Ciara and Jarod joined everyone for dinner out on the patio. After dinner, Brian and Nick offered to play video games with the twins. They looked to Rachel and Ciara for permission.

"All right, but just until nine." Ciara gave in. "Nick and Brian have to go to bed early tonight." She teased, getting everyone to laugh.

"You are so easy when it comes to those two?" Rachel said to Ciara.

"Who do you mean? Brian and Nick, or the twins?" Kevin added. Everyone who was still out on the patio laughed.

"Well, I've got kitchen duty tonight. Jarod, why don't you and AJ go for a walk. I'm going to be an hour or so." Ciara wanted to give her brother and AJ a chance to get reacquainted.

"I'll help with the kitchen." Kevin offered.

"Cool… Thanks Kev" Rachel replied as she began cleaning off the table.

"How about that walk AJ?" Jarod asked.

"Sure. We won't be too long." AJ gave Ciara a kiss on the cheek as he passed her to follow Jarod down the garden path. She blushed.

"Howie, why don't you go see what the guys are playing?" Ciara suggested.

"I figure with the four of us cleaning up after dinner would be faster than two. Right, Rach?" Howie replied as he grabbed the pitcher of ice tea and a few glasses.

"Right Howie." Rachel replied. She came out with a sponge to wipe down the table and chairs. Kevin began rinsing the dishes and Ciara was putting away the salad and condiments. When Ciara noticed Kevin wasn't sure how to load the dishwasher, she went out and got Rachel to go in and show him how to do it. Howie went and found several decks of cards. He also found some Uno cards.

"Hey! What are you doing with NSYNC Uno cards?" he asked the girls.

"All right… you caught me… I'm in love with Joey." Ciara replied with a straight face. True, she like NSYNC, but she wasn't HOT for any of the guys in the group.

"You can't be serious? What about the past week with AJ?" Howie asked, suddenly worried about AJ. Ciara laughed.

"Howie, I'm allowed to enjoy other music besides yours." She teased. "And my niece swears that she and Lance will be married one day."

---

“Ciara? Nick? Dinner’s ready?” AJ went to check on the two napping people in the living room nearly two hours later.

“AJ?” Ciara asked as she rubbed her eyes.

“Yeah… c’mon… you both should eat something.” AJ said.

“How long were we out?” Nick asked.

“Nearly two hours. How are you feeling?” AJ asked Nick.

“Like I fell down the stairs. Everything hurts.” Nick admitted. AJ helped him up.

“Well, wish I could take away the pain, buddy, but I can’t. C’mon, we’ll get some food in ya, give you some more acetiminophen and you’ll be feeling better.” AJ smiled for him, “C… you okay?” AJ asked, looking back at the girl he was falling in love with all over again.

“Yeah, AJ… I’m good. I’ll be right there. I just want to go wash up really quick.” Ciara admitted and headed upstairs. As she was coming out of the bathroom, she saw Jarod sitting on her bed.

“Hey sis.” He said.

“Jarod!” Ciara ran into her brother’s arms.

“Hey, Rachel told me to come right up. You’re shaking.” Jarod noticed right away.

“How… how… how often did mom beat you?” Ciara asked. She had managed not to cry.

“What all do you remember?” Jarod asked.

“The time she threw you up against a pole and you broke some ribs. All because you emptied all the alcohol down the kitchen sink.” Ciara told Jarod what she remembered.

“Yeah, that was a bad one.” Jarod admitted.

“There were others?” Ciara asked, dumbfounded.

“Yeah. That one, though… that one was one of the worst. Do you remember what happened after we got home from the hospital that night?” Jarod asked. Ciara thought for a moment, trying to remember what happened later.

“No.” She answered him.

“Mom went to tuck you in and you wouldn’t let her. You were so afraid she was going to hurt you. You cried and cried for dad. Anyway, he comes into your room and asks you what’s wrong. You told him you thought mom was going to hurt you like she hurt me. He asked you what you meant by that and you told him that mom threw me against the pole. That I didn’t get into a fight.” Jarod explained and then continued. “After dad tucked you in, he and I had a long talk that night. He really did love mom, but after hearing about how she went on her rampages and how she would be passed out drunk when we got home from school, dad knew something had to change.”

“Wow. What happened next?” she asked.

“Dad told mom, either she shaped up or there were going to be some changes happening in the house. That’s when she did a complete turn around and tried to be the model wife and mom. Little did we know, she was having an affair.” Jarod said. “Is there something else bothering you?” he asked his sister.

“I’m worried, Jarod. The more the memories come back, the more intense they’re getting. When I remembered the pole incident, I fainted. Thank goodness Howie caught me or I would have split my head open.”

“What does your doctor say?” Jarod asked.

“She doesn’t know about this latest incident. I needed to absorb it for awhile. I’ll call her tomorrow. AJ tried to help me get past it. I was just so drained afterwards from trying to analyze it and not let it eat away at me. I ended up taking a nap with Nick in the living room.” Ciara said. “How much do the boys know about what’s going on?”

“Not too much. Just what you’ve told them and they know about what happened with our dad and the accident and you losing your memory. That’s about it. They also know that mom has done something wrong and is afraid to own up to it. They don’t understand it. They’re only ten.” Jarod tried to explain.

“I’m sorry. I wish these things didn’t happen. That these memories didn’t come back like this, that I didn’t need to call you to clarify all this. That I didn’t need you so much.” Ciara began to cry.

“Hey, I’m your brother and I will always be here for you. Always. I love you and the boys love you and we will get through this together. Don’t you worry.” Jarod said, “Now, dry your eyes and let’s go have some of that fish that Rachel and that Howie character prepared.