A/N – Another chapter, yay! The ending for this one's kind of crappy, but I couldn't think of a good ending for it, so… Sorry. Marla's Lost – Eric continues to live with Chris and his mother because he feels responsible for Chris. He views Chris as his son and doesn't want to leave him behind with his drug addict of a mother. Thanks for the review!

Disclaimer – You know what it is.

After Hyde dropped off Eric, Donna, Jackie, Callie and Chris, he decided to go for a drive, not really in the mood to argue with Eric right now or even really look at him. So after they were all out of the car, he drove off, leaving his friends on the curb.

They all just kind of stood there awkwardly, nobody really wanting to speak. Donna kicked her foot as she held her hands behind her back as Jackie just looked between Donna and Eric, feeling the tension. Callie didn't like this awkwardness, so she turned to Chris and looked up at him.

"Hey Chris, wasn't there something you wanted to show me?" Callie asked, looking up at her new fried expectedly.

Chris gave her a confused look, "No, I don't think—"

"Yes, yes there was," Callie said, grabbing his wrist, "Come on, let's go inside, you know, to the thing you wanted to show me?"

Chris looked befuddled. What on Earth was she going on about? He just played along though as she turned and dragged him inside the apartment building behind them. Donna watched them go, and knew she had to go too. She didn't want to leave Callie in that place with that psycho woman for too long.

"Well, uh… I'm gonna go keep an eye on Callie," Donna said awkwardly, taking a step towards the door, "She can be quite the handful sometimes."

Eric smirked and nodded, "She's a great kid, Donna," He said, "I can tell you're a really great mother."

Donna smiled softly, but she was still a little upset with what happened earlier, "Thanks Eric."

He nodded as she turned to go to the door before he continued, "I'm just going to go on a walk and clear my head. I'll be back within in the hour."

Donna nodded in understanding, "Alright, I'll see you later."

Eric nodded and waved to her as she disappeared behind the door and out of sight. Eric sighed in relief. He didn't really know how much more of that awkward tension he could handle. He wiped his hands over his tired eyes before he noticed Jackie was still with him.

She was smiling up at him, her hands in her pockets. Eric raised an eyebrow, "What are you looking at me like that for?"

Jackie shrugged and walked past him, "Come on."

Eric turned to face her as she walked down the street, "What?"

Jackie huffed and rolled her eyes as she turned around and grabbed Eric's wrist, "I've only been in New York for a day, so I think I need somebody to show me around a little bit. I think you can handle that."

Eric smirked, not really liking this idea. He kind of wanted to be alone for a while, "I don't know."

Jackie slumped her shoulders and gave him a look, "What? You don't think you can handle a beautiful woman for one night?"

Eric smiled. There was the old Jackie. He sighed and gave in, figuring it was probably a bad idea to argue with her, "Alright, fine."

Jackie smiled and grabbed Eric's hand, "Yay!" She squealed in a chipper way, "Now come on, tour guide, let's get moving."

The hour walk turned into an all day event, and Eric was actually kind of glad. He'd had a pretty good time with Jackie today. She was funny, smart, and dare he say, nice? She had changed over the years, but there was still some of the old Jackie he knew and remembered.

They learned a bit about each other on the walk. She learned that Eric was actually almost married one time a couple of years ago and that his fiancé at the time was pregnant. But she had a miscarriage and the stress of that caused them to part ways. Eric told Jackie that he had the feeling the baby was going to be a girl and that he had named her Penny. Jackie thought that was sweet. He still carried the ultrasound picture in his wallet.

Eric learned that Jackie had been in several unhealthy relationships. She was once with a guy named Xavier who was clingy. Apparently he was always calling, wanting to go out all the time, he never gave her time to herself, so they broke up after dating for about six months or so. Another boyfriend of hers was abusive. He would get drunk and yell at her all the time, sometimes he pushed her or smacked her, but Jackie said she kept running back to him. They were together for a year and a half before Jackie finally realized he was never going to change and she left him.

