Standing in the street leaning on the door of the loaner car staring at the dwelling across the way, a small smile crosses her face as she thinks back to the last week under the gabled roof of her childhood home.

"Nathaniel, Gemma time for dinner." Gemma looked out over the perfectly mowed lawn as her little brother rushed toward her from where he had been playing with his toys. "Coming Mom," yells Nathaniel. "Come on Sis, you know mom fixed your favorite dessert for tonight."

Gemma smiled at the tyke as she turned to open the door. Something catches her shoelace as she takes a step. She looked down to see the family pet, a cat named Tiger, swatting at her foot. Bending down she picked him up, listening to it purr against her chest. "Oh Tig. What am I going to do with you, you silly thing you." As she distributes the gray striped ball of fur onto the table under the bay window on the porch, Nathaniel sprints by her into the house saying, "You best not bring that animal in here. You know I have allergies" in his best impersonation of their mother, Rose. Laughing, Gemma enters and says "Oh yes Rose, I know. No filty animal is going to darken your spotless floors."

At dinner, Gemma and Nathaniel sit at the dining room table listening to their mother gossiping about some ladies of the church with their father, Nate, the local pastor.

"Rose, you need to quit listening to those busy bodies," Nate told her as he took another bite of chocolate cake. Rose just scoffed at Nate and shuts down. "Oh here we go again. The silent inquisition," Gemma though.

Just then Nathaniel, who has been sitting there shoveling in the rest of his dinner so he can get a big piece of cake, dropped his fork and grabbed his chest. "Mom," is all he could say before slumping over in his chair.

The day of the funeral, after they've laid her sweet little brother to rest in the local cemetary, people were milling about the house but Gemma was shut up in her room looking at photo albums. She hears a light knock on her door and relunctantly gets up to answer it. "Hi." says Wayne Unser, a boy from school.

"Um, I just wanted to come check on you before we head out." Gemma had noticed that not many of the kids she went to school with had bothered to attend her brother's funeral or had even stopped by to offer their condolences. But Wayne had and for that Gemma was grateful. "Oh, hi Wayne. Yea, I'm fine. Just couldn't take it anymore. People wanting to hug me and ask me if I was okay. And if I didn't show what they thought of as remorse, I'd get the look like I had two heads or something." Gemma explained as she sat back on her bed, closing the album. "I cried all my sorrows out at the hospital. It's that stupid family flaw. It's genetic. I have it too. We got it from Rose."

"I'm so sorry Gemma. I just wanted to see if you needed anything. I can bring your homework to you tomorrow if you don't think you'll be in school."

"Thanks Wayne," Gemma says as she stands and lays a hand on his cheek. "I'll be in school tomorrow. Like I said, I cried all I'm going to cry. We knew it was going to happen. It was just a matter of time. I always thought it would be me to suffer though." Wayne leaned in to hug Gemma and then turned toward the door.

"Thanks for being a friend, Wayne."

"Yea, you're welcome." Wayne says, hurrying out the door before Gemma noticed just how that hug had affected him.

The next weekend there wass a party planned in a field on the outskirts of town. Being that it's only been a week since her brother passed away, Gemma delegates herself to try and help her mom who has been in a deep depression ever since the surgeon at St. Thomas broke the news to them that Nathaniel hadn't made it.

"Mom," Gemma says, opening the door to her parents' bedroom. Rose isn't in the room so she crosses to the bathroom door thinking maybe her mom is in there. Knocking lightly on the door, she saw her mom standing in front of the mirror looking at herself. Tears were running down her face as she ran her fingertips across her chest. "If only I hadn't cursed him. If only I hadn't been the one to have the disease. It's all my fault. I told Nate that it was a bad idea but he wanted a child. Now that child is gone. Gone forever! My baby boy is never coming back." Rose turned and walked out of the bathroom, right past Gemma. "Mom, is there anything I can do?" Gemma asked her distraught mother. Rose proceeded to walk toward the bedroom door and through it, down the hallway and out the door that led to her gardens. "She doesn't even see me anymore!" Gemma thought. "I don't know why I even thought of trying to help her. Nathaniel was always her favorite." At that, Gemma decides to attend that party after all.

At the party, Gemma takes the third drink that is handed to her and drinks it quickly, liking the feeling of courage it's giving her. Other than drinking some wine someone found with a few friends before, Gemma had never had a chance to drink. She sure liked the way it made her feel. Like she could do anything she wanted. After her drink was gone, she noticed a guy from her biology class standing next to a pickup talking to some blonde girl. She stumbled over to him and said "Hey Jacob. Haven't seen you in a while. You been skipping classes?" Gemma began laughing and said, "Oh wait. That's me." Jacob Hale took his eyes off the girl he had been flirting with to look at Gemma. "Well well well. If it isn't the preacher's daughter. Looks like you are feeling pretty good. How abouts another drink, on me of course."

