Natalie Marie Belling cringed as she saw the red, browns, and pinks mixing in with the toilet water and disgustingly made out a shape of a four leaf clover among the mixture. In her nineteen years of life, she had discovered that nothing ever made her feel grosser then after she threw up but what made this situation worse then the few times she had thrown up the in past is that this time, Natalie had no idea why she was vomiting. She wasn't sick and she hadn't eaten anything vomit-worthy all day. Actually, she hadn't a full meal all day – the smell of mixing foods together in the kitchen was making her feel oddly sick for some reason.

"Natalie!" Natalie groaned at the all too familiar voice that she heard coming from her bedroom and sighed to herself before standing. After one last glance at the disgusting formation in the toilet, Natalie flushed it and turned to fix up her appearance.

Her layered, light brown hair hung limply down her back and Natalie fingered it with a critical eye. Natalie often found herself wishing for her younger triplet sister's curly textured hair and frequently wondered to herself why on Earth people considered herself to be the beauty of the family when she had three insanely gorgeous sisters.

Natalie's clear blue eyes wandered over to a picture taped in the upper left hand corner of her rather large, built in mirror and sighed – exhibit A.

The picture was of Natalie and her youngest half sister, 17 year old Courtney Rose Belling, in a photo booth at the mall. There were four small pictures, the first of which they were back to back with their fingers aimed like guns that they pointed upwards...kind of like a Charlie's Angel pose. The second was of them pretending to be supermodels, the third was them just being goofy, and the third was a rather pretty picture of them just smiling. Courtney had classic blond hair, blue eyed look but went against the stereotypical 'blonds are stupid' label by being a vivid reader and was close to being valedictorian of her graduating senior class. In fact, her boyfriend, Cole Rebury, had done what her sisters had tried and failed to do by convincing her to look into majoring in English next year.

Exhibit B was in a picture taped and slapped onto the middle right edge of the mirror. Grace-Ann Belling was Natalie's older sister by 13 minutes and had the same light brown hair and blue eyes as her triplet sisters. In the picture, her shoulder length, flat brown hair was stylishly cut so that it was perfectly even with her shoulder blades. Her bangs were cut to end right above her eyelids and while the look worked perfectly for her, it would never work that way for her. The picture was taken in front of the Eiffel Tower last year when Grace-Ann had taken a semester last year to explore France. She seemed to fit in perfectly with the atmosphere and, much to the despair of her sisters, had expressed an interest of possibility of moving there in a few years.

Finally, Natalie's eyes strayed to a picture of her and her sister Molly Kate Belling. Molly was younger than Natalie by seven minutes and had bouncy light brown curls that framed her face and blue eyes beautifully. In the picture, the two were squished together at a table in the food-court with Nathanial Palette on Molly's right side and Alexander Brady on Natalie's left.

Natalie cringed at the sight of her now ex-boyfriend, Alexander Brady. His dark blonde, silky hair with bronze streaks that were visible in the sunlight and blue eyes that matched her own were the aspects that had first attracted Natalie to him. His carefree view on life, slightly goofy attitude, and clumsiness is what made him fun to date. His mind-blowing kisses, soothing touches, and romantic tendencies are what made her fall head over heels in love with him.

But apparently she wasn't alone, because he had recently shattered her heart when he had gently proposed the idea of breaking up. He had found someone else...a beautiful blond named Lauren who he had met at Starbucks and immediately hit it off with.

"I thought I was in love with you but...maybe I was wrong."

Those were his exact words before he uttered the kiss of death, those dreaded five words: "We can still be friends."

And all Natalie could do was nod and smile before leaving the restaurant were Alex had asked Natalie to meet him. She tried to avoid him but seeing as how he knew where she lived, had a key to the house, and seemed dead set on making this friendship thing work, he was over a lot of the time. Thankfully though, Nate was over more then Alex was and made sure that Alex could never stay long enough to open up old wounds or talk about Lauren.

Speaking of Nate...

"I hate her! God, I hate her!" Natalie stood and with a final glance into the mirror, stepped from the bathroom and into the connected bedroom where Nathanial sat on the edge of her bed with his face in his hands.

"Nate?" Natalie asked quietly as she pulled her brown hair back into a high pony-tail and tiredly stepped towards the wallowing man. He didn't respond, only continued to mutter a quiet but clear 'I hate her...I love her...I hate her...'. Natalie felt her tired brain kick into gear - she knew what this was about...or better yet, who this was about. "What happened with Molly, Nate?"

