"Summer, there is someone here to see you." Lindy, Summer's secretary, said into the intercom.

Summer told Lindy to tell whoever it was to wait a few minutes, before turning back to her stacks of folders. As she flipped aimlessly, through the papers within, her mind was on the little girls in the hospital, instead of looking at the letters on the paper.

"I'm sure that I can help them…I just need to figure out where their mom went." Summer began to think of different ways of how to be able to find the mother.

The door slammed open, almost ripping it off of its hinges.

Summer jumped, and couldn't help but let a little yelp out.

Standing in the doorway was Joe Solomon, and he looked incredibly impatient.

0oo0oo0oo0

Liz looked at her younger sister who was sleeping peacefully on the bed next to her. Ellie was now on the road to recovery, and she slept quite often.

Liz was almost fully recovered, she just had a few cuts and bruises, and apparently, she would be allowed to be signed out of the hospital tomorrow.

Ellie turned onto her side, and began to murmur.

Liz leaned closer, to hear what her sister was saying.

"Why did you leave? You said you wouldn't…why, why, mommy. You said you'd protect us…" Tears began to stream down her face, and Liz tried to reach out and comfort her sister, but she was restricted by the needle sticking into her arm.

"Ellie, Ellie!" Liz leaned out as far as she could, so that she was nearer to her sister's ear. "Wake up!"

Ellie jumped a little, and she then turned to Liz, her face wet with the salty tears that were continuing to fall. "She's gone forever, isn't she? Daddy made her go away didn't he?"

Liz nodded sullenly. She had to let Ellie believe those lies, because she knew that if Ellie knew the real reason why their mother had left…she would be broken, forever.

Ellie had always loved their mother, and their mother had probably loved Ellie…as for Liz….Liz had never lived up to be what their mother wanted her to be.

"Knock, knock. May I come in?" The friendly nurse opened the bedroom door a crack, before opening it fully, when she was invited in. She pushed a trolley in, laden with food for lunch.

Ellie looked at it hungrily, while Liz was afraid what they were supposed to do with all of it.

"Oh, don't worry. You're not expected to eat all of it!" The nurse chirped. "You'll be having friends in here too, to help you eat." She then smiled, and left the room.

Soon enough, Liz and Ellie could here chatter coming down the hallway, signaling the arrival of their friends.

Bex burst through the door first, and immediately headed for the food. After she had had an apple, she smiled hello.

Cammie, Macey, Abby, Headmistress Morgan, and Townsend all appeared relatively soon after her. Hellos echoed throughout the room, and lunchtime was spent full of laughs and jokes, although…Townsend didn't laugh as much as everyone else. But that was expected.

As Liz looked around the room, she noticed that someone was missing, and then she decided to ask where he was. "Where's Mr. Solomon?" She hadn't directed the question at anyone in particular, but no one answered her. "Do you guys know where he is?"

The whole room seemed to move in unison. Everyone shook their heads.

"When I asked him, this morning, he said that he had some business to take care of. I'm assuming it may be an asset, or probably some long-lost girlfriend." Townsend commented, as though he didn't care where Joe was. Although, in reality, the curiosity was eating him up as much as anyone else. He just couldn't show it.

"Oh, okay." Liz looked down at the sandwich she was eating. She had really hoped that Mr. Solomon was here, because she needed to talk to him.

Just then, the door swung open to reveal none other than, Joe Solomon. He walked in, eased himself onto the arm of Abby's armchair, before saying, "Hello Liz and Ellie. I'm glad that the both of you look better today." He then half-smiled, before helping himself to a sandwich.

After everyone had finished eating lunch, they began to disperse in every direction. Soon enough, Mr. Solomon and Townsend were the only people left in Liz and Ellie's room.

"I do believe that Ms. Sutton would like to say something to you, Joe." Townsend said under his breath.

"I do believe you're correct Edward." Joe whispered back. "Do you mind staying here with Ellie, while I take Liz for a walk?"

"No. I would quite like to get to know this younger Ms. Sutton." Townsend got up from the wooden chair he had been sitting on and dragged it over to Ellie's bed.

As he began to talk to her, Joe got up and helped Liz out of bed.

"Where were you?" Liz asked meekly, once they were out in the park behind the hospital.

"I had some business to take care of." Joe replied looking straight ahead, unable to look at the little girl next to him. She was by far the weakest in Cammie's group…but she could disarm you with far more ease than anyone else in the group. Liz simply had to look at you with her big eyes.

"Okay," Liz nodded sullenly, "is everything okay?"

"Yes, it's fine." Joe stopped walking and waited for Liz to turn around and face him. "What do you want to ask me?"

"Oh," Liz looked disappointed that she had been so easily read. "I want to know if you can find my mom."

Joe looked confused, so Liz helped explain, "She left a while ago. She didn't want to take us…well she may have wanted to take Ellie, but never me." At this point her voice broke a bit, and her already fragile body looked like it was going to break with the wind pushing against it.

"I never lived up to her expectations of a perfect daughter, but Ellie still has some hope." Liz looked up at Joe, and Joe could see that Liz was trying incredibly hard not to let her tears come flooding out. She gulped nervously. "Could you try to find her, and tell her to come help Ellie? Please? Ellie needs a mother figure, and I just want the best for her."

"What about you?" Joe got onto his knee, so that he was closer to Liz's height. "What about you?"

"I don't matter." Liz shrugged, trying to make it seem like she didn't care that her mother didn't love her.