This story is rated M for violence, murder, sexual scenes, mentions of sexual violence, police brutality, and other triggering social justice issues.

A/N: This is the third and final installment of an AU series. Part One: As Far As Eye Can See. Part Two: Do You See What Eye See. Part Three: Eye Can See Clearly Now.

The Rally

"Three women, riding in their car, loudly blasting a Hamilton CD, singing along to The Schuyler Sisters… Words such as, 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal' and 'Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now' can be heard in the recording when the driver pulls over. Her name was Andrea Cohen and she was my friend; practically my family. She began recording as soon as she saw their lights flashing behind her vehicle. Not because she thought that a recording might help her situation. She wasn't that naive. She started recording because she thought that if anything did happen that the recording might help the rest of us be moved to action. It certainly lit a fire under me." Matthew Rutherford was consulting notes as he made his statement at an event. "I won't play it. We won't show images, because no doubt everyone has seen this over and over again. It has been happening since our ancestors first ran off of the plantations towards the stars. Andrea was not an anomaly. She wasn't an isolated incident. She became one of the hundreds of our people that are murdered each year by the police." He took a deep breath and Aphasia rubbed the small of his back, as she cried fluently.

There were happy photos of Andrea, projected against the screen behind him as a slideshow while he talked. #SayHerName and other sentiments on signs in the crowd. "We gather like this far too many times. Sometimes, I just want some barbeque. Sometimes, it'd be nice just to meet to see what fraternity connections we have. Whatever… We get to do those things, but we also have to navigate a country, a world in which even doing things like that can result in our deaths!"

He took off his glasses and wiped them off. "Andrea, her long term girlfriend, and another friend had recently left my house. They stopped by on their way to go see Hamilton. Her girlfriend had been wanting to see it and they finally got tickets, after trying so many times and missing the original cast - people with money problems, but that was what was happening with her. They decided since they were in New York to hit up their old friend, Matt and spoil his already questionably rotten two year old," he joked, sadly. "Before that video circulated, the last words that I heard her say was, 'Keep spoiling my godson while I'm away.'" Aphasia collapsed onto his back, crying onto his suit coat.

"Well, let's speak about what happened in between when they got into her car and what we saw in the video. Our friend, Jane" he pointed a hand to Jane, offstage, wiping her own tears away, and Andrea's girlfriend, De'Wanda, who is still locked up and facing criminal charges, got into the car. Jane says De'wanda put the CD in, cheerfully reporting all the Hamilton facts that she knew of and expressing her excitement that it was finally going to happen. It didn't happen, by the way. See, Andrea and De'wanda started playfully bickering about why she was listening to the CD when they were about to go watch the show. They had plenty of time, but there's parking, crowds, etc. You understand. De'wanda playfully turned the music all the way up, to drown Andrea out and stuck her tongue out at her.

Now, the police say that Andrea's stickers looked suspicious, but if you know Andrea, she's never had a suspicious sticker or anything else about her car, because she likes to be accounted for, legally. Now, what she DID have was a "Fuck the 12" decal on her window that another friend made. So, when she saw the lights, she turned down the music, began the recording and let all of us know that she was just pulled over for no reason and she laughed, commenting, 'They better not make me miss Hamilton.' They did.

Andrea spoke calmly to the officer, asked the right questions, follow the instructions, ready no doubt to be sure to point all of this out to her lawyer when the time came. It did not come. See, the police thought it alright to pull our friends out of the car and try to humiliate them. Our friend Jane, who has been assailed unlawfully before had a flashback and she froze, afraid to move to get out of the car. So, when the officer went to grab her, pulling her by her hair as she did, Andrea reached out, reflexively to grab the officer and make her stop… she was backhanded with the officer's fist. Two more officers jumped on her as she stumbled to the ground. Jane was pulled out and handcuffed. De'wanda tried to get to the other side of the car where Andrea was being attacked and began struggling with the officers to do so.

