Ellen knew who it was before even answering the phone. Her cries could be heard before she even said hello, and Alex felt his heart breaking all over again. In the midst of unbelievable tragedy and sorrow and hurt, even with thoughts of his family, especially Andy, running through his mind, Alex found that he couldn't forget about Ellen.

"Oh my God, Alex. Where are you? Are you okay? Are you..." she sobbed into the phone, and all he wanted to do was be there to hold her.

"I'm fine," he feigned a smile. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"Are you serious? This isn't about me! When I watched the news this morning...I thought...we all thought...I thought..."

A moment of silence overtook them, both trying so hard to convey what they were feeling for each other but somehow words didn't seem sufficient.

"I'm okay, Ellen. I'm home. I'm really home."

"Oh Alex...when I thought that ...when I thought that..."

"Hey," he laughed nervously. "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I'm back in the good old heartland of Columbus Ohio. What do you say we get together? Why don't you come over here? I'd go to your place but my mom kinda won't let me out of her sight."

He didn't have to ask her twice. Within a half hour Alex found himself in the strong embrace of a tearful Ellen, neither of them with the strength to let go of the other. In a way this reunion was even harder than the one Alex had had with Andy. In Andy's eyes, Alex was invincible, and so somehow he knew, if he was the only one, that his big brother would be okay. But this was different. Girls were different. They were so emotional, always wearing their hearts on their sleeves. There was not a dry eye in the house at the t sight of Ellen and Alex's reunion.

"Ellen...so good of you to come over. Can I get you anything? Some coffee, some cocoa?" Steven asked politely, trying to be as strong as he could, hiding behind the manners that had served him so well his entire life.

"No thank you. I know I must be upsetting you all..." Ellen tried to dry her eyes but she found the tears kept on pouring out.

"You're only representing what we've all been feeling," Elyse spoke up kindly. "Trust us, we've gone through more Kleenex in a day than when we did throughout a house full of kids' childhood illnesses."

"Aw, Mom. Why do you always have to sound like a mom?" Alex teased as he too wiped his eyes.

"Because, sweetie, " she kissed Alex's forehead. "First and foremost I'm a mother. Don't you be forgetting that kiddo."

Alex looked at Ellen. "How could I? Every year for my birthday she still sends me a card with five dollars in it. Five dollars! You'd think with inflation..."

Alex stopped in midstream when he realized that the entire family was watching him closely. "What. It's still me. I'm here. Everything will be okay."

Alex removed his tie, and as soon as he did Andy grabbed it and ran to his old bedroom. This was going to be the hardest thing Alex ever had to do, in reassuring his family and loved ones that he would be all right. Especially when he hadn't quite convinced himself of the same thing as of yet.

TBC