Eric realized that everybody had their personal demons. Donna had the unfortunate death of her husband, Jackie had bad luck with relationships, and Eric had his illness.

It was just something they had to live with and that was reality. And reality sucks.

Sometimes, Eric wished he could go back to being a care free teenager, back to the times when nothing really mattered and he could just relax. Today his life consisted of riding a skateboard around the city, making sure Chris's mother was calm, making sure Chris was safe, and dealing with his illness. He had stressful days most of the time, so he was pretty used to it at this point.

By the time Eric and Jackie neared the apartment building, it was almost dark out. Eric wouldn't at all be surprised if Donna was mad at him for leaving her and Callie by themselves in a drug addict's home. Eric had to admit, it was kind of irresponsible of him, and he deserved what was coming.

But he still had fun with Jackie today.

The pair were still about three blocks away from Eric's apartment and the night time breeze had started to blow. It had become quite chilly as the sun went down. Good 'ol New York winters.

Jackie had become a little cold so she had grabbed onto Eric's arm and snuffled against it for warmth, which really didn't bother Eric much. He was seriously surprised at how much she's changed, and she was surprised all the same with him.

They had really talked about all they could talk about while out on their walk, so there wasn't really much left to talk about. But Jackie did have one question.

"Hey Eric?" She said quietly, not looking up at him as she spoke.

But he looked down at her, "Yeah?"

Jackie pondered for a minute, wondering if she should really ask him this. She decided he wouldn't mind it too much, Eric was always kind of care free, "Does it hurt?"

Eric gave the younger girl a quizzical look, "Does what hurt?"

"You know," Jackie said nervously as she walked next to him, "When you have a seizure?"

Eric looked up and shook his head, "Not normally. I guess it sort of depends on how bad it is."

"What happens with a bad one?" Jackie asked curiously.

"When I wake up I might have a migraine and I may be sore. But normally I just feel tired when it's over," Eric explained.

Jackie nodded as the two crossed the street, "When's the last time you had a seizure?"

Eric looked up at the sky for a moment, trying to think back, "I haven't had a grand mal in about three weeks… I had partial one about two days ago, so don't be alarmed if I have one later, I'm due for one."

Jackie nodded before asking, "Is it scary? Having a seizure?"

Eric shrugged lightly, "Sometimes… I'm usually fine with small ones, but sometimes, if they get too intense, they can be a bit scary."

"You told me earlier you usually don't remember anything about a seizure after having it," Jackie said.

"Yeah, but if it was a major one I might bite my tongue while having it and I'll wake up in a pool of blood," Eric said, "And sometimes you also have the thought lingering in the back of your mind that… If the seizures too intense, it could kill you."

Jackie's eyes widened at that, "Have… Have you ever had one that bad?"

Eric shook his head, "Neh… Not since the 80's, anyway."

Jackie was relieved to hear that. She let out a heavy breath and shivered noticeably, which caused Eric to look down at her curiously, "Are you that cold?"

Jackie shook her head, "No, I'm fine."

Eric rolled his eyes, seeing through the obvious lie. He tugged Jackie off his arm and unzipped his jacket before peeling it off and handing it to Jackie.

Jackie looked down at his green hoodie and then up at Eric, "No, I'm fine, Eric. Really, we're almost to your apartment."

Eric shook his head, "No, keep it. It's kind of cold in the apartment anyway."

Jackie looked down at the jacket again, her eyebrows furrowed, "Are you sure?"

Eric nodded, "I'm always sure."

Jackie shrugged and shimmied her arms through the jacket's sleeves and wrapped it around herself. It was much too big for her small frame, but it was warm and cozy.

Eventually, Eric and Jackie finally made it back to the apartment building. It had been a long day and surely both of them were ready for a good night's sleep. They headed up the stairs, Eric letting Jackie walk ahead of him, until they reached Eric's room.

