Hey bros! I'm back! Happy late Valentine's Day! I am currently on my way to Pennsylvania.

I've actually had this chapter written since before I even started publishing, and I've been working on it since I started the writing process, and now I finally get to publish it. Yay!

Mailbag:

Calired98: If you hope nothing bad happens, you might be disappointed.

WildeAbrams: No, it doesn't look good!

GleeJunkie007: She may be okay, she might not, you'll never know until you read on ;)

TeaAndGlee: Thank's for being so patient! It means a lot.

Brynklie stood at the door to the choir room and peered inside. She saw everybody cheerfully talking and laughing.

How dare they be happy when my mom isn't here anymore, She thought. Then she realized that they didn't know. She glanced up at Ryder.

"You're going to be okay," he mouthed. Brynklie shrugged. Finn noticed the pair from the choir room and hurried out to them.

"I'm so sorry," he said, "Do you need me to tell for you?" Brynklie nodded. So did Ryder. He walked back into the room, the two siblings waiting outside.

"Hey guys, I have something important I need to say," Finn said. A few people looked up, but most continued laughing and talking, "Guys, this is serious. I need everybody's attention. Ryder and Brynklie have something they need to say." Gradually, they quieted down.

Just outside the door, Brynklie was desperately trying to pull herself together.

"Brynklie," Ryder said, "Brynklie calm down. It's fine." Brynklie looked up at him, her eyes narrowed.

"Did you just tell me," Brynklie said, slowly, "That it's fine? Really Ryder? Our mom died less than twenty four hours ago and you're telling me that it's fine?"

"I didn't mean it that way," Ryder stammered, "I just meant - I don't know what I meant. That was a stupid thing to say."

"Yeah, it was." Brynklie spun around and walked into the choir room, blinking her eyes ferociously as she went.

"Go ahead," Finn said, somberly. It was silent for a few seconds until Ryder spoke up.

"Uh," he began, "Well, while we were in New York, doctors found a brain tumor in my mom's head," he hesitated, trying to phrase what he was going to say, "Well apparently it was there for a long time and it kind of took over her brain. They - they didn't catch it fast enough and she, um, died during surgery yesterday." Everybody's mouths dropped open and a few of the girls' eyes filled with tears, "The funeral is two weeks from today," Ryder continued, his voice cracking, "You can come if you want."

"Of course we're coming," Finn said, "We all know how it feels to lose someone. In fact, that gives me an idea about a theme for this week."

"NO," Brynklie shrieked, speaking for the first time during all of this, "No singing! I can't take it anymore!" Finally all of the grief and pressure finally took their toll on the stubborn fourteen year old and she broke down. She tore out of the room, her footsteps echoing down the hallway

"Hi," Marley said somberly, coming up to Ryder.

"Hi."

"How are you?"

"Oh, you know. Trying to hold it together."

"I'm so sorry," she replied. Ryder shrugged, "How's Brynklie."

"She's on verbal lockdown. She hasn't said a word since the incident on Monday. I've never seen her like this. Normally she's the entity of sass and you can't get her to stop talking. She supposed to give a speech at the funeral and I don't know what to do."

"You'll figure it out."

As Brynklie walked down the hallway, she was stopped by two Cheerios who had never spoken to her in her life.

"I'm so sorry to hear about your mom," One said. Brynklie stared at her, not blinking.

"Um," the other said, hesitating, "I hope you feel better. I'm so sorry." They walked away and Brynklie stood in the hallway, not moving when people tried to get around her. She was appalled. They're not sorry for me she thought They're sorry that they aren't me. They have no right to go around and say things like that to other people when they have no idea what they're going through. It's not right! Trying to wrap her head around her thoughts, she began to walk.

"Hi Brynke," Ryder said, coming into her room, "How was school today?" Brynklie glared at him before sitting on her bed with her back facing Ryder, "Why aren't you talking to anyone?" Brynklie ignored him, "Your teachers said you wouldn't talk or answer their questions."

"What if we could have done something?" She asked, speaking for the first time since her mom died, "She had been complaining about not feeling well for the last few months, but we didn't notice. If we had we could have told her to go to the doctors. It's our fault. Why don't you get that?"

"It's not our fault. It's nobody's fault," Ryder comforted. He saw his sisters eyes fill with tears. He quickly got up from his chair and went around to hug her. He'd never heard his sister cry before. At first she tried to hid it, but he heard the quiet whimpers. He tried to ignore it, knowing how Brynklie put up barriers and tried to hide her emotions. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and pulled her closer to him. Brynklie, gave into the comfort and began to sob. The shaking coming from his once so strong sister made him want to cry, but he couldn't. She, who had been so determined, spirited, tough, seemed so broken. He knew now that for her, he had to be stronger.

"I'm so sorry," Harlow said at the funeral two weeks later.

"Sorry isn't going to bring her back," Brynklie snapped, then she added, guiltily, "Sorry."

"Forget about it. It's fine," Harlow said, giving her a sympathetic smile. She gave her a hug before continuing into the church. Ryder walked up to his sister.

