The Hamilton-Laurens family was slipping apart.

John would barely talk to Alex and he blamed himself for leaving Maria home alone.

The kids were missing half of their parental support and Alex was working, keeping the kids safe and healthy, and making sure that John was eating.

All in all, it was hard for all of them.

"John, please come help me?" Asked Alex one night when everything was getting to be too much.

He had an important case that he needed to gather information on and the kids needed supper, the floor needed to be cleaned, Phillip was crying at the table because he hadn't seen John in so long.

"Why?" John asked Alex in a soft whisper.

"I'm running low on energy, Phillip is crying because he hasn't seen you in so long, I have work to do and you're sitting here. Yes I know it's hard to accept that she's gone but we still have kids, lives, and work. You're gonna have to help me soon otherwise I'm gonna have a complete breakdown."

John just stared blankly. His eyes dull, " Well Alex. That was inspirational. However, due to these unfortunate events I refuse to move until I see Maria's ghost."

"John! That could take over three weeks! I can't do everything alone for that much longer. It's only been a month and I'm just about to collapse."

John just turned his head and kept staring at the wall.

Alex let out a long sigh and softly walked out of the room.

"Sorry pip, Mama is busy right now, she'll come down soon though," Alex reassured the crying boy.

That night Alex was up until four in the morning, just trying to get his work done.

Alex was almost late to work the next morning. John just sat and did nothing.

Alex finally cracked and ended up sleeping under his desk in the office.

His assistant, a small girl named Kyliegh, called John and told him what had happened.

John drove over to the law firm and picked up Alexander.

For the first time since Maria died, John let out a small smirk before remembering last night.

Alex had just wanted some help. It was all John's fault. But at the same time, he couldn't help but laugh about what had happened.

John cleaned the house up the rest of the day. It had gone into dreadful disarray.

John picked up Pip.

He got Mollie from daycare.

And he cooked supper.

Alex finally woke up from his long nap feeling more rested than ever before. He heard John laughing with the kids.

He was home? He remembered being at the office... Oh shit. Did he fall asleep. Alex let out a groan of defeat before walking out to see his family.

They were a functional family again, and maybe they could keep it that way.