AN: I don't think anyone is reading in this fandom anymore, but it's summertime and I've been rewatching the whole series on Netflix. Man, I miss this show! I decided to go ahead and finish this story. Hope you like it!

Emma walked gingerly down the stairs of the guesthouse, her right arm wrapped around her left side. A pause before reaching the bottom stair allowed for time to inhale a couple of deep breaths and let them out before stepping into the living room, in full view of whomever may have already gathered for the daily staff meeting of the HankMed employees. Only a couple of days had passed since her hospital release, and she was getting better, but she was tired of being questioned and poked and prodded. She was impatient with her recovery and yearned for a return to some semblance of a normal life.

The final descent to the lower level revealed an almost empty room. Only Hank stood in the kitchen retrieving items from the refrigerator. He turned and saw her, slightly pale and slightly leaning. She was trying to hide her pain, so he resisted the urge to run to her. Plastering a smile on his face he said, "Good morning, Emma."

"Hey," was her only response as she made her way to sit at the counter and watch him work.

He cracked and separated one egg after another and asked, "How's your pain today?"

"Not bad." Emma reached for the carafe of orange juice positioned on the counter and poured herself a glass. Her intention was to take a sip, but when the cool sweetness hit the back of her throat, she hastily took in half the glass.

"Do you want some medication?"

"No," she said.

Her annoyance with this topic didn't escape him so he was willing to tread lightly, but he wasn't ready to stop treading altogether. "Remember what we talked about? About the pain?"

"Yes, I remember. 'Stay on top of the pain.' But I'm sick of the pills. I can't stand how they make me feel all loopy and out of it."

"Ok," he said, scrambling the eggs whites. "How about you take a couple of Advil and we see how that goes?"

She exhaled audibly, "Ok."

Evan walked into the house as Emma swallowed the tablets. "Good morning, siblings," he said.

"Where is everyone?" Emma asked. "Don't you have a meeting this morning?"

"Actually, no," Hand said. "It's just us today." He handed them each a plate of breakfast.

"You know," Evan said, "there's nothing wrong with eating the yolks. The surgeon general said so." His comment was met with a smirk from his brother.

"Emma doesn't like yolk. Just be happy I made you something."

Emma pushed some food around with her fork. "Why is it just us?" she asked.

"We want to talk to you," Hank said.

She put her fork down. "I don't want to talk. We've done enough talking."

Deciding to get right down to business, Evan said, "Dad's coming home. He'll be here tonight."

If her stomach wasn't queasy before this conversation started, it was now. She felt the heat race through her body as her brothers studied her. "What does he know?" she asked.

Hank hurried to answer. "He just knows about the accident and your injuries. He doesn't know anything else."

Evan said, "We won't tell him - or anyone - your story. That's yours to tell."

She calmed a little, "What about Paige?"

"She doesn't know."

Emma nodded and picked up her fork. She returned to moving food around her plate. She might want Paige to know, but her father's arrival was the more pressing issue. "Dad can't know. I mean, it will only hurt him. He'll feel guilty. I don't want that."

'You might need his support though," Hank said. "He can handle the guilt in order to help you."

Emma thought for a moment. "No. I have the two of you for support." She turned to Evan, "and I'd like to tell Paige, if that's alright with you."

"Of course it is," he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "She'd love to help you."

"Alright," Hank said, "but you know you can change your mind and tell dad anytime you want."

Emma relaxed and took a bite of food. "Ok," she said, "good. Talk over?"

"Not quite," said Evan. "You withdrew from school."

Her face paled. "How do you know that?"

"I've been taking care of your paperwork. They send that kind of stuff to me."

"Oh, yeah," she said. No longer interested in eating, or in this conversation, she rose from her stool at the counter. She wanted to run away, but her body ached and was not as quick as her mind. Her brothers stayed where they were, allowing a bit of a breather. She settled on the couch. Not facing them make it easier for her to talk. "There was this guy at school," she said.

"I'll kill him!" Evan stood but Hank's hand on his arm prevented him from rushing towards his kid sister.

"Evan, relax," Hank said. "Keep going, Emma."

"Nothing bad happened. I liked him. He liked me. But when things started . . . moving along," she stopped talking and tried to keep her emotions from careening all over the place. Still facing away from them, she covered her eyes with her hand, took a couple of exaggerated breaths and leaned her head against the back of the couch before continuing, "I started to think about things that I hadn't thought about in a long time. I tried not to, but the harder I tried the worse the memories got, until they were invading my whole day. There were just s o many people, so close to me, all the time. When I couldn't take it anymore, I packed up and left."

Hank left Evan sitting at the counter and joined his sister on the couch. Putting a hand on her knee he said, "Look at me." She lowered her hand from her eyes and obeyed. "It doesn't have to be like that. You can work through this."

"Well, if that's true - and I'm not convinced it is - I want to work on it here. I don't want to be in the city anymore. There's a program at Hofstra University, here on the island, that I'm trying to get accepted to. I should be able to, and hopefully my financial aid package will transfer." She looked over at Evan who walked towards his siblings. "That's my plan, anyway."

Evan shook his head. "Why do you keep doing things by yourself? We could have helped you with all of this."

"Evan, I'm trying. Please be more patient with me. I've got a lot going on," she said.

"We know, Emma," Hank said. "Just try not to shut us out completely. Okay?"

She nodded. She wiped at a couple of tears that had escaped as the front door burst open. They all turned to see Eddie R. Lawson.

"Dad," Evan said. "I thought you were coming in tonight."

"Are you kidding me? I heard that my baby girl was hurt and I went right to the airport and demanded they get me on the first flight to the Hamptons." He walked toward them as Hank helped Emma to her feet, and opened his arms wide enough for all three of his children to fit in them. "Alright now," he said, "Dad's here to take care of everything."

Thanks for reading, and be sure to let me know what you thought of it.