Written by: Dallas Walsh

The door to the small chapel at the medical center opens and Kymberlynne Thornton appears. She slowly moves forwards the small alter, where she falls to her knees. She grabs a wick and lights it on fire from one of the many burning candles that are in front of her. She, then, goes to an unlit candle and lights it with her flame. She purses her lips, which have a cherry red lipstick on them, and blows the wicker out.

She closes her eyes and places her palms together. "I…I know that it's been a while since my last prayer," she whispers into the silenced room. "But I need your help, God. Rachelle, she's…my God, she's overdosed! I…I had no idea she was even using, and now here she is."

Kymberlynne opens her eyes and takes a deep breath. "What's worse is just a few weeks ago, my other daughter, Lyzz, was in a horrible car accident that left her in a coma; she, too, was on drugs. What…what kind of mother am I?" she asks as her lower lip trembles. "My children are turning to drugs as a way to cope. Ugh, this is my entire fault! Had I been here for them, had I been a better mother, none of this would have happened."

A single tear falls down her cheek and she brushes it away. "I know that I don't have the right to ask anything of you, but please, God, please, let Rachelle be alright. And please, give me the strength to repair my relationships with my children. I…I love them so much and they, they clearly need me. Let me help them, God. Let me be the mother, and guiding light, that they need right now. If you can do this for me, I'll be eternally grateful."

/\/\/\

Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Lyzz and Liam Thornton sit next to one another as they are waiting for another update from Rachelle's doctor. They are still in shock about the fact that Rachelle overdosed; they knew that something was different about Rachelle, but neither one suspected that she had turned to drugs. This act is very unlike Rachelle, and they are concerned about what this means for their sister.

"Kymberlynne looked rocked to her core when the doctor told her that Rachelle overdosed," Liam tells his sister. "How do you think she is?"

"I don't care," Lyzz admits to him. "That woman only cares about herself. If she looked upset it is likely because of my accident being so close to Rachelle overdosing."

Before Liam can respond, Nate Meadows moves into the waiting room and approaches the Thornton siblings. "Hey, I got here as soon as I heard about Rachelle," Nate explains to them as they look back at the guy they believe to be Rachelle's boyfriend. "How is she?"

"We are waiting for another update," Liam replies to him quickly. "But she overdosed on drugs."

"Nate," Lyzz looks back at him with intent. "Did you know that Rachelle was doing drugs? When did she start using?"

"I…uh…I…."

"Cat got your tongue?" Caramel Colby asks as they moves back into the waiting room with some beverages for the Thornton's. "Yea, I thought so," they say as the two glare back at one another.

Liam and Lyzz look at one another in surprise wondering what is happening between Rachelle's best friend and boyfriend.

"Is everything okay? What is going on?" Lyzz asks Caramel before she looks back over at Nate.

"Ask Nate," Caramel spits to him. "He will tell you everything, won't you, Nate?"

/\/\/\

After leaving the chapel and saying her prayer, Kymberlynne made a beeline to Rachelle's hospital room, where she is now sitting next to her daughter, who remains unconscious. Kymberlynne grabs Rachelle's hand and squeezes it.

"Darling," Kymberlynne whispers to her daughter. "If you can hear me, I want you to open your eyes so we can have a talk, okay?"

There is no movement from Rachelle. Kymberlynne feels her eyes swell with water as she looks at her daughter who remains unconscious.

"Damn it, Rachelle," Kymberlynne sighs heavily back to her. "Please, just wake up! Please open your eyes so we can talk about what is going on with you! Please!"

Suddenly, Rachelle's hand squeezes Kymberlynne's. Kymberlynne looks down in surprise and then looks back at her daughter. "Rachelle, baby girl, can you hear me? Rachelle?"

Rachelle's eye lids start to flutter rapidly. "Rachelle! Oh my God, Rachelle!" Kymberlynne says in a panic as she leans over her daughter. Within a few minutes, Rachelle's eyes open and she looks around the room.

