Summer thrashed around in her bed, before bolting upright. She looked down at her hands, and saw that there was some blood in her fingernails.

She lay her head back down on her pillow, and tried to go back to sleep. But she kept waking up in a cold sweat.

Summer decided to get up and go downstairs to the kitchen. She rubbed her temples, as she took a carton of milk out of the fridge and drank it, without putting it in a cup.

"Is that very sanitary?"

Summer froze instantly, the milk in her mouth beginning to feel like bile. That voice…that voice had been responsible for her nightmares.

She spun around and tried to punch Joe Solomon in the face, but he caught her fist halfway through the air.

"I suppose if your children get sick, you'll know why." Joe shrugged. He pulled Summer over to the kitchen table, and shoved her into a seat.

"What are you doing in my house?" Summer was furious now. Her fury had almost reached the high level that her fear was currently at.

"I just wanted to see my beautiful sister-in-law." Joe winked mischievously.

0oo0oo0

"You've found her?" Liz looked at Townsend and Mr. Solomon incredulously. Her thin face had such a bright countenance, that the men didn't want to tell her the rest.

Liz tilted her head, looking at them, "There's more…isn't there?"

When they wouldn't answer, she looked from Townsend to Mr. Solomon desperately, "What are you not telling me?"

Edward Townsend cleared his throat, and began to say the hardest words he had ever had to say in his entire clandestine career. "Ms. Sutton, your mother. We find her, but…we found her on a hospital cot in the hallway of a hospital. Apparently, when she couldn't pay the medical bills anymore, they moved her into the hallway. The nurses seemed rather busy, but we were able to find out that she won't be…around much longer."

Liz looked in the direction of Townsend, but she didn't see him. She felt as though all of the air in her had been knocked out. She couldn't breathe. Liz fell to her knees, clawing at the air, trying to convince it to stay in her body.

Her vision began to have spots, and the worried voices surrounding her sounded as though they were miles away. Her head began to pound, as though someone had taken a hammer to her head. Liz breathed out one single word before she fainted, "Mom…"

0oo0oo0

"Are you sure that you want to be here?" Abby whispered in Liz's ear. She had a grip on her arm, so that if she had another fainting spell, Abby would be there to catch her.

"I'm sure." Liz steeled her nerves, ready to come face-to-face with her mother; the mother that had abandoned them; the mother that had known that her daughters were suffering at her husband's abusive hands, and yet hadn't even considered taking any of them with her.

When Liz walked around the corner, and saw the frail, emaciated body lying on the forgotten cot, her nerves began to weaken.

"Mom," Liz cried as she ran towards the bed. She threw herself on her mother, and began to weep.

She didn't realize, until after she had begun to quiet down, that there was a small hand combing her hair.

"Mama," Liz whispered, her voice breaking again.

"Liz," Mrs. Sutton rasped out of her mummified body. "I'm sorry…and please…tell Ellie…that I loved her…."

Liz gazed down at her mother and believing that she had finished talking, began to get up. She now knew for a fact that her mother had only ever loved Ellie.

"Liz," Mrs. Sutton reached up to grab Liz's arm, "I'm very sorry…about everything…I wish I could've been a better mother to you…and Ellie. Please forgive…me? I…love…you."

Renewed tears sprang from Liz's tear ducts, and flowed down her face. "I forgive you."

Mrs. Sutton smiled up into Liz's face, and grasping Liz's hand, let out her last breath.

"Mom?" Liz touched her mom's face, not accepting that she was truly dead. "Mama? Please, no! You can't leave me yet…you haven't watched me graduate…or get married…or even seen your own grandchildren. MOM! Don't leave me alone!"

Liz felt a hand touch her back softly; she turned her tear-streaked face to see Cammie, and the rest of the girls.

"You're never going to be alone…" Cammie whispered.