Janie is sitting across from Stella at the kitchen table in their grandparents' kitchen. August is next to Stella with Abilene next to him. Liam is across from Abilene. Cordell stands at the head of the table, closest to his daughters.

"Cordell." Bonham calls, sitting at the other head of the table.

"Yeah." Cordell nods and clears his throat. "There's no easy way to say this. Um... Carlos Mendoza, um... is innocent." Cordell states and the three siblings immediately look at each other. "He's being released tonight. Um, Captain James and your Uncle Liam did some digging, and we believe Northside Nation, who you met in Laredo, at that soccer game, Oswald and company."

"We-we have reason to believe that they... are involved."

"So, mom's killer is still out there?" August asks.

"And you're... you're what? You're gonna go out there and try to find him?" Stella asks.

"It j-just feels like this person is-is trying to hurt our family. Dad, are we even safe here?" August asks.

"Boy, anyone step foot on this ranch to do you harm, they better bring their rosary." Bonham says. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"It feels like you're going hunting." Stella says.

"Or going completely insane." Janie comments.

"And we're just... we're gonna let you?" Stella asks.

"Stella... I'm not gonna stand idle while he walks free. I can't." Cordell says.

"Kids, I'm gonna be here with you all day. So will mawline and gramps." Liam assures.

They hear a car horn honk out front and Janie can tell it is Captain James' car.

"I am trying to bring peace to us, bring peace to our family, bring peace... to your mother. It's okay if you can't support that, but... can you understand it?" Cordell asks.

Stella sighs and leaves, August following. Janie feels her eyes start to sting and takes it as her sign to leave, following after her siblings.

+++

Janie sits on the piano bench, lazily pressing different keys while Stella and August fight over the latter's phone.

"Give it to me!" Stella orders.

August overpowers Stella and dangles the phone over her face. Stella headbutts him before trapping his arm between her legs and his chest under her left leg.

August exclaims that he's tapping out as Stella pries the phone out of his grip before getting up.

"What is going on here?" Micki asks as Stella stands up and August sits up.

"Wait, you're not here with bad news, right?" August asks.

"No. Hey, your dad's fine." Micki assures. "But, uh, question still stands. What's going with you guys?" She asks as August stands back up.

"You know what? Stella's just pissed because Trevor texted me." August says, ripping his phone from his sister's hand. "You know what? Look, Stella. He texted me to cancel, all right?" He says, showing her the screen. Does that make you feel any better?"

"Will you just stop it?" Stella asks.

"Would both of you stop it?" Janie asks.

"God, you're such a diva, Stella." August mutters. "You're such a brat." He says, walking away.

"Would you stop playing random keys?" Stella groans. Janie sighs, getting up and walking away.

"Okay. I feel like y'all have a little bit of pent up energy." Micki says as the twins walk back into the room. "That maybe we could channel a little differently." She says, walking over to the gun case.

"I'm actually pretty solid with playing random keys on the piano." Janie says making Micki chuckle.

"How are ya'll with a rifle?" Micki questions.

+++

Janie and August sit at the picnic table with headphones on while Micki and Stella shoot guns. Janie has her earbuds in under her headphones while she stares off into space, not paying attention to anything the other three are doing.

"Hey, uh, shouldn't we be shooting at moving targets?" August asks which knocks Janie out of her thoughts. The four all take their headphones off and Janie takes her earbuds out.

"After mom and-and Uncle Liam, I mean, shouldn't we be... ready?" August questions.

"So, was that was the... piano was all about?" Micki asks, the four now facing each other.

"No." August chuckles. "No, and I've actually been spending enough time in therapy with Dr. Jane, if that's all right."

"You know, I've actually had my fair share of therapists, too." Micki says. Only problem was mine were mostly called "Mom"." Micki says.

"Oh, God." Janie grimaces.

"Yeah." Micki lightly laughs. "Though I guess it's a little bit more complicated now."

"What was that like? Psychologist for a parent." Stella asks.

"Um... a lot of regular teenage problems suddenly having this magical underlining meaning. God help me. She used to have this phrase. "No wrong feelings." The idea was not right, not wrong. It's... just honest. Might be something you three want to think about?"

"All right, well, I hope dad kills this bastard." August states.

