Jess was sitting in a seat on a buss. She yawned as she looked out the window. A sudden smile came on to her face as she saw a street sign and noticed how very close she was getting to Horizon and to Shelby.

Alice Merrick half walked, half stumbled into the kitchen of her house. She was a wreck. Her hair was messed up, she hadn't slept since she received the phone call from Peter, she had no idea where one of her daughters was and her other one was in a coma.

Alice went to a cabinet and grabbed a bottle of Brandy that she still had around from when Walt was there for his favorite drink was a Brandy Manhattan. She took a small glass and poured the alcohol into it. She quickly drank most of the vile liquid and sat down at the kitchen table.

She was re-playing the conversation she had with Jess after the phone call and shook her head, disgusted with herself. She took another sip of drink and exhaled loudly, trying to get the horrible taste out of her mouth. I'm a terrible mother! Alice thought to herself and took another drink.

"I'm a terrible Mother!" Alice screamed to an empty house.

She threw the glass of Brandy at the wall across from her. She watched the glass break and the liquid leak onto the wall and down onto the floor.

Alice sighed to herself loudly and stood up. She walked back into the kitchen. She grabbed herself another drink, this time a full glass of strait vodka. She took a deep gulp of the drink and went back over to sit at the table again.

She put the glass down on the table and looked over to a semi-recent picture of Shelby, Jess and herself in a nice, wooden picture frame. She smiled briefly at the picture and then put her head in her hands. To say that she cried would be a vast understatement, she bawled.

Scott woke up earlier than he usually did and got ready quickly. He barely slept that night anyways for he kept re-living his break down to Daisy. He felt so ridiculous but he knew that everything he said was true.

Scott walked out of the boys dorm and started to walk around the grounds. It was barely sunrise and he didn't think that anyone was up but then he saw Daisy down by the docks. He walked down by her and sat next to her. She didn't look surprised to see him at all. She simply looked over at him and then turned her attention back to the water.

"Can't sleep either?" Daisy asked.

"No," Scott responded, shaking his head.

Scott looked over at Daisy and opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. He wanted to thank her for being there for him but he couldn't think of the words. He tried again but when he opened his mouth, once again, nothing came out.

"Thanks," Scott finally got out.

Daisy looked at him with one raised eye brow.

"For what?" She asked.

"Being there for me yesterday, when I..."

"Had a mental and emotional break down." Daisy finished for him.

"Yeah,"

"You're welcome,"

Silence fell over the two as they both thought of the same thing: Shelby. They let their thoughts wander and were completely oblivious to their surroundings. They were interrupted when Peter came up behind them and started talking.

"I was looking for you two," He said. "You guys shouldn't go wandering around the grounds without telling anyone."

"Sorry," Scott said for both of them.

"Yeah. We just couldn't sleep." Daisy added.

"It's okay. Now come on, it's time for breakfast."

Scott and Daisy stood up and followed Peter into the kitchen for breakfast.

Alice was rushing around her room, backing a suitcase. She grabbed everything she could remember to grab and put it in the suitcase that was lying on her bed. She had tears streaming down her face as she thought about Shelby and Jess. She thought of how she allowed everything with Walt to happen and how she treated her girls afterwards and could do nothing but cry and feel terrible.

Jess stepped off the bus with the small bag that she had packed in her hand. She looked around at the buildings and started to make her way towards Horizon. It wasn't a long walk but it seemed like it was taking forever for Jess.

Finally she sat a sign that read: "My. Horizon" and a smile crossed herself. The smile quickly left and she remembered why she was here, her sister was in a coma and lying in a hospital hurt.

Jess walked up to the main cabin and up to the front desk, she knew where everything was from when she was here last year for a while. Shelby had told her everything she needed to know about being at Horizon for she was planning on being a student.

Jess looked around and tried to get a feel for the place but was abruptly shot from her thoughts when Sophie ran over to her and pulled her into an extremely tight hug. Sophie kept saying things like 'oh my god' 'what are you doing here?' 'how'd you get here?' 'oh, Jess' but Jess didn't respond to any of them, she was just happy to be here.

Finally, Sophie let go of Jess and said, "Oh! We have to go get Peter. Come on."

Sophie took Jess' bag from her hand and put it on the floor. She grabbed her hand and walked her out of the main office and went towards the kitchen where she knew Peter would be. Jess was being half dragged by Sophie who seemed to be in a huge rush.