"Well, thank you for showing me around the city today, Eric, I had a good time, actually," Jackie smiled up at her old friend.

Eric made a face, "You act like that's surprising."

Jackie giggled and smacked him on the arm as Eric pulled his keys out of his pocket and started to put the key in the lock, but his ears suddenly picked up the sound of yelling on the other side of the door. It was a male voice, screaming at somebody angrily. Eric listened for a moment until he heard glass break and a girl scream. Eric pushed the key into the lock and unlocked the door quickly before swinging the door open and rushing inside, Jackie right behind him.

Eric's eyes were met with Chris screaming and pointing an accusing finger at his mother, tears streaming down his face. Eric looked around the room for any sign of glass and he found it on the floor, a few feet behind Chris and lying on the ground in it, was Callie.

Donna was trying to help her daughter up, Callie's hands covered in blood. Eric gasped and threw his keys onto the table next to the door as he rushed into the room to stand between Chris and his mother.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Eric demanded as Donna pulled Callie to her feet.

Chris choked back a sob as he pointed a shaking finger at his mother, "She's been lying to me! All these years, she's been lying to me!"

Eric looked at Chris and furrowed his brow curiously, "What do you mean?"

Chris stormed over to the coffee table, grabbed a book off the top of it, walked back over to Eric and presented him the book, "I rented this from the library today!" Chris cried, showing Eric the cover. It was a book on different types of drugs, "I looked through this to see if I could find what kind of medication she was taking and the only one that had the side effects she was presenting and the only one that looked like her 'medication' was this!" Chris searched for the page in the chapter on addictive drugs and showed Eric a photo of heroin in a syringe.

Eric snatched the book out of Chris's hand and read through the passage quickly. It was pretty detailed and Eric could see how Chris could know this about his mother now. Eric looked up at Chris, then at his crying mother, who looked kind of sober at the moment, and then back at Chris. Eric softened his gaze and walked towards the boy as he threw the book aside onto the floor.

"Chris…" Eric said softly, not wanting to speak too loudly. Eric put a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Calm down. Breathe."

Chris slowly tried calming down as Eric kept his firm grip on the boy's shoulders. As Chris did his breathing exercise Eric looked over his shoulder at Callie and Donna, "Is she okay?" He asked calmly.

Donna nodded with a sympathetic look on her face as Callie chimed in, "It's not my blood," She said as she held her hands out, "I was just trying to clean up the glass, Chris is the one that got cut."

Eric then looked down at Chris and saw that his dominant hand was covered in blood, but there was so much of it Eric couldn't tell where the source of was from, but the cuff of Chris's shirt was soaked through, so it could be on his wrist.

"Okay," Eric said, turning Chris around towards the bathroom, "Come on, let's go get you cleaned up."

Eric directed a heavily breathing Chris to the bathroom as the rest of the group just stood in the living room in complete shock.

Donna looked down at Callie and then up at Chris's mother, who she just learned name was Barbara, "Um, do you have a towel, or…?"

Barbara shakily grabbed a dish towel off the counter and handed it to Donna without speaking a word. Donna tilted her head in appreciation and handed the towel to her daughter, "Thanks."

As Callie cleaned her hands of blood, Barbara shakily grabbed a pack of cigarettes and walked around the counter and grabbed her coat before stuffing the cigarettes into her coat pocket, "I'm going out for the night. Tell Eric I'll be back in the morning."

Donna raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Barbara lit her cigarette and took a puff before narrowing her eyes at Donna, "Tell Eric I'll be back in the morning."

"What? You can't just—" But before Donna could finish, Barbara walked out the door and slammed it shut behind her.

Donna glared at the door in utter confusion and shock. That woman's son had just called her out, tried throwing a glass vase at her, cut his hand up pretty badly, and she decides to just bail out and leave? For the night? Real mature with facing all your problems, lady.

Donna looked down daughter who had just finished cleaning off her hands, the dish towel soaked in blood, "Callie?"