Nate removed his smooth hands from his hazel eyes so that he could run his hands through his midnight black hair. Over the years, the question about how Natalie could possibly remain 'just friends' with someone as gorgeous as Nate had popped but the answer was always clear:

At first, the answer was that he was a manwhore and they both agreed that they had two much respect for each other and to many ties & memories to date. I mean who wants to date the boy who called you to cry about how he had accidentally wetted his bed? Sure, he was six but still...plus, there was also there was the fact that there was no romantic attraction between the two. Then, as time moves on, the answer became clear that Nate was in love with Molly and Natalie was head over heels for Alex.

"She was at another party-" Natalie held in a sigh and instead soothingly rubbed his back as she sat next to him. While of course Natalie hated the fact that two people who were obviously meant to be together weren't, she had decided that the worst part of this whole ordeal was, without a doubt, the way that Molly was acting.

While she'd always been a semi-active party girl before, Molly was now a full on party-every-night kind of girl. She'd been going out every night and partying until the early hours of the morning and, according to Nate who had been going to every party that she went to as a sort-of self-employed babysitter, had been drinking excessively. Her grades were starting to slip and Natalie saw that Courtney was starting to worry more and more about her older sister and while usually Courtney really had no reason to worry, Natalie was no longer to sure about that...

"-And there was this guy. She was with this guy and he took her into a hallway and he...oh my god...Natalie, he told her he loved her! I wanted to kill him and I would have but instead I drove here...Natalie, he told her he loved her. I hate her! God, I hate her so much!" He yelled in rage and even I was surprised to hear the possibility of tears spilling in his voice. I tugged him tighter to me and continued to rub his back. After a while, he pulled away and put his face back in his hands.

"I quit, Nat. I quit, I love the girl so damn much but I can't do this anymore."

"No, Nate! Don't quit!" Natalie said in a panic; he couldn't give up now!

"Natalie, it's been a little over a month! It's March freaking 16th and we broke up February 14th! She's moved on and is in love with someone else!"

"Now lets wait a minutes, partying every night is hardly moving on..." Nate didn't answer so I continued. "And answer this: so yes, the random guy did claim he loved her but did she say it back?"

There was more silence but this wasn't an indifferent silence...this was a thoughtful silence. I watched as Nate slowly lifted his head and once again stared at the wall in front of him, the only difference was that this time he was smiling...and that smile was widening.

"No...no! She smiled at him, patted his head, and then went to get a drink! She doesn't love him, does she?!" He shouted gleefully and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course not, you stupid oaf. She still loves you."

"My God Natalie, what would I do without yo-"

"Natalie?" Nate's sentence was broken off at Courtney's voice. Natalie turned her attention from her best friend to her youngest sister and smiled.

"Yes?"

"Oh hey Nate. Ummm...Nat, can I go out with Cole tonight? Pleaseeee?" Courtney begged and Natalie stared at the blond sympathetically before shaking her head.

"Sorry Courtney, but it’s a school night – you know that. Plus, it's already 11."

"But Natalie! He found this really cool restaurant-"

"Then you guys can go tomorrow afternoon."

"But we're going to the St. Patricks Day Festival in town, tomorrow! Come on, pleaseeee Natalie?"

"I'm sorry, Court, but you know the rules..."

Natalie watched as the put-out seventeen year old pouted and grudgingly left the entrance to the bedroom. Natalie wasn't at all surprised by that random appearance of her sister asking for permission; Natalie was basically the authority figure in the house. You'd think that the authority figure would be Grace-Ann seeing as how she's the oldest, but Grace-Ann was to busy taking care of their mother. Natalie couldn’t figure whose role was harder: Grace-Anns or her own.

Grace-Ann had to constantly track their mothers spending, handled a few of the past seven divorce cases, handled the same amount of weddings (plus this one), and was the only one who could talk some sense into their mother when necessary.

On the other hand, Natalie was the one who Molly and Courtney always came for to get permission to go out or, in Molly's case, to notify her where she'd be. Natalie made the meals half of the time (she switched off with Molly) but ever since Molly had started to party more often, Natalie also found herself making the meals more often. Natalie also took care of the majority of the bills, gave Courtney her weekly allowance, and now had to help Nate and Molly get back on track.

"Hey, she's right." Nate said as fell back on the bed to stare at the ceiling.

"About what?" Natalie asked as she stretched and stood from the bed.

"Tomorrow St. Patricks Day. That's good because I'm going to need all the luck I can get." He muttered as he ran a hand through his black hair.

"With what?" He smiled mischeviously up at the ceiling.

"With my plan, of course. If she doesn't piss me off before then, then I have a magnificent plan to get her back. It'll work...I'll be here at 8 A.M to pick her up, she's a late sleeper usually so I doubt I'll have to worry about her not being here."

