After picking Lizzy up from the floor, where she'd been sleeping since 3am apparently, Brian brought his disheveled and miserable sister into the kitchen while Lacey sorted Tyler out with some cartoons to keep him busy while they talked things out.

"Lizzy, what are you doing back in Huntington? Not that I don't love having you here, because I do, I just thought you liked New York, you have a whole life there" Brian asked, and she stared back at him for a moment before she burst into tears, big loud baby sobs that made him pull her into a tight hug, just like he used to do when they were kids.

He wasn't entirely sure what she was crying about, but she sounded like she was hurting pretty bad, so all he had to do was hold her and help her make the pain go away. That was what she needed- for her big brother to tell her that everything was going to be OK.

"It all went wrong Brian! I thought it was going to be alright, but all I did was make things worse!" she wailed into his chest, and he held her tighter, he cries slicing straight through his heart. He hated to hear her cry, or Lisa cry for that matter. Tyler and Lacey too. It must've been an emotional thing.

Lacey walked in at that point, finally having gotten Tyler settled and her eyes widened when she saw what a distressed state Lizzy was in. She grabbed a chair for Brian and took over from him at comforting Lizzy, who just started to cry harder. She'd fucked everything up for good this time- yet she hadn't even stayed in her own home, she'd come back to the place where she always felt there would be answers.

"Lizzy, sweetheart, we can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong. You wanna tell us why you left New York all of a sudden?" Lacey asked softly, lifting up the girls head and picking up a tissue from the counter. Her make-up was smudged, black lines of eyeliner and mascara dribbling down her face like spider legs across her skin. Taking a deep and shaky breath in, Lizzy took the tissue and dabbed at the tears, hoping she wouldn't break down all over again when the time finally came for her to tell her brother and his wife why she'd come back to the west coast.

"My boyfriend slept with my assistant, I lost my highest paying client, I can't pay the fucking bills and nothing I'm doing is working anymore! I found him with her last night, and didn't know where else to go. So I got on a plane at JFK and flew to LA. I took a cab back here and seeing as your door was locked, I camped outside of your house. And then Tyler found me this morning and...here we are" she whispered hoarsely, and Brian's shoulders slumped a little. He felt like it was his fault.

He called his sister every week to make sure things were going OK, and every time he asked, she'd responded with 'everything's fine' and quickly changed the subject. It was a little un-nerving to hear her breaking down in the middle of his kitchen, and saying that everything in her life was falling apart, so much so that she'd felt the need to run back to California, leaving her life behind her.
Had he really been that blind?

"That son of a bitch! I'll tell you Lizzy, if he doesn't treat you like a goddamn princess, then he's not worth keeping. That's why I kept your brother around because I've got him wrapped around my finger nice and tight" Lacey announced, snapping Brian out of his little daydream with a slightly annoyed 'hey!' in her direction. She smiled at him, and hugged Lizzy again. Lacey may have been only a little older than Lizzy, but the two of them still acted like sorority sisters sometimes.

"Well, it's four years of my life I'll never get back" she muttered, running her hand through her greasy hair and closing her eyes. Brian only noticed now that there were dark circles under there, like she'd been lying awake for months, listening to the New York traffic.

"If you're sticking around, I'll have to call everyone! No one's seen you since Jimmy and Jamie's wedding, and that was three years ago! When did you last talk to Zacky?" Lacey said conversationally, pulling a whiskey bottle out of the fridge.

"Lace, it's ten thirty in the morning" Brian said as a sort of protest- she'd never let him drink before midday.
"Brian, in case you didn't realise, your sister is feeling like a big bag of crap right now. She needs alcohol more than you do" she retorted, but still handing him the bottle once she'd poured glasses for her and Lizzy.

"I haven't spoken to Zacky since the wedding. We...well, we kind of left that celebration on bad terms. He was still single and I told him to go out and find someone, or else he'd die alone. He said he wouldn't, he didn't have the heart for it anymore" she admitted and Brian and Lacey looked at each other.

Lizzy never got told about Annabelle. Oh no...

"Brian, can you get Tyler changed and then make up the guest bedroom for your sister? She's gonna be staying with us for a while" Lacey said without taking her eyes off of Lizzy. Brian nodded, kissing his wife's cheek and pulling Lizzy into a tight bear hug.
"It's good to have you back, baby sis. I missed you"

Once he was gone, Lacey leant forward and poured her another glass of whiskey. She wasn't exactly sure how Lizzy was going to take the news that her old sweetheart had finally moved on, a little further than she was expecting.

"Did anyone tell you about what happened to Zacky...after the wedding?" she asked and Lizzy shook her head, downing the glass in one and wincing. It burned her throat, but it was a familiar burn that she liked. Lacey took a deep breath and looked down at her nails, which were painted a deep purple colour.
"Sweetie, he got a girlfriend. He changed, moved to Laguna Hills. He only saw the guys when they were touring- it was like he was being kept away by something. And everyone but him knows that it's his girlfriend. They're complete opposites, yet he says he loves her enough to change himself for that love. We hardly ever see him anymore. It's like she controls him"

Lizzy didn't say a word, her teeth clenching together. She didn't know whether she was mad at Zacky for moving on so quickly, or mad at the bitch of a girlfriend that was controlling his life.
"So? Why are you telling me this? Zacky getting a girlfriend isn't that such big news" Lizzy muttered, grabbing the bottle and taking a swig of it.

"Honey, she's not his girlfriend anymore. She's his fiancee"
"But Zacky hates conventional marriage. He even said he was going to have a Hugh Hefner thing going on until he died"
"I know, but she made him do it. She told him to propose or she was leaving him. And she's got him wrapped around her finger too- and he jumped right up and did it"

Lizzy was stunned into silence.

Brian was in the room directly above them, watching his son point out people on the beach while he changed the sheets of the guest bed. He could hear Lizzy and Lacey talking through the open door, and he could only guess that they were talking about Zacky. He hadn't seen his best friend in weeks, and he wondered if calling him up to come round would only result in Annabelle, that bitch of a fiancee, refusing to let him go. She was like a mother who didn't want her son playing with the big boys.

"Daddy! Uncle Jimmy's on the beach- he's chasing a Labrador!" Tyler cried happily, pointing out of the window and Brian set down the sheet, pulling out his cellphone. He quickly tapped in Jimmy's number and after a few rings the man himself picked up.

"GATES! I'm right by your house, what the fuck are you calling me for?" Jimmy cried from the other end of the line, and Brian could almost hear the dog barking in his ear.

"Round up the boys, including Zacky. I don't care if you to pry him from her cold dead hands, get him down here. Guess who's back in town?"
Jimmy began to guess. "Thin Lizzy?"

"Halfway there. Lizzy's back in town"