"Augie." Stella calls.

"I do. All right? I mean, everything that's happened, really, jail time is-is way too small for this guy. He needs to suffer like we did." August states.

"I don't feel that way at all. Honestly, when dad told us, I was just like... "Really? We have to go through all of this again?" Things were almost normal. I liked living in almost." Stella says.

Micki turns to Janie, making the other two turn to her.

"No, I don't do talking." Janie says. "I'll write you a letter later."

"Are we terrible people?" August asks.

"No. Not at all." Micki promises.

"I want him to pay." Janie suddenly speaks up after a few moments, as she stares at the ground with teary eyes. "Rather it's death or just prison, I want whoever killed her gone. Whatever that takes." She says, her voice cracking a few times in her statements.

Micki smiles sympathetically, rubbing Janie's knee comfortingly.

+++

It's nighttime now and the siblings are at the table, anxiously waiting. They hear the front door open and the two dogs start barking and run to the noise. The siblings immediately follow, running after them, their dad being by the door.

The three immediately hug him and he hugs them back.

~ ~ ~

It's dinnertime and they're all outside at the table, talking and laughing as they dish their food. Janie, Cordell, and Liam are across from Stella, August, and Abilene and Bonham is between his wife and Liam.

"You know, I-I think I should, uh, I think-I think I should make a toast." Cordell says, standing up with his glass. "Yeah, uh..." He stands at the head of the table. "I'm glad we're here today. I'm glad we're, uh, together, here today. This, uh, this... this isn't the path we chose, um... but maybe there's some comfort knowing that your mother left this world doing what she chose. Helping people."

"Um, you know the last time I saw her, um... she was worried about me. Uh, she knew I was gonna lose that game to you guys. And I knew I was gonna lose too, believe me. And I didn't really know how much we were all gonna lose. Um... tonight, I don't wanna think about things we've lost. I want to think about things we've gained."

"A bond that had been broken. Gratitude. Steaks. Thanks, daddy." Cordell says, making everybody chuckle. "Um... closure. And, uh, and finally, uh... some peace. To Emily." He holds his glass out.

"To Emily." Abilene, Bonham, and Liam chorus.

"To mom." The siblings call.

~ ~ ~

Later that night, the family of four stayed on the couch, with the fire going. August and Stella fell asleep with their heads on Cordell's shoulders while Janie fell asleep with her head on August's shoulder.

+++

Cordell gets home from the bar and finds his kids how he left them on the couch. He quietly makes his way upstairs, going into his room. He sees a folded up piece of paper on his pillow. Curious, he walks over, seeing 'dad' written on it in Janie's messy handwriting.

Cordell picks it up and unfolds it, reading the letter.

'Dad, I know that I didn't say anything before you left. But I hope you were safe. Hopefully you come back alive and are able to read this. Everybody is assuring us you're fine, but you never know. I'm scared, angry, and hurt. Scared for you. Scared because the person who took mom away is still out there. Angry and hurt at that person for doing so. Hurt that we may lose you, too. It's a lot of mixed emotions, but I know none of them are good.

I don't like that you went after him because I don't want to lose my other parent, but I do get that you felt the need to go after him and do it for mom. I didn't when you first told us, but after thinking about it more, I understand. If you have to kill the person, than I'm okay with that. I know it sounds cold, but I just want them to be gone for good. If they only end up in prison, then that'll suffice for now, I guess. But I would prefer the first option.

I feel like a monster saying that I wish someone would be dead. But he hurt us so much and caused us so much pain that I can't help it. It hurts a little less, but it still definitely hurts not having her here and being a family of 4 instead of 5. I wish we could go back to before more than anything else, but I know we're not getting that.

I mostly just want you to know that I love you and I hope you were safe when chasing after mom's killer. And please just stay around. Don't leave us again.'

+++

The next day, when Janie went up to her room to get clothes for a shower, she saw a piece of paper on her bed. It was a single piece of paper, folded, with her name written on it in her dad's cursive.

Janie picks the piece of paper up and unfolds it, reading the words written on it.

'You're not a monster

And I'm not leaving'

Janie softly smiles before folding the piece of paper back up and placing it in the top drawer of her nightstand.