"What's the plan?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." Natalie nodded and relished in the silence that followed before Nate's voice broke through again. "Hey, Nat." Natalie looked up at her name and saw Nate sitting up and looking at her with concern. "You don't look so good..." He stated as he took in her appearance. Natalie shrugged and leaned further back into the wall she was leaning on.

"Just a little tired...actually, a lot tired."

"Hey, why don't you go to bed-"

"Can't, I have to wait for Natalie to get home-"

"I'll do it. You just lie down and get some sleep, alright?" Natalie was about to argue but then she realized just how comfy her canopy, pillow-top bed felt and decided against it. She kissed Nate's cheek in thanks and, after turning out the lights, moved to get under the pillows where she instantly fell asleep, sweat pants and all.

Nate sat on the edge of the bed and looked at his best friend as she slept on her side. Something was wrong with her and for a brief second, he suspected that maybe, after all these years, the stress of being 'mom' was finally getting to her.

At the sound of footsteps outside of Natalie's open door, Nate snapped out of his thoughts. He quickly stood up and moved into the shadows of the room where he silently waited to see who the guest was. He sighed when Alex stepped into the room, his eyes searching for Natalie.

Alex was wearing a tux and had undone the bowtie thing and the jacket was unbuttoned. Nate, who was pretty good friends with Alex, remembered him saying something about a cousin or someone getting married and that he was going to be taking Lauren as his date. He obviously came straight from dropping Lauren off at her house after the wedding party and it bothered Nate that he was at his ex-girlfriends house after leaving his current girlfriends.

Nate watched as Alex smiled faintly at the sight of the sleeping girl before he quietly and cautiously walked towards the bed where she lay. He bent slightly at his knees so that he was eye level with Natalie and Nate saw the smile staid in place as he moved his right hand to push a piece of her brown hair behind her right ear. Alex just stared at the girl as he continued to stroke her hair, not noticing Nate in the shadows.

Alex sighed softly and stood up before wiping at his eyes; Nate glanced closer and thanks to the moonlight that was shining down through the window at Alex, he was able to see the few glistening tears in his eyes. Surprised, Nate continued to stay deathly still as he observed.

Alex looked down at Natalie and kissed her cheek before mumbling something, inaudible to Nate, into her ear. Natalie groaned softly and Alex backed up a bit and watched as Natalie turned to her other side, still in her dream state. Alex slowly backed up while his eyes stayed on the sleeping Natalie and when he finally made it to the door, he stood there for another half second as he watched the girl wistfully before he turned and left the house for the night.

Shaking his head, Nathanial decided he had neither the will or the energy to look into what had just happened and instead made his way down to the living room to wait for Molly to come back.

"Natalie!" Natalie immediately opened her eyes as she felt someone shaking her awake.

Natalie took in Molly's tear stained face and sat straight up while thinking 'Here we go again...'

"What is it, Molly?" Natalie asked as she pulled the teary-eyed girl into her arms.

"He yelled at me. For hours, Nat. He yelled at me for hours. I couldn’t even get a word in!" She cried, salt water tears staining Natalie's shirt. Natalie glances at the clock and inwardly groaned when it read 7:30 A.M. Natalie looked at the door and sure enough, Courtney passed the door in her school uniform and shot the Natalie a tired look before waving goodbye. Cole was obviously here to drop her off at Kering Hall the state's prominent all girls school that all of the Belling girls had attended before he would head off to Poller's School for Boys, Kering Hall's sister school.

Natalie turned her attention back to Molly and silently thanked God that spring break started today; Molly was in no way ready to go to school today and Natalie felt much to sick herself.

"Who yelled at you?" She asked although she felt that she already knew the answer.

"Nate. I walked in really late, or early depending on how you wanna look at it, and I was on the phone with this guy I met last night...and then Nate was on the couch in the living room and he saw me and just blew up! He pulled the phone from my hand, snapped it shut and started yelling at me. He pushed me into the couch and yelled about how I was a selfish little girl who doesn't care about anyone or anything! That's not true, Natalie! He had no right to yell at me!" Molly bawled.

I sighed and shook my head because, in reality, he did have a right.

He loved her, cared for her, and therefore didn't like the dangerous change in attitude that she was having. I voiced those thoughts.

"Dangerous change in attitude? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that you're going out every night, your grades are slipping, you're drinking excessively-"

"But I don't get drunk!"

"That doesn't matter, Molly." Natalie told sternly before sighing as Molly started to cry harder. "He loves you Molly, he cares for you...maybe you should give him another chance, you know?" Molly pulled away and tried to get her tears under control and Natalie watched her sadly. Molly was still crying but not as hard and therefore attempted to speak again:

"Yes, I know...and I was really, really considering it, Natalie. This guy...last night, this guy I've been seeing told me he loved me and all I could think was 'But I love Nate...' and it was just so weird. So, I went to get another drink and-" Molly started to cry harder and Natalie sighed before pulling her close again, stabling Molly enough to continue. "-And, I..I don't know, Natalie. It's like...we've m-messed up so badly before-"

"But messing up doesn't erase love, Molly. He means it when he says he's sorry and that he loves you." Natalie interrupted and Molly nodded and she sniffed and cried.

