"Mom?" I called. "Dad?"

I closed the hotel door behind me and made my way down the short hallway and into the living room and kitchen part, swinging the bucket of ice in one hand, and pulling my oxygen cart in the other. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw my parents huddled up on the couch together, tears streaming down my mom's face. My dad had a phone pressed to his ear and an angry expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked, still frozen in place.

"We can't get ahold of your sister or Tam. It's been two days. I called your sister's cellphone again today and it answered with a recorded message saying that it was out of order," my mom explained. "So, we decided to call the police. Your father is on the phone with them right now."

My eyebrows scrunched together and slowly sat down on an armchair.

"There may not necessarily be anything wrong, right? I mean, you know how those two get when they're together. They might have just lost track of time, right?" I asked, almost desperately.

"Look," my dad suddenly growled into the phone. "I don't think you understand. I haven't heard from my daughter or my sister in law, whom she's staying with, since we left New York on a plane two days ago. My daughter would have called me! Hell, she calls my work everyday at four to tell me that she loves me! She wouldn't just forget to call to let us know how she's doing. There must be something wrong, and I expect you as police officers to figure it out. Find my baby girl."

My mom sniffled quietly.

"Fine," my dad snapped after listening for a moment. "I expect a report back by the end of the day or else I'll- No, you listen to me! I need to know that both my daughter and my sister in law are okay, and I expect to hear back to you by tonight or else I will be calling back."

With that, he hung up the hotel phone angrily back up on the receiver.

"What happened?" my mom questioned.

"They assured me not to worry, because they'll be sending out some officers to go check Tam's house- who is probably completely fine, if not a little forgetful when it comes to checking in," my dad replied, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"That's it?" I demanded.

"That's it," he confirmed, grinding his teeth.

I ran my hand through my thick, dark hair. "We need to go home. Now."

My mom turned her watery eyes on me. "You know we can't leave yet."

I took a shaky breath in, shaking my head. "I don't care. I just want to know that my baby sister is alright."

"We also need you to be alright, Reed. We have an appointment with one of the best surgeons in the world. We can't miss it. The police will take care of everything back home. They'll find Ro."

*-*-*

 "Ro. Ro. Ro. Wake up. Ro."

I let out a groan and swatted the hand away, rolling over and pulling the blanket tighter around myself.

"Ro, do you want breakfast? I'm making pancakes," someone said.

"Jarod?" I questioned into the futon.

"Well, you got the J right. With a sexy morning voice like that, though, I don't care what you call me," he laughed.

My eyes flew open and I sat straight up. "Jose?"

He gave me a lopsided smirk. "Good morning, beautiful. Sleep well? I really think you should have just joined me in the guest room. Anyways, I'm making pancakes- as per my agreement with Ket that I always make breakfast when I come over- so, do you want some?"

I stared at him for a moment. "Um, sure?"

"Great," he grinned. "In that case, come upstairs and get them before Ket wakes up so that he never knows. If he finds out I gave you some. . . he will kill me."

I shook my head, glancing down at my hands. "Why does he hate me so much?"

Jose, who had been making his way back towards the basement stairs, froze. "What?"

"Why does he hate me? I understand that he has daddy issues, but does he really have to take them out on me? He's just being a whiny, annoying-"

"I don't have daddy issues."

I jumped and looked, wide-eyed, up at the staircase. Ket stood in the middle of the staircase, glaring down at me.

"Did it ever occur to you, Princess," he began, stalking down the steps. "That I just plain don't like you. I think that you're a nuisance. You're like a stray mutt that my dad brought in, one that I most certainly did not want. If anyone is whiny and annoying, it's you. You can't remember things? How is that my problem. I don't want to deal with you, and I shouldn't have to."

Josey's head wiped back and forth as he looked between Ket and I. Ket just smirked at me from the bottom of the stairs. He was looking at me as if he was waiting for me to burst into tears.

"You bastard," I growled, throwing the blanket off of my legs and getting up.

Josey's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head and the smirk had been wiped clean from Ket's face. I stormed right up to him, squaring my shoulders.