The raven haired girl looked up at her mother, her eyes filled with concern, "Yes?"

"Why don't you go check on Chris? Make sure he's okay," Donna suggested, gently taking the dish towel out of the girl's hands.

Callie nodded in agreement and turned towards the hall, "Alright."

As Callie left, Steven, who had returned about an hour or so after Eric and Jackie went on their walk, turned towards Jackie and grabbed her shoulders, "Are you alright?" He asked in concern.

Jackie seemed confused by this as she furrowed her eyebrows, "Yeah… Why?"

Hyde now looked infuriated as he released Jackie, "Because you've been gone all day! We thought something happened to you!"

Jackie shook her head, "I'm fine, Steven."

"Where the hell have you been?" Donna but in as she took in Jackie's appearance, "And is that Eric's jacket?"

Jackie hugged herself at the mention of it and nodded, "Yes. I got cold, so he gave it to me. And besides, it's none of your guys' business where I've been. I'm a grown woman and I can handle myself."

Donna rolled her eyes, "We were just worried. We didn't even know you went with Eric."

Jackie glared at Donna, "Me and Eric left at the same time, put two and two together, Donna."

Jackie could tell by the way Donna looked at her that she was a little jealous of her. Jackie glared back at Donna and rolled her eyes, "It's been a long day, I'm going to go lay down."

"You do that," Donna snapped as Jackie turned to go down the hallway.

As Jackie disappeared down the hallway, Donna looked down at the dirty towel in her hand. Figuring there was no possible way to get the stains out, Donna went into the kitchen and tossed it in the trash bin before slumping over the counter and putting her face in her hands.

What a long damn day.

March 7, 2001

Donna woke up after her daughter did the next morning. Since Callie was using the shower, Donna decided to go into the kitchen and look for something to eat. She had barely eaten anything in the last couple of days, so she prayed that the psycho living here at least bought cereal and milk for breakfast.

As Donna entered the living room she spotted Chris sitting at the kitchen counter, writing or drawing on a piece of paper.

Donna hobbled tiredly past him into the kitchen, "Good morning, Chris."

The boy tensed up as Donna walked towards the fridge, not saying a word. Donna looked over her shoulder at the boy and noticed he was no longer looking at the paper, but he wasn't looking at her either. He was just sort of looked at the countertop, almost nervously. He's a weird kid. Donna thought. She just shrugged and pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge before going to the cabinets and searching for a cup.

"How'd you sleep last night?" Donna asked, at least trying to make conversation.

"Not well," Chris finally spoke, tapping his pencil on the countertop.

Donna raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder at him as she pulled a cup out of the cabinet above the microwave, "Why not?"

Chris shrugged, "I never sleep well. Eric call's it insomnia."

Donna nodded, "Is it insomnia?"

Chris shook his head, "No. I have nightmares a lot, they usually keep me awake."

Donna nodded in acknowledgement, "What are these nightmares about, usually? If I'm not getting too personal."

"Usually they're about my mother," Chris said, "But sometimes they're about Eric… And sometimes my father."

Donna poured some cereal into a bowl as she asked, "Where is your Dad? Does he live in town?"

Chris shrugged, "Maybe. I don't know him."

Donna stopped what she was doing at that. She put the milk carton down and turned around to face Chris, "You don't know your Dad?"

Chris shook his head, "No. My Mom says he was an asshole and he hit her, but I know that's not true."

Donna gave him a curious look, "What do you mean?"

"He was a one night stand," Chris said, starting to draw again.

"Did somebody tell you that, or…" Donna didn't really know what to say now.

But Chris shook his head and continued, "I heard Mom and Eric arguing one night and it came up," Chris paused for a moment before continuing, "My Mom's really honest with me most of the time though."

Donna stepped towards him, "Like with what?"

Chris kept on drawing as he continued, "She said when she found out she was pregnant with me she was scared. She said she didn't think she could handle taking care of a baby by herself, so she tried to abort me herself with clothes hanger."