"I know and then Sam, the guy who said he love-loved me, came over and he was acting so...touchy and kept giving me little ran-random kisses and it felt so weird because it was-wasn't Nate...it's like...this is so messed up Nat!"

At Molly's words, Natalie felt a giant load lift up from her shoulders. Molly had finally come to her senses! She was going to forgive Nate!

"I know, Molly. I know, sweety. But come on, you know you still love him so call him up and meet him somewhere." Much to Natalie's surprise, Molly just started to cry harder at Natalie's words.

"Did you not hear me?!" She cried. "Na-Natalie, all he d-did was yell and scream at me! He just yelled about how I didn't c-care about you guys and then he told me he was sick of me." Natalie held in a groan and felt the load fall back onto her shoulder.

Nate really had impeccable timing, didn't he?

"He said that?" Natalie asked softly as she pulled the crying Molly closer; Molly clung to her like a little girl and Natalie ignored the fact that Molly had never broken down like this before...well, except for the time was when their mom divorced husband number 5, Harold – Molly has really liked him and he had the girls convinced that they were going to be one big happy family, no more of their mothers promiscuous ways.

Way to ruin that one, mom.

"Yes, he did! He said th-thatat and that he was th-through with me. He's done with me, Natalie. It's over." By now, Molly had somehow managed to control the sobs so that they were now just silent streams of tears running down her faultless face.

"It's not over, Natalie...I'm sure he just said that out of anger-"

"No." Molly cried and heaved a sob which she immediately sucked in. "I could tell...the look in his eyes...it-it was just like what he looked like when he broke up with me. When he thought that I had ch-cheated..." She cried, her grasp on me tightening momentarily at the memory.

"Oh, Molly." Natalie whispered and started to rock the girl back and forth.

Natalie wasn't sure how long she had sat there, holding onto her younger sister, when there was a knock on the bedroom door. Natalie looked up and felt her eyes widen slightly at the sight of Alex; she held in a blush.

It was weird, it seemed like he had made it his sole mission to make this whole friendship thing work between the two of them and therefore, she found him at her house very often. The weirder part was that whenever she didn't see him that day, she found herself dreaming about him during some part of the night. It would always be at a random moment and at some point during the time that he was with her in the dream, he always whispered that he loved her.

For example, last night she was having a pleasant dream yes, she was one of those rare people who remembered dreams frequently if she thought hard enough about chilling with some of her friends in a field full of four leaf clovers. They were all trying to collect as much as they could so they could get a lot of good luck when suddenly they stumbled upon a building in the middle of the field. They entered it and it turned out to be a baby nursery and that’s when Alex appeared from underneath one of the cribs. He didn't say much, just held her close and ran his hands through her hair and traced her jaw line – simple things like that; then, a few minutes later he bent down to her ear and whispered 'I love you' before backing off and running from the room.

Natalie blamed these frequent occurrences on wishful thinking. She wished that he did still love her and since she had far to much to worry about during the day, the only time she really had time for herself and her own secret desires was when she was asleep.

Of course, that still didn't answer the question on why these occurrences only happened when Natalie hadn't seen Alex that day...

Alex sent her a confused look when he saw the crying Molly and Natalie shrugged before glancing at her watch; it was 8:30. Natalie sighed and figured that Nate was obviously not coming to pick Molly up and to put the plan into action today. She started to pull away from Molly.

"Hey Molly, you stay here, alright? Courtney's at school already and Grace-Ann went to take care of budgeting for the wedding. I'm going to go down and whip us up some breakfast." Natalie kissed her forehead as Molly nodded and stood as Molly fell back into the pillows to try and straighten herself out.

Natalie walked to the door and after one last glance at the emotionally distressed girl on the bed, she turned and walked straight into Alex, which caused his muscular arms reached out to grab her around the waist so that she wouldn't lose her balance. Natalie blushed slightly and smiled up at Alex for a split second before leaving to comfort of his arms and heading to the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked as the pair stepped into the impressive kitchen. Natalie sighed and shrugged as she began pulling ingredients for waffles and omelets from the refrigerator and cabinets.

"Just more stuff with Nate, I'm sure he'll tell you about it." Natalie muttered tiredly as she began to crack the eggs.

