Kari Torres slowly blinked as the sunlight filtered through her window. She lazily pressed the snooze button on her alarm, hoping to catch an extra few minutes of sleep, but she knew that wasn't going to happen as she heard her mom's voice.
"Kari, come on!!" Shouted Mitchie, up the stairs. She was already busy preparing breakfast, and needed Kari to hurry up so she could get to work at the restaurant she was a cook in. After a few minutes, Kari skulked down.
"Mom! Are you serious? Do I really have to go to school today!"
"Yes." Said Mitchie, calmly.
"But in case you didn't notice, it's my tenth birthday today. That's more than enough of a reason to stay home, right?"
"Maybe. But it's also still a schoolday." Explained Mitchie, pushing Kari to the door, a piece of toast hanging out of her mouth. "We'll do something when you get home. Now. hurry up, or you'll miss your bus." Kari hugged Mitchie, and sighed.
"Fine..." She pouted, walking out the door. Once she was gone, Mitchie sat on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. After a little while, she leaned over, and dialled a number on the telephone. She held the receiver tightly, until someone answered. They spoke a few times, before Mitchie put the phone down. Gathering her thoughts, she stood up and went into autopilot, getting ready for work. She had to focus, and thinking about him would mean she'd lose it, and she couldn't afford to do that.

"Mom! He's pulling my hair again!" Screamed Maggie Andrews. Caitlyn rolled her eyes, and ran upstairs.
"Todd, leave your sister alone." Said Caitlyn, trying to remain calm as her son pulled on Maggie's pigtails. Nate laughed from the door, and Caitlyn scowled at him for not helping. Shrugging, he came in.
"Sweetheart," He began, hugging Maggie. "You've got to get ready for school."
"Okay dad..." She mumbled, going into the bathroom. Caitlyn and Nate laughed as they went downstairs.
"Love our family." Smiled Nate, kissing his wife's neck. Caitlyn pulled a tight, tired smile.
"Yeah.." She muttered, moving away. "I should get the breakfasts ready." She sniffed, going back downstairs.

Jason looked confused at the phone as the dial tone kicked back in after the other person hung up, but smiled when he heard a creak on the stairs, and saw his son, Joshua, walking down them. Once he was in the room with him, Jason signed 'Happy birthday!' to him. Josh smiled, and hugged Jason tightly. Jason smiled back, and kissed his forehead. It had been hard when he had found out that Joshua was deaf, and many people didn't think that Jason would be able to cope on his own. But after ten years, they were doing fine. Pulling away, Josh pulled a confused face, and pulled a photograph he'd found, out of his back pocket. He handed it to Jason, and he shook his head.
"I thought I burnt all my pictures of those creeps..." He muttered, throwing the picture in the trash. Quickly he turned back to face Joshua, offering to drive him to school. Jason had the day off from the studio to prepare Josh's birthday party, and he wanted to make it one he'd remember.

"I'm not gonna go! You can't make me! " Screamed Amy Perez. Ella sighed, and pulled the covers off of her 9-year-old daughter. It was a constant power struggle between herself and Amy, and it seemed that Amy was always winning.
"Amy, you have to go to school." Said Ella, trying to remain calm.
"No! They tease me because I don't have a dad!" Ella sighed, and sat on the bed.
"We've talked about this..." She began.
"I don't CARE my dad didn't care when I was born! I just want him here now!" Ella tried to stop her, but Amy ran into the bathroom, and locked the door. Ella hugged herself and wiped the tears away from her face. Ella hadn't dated since having Amy, so Amy had never had a father figure around, and Ella had never been one to enforce rules, meaning Amy pretty much got away with whatever she wanted. Ella rubbed her eyes to stop herself crying like she did every time she thought of Amy's father. It was only ever going to be a one-night thing, but it was times like this Ella really wished that he was there.

"Mom, I'm leaving for school now." Announced Jennifer Tyler, heading out the front door.
"Hold on a second—Mark, I'll have to call you back." Tess called into the phone, hanging it up instantly. Tess never wanted to be like her mom, whom she didn't get along with any more. Anytime Jennifer wanted to talk to her, she would put everything on hold for her. Jennifer rolled her eyes as her mom rushed to the front door. "Don't forget you've got an appointment with the orthodontist after school today."
"Yes mom, I know." Jennifer rolled her eyes. "I'll see you then, love you!" She called to her mom, leaving the house. She headed down the road a little way, then waved to her friend. "Sorry, mom wanted to talk to me again. She's so overprotective sometimes, it drives me insane."
"What was it this time?" Asked her friend.
"Reminding me about my orthodontist appointment. I mean, hello! I wanna get this brace off, I'm not likely to forget it." She sighed, running her tongue over her brace. "Let's hurry up, before we're late for school."