"Kymberlynne?" Rachelle says in a hoarse voice. "Where…where am I?"

"Baby girl, thank God you're awake," Kymberlynne says as she caresses her daughters forehead and cheek. "You're…you're in the hospital. You had an overdose…"

"Oh God," Rachelle groans as she closes her eyes.

"Tell me, what drugs were you taking and why? Kymberlynne presses her for information. "What made you turn to drugs?"

Rachelle opens her eyes and looks at her mother with confusion on her face. "I…I don't remember. Why can't I remember? Mom? What's wrong with me?"

/\/\/\

About thirty minutes later, Doctor Cynthia Fong opens the door to Rachelle's hospital room and steps into the hallway, where Kymberlynne, Lyzz, Liam, Caramel, and Nate are waiting for an update. Once Rachelle woke up and explained that she couldn't remember, Kymberlynne called the doctor to examine her daughter as she was concerned about the memory loss.

"Doctor, what is happening with Rachelle? Why can't she remember?" Kymberlynne asks her as she doctor closes the medical file in her hands and looks back at the family.

"First, I need everyone to remain calm," the doctor advises the family. "Now, I have completed my exam of Rachelle, and she does, in fact, have amnesia. What you need to understand is that this is very common for someone whose body has gone through the trauma of an overdose. From what I was able to piece together, the memory loss is only of the last week, or so, of Rachelle's life. The long-term memory is sharp and intact."

"That's a relief," Lyzz breathes a sigh of relief.

"What are the next steps? Will her memory ever come back?" Liam asks the doctor next as Kymberlynne nods with his question.

"Yes, excellent question," Kymberlynne chimes in.

"I will monitor Rachelle closely," Dr. Fong explains. "And from my experience, the memory loss will not last forever. She should regain her memory within a week, maybe two."

"What a relief," Kymberlynne sighs back to the doctor. "Soon, my baby girl will be back to being her normal self and we can start to get her healthy again."

Caramel glances over at Nate, who is also breathing a sigh of relief. They can't help but wonder if Rachelle saw Nate kiss them, which could explain why she turned to drugs, and was cold to them right before the overdose. They can't place it, but they still believe that there is something very dark going on with Nate, and they are determined to find out, exactly, what that is.

/\/\/\

Caramel softly knocks on the hospital room door before they open it. They peer inside and sees Rachelle laying in her hospital bed. Caramel find themselves smiling at the sight of their best friend being awake. They haven't been able to get the image of Rachelle laying on the bathroom floor; they are just grateful that the medical staff was able to help her.

"Caramel, hi," Rachelle says as she turns and sees her friend moving into her room. "I…I heard what you did for me. I…I owe you the biggest thank you in the world."

Caramel sits next to Rachelle and grabs her hand. "You don't owe me anything. I just did what anyone would have done."

"You saved me," Rachelle whispers as a tear falls down her cheek. "As if you haven't done enough for me, you have to save my life too."

"I love you girl, you know that," Caramel smiles as a tear falls down her cheek. "Despite everything that happened…"

"Wait? What happened? I…I don't remember?"

"Oh right," Caramel sighs as they recall how Rachelle lashed out at them a few days before the overdose. They don't know if they should have said anything because it might hurt Rachelle's chances of getting her full memory back. "The doctor mentioned that you have some memory loss. You know what? It doesn't matter. All that matter is that you're okay, Rachelle."

"Did we get into a fight or something?" Rachelle asks them, wanting to understand what her friend was talking about. "I can't imagine us fighting over anything."

Caramel moves a piece of their hair behind their ear. "Alright, I guess I can't keep anything from you," they purse their lips together. "The fact is, you were upset with me because I asked you about your drug use. I just wanted to understand what was happening."

