Lanie, Alex and Addison sat around the kitchen table at dinner, the only sound being the forks and knives clanking against the plates. "How was your day?" Alex asked.

"We went to the memorial service," Lanie answered.

"How was it?"

"Fine," she said shortly. "It was fine." Pulling her napkin off her lap, she folded it next to her plate and pushed her chair back. "May I be excused?"

"Sure," Alex replied. As she disappeared up the stairs, he said, "How was it really?"

"It was okay. We didn't stay that long. Lanie actually went up to the microphone, I was surprised."

"And she was okay?" He set his fork down, leaning back in his chair.

"She was," Addison confirmed. "Doug's girlfriend came up to the mike after her, and we left after that."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "How was that?"

"It was…interesting. I feel sort of sorry for her. I just…"

"I understand." He picked up the dirty plates from the table and started rinsing them off in the sink.

Addison threw out her napkin, and went to the foot of the stairs. "I'm going to go up and just make sure she's okay. I'll be back."

Alex nodded as he grabbed the dish soap from under the sink.

OoooooooooooooooO

It was dark as they lay on the rooftop, staring up into the sky. It was a darker dark than one would ever find in the city, and Lanie could pick out several stars that she never would have seen with her feet on the ground. "It's beautiful," she whispered, almost afraid to break into the reverie.

"Lanie?"

"Yeah?"

"You're beautiful."

She rolled over into Rich's arms, letting him fold her against his chest.

"Say that again."

"You're beautiful," he said obediently. "Really."

"I love you," Lanie said softly.

Rich put his hands gently on the sides of Lanie's face, sliding his fingers back so that they tangled in her long red hair. Resting his forehead against hers briefly, he then pulled back and sat up suddenly.

"What?" she asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

He shook his head. "No, no, definitely not."

Frowning, she questioned, "Then what is it?"

Rich sighed. "As much as I want this…"

Lanie scooted forward slightly so that she could peer off the edge of the roof into the darkness. "You can't."

"Yeah. There's just…a lot of stuff right now. I don't want to be in any serious relationship until I'm sure I have my head on straight, you know?"

She nodded, even though she didn't.

"A lot of kids our age make that mistake, they put relationships in front of what's really important. I don't want to be one of those kids."

"Me either," Lanie replied, knowing that's what Rich would want to hear.

"So when we're older, maybe. But not now." Rich moved forward as well, so that he was sitting right beside her on the roof.

"That doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?" Lanie asked.

"We did share blocks," Rich smiled. Taking off his jacket, he draped it over Lanie's shoulders. "If we can share well…we can be friends."

"Okay."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, stretching so that he could run his fingers through her hair. "But it won't be easy. I think I care about you too much."

"I know. Me too."

Rich drew her closer again, the signals that his body was sending her completely disagreeing with the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Rich," she protested.

"Don't say anything," he said, putting a finger to her lips. "Look, one time won't hurt. One time."

His lips melted into hers, and Lanie found all of her misgivings melting away right along with them. Lanie and Rich were so engrossed in each other that neither one of them saw Doug hanging back in the shadows of the roof entrance.

OooooooooooooooooO

Lanie was standing in front of the mirror when Addison entered the room. Before Addison realized what she was doing, the scissors in her right hand that she must have been hiding in front of her body appeared.

"Lanie?" Addison asked, crossing rapidly to stand beside her daughter. "What are you doing?"

"Just stay away, Mom, let me do this," she snapped.

Holding up a hunk of her hair, bright red hair that was just like her mother's, she stuck it between the blades of the scissors and cut. As the foot long tail of hair fell to the floor, Addison noticed Lanie's hand starting to shake.

She bit down on her lip, trying not to cry, as she grabbed another chunk of hair to put between the blades. Her hands quivered as she struggled to grasp at the hair, and Addison reached out gently to cover her hand. "Can I help?"

Lanie shook her head furiously at first, but as she tried again and lost her grip on the hair again, she relented and surrendered the scissors.

Addison pulled up a chair. "Sit," she said, pointing down into the chair.

She sat in the chair without argument.

"Now," Addison asked, "what are you trying to do?"

"Cut it off," she answered simply. "All of it. I want to cut it all off."

"Okay," Addison agreed reluctantly. As much she hated to cut off her beautiful hair, Addison would rather do it herself with her steady surgeon's hands than have Lanie try to do it while shaking. As she started working her way around Lanie's head, cutting off hair at the same length as her original cut, Addison asked quietly, "May I ask why?"

After a minute or so, she answered, "Rich liked my hair. So it makes me sad now every time…When I brush it, or run my fingers through it, or…It reminds me of him."

"Okay," Addison answered, deciding not to push Lanie any further.

"I need to get rid of it," she continued. "I need to cut it off."

Addison cut the rest of the bigger chunks off in silence, before grabbing a smaller scissors off the dresser to do some trimming. "I'm sorry I'm not a hairstylist," she said.

"It's okay. Thanks for helping me. You didn't have to."

"Yes, I did," Addison answered matter of factly. "Of course I would."

Snipping at the ends of her hair in silence, Addison pulled away and let Lanie take in her work. "Thanks," she said again. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

She shook her head slightly. "It's nothing. Never mind."

"What is it?" Addison frowned, putting down the scissors and leaning against the front of the dresser. "You can talk to me."

Lanie bit down on her lip, her eyes shifting slightly as she considered words. "Not yet, Mom, not about this." She stood up, walking towards the door. "Is it okay if I go out for a while?"

"Where?" Addison asked.

She shrugged, shaking her head. "I don't know. Just…out." Without waiting for an answer, she disappeared out the door.

Addison followed her down the stairs, reaching their base just as Lanie went out the back door.

"What was that all about?" Alex asked, looking up from where he was drying the dishes. "Was her hair shorter?"

"Yeah," Addison nodded. "She wanted to cut it off. I have no idea…I think it had something to do with Rich."

He raised an eyebrow slightly.

"She wanted to talk to me about something…but then, as suddenly as she brought it up, she didn't want to talk about it anymore."

"It'll come," Alex answered.

Addison came up behind him to help with the rest of the dishes, and as she picked up a second drying towel, she heard the car start up in the driveway. "Is that…"

"The car?" Alex finished.

Addison threw the towel back into the sink and ran through the house out the front door, just in time to see her daughter who did not have her license back the car crazily down the driveway and peel away.