Hard Times Come Again No More - Recap

Sarah gets a call.

Zeek, Camille, Crosby, Drew and Sarah wait in the waiting room. Julia,
Joel and Sydney arrive. Adam, Kristina, Haddie and Max are next. She
falls sobbing into Adam's arms. Drew calls Seth and leaves another voice
mail saying Amber is still in surgery. Haddie and Alex come bearing
coffee and juice. Alex speaks positive support to Sarah. Adam looks
uncomfortable. Julia points out that Alex is good in a crisis. Haddie
looks so grown up. Jasmine joins them.

Max starts melting down after he's been there an hour and-a-half and
hasn't gotten any pancakes. He doesn't want bakery goods. He wants
pancakes. He goes on about not caring about Amber for so long that Zeek
stands up and starts yelling at him. Kristina takes him out for a break,
and he lashes out at her.

The doctor tells Sarah that Amber is very lucky. She has minor damage to
her spleen, a broken rib and a cracked wrist. Sarah and Drew go in to
see her. Camille leaps into Zeek's arms.

Amber looks like hell. Sarah and Drew cry at her bedside. She regains
consciousness and is panic-stricken to find herself in the hospital,
with all the tubes. She's really hurting, and Drew goes to get the nurse.

Kristina talks to Haddie about everything. Appointment, pap smear, birth
control, all that. She's having sex, she needs these things.

Crosby looks at Jasmine and tells Joel he loves her. She leaves, and he
follows. He tells her he bought her a house. He sold the houseboat and
his motorcycle, and he and Joel have been working really hard on it. She
blows him off. He says he's trying to give her her dream. He just wants
her to come over and look at it. She's touched that he kept the picture
from their premarital counseling session, but she still says she doesn't
know.

Adam and Max are home, having pancakes. Adam says he wants to talk to
him about what happened at the hospital. Family is there for each other.
He wants Max to apologize to Sarah for his outburst. Max thinks he
didn't do anything wrong. Adam tries to explain the concept of empathy.
Max asks for more whipped cream.

Julia's calling work to ask someone to take extensive notes, since she's
going to be missing the meeting. A very pregnant woman grabs her arm as
she's walking when a contraction hits. When they look at each other,
they are acquaintances; she was Sydney's teacher last year. She's in
heavy labor and can't reach her husband. She's two weeks early. Mrs. Woo
asks Julia to stay with her. Julia agrees.

Adam arrives at work and approaches Cory. He's very angry about Eddie
being fired, and Spider being the head of the design team. Cory says
they don't need Eddie in the direction they're going. Adam sounds off,
and Cory lets him rant. He says he wants Adam in the company, but Adam
doesn't believe it. He goes in his office.

Julia and Grace go through labor together.

Sarah arrives bearing tea and cookies. Amber feels tired and sore. Gary
is getting a DUI. Sarah asks her how she feels. What was she thinking.
Sarah tries to confront her, but Amber blows her off. Drew backs Sarah,
and Amber shuts them both down. Drew leaves, and Sarah just shakes her head.

Kristina tells Adam she made an appointment for Max to get a new
retainer. He lost the old one. They're $700, they can't afford to
replace it. Adam wants some time, he's going to go find it. As long as
they're talking, she took Haddie to the gynecologist. She's officially
on the pill. Adam says he still needs to wear a condom. He's very angry
and short-tempered.

Sydney is serving a tea party to Julia and Joel. Everybody is all
dressed up. She goes to get more lumps. No sugar. Julia fills Joel in on
being at the birth. She says she's glad she doesn't have to go through
that again. She also says the three of them as a family are perfect,
she's very happy. They don't need anyone else.

Sarah's reading is taking place. Sarah tries to correct "Paul"/Adam for
coming down too hard on "Hannah." Paul has had enough, and he quits.
Sarah starts to leave, and Zeek stops her. She can't get into the
reading. She's terrified. It doesn't look like Amber learned anything
from the accident, and she's terrified.

Joel joins Crosby at the house. He says Jasmine hasn't come over. They
share a beer. He goes to her house and apologizes for his part in the
breakup. He loves her, and he'll always be there for Jabbar. He wishes
he could make it happen, but he can't. He doesn't want her to feel weird
around him. He wants her to feel free to move on with her life. He's not
going to pursue her anymore. That's it.

