**I know it's been awhile since I updated, but, thank the Lord, it is FINALLY July 23rd, yay! So anywho, this is probably going to be one of the last chapters of this and it kind of sucks. I'm going to finish this before I finish the fire story. Sorry to not be updating as much as I used to, but it'll be all good soon. This chapter is dedicated in loving memory of Henry the fish. 6/27/2010- 7/21/2010**

A week passed since the funeral. Natalie was more emotional then ever, and not even Henry could understand. He never lost anyone that close to him before and he knew that it was different now that Diana was dead and underground, but he could not stand to see Natalie upset every day. They said that time eased pain, but Henry wished he knew how much time. At school, Natalie never said much of anything and often looked down. Whenever he tried to comfort Natalie, she would just solemnly say, "Nothing."

One day, Natalie came home from school and found no one home, which was unusual since Dan had taken time off work to deal with the pain of losing his wife. She walked into the kitchen and found, scrawled on the dry-erase board, "Nat, I'm going to Pasadena for awhile. Don't do anything stupid and don't worry. I'll be home soon. Love Dad". Natalie wanted to cry. She had hoped to talk to her father about her feelings, but he had left her. Now she was alone… or that's what she thought until she heard someone knocking on the door. As soon as she opened the door, Henry said, "Are you REALLY okay?"

"No," Natalie said. "What the fuck do you think? My mom is dead, my dad went to some weird place and you don't understand. Nobody in the entire fucking universe will understand me. My dad told me to see Dr. Madden, but I don't want to. He hasn't seen me since I was really little."

"Look, I may not be able to understand your pain, but you'll feel a whole lot better as soon as you tell someone exactly what's bothering you. You can even talk to my brother if you want to. He's studying to be a psychiatrist, and he knows what it's like to lose somebody close. Do you want to talk to him?"

Natalie shrugged. "I guess so."

So they walked to Henry's house and, luckily for them, his brother was sitting in the living room. "Hey, Henry. Hey, Natalie. Que pasa?" Peter said as he looked up from the book he was reading.

"Peter," Henry said. "Um, Natalie wants to talk to you."

"Why? She's your girlfriend."

Henry rolled his eyes and walked up to his brother, whispering, "She's been really upset since her mother died and I'm not a psychiatrist in training."

Peter smiled at Natalie. "Then you've come to the right place. I shall take you up to my room so we can talk."

"Okay," Natalie said. She walked up the stairs and realized that Peter had the same Henry-ish smile, but then again, this was Henry's brother.

"So, I heard you've been upset lately. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I heard you lost someone close to you. Do YOU want to talk about it?"

"Okay, I understand you're upset, but can you please get rid of the anger for, like, 5 minutes? Yes, I lost someone close to me. When I was a senior in high school, you may have heard about this, but my best friend, Jack Stillwell, was killed in a car accident, apparently with a DUI. I never thought it was like Jack to drink at 17, and, even if it was like him, it wouldn't be like him to drive after drinking. I always thought he was a sensible guy, up until his death."

"I heard about that. I was in 5th grade at the time."

"I thought you may have, since you're Henry's age. Anywho, I was upset for weeks. I went to see many psychiatrists, but none of them understood what it was like. So it influenced me to study to be a psychiatrist and actually be the one to understand the pain of losing someone close. Now, losing a parent is different than losing a best friend, I understand that, but either way, you've lost someone you loved."

"It's a different story with me. I never thought my mom would get as sick as she did, and she apparently died just so she can be with her son. I can't say that I loved her cuz she never proved herself to love me. She said she loved me, but she didn't love me enough. She never told me anything. When she got diagnosed with cancer, I read about it on Facebook. When I found a picture of Gabe in the attic, she said it was no one."

"Uh, who's Gabe?"

"My stupid brother who died as a fucking infant. I never knew him, of course. But, to the point, as soon as I found it in my heart to forgive her for not loving me, she died. I have all these mixed emotions and I don't know how to deal with them."

"Just let them out."

"Oh, okay. Let them out. You are an IDIOT! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND MY LIFE!"

"Uh, okay. I'm guessing one was anger…"

Natalie's eyes welled with tears. "I'm sorry, Peter. My life is so fucked and I wish someone knew."

"Sad?"

"Oh god! I'm turning into my mom! I'm becoming a bi-polar freak!"

"Fear. Natalie, there is nothing wrong with being bi-polar. I'm bi-polar. Obama is bi-polar."

Natalie laughed. "Okay. Um, thanks for letting me talk to you. At least I know you understand."

"Anytime, Natalie. You can talk to me whenever you feel like you have to… as long as my little brother doesn't get too jealous."

"He won't. He knows I love him. Why, just last month…"

"I don't need to know."