"You were everything I wanted, but I just can't finish what I started" –New Found Glory

The two boys left Lanie's room silently, and proceeded down the short hallway to the tiny kitchen. Jack fell into the closest chair and Spot leaned against the counter, arms across his chest. They say there for a few moments in silence before either one spoke.

"She do that often in the Lodging House?" Spot asked moving his head to look towards Jack.

"When she first got there she didn't sleep for two days. But when she started to sleep, yeah, she did that a lot. Went on till right before she moved in here."

Spot just nodded his head and took a deep breath; "I gotta show you something," he said and turned opening the cabinet behind him, revealing to Jack for the first time its contents. Jack stood up quickly and walked over staring in disbelief.

"You're kidding me. They ain't all for her," he said staring at Spot, his mouth hanging open.

Spot closed the cabinet and walked over to the only remaining chair and fell into it, he head in his hands.

"I never noticed Spot. How did I never notice? I saw her everyday, and everyday she seemed fine," he shook his head in disbelief. "How did I never notice," he said again before walking over and falling into the seat across from Spot.

Once again the room became deathly quiet; the two boys sitting there, contemplating the situation that was unfolding before them.

"What are we going to do Spot?" Jack asked.

Spot moved his hands and let them fall onto the table. "Ain't a clue. I can't keep her locked in there forever, and even if I did, it aint gonna help any. She's gonna do it anyway."

Jack shook his head, knowing there would be nothing that could really help her. "Maybe we outta just leave her in there for another day or so…" Spot began to interrupt him but Jack put his hand up, and Spot immediately quieted down. "Like I was saying," Jack continued, "Maybe if you keep her in there for a few days, we can get her through the withdrawal period. It will be hard, but at least she won't be able to get any if she really needs it, and it will give us a few more days to figure out what we're going to do with her."

Spot glared at Jack for a few seconds before allowing himself to succumb to the idea; "Alright Jack, a few days. But then she's coming to Brooklyn with me, got it?"

Jack nodded his head and stood up, "I got to get back to selling, and I'll come by later after I tell the boys what's going on."

Spot just nodded his head once again before standing up as well.

As Jack walked past Spot, he stopped, placing on arm on the boy's shoulder and whispering, "I ain't your fault Spot. She made the decision on her own. Ain't nothing you can do about that." He let go of Spot's shoulder and walked over to the door, and letting himself out.

Spot waited a few minutes to make sure that Jack wasn't going to walk back in with anymore unwanted advice. He stood in the middle of the room before walking over to Lanie's cabinet and opening it, staring inside. All the bottles were full, and staring at him with undoubting eyes, daring him to do something. As he stared the anger inside him began to boil. He reached up into the cabinet and grabbed a bottle. He held it in his hands staring at it. Then he untwisted the cap and held it under his nose, allowing the smell of it to get up into his cavities, filling him with more anger. He hadn't smelled it on her breath, which was strike one. He walked over to the small sink, and turned the bottle over, pouring its contents out.

He placed the bottle next to him on the floor and walked back over to the cabinet taking another bottle out. He stared at it once again, but this time be did stop to think of a reason to pour it out, he just walked to the sink and allowed to contents to once again be poured in. When the bottle was empty, he placed it next to the first empty bottle and walked back over to the cabinet.

He anger could no longer be contained at this point. He stared at the bottles in the cabinet thinking, "Why did she hide like this? Why did she turn to alcohol? Why didn't she ask for help? Why didn't she do any of this? But as he was thinking of the answers for the questions, another one hit him in the face, "Why didn't you go after her when she left? Why didn't you save her? Something inside him had snapped and he reached up into the cabinet and grabbed another bottle, and then another bottle and threw them all to the floor cursing both him and Lanie as each bottle smashed, emptying its contents. Finally there was one last bottle left, he stared at it for a few moments, thinking about what to do. He reached into his pocket and grabbed the key to the bedroom floor. Still holding the only unbroken bottle in his hands, he quickly walked down the hallway, the anger growing with him, and unlocked the door to the bedroom. Seeing Lanie still asleep didn't stop his anger and with all his might, he threw the bottle at the wall next to the bed and woke Lanie with a start.

She stared at him for a few minutes. He was breathing heavily, his face red, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "What the hell was that Conlon?" She yelled to him.

"What the hell was that?" Spot said moving over to the broken bottle pieces on the floor. He picked up the bottom of the bottle for her to see. "That was your last bottle of whiskey. You ain't getting anymore!"

He was scaring her; she had never seen him so mad in all the years she had known him. "Why'd you break it?" She asked timidly, still unsure what he was angry about. He had to say the least, calm when he had locked her in there, and sad when she had woken from her nightmare. That wasn't long ago she knew, and wanted to know what had made him so angry.

Spot exploded with her last question, "Why did I break it! ARE YOU KIDDING ME GEM? You're an alcoholic, and you want to know why I am breaking bottles of liquor! You amaze me sometimes, you know that! How you gonna be so stupid Huh?"

Gem stared at Spot, terrified. Never before had he yelled at her like that. Suddenly, and without warning, her fear turned into anger, and she stood up from the bed and walked over to Spot and yelled into his face. "I don't because, unlike you, I can't hide my pain. I can't just walk around like everything is fine when it's not. I am not Miss Mary-fucking-Sunshine all the time, and without the whiskey, I am dead. So get off my case and leave me alone about it!"

Spot stared at her in disbelief; she had never talked to him like that. The anger in him somewhat subsided, but not enough to make him stop yelling. He grabbed her arms and pulled her closer to him. Tightening his grip around her staring into her eyes he saw a fear that he had never seen before and immediately released his grip pushing him away from her, "Ain't nobody said you ever had to be perfect Gem. You never had to walk around and pretend everything was perfect. You didn't even ask for help, you just jumped right into this… He let himself trail off.

Gem looked away from him, still scared to look at him, but surprised at how quickly he became calm, when she spoke it came out as almost a whisper, "I had no one to turn to Spot, Lissy was gone. Who was I going to tell?"

Spot stared at her in disbelief, and with every power he had, remained calm, "Lissy, would never have wanted you to start drinking. And Lissy wasn't the only person in the world that loved you," was all he said before turning towards the door and locking it behind him. He turned his back and allowed himself to slide down the wall and sit, with his head in his hands once again. Suddenly, there was a crash of glass that sounded off the door, and without having to check on her, Spot knew that Gem has smashing her own bottles inside her room.

Authors Note- Thanks to all of you who reviewed! Keep them coming! Also, just wanted to fix any confusion from the last chapter, Hannah and Marie do not exist in this story, I used those names originally for this story, but changed them after I re-write and I wasn't a very good proof reader… so there is only Lanie and Lissy aka Daisy and Gem, sorry about that.