Donna put a hand over her mouth at that as Chris continued, "She says she thinks she messed up while she was doing it and that's why I'm weird."

"Your Mom thinks your weird?" Donna asked and Chris nodded.

"Yeah, she says it's why I can't make friends," Chris said honestly. He didn't really seem to be fazed by any of this. He then changed the subject back to his father, "Sometimes I wonder what my Dad's like."

Donna tried coming back from hearing about Chris's mother's past actions. Donna couldn't understand how you could get pregnant and then want to get an abortion. But Donna did have room to talk since she thought she was pregnant at one time and she had never been more scared in all her life.

"Maybe he's a firefighter, or an artist, or something cool like that," Chris said, snapping Donna out of her thoughts, "My Mom told me he was from Japan and that I kind of look like him."

Donna looked at the teenager. Donna did take notice that he didn't look like his mother that much at all, except he did have her nose.

"I've tried asking her more about him, but she said she didn't even know his last name," Chris said, "His first name is George though."

"Have you ever thought about trying to find him?" Donna asked, leaning over the counter to get a better look at the teenager.

"Yeah… But my Mom won't let me take a DNA test to try and found out who he is and I can't take one myself until I'm eighteen. If I just looked for every single George in New York, I'd be searching forever," Chris said, still not looking up.

Donna nodded as she listened to him and then caught sight of the blankets on the couch, "Did you sleep out here last night?"

"Yes," He replied, grabbing a colored pencil and filling in his drawing with red, "I cried for a while, but Callie talked to me. I felt better after that."

Donna furrowed her brow at the mention of her daughter, "Did… Did she go back to sleep with me afterwards?" Donna was just curious. She was a heavy sleeper, so she wouldn't have noticed.

Chris shook his head and grimaced noticeably, "No, she slept on the couch with me."

"Really?" Donna said, but more to herself than to Chris.

Just then, Jackie came walking into the kitchen, yawning loudly and stretching, "Good morning, Donna… Morning Chris."

Jackie ruffled Chris's hair as she passed, obviously annoying Chris with this action.

"Did Callie finally calm you down last night?" Jackie asked as she opened the fridge and looked for the orange juice.

Donna gave Jackie a look before looking back to Chris. The boy's face was a little pink as she stood abruptly. He started to become uncomfortable so he just grabbed his pencils and paper before turning to leave, "I'm going to finish this in my room now."

Chris then quickly left the room as Jackie closed the fridge and giggled. Donna on the other hand, was not amused.

"Jackie," She spoke, putting a hand on her hip, "What was all that about?"

Jackie gave Donna a look, "What was all what about?"

Donna narrowed her eyes at her friend, "Come on now, Jackie. You saw how flustered he got."

Jackie rolled her eyes and poured herself a glass of juice, "Come on, Donna, it's so obvious," Jackie said as she put the orange juice back in the fridge, "I think Chris has a crush on Callie… And I think Callie has a crush on Chris."

Donna widened her eyes, "But… But she's only thirteen! She shouldn't be thinking about boys yet!"

Jackie took a gulp of orange juice before looking at Donna, shifting her weight onto one foot, "When I was thirteen I was thinking about boys. And I'm sure you were too."

"But—But he's two years older than she is! That's kind of weird, right?" Donna asked.

Jackie rolled her eyes as she swished her drink around in its glass, "It's not like he's twenty-five. He's fifteen, and besides, Callie's really mature for her age. She can handle herself."

Donna shook her head and put a hand across her forehead, "This can't be happening… I'm not ready for all the hormones just yet."

Jackie scoffed, "Well you better get prepared."

Donna sighed as footsteps sounded behind her. Jackie looked up as Eric walked into the room, wearing sweatpants and a blue bathrobe, his bare feet smacking against the floor.

"'Morning girls," He greeted as he stretched in front of the couch before he slumped back onto it and grabbed the TV remote.