"Who do you think you are, Daddy's Boy? I'm sorry if me waking up in a hospital with no memory is a nuisance to you. I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't actually imposed my problems on you at all. In fact, I'm the one who has been dealing with your problems. I'm sorry that your dad isn't around much, truly I am, but at least you remember your father! At least you know that he loves you, even if he isn't always around. Hell, I don't even know if my dad is still alive! I don't know if my mom is still alive. I don't know anything," I snapped at him.

He took a half step back, his mouth slightly open. His eyes slowly travelled over my angry face.

"I-" he began, his eyebrows crunching together on his forehead.

"Save it. Don't worry about having to deal with me anymore, Ket. I'll stay out of your way and from now on. Just make sure that you stay out of mine," I spat, shoving past him and going towards the stairs. "Now if you'll excuse me, I want some pancakes."

"Braum?" I mumbled into the phone, my mouth full of pancake.

"Ro? Hey, what's up?" Braum answered.

I swallowed my bite of chocolate chip pancake.

"Are you working?" I questioned.

There was a pause. "Uh, yeah, but I can take my break now. Why?"

"Would you mind going somewhere. . . not here with me?"

Braum let out a small laugh. "Not going very well with Ket and Josey, huh? And here I thought you would all become best friends. Yeah, I can come pick you up. There's this great little coffee shoppe I know of. I'll be there in ten."

I nodded into the phone and then hung up. It took me a second to realise that he wouldn't have been able to see me nod through the phone.

"Oops," I muttered.

I headed back into the kitchen to put the phone back on it's cradle. Kendra was sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen, a plate of pancakes in front of her.

"Oh, good morning, Sweetheart," she smiled at me. "Jarod called me to say that you were staying over again, but I was starting to think he'd lied to me. I'm sorry that I wasn't here when you were dropped off last night, but I trust that Ket helped you get settled and made sure that you got taken care of alright?"

I stared at her hopeful face for a moment, debating. Finally, I let out a small sigh.

"Yeah, Ket was really nice about everything. He helped me set up the futon downstairs because Jose slept over, and then- as you can see- he and Jose made me pancakes for breakfast this morning," I gave her a small smile.

For a minute, she looked surprised. "Well. . . I am very glad to hear that."

"Also, Kendra," I began, feeling suddenly unsure. "I was wondering if I would be able to go out for coffee with Officer Mills. He just wants to go over some stuff about how we're going to find my family."

"Oh, yes. I think that would be alright. I was also thinking that you and I would maybe go out at some point and get you some shirts and pants and things. It can't be very comfortable wearing those same clothes again. I'm sorry that I didn't think of it sooner. Maybe we can go after you get back from coffee with Officer Mills?" she suggested.

I grinned widely. "That would be awesome! Are you sure about spending the money, though? Clothes can be expensive. . ."

"Of course I'm sure! Would you like something that you can change into for the time being? I can lend you a shirt and some shorts, or a dress."

I glanced down at the clothes that I had now been wearing for a few days. I must smell terrible by this point.

"If you wouldn't mind. . ." I replied slowly.

Kendra just smiled before hopping up. "I'll be back in a minute."

I went to sit down at the island, but was interrupted by a knock on the front door. I raised my eyebrows. Braum was quick. I made my way to the front door, not even considering the fact that I technically didn't actually live here. I swung the front door open and looked expectantly outside.

"Wow. Ket, you look different. Very. . .feminine."

I stared at the girl who was standing in the doorway. "Um, hi. Yeah, obviously, I'm not Ket. I was actually expecting someone else too, though."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm assuming you're one of his play things. A word to the wise? He'll just dump you as soon as he gets bored."

"Excuse me? No, I'm Ro. I. . . kind of live here right now," I replied, folding my arms over my chest.

"That's weird. I would have thought that Ket would have talked my ear off if he had a beautiful girl staying at his house. Weird. Is Josey here too?" she quickly switched subjects, trying to get a peek over my shoulder.

"I- what? Sorry, who are you?"

"Ro, I think I found the perfect dress- oh, hello, Cris," Kendra greeted, coming into the front hall with a pretty, knee length dress.

She handed the dress to me. "You go try that on. Cris, the boys are in Ket's room."

Cris nodded before brushing past me and jogging up the stairs. I was dumbfounded.

"That's Cris," Kendra explained. "She and Ket have been best friends since they were four."

I nodded stupidly.

"I'm going to go try this on," I muttered.

Then, I turned and headed for the bathroom.