Upon entering the kitchen Jess noticed all of the Cliffhangers sitting a table. Peter walked over to Sophie and Jess and pulled Jess into a hug like Sophie had done before but not quite as tight.

"Jess, what are you doing here?" Peter asked.

"I'm here to see Shelby," Jess responded. "My mom wasn't going to come so I left in the middle of the night and took a bus."

Scott and Daisy came up behind Peter. Scott looked at Jess sternly after he heard how she got here. Scott knew what Jess did to get here the last time she came and he wanted to make sure she didn't do it again. He remembered how much just thinking about it had hurt Shelby.

"Really. I took a bus the whole way. I had money saved." Jess said, now concentrating on Scott.

"Promise?" Scott asked for he knew Shelby would want to be sure.

"Yes," Jess responded with a nod.

Daisy spoke up, "Well, we're going to go visit Shelby after we're done eating so you can come with us then. Right Peter?"

"Right," Peter said. "And see if any of the other Cliffhangers want to go see her today."

"I'll ask them. You can finish your food," Scott said to Daisy.

"What about you?" Daisy asked, referring to how he hadn't finished his breakfast either.

"Be happy I ate anything today," Scott said.

Scott took a final glance back at Jess and then went back to the table to see if anyone else wanted to visit Shelby that day. Daisy smiled at Jess and then followed Scott back to the table to finish her breakfast.

Peter looked down at Jess and said, "Come on." He motioned her to follow him out of the kitchen and back to the main office. "We have to call your mom and tell her that you're here."

"Do you have to tell her?" Jess groaned as she followed Peter.

"You know I do. You may not be a student here but you know the rules."

"Fine. She probably won't even care anyways."

"Don't say that, Jess. You're her daughter. Of course she'll care."

"Oh, really? She didn't care when you told her about Shelby, did she?" Jess asked back with attitude.

"I'm sure Mother is just..."

"Just what?"

"I don't know," Peter said and shook his head. "I still have to call her and tell her though. I don't have a choice."

"Fine," Jess responded as they walked in the main office.

Alice closed the small suitcase that she had packed on her bed. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and brushed her tangled hair quickly. She grabbed the suitcase and left her room.

She entered the kitchen, grabbed her wallet and left the house. She walked frantically down the street, not trusting herself to drive. She stopped at the train station and bought the earliest ticket to Agnus.

The train wasn't arriving for another half hour but Alice decided to stay and wait for the train there. She sat in a seat and looked a small picture that she kept in her wallet of Shelby, Jess and herself. it wasn't the same picture that she had at the house, this one was more recent. Alice wept to herself as she looked at the picture.

Peter picked up the phone and dialed the number from memory. He waited patiently for an answer but no one ever picked up. The phone rang seven times before he hung it up. Peter waited a few moments and then tried again. he dialed the number and waited for an answer but once again, he didn't get on and hung up this time after eight rings.

"No answer?" Jess asked, even though it was pretty obvious.

"No answer," Peter stated.

"She's probably passed out somewhere in the house."

"What makes you say that?"

"She was probably drinking. After the initial shock of what happened to Shelby sank in and she saw that I was gone, she probably started to drink. She does that sometimes."

"Why?" Peter asked, confused. "It doesn't solve anything."

"Well..."Jess started. "It kinda does. I don't know what's in the alcohol but she realizes all of her mistakes when she drinks. And then after she does, she's a good mom again. But it usually only lasts for so long."

Jess looked up at Peter and saw him looking at her.

"Maybe since this is something serious, it'll be for good. Do you think that's possible?" Jess asked Peter.

"I don't know, Jess. You're mom can only be a good Mother if she wants to be. It's all up to her." Peter replied sympathetically.

"I know she loves us and cares about us. She just has a hard time showing it sometimes," Jess said.

Peter sighed and said, "Come on. It's time to go see Shelby."

Jess nodded and they both walked out of the main office and back into the kitchen by all of the other Cliffhangers. Peter walked up to Scott.

"Who's coming?" Peter asked.

"I guess, all of us. They all wanted to come today." Scott responded with a shrug.

"All right. Well, go outside by the truck and start piling everyone in." Peter said and thought to himself, I hope everyone fits in the truck.

"Okay. Don't take too long though. I wanna see her," Scott replied.

Scott started to walk out of the kitchen towards the truck and was followed by all of the other Cliffhangers and Jess. They walked to the truck, that was unlocked, and everyone started to squeeze themselves in the back. Juliet was sitting on Auggie's lap on the far left, then went David, Ezra and Daisy. Scott always sat up front with Peter and Sophie and today Jess would be up front with him, too.