Now, Andrea's phone has fallen beneath the car at this time, so we can't see very well what is happening. We only see a corner of her face, which is not like these shining and smiling photos on the projector. She's afraid, she's bleeding and she's slurring, because she's been hit in the head and has brain damage, though we don't know that yet. All we know is that she says, 'Something is wrong. I feel like I'm dying.' It's slurred, but we can make the words out. And what we know that the officer responds to her concern with, because she said it extremely clearly, "Boo. Hoo. Hoo." From… Timing, what I understand is that those were most likely the last words that my friend heard. She felt like something was wrong. She felt like and she literally said like she was going to die. And her murderer said to her… Boo. Hoo. Hoo…" He shut his eyes and lowered his head to let the tears fall. Aphasia squeezed him tightly from behind.

Jane came forward, leading several women, all wearing shades of brown shirts with text on them: For the Sisters Who Ain't Here.

Jane escorted Matt and Aphasia off of the stage while the women proceeded to announce the names of women lost to police violence and pour out a small bit of coconut oil, as they did. Standing in the back of the chairs to the right of the stage where the speakers sat were Rashad, Mason and Stevie. Stevie had grown out his hair, almost to his shoulders, facial hair, a few more tattoos and piercings, but the same brooding natural frown that he always sported, maybe even deeper, especially today. "Andrea Cohen," Jane said and poured out her oil…

.

Immediately following the ceremony, Stevie and a bodyguard helped Aphasia and Matt into their car and hit the top of it. They reached the location and Stevie met up with some other guys, spoke briefly, then went inside. Aphasia was in the main room. "Stevie," she said and he came over to her, ready to assist however he could. "Did Sam show up?"

Stevie scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Did you honestly expect him to?"

She fumed, "We've shown up for him. We would have shown up for him…"

"Well, I'm sure that he spoke a very lovely prayer on her behalf to his generous congregation." Aphasia growled and punched the wall. Stevie raised an eyebrow and looked away, "Should I leave you to this?"

"No. Take me to the firing range. I need to shoot something, right now," She said and grabbed his wrist to pull him towards the front door.

"Hey, whoa!" Matt called. "Where are you trying to go?"

Aphasia was grabbing the gun that she kept stashed in an opening in front of the door. "Firing."

Matt shook his head, "Phai, please don't. The pigs are circling the place. The guards are about to send a decoy out, but it's still too hot and I damn sure don't want you out there armed…" He sighed and clasped his hands together, "Please?" She nodded her head and patted Stevie on the arm in silent thanks. Matt turned to him, "Steve, let me grab my card. Hit up a Dick's or something for me, will you? Get like some punching bags and gloves, something to try to smooth her over for a bit?"

"Don't you dare pull that card out, I've got you. Whatever you need." Aphasia went into the back room now, as Stevie left through the front door. He jumped on his cell phone. "Couldn't help but notice that you missed the rally. I don't know why that surprises me. I guess I thought this time it would actually matter to you." He hung up, then got into his car and sped off.

.

Tina could not believe when she heard the news about Andrea Cohen. Actually, she had seen at least the first few moments of the video on autoplay, but quickly stopped it because of the description of it and the warning caption. But, she proceeded to read the article and had to make sure that they were speaking of Andrea Cohen from Ohio. She went directly to Matt's website and sure enough, there was a memorandum, including her photograph and a request not to share any such videos on the site because they would be removed and the user would be blocked. She got on the phone as soon as she heard to check on Aphasia and Matt.

Matt was holding up, but Tina knew that he couldn't be alright. Aphasia as a mess. She said, "Andrea was the only person who has been with Matt from the beginning. She's the one person who was close to him when his family died, who stayed close to him, who built up his business and his organization with him. His Day 1, Tina. We've often said that we don't know what we would do without her. And now, it's like he just had to see the last remaining member of his family die."

"No. No, it isn't like that. You're his family. You and Mattie. Yes, he did lose a member, but not the last. He has you. I am so sorry that your family no longer has her."

"They are… executing us. I can't even tell you how many activists have died either under mysterious circumstances, allegedly random foul play, supposedly justified murders from the police. They are killing us. And not just in the sense of even when I was a little girl, I realized that we were different and I was supposed to be the unpreferred. Not just in the when I was in high school, I learned about racial profiling and when I became an adult, I learned about institutional racism. In a "your life does not matter and if you say it does, you will be killed for it" way. We're scared as hell for Jane. She made it out of police custody, but she was there. She saw everything, even though she was panicking. The police keep watching us. I have a two year old…"

"I'm so sorry. I want to be able to come and help you out."