"I'm sorry I lashed out at you," Rachelle bites her lower lip. "The truth is, Nate is the one who introduced me to the drugs. He wanted us to unwind and before you knew it, was using a lot more than I should have been."

Caramel feels the blood drain from their face. They always knew that Nate was bad news and Rachelle's admission just confirmed that for them. Now more than ever, Caramel realizes that they have to get Nate away from Rachelle; the sooner, the better off they will all be.

"Promise me something?" Caramel finally speaks back to their friend as Rachelle nods to them. "No more drugs, okay? You have such a bright future ahead of yourself, Rachelle. The last thing you need is to throw that all away for a quick high."

"I promise," Rachelle nods back to Caramel.

/\/\/\

Nate takes a deep breath as he stands outside of Rachelle's hospital room. He is feeling relieved that she will be okay; he never meant for her drug use to get so out of control that she overdosed. He knows that Orvilla was pressing him to keep Rachelle on the drugs to ensure that she couldn't be a contender for the CEO position of Meccanica; after everything Orvilla has done for him, Nate will do anything to help her since she is the other mother figure he has ever known. Deep down, however, he does care about Rachelle, but he has to keep those feelings at bay so he can help Orvilla.

He, finally, opens the door to the hospital room and moves inside. Rachelle, immediately, turns her head to face her lover. "Nate, how are you?"

"Better now that I know that you'll be okay," he admits to her as he sits next to her. "You have no idea how worried I was about you, Rachelle."

Rachelle uneasily nods back to him. "That seems to be a common feeling right now," she tells him. "I…I am sorry that I caused so much grief;.Not only for you, but for my family and friends too. I…I don't know what I was thinking."

"To be honest, this is all my fault," Nate finds himself admitting to her. "Had I not introduced you to the drugs, this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't do that," she says as she grabs his hand and squeezes it. "I am old enough that I could have, and should have, said no."

The touch of their hands, suddenly, causes Rachelle to see a bright light in front of her. The memory flash she has is grainy but she can see Nate and Caramel standing outside of Belview Academy. The sun is beating down and, then, she sees Nate and Caramel kiss.

"Rachelle?" a worried Nate asks her as he can see her face strain with worry. "Rachelle? What…what is it? What's wrong?"

Rachelle gulps heavily as the vision leaves her as quickly as it came to her. She looks at Nate and feels confused by what she saw. Why would he and Caramel have kissed? Why would the man that she is sleeping with be involved with her best friend? But she has a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"I'm…I'm fine," she lies to him, finally responding to his question. "I…I guess this is all just so overwhelming."

"We are all here for you, no matter what you need, Rachelle," Nate tells her as she gulps heavily. "Remember that, okay?"

/\/\/\

Still feeling groggy from the memory flash, Rachelle asked Nate to leave and ask Dr. Fong to come and check her vitals. She wanted to ensure that nothing was seriously wrong with her as the memory flash spooked her to her very core.

Outside the room, Nate paces back and forth wondering about what happened that caused Rachelle to request her doctor visit her. They had been having a, seemingly, nice discussion when everything changed. He recalls the exact moment that he saw a shift in Rachelle; he could see it on her face. Something was troubling her, and she stopped making eye contact with him. He would love to know what happened, but for now, he has to wait for the doctor to finish her exam.

"Nate?" Kymberlynne asks as he approaches him. "You're pacing? What's happened? What's wrong with Rachelle?"

"I…I…uh…I don't know," he admits back to Kymberlynne. "One minute we were talking…and the next…"

"And the next?" Kymberlynne continues to press him for details. "The next, what? What happened to my little girl?"

"She…she just kind of zoned out," Nate shrugs his shoulders. "She didn't tell me what happened, but she asked me to leave and she asked me to get Dr. Fong. The doctor is in with her now."

"My God," Kymberlynne gasps back to him. "I…I hope that she hasn't had a setback!"

