Serena stares at her, and Lily coughs: "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right." She waits for Georgina to correct herself, but G starts playing with them: "What? You haven't met Serena's new guy?" No. Not that: "A ... boyfriend?" Breezy as anything: "Oh, you mean Eric. You didn't know he was dating someone? I didn't think it was a secret, I mean, I saw them kissing in front of St. Jude's this morning for all the world to see..." Eric's face falls even further; he's terribly sad. "Well, don't look so embarrassed, E! He is a hot piece! Well done." Serena jumps her: "-- Please, Georgina. That's not funny, okay?"

Georgina checks with Lily, but Lily's looking at her plate, gone all white. "Oh. I'm, um. You... didn't know Eric was dating a boy." Lily chokes the words out, what that would mean. "He's not... He's just. Not." Eric tries to be strong; his lip quivers but he won't lie. "...Are you?" She whispers, and his mouth forms words but no sound comes out. That creaky old voice of his is just warming up to tell her, to stand up and be a man about it, when she collapses in on herself, covering her eyes. "Oh, God." He runs.

"Eric!" Serena tosses a withering glance at Lily -- "Great, Mom. That's just great." -- and a hiss at Georgina -- "How dare you?" -- and runs off. She came home to save him. She came home to keep him safe. She heads toward his room, and at the table, there are two quiet things going on. Georgina is realizing that the world is full of infinite eggs, and the omelet she's making is going to involve breaking more than that one. She shrugs and sips her wine. And Lily is realizing that she just failed one of the big ones. Like the SAT, parenting tests our best qualities and often brings out our worst. But it's not about who you are, in those fast moments, in those pop quizzes: it's about what you do. The second splits, on your word. There are moments where things could go one way or the other, and her son is balanced on a tighter tightrope than most. They almost lost him, before. She remembers. And this might have been the biggest test he'll hand her, in his life, and she failed it.