EXT. JESS'S HOUSE – MORNING

The Pelmobile pulls into the drive. Sangy shuts the engine off, and the three of them start to gather their purses and oxygen tanks. Sangy stops, lowers her sunglasses

SANGY
Is that Georgia?

The other two stop and look up

SABRINA

I believe it is.

MISTY
Let's stick to the plan.

They get out and walk over to where Jess, Tim and Georgia are sitting, lawn chair arranged around a table loaded with food. Jess waves cheerfully

JESS
Hi, you're just in time! I made breakfast!

SABRINA
Hi, Jess.

GEORGIA
Well look who's here!

MISTY
Hello, Georgia.

TIM

Good mornin' ladies.

They amble over and sit down

SABRINA

Georgia, what are you doin' here?

GEORGIA
I've come to reclaim my man.

SANGY
Oooh, he'll hate it if you call him that.

GEORGIA

It'll be our secret. Secrets are kind of an

Undahpants forte, from what I understand?

SABRINA
That's uh, that's kinda what we came to talk

about.

Sangy walks over and sits next to Jess

SANGY
Jess, I think you know what we're here for.

JESS
I believe we've had this discussion. I think I was

perfectly clear.

SABRINA
You were perfectly clear and perfectly wrong.

JESS

This is violently unfair! I have not ceded control

of my private life to you or to anyone else in the world.

TIM
Honey -
(walks over and sits next to her)
There is no shame in what happened. That was a different

time and you were a different person. They're right. You can

trust Moogle, honey.

MISTY
Oh come on, hon. Come with us.

Misty, Sabrina and Sangy stand up

JESS
(sighs)
I can't. I can't be the one. I don't even remember most

of it. I… I don't want to be the one.

They look at each other and nod. Sangy presses a kiss to Jess's temple

SANGY
Okay, pal.

Sangy pats her on the shoulder and they walk back to the car. Tim looks at Jess

TIM
You'll be glad when this is over.

He kisses her on the cheek and gets up, shouting after the girls

TIM
I'm comin' with you!

JESS

Oh wait, you can't all go!

GEORGIA
I – I'll stay with you, Jess.

Jess walks over and takes Tim's place next to Jess. She looks around, awkwardly. Jess pauses for a minute, as if considering, then smiles at Georgia. Georgia catches her eye and smiles back. They watch the car pull away

JESS
Once… a long time ago, I… I dropped my basket.

END SCENE

EXT. SANGY'S HOUSE – MORNING

Sangy, Sabrina and Misty get out of the car and walk INT. SANGY'S HOUSE. Moog lies on the couch, face streaked with tears, clutching the phone. He sits up, wiping his face with his sleeve, when they come in

TIM
Hey, son, what's the problem?

MOOGLE
Nothing, Georgia's just not… picking up.

They all look at each other. Moog blinks

MOOGLE
What?

SABRINA

Get comfortable, hon. I've got a full tank.

CUT TO Jess and Georgia

They've moved into the dining room, and Georgia sits at the table while Jess paces, finishing her story

JESS
When I got back, I quit drinking. I tried to

be the best mother I could.

GEORGIA
How'd that go?

JESS

… not so hot.

CUT TO INT. JESS'S LIVING ROOM – FLASHBACK

Jess stomps into the living room, Pro clinging to her. Autumn, Moog, and Reb sit around on the floor, playing with toys. They look up as she enters

JESS
Tim! Get this monster off of me! I can't

stand the sight of him!

Tim takes Pro from her, and the camera cuts to show Jess's face, which looks like she hasn't slept in weeks. Jess whirls to face the other kids

JESS
Don't look at me in that tone of voice!

MOOGLE
I wasn't!

JESS
Well, don't!

CUT TO: the pharmacy. Jess takes a bag from him and opens it

PRESENTJESS (V.O.)
I went to a doctor. They changed my medication.

I lost track. I was… out of it. But they thought I'd

get better.

Jess takes the bottle of pills out and dry-swallows a couple of them on her way out of the store

GEORGIA (V.O.)
Did you?

CUT TO: JESS'S LIVING ROOM – NIGHT.

Jess lays sprawled out on the floor amongst Spiderman comic books and tapes. Sitting nearby is AMRAUN, an Elf wearing a stupid hat.

JESS

so then Tim, the idiot, goes and gets himself blown up.
And now I have no working husbands. And in this issue,
Spiderman fights Venom, again.

AMRAUN
Venom has the costume Spiderman once owned, correct?

JESS
Right, the symbiotic suit.

She hands him a book. He looks at it

AMRAUN
I understand. I think. So… Mary Jane and Peter Parker do

get married?

JESS

Yeah.

AMRAUN
But not Spidergirl and Spiderman.

JESS
no, that's incest.