Adam goes in Max' room and asks for his attention. Max starts talking
about scorpions. Adam wants to know where his retainer went. He keeps
his nose in the book, so Adam takes the book away. Max has a great
memory, where is the last place he saw his retainer? Max starts yelling
about that not being where his book belongs. Things start escalating,
Max tells him to just buy another one. Adam says they're $700. Max says
he should go to an ATM. He finally raises his voice and orders Max to
sit down. Max asks if Adam is mad at him because he has aspergers. Adam
says no. Never.

Zeek and Amber are at the junkyard. He shows her the car she was in. He
tells her he was two years in Viet Nam. He spent two years thinking
about going home. Having a family. Having grandkids. He dreamt her.
Haddie. Drew. Sydney. Jabbar. Max. And they almost lost her. He knows
she had some bad breaks, and she's not feeling good about herself. She
didn't get into Berkeley? Boo-friggin-hoo. She needs to suck it up.
She's a Braverman. If she ever pulls a stunt like this again, he will
personally kick her little butt from here to the Golden Gate bridge. She
does not have permission to mess with his dreams. "Are we clear." She
nods through her tears and apologizes. He hugs her. He'll buy her a burger.

Adam apologizes for his outburst earlier, and Cory tells him that he can
tell he's not happy here. Cory constantly feels judged, and it hurts. He
really respects Adam and the work that he does, but he doesn't think
this is a good fit for Adam. Adam asks if he's firing him, and Cory says
"I'm letting you go."

Everybody arrives for a community read-through of Sarah's play. Amber
sits with Drew on the stairs and apologizes. She is really sorry, and
can he please be her friend again, because she doesn't like anybody
else. He says okay.

Kristina asks Haddie if she has her cell phone with her. Dad is so late.
He walks in with a big smile and a conscious decision that he's not
going to tell her right now. Alex takes a moment to tell Adam that he
loves Haddie, and he will always respect her. Adam looks him in the eye
and says "Wear a condom." Alex says "Yes, sir."

Max apologizes to Sarah. She accepts, and asks him to sit with her
because she's very nervous. Adam and Kristina tell her to break a leg,
and Max becomes indignant. Why would they say such a terrible thing to her!?

Sarah meets with her actors, who apologize for their earlier ill
manners. Everybody files in, including Zeek who is playing himself. She
tells Gilliam that everybody is so nice, she wonders what happened. He
tells her that he told them that her daughter died.

In the play, Sarah is making out with a delivery guy on a couch, but her
whole family is talking to her in her mind. The play is going over well,
but Amber walks out. Sarah follows her. Amber is sobbing out loud. Sarah
kneels in front of her so she's more on eye level with Amber. She's
freaking because she could have died, and missed all this. They hug.
Sarah is relieved she's okay. She doesn't want to miss the ending, so
she's going back in. The tears turn to laughter.

The read through gets a standing ovation. Zeek calls "Author, author!"
and Sarah comes onstage with them.

Julia visits Mr. and Mrs. Woo at the hospital, dropping off a car seat
that she doesn't need anymore. She meets the baby, and he gives her a
little smile. Julia holds him. He makes all manner of new baby noises,
and Julia tells him his mommy is so lucky. She forgot what it was like
to hold a baby. She tears up and kisses him.

Adam gets home and Kristina calls "Hi, hot stuff!" She stayed up because
she had something to tell him. He has something to tell her, too. They
tell each other to go first. He tells her Cory fired him. She doesn't
care. She didn't like Cory, and neither did Adam. They'll be fine. He's
never let this family down. They'll get through this together. She tells
him that she found an orthodontist who will sell them the retainer for
$400 instead of $700. Adam marches off to find the retainer.

Joel tells Crosby to try it again. Jasmine is right behind him. He shows
her the house. Jabbar's room has stars and planets on the ceiling. They
sit facing each other on the floor, talking.

Julia finds Joel in bed and tells him she's not done. She wants another
baby. She wants to adopt. Does he? He kisses her.

Adam digs through the garbage, looking for the retainer. He finds a
positive pregnancy stick and looks up at Haddie in her room. He goes in
yelling at Kristina about Haddie. She tells him it's hers. It's her.
She's pregnant. Not Haddie. He starts laughing and crying. He holds her,
he doesn't know what he's feeling. In the middle of it, Max screams that
he found his retainer, it was in Guacamole's cage. They both laugh, and
then Adam takes her face in his hands and kisses her. They hold each
other some more.

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