"I know we're going through hell right know," he began, before Brynklie could say anything, "But yelling at people isn't going to bring her back. You know she was in a lot of pain. She's in a better place now." Brynklie looked up at him, her eyes filling with tears. Ryder pulled her into a side hallway, "Not now Brynklie. Please not now! We have to go out in front of people and not look like we're falling apart."

"I just want her back. I just want her to wake up and tell us that everything is okay now. But she can't! She can't, Ryder! It's not fair! I need Mom." Brynklie started to cry for real now.

"It's going to be okay Brynke," Ryder stammered, thrown off. She wasn't the kind of person who ever showed emotions and even during all of this, she had yet to cry away from the safety of home.

"NO IT'S NOT! IT'S NOT FAIR," she repeated, her volume rising, "I WANT TO SCREAM AND CRY AND THROW THINGS AND HIT SOMEONE BUT I CAN'T! I HAVE TO GO OUT THERE WITH A SMILE ON MY FACE AND GIVE A SPEECH ABOUT HOW MOM WON'T BE FORGOTTEN TO PEOPLE I DON'T EVEN KNOW! I HAVE TO BE A GROWNUP WHEN THE ONLY THING I WANT IS TO GO BACK IN TIME AND SPEND A FEW EXTRA SECONDS WITH MOM BUT I - I can't." She tapered off, her voice cracking. Ryder grabbed her and she crumpled into his chest, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed into his suit jacket.

"So do it," Ryder said calmly.

"Do what?" Brynklie asked, pulling away and looking at him, perplexed.

"Throw something. Hit someone. Throw a tantrum. I'm not going to stop you." Brynklie stood there, confused. That wasn't the reaction she was expecting. Her forehead crinkled as the thought about what he had just told her. Weakly, she threw her phone across the room, missing Ryder by at least four feet.

"All better now?" Ryder asked, smiling. Brynklie nodded, wiping away her tears.

"I'm ready to go out."

After the wake, the procession headed towards the cemetery. Brynklie saw the deep hole that had been dug in the frozen ground and shuddered, looking away. She sat in a wooden chair in front of her mother's casket, shivering in the cold February wind, while a priest read from the Bible. She then listened while her dad, grandmother and grandfather gave their eulogies. Finally, it was time for hers. She stood up, tightening her sweater around her. She unfolded a piece of lined paper that had the looks of being crumpled into a ball several times, before finally being folded. She took a deep, shaky breath before beginning to speak.

"Mom's final words to me were in the hospital the day she died. She told me that instead of doing a final speech, I should do a final dance for her. She said that 'I don't want a depressing lyrical dance and dear god not a contemporary dance," there was a spattering of laughter, "She wanted a happy dance, because this shouldn't be a sad day. Of course, I'm not doing a dance because of the minor forgotten detail that it is five degrees outside right now. Anyway, yes, mom's not here right now, but that doesn't mean she's gone. I still have a mom. Dad still has a wife. Grandma and Grandpa still have a daughter. Everyone out there still has a friend.

"My mom was amazing. She's all I could have asked for and I wish I could have told her more. She put up with me and all my drama. She loved me through my crazy moments, and my crying over stupid stuff, and dance drama and Ryder's and my arguments. And I loved her through all her crazy moments, and thinking she was cool, and yelling at me - I swear, half of what she said to me was 'if you put your leg on one more piece of furniture, no more dance for the rest of the month'. Anyway, I know that I filled this with a bunch of cliches, but I'm always going to love her." Brynklie stepped back to her seat, proud of herself for not crying. Ryder stood up, and stood in front of the chairs.

"I guess Brynklie and I had the same idea," he began, "My mom's final words to me were the also on day that she died. She told me that everything will turn out alright in the end. Mom was a great person. She was nice to everyone. Nobody had anything bad to say about her and it sucks that the worst things happen to the best people. She didn't deserve this. None of us did. Brynklie is only fourteen and she already doesn't have a mom. Neither do I. I have so many things I have to tell her, but now I can't, so I'm going to say them now. Mom, I'm sorry I had so many arguments with you. I'm sorry you always had to yell at me. I'm sorry I didn't spend more time with you. If I could go back in time and change the things I did wrong, I would. I just didn't have enough time. Mom wouldn't have wanted this to be a sad day because she didn't want any day to be a sad day. Even the day she died she was optimistic and always laughing and joking around with us and the doctors. I realize now that mom knew what was going to happen to her and that she wasn't going to end everything by being sad. Like I said, I know this day isn't supposed to be depressing or sad, but it's the end of a chapter that I didn't want to end." His eyes were sparkling with tears and he hurried back to his seat to hide it. Brynklie rested her head against his shoulder, wiping away another tear.

After the funeral, Ryder and Brynklie were sitting in the car, waiting for their father.

"Here," Ryder said, pulling Brynklie's phone out of his pocket, "Your lucky that your aim is so bad or that would have hit me."

"Sorry."

"No. You're right. It's not fair to you to be expected to hold yourself together." Brynklie offered him a half-smile.

"Neither should you," Brynklie replied. After a long silence, she asked, "What do we do now?"

"We go home."

GleeJunkie007: *whispers* she's not going to be okay

I'm going back to regularly publishing on Sundays, just in case anyone was wonder (you probably weren't, but whatever)