Chad and Whitney were sitting in the living room when Liz came bursting through the door.

“ Who the fuck does she think she is!”

“ Liz?”, Whitney asked, looking at her shocked.

“ Oh Whitney.”

” Is there a reason you’re at the house?”

Liz had to think fast. “ Well, yes. I told your parents that I would see if you were home.”

” Why?”

” Simone’s had an accident of some sort. She’s at the hospital.”

Whitney looked at Chad, and Liz noticed the silent communication from them.

” Oh my God! We have to get to Simone!”, Whitney said.

” I’ll drive you.”

Whitney and Chad left for the hospital. Liz was still fuming as she went over to a picture of  Eve with her family.

” How DARE you say that I had no right to be there. I’m FAMILY, you bitch!”, and she slammed the picture on the floor, breaking the glass in the frame.

“ I’m going to break your family just like I broke this frame, you BITCH!” Liz went upstairs to Eve’s bedroom and started going through her clothes. “ This is ALL going to be mine!”
 

Eve and TC were sitting in the waiting room when Whitney and Chad found them.

” Mom? Daddy? What’s wrong with Simone?”

“ Oh Whitney.”, Eve said, pulling her daughter into a hug. She has hypothermia, and she’s slipped into a coma.”

” A coma?”

“ Somehow she fell off the wharf into the river.”

” At this time of year? She must have been frozen!”, Whitney cried.

” But, she’s going to get better, right?”, Chad asked.

“ We don’t know, Chad. It was good of Whitney to call you, as Simone’s boyfriend.”

Whitney and Chad gave one another a look that Eve noticed, but dismissed.

” Mom, she’s going to get better, right?”

” We don’t know. It’s touch and go right now.”

“ I’ll go get us something to drink.”, Chad volunteered.

“ Thanks, Chad.”, TC replied.

Eve was holding Whitney in her arms, rocking her back and forth, when TC’s cellphone rang.

“ TC, it’s Sam. Just calling to remind you about our breakfast tomorrow.”

” Sammie, I won’t be coming to breakfast, or much else. I’m at the hospital. “

” HOSPITAL? Why?”

” Simone is in a coma. Sam, I…”

” I’m on my way, TC.” Sam Bennett hung up his phone, and went into the living room where Grace was there with David and Ivy. “ Grace, we need to go.”

” Sam?”

” It’s a family matter. Grace and I’ll be gone for awhile.”

Because she saw the gravity in Sam’s eyes, she didn’t fight him. Once they were outside, she confronted him. “ What’s wrong?”

” I called TC, and he told me that Simone is in the hospital in a  coma.”

” On no.”

” Yeah. So, I’m going to be there for TC. I thought you’d want to be there for Eve.”

” I do.”

“ But, there’s someone we have to pick up first.”

” Kay.”, Grace replied.

Sam knocked on Tabitha’s door, and Kay answered.

“ Mom? Dad? What’s wrong? I was about to go to bed.”, Kay replied, standing there in her pajamas and slippers.

” Kay, I got a call from TC. Simone’s in the hospital. In a coma. “

” Oh no!”, Kay flung off her slippers, put on her loafers and put a coat over her pajamas and robe.

” Kay..”, Grace asked.

” Mom, if Simone’s in a coma, she doesn’t care what clothes I’m wearing. Am I driving or are you?”, Kay said, out the door, not waiting for an answer.
 

Whitney went over to Chad as her parents held hands.

“ You don’t think what happened tonight with Simone is our fault, do you?”, Whitney asked.

” Whitney…”

” Chad, what if she was so distracted by finding out about us that she didn’t look where she was going, and fell into the water?”

” I don’t think so.”

” Come on, she was devastated. We both know that behind all that anger was nothing but a distraught girl.”

” Sometimes bad things happen.”

” Or there are causes behind them.”

Just then Sam, Grace and Kay found the family. Sam and Grace went to Eve and TC trying to comfort them, while a furious Kay came over to Chad and Whitney.

” Wondering if your betrayal sent Simone over the edge?”, Kay said quietly but furiously.

Whitney looked at Kay shocked…” Wh…what are you talking about?”

” Spare me your innocent routine. I know that Simone found out about the two of you tonight. I warned her about you. I told her that you didn’t give a crap about her, and that you were after Chad.”

” You…you don’t know anything!”, Whitney replied.

” I know that BOTH of you betrayed her, and I’m willing to bet my child that YOU TWO are the reason Simone’s in a coma! Quit the concerned sister act, Whitney. We BOTH know that’s a bold-faced fraud!”

” Back off, Kay.”

” No, I won’t. And, you. You useless excuse for a man. Simone gave you her friendship and her heart, and stomped on it at every turn. I wonder how Coach Russell would feel about finding out about how much you used his baby girl? Hmmm…..let’s predict his reaction.” Kay turns to walk away when Whitney grabs her arm.

” Let go of me, Whitney.”, Kay warned.

” No. You…you can’t tell my parents.”

” Why not? Why not tell them WHY Simone’s in a coma. I think they deserve to know.”

Kay pulls away her arm from Whitney’s grasp and briskly walks over to the adults.

“ Coach Russell, Dr. Russell, I think I know the reason WHY Simone is in a coma.”