The next morning, Georgie trekked down the hall to her mother's door an hour before the appointment at the hospital. She knocked and waited.

"Come in!" Lou's voice called out.

Georgie twisted the knob and pushed the door open. "Hey," was all she could muster up before she noticed the makeup brush in her mother's hand. It was oddly comforting to see an action so familiar at a time like this.

"Sweetie," said Lou in between brush strokes. "You're up."

"You're leaving soon?"

"Probably in about twenty minutes."

"Okay, let me go with you."

"Oh…" Lou hesitated, setting the brush down on the surface of her vanity. "Honey, I don't know, I was, I was thinking…"

"You don't want me there."

"No, it's not that. You know it isn't," said Lou in her firmest voice.

"Alright, I get it," Georgie said, waving a hand. "Who's going with you?"

"Your father said he'd drive me."

A question formed in Georgie's eyes, but she let it die before it reached her lips. "Okay."

"And I think Amy's going, too. Would you be able to get the girls ready for school, then? It would be a huge help."

Georgie chewed on the inside of her right cheek, contemplating her answer. Her gaze gradually fell to the floor. "Guess I'll do that." Her hand hadn't yet lifted from the doorknob, so she swiftly maneuvered herself out of the room.

As Lou and Amy entered the kitchen a little while later, Georgie stood with her back against the counter as she idly stirred the pancake batter, an arm cradling the bowl.

Georgie's vision unblurred and she stood up straighter when she heard Lou and Amy greet their daughters hello, who were seated at the table. She couldn't help but look up.

Lou crouched a little to get to Katie's level and moved a strand of hair out of her daughter's eyes. "Your dad and Amy are going to go with me today. Try not to worry too much, okay? We're gonna figure this out."

Katie's gaze was low, but she listened to every word her mother was putting out there. She nodded, leaning forward, which Lou took as an indication that Katie wanted a hug.

As Lou's arms went around Katie, she met Georgie's eyes for a brief moment before her eldest tore her gaze away from her, continuing to stir.

When Lou eventually went over to the mud room and took a seat on the bench, Georgie turned, realizing. "Have you eaten?" She directed the question at Lou. "Mom?"

"Hmm?" Lou was surprised. "I didn't really get a chance this morning."

Georgie set the bowl beside the griddle, pausing a moment. There wasn't exactly time to make breakfast for Lou before she left. Georgie plucked out a granola bar from the pantry, walked over to her mother and pressed it into her hand. "Here."

"Oh, Georgie…" Lou tried, the bar resting flat on her palm.

"It's just a granola," Georgie reassured. "Take it."

"Alright, fine."

Lou, realizing that they weren't exactly going anywhere until Peter drove over from the dude ranch, decided to unwrap the granola.

By the time the afternoon rolled by, Lou had told Rick about the call and the appointment, and he'd made his way to the house to work through some logistics with her.

"We're going to have to draft a statement," Rick said to Lou once he'd sat down across from her on the couch.

"Wait, what?" Georgie, who'd been standing by, intercepted. "That's nobody's business!"

"I agree," said Rick. "But this is going to come out sooner or later, and it's best that people hear it from Lou herself. Or the administration, at the very least."

"From Lou herself," Georgie repeated. "That's a good point, I hadn't…hadn't considered it."

Lou parted her lips to say something, but no words formed.

Georgie met her mother's eyes for a brief moment, and then looked away, regret instantly dawning on her, but it was too late to take back what she said. She turned her attention to Rick. "I was about to make coffee. Rick, would you like some?"

Rick accepted the gesture, and he and Lou began discussing. "So, who else knows about this?" He began.

"Right now, just the family. That includes Peter, he's here. He knows," Lou said to Rick, but her eyes followed Georgie as she disappeared into the kitchen.

Rick nodded. "Okay, good. Before the statement is sent out, it's best that we keep it as quiet as possible. They really do need to hear it from you."

Lou tried her best to focus on the task at hand, but the pensive look on her daughter's face continued to tug at the back of her mind.

"She hates me," said Lou as she peered over the rim of her cup, the steam from the hot coffee visible in the cold morning air.

Peter sighed. "I don't think that's the least bit true, honey."

"Well, you should've seen her yesterday when Rick came by. The resentment in her voice, she was just so…"

"She'll get over it eventually, I'm sure. Or at the very least, she'll get better at hiding it." Peter tried his best to reassure her.