"No, I meant what's wrong with you?" Natalie paused in the middle of cracking an egg but didn't look up. "You look...stressed, Natalie. And tired. Stressed and tired." Alex observed softly as his eyes worriedly racked her body. Her duties due a promiscuous mother looked like it was starting to take its toll on her and her body. Alex ached to draw her into his more than capable arms but held back knowing that it was no longer his place.

"I'm just...I'll be fine." She mumbled and Alex's next words were lost on her as she felt a tumbling sensation in her stomach...oh no.

Natalie turned, pushed by Alex, and sprinted to the nearest bathroom, barely making it in time to throw up her stomach contents (or lack there-of) into the toilet.

"Natalie?!" She heard Alex's strained voice as he ran after her; she raised her head to tell him that she was alright but ended up having to turn her head back to the toilet to continue to throw up. "Oh, Natalie..." Alex sighed as he came up next to her and pulled her hair back. He grabbed a random hair tie that was lying on the sink counter in a house full of girls, they're everywhere you look and pulled her hair back into what would be proclaimed to be a low, messy, loose, bad, pony-tail...but it’s the thought that counts, right?

After Natalie had finished throwing up, she leaned tiredly against the nearby wall. She barely noticed as the toilet was flushed and as she was lifted from her pitiful position into a pair of warm, strong arms. She leaned her head against Alex's chest and was on the verge of falling asleep when the sound of someone clearing their throat broke through.

Natalie peeked her eyes open and saw Molly standing there in dark jeans, cute green flats, and a matching cashmere green sweater. She had her favorite Gucci sunglasses atop her head and a small clutch bag in her left hand. Her curly hair was in a mega low, side pony tail so that it rested on her right shoulder and she looked completely composed; no one would have been known that not to long ago, the same girl had been bawling her eyes out. In fact the only clue that Molly was still sad and hurting over Nate was the unnatural emptiness in her blue eyes.

"Uhh...Natalie? I was going to go spend the day in town at the St. Patricks Day...thing, but do you want me to stay with you? I mean I was gonna-" The rest of her words got jumbled up in Natalie's mind and she moaned before waving Molly off with a 'sure, whatever'. While usually, she would be asking Molly questions about how late she's be out, reminding her to lay off drinking more than she usually did, and asking about who she'd be with, Natalie decided she was way to sick to ask these questions.

Plus, is she heard one more thing about St. Patricks day, luck, or four leaf clovers she was contemplating shooting herself.

Molly continued on her way and Alex started to move again. He carefully carried the half-asleep girl to her bedroom where he softly laid her down atop her bed where he promptly moved to tuck her into the covers. Coming back to reality for a second, Natalie tried to fight her way from the bed and slowly started to sit up. However, a hand was placed at her shoulder and was gently pushing her back down.

"Shh...come on now, Natalie. You need to sleep, sweetheart." At the nickname, Natalie felt a faint smile spread across her face but before she could ask him why on Earth he had called her that, she had fallen asleep.

Alex sighed as he watched his stressed out, ex-girlfriend sleep. She had too much responsibility and he hated the fact that it was finally affecting her so negatively. He shook his head and headed over to her computer where he logged onto the guest account and decided to busy himself with Facebook and internet surfing while Natalie slept.

Natalie was once again shaken awake and as her vision started to clear after she opened her eyes, she noticed Alex holding the cordless phone to her.

He looked concerned as she took the phone from him and she rose an eyebrow at him as if to ask why.

"It's the hospital, they asked for you mom and then when I told them she wasn't here, they asked for either you or Grace-Ann."

Natalie took the phone to her ear and whispered a greeting to the other end of the line; then, Alex watched as her face became paler and paler before she finally told her mother's cell phone number, thanked the person on the other end and dropped the phone.

In a split second, Natalie had jumped from the bed and grabbed the closest pair of jeans she had found, pulled off her sweatpants and changed into them. She also grabbed a totally random shirt, her light jacket, threw her hair up into a messy bun, hurriedly slipped into some Uggs and ran through the bedroom door without a word. Alex easily caught up with her and grabbed her arm to swing her around; she pushed him away and he could see the building panic in her eyes.

"Natalie! What's wrong?"

"Sit, Alex...I shouldn't have...oh my god, just get into my freaking car!"

The whole way to the hospital, Natalie kept her eyes on the road and Alex kept his eyes on her. There was a looming silence and Natalie didn't share what had happened so Alex decided to wait until she wasn't driving to ask what had happened...he didn't want her to freak out again and lose control of the car or something.

Alex followed Natalie into the hospital and followed her all the way to the third floor; she obviously knew where she was going. Natalie was about to run into room 307 but a doctor stopped her; Alex watched as they argued and wondered if he should intervene when suddenly Natalie shook her head and looked to the giant window that looked into room 307 but I kept my own gaze on her. The doctor patted Natalie's shoulder sympathetically before backing into the room himself. Alex approached Natalie and decided that this was the right time to ask what was wrong so he did.

