"But she's not even prescribed Ritalin," Vanessa told the emergency room doctor.  "She's never taken it."

The doctor let out a small sigh, seeing the all-too-familiar sight of a set of disheveled parents, only now learning of a child's dependency on an upper drug like Ritalin.  It was heartbreaking to see, but had become much more common in today's climate of high stakes testing, AP classes and Ivy League dreams. She'd noticed a much higher occurrence of overdosing from kids at highly competitive schools.  Her current patient, Emilia Nadal Miranda, was no exception - Hunter College High School could be a gateway into the Ivy Leagues, but it could also mean sacrificing your mental and physical health.

"Some teenagers take methylphenidate drugs, such as Ritalin, as uppers to help them stay awake to study," she patiently explained in the hallway outside Lia's room.  The seventeen year old was stable after being pumped with drugs through an IV.  Her heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature were all now close to normal.  "Have you noticed her being up late at night?"

Lin and Vanessa locked eyes and they both knew it was true.  How had they missed all the signs?  They should have known she couldn't have been doing that all naturally.

Lin looked at the doctor and nodded.  "We've been trying to get her to ease up," he explained, rubbing the back of his head.  "She puts a lot of pressure on herself."

Dr. Cueva nodded in understanding, having heard similar stories.  At least Lia seemed to have a solid set of parents going for her.  She'd seen horror stories of parents driving their own kids into overdoses with unrealistic expectations and demands.  Lin and Vanessa seemed very level-headed, especially considering the circumstances.

"But where would she have gotten it if she didn't have a prescription?" Vanessa probed, still not completely understanding how this all had happened.

"We haven't been able to ask her yet, but our staff will when she's lucid.  I imagine it was a fellow student or a local dealer.  As I mentioned, it's fairly common among high-achieving students.  More than you'd think, unfortunately."

Vanessa rubbed at her forehead, on the verge of tears.  She'd never been the type of mom to helicopter-parent her daughter but right now she felt like there was a whole side to her daughter she didn't even know.

"We're going to keep her tonight just to be safe," she explained, scribbling a few notes on her clipboard.  "But I would recommend both one-on-one and group therapy."

"We already have her in therapy," Vanessa explained, feeling frustrated and completely helpless.  She thought they'd been doing all the right things.  They had a great kid who was a bit high-strung and a classic perfectionist.  At the first sign of trouble, they'd put her in therapy but even that hadn't stopped this from happening.

"Great," Dr. Cueva commented, handing over the piece of paper she'd been writing on.  "Here's some contact information for some good group therapy options.  If you'll excuse me, I have some other patients to check on, but a nurse should be in shortly to check on Lia."

They thanked her and both glanced at the hand-written paper.  Lin knew his wife would be on the phone first thing in the morning to start booking appointments.  In the meantime, she'd bury herself in research about Ritalin dependency.  Vanessa shoved the paper into her purse as they both stepped into Lia's room.

The stunned parents sat in the two worn chairs by the door as machines beeped around their daughter.  Lin couldn't keep the tears from brimming over his eyes, thinking of how overwhelmed and desperate Lia must have been feeling.  She'd been irritable lately for sure, but he'd chalked it up to being a regular stressed teenager, no more.  What teenager hadn't backtalked their parents every once in a while? 

Lin felt Vanessa take his hand.  His pulse still hadn't completely calmed down since finding Lia collapsed on the floor in her bedroom hours earlier.  It had been the worst moment of his life.  As a parent, there was nothing more terrifying than seeing your child in danger and not being able to do anything to help.  When he'd reached her, her body was hot to the touch and she'd vomited on the floor.  She was still breathing, but her respiration had definitely slowed.

He'd screamed for Vanessa to call 911, his hands shaking as he'd rolled her onto her side.  Everything else had been a blur up until a few minutes ago.  They knew she was fine now - she'd recover completely - but they also knew they had a long road ahead.  As a family, they needed to help Lia get to the bottom of why she was driving herself so hard and how to handle it differently.  It was a tall order, but if any family could handle it, it was the Mirandas.

"I feel like a failure," Vanessa finally said, monotone and out of energy.  "How could I let this happen?"