Lou gave him a small smile, dipping her eyebrow disapprovingly. "You're not helping."

"I know, I know. But you gotta look at it from her perspective. She was completely thrown by the news, and, well…" Peter shrugged a shoulder, as if that explained everything.

"You even warned me that this would happen. But I was so sure of myself, so confident that she wouldn't…" Lou sighed. "I don't know."

"The only reason she's mad is because she loves you."

"Yeah, no, I know."

"Because if this were someone else's news, and they didn't tell her right away—"

"I know. I just wish there was something I could do to get her to stop being so mad at me."

Peter brought his cup of coffee up to his mouth and took a sip.

"I've been thinking. We should probably tell them."

He turned. "Oh, yeah? When?"

"I don't know. Now?"

Peter's eyebrows tipped up. "You're sure?"

Lou nodded. "I'm positive."

A smile crept onto Peter's lips. "Okay, then."

Once the two of them had finished their coffee, they picked themselves up, gathered the blanket from the bench and entered the house.

Katie sat at the roundtable, her back facing the door. She was pouring herself some cereal when her parents walked in.

"Hey, honey, where's your sister?" Lou asked her as she set the mugs down in the sink.

"Probably in her room."

"Could you call her downstairs? We need to talk to you guys."

Without asking what was going on, Katie headed up the steps to the attic.

Once the girls came back down, Katie returned to her seat and Georgie went directly to the coffee pot. "You wanted to talk to us about something?" She asked, pouring the coffee.

Peter approached Lou, putting a hand on her back.

Lou took in a preparatory breath. "Yes. Well…your father and I have thought about this long and hard, and we've decided that we're…well, we're back together."

Georgie swung around. She dropped the mug; it hit her foot and shattered on the floor.

Katie shot out of her seat when Georgie began waving her hand in the air, as if she were drying it out from the coffee she'd spilled on it. She pulled her sister to the sink and had her run cold water over her hand.

"Honey—" Lou began.

"It's fine, it's fine," said Georgie, waving her worry away.

Peter cleared his throat after a moment or two, unsure of whether to go on. "How do you guys feel about this?"

Georgie turned to face both her parents as Katie turned off the tap. "Are you serious?"

Lou and Peter exchanged a look. Turning to Georgie, he said, "Sweetheart, we have thought about this a lot. It's not like we're rushing into it."

"Oh, well as long as you thought about it," Georgie shot back, prompting Katie to smack her sister's arm. "How can you guys just dump this on us when we're still trying to wrap our heads around the diagnosis?"

Lou finally spoke. "I don't understand. I thought you two would be happy."

Katie nodded when her mother's eyes met hers. "I'm really happy for you two," she tried her best to sound upbeat, but her words seemed to fall flat.

Silence ensued.

After a moment, Georgie finally found her voice. "No, I mean, why now? Just when I finally started to be okay with all of this…"

Lou spoke up. "I know, honey, and we thought about keeping the news quiet for a bit, but we all know how that went the last time…"

Georgie shook her head disapprovingly. Turning her attention to Peter, she said, "With everything that they're about to put her through, you really think this is the time?"

"What!? No! We decided to get together before any of this happened." Peter defended his position.

"Well, I don't care. This still isn't the right time for any of this!" Georgie shot back, a hand slicing the air as she took a step forward. Wincing internally, she took a pause.

"Georgie?"

She turned to her mother's voice.

"What's the matter? Is it your foot?"

Georgie's lips parted. "No. The mug missed it."

Lou paused a moment before she went on. "Look, honey, we're happy. This is good for all of us."

"Alright, fine. How's this supposed to work? Is Dad moving back here?"

"Well, no…" Peter began to answer, but faltered when Georgie let out a groan. "But it's going to be different. We'll be a family from now on."

"Yeah, that's what you told me seven years ago."

Nobody spoke after that. Georgie turned her attention to the shards of ceramic on the floor. Katie handed her a brush and dust pan and went back to her spot.

Georgie avoided meeting anyone's eyes until she was about ready to leave the room. She made the mistake of looking at her mother, who seemed like she wanted to say something, but there simply were no words there.

Georgie didn't come down for the rest of the day. When she didn't appear at dinner, Katie volunteered to bring up some food for her.

Katie knocked and then didn't wait for a response before she opened the door and entered the room. "Hey. You missed dinner," she pushed the tray in her hands forward.

