[Charlie laughs]
Bailey; This whole thing's been a major hassle, and I don't need to hear about it from either of you.
SSam
So, you feeling better?
SSam
Oh, man, you didn't see? I was a saint to those people. I brought 'em drinks, chatted with 'em. I'll try and swing by after work, okay?
AAll
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Owen. Happy birthday to you.
Well, that pretty much sucked.
Who the hell put that there?
Drunk. Really drunk. Okay, so it's a little messed up, but it's a lot more fun that way, right?
Hey, what did you expect?! I've never done this before. You expect a first-time clown not to make any mistakes? Huh?!
Oh, God, don't cry. He's crying!
Bay, come on, let's get outta here.
I'm talking to my friend, here. I'm teaching him how to be a man.
Oh, my God. Charlie, are you okay?
It was-- He pushed-- It was an accident. The hell with all of you.
WWoman
I think it's time to go.
MMan
I think that's a good idea.
[after her siblings ask her to lie to Bailey about Owen being hurt in an attempt to get him to come to the house] No. Uh uh. No way.
No. Forget it. That's a terrible thing to do.
Yeah, it is. It is. But how else, Claud. How else can you get him here?
I don't know. But that? No, no. You can't tell him that. I mean, you can't have him get in his car and drive all the way over here thinking that. [to Sarah] You don't think this is, like, the cruelest thing you could do to a person? I mean, you're actually okay with this?
I know it'll get him here, Claudia. So yeah, I am.
Well, I don't care. I won't. I don't care, and you know, if you think it is such a great idea, you call.
It won't make any sense coming from Sarah. Or me, or Charlie.
It's you, Claud. If you call him and say that you need his help, that you don't know what to do, then he'll believe you. And he'll come.
He's in trouble, Claudia. I mean, aren't you willing to do whatever it takes to help him? I am.
[Claudia looks torn; starts dialing]
[crying hysterically on phone] Bay! Bay, um, it's Owen. He...I wasn't looking and he...he fell down the stairs and he hit his head...hard. I don't know...I don't know if he's breathing...but he's not moving, Bailey. And I don't know what to do! You gotta...you gotta...okay. Okay, but hurry. [hangs up. To Charlie] Shame on you.
What is this...is this like your way of getting back at me for Callie? Is that what this is?
You really think this is about revenge?
It sure as hell feels like it to me.
I'm not trying to get back at you, Bailey. I'm here because...because I've seen how you drink. How much you drink and what it does to you.
Uh huh. So you think I'm an alcoholic.
I think you have a problem, Bailey.
[raising his voice] You think that I'm an alcoholic. Why don't you just say it? That's what you came here to say, isn't it?
I think you're an alcoholic.
Well...well I think you're full of crap. I think you're all full of crap. And if you think I'm gonna hang around here and listen to you all tell me what a lush you think I am, as delightful as that sounds...it's been real.
If we're all wrong then why are you running away? See, you leave now, and all that does is say to us, Bailey's got a problem and he's too afraid to deal with it. So, so okay. So I'm wrong. So we're all full of crap. So set us straight, Bailey. Explain it. You know, make us see it from your side. [pause] Stay.
He was an alcoholic, Bailey.
Right. Sure. Sure he was.
Your father was an alcoholic.
Eighteen years he was sober before he died, but for years, before that, years.
No, you're just... No! No, I.. I don't believe you.
On my life, Bailey. It's the truth.
I thought... I thought you couldn't get any lower than what they did. Lying about Owen saying he was hurt just to get me to come over here. But you... You son of a bitch!
What do you think? What? You think he's dead, you can say what you want to say about him?!
He'd want you to know! He'd want me to tell you!
My father was not an alcoholic!
Get outta here, Joe. Get the hell outta here! [To Charlie] Have you heard this load of crap?! Have you? Oh, hey. This was probably your genius idea. Right? Let's get Joe to say Dad was a drunk. And then maybe...
He didn't... I would've known.
You were just a kid when he quit, Charlie. Probably too young to recognize the signs.
Don't you remember him coming home late from the restaurant every night?
