I do not own.

"This is your fault." Beverly fumed at Rex.

"Me? How is this my fault?" Rex asked in astonishment.

"If you hadn't gotten on your high horse and told her to find her parents…" Beverly continued to rant at him.

"Hey, you of all people should know how important family is." Rex argued.

"That's different. I was lucky enough to have a family who never abandoned me no matter how bad I got." Beverly countered.

"But the lack of family was causing her to doubt all her other relationships." Rex explained.

"Oh, and this is so much better." Beverly said sarcastically.

After blowing up at her parents, Circe requested that they return to Providence. On their way home, Rex tried to engage her in conversation. But other than a few grunts, she remained silent all the way home. When she got back, she wordlessly entered her room. Lunch came and went, as did dinner. At breakfast, she still hadn't left. Beverly knocked on her door but got no answer. In desperation, she got her sister's emergency medical override and forced the door open. She found her friend curled up in bed clutching her pillow. Circe glanced up before returning to her position. Beverly tried to coax her to come out and eat something. She refused and barely responded to Beverly.

After nearly the whole day passed by, Beverly lashed out at Rex.

"You better find a way to fix this!" Beverly poked a finger into his chest before storming off.

Rex rubbed the sore spot. He did feel guilty for opening this can of worms. But he honestly thought that Circe could work this out. Then she wouldn't be mopey every time the topic of families came up. He sighed. He was way over his head on this one. He had to call in the big guns…

0o0

"So what am I going to do?" Rex sat on the bench as his mentor battered a dummy with his fist and legs.

Six gave one last round house kick before turning to address Rex.

"You should have minded your own business." Six said flatly.

"Oh come on!" Rex threw up his hands. "That's not right!"

"That's not right for you. Did you ever think that sometimes people cope by shutting out their past? " Six asked.

"But we need to confront our past." Rex protested.

"Who says?" Six challenged.

"Well, what about confronting the past so you can move on?" Rex said a little unsure now.

"Sometimes it's best to confront the past indirectly, or bury it so you can move on." Six stated as he moved toward the door. But before he left, he looked over his shoulder. "If you're looking for a different point of view, I suggest you talk to Holiday."

Rex's face brightened. "That's right! Thanks…" He stopped. Six had already left. "And he's gone. But he's right I should have started with Doc in the first place. Why am I talking to myself?" Rex got up to find Dr. Holiday.

0o0

"Oh my." Holiday crossed her arm and furrowed her brow.

"Yeah, now your sister is mad at me, Six isn't any help, and I don't know what to do." Rex ended with a sigh.

Holiday tapped a pen against her chin but said nothing for a long time, so long that Rex was starting to get nervous. He cleared his throat hoping to get some reaction.

"You know Rex, maybe this wasn't your best idea." She said finally.

"Oh no, not you too." Rex groaned.

"No, no. It's admirable that you want to help Circe with her parental issues but I don't think she was ready for it." Holiday told him gently. "Traumatic experiences aren't usually solved by forcing confrontation. Although there is a school of thought that advocates that, I think it's too simplistic in its outlook on how the human psyche works."

"Can I get that in English or broken Spanish?" Rex asked.

"Rex, it takes time to heal from deep wounds. It might have been better for Circe to go for counseling first before confronting her parents." Holiday said gently.

"So you think I broke my girlfriend?" Rex asked guiltily.

"No, I think Circe is stronger than that. She needs time to process her grief, anger, and pain." Holiday said. "But we should keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't wallow too long. That's not healthy either."

"Sure, Doc. Maybe next time I'll run my ideas by you first." Rex suggested.

"It wouldn't hurt." Holiday agreed. "But what's done is done. We can still help Circe work through this."

Rex nodded sadly before leaving.

Holiday watched him leave before pressing her comlink. "Six, I need to talk to you."

0o0

Circe was confused. She thought if she really let her parents have it, she would be better. Unfortunately, the outburst left her feeling hollow and guilty. Added on was the guilt she felt for blowing off her friend and ignoring everyone else. But she just wasn't ready to face the world with her emotions being all over the place. A knock came at her door. She didn't answer. The door slid opened anyway. To her surprise it was Six. It was such a strange sight that she actually sat up and stared at him. He strode in and pulled a chair to sit down near her bed. They looked at each other in silence.

"What?" It came out harsher than she had expected it to.

"I heard Rex stupidly made you go find your parents." Six answered.

Circe opened her mouth to speak but then stopped. She furrowed her brow. Was it stupid? "I don't think it was stupid." She finally uttered.

Six raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He waited.

Circe tried to sort out her thoughts. "I mean, I wanted to find my parents too. I wanted…" She stopped. What did she want? "I wanted to tell them how angry I am at them for abandoning me. I want them to know how lost and scared I was when I turned EVO. I want them to know that they really let me down. I want them to…" She didn't know why but tears came into her eyes. "I remember one time when I was little… my dad bought home a bicycle. I was so excited but I could barely reach the pedals. He had to adjust it. I wanted training wheels but he said that I would learn faster without them. That afternoon I fell and scrapped my knees so many times… at the end I told him that I quit. He wouldn't let me. He told me that I wouldn't get anywhere in life if I was a quitter. So I got on and eventually got the hang of it." Circe paused. Six still said nothing. She continued. "And there was this time I got really sick. I had a really high fever and my mom stayed up with me all night. She put cold towels on my head and sang me to sleep. When I woke up, she was still in the chair next to my bed." She stopped again, the tears spilled from her eyes. "I guess despite everything I remember when they were my parents and took care of me and… they must have at some point loved me… and I guess, I still want them to love me because… I still love them." Circe buried her face in her pillow.

When her sobs subsided, Six cleared his throat. Circe looked at him with her red-rimmed eyes. "Things are not always black and white. There are shades of gray. You need to tell them what you told me and see what they say. There are always two sides to a story." Six let what he said sink in before going on. "Then you need to decide whether to reconcile or cut them out of your life. Either choice has consequences. I can't tell you which one you can live with. That's your decision. But whatever you decide will affect everyone around you because we don't live in isolation." Six got up.

Circe crinkled her brow. "That's it? That's all you're going to say?"

"Yes." Six turned to go.

"Dr. Holiday put you up to this, didn't she?" Circe couldn't help but give a smirk.

"Of course." Six answered.

"Why did you come? I mean, I'm sure didn't want to come and talk to a emotional teenager." Circe was curious.

"It would not be my first choice. But there are people I care about. We have a lot in common." He stood halfway through the door.

Circe cocked her head to one side. "What?"

"We both have trust issues. We both put up walls to keep others out so that they can't hurt us. And we both let a certain boy wheedle his way into our lives knocking down those walls so that other people can come in." Six smirked. "Rex may not always know what's best but his heart is always in the right place."

Circe nodded in agreement. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now we will agree that I was never here." With that Six disappeared through the door.

Circe sat in her bed deep in thought. She decided it was time to stop throwing herself a pity party and finally put her past to rest. Tossing aside her pillow, she stood up determined to take care of her past.

Sorry for the late updates. I've been sick the whole month and I still can't get rid of this cough. I'm trying to get back to the swing of things. School will be done soon and I hope to start some more stories soon. Enjoy.