Jackie raised an eyebrow, "TV as soon as you wake up? No breakfast?"

Eric rolled his eyes, "Sorry 'Mom.'"

Jackie gasped, "Shut up!" She giggled.

Eric smiled and flipped the television on before he relaxed back into the couch cushions. Jackie turned back to Donna and said, "What do you think about Callie and Chris?"

Donna glared at her shorter friend, "Jackie."

"I think they'd make a cute couple," Jackie smiled.

"Shut up," Donna snapped.

"I mean, Chris is kind of cute," Jackie smiled, "He's real nice and polite, he's open and honest. I think he'd make a great boyfriend for Callie."

"Jackie would you please—" Donna was suddenly cut off by Eric suddenly humming quite loudly.

Both Jackie and Donna looked back to see what Eric was doing and saw that he was rocking back and forth a little bit and he had his right hand gripping his left arm, his fingers pulling at the sleeve of his robe.

Jackie gazed at Eric in confusion, "Eric, are you okay?"

He didn't answer, he just kept rocking and tugging on his sleeve. It took Jackie a moment to gather her thoughts, but she soon realized this may be a seizure of some kind.

Jackie put her glass down and looked at Donna briefly before dashing around her to go to the couch where Eric was sitting, "Donna, I think he's having a seizure."

Donna's eyes widened as she quickly followed Jackie to the couch. Jackie sat next to Eric on the couch as Donna stood behind her. Donna hugged herself as Eric's rocked and hummed loudly, not really sure what to do.

"Um…" Jackie was just as shocked and confused, "What should I do? Chris!"

It was the only thing Jackie could think of, he should know what to do. It was only seconds later that Chris was in the living room, "Yes?"

"Um, what do we do?" Jackie asked as she grabbed Eric's arm.

Chris looked down at Eric and walked over into front of him. He noticed Jackie's hand on Eric's arm and swatted his hand at her, "Try not to touch him, it might scare him."

Jackie let go of Eric, following Chris's instructions, "How long do these usually last?"

Chris tilted his head to the side and thought for a moment, "About a minute or so. But after this is over he might not understand what's going on."

So the three sat there and waited for Eric to finish his seizure. It was weird seeing this happen. Whatever you said to him he didn't register, it was like he had blacked out or something, but he was still awake. It scared the girls a little bit, they've never seen anything like this before. After about a minute and a half, Eric stopped rocking and he slowly let go of his arm.

Chris kneeled down in front of him and waited for Eric to focus on him before he spoke, "Eric, can you hear me?"

Eric stayed silent, but he kept his eyes glued to Chris's as Jackie and Donna watched. Chris put his hand up, "Grab my hand if you can hear me," Eric's eyes flicked to Chris's hand and he slowly lifted his hand and grabbed Chris's fingers. Chris nodded, "Good. Can you tell me your name?"

Eric nodded.

"What is it?" Chris asked patiently.

"Eric," He responded, looking around the room as he released Chris's hand.

"What year is it?" Chris asked, never taking his eyes off of Eric.

"2001," Eric replied, looking up at the ceiling.

"What's two times two?" Chris asked.

"Four."

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Chris held up his hand and made Eric look at him.

Eric examined his hand for a minute before answering with, "Three."

Chris smiled softly and nodded, "Good," Chris stood and faced the two girls, averting eye contact, "He should be fine now, but it'll take him a few minutes to fully come back to reality."

Jackie and Donna both nodded before Chris went back to his room. Jackie looked over at Donna and then down at Eric before speaking, "Eric?"

He looked up at Jackie and didn't say a word as she continued, "Are you alright?"

Eric looked away, "Yeah."

It was weird having him answer short answers like this when they were so used to him just rambling on. Eric looked back to the TV and focused his eyes on the two news anchors talking about a shooting downtown.

Jackie turned to look at Donna, a grimace on her face. That was kind of scary for them both, and they haven't even seen a full blown seizure yet, either.