"Oh of course," Gemma said. "Jacob Hale, you trying to rack up some brownie points? All the drinks are free, you big dope." That caused Gemma to go into a laughing fit. Jacob and his friend walked off. "Oh come on," Gemma yelled out to no one in particular. "Where's the party? This lame shit is boring!"

Gemma is almost immediately accosted from behind by two big hands around her waist. "You wanna party girl?" the unknown assailant said, "Let's party, me and you." As she turns around someone nearby turned on some upbeat song on their radio and her new buddy begins swaying back and forth with her. Before long, Gemma is dancing in the middle of a circle of partiers with about three different guys. She throws her head back and takes the clips out of her hair, letting it fall down between her shoulders. When a slow song comes on, one of the guys, she still doesn't know their names just that she's seen them in school before grabs her and pulls her close. Gemma can feel his breath on her neck so she leans in a little closer and lays her head on his shoulder. Next thing she knows is the guy is kissing her neck and running his hand down her back. She moans softly but he takes it as a sign to move forward and grabs her ass. Taken aback at first, she jumps but then decides his hand on her behind isn't the end of the world.

As the song continues, she feels his hand move up her but this time it's under her shirt. Before she can do anything, he brings his hand around and grabs her breast. Gemma jumps apart from him, glaring. "I didn't give you permission to do that!" she screams. Heads turn at the outburst and before she knows it, Wayne is standing between her and her attacker.

"Gemma, I think it's time to go," he says.

"Oh Wayne, such a party pooper," Gemma half laughs at him. "Can't just leave a good party because of some titty grabber." She stumbles trying to get away from her so-called knight in shining armor and her previous dance partner.

Wayne ushers her toward his car when he notices that she is going to get another drink. "I think you've had enough. Let's just get out of here." "Oh I see it now. You're jealous!" Gemma laughs. "Honey all you had to do was ask. Wanna go somewhere off to ourselves and let me suck your dick?" Unser is astonished and embarrassed by the scene Gemma is making and pulls her toward his car. Gemma leans in and whispers to him, "I join you in the back seat but know this, I ain't no back door girl."

Once Unser gets her in his car he hopped in the driver's seat and leaves the party. On the way, Gemma received the silent treatment from Unser until she starts crying. "What's wrong Gemma?" Wayne asked. "I don't know why I act like this Wayne. Really. This is not who I am. Dad would be so disappointed in me. He already is. I seen it in his eyes today when I got home. I spent the night in a jail cell last night Wayne. Did you know that?! Even when the sheriff called Rose and told her if they came to pick me up no charges would be filed. But did she do it? No. Ever since Nathaniel died, it's like I don't even exist anymore. All she ever does in lie in bed or wander around aimlessly in her gardens. I don't know what else to do. I might as well not exist.. Maybe I should just leave Charming. Pssht…Charming. Ain't nothing Charming about this hellhole."

Unser dropped Gemma off in front of her house and tells her to get some sleep and don't do anything irrational. That he'll talk to her tomorrow. Gemma goes up the walk to her house but as she gets to the door she turns and waves to Wayne who sees not only the tears in her eyes but something he just can't seem to put his finger on.

The next morning Gemma walks into the den where her father is sitting there looking out the window. "Mornin' Daddy" she says. Nate slowly turns his head and looks at her and then drops his gaze to his lap. "Gemma," He begins. "What have you done? You know your mother isn't in a good place. All the stress of losing Nathaniel hasn't been good on her. You know, she has the same condition that he suffered from. She blames herself. She blames me! I wanted kids. Lots of them." Nate raises his gaze and looks at his daughter. "She loves you, you know. She just needs to learns to compartmentalize all her pain. " Tears running down his face, he continues, "I have tried to comfort her. I have tried to rationalize with her. She needs to turn to God. He had a plan for all this. For us all. We just need to turn to Him to help us with our grief. Gemma, all this running around town amok isn't helping any of us."

"Daddy, I haven't done anything to Rose. I have tried to be there for her but how can I help when she doesn't even see me. She looks at me like I'm invisible. She doesn't see me! His death affected me too!"

"She's your MOTHER Gemma. Why can't you show her the respect she deserves? "

"Respect? Respect? When has she ever given me respect? She never acknowledges me. I was almost arrested a couple of days ago. Did she tell you that? Officer Mohollan called her and told her that if she were to come pick me up there would be no charges filed." Gemma said in a low voice. "Do you think she cared? Did she come down to the station and get me? No. You know why. I don't matter. I've never mattered to Rose."

"Gemma." Nate said, looking at his daughter in disbelief.

"No, I think it'll be better if I just get out of here for a while. Let her learn to live without Nathaniel. " Gemma said turning to head back to her room.