Clare walked through her house one Monday afternoon as she just got home from work. Clare opened Luke's door with a basket of laundry. "Luke," Clare said sighing stopping to look at his room. "I told you to clean your room before you played those video games!" Luke tossed his controller on his bed, standing up. "Sorry, Mom. Just had to pass level 25." He said with a smile.

Clare rolled her eyes with a small smile, "Clean up your room, or the video games are out the door, Luke."

"Mom, I'm cleaning! Go annoy Clara and Mark, I'm sure they'd love it."

"Luke, don't talk to me like that! And they actually keep their rooms decent!"

After Clare folded Luke's laundry, she headed to peek in Mark's room. "Mark, did you clean your room?" When Clare got no response, she opened the door and walked in. "Mark?" She gasped when she saw Mark under the covers, doing…well, get an idea. "Mark!" Clare yelled pulling the covers off of him.

"Mom! Why didn't you knock!"

"I did! I didn't mean to find you…doing your pleasures."

"My pleasures?"

Mark's dark hair shined as he picked up his shirt and put it back on blushing. "Mom, it's my room. I can do whatever I want. I'm almost thirteen! I'm pretty much an adult now!"

Clare put her face in both of her hands, as Mark smirked. Clare put down her hands, "Well, at least you cleaned your room."

At the dinner table that night, Clare sat down a huge plate of chicken. Her husband, Jake smiled with pleasure as she kissed him on his cheek. Clare sat down, "Clara it's your turn to say the blessing."

"No, Mom! It's Luke's turn!"

"Clara, I'm the oldest, which that I meant I went Monday."

"You think your such an adult, when really your just fifteen."

"Clara! Luke!" Clare said sighing. "It shouldn't even matter who says the blessing! We just need to thank god for the food we have, and the roof over our heads."

"But don't we buy food at the grocery store?" Mark said.

Jake laughed, while Clare was aggravated with her children. "Clara, say the blessing."

Clara smiled at Clare and closed her eyes, "Dear god, thank you for everything. Thank you for our food, our clothes, our toys, our family, our things, Fluffy our cat, our bathroom," Clare peeked at Jake with concern as Clara kept on naming pretty much everything they had. "And for our shoes, and for our mirrors, and, and for lots of things! Amen."

Clare chuckled a bit under her breath as she put chicken on her plate. Clara dug her small teeth into her chicken, as the others did the same. Clara looked at Mark and put down her chicken. "How did you like masturbating this afternoon, Mark?" Everyone almost spit out their chicken, and Clare looked at her shocked. "Clara Elizabeth Martin! Don't you ever talk like that at the table!"

"Mom, I don't even know what it means, I just heard Daddy talking about it."

The next day Clare took Mark and Clara shopping for new school clothes at the mall. Clara was so excited, for it was almost Christmas and the whole mall was decorated with colorful lights everywhere. "Momma, is Santa here?" She asked grabbing Clare's sleeve playfully. Mark smirked and flipped his dark hair back. Clara seemed to notice Mark's expression, but ignored it. "Momma, why is me and Mark's hair dark? And you and Daddy's are light?"

Clare seemed the hesitate for a minute, actually thinking for a minute. "It's a mixture of both of ours, honey. And Santa is here! If you be good, you can tell him all what you want for Christmas!"

Clara jumped up and down with excitement. "I will never be too old to visit Santa!" Her six year old voice exclaimed. Mark rolled his eyes, and tucked his hands into his pockets. "Come on, let's go into Hollister to get some things for Mark."

"Mom, you know I don't like Hollister!"

"I thought the kids still wear that, now a days!"

"Sure they do, but I don't like it."

As Clare, Mark, and Clara walked away from Hollister, Clare felt someone bump into her, causing her pocket book to fall onto the ground.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! You want me to help?" A man's voice said.

"No, it's fine, I think I got it…"

When Clare looked up her heart stopped, and so did the mans'. He had dark brownish blackish hair, and deep beautiful eyes. He smirked as he smiled. "Eli?" She whispered. Eli got up and helped her up, "Clare Edwards, it's been a while."

"Clare Edwards?" Mark said with confusion.

Clare smiled at him lovingly, and then back to Eli. "Eli, these are my kids. Clara and Mark."

Eli raised his eyebrows at the name Clara. But quickly shook it off. Clare studied him, he aged a bit but besides that he hasn't changed at all. "Nice to meet you, Clara and Mark." Eli said shaking both of their hands while kneeling down with a smile.

"Hey! We have the same eyes!" Clara said giggling shyly.

Eli laughed at her cuteness of a normal six year old. "So we do." He said poking her nose gently, which made her giggle even louder. Mark smirked a little, making Eli turn to him. "Why hey, Mark!"

"How do you know my mom?"

"Oh…we went to school together a very long time ago."

"Mark, how about you go take Clara to get ice cream in the food court." Clare said giving him five dollars.

Clara jumped up and down with even more excitement as the both of them walked away hand in hand.

Eli smiled at Clare, them both locking eyes together. As if the memories came flooding back into each other's minds. "You still have pretty eyes."

"Eli, I'm glad to see you."

"Not as glad as I am to see you."

"So, how are you?"

"I'm good, good."

"So, are you married? What do you do now?"

Eli looked down and took his toboggan off and held it in both of his hands. Clare knew she said something wrong, for she regretted her words. "Imogene and I were married for about ten years, but it wasn't love. I was only with her to help her, so she could get away from…"

"From what?"

"From her dad…"

"Oh, Eli, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, you didn't know. But I am a writer now."

Clare smiled at him, so happy that he fulfilled his life long dream of becoming a writer. "You might see my books on shelves right after Christmas."

"Oh? What is your book about?"

"It's about a little boy and a little girl who grew up in a horrible situation together, and…"

"No! No spoilers! I just know it's going to be a great book!"

Eli smiled, feeling proud of himself. After a moment of silence, Eli turned to Clara and Mark getting ice cream from a far distance. "I miss them." He said with tears in his eyes.

Clare looked down with a heavy sigh, "Mark looks like you more and more every day." Eli kept staring at them, which was breaking Clare's heart so badly it hurt.

"Your still married to Jake?"

"Yes."

"Mark and Clara still think he's their father?""Eli…""I'm tired of pretending, Clare. There my kids too."