen announced.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" Kristy asked, angrily throwing down her pencil.

Karen shrugged. "Daddy said to come and get you. He did not say that I had to knock. If you do not come down and eat with us, can I have your sandwich?"

"I don't care, Karen, get out of here.

Karen slammed the door, her footsteps echoing in the hallway."Fine, you big meanie-mo. I'm eating your sandwich!"

Kristy remained at her desk, slouching in her chair, and listlessly looking at her homework. All of her drive had been lost in Karen's interruption, and her problems came rushing back.

A few minutes later Kristy stood up. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't sit alone in her room all night. Opening her door and stepping in the hallway, she almost bumped into Nannie.

"I was just coming to get you, sweetie," Nannie said lovingly, putting her hand at the small of Kristy's back. "A nice family dinner will do you a lot of good."

Kristy wasn't so sure of that. She wasn't too sure if anything would do her any good right about now. But she knew that she should go down for the benefit of the kids. They needed some form of familial stability. Besides, she was hungry.

The commotion was evident when Kristy walked into the kitchen with Nannie. Mealtimes at the Thomas-Brewer's were certainly never dull. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Sh was scanning the kitchen, and then suddenly whipped around to look Nannie in the eyes.

"Where's mom?" she demanded.

Nannie sighed. Her face looked older than it had even a month ago. "She's tired, sweetie. You understand, don't you?"

Kristy didn't understand. Deliberately not answering Nannie, she proceeded to her seat on the bench alongside the kitchen table.

"What's wrong with you?" Sam asked between bites of his sandwich.

"Nothing that you would care about," Kristy replied testily.

Sam shrugged. Apparently the revelations of dinner last night did not have as significant of an effect on his life as they did hers. "Hey David Michael, toss me an apple."

David Michael grinned, reached into the fruit basket that was sitting in front of him, and threw a red apple across the table to his older brother. "Heads up!" he shouted. Seeing this, Karen quickly reached into the same basket and threw an apple into the living room. Shannon bolted out from under the table and ran after it. Emily Michelle squealed with delight at the commotion occurring at the table.

Andrew reached for an apple himself, when Watson finally intervened. "That's enough kids. Dinner doesn't need to be a circus just because Elizabeth isn't feeling well."

As said this, Kristy couldn't help but notice a quick but intentionally hurtful glare in her direction from Watson. Apparently he knew that her mom wasn't feeling well as a direct result from her confessions to Kristy. But she didn't even care if Watson was mad at her. He was a possible alcoholic who had definitely lied to her, and the rest of her family, her whole life. He had a son at this table who he hadn't even claimed. Suddenly, Kristy wasn't very hungry any more. She put her fork down and watched the rest of her family eating, wondering how it was possible that the friendly camaraderie that she was witnessing was possible when this family was slowly unraveling.

"Can we have ice cream for dessert?? David Michael asked.

Nannie's brow creased in thought. "I don't think that we have any in the freezer."

"Then can we go out and get some? Please Daddy?" Karen whined.

"Yeah, please Watson," David Michael begged, while Andrew nodded his head eagerly.

"Well I don't know," Watson said, pretending to think very hard about the prospect. "What do you think Emily?"

"I want ice cream!" she shouted gleefully.

"Then ice cream it is!" Watson said, throwing his napkin on the table. "Come on, kids!"

David Michael, Karen, Andrew, and Emily Michelle all got up from the table and ran to the closet to retrieve their jackets and shoes, noisily chattering about what flavor they were going to get, and who could eat the most.

"You'll clean up, right?" Watson asked, directing the question at Nannie.

"Don't I always?" she replied, resigned.

"Of course. Thank You." Watson responded. He then directed his gaze at Kristy and Sam, who were the only ones remaining at the vacated family table. "You two are welcome to come for some ice cream, if you would like."

"Thanks Watson, but I'm going to hang out with Stacey tonight," Sam said, rising from the table.

"Well have fun," Watson said slyly. "What about you, Kristy? Are you up for ice cream with the family?"

Kristy stood up from the table, glaring intently at Watson the whole time. How could he act so normal, and so nice, after everything that he had done. It disgusted her to see him act in any way fatherly. She refused to answer his question, walking out of the kitchen and upstairs to her room.

Sam stopped her at her bedroom door. "You don't need to be a jerk to Watson just because you're mad at Patrick," he said.

"And you don't have to forget about this family just because you're so in love with Stacey," Kristy retorted.

"Kristy, I am so sick of you. Life isn't like your stupid babysitting club, and you can't call all the shots. Maybe mom screwed up, and maybe Patrick screwed up, but it's not like they did it on purpose, and it was years ago, so get over it. And don't take it out on Watson- he's never been anything but good to us."

It was Sam's last statement that enraged Kristy more than anything, and she took a hard step forward, and shoved Sam with all of her might into the wall. He fell back against a picture, which fell to the ground.

Fury filled Sam's face as he hit the wall. Pulling himself up, he ran forward and pushed Kristy against her bedroom door, which has been partially open. Kristy fell into her room and landed in a heap on the ground. "I hate you!" she shouted at Sam.

Hearing the commotion in the hallway, Elizabeth left her room and approached her children. Clad in a bathrobe, with her hair a mess, she sighed. "What the hell is going on here?"