Peter came up to the truck with Sophie and got in the drivers seat and Scott, Jess and Sophie all climbed into the passenger seat. Peter looked back at the students and saw Juliet on Auggie's lap.

"No way," He said.

"Come on, Peter. If we don't sit like this than there won't be enough room." Juliet said.

"It's against the law, Juliet."

"So we won't get caught,"

Peter shook his head and mumbled to himself, "I shouldn't be doing this."

Peter turned around, started the car and drove to the hospital.

Everyone stopped outside of Shelby's hospital room. Usually Scott went in first and then would go in again right before they left but this time he looked at Jess for he thought it was only right that she went in to see Shelby first.

"Go ahead. We'll wait out here if you want." Scott said to Jess and was practically speaking for everyone.

"Do you think you two can come with me?" Jess asked, pointing to Scott and Daisy.

"Why do you want only us to come?" Daisy asked.

"Because you guys seem like you two understand the most and I don't want to go in by myself."

"Why not?" Peter asked.

"I'm not ready for that yet," Jess replied. "Hell! I'm not even sure I'm ready for this but I'm going to do it anyways."

"I'll come in with you." Scott said.

"We will come in with you." Daisy corrected.

Scott nodded to Daisy and brought his attention back to Jess. Daisy smiled at Scott and David glared. He understood that Daisy and Scott were going to have to be there for each other but he was getting angry at the fact that Daisy was going to Scott for support instead of him.

Daisy looked over at David and saw that glare. She gave him a questioning look but he shook his head and mouthed, "later". Daisy nodded and turned back to Scott and Jess.

Jess took a deep breath to try and relax herself but it didn't work. Her hands were shaking and she her breathing was uneasy. Jess was scared of what she was going to see on the other side of the door. She didn't want to loose control at the sight of Shelby laying on the bed unconscious and having machines keeping her alive. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to do this. She didn't want to see her big sister, the person she's always looked up to, so helpless.

Jess lifted a shaking hand to the door knob but didn't turn it. Her blue eyes were fixed on her hand gripping the door knob but she couldn't will herself to open the door.

"It's okay, Jess. I was afraid to go in there the first time, too." Scott said sympathetically.

Jess closed her eyes, took another deep breath and let it slowly. Her hand finally turned the door knob and opened the door. Jess took in a sharp breath when she saw Shelby lying on the bed. She closed her eyes quickly and a tear fell from each eye. She looked back at her sister and walked very slowly up to the bed. Jess rested her hand on Shelby's and licked her suddenly dry lips.

Jess looked back at Scott and Daisy who also came into the room with her and asked, "She's going to be okay, right?"

"The doctors say there's every hope she's going to be fine." Daisy replied in a calm voice.

"Every hope doesn't mean for sure."

"I know, Jess." Scott said.

"She's strong. She'll be fine." Daisy said.

"I know. Shelby's the strongest person I've ever met. If anyone can come out of this it's Shelby." Jess said, looking down at Shelby as another tear fell from one of her eyes.

Jess squeezed Shelby's hand lightly and then let go. Jess was ready to go. She couldn't handle seeing Shelby so helpless, she wasn't used to it and she didn't like it.

"You guys can stay with her. I need to...be somewhere else." Jess said in a sad voice and walked out of the room.

Peter saw Jess walk out of the room and she was about to run down the hall but Peter grabbed her by her arms and turned her to look at him with tears in her eyes.

"Jess," Peter started but was cut off by Jess.

"I just need to be alone right now." Jess said quickly and turned to leave.

"Wait, Jess--" Peter started but was once again cut off.

"No, Peter. Just leave her be. She needs to be alone." Scott said from behind him.

"And since when did you become the expert on dealing other peoples emotions?" David asked with much attitude.

"Since I know exactly how she feels," Scott replied without taking any notice to the attitude in David's voice.

Jess walked down the hallway and then down to the truck. She sat down on the pavement next to the truck and pulled her knees to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her knees and held them to her while crying.

"She's going to be okay. She's going to be okay." Jess kept repeating those words over and over again as she cried.

(A/N)- First, thank you so much for all of the reviews! Second, I got a lot of reviews saying that I was messing up Alice Merrick as a character and let me take this time to say: I did that on purpose! It's all part of the story. She's not staying a bitch as one might be able to tell from this chapter.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. As always, please review! Good or Bad.