"I wish I could say for certain that she didn't, but it all happened so fast," Nate explains to her. "I really have no idea what happened to cause this; we were talking one minute and then she…I don't even know how to explain it…she just got this look of concern or confusion on her face."

"What did you say to her?" Kymberlynne asks him next.

"Nnnothing," he shutters back to her. "Like I said, we were just talking!"

"You better hope that nothing happened to my daughter," Kymberlynne warns him. "Because if something has happened, I will hold you personally responsible!"

/\/\/\

About thirty minutes later, the Thornton family is all waiting in Dr. Cynthia Fong's office as she summoned them to give everyone an update on Rachelle. The doctor believed that it would be easier to share the update with everyone vs. individual updates.

While they wait for the doctor, Lyzz and Liam are huddled in the corner together talking to keep each other busy. On the other end of the room, Nate stands by himself, still wondering what caused Rachelle's change in demur. He just hopes that it is nothing serious because he feels like they have all been through more than enough.

In the middle of the office, Kymberlynne paces slowly as she waits for the doctor to return. The waiting is the most difficult part for her as it allows her mind to wonder to some dark places. She, still, can't believe that another one of her children has had a medical crisis as a result to drug use. She is holding on to every last bit of hope that she has the doctor gives her a positive update.

Just then, the office door opens and Dr. Fong appears. The Thornton's turn and look at the doctor with anticipation.

"Dr. Fong," Kymberlynne quickly says as the doctor moves to sit behind her large desk. "How is Rachelle? What happened to my daughter?"

"Please, have a seat," Dr. Fong replies to the family as they all sit down and look bac at the doctor. "Please note that there is nothing wrong with Rachelle, in fact, she is perfectly fine."

"How can that be?" Nate asks the doctor quickly. "Her entire disposition changed during our conversation? It…it was like she saw a ghost or something."

"Yes, Rachelle was able to explain that to me," the doctor continues to explain to the family. "It seems like she had some sort of memory flash. She couldn't piece together all the details, which is common for someone in her condition. The good news is that this is a sign that her memory should be coming back."

"Are you sure that's all it was? A memory flash?" Kymberlynne asks the doctor. "I have been so worried I don't want to get my hopes up if that's all it was."

"I am positive," Dr. Fong smiles to her. "This is a good sign for Rachelle and her recovery."

/\/\/\

After leaving Dr. Fong's office, Lyzz and Liam walk quickly through the hospital corridor as they try to catch up to Kymberlynne, who is making a beeline towards Rachelle's hospital room. After they found out that Rachelle's memory is slowly coming back, Kymberlynne wanted to check in on her daughter, which upset Lyzz and Liam.

"Kymberlynne, wait," Lyzz calls out from the hallway that leads to Rachelle's room. "We need to talk to you."

Kymberlynne turns around with an arched eyebrow as she wasn't expecting her other children to track her down after the update from the doctor. "Lyzz, Liam…what is going on? I…I was hoping to see Rachelle to see if any other memories have come back to her."

"That's exactly why we need to talk to you," Liam says as they arrive at their mother. Liam puts his hand on his hip before he looks over at Lyzz, who is glaring at Kymberlynne.

"We have no idea what the memory flash that Rachelle had was," Lyzz informs hier mother. "But the fact of the matter, if the memory had anything to do with you, it would explain why Rachelle got upset and asked to see her doctor."

"I…I am not sure I understand," a baffled Kymberlynne replies to her children.

"You have done nothing but hurt us, Kymberlynne," Lyzz spits back at her. "If the memory flash Rachelle had was about you, it would explain why she got upset. And that's why, Liam and I have a request from you."

Kymberlynne feels her eyes swell with water. "What is it?"

"Stay away from Rachelle," Liam informs her. "Stay away from Rachelle until her memory is back fully. The last thing we need is for any memories of you to come back and derail her recovery."

Kymberlynne gulps heavily at the words her children are telling her. She can't believe that they want her to stay away from Rachelle when she needs her the most. She understands that they are still hurt by her leaving the Barracuda Blue after Samuel's death, but this seems like a cruel punishment.

