Rating: PG-13, due to mild cussing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Caitlin's Way or anything affiliated with it. I only own Iz Swanson and her family, immediate or otherwise.

Author Notes: Nothing about things from Caitlin's Way in this chapter except for the mention of High River, this is more an introductory prologue about Iz.

Feel free to review or not.

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Friday, February 1st, 2002

Portland, Oregon Airport Terminal (PDX)

6:15 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time)

"I still can't believe I have to live with a total stranger for a year," said Iz Swanson to her mom, Kioko, while sitting in a chair, waiting for her plane to board.

"We've already been over this. He's not a stranger, he's your father," replied Kioko.

"That I've never met," Iz replied.

"Isabella," said Kioko sharply.

"Fine," sighed Iz.

"Flight 322 to Great Falls, Montana is now boarding," said a woman's voice through the intercom.

"Well, that's me," said Iz.

Iz stood up and grabbed her carry on bag off the floor, which was her new JanSport backpack. She slung the backpack over shoulder, and faced her parents and two half siblings who came with her to send her off.

"Bye mom," said Iz. She and her mom hug.

"Bye Isabella," said my mom. "Remember, after you get to the airport, you are supposed to go to the bus station and take a bus to High River where your father will pick you up."

"Okay," replied Iz.

She turned to her 14 year-old half-brother Lyle and gave him a hug.

"I'm going to miss you, bro," Iz said to Lyle. "Now, don't become a rebel without a cause while I'm away."

"I won't," replied Lyle.

Iz moved on to her 12 year-old half-sister Suki and also gave her a hug.

"Bye lil' sis," said Iz. "If you don't write to me, I will kill you."

"Don't worry I will," replied Suki.

Lastly, Iz moved on to whom she had known her whole life as 'Dad.'

"Bye Dad," said Iz as she hugged him.

"Bye Iz," said her dad, Peter.

Iz let go of Peter and faced everyone in her family.

"Now, as soon as you arrive at the airport in Great Falls, call us, okay?" said Kioko.

"I will," said Iz. "Bye everyone."

"Bye," Iz's family said in unison.

Iz turned around and walked to her flight's gate. She handed her plane ticket to the ticket person. The ticket person ripped off the necessary papers and handed the ticket back to Iz. Iz walked through the gate then turned to face her family. She waved to them, then kept walking into the tarmac. She walked to the end of the tarmac to where it connected to the plane and went through the doorway. Iz found her seat in coach then took a seat. She slumped back in her seat and waited for her plane to take off.

A voice came through the intercom and gave the usual speech about emergency exits and whatnot while the flight attendants did the visuals for the speech. The voice told everyone to buckle their seatbelts and put away all electronic devices. The seatbelt light turned on. Iz sighed and then complied. She reached into her pocket to take out these plug things for her ears that she had to wear because if she didn't, then the change of altitude during the takeoff would hurt her ears, causing large amounts of pain. Soon the plane ran down the runway and was off in the air.

About 4 hours later, Iz was at the High River bus station. During the bus ride from Great Falls, it had started to snow. She stood up and put on her warm jacket. After she slipped on her backpack, she walked down the bus aisle to the front and climbed off the bus. She got out of the way of the door and stretched out. She looked around at the dark town that was lit by dim streetlights and observed her surroundings. It was still snowing and the ground was covered in white snow. The town was small; not at all like the city she had lived 16 years of her life in.

"So this is High River," Iz said to herself.

Iz waited for her stuff to be unloaded from the bottom of the bus. Iz caught sight of her two medium-sized suitcases and one larger suitcase that had wheels and grabbed the two medium-sized ones. She took those two aside, next to a bench that was by the bus terminal building, and then went back for the third. After she grabbed the last bag, she rolled it to the bench, put it next to the other two, took her backpack off, and then sat down. A yawn escaped from Iz's mouth. She looked at her watch and saw that it was 10:25 PM, which meant in Montana it was 11:25 PM. She placed her elbows on thighs, rested her head on her hands, and then closed her eyes.

"Isabella?" said a man's voice.

Iz opened her eyes and looked up at the man who said her name. In front of her was a man who looked pale and tired, was 6'1" with blue eyes, and was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

'He looks like a chemopatient,' Iz thought to herself. 'Duh, because he is.'