Lin squeezed his wife's hand tighter.  "Me too," he admitted, feeling the tears well up again.  "I should've noticed - I should've been paying closer attention.  With work and the twins and-"

"Lin," Vanessa cut him off, sensing her husband was about to go off the deep end blaming himself.  Of the two of them, he was definitely the more emotional and she could tell she needed to be the strong one right now. 

She turned towards him and took both his hands in hers.  "We both missed it.  Our lives have been a whirlwind lately and we both know how good Lia is about pulling the wool over our eyes when she wants to.  Could we have been more on the ball?  Probably yes, but blaming ourselves now isn't going to help Lia."

Lin scrubbed a hand over his face, exhausted both physically and emotionally.  "I've gotten up a couple times in the night and found her up," he explained groggily, resting his forearms on his thighs.  "She promised me it was only that night, but I should've been more vigilant."

Vanessa rubbed at his upper back as he vented.  It was safe to say they were both feeling a fair share of guilt over this.  As parents, their number one job was to keep their kids safe.  They had failed and there was no way to sugarcoat it.

"When Lia has her mind set on something, she's going to do it," Vanessa reminded him.  "Just like someone else I know."

Lin let his head drop as he huffed.  If there was one thing he wished his children wouldn't inherit, it would be his tendency to work himself into the ground.  They all had incredible drives and work ethics, but Lia still had a lot to learn about where to draw the line.

"Mom,"

The two parents immediately looked up when they heard the soft spoken word coming from the hospital bed.

Lia's eyelids fluttered open as they adjusted to the light. Her eyes traced the beige room she was in, a stark contrast from the bedroom walls she didn't remember leaving.

"Hi sweetheart," Vanessa practically jumped out of her chair, with Lin right behind, as they got to their daughter's bedside. Although they knew she was going to be okay, hearing her voice for the first time since they arrived in the ER was a wave of relief.

"Mmm," Lia moaned out. She felt like she had been hit by a truck, twice. She noticed the IV that was in her arm and brought her fingers up to her nose and felt the oxygen tube. "What's going on?"

Lin ran his fingers over Lia's hair, "You've had a rough night, sweetheart," He stated softly, trying to find the right words.

Lia's eyes trailed between her parents, realizing both of them were in sweats with the same bloodshot eyes. "Wh- what do you mean?" Her voice was shaky as she tried to remember the events of her night. The rising sunset through the hospital window was a sign that it hadn't been that long since she had been studying in her bedroom.

Vanessa and Lin looked up at each other, neither knowing how to approach the subject. They could tell Lia was still a bit disoriented from the events of the night. "The ritalin, Lia." Vanessa watched as her daughter's eyebrows furrowed in, her expression blank.

"But I only took three," Lia spouted out, not even thinking about the fact that she had said the words out loud. On one level, she knew she should be more concerned with the fact that her parents had found out about a secret she had been trying to hide for weeks. Instead of that, she just felt numb.

Lin spoke up, "The combination of the pills, lack of sleep, and dehydration led to your body just shutting down," he repeated the words that Dr. Cueva had explained to them in a watered down version. He could see Lia's face trying to process the words he was saying as he was still trying to process them, even with it being the second time he had heard them out loud.

Lia's eyes shifted around the room, anywhere but at her parents. She couldn't look at them. "But they were only prescription,"

"It's not your prescription, Lia!" Vanessa's outburst startled Lia who felt like she had been in a dazed state up until that point.

Vanessa held her face in her hands, still trying to figure out how the hell their family had gotten to this point. She knew she would never get the vision of Lia limp in Lin's arms when she ran through her bedroom door. The fact that Lia was in such shock was only another layer that made Vanessa want to sob. For as mature and steady Lia had always been, she was still so innocent and now that was catching up with her in ways she'd never envisioned.

She took a deep breath, "Now's not the time and I shouldn't be yelling," Vanessa said, grasping her daughter's hand, "We are going to have plenty of time to talk, but right now, the most important thing is that you're okay and you're going to be completely fine," She emphasized her words, speaking slow and steady. She knew she wasn't just conjuring up the words for her daughter, but also for herself.