That doesn't mean... Look, he had a business to run.
He liked hanging out with the guys late. Shooting the bull.
Honey, I was the one who had to drive him home night after night cause he couldn't drive himself.
Don't you remember the fight he had with your mom?
It was bad. For a long time. If he hadn't gotten the help when he did...
But I never saw him take a drink in my life. Not once, not even a beer or a glass of wine.
That's right. And what do you think? Not a drop, not an ounce, nothing. He owned a restaurant, and hell, he owned a bar. Why never a sip? Cause he knew he couldn't. Ever. That's what it is to be an alcoholic. He knew that...
[Claudia goes back inside the house, Charlie tries to go after her]
[after telling Bailey that their father was also an alcoholic] I'm sorry, Claudia. I didn't know you were standing there.
It's OK. I should know, right? Who my father really was...
That wasn't who he was. It was just a small part of him.
It isn't small. It's everything. He was an alcoholic.
He stopped drinking long before you were even born, Claudia.
But it...it changes everything.
Because I thought I knew him!
You did, sweetie! Everything you remember about your father is still true. He wasn't perfect, Claudia. He made mistakes, he had faults... it didn't make him any less of a person. Just made him human.
So what happened? What made him stop? I wanna know.
Your mom said she'd leave him.
I um, I was thinking about us...about you and me.
It's funny. Because this is, like, what we used to talk about. Remember? And, and I finally have an answer to that question that you asked me.
When you were looking for your mom. And you'd say to me, I wonder what I got from her. My voice, or my dark hair. Remember? And you asked me what I got from my parents.
It's like, Claudia plays the violin, and Julia looks like her, and Charlie looks like him. And this is what I got. This is what my father gave me.
I don't need to be taken care of. And I don't need any AA contact. I mean it's okay, Charlie. I kind of feel better, actually.
Yeah, I do. Anyway. I guess you guys were right about me. Turns out you were right. Of course you were. I mean, I'm my father's son, right? Which is...which explains a lot of things. I mean, I can finally stop looking at myself and thinking, what is going on here? What am I turning into? Who am I turning into? Because it's him. I'm turning into him. And it's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's his fault. So...so I'm gonna stop beating myself up and I'm gonna stop letting all of you guys beat up on me. Because this is just who I am, and this is what I do. I drink. Anyone seen my coat?
[upset] No. No no no no no no no. I can't take this, Bailey. I mean, you can't do this anymore.
[crying hysterically] No, Bailey. I mean it. That's it...that's it! I mean if you don't...if you don't get help, I don't want to see you. You can't talk to me...and you can't talk to Owen...and you can't come over to the house...and I'm not going to come and see you...and I'm not going to call you...and I'm not even going to think about you.
No! I love you, Bailey. More than anyone. I love you the best. You know that. This is the only thing I have that I can take away from you...to make you stop. So either you get help right now...or get out of here.
[long pause; Bailey finds his coat and leaves]
AAvery
Claudia, please. I really don't--
No! Because I know what you're doing. You're trying to protect me. But see...you're not.
AAvery
How does it help you to think bad things about your father?
I don't want to think bad things, Avery. I want to think good things, but I can't, because whenever I try...whenever I remember him posing us for one of those stupid Christmas cards, as a human pyramid or something...it seems fake, like I'm remembering something the way he wanted me to, but not how it really was.
AAvery
He drank too much, Claudia. What more do you need to know?
I want to know what he was like. What he was really like.
Where the hell have you been? Where the hell have you been?!
Where the hell have I been? I took Owen out for a ride... what the hell is so the hell about it?
You took him from daycare without telling anybody, then you kept him all day without calling?
I spent the afternoon with my little brother. What's the big deal? I do it all the time.
No you don't. For the last couple months you've been totally AWOL.
Well, then I'm making up for lost time. What's wrong with that?
Because we had no way of knowing... How are we supposed to...
If I was drunk? Is that what this is about? You thought I'd be wasted? Right? You thought I would drive around wasted and get Owen killed?
Oh, that's really sweet, just when I thought my family couldn't love me any less...