"You have a political career to build in Hawaii, Girl."

"Yes, but you're an extension of my family, too," Tina said.

"Don't come here! You'll just be another person that I'll be scared of losing. Matt and I have been back and forth between Ohio and New York, anyway. We're thinking of moving back."

"Wow. You haven't lived there in nearly a decade now…"

"Yeah, but the Cohens are there and the police are hot on us here. Remember, when Matt was working in Ohio before, he was still stationed in Chicago. Then we were in Sante Fe. Then New York. We're hoping that the Bay Village police won't stalk us as what's currently happening."

They talked for a while longer, before Tina felt alright to let her go and then she had some serious decisions to try to make. She was trying to build up her political standing. She had been actively engaged in the community in Mililani, nearly since they moved four years ago. Since it wasn't close to the beach, as she presumed (now convinced that was foolishness, on her part), she found other ways of submerging herself into the place while trying to get her business up and running. It failed fast. Most of the work that she did was online orders, and Tina had not done anything other than clothing for years.

She went back to school, because she could afford to and was bored, then started looking up every single community event that she could find. Mike had a glorious job at a private practice, helping lower income families and she was honestly more bored than she had ever been in her life. She took trips to the beach as much as she could. She went to several rallies about different issues to look around. She even took a few tourist classes on how to hula and jewelry making. She already knew how to make jewelry, but she wanted to do something. Eventually, she wandered her way into studying the history of the state, the economy, the social climate, and wanted to become a politician, because it seemed like it would be fun.

Of course, this was prior to being approved for the adoption that she and Mike began the process of after being settled in for a year. After they were finally bringing home three little girls, Tina threw all of her time and energy into that. They were siblings, Polynesian and ages 6, 9 and 12… Which were some good ages, for Tina. She loved them and they had lost both of their parents earlier that year (and had been with Mike and Tina for about two years now… Not quite two years, because Tina remembered when Bliss and Blessing were born, she and Mike flew in to meet them and had not yet received word on getting the girls. At any rate, she didn't have the time now to try to plan trips like that, especially if the whole family was going to go. But it made her immensely sad to watch these occurrences on her social media everyday. Between police executions and mass shootings - her personal favorite thing to attack her eyes every time she wanted to check the weather or see cute baby photos - she would have disconnected from every site years ago, if it wasn't one of the main ways that she kept up with her friends. The best part about living in Hawaii was that generally, people made the excuse to come to visit her, instead of her having to leave home with three girls still basically getting used to their new lives.

However, sometimes, people just couldn't. Quinn had not visited since the first year. But, that was due to the fact that she was literally a power mom. That was what she was often referred to when publicly announced at seminars and other engagements. She began her own business solutions firm when she moved to Washington DC, handled several private crises, had another daughter, working full time up through labor and only stopping when she actually had to deliver. There's a story that as soon as her baby went to sleep, she asked for her phone and began to make calls. Because Quinn never denied it, Tina knew it was true.

Well, they continued to keep in touch on a near daily basis, via video chat. They were the ones far away from everyone at home, so they decided that instead of both of them constantly trying to link up with everyone else that they would be certain to set aside a certain time to talk to each other and whenever others were available, they could simply add them into their chats. They basically had the same friends back home.

When the call came on the screen, Beth answered, "Hey, AunTina!"

"Hey! What are you up to?" Tina asked.

"Actually, I was getting ready to head out with some friends, but mom is on the phone with someone and I knew this was you."

"Going out with some friends? Where to?"

"Nowhere in particular. Probably end up at a friend's listening to their dad play ukulele and tell us about all the politicians that he used to do drugs with."

"What?!" Tina's eyes went wide and Beth cackled. "Girl, don't do that to me. I was seriously like whose damn house is that?"

"True story, I do have a friend whose dad does that, but we never go to their house. I was thinking about going to the International Spy Museum, but they're saying that we should wait and go in July, when the Mission Impossible movie comes out, when first off - I don't want to see that. Tom Cruise is gross and so old that he's not even cute anymore, if he even ever was in the ancient days. Second, I can go to that place as many times as I think of it. Third, if we don't find something cool to do, we're totally going to end up at Dayton's. They're SO boojie, Auntina. They can never decide which thing to spend our parents' money on. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to just spend hours in the free museums, because why spend money when there's still free interesting things. They tell me that I sound like a poor person. These are the kinds of people I'm around."

