"Charming! Our name says it all – what a joke" she thought as she looked out to the small Californian town. After exiting the Golden State Highway Lina had thanked the Gods that her sister's car had windows that opened. Keri had joked that her little sister looked like a dog with her head out the window. Katalina scanned the stores down Main Street and wondered how anyone could live in a town stuck in the 70s.

"Even Bakersfield has buildings with more than 2 levels"

Keri rolled her eyes at her sister's audacity,

"Yeah well, beggars can't be choosers Lina. And you, my dear, are currently in the category of beggar."

Lina turned to her sister, shocked that Keri had come right out with it.

"I am not a beggar- "

"Come on Lina, you have no house, no car and barely any money."

The younger of the 2 rolled her eyes, scoffing at her sister's assessment,

"Yeah well, thank the all mighty that you're around to remind me." She said unenthusiastically

"Hey! You're lucky I'm taking time out of my busy schedule to bring you here!"

"Yeah, in this crappy car, to this 1 pony town, to see a brother I haven't talked to in nearly ten years."

Slamming on her breaks, Keri turned to a stunned Lina

"You know what? I get that you've had it rough for the last however long, I get it. I understand that your fall from grace hasn't been the most amazing experience. But you don't get to sit here and give me shit, not when I'm the only one in your corner right now. Not when I'm the one that drove you here in my crappy car, leaving my son with his sick grandmother to get your ungrateful ass to this 1 horse town to get our stubborn ass brother to lend you a helping hand."

"…. it's a 1 pony town actually"

Keri just scoffed and continued driving, trying her hardest to ignore her sister's presence. She knew that Lina was coming from a particularly unforgiving time in her life and it probably wasn't the smartest idea to push her sister, but Keri needed her family together and that meant getting David to start speaking to Lina. It wasn't going to be easy because her siblings tended to be hot-headed and stubborn, not a great mixture for getting family members who haven't spoken in a decade, to finally speak.

Keri wasn't sure about the exact details that lead to their little sister moving across the country for college. Every time she'd spoken to either of them about what had happened, they both shut down. But she was determined to get her either of them to fess up, one way or another.

"Look, I'm sorry Li. I'm just stressed and- "

"No, I'm sorry. I should be grateful that someone cares about me enough to pull me out of that shit and kick my ass. I know the complaining isn't helping, but you know that we haven't talked in years. D always favoured you when we were kids, I was just the little grunt that painted his car with glitter."

Chuckling a little at her sister's memory, Keri thought about how much truth there was to Lina's allegations. Sure, there were a few times Keri got away with certain things, but that was probably just because she was only their step-sibling and D didn't feel like it was his place to yell at her.

"I know this is going to be hard, and yeah he is definitely going to be annoying about everything. But if anyone can help you through this crap, it's D. I mean look what he did with Herman."

Keri winced at the example she'd used. Herman was one of her step-brother's dearest friends and an ex-junkie, although he'd always be quick to remind you that there was no such thing as an ex-junkie. Both Lina and Keri had been there to see Herman's first attempt at sobriety and seen the process that their brother had to go through, so it is somewhat irritating that Lina had put her mother and sister through that pain once more.

"What if he just stands there and yells at me? Or worse, just doesn't even give me a chance to tell him my side?"

"Calm down Lina, take a breath. I'll be there with you the whole way through it. He'll yell or do whatever it is he needs to do to get rid of his anger, but eventually he'll get there. I mean, I did."

Lina hadn't even meant for her sister to find out about how low her life had gotten, but the universe made it so. Keri had received a phone call that her little sister had been found by a mutual friend of theirs and had been told that Lina needed help before the police were involved. So Kerianna booked a red-eye to Dallas and took her little sister home. Unfortunately, detoxing your little sister while taking care of a sick mother and a curious 4-year-old…. well it was heading for disaster and Keri needed help.

"I've just been so…he's just going to be so disappointed in me"

Keri took her sister's hand, hearing the slight quiver in her voice. It didn't surprise her that Lina felt that way about David's reaction, she was always trying so hard as a kid to try and be grown up and mature. David was always pushing the girls to do better than what was expected of them, which wasn't much in their neighbourhood. Despite their parents' efforts, the 3 siblings had seen more than their fair share of gang violence, and that was not something that David wanted for his sisters' families.

"We'll get through this, together"

"Thanks sis"

Fuck. This dam engine just doesn't wanna work with me today,

"Hand me the wrench grunt."

God, I hate prospects. They're useless, barely know their ABCs let alone how to take care of business. Wouldn't trust them holding a dam spark plug let alone a dam gun.

I can hear the guys gushing over some cages that must've just rolled onto the lot. Must be …hold the fuck up. I know that engine. I'd know that sound anywhere.

Shit. She can't be here. Not in Charming.

What the fuck she doin' here? Jesus Christ, I don't have time for this shit. There's already enough crazy around here.

Then out of the blue the passenger steps out of the '68 Camaro and instantly finds him in the crowd. She looks skinnier than the last time he'd seen her, like she didn't have enough food in her fancy life. He watched as Tig slithered his way over to the cage to talk to the girls, but Lina walked right past him, straight to her big brother.

"Hey D, surprise!"

"It's Happy, and you aren't welcome here. Go."