Natalie didn't answer right away and instead nodded her head in the direction of the window; Alex sighed but turned to look anyways. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly at the sight of her younger sister, Molly Kate Belling, on the hospital bed.

"Alcohol poisoning. She had passed out and her breathing her temperature was dropping...they were afraid she was dead. They called 911 just in time...they're treating her...trying to get her temperature up..." Natalie said in such a monotone voice that Alex tore his gaze from the inexplicably pale girl in the window to the girl next to him. Natalie also tore her gaze away from her sister and turned to Alex. "This is my fault, you know." She told him and from the deathly scared look in her blue eyes, Alex knew that she believed what she was telling him.

"No, it's not-"

"I let her go to that stupid St. Patrick's Day thing! I didn't lay down any rules that she had to follow and I didn't remind her to not drink too much. She was miserable this morning, did I really think that should wouldn't go out and drink as much as she could? Alex, I'm so stupid!" Natalie told him and with each word that left her mouth, she felt herself get a little dizzier.

"That wasn't your fault, Natalie. You needed a break, you needed sleep; you're so stressed out all the time-"

"Natalie! Alex!" Both heads turned when they heard Nathanial voice. He looked just as pale as Molly did but for a different reason – Nate was scared. "Rachel called me...said that Molly was in the hospital from Alcohol Poisoning...oh God, what happened, Natalie?" He cried frantically. Natalie took a moment to stabilize herself before she launched into the story of what Molly had cried about this morning; she watched as Nate's face dropped more and more and cringed when she saw that his eyes were hardening as they desperately tried to hold back whatever tears were trying to escape.

Alex held in a groan as he saw the self-anger in Alex's eyes -both he and Molly were obviously blaming themselves.

"I didn't mean that, Natalie! I was just mad...she came in so late and then you were so stressed from worrying about her...sit, if I knew she was willing to get back with me...or if I knew that all of this would have happened, I never would have...sit, Natalie. This is so messed up, Nat!" Despite herself, Natalie felt herself smile a bit inwardly when Nate used the exact same words that Molly had used earlier. She shook her head and looked Nate dead in the eye as she continued with her story about what had happened. Went she got to the part where Natalie asked to go out, Nate's look became frosty.

"And you just let her go?!" Natalie nodded guiltily while Alex flexed his fist in anger.

"She was about to faint! She wasn't in any condition to get details from Molly!"

"Then she should have told her not to go!" Nate argued with Alex as Natalie slowly backed away, her dizziness starting to come back in stronger waves.

"Please, Molly's always been ridiculous – she would have gone out anyways!"

"Molly's not like that and you damn well know it!" Nate yelled.

"Maybe she wasn't like that in the past but ever since you decided that she had cheated on you and dumped her-"

"I didn't decide that!"

"Oh? So you didn't dump her because you believed that she cheated on you?"

Meanwhile, while those two boys argued; Natalie had to face a pretty pssed off Grace-Ann who had just walked in.

"What the fck, Natalie?!" Grace-Ann hissed as she lightly shoved Natalie into the wall. "I leave home to take care of mom's business so that she doesn't forget about it while she's off with Henry and the next thing I know, I get a call from mom saying that she's off to pick up Courtney from school because Natalie's in the hospital with freaking Alcohol Poisoning?! Why the hell would you have let her out in the first place? You should have put that girl on lockdown! You know we can't depend on mom for anything but money and you know that I spent the majority of my time taking care of what she doesn't do! I can’t take care of you three too but you leave me no choice! I can't leave Molly and Courtney in your care if you're just going to let them run off and-" By now, Natalie's head felt as though it were about to explode. Her insides were churning and her vision was blackening; it was only a matter of seconds before her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground.

Natalie's eyes fluttered open and she took a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness. She heard a beeping noise coming from what she remembered to be her right so she turned to look at it and was slightly surprised to see some machine that looked as though it was measuring her heart rate. With a frown, she turned to look to her left where she saw someone leaning with their forehead against the wall and their back facing her.

Natalie cleared her throat and the figure instantly turned to reveal a relieved Alexander Brady. He was at her side in a split second and holding her hand as he beamed at her.

To put things simply: Natalie was confused.

"What's goin-"

"You're in a hospital, Nat." He told her softly as he ran his thumb over the back of her hand in a comforting manor and used his free hand to pull over a chair for him to sit in.

"Oh yeah, Molly! Is she...she's gonna be alright, right?" Much to her relief, Alex nodded.

"Yeah, she should be alright. She got really lucky though and she's going to have to stay in the hospital for a few days – she's also dehydrated. Your family is in the room with her right now."