Have you had anything to drink?
Let me smell your breath.
You have! You've been drinking!
I had a beer, Charlie. One beer.
You drank and you drove with your little brother in the car!
I'm completely sober! Ok, you wanna give me a test?!
I don't believe you! Somebody ought to...
Well, come on! Go on! [Charlie grabs Bailey by the shirt, and the others run to stop him]
No, Charlie! Charlie! Charlie! Stop it!
Stop it! [to Bailey] Bailey.
Just stay away from Owen, you hear me? You can wreck your own life, but you're not gonna hurt him.
I can't believe, that you people--
Bailey! We gotta go after him. Right? I mean, obviously this isn't working, he isn't gonna learn anything like this. He's been drinking and now he's gonna drive and we've gotta do something! Right? Right?
Why did you tell Claudia all that stuff about our father?
AAvery
Well, she came in all upset, and I just--
Exactly. Exactly! She's upset. She's upset about drinking in our family, so you tell her that her father was some kind of abusive drunk? Why would you do that?
Because this whole alcoholism thing, the way it works, she's gonna think that whatever happened to Dad is gonna happen to Bailey!
AAvery
She asked me what I remember. All I did was--
The fact of the matter is that Dad was never that bad! I remember him from back then too, you know, and I don't remember any of the stuff that you told Claudia. I mean, he drank too much, sure, and there was some yelling, definitely, but he got his act together pretty quickly, and Bailey will too. So as far as all this stuff you told Claudia, I don't know, maybe you have your own reasons for believing it, but we don't need to hear it, okay?
AAvery
You think I'm carrying out some sort of old grudge against Nick?
Everyone knows you were in love with her, so of course you're going to blow up every flaw he had. You didn't want to believe that he belonged with her.
You're just trying to get back at him.
AAvery
That's not even close, Charlie. Because there's so much worse that I could have told her.
I'm sorry, Claud. I shouldn't have yelled at you. But I don't get it. I don't get why you're so mad at him.
Because of what he did to us.
But what did he do to you, really? Because he didn't make Bailey drink. I know you think he did, but--
Yes, he did. He gave him his problem.
No, Claud. Even if he did get the alcoholism from him, Dad couldn't help that, any more than Mom could help giving you her music.
Maybe not, but…he could help what he did to her. He could help being a bad husband and a bad father.
He wasn't Claud. He quit drinking. He made himself better, and the guy he was after that, you loved him. You thought he was a great father.
I don't care. I don't think that anymore.
You know, I've made a lot of mistakes, too, stuff that's hurt this family, and I tell myself that you need to screw up before you can learn, you know? Maybe you've got to be a lousy person before you can be a good one. And Owen, I mean…what if someday, Owen looks at me the way you're looking at Dad? Because if he does, there's no reason he won't decide to hate me.
You're different, Charlie. The stuff you did, it's just not the same thing.
Yes, it is. It's exactly the same. He was a good father, Claud, and if he was still around, he'd be a good father now. [long silence] Claudia?
I hope so. But I don't know.
So, do you have a plan? I mean, is there, like, some sort of treatment or something?
Yeah. AA. I'm gonna go to my first meeting tonight.
I guess I better practice. "Hello, my name is Bailey Salinger, and I am an alcoholic."
Bailey, um, it's Alcoholics Anonymous. You're not supposed to give your last name.
Oh. Well, then, it's a good thing I practiced.
You have to go to AA, Bailey. You have to.
And say that I believe in stuff that I don't? Lie? No, I don't want to do that. I'm sick of lying, Sarah, so no.
No! No, Listen to me, okay? I'm here, and I'm here with you because you promised me you were going to get help.
So try again, okay? This isn't optional! Look, you don't have a choice here. You have a disease, and you need to do whatever it takes to get well, okay? So skip the God part, do the rest!
No, it doesn't work that way, dammit! Don't you think that I wanted AA to be it? I know there's something wrong with me, and if I could believe that there was really someone who would protect me and help me not want to drink 24 hours every stupid day, don't you think... Sarah, don't you think that I would want that?