"Let's go." Said the bus driver, impatiently, as Amy trudged onto the full school bus. After a long struggle, Ella finally got Amy out of the front door, and on the way to school. As the new girl, she was the target for a lot of taunts, but she made her way down the aisle silently, looking for a spot to sit.
"Can I sit here?" She asked politely to a girl she didn't recognise. The girl looked up, and smiled.
"Yeah sure." She said, moving her lunch bag aside for Amy to sit down. They sat silent for a while, before the girl spoke up.
"Are you new here?" She asked. Amy nodded slowly.
"My mom got a new job, so now I have to take this dumb bus." She muttered, kicking the chair in front of her. The girl giggled at Amy's comment.
"I'm Kari. Kari Torres." She smiled. Amy smiled back.
"Amy Perez." She replied.

Nate stepped out onto the patio, and took in a deep breath of fresh air. He smiled to himself, and walked onto the still damp grass where Caitlyn was standing, watching Todd play. Maggie had just left for school, so now it was just the three of them. Caitlyn looked deep in thought, so he came up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Hey." He said softly, making her jump.
"Don't do that." She scolded, rubbing her arms. Nate smiled apologetically.
"Well how about I make it up to you? We can take Todd to Day Care, and me and you can spend the rest of the day together."
"I don't know…" She said, looking over at him playing in the sandbox. "Isn't he still too…young for Day care?"
"No, he's fine, he's the same age Maggie was. And we've gotta get used to him going for when you go back to work."
"Mm.." She said, looking at the floor. "Don't you have songs to finish or something? You're always busy these days." Nate shook his head.
"I have time for my family." He reassured her, hugging her from behind. Come on, just me and you for a few hours. I'll even let you buy some new equipment for your studio?" A slight smile crept on Caitlyn's face.
"Okay you won me over, I'll just get his things together."

Shane lay down in his bed, exhausted. He'd just called into work sick, even though he wasn't sick at all. Anyway, it wasn't a complete lie. Even though he wasn't the one that was ill. He told his boss he'd be in later on, but that would only happen if he could convince his daughter to go to Day Care.
"Daddy!!" She screamed from her room. Shane rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and brushed his hair away from his face as he entered her room, hugging her as tears streamed down her face.
"Hey, baby, what's wrong?" He asked gently. Rachel sniffed.
"My tummy hurts!!" She screamed. Shane sighed.
"Rach...If daddy misses more work, he won't have a job..."
"BUT DADDY..."
"They'll look after you at day care..." Rachel sniffed.
"Will my friends be there??"
"Yes..."
"And the nice ladies??"
"Yes..." Suddenly, Rachel jumped up, and hugged him.
"I WANNA GO!!" Shane laughed, and hugged back.
"Okay, I'll drop you off now..."

"Who're those jerks over there?" Asked Amy, pointing to a group of boys, ganging around a smaller boy. Kari shrugged.
"I'm not sure...Should we get involved?" She asked. "They look tougher than us...But then again, poor kid..." As they grew nearer, they heard the taunts the boys were saying to the boy, who was roughly the same age as Kari.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tounge?"
"He's just dumb! He can't talk!!"
"Not gonna stand up for yourself, dummy?"
"C'mon speak!"
"HEY!!" Snapped Kari, stepping over. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!!" The bullies rolled their eyes.
"We'll be back, when your girlfriends not around!!" They laughed. Kari looked at the boy.
"Are you okay?" There was no answer. "Umm...What's your name?" Still no answer. "Say something?"
"He can't." Said a voice behind Amy and Kari. They turned around. "He's deaf."
"Oh, didn't know." Replied Amy. "What's it to do with you anyway?" She glared at the boy.
"I'm James...James Dupree. I studied sign language, so I'm like, one of the only kids who can understand Josh..."
"Oh, so that's his name..." Said Kari.

Todd sat silently in the middle of the room, looking around for someone to play with. He spotted a girl with brown hair, and walked over to her.
"Who you?" He asked. The girl looked around.
"Rachel.. You?" She smiled.
"Todd! Wanna play?"

Nate watched Caitlyn curiously. They had been shopping all morning, and had just stopped off for lunch. Caitlyn had ordered a salad, but instead of eating it she was playing with it, twisting her fork in it and looking at it bored.
"You know…the next step is to put it in your mouth." He teased. Caitlyn looked up dazed, then back down at the salad.
"Regular comedian." She commented, smiling a little. "You know…I've been thinking. Were we right to move here?"
"All the best studios are here, honey. And you know all the best studios need the best producer, and you're the best there is."
"Yeah, but where the best studios are, Shane Gray is." Nate sighed, knowing what his wife was thinking.
"We won't see him. We don't know that any of them still live here. Don't worry."
"I can't help but worry, Nate." She snapped, standing up. "Can we just go home?"