"What about Nate? Did they already talk?" Natalie asked, eager for their whole rift to blow over so that they could all get on with their lives.

Alex stared at Natalie warily for a second before shaking his head.

"Nope, he hasn't even seen her yet."

Natalie's face fell.

"What the hec? Well can someone please let them t-"

"Natalie, you can't keep doing this." His words surprised her.

"Doing what?"

He ignored her question for the time being.

"Nat, do you know why you're in here?" Natalie shook her head after a moment, she was so busy fretting over Molly that she forgot to ask. "You fainted, sweetheart. The stress of it all finally got to you both."

"Stress?" Natalie asked warily, "I'm not stressed." The words felt like a lie even to her own ears. "Alright, so maybe I am but there's nothing I can really do about it."

"Yes there is. Natalie, I realize that you have a lot of responsibility but you can't take care of it all by yourself. You can't keep doing this. You're problem is that you spend so much time taking care of everyone else, from Courtney to Nate, but you never take care of yourself. It's your mother's job to take care of Courtney and Molly and even you and Gace-Ann, not yours, sweetheart."

And it was at this moment that Natalie finally registered something else that Alex had said. Her eyes widened and she squeezed his big, soft hand.

"'Finally got to you both'? Both? What?" At this, Alex's serious expression dropped and was slowly replaced with that beaming look.

"Both, as in you and the baby. They think you're pregnant, sweetheart!"

Natalie's face was blank and the thing that ran through her mind were pictures of the stages of baby. It started a fetus...was there honestly one inside of her?

"What?" She finally breated.

"They think you're pregnant, about two months along but they didn't know when you last had your...yeah, so they can't be sure until you tell them."

"My period?" Alex nodded and Natalie knew he felt a little awkward with the word.

When was the last time she had had it? She thought for a few moments then realized that the last time she had it was about a week before she and Alex had slept together for the last time...he had broken up with her about a week or two later.

Natalie held in a groan when she realized that Alex was right; she was so busy helping Nate with Natalie, disciplining Courtney, and worrying about her mother's seventh marriage that she hadn't even noticed she was late...very late.

"Oh God, that would explain the throwing up...the sensitivity to smells...ugh, why is this happening to me?"

Alex's face fell.

"You don't want this with me?" He asked quietly after a moment or two of silence. Natalie pulled her hand away and turned on her side so that her back was to him; if she started to tear up during this conversation she did not want him to see.

"Alex, I grew up without a stable family and when I was little, just about ever single birthday wish was that my parents would fall back in love and stay in love. There was always that lingering thought in the back of my head that said they were never in love and that I was a mistake...I don't want any kid, my kid especially, to have to go through that." She told him honestly and felt mighty proud of herself for not tearing up.

There was a silence and then:

"I still love you."

Natalie's blue eyes widened but she didn't move or say a word.

"It was stupid to leave you for Lauren. The most brainless decision I've ever made in my life."

"Then why'd you do it?" She asked quietly after another moment or two. She heard him sigh.

"Met her at Starbucks and I felt like there was a chemistry between us...which there was, but it was nowhere near as strong as the chemistry me and you have. Plus, whenever we were together, for some reason your face always appeared in my mind at one point. I think it was on my second date with her when I realized that me and her would never, could never, have what me and you did and that's why I worked so hard to build up a friendship. I felt that if I managed to build that up, then if by some miracle you ever had a reason for wanting to get back with me, we wouldn't have to start from scratch."

"Then why did you stay with her all this time?"

"Just because I knew that we wouldn't have we me and you did doesn't mean that I was just going to give up. I had already lost you over her and I didn't want to make it all for nothing...but then, last night I went to my 2nd cousin's wedding. I brought Lauren along as my date and then at one point in the ceremony, she squeezed my hand whispered something about seeing us up there someday. I thought that statement was weird because when I looked up a the alter, the only person I could see myself standing with up there was...you. You and only you...I broke up with Lauren when I dropped her off."

Natalie stayed silent and blinked furiously at the two tears that did escape; suddenly, Alex was on the opposite side of the hospital bed and they were in perfect view of each other.

"I love you Natalie and don't lie because I know you love me too."

Unfortunately, Natalie wasn't able to respond at that very moment because her door burst open and Courtney stepped in excitedly, completely oblivious to what was going on.

"Nate's in Molly's room! I need to use your door to eavesdrop since everyone else is using the other." Courtney said in a rushed voice as she hurried over to a connecting door that I hadn't noticed before. After a glance at Alex, she slowly dropped off the bed and cautiously walked over to the door – she had the right to see the product of all her hard work. She made Courtney back off a bit and she slowly opened a door a little bit so they could hear clearly; she then looked in through the door window at the pair.