Lia blinked as a few tears trailed down her cheeks. The worried look on both of the faces of her parents made Lia's stomach churn. She knew this was different than just a broken arm that could get a cast put on; she could hardly grasp the idea that she was in a hospital bed because of her own choices. She knew so many students at Hunter who did the very same thing as her - most of them worse. "I'm sorry," Her voice cracked. She didn't even wipe the tear away as they continued to spill out. It only made her feel worse as Lin wrapped his arms around his daughter, as he got down to her eye level.

"Shh," Lin whispered in an attempt to calm his daughter down, sensing she was nearing a panic attack, the last thing that her body needed to endure. "We're going to be okay. Focus on me; take one deep breath in,"

He felt a weight lift off of his shoulders as Lia's heaving began to slow down. She let go of the breath she had been holding, and Lin could feel the shaking of her body begin to dissipate.  He waited a few moments before going through the exercise with her for a few more rounds as Vanessa stood by, thankful more than ever to have the partner that she did.

Lia kept her focus on her dad as she tried to regain control over her breathing.

Lin wiped away the tears on his daughter's face, "You're doing great," he praised gently, "Your body has been put through the ringer. Right now, the most important thing for you to do is rest. Everything else can wait,"

The teenager gave a small nod, knowing what her dad was saying was right. She softly thanked her mom for the cup of water she was holding out to her, taking a sip of the cooling liquid. She kicked the thin hospital blanket off of her to the edge of the bed. "What time is it?"

Lin pushed his hair out of his face as his eyes glanced up at the analog clock on the wall, "A quarter to seven," He had been awake since Lia had woken him up at 3:30 and they'd been at the hospital since four. He figured the lack of sleep would catch up to him at some point, but his body was still being fueled by adrenaline.

Lia took another sip of water, "You guys don't have to work?"

"No," Vanessa answered for the both of them, knowing what their stance was without having even talked to Lin. She needed to send her paralegal a text to cancel all of her appointments for the next week, at least, and have Carla cover any of her upcoming hearings. She knew Lin would clear his schedule as well, indicative by the shaking of his head he gave immediately as Lia had asked the question.

"Where are the twins?"

Lin went to get the water jug that was placed on the counter "Your grandparents are with them," He replied as he poured more water into the disposable cup. "They met us at the apartment last night,"

Lia gulped down the second cup, trying to cool herself off, "Do we have to stay here much longer?"

"At least until tomorrow morning," Vanessa answered, "I think the nurse should be in here soon and can explain a bit more of the medical jargon, but your doctor just wanted you to stay for monitoring. But you're okay," She repeated the words she knew she'd have to keep reminding herself of after the scary night.

"Alright," Lia said calmly, "Can someone at least bring me the flashcards that are in my backpack? I have to be at the testing site at nine tomorrow and I could at least get some light review done today,"

Lin heaved out a sigh, knowing this was going to be their first uphill battle, "Lia, you're not taking the SAT tomorrow,"

"What are you talking about?" The words felt like gut-punch, "I'm being discharged in the morning,"

Vanessa took a hard swallow. She had been hoping the topic wasn't going to be brought up, at least so soon after she first woke up. She should have known better, "Sweetie, I'm sorry. It's not something your body can handle right now, physically or mentally."

Lia rubbed her temple, not believing what she was hearing. "But I'm not on the pills," She spoke of the elephant in the room, "I'm not going to take any between now and tomorrow!"

"That's not the point, Lia," Lin said, "Something got you to the point where you felt like you had no other option but to take drugs to perform well," He felt the bile rise in his throat as he spoke. He felt like he was talking about somebody else's kid, not his, "There's a deeper issue and you falling back even slightly into the same patterns isn't going to fly,"

"This is all that I've been working towards. It's only a few hours. I'll be back home straight after. I'll sleep for the rest of the day. I -" Her words were going at an erratic pace as she tried to come up with any solution. Lin placed both his hands firmly on her shoulders, seeing the same signs of her anxiety coming out. All he could do was try to reel her back in, encouraging her to slow down and breathe again. His normally stoic wife had returned to tears, as they both knew this was going to be a long road ahead.

Lia looked at the brown eyes that mirrored her own through her blurry vision. She knew that no matter what she did or said the decision was made. She wanted to scream and yell that there was no way in hell she was going to let them stop her from going the next day. But the other part of her knew she didn't even have the energy to do so. The realization and weight of her actions came upon her and she had never felt so helpless in her life.