Cut to Lily and Rick getting the hallway summation from the attending doctor. He starts by telling them that it's going to take time. He then breaks the news that Karen's pelvis is shattered, as are her femur and left knee. Oh, and she has a ruptured spleen. The camera pans so we can see that Eli and Jessie are standing there, too. The doctor tells them that Karen will be staying at the hospital for a while, and that walking will be hard. "It's going to take some time. But at least you've got her," he says with a wan smile. Wrung out, they nod slightly and try to see the bright side. Jessie asks if they can see her.

Cut to one of those blippy machines, beeping away next to Karen's bed. The camera pans away from it, along a tube up to Karen's face. She's badly scratched and scraped. Jessie and Eli enter tentatively. "Hi, Mom," Jessie says softly. Karen struggles to turn her head toward the sound. She opens her eyes and blinks to focus.

Soliloquy Karen turns her head in the same direction.

Jessie tries to fight back her tears and smile while Eli swallows hard.

Soliloquy Karen stretches out her hand. "Oh my god!" she sighs, awed. "They're so beautiful!" She's about to cry from sheer joy.

Karen lies there, expressionless, her face taped and immobilized. She fights to keep her eyes open but can't.

Fade into Rick and Lily in the hallway, getting on with the business of making arrangements.

Fade into Jessie and Eli in Karen's room at home, collecting some of her things. "Don't lose her place," Eli orders, as Jessie picks up a book.

Fade into Karen's hospital room, where Rick's sitting by her bedside, arms folded and face filled with concern. He doesn't take his eyes off her.

Fade into the dining room at Manning Manor, where Lily and Rick are huddled at the table in semi-darkness, picking at their plates. They make stilted small talk about the casserole. As Lily stands up to clear the table, she declares, "This is going to change things." Rick says that Karen won't be able to take care of Jessie. "Or herself," Lily adds. Rick stands and says, "I'm going to get them to come in and eat." Lily puts a hand on his shoulder and tells him to let her do it. She practically runs.

Lily bustles into Eli's room with an armload of towels. She finds Jessie flopped on the bed staring at the ceiling, and asks where Eli is. Jessie says she made Eli go to his band practice with Coop, "and no, [she isn't] hungry." Lily barely bats an eye and says that's fine. Jessie turns toward her with a suspicious look. Lily just goes about folding the towels. "How's my dad?" Jessie asks. Lily says he's okay. Jessie goes back to staring at the ceiling, saying that Rick doesn't always show things. "Sometimes you don't know what he's feeling, because he's enigmatic." Very good! One point for using it in a sentence. Lily puts down the towels and looks at Jessie. She walks toward the bed, saying, "I know. I like that." Jessie's surprised by that, and Lily climbs over the bed to gather Eli's dirty clothes. She explains that she likes the way it feels when a secretive person gives you a glimpse of what they're thinking or feeling. She turns and looks at Jessie a moment, then sits next to her on the bed. "You're not like a daughter to me. You are one. I have three. Three's lucky. It's magic. And so am I." I hope she means she's lucky. Rather than adding a line to let Jessie know this declaration in no way signals the inevitable demise of her natural mother, Lily offers the kid some casserole. Jessie asks if it has eggplant in it, because she hates it. Lily proudly announces that it did have eggplant in it, but that Lily picked it out, "cube by cube." "You did?" Jessie asks. Lily holds out her hand, saying, "Yes. Come see."