Kari drummed her fingers bored on the table, and listened to the droning of the teacher. Kari sighed, and looked around. Everyone was talking with each other, and this depressed Kari, as she had no real friends in her class. She spotted a girl a little way away, and snuck over to talk to her. The teacher didn't seem to notice.
"Hey...I'm Kari Torres...I haven't seen you around...Who are you?" The girl looked at her, and smiled.
"Maggie Andrews, hey...I've only been here a few weeks...I usually get here early and get a seat at the back, but today my bratty little brother got in my way." Kari laughed.
"I don't have that problem, I'm an only child!"
"Miss Torres!" Both girls blushed as the teacher looked at them. They muttered sorry, and he continued. "For your project, you will research your family tree - You have a week from today." Kari sighed and buried her head in her hands. Her mom hated talking about family, unless it was her side of the family. She didn't even know her father's name, let alone anything about his family.

"I am so glad this day is over." Kari said with a huff throwing up her arms as her and Amy headed over to her locker
"Same here."
"Hey Kari over here!" Both girls looked over dazed to see Maggie waving them over to a brick wall. Just as Amy and Kari got to the wall, James came over with Josh.
"Hey Kari, Amy? Josh's dad is having a party for him...It's his birthday...Wanna come?"
"Well…it's kind of mine, too. But my mom won't be home from work for a few hours, so sure." Answered Kari eventually.
"Great! So, do you two want to come?"
"We'll have to call our parents when we get there." Said Maggie, as Amy nodded.
"I should be able to walk home, but my mom'll still want to know where I am."

"Daddy, Daddy!" Rachel cried in a hyper voice as she spotted Shane walk into the nursery room. It had been a stressful day at work, and the artist he was working with had only got one song recorded, but he had just wanted to collect Rachel, and go home. He picked her up, and swung her around in his arms, before pulling her into a close hug.
"Hey princess, how was your day?" He asked smiling, setting her down carefully.
"I met a new friend!" She said, pointing over to Todd who was trying to stack uneven blocks. Rachel grabbed Shane's hand and pulled him over to the messy corner.
"Daddy this is Todd, Todd this is Daddy." Rachel said very pleased with herself at the formal introduction.
"Hi." Shane said, crouching down. He studied Todd's faces and tilted his head slightly, seeing something familiar in his eyes. Shrugging, he stood back up "Well, you're ready to go Rach." he said, as he started picking up her backpack and her coat.
"But Todd's mommy and daddy aren't here yet." she said, looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes. Shane laughed.
"I'm sure they will be here soon, but now its your time to leave, you can see him tomorrow." Finally Rachel agreed and waved goodbye to Todd, as Shane lifted her onto his shoulders to give her a piggy back to the car.

"Aw, are you Josh's friends?" Asked Jason, opening the door, as they filed in.
"Thanks for this, Mr. Black." Said James, smiling. "Umm...My mom knows I'm here...Can the others call home?"
"Of course James." Said Jason, sitting on the sofa with Josh, and handing him a pile of birthday cards. He recognised the scribbled handwriting on one of the envelopes, frowned, and quickly hid the card behind his back. "So, are all you Josh's friends?" He asked, as Kari and Amy waited for Maggie to get off the phone. He glanced at Kari, and realised her face was very familiar. He shook his head, confused, and smiled again.
"Yeah, he's a really nice guy." Smiled Amy, pretending the best she could that she knew him.

Just as Shane drove away, Caitlyn and Nate pulled in and began walking into the nursery.
"Mommy!" Cheered Todd, hugging Caitlyn tightly.
"How's our little man?" Grinned Nate.
"I loved it daddy!!" He smiled. "I played with the blocks, and the toy cars, and everything! Can I do it again? Can I??" The daycare assistant came over.
"Oh, he was a little angel - You should bring him back tomorrow, he's made a friend!"
"Aw, Todd that's great." Smiled Caitlyn. "Maybe we could have his friend come over for playdates or something." She said, looking at Nate. Nate nodded.
"What was his friend's name." He asked.
"Rachel Gray."
"D…Did you say Gray?" Caitlyn stuttered, backing away slightly. The assistant nodded, apparently not seeing how freaked out Caitlyn looked. Nate quickly stepped in front.
"Well, we might be here tomorrow, thanks for everything." he said quickly, rushing Todd and Caitlyn out of the nursery.
"It can't be!" Caitlyn said, shaking her head worried.
"Grays a common name. And he didn't even have a kid the last time we saw him."
"The last time we saw his was…10 years ago. A lot could've changed." Pointed out Caitlyn, trying to put it in the back of her mind for now.