Reality

Ted was looking over the latest set of bills when he noticed something a little odd. The electricity bill for their cabin had gone up considerably since last month. They hadn't been up to since before Paris, so why was the electricity bill all of sudden so much higher? It had to be a mistake.

"Hey Kristin," he called, "Can you think of any reason why the electric bill for the cabin would be higher this month?"

"How much higher?"

He handed her the bill. She looked at the number and he watched as her eyes grew to twice their size, "This has to be mistake. We haven't been up there in months."

"I'll call the company and see what the problem is. Hopefully they just sent us the wrong bill or something."

"Hopefully," Kristin muttered.

Ted whipped out his phone and dialed the company's service hotline. He would get some answers and he would get them now.

Emma sat at the Mercer cabin reading the latest book Ethan had brought her from the library. There was no television, no radio, and the internet wasn't always reliable. She'd gone through all of the magazines Sutton had brought and finished a couple books she'd been dying to read. As she turned to the next page, she heard a knock at the door.

A few moments later, Ethan peeked his head through the door carrying a large brown bag of food, assumedly their dinner. She set the book down and hopped off of the couch to greet him. They met in the kitchen and kissed as she set the bag down on the counter. The smell of chinese food wafted from the bag.

"Do I smell Chinese?" Emma asked, hopefully.

"You do," Ethan confirmed.

Emma smiled and kissed him again. Chinese food had been the only take-out they hadn't had yet. It had been a safe assumption that it would be their dinner tonight. As they released he started pulling out the customary white cartons filled with fried rice, sesame chicken, and every other Chinese staple there could be. There was no way they were going to finish all of this themselves. "Do you really expect us to finish all of this?"

"No," Ethan responded, "I just figured it would be good for you to have some food other than double-stuffed chocolate chip cookies and milk."

She smiled, "Ha-ha."

He grabbed them two paper plates from the other counter and handed one to her. Emma had spent enough time at the cabin to make it feel like home. She'd put Sutton's clothes in a dresser in one of the rooms. She'd organized the kitchen, putting all of the food away, and having Thayer buy some paper plates and plastic utensils, so she wouldn't have to do the dishes. The place was neater than when she'd arrived, but it was obvious someone had been living there for awhile. The books she'd read were stacked on the floor by the couch. Papers and her laptop were sprawled across the living room table. She'd done her best to keep the place clean and not break anything, but there was only so much she could do. She was living there and it was a pain in the ass to try and act like she wasn't.

The two of them took a seat on the sofa with their plates of food and started eating. Ethan caught her up on the goings on of the Mercers, Mads, and everyone else Emma had grown to care about. They discussed Sutton and what her game for keeping Emma in town might be. They hypothesized about who could be trying to keep it a secret. Everything about it was comfortable. Whenever Ethan was at the cabin it felt right and she felt safe. She smiled at him involuntarily and took another bite of food. This was how it should be, how she should feel. She didn't want that to change, not yet.

Sutton felt the sweat running down the back of her neck as she walked through the club. She'd forgotten how much work it was and today had been especially hard. She was distracted. Her plan wasn't working. Yeah, she'd gotten Ethan to stay in town, but he was even angrier with her than before. Nothing was working and she didn't know what to do next.

She was trying to get her life back to normal, but with all of the "work" Emma had done it seemed impossible. Her teachers had actual expectations for her. Her tennis coach was confused as to why she was "slacking off." Laurel hated her more than she used to, and Mads seemed to be pulling away too. Emma had made her a likeable person, but she didn't know how to be that person. She was good at being the bitch. She was good at getting even and hurting people who hurt her. She was good at controlling the situation, but it felt like Emma was still holding the reins. It felt like she was an outsider in her own life and the only person who could help her was the person she was most angry with: Emma.

Suddenly, she noticed Thayer standing by the front door of the club...waiting for her. When she came out, he blocked her path, "We need to talk!"

"What?" Sutton responded, irritatedly.

"What the hell is your game?"

"What are you talking about?"

"That kiss at the Black and White Ball," Thayer responded, "all of the clothes you gave to Emma. Why are you messing with her like this? You act like you want her here and then you turn around and pull a stunt like that. Are you really trying to hurt your own sister over a boy you didn't even care enough about to show to the world."

"First of all, you have no right to tell me how I felt about Ethan. Second of all, I was trying to make it look real. Someone wants me dead and they can't know that Emma and I have switched back."

"We both know that's not true," Thayer exclaimed, "Admit it, Sutton. You were trying to get him back. You were trying to tear the two of them apart, so you would have another chance."

She remained silent. Thayer was partially right. She'd given Emma the clothes to keep her from having Ethan "break up" with her, and she'd kissed Ethan to ruin the trust between the two of them, but it hadn't worked. The two of them were stronger than ever.

"That's what I thought," Thayer continued, "Here's the deal, Sutton. You will never break those two up, ever. You never cared about Ethan enough to break up with Luke. You never cared enough to make the two of you public. You dated him because he was a secret and you are addicted to secrets. Ethan and Emma are meant for each other, so instead of wasting your energy on a plan that will fail every single time. Put you effort into moving forward. I get that you were hurt when he picked her over you, and you have a right to be. Trying to hurt them now won't get you anywhere. Ethan's been to jail and Emma's spent 14 years in foster care. They aren't your typical, spoiled marks that'll break when it gets hard or scary."

"And what do you suggest I do?" Sutton cried, "Just let go of it, just let them act like they've done nothing wrong, act like it didn't hurt."

"No," Thayer responded, "I think you should tell them. I think you should tell Emma exactly how you feel and listen to her side of the story. I think you should talk to Ethan about how much he hurt you and listen to how much you hurt him."

Sutton wiped the tears from her eyes. She was angry and she was hurt and she wanted payback, but all of her attempts had blown up in her face. She tries to ruin her at the birthday party and some tries to kill her. She kisses Ethan and he nearly sleeps with Emma. Thayer was right that the two of them were not her typical marks, she just hadn't realized it. She assumed that Emma's submissive exterior would cause her to break easier, but Sutton had realized that Emma was a lot stronger than she showed. She had called her a "vindictive little bitch." Emma's desperate want for a family was her weakness, but it was also her strength. Her love for everyone around her was what kept her going through all of Sutton's torment, despite it was what Sutton was using to torment her. Maybe it was time for a face to face confrontation with Emma. She could lay all of her cards on the table and see what Emma did.

"Actually stay true to what you say," Thayer finished, "Don't let a boy ruin your relationship with your sister."

"Well there's no mistake," Ted told Kristin, "They double checked and that is the bill for our unit. They say the surge in electricity has come in the past week or so, like someone is living there."

"That's so odd."

"I told them to shut the electricity off. It should be down in the next hour or so."

"What are we going to about this, though? Someone could be living in our cabin."

"Hopefully when the power goes off they'll find a different place to live, but just in case tomorrow we should go and check it out. If there is someone living there, we'll call the cops."

"What if it's Laurel or Sutton? They do have access to it."

"We'll ask them when they get home," Ted suggested.

Kristin nodded. It seemed like the best way to approach the situation. Ted had gotten them to shut the electricity off so they couldn't use their utilities anymore. Tomorrow when it was daylight they would go to see what all was going on, but they would make sure it had nothing to do with their daughters first. It all seemed to make sense, but there was a detail she didn't understand. Why would someone be living in their cabin and how would they have found it? It wasn't exactly easy to find. Ted had gotten lost on their first two trips up there. Maybe they'd just stumbled upon it, but how had they gotten in? With everything that had happened in the past month or so, she wouldn't rule anything out, but it still got her thinking. What the hell was going on?