Georgie was sitting up in bed, her feet stretched out in front of her. She shut her laptop and dropped it beside her. "Yeah. They ask about me?"

Katie nodded.

"You didn't tell them, did you?"

Katie sighed. "No. I told you I wouldn't, so I won't. But, um…do you need something for it? Maybe ice?"

"No, forget it."

"I'll grab it when nobody's in the kitchen."

"No. I don't want it."

Katie stared a moment before she went on. "Okay, look, I get that you're mad at the both of them, but what's the point of taking it out on yourself?"

"I'm not, okay, I'm not. I just don't need it."

Katie sighed as she put the tray down on the mattress. "Alright, well, here's your food. Text me if you need anything."

"Wait." The covers rustled under her as Georgie crossed her leg. When her sister turned around, she continued. "You're seriously okay with all of this?"

Katie shrugged. "Well, yeah. I've always wanted this, and it's like…well, why aren't you happy about it?"

I mean, if they were going to get back together anyway, Georgie didn't say, shaking her head as if to make her thoughts dissolve away. "I'm just worried about Mom. And you." Katie started, parting her lips to say something, but Georgie didn't let her go any further. "It feels like we're dealing with two storms at a time here. I mean, of course I want everything to go okay."

"No, I know."

"But if it doesn't? Who's going to clean up the mess?"

Katie's mouth twisted. "Maybe that's not for you to worry about."

After sitting with Georgie for a while, Katie went downstairs to see her mother. She stopped at the door, resting a hand on the frame. Lou sat in her bed, paperwork spread out in front of her.

Lou's head went up at the sound of her daughter's footsteps. A smile waited to grace her lips. "Honey, did you need something?"

Katie hovered by the door. "I needed to say I'm sorry."

Lou's eyebrows dipped, a gentle frown forming on her face. "For what?" As Katie crossed over, Lou gathered the paperwork, closed the file and put it on the nightstand. She gestured for Katie to sit in front of her. "What is it?"

"Um, so you know how you told everyone that you would tell Georgie after the news was confirmed? But then she magically appeared and already knew about everything—"

"You called your sister here," guessed Lou.

"Yeah."

Lou nodded, pursing her lips.

"I'm really sorry. I probably should've listened to you, but it's just, I knew she'd want to be here. Everyone in the family knew, and she had a right as well. And I understand if you're mad at me. You can ground me if you want. I didn't listen to you and then—"

"Katie, honey," said Lou, trying to get her daughter to look at her. "Just stop, it's okay."

"Wait, what?"

"I said it's okay."

"Really?"

Lou nodded. "Really. I thought that it would be better to wait it out, but obviously it wasn't. And you saw that. You knew I needed her here."

Georgie was on a quest to find a snack. She hadn't yet entered the kitchen when her mother's voice made her stop in her tracks.

"Are you limping?"

"W-what?"

"I thought you said the mug didn't—"

"Uhh…"

"Oh, my god, honey…"

"It's fine. It was worse yesterday."

"Well, why didn't you say anything?"

"Because," Georgie sighed. "We're dealing with enough already. And besides, I didn't want to give you another excuse to avoid making a decision."

"What decision?"

Georgie's eyebrows tipped up. "You're kidding, right? It's been days since your appointment and you haven't said much about what you want to do next."

Lou scoffed quietly, turning her attention to the floor.

"And last night at dinner, too. You didn't want to hear a word of it."

"Georgie, look—"

"No, Mom, stop!" Georgie exclaimed, her voice rising in pitch. "Please, would you just sit down and think about it? Nothing good is going to come out of avoiding the issue. If you continue like this, I'm probably going to end up in a body cast by the end of next week."

Lou's breath caught. "What?"

Georgie's expression was gentler now. "That was a joke."

A quiet laugh escaped Lou's lips, tears stinging her eyes. "Okay, alright."

Georgie stepped closer to her mother. "But in all seriousness, we need to figure out our next steps. Have you done any research? Because I've been looking up a few things—"

"Yes, yes, of course I have."

Georgie exhaled. "You have."

Lou nodded.

"Okay. Maybe we can look at it together. Figure it out."

Lou was pleasantly surprised. She didn't even try to hide her smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Lou's smile grew a little wider, and Georgie reached out to hug her.

A/N: Hello hello! Thank you so much for reading. Please leave reviews, they always motivate me to write more! I'd really really appreciate it :)