"Don't say anything back to us," Lyzz cuts Kymberlynne off who is about to respond. "Just stay away; it's what Rachelle needs right now, and if that's what it will take to make her better, that's what you should be doing."

/\/\/\

In the small cafeteria, Caramel sits at a table alone with a coffee in front of them. Their mind is spinning over what has happened; Rachelle had a memory flash, which caused her to change her attitude with Nate. Caramel can't help but wonder if the memory flash had something to do with Nate kissing them; had Rachelle, somehow, seen the kiss, it would explain why Rachelle was so upset with them, but also with Nate.

As Caramel takes a sip of the coffee, they recall how they witnessed Nate and Orvilla sitting together briefly at the Barracuda Blue. The image of them together has been haunting them as everyone knew what Orvilla did to keep the Thornton children out of the CEO position at Meccanica; this means, that at the time of the of seeing Nate and Orvilla together, Nate would have been aware of what Orvilla did to get him and Rachelle expelled to ensure she didn't get the CEO position.

"If Nate knew what Orvilla did to Rachelle and her siblings," Caramel whispers. "Why would he sit with her? He should have been disgusted with her, like everyone else was."

They continue to think about what could been happening here. "Nate is hiding something," Caramel says. "I…I have to find out what that is. And, I think I know just how to do that."

With that, they stand up, throw their coffee into the garbage and storm out of the cafeteria, clearly headed somewhere to prove their theory is right.

/\/\/\

Meanwhile in Rachelle's hospital room, Liam and Lyzz sit on both sides of the hospital bed. After they told Kymberlynne to stay away, their mother left the hospital in an emotional tizzy. That's when the siblings realize that they needed to talk to Rachelle as they are still trying to decide who will take over as the next CEO of Meccanica.

Rachelle giggles at her siblings after she has heard that they told Kymberlynne to stay away from her. "You two are too much," Rachelle tells them. "But I do have to thank you for getting Kymberlynne to stay away from me. I know that she is trying to be the protective mother, but she can feel suffocating at times."

"That's why we told her to stay away," Lyzz replies to her. "We don't want her presence to impact your recovery, Rachelle."

"That has to be the most important thing," Liam chimes in. "You getting better is all we care about, sis."

"I appreciate you two more than you know," Rachelle smiles back to her siblings. "Now, what else is going on? Come on, give me some tea….I am dying of boredom in here!"

Lyzz and Liam uneasily look at one another before Lyzz sighs to her sister. "The truth is, Liam and I, we are struggling to decide who should take over as CEO of Meccanica. We have gone back and forth so many times, I feel like our head is spinning."

Rachelle looks at Lyzz and then over at Liam. "Liam, you feel the same the way as Lyzz?"

"Yea, it's tough because we just want what is best for the company, but we have no idea what that could be. And either way that this unfolds, it seems like one of us will be upset."

"I…I wish I could help," Rachelle admits to them. "But the truth is, with my grades, especially in art history, there is no way I could take over as CEO, which I know was our plan all along."

"Don't put this on yourself," Lyzz tells her sister. "All you have to worry about is getting better, Rachelle. Liam and I, we will figure this out."

/\/\/\

Caramel walks up the staircase of the Aloha Apartments and moves up to an apartment. They pull a bobby pin out of their hair before they look over their shoulder to ensure no one else is present. When they see no one else, they move the bobby pin to the lock and twist it inside. Within a few seconds, they hear the door unlock and the door opens.

Caramel slowly moves inside the apartment and closes the door behind them. They lean up against the door and take a deep breath. They, then, move into the living room and scan the room quickly.

"Nate's apartment," they whisper. "There must be something, anything, that proves that Nate and Orvilla are in cahoots. I…I have to prove that my theory is right because Rachelle's entire future might depend on it."