Jess gets up and walks out. Amraun talks louder so she can hear him

AMRAUN
(sighs)
I don't understand why Spider lied to me.

Jess returns, a bottle of soda under one arm and pouring pills into her hand. She uncaps the soda and swallows the pills, then sits down

JESS
'cause she's stupid?

AMRAUN
She's not stupid. She's just a child.

(Jess hands the soda to him. He takes a swig)
I do not want her affection, though.

JESS
So you're going to be Ruby's stalker.

AMRAUN
I'm not her stalker. I love her. She just doesn't

see it.

JESS
Stalker.

… you're a pretty stalker, though.

AMRAUN

… what?

Jess grins, and tackles him

CUT TO: JESS'S BASEMENT

Jess sits at the kitchen counter, trying to count out pills with shaking hands. She's far beyond 'out of it' by now. One of the kids makes some noise from the living room, and she jumps, knocking the entire bottle to the floor. She drops onto her knees, grabs a handful and swallows them, puts the rest back into the bottle.

PRESENTJESS(V.O.)

Nothing was going right. Adrian was gone. Tim was

in the hospital. I slept with Amraun. That was the only

thing I remembered about that night. Amraun.

I was pregnant. Tim wasn't the father.

I- I didn't even know what was going on around me. Everything

was blurred. Off-kilter. It was overpowering.

Jess walks downstairs to the basement. Autumn sits on the floor, and looks up when Jess comes in.

JESS
Autumn, will you do mummy a favour?

Autumn bites her lip and nods. Jess pulls out a handgun. Autumn stares at it, backing away. Jess takes her tiny hand, opens it, puts the gun in it

JESS
Please shoot mummy. She doesn't want to hurt

anybody. Everybody already hurts so much.

Tears run down Autumn's cheeks. She shakes her head.

JESS
Please, Autumn. You want to be a good girl, don't you?
(smiles weakly)
Everyone's friend?

Autumn looks at the gun, then up at Jess.

AUTUMN

Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

She raises the gun, pointing it at the camera. We cut to black; then hear a gunshot. Then sirens. Finally, the slow and steady beat of a heart monitor. We FADE INTO:

TIM'S HOSPITAL ROOM. He lies in his bed, bandaged. A nurse comes in and begins talking to him, but Jess's voice-over blocks it out

PRESENTJESS (V.O.)
Only it didn't go like it was supposed to.

The nurse finishes talking; Tim's eyes widen.

CUT TO: JESS'S HOSPITAL ROOM

Jess is comatose. Tim sits in a chair, elbows resting on knees, one hand holding his head and the other holding Jess's bottle of pills. Misty, Sangy, Sabrina and Crunk are sitting in chairs, or leaning against the wall, all looking tearful.

TIM
i – she was… she was okay when I left.

MISTY
(voice shaking)

No one was there to watch her. She was eating those

pills like they were goddamn M&M's.

SABRINA
how did – how did Autumn…

TIM

they said she dropped the gun and it – it fired.

CRUNK
Tim, Jess is sick. She has cracked up. We have got to get

her some real help.

Tim puts his head in his hands. We CUT TO another day. Jess is a little more awake, but that's the only thing that's changed – the others are still visiting her every day, and are all gathered round. The nurse brings in a dinner tray and leaves. Tim walks over and begins spooning up mashed potatoes

SANGY
Tim. She's not going to eat now. She doesn't know where

she is.

TIM
It's not going to hurt her to have something in her stomach

now, is it?

(looks at Jess)

open up, honey.

She opens her mouth a little bit. Tim slides the spoon, loaded with potatoes, into her mouth.

TIM

chew. chew, honey.

They watch him try to feed a generally unresponsive Jess. The sight is heartbreaking. Crunk stands up and takes a deep breath

CRUNK
Why don't, um… why don't we go and see about the kids?

The others nod and leave, patting Tim on the back or giving him a hug as they walk out and leave him alone. He picks up a juice box, stabs the straw against the table to get it out of the wrapper and then stabs it into the box. He holds it up to Jess's mouth

TIM

have some juice. you love juice.

The camera cuts to them as they shut the door. They stand in front of it for a moment, looking wordlessly at each other, then leave; as the last person moves out of view we see Tim hunched over beside Jess's bed through the window, face in his hands and shoulders shaking.

CUT TO: Jess's living room. Samwise is sitting on the couch amongst many small children; he holds a quietly crying Pro close with one hand and holds Moog's hand with the other. Reb wedges himself into a corner of the couch, biting his lip. Any other children in the neighbourhood that are small at the time are with him, each as quiet and morose as Jess's kids.

Crunk, Sangy, Misty and Brina enter, looking tired, and pick up any kid they can find to hug them. Moog lowers his head and puts his arms over it, hands clasping behind his head.