"Yeah," answered Iz. "Are you Kris?"

She knew the answer was yes. Even though he didn't have the wavy dirty-blonde longish hair and looked older than his age of 34, Iz could still see a resemblance of the man she had seen in the picture a couple of years earlier when her mom first told her who her real father was. She couldn't call him "Dad" because it would be too weird. Iz already had someone in her life that she had known as Dad since she was a baby. Maybe in the far future she could, but not now.

"Yeah," replied the man. Kris looked me over. "You look a lot bigger than I remember."

"Yeah, 15 years tends to have that effect on people," Iz replied bitterly.

Okay, so Iz knew that her mother had thrown Kris out of their life and it wasn't Kris's choice not to get to know his only child. But she didn't like the fact that now, right before Kris's final years, days, or months, was the time in which he decided to make contact.

"So, do you want to get going to the house?" asked Kris, ignoring Iz's comment, but slightly showing some hurt on his face.

"Sure," replied Iz.

Iz stood up, grabbed her backpack, and then slung it over her shoulder. Kris grabbed the larger bag and started to roll it towards a direction. Iz then picked the two medium-sized suitcases off the ground and started to follow him. After a couple of feet the arrived to a silver BMW in which a man in his early 20's was leaning against. The man came over to them and grabbed the bag from Kris. The man wheeled it to the car and opened the trunk. As he picked the suitcase off the ground and put it into the trunk, Iz had gotten to where he was and put her medium-sized suitcase in the trunk.

The man closed the trunk and turned to face Kris and Iz.

"Isabella, this is Colin Kirkland. He is my driver. Colin this is my daughter, Isabella," introduced Kris.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Colin.

He extended his hand and Iz did the same. They shook hands.

"Same," replied Iz.

'Driver?' Iz thought to herself. 'He has a driver?'

Iz shook the thought off.

'Of course he'd need a driver. He's probably too weak to drive," Iz thought.

Colin walked to the passenger side of the car and opened the front door. Kris climbed into that seat. As Colin closed Kris's door, Iz was about to open the backseat door, but was stopped by Colin.

"Allow me," smiled Colin. "After all, it's what I'm paid to do."

Colin opened the door for Iz, and she got in. He closed the door, and then walked to the driver's side of the car. He got into the driver's seat and started the engine. As they started to drive away from the bus station, Iz observed Colin.

'My God, he is very hot,' Iz thought to herself.

Iz changed her focus to outside of the car. She noticed that they were driving out of the town and further into the countryside. They passed acres of fields.

'If it was warmer, I bet there would be cows there,' thought Iz.

About 15 minutes later, the car turned off the highway and onto a smaller road. Half a mile later, the car pulled into a driveway that led to Kris's property. Iz took one look at the house and her jaw dropped.

The house was large, to say the least. Manor-esque even. Iz stared at the house and didn't even notice that Colin had opened the door for her.

"Miss Isabella," said Colin, trying to get her attention.

Iz snapped out of her daze.

"Iz," she said.

"What?" asked Colin, not understanding what she meant.

"Iz. Call me Iz," she replied.

"Alright, Iz," said Colin. "We're here."

"And where's here?" asked Iz.

"15 minutes outside of High River at your father's estate."

"Kris's estate? He owns an estate?"

"Yes. He's pretty rich, actually."

"Rich?"
"Yes."

"Wow."

Iz was about to grab her bags from the car, but was stopped by Colin.

"I'll get that in a sec."

"Okay."

Colin had her large bag in his hand, and pulled it up the pathway that led to the house's open front doors. Iz followed Colin to the doors.

"So where did Kris go when I zoned out?" Iz asked.

"He went to make sure everything in your room was all in place," said Colin.

"Oh," Iz replied.

They walked through one of the front doors and went into the plush house. As soon as she stepped into the front hall, she noticed that the house looked even nicer.

"So does Kris live here by himself?" Iz asked Colin.

"No, actually his parents, younger brother, and wife live here with him," answered Colin. "You'll probably meet them in the morning."

"Wife?" Iz repeated.

'Mom didn't tell me about relatives living here or a wife, then again, she also didn't tell me he had money, not that that matters,' Iz thought to herself.