Nate stood in the corner of the room and Molly sat in bed; the two were already arguing and Molly was crying a little.

"-sorry, and you know that if I could take back everything I would do it in a heartbeat!" Nate cried. "I shouldn't have cheated, I shouldn't have listened to my poor excuse for a mother, I shouldn't have broken up with you, I shouldn't have told you I wanted nothing more to do with you! But look Molly, I've made just about every big mistake in the book, right?" Molly nodded hesitantly and Nate crossed the room in a second so that he was at her side.

"So that basically means that I can't go anywhere but up. I love you, Molly Kate Belling, and I'll be damned if we throw away everything we have. I lost you once already and today when I got that phone call...I was almost sure that I had lost you for good. I was scared out of my mind and I don't want that to happen again. We're supposed to be together, Molly. We fit perfectly. Like jigsaw pieces or, in honor of today's holiday, like four clovers on a stem. So, come on Molly. This is your last chance, you can say three words to me and depending on which three words you choose, that'll decide what happens to us. You can say 'leave me alone' and I will. Forever. But if you tell me three other words and mean them then..."

Natalie was disappointed that she had obviously missed out on a huge part of there talk and reconciliation buy by the look on Courtney's face, she was clearly just happy that they were talking at all.

Courtney and Natalie both held out breath as we watched Molly twiddle her thumbs; Nate grabbed them and she looked up at him before nodding and with a happy, watery smile whispered:

"I love you, Nate."

"That's four words but I'll take it." He responded with a grin as he bent over to hug her fiercely. Molly laughed lightly and hugged him back just as Natalie started to close the door. Courtney squealed once it was shut and laughed as she hugged her older sister.

"The world is back to normal! Everyone's back with who they're supposed to be with!"

"Well, not quiet." Natalie jumped at Alex's voice and Courtney giggled.

"Oh, well everything will be right in a few minutes. I'll see you later, Natalie!" She smiled and ran out of the room, shutting it behind her. Natalie turned to Alex and asked:

"Does she know about the baby?"

"No one does, not yet anyways. They just think you're too stressed out – which you are."

"Oh..." She said before nodding and heading towards the hospital bed, sleepiness was starting to come back to take her.

"Wait, Natalie." Alex breathed as she lay down in bed; she noticed for the first time that his own blue eyes held dark bags underneath them and wondered is she really was worth losing sleep over. "You heard what I had to say...now I need to hear what you have. Do you still love me?" He asked, jumping right to the subject. Natalie sighed.

"It doesn't matter if I love you or not-"

"Yes it does-"

"Let me finish." She snapped and he remained silent so she continued. "How do I know that you're not going to leave again as soon as you meet another girl who you have chemistry with?"

"Natalie...Lauren was like an experiment, I guess. I wanted to explore and see if you were the only one who I'd ever be able to have such a serious relationship with and...you are. I know for a fact that no matter who I'm with, it'll never match what you and I have. Plus, I have a family now...now I have two people who I'll want to care for. I love you, Natalie. So much...and I won't let you let me go."

Natalie smiled at his words and felt her heart jump a little as he smiled weakly at her; she grabbed his hand and kissed it.

"And you won't have too." She whispered as a tear dropped from her eye onto the back of his hand. Alex grinned and bent down to kiss the brunette in bed, a blissful gleam in his eyes.

Natalie was everything to him and now she was back with him and safe in his arms. His heart was content and in his eyes, he couldn't get any happier or luckier.

His eyes widened at the thought of luck; speaking of which...

He reluctantly pulled away from Natalie's grip to pull a little green thing off the table to his left. He smiled and handed it to Natalie who handled it with care.

"It's a four leave clover, found it a few days ago when I was out with Lauren." Natalie eyed the four leaf clover warily; in the past few months, she had learned that you can't depend on these kinds of things for luck so with a small smile, she plucked a single leaf off the clover and handed it back to Alex who was staring at her in confusion. She pulled his gorgeous face down to her level and he plopped himself onto the bed so he'd be comfortable.

"Do you think it was luck that made Molly forgive Nate? Or luck that causes my mom to always snag her man? Or luck that you and me are here today? Nope, luck had nothing to do with it – it was hard work, right?" She questioned and Alex nodded as something along the lines of you're telling me ran through his mind.

"So you're saying that we can't depend on a clover with an extra leaf to bring us luck?" Alex clarified and Natalie shrugged with a smile.

"It's not that we can't its just that we shouldn’t. Clovers don't make luck so from now on, we're making our own luck."

And with that Alex grinned and pulled his girlfriend in for a loving kiss, the four/three leaf clover falling forgotten to the ground.