CUT SCENES FROM "INTO THE FIRE" SCENE 4 (Morgendorffer house) (Helen now sits at the table, trying to work on a clay sculpture, but without much enthusiasm. She has the phone headset on again.) HELEN: The other day Daria asked me again why Jake and I separated, and I didn't know what to tell her. "Daddy and I separated because we needed time to find ourselves"?? It even sounds like New Age drivel to *me*. All of my rational arguments just go out the window when I see how it's affecting them. (Pause) Yes, of *course* I remember what I told you, Amy. (She tries to sculpt the clay, but finds it already growing too stiff. Frustrated, she squirts water to dampen it.) HELEN: But you're an adult, and they're my children, and it's a different thing when you level with your kids. Sometimes Daria or Quinn will give me a look that makes me... well it makes me wish I were dead. (Pause) How in *God's* name am I supposed to be *more* honest with them?? (Unable to make the clay flexible, she stabs a fork into the base with frustration, then finds that she can't tug it out.) HELEN: I *do* try to give them enough credit. But I'm their *mother*. They see me in a completely different way than they see you... (Pause. Helen's expression grows apologetic.) Oh honey, I'm sorry. I didn't know you weren't feeling well. Amy, listen to me. You *need* to see a doctor, because you were feeling sick the *last* time we... (Helen stops short, pauses to listen. A slow smile spreads over her face.) (cut to: ) SCENE 5 (Jake's apartment) (Quinn is slumped back against the couch, her head pressed against Jake's leg, snoring lightly. Jake leans down and strokes her hair softly, his expression tender. Then he looks up and notices that the clock on his stereo reads 9:35.) JAKE: Aww, I *knew* this wasn't the type of movie a girl would like! Why didn't one of you *tell* me? DARIA: The movie's fine, Dad. JAKE: Oh. Good! (He straightens up to watch, trying to keep his leg rigid so Quinn won't move her head, then leans down and gives her hair another quick stroke, as if afraid Quinn will wake up and catch him in the act. This time his eyes remain on her, his brow creasing with concern.) JAKE: Daria, your mother said Quinn's been sleeping a lot longer. Sometimes twelve hours a night. DARIA: I thought it seemed quieter. But since the spy cam in her room malfunctioned, I can't confirm. JAKE: She seems to feel that could be a sign of depression. DARIA: So is branding an occult symbol into your skin. Have you checked her forehead for burn marks? JAKE: Do you think I should spend more time with her? She's always been so *delicate*, like a fresh spring flower ready to get *trampled* by the first *heartless* cadet who's too busy thinking of new ways to *torture* underclassmen! (At this, Quinn lets out a little half-sneeze, half-snort, which causes her eyes to open temporarily. She closes them again and snuggles against Jake's leg.) JAKE: You, on the other hand, you've always been the strong one. DARIA: The *strong* one?? JAKE: The sensible one, the one who's not afraid to face the dark turns in life. I mean look at you now - you seem just fine. DARIA: *Funny* how one person's "fine" is another person's "angry as hell." (Jake's face falls, and Daria edges closer to him, finally knowing how to say what she's been feeling.) DARIA: I thought I would be okay with this. But even though the basic components of my life haven't changed, it's as if you and Mom are keeping us in a perpetual state of ambiguity. You tell us you don't know if you'll get a divorce, but you're not planning to get back together. Yet you talk about each other more often, and with more affection, than you did when you *weren't* separated. You say that you still love Mom, but you have a girlfriend. JAKE: A friend who's a *girl*, Daria. (Daria gives him a look that lets him know she knows better.) DARIA: And now we're supposed to go to counseling, like we're still a family? I feel as if one day when I stopped paying attention, my life got stolen out from under me. Now I don't know who's driving or where it's headed. JAKE: That's really deep, kiddo. DARIA: Thank you. JAKE: You should save it for the therapist! (Daria just looks at him, unable to suppress a quiet groan of frustration, drowned out by the television and Quinn's light snoring. She glances down at her sister.) DARIA: Better wake her so she can take off her contacts and go to bed. She gets a little cranky when they get stuck in her eyes. (Quinn drives the Ford Focus home, lost in thought. She pulls it into the Morgendorffer driveway.) (cut to: ) SCENE 8 (Morgendorffer house) (Quinn enters through the front door. She hears Helen's voice coming from the kitchen.) HELEN: (O.S.) This is the *first* creative thing I've tried in quite a while. You *could* have the decency to stop laughing! (Quinn starts toward the kitchen, then stops, not sure if she is ready to have a heart to heart with her mother. Helen sits at the kitchen table, dressed in old clothes, wearing the phone headset. She adds clay to a wire and wood structure that rises up like a volcano and blocks her view of the living room.) HELEN: As I was telling Rita, I have all the freedom in the world now to do something fun. But instead, all I do is *work*. Eric is *so* pleased that I finally have my game face back on. (She chuckles bitterly, while Quinn finds herself scowling.) HELEN: The girls? They were at Jake's last night. And for all I know, they're still there -- they haven't returned my calls. So yes, it was very quiet, but these days, that's hardly different from when they *are* home. (Quinn winces at the anger in her tone.) HELEN: They're rude and sullen, and rarely give me a straight answer when I ask for one. And yes, I know they're teenagers, but it's gone above and beyond their normal behavior to the point where I can't deal with them at *all*, especially Quinn. The only time she *hasn't* given me attitude is when she woke up one morning with her contacts stuck in her eyes. (Quinn's face reddens. Gritting her teeth, she turns and runs back toward the living room, up the stairs.) HELEN: Wait a minute, Amy, I thought I heard - (struggles to take off her headset.) *Damn* this thing! I thought maybe one of my girls had come home. (Pause, listens, her face puckering.) I want to be honest with them. But what can I say? "Daddy and I separated so we could find ourselves"?? That sounds like New Age nonsense even to *me*. (She takes a wad of clay and finds it stiff from prolonged exposure. With frustration, she pounds it against the table, then reaches for a squirt bottle.) HELEN: That's why I'm hoping the family therapy session will allow me to express myself to them in a way that I otherwise couldn't. I just want to... I *need* to get through to them. It just hurts so bad to see them upset, sometimes I wish I were dead. (The clay is unsalvageable, and Helen stabs it with a fork, which barely cuts the surface.) HELEN: (listens) Oh honey, I'm sorry. I didn't know you weren't feeling well. Amy, maybe you should see a doctor, because weren't you sick like this the *last* time we...? (Helen is cut short, listens. A slow smile spreads across her face.) (cut to: ) SCENE 9 (Quinn's room) (Quinn bursts through the door and throws herself down on her bed, tears piercing her eyes and flowing down her face. She pounds her fist on the bedspread, trying to dispel her mother's angry words without success.) (At long last, she calms down enough to sit up and look at a textbook lying beside her. Her math book. Quinn cracks it open, hoping to be soothed by a problem set the way she so often has been in the past. Yet instead of launching into an assignment, she lets her eyes wander around the room.) (Hanging by her mirrors is a set of pom-poms, remnants of her brief career as Lawndale High's head cheerleader. On her wall is a certificate she'd received for raising funds two years ago to open Cafe Lawndale. Beneath it is a newspaper article heralding the Fashion Expo's first appearance at Lawndale High.) (Quinn closes her math book, stands, and walks over to them. She gives each a closer look, as if they were old friends she were visiting for the first time in years.)