"Yes, they got married last April," answered Colin.

"Where is the bathroom?" asked Iz.

"Up the stairs, take a right, then it's the first door on your left," answered Colin.

"Okay, thanks," said Iz.

She walked up the grand staircase and when she got to the top of the stairs, she turned to the left like Colin said. She then walked a couple of steps until she came to the first door on her right. She opened the door, turned the lights on and sure enough, there was a bathroom inside.

It was a simple bathroom that didn't really match the extravagance the rest of the house seemed to hold. She took off her coat and placed it on the counter. She locked the door, went to the restroom, and washed her hands. She grabbed her coat, turned the lights off, and then walked out of the bathroom. She started to walk to the staircase again.

"Isabella," said Kris' voice from behind her.

Iz turned around to see Kris standing a few feet away from her.

"Yes?" asked Iz.

"Your room is ready," said Kris.

"Oh, okay."

"Follow me."

Kris turned around and walked down the short hall that only had 5 doors (two on each side, counting the bathroom, and one on the end) followed by Iz until they got to the end of it. Kris opened the door at the end of the hall and stepped through. Iz followed him in.

The room was as big as some of the classrooms Iz had at her high school. The walls and ceiling were painted dark blue and the trim was a light blue. The ceiling had glow in the dark star stickers on them and in the middle of the ceiling was a basketball sized crystal ball that could be lit up by a spotlight-type light that was above a couple of large, French windows. There were two doors in the room beside the door they had come in from the hall. Also it the room in the room was a queensize bed, a desk that had an iMac and printer on it, there was a 20-inch TV that had TIVO and a DVD player attached to it, and there were a two bookshelves with a few books on them.

"Wow," said Iz. "This is too much, you shouldn't have."

"I wanted to," said Kris. "There's more."

"More?"

Kris walked through one of the doors in the room. Iz tossed her jacket over the desk chair and walked into the room and saw that it was a bathroom. It had two small sinks, a large countertop, and a mirror that was surrounded by light bulbs that stuck out (you know like you see in actor's dressing rooms in movies). There was a spa bath, a shower stall, and of course a toilet.

"You really shouldn't have," said Iz again.

"I still have two more surprises, well, at least for tonight."

"More surprises? You're kidding."

"Nope."

Kris and Iz walk out of the bathroom and go through the second door, which is next to the bathroom's door. Inside is a semi-large walk-in closet, which is about 10 ft by 8 ft. One wall consists of shelves and horizontal polls to hang things on (note to reader: sorry I don't know how else to describe it.) There is also full-size mirror.

"The last surprise is next to your room."

Kris leads Iz out of her new room and in to the hallway. They turn to the first door to their right. Above the door was a light bulb that was off. Kris opens the door and it revealed what Iz originally thought was a tiny, pitch black closet or something. Kris walked in abd then the wall started to turn covering the doorway. When the opening came back, Kris was gone.

"Step inside," Iz heard Kris say from the other side.

Iz stepped into the small room thing and it started to turn.

'This reminds me of the light trap from Crazy/Beautiful,' Iz thought to herself.

When the small room turned 180°, Iz looked through the opening to see a darkroom in front of her.

"Oh my God," gasped Iz.

"Do you like it?" asked Kris.

"Like it? I love it!"

"Good. Your mom told me you had a big interest in photography and we had another room that was empty, so I thought you could use a darkroom of your own."

"My own?"

"Yep, this baby's yours."

"Thank you so much."

Iz gave Kris a hug, which is something Iz rarely does, unless forced to do it by her parents. But this time, the hug was genuine and she didn't think of doing it, she just did it.

"Are there supplies already bought?" asks Iz.

"Yes," answers Kris. "I got chemicals and paper for both color and black and white."

"Thanks."

"It was no problem. Well, I think I should let you go to bed. Good night."

"Night."

Iz walked back to her new room and stepped through the door. She noticed that her bags were next to her bed and walked over to them. She went through the bags and looked for something to sleep in and her little bag with her bathroom things. She found the things she was looking for and took them out of the bag. She changed into some soccer shorts and a tank top, then with her bathroom things in hand, Iz walked to her bathroom.

In the bathroom, Iz brushed her teeth and washed her face. She then went to her room, crawled into her bed and fell asleep.