"There's nothing wrong with being poor except for the fact that people like their parents probably actively work to keep poor people poor!" Tina fussed.

"I'll have to remember that one…" Quinn came into the room and Beth gestured a kiss at the computer screen to Tina, before hugging her mother and accepting some cash.

"So… I heard about Andrea Cohen. How are your friends?"

"Phai is doing so bad. Matt, I imagine is doing just as bad."

"Well, I had my site director to keep up with the story, post updates and anything that Matt wants out there, we'll have his back on it. I may even drop a big donation on it. That's crazy, right? I mean, for all of the years that I worried about some white sheet finding me and hurting us, or having one of those Nazi terrorists gun one of us down, somebody that we know, that we've worked with and fought with died… during a routine traffic stop… That's mind-blowing to me."

"Well, it wouldn't likely ever happen to you, is why. This mostly happens to people of color, more notably, Black people."

"I'm not able to find any information that they even had just cause to pull her over."

"They didn't. But, she had anti-police material on her vehicle and I think they intended to rough her up, in the first place. Can you even… Support her in this situation, when your live in partner is a detective?"

"Cooper is a profiler, not some trigger happy thug with a badge. He hates injustice just as much as I do."

"I get that, but I also… Well, most of the cops I know are very vocal about supporting good cops and not letting the actions of these destroy the reputations of others…"

"If they're good cops, they ought to be against this type of thing. This woman wasn't some criminal. She was an affluent feminist with an education and a computer genius with a huge platform… "

"Even if she had been a criminal, though… She wouldn't have deserved that."

"Of course not! I'm only saying that I can't see any possible way that anyone could argue about the validity of this killing."

"They already have. People are saying that she attacked the cops, resisted arrest, some other things. People are always going to find excuses to justify these deaths. It makes me so sick."

"It makes me scared for Mercedes' children," Quinn said. "Her nieces and nephews… her. I was under the impression for a really long time that police were more aggressive with black men, but apparently, that's not quite true."

"It's not. Women… of any background in this country, at least, will always be more at risk than the men in the same communities." Tina balled her fists up. "I feel like I have to take a trip to Ohio. At least for her services. Maybe I'll make a vacay out of it and stay for Cheri's crazy birthday party thing."

Quinn rolled her eyes and laughed, "I am trying to set up something for Andrea. Hardest of passes on that R Word bullshit."

"I don't think it's R Word related. I think it's for Stevie and Stacie. Their birthday is St. Patrick's.

"It may not be for the R Word, but… Wait… We've discussed this, haven't we? Or do we actively avoid that entire shitshow altogether since I sued them?"

"I avoided it since before you sued them," Tina said, looking lost.

"Umn… Cheri is on that show."

Tina laughed, "What?"

"She's been on for like a full season. She plays Giselle St. James… or whatever the character's name is."

"That… CAN'T be real news!" Tina said, cackling. "So, she has filmed, acted and they have aired a season of that show with her on it, and I didn't know this? How?"

"You've really not been paying attention. I guess after Sam cut ties with them you didn't have to pretend anymore." Tina still laughed.

"Okay.. so, you've sued them, Sam has severed all of his dealings with them completely, but Cheri is ON IT?" She was still in disbelief. "Like… I didn't even know that she wanted to act. I thought she was having fun doing a reality show every few months. I'm gonna go look for clips to see if she's any good.."

"Do you really want to see clips of that character, created on that show?" Quinn asked.

"Good point. Well, now I really want to go to the party."

"Wait… That show films in California… Is Cheri going to California for extended periods of time with five kids?"

"I don't know what her routine is, just that she's a part of that trash fire now."

"She always did like the story. Since we're bringing the show up, what does Mercy think about her sister-in-law being on the show?"

"She doesn't care. She's still friends with goddamn Kitty Wilde. She sent me her apologies for the things happening in my real life because of her involvement with this project, however she's been on it for 5 seasons and is the star, so is she really sorry at all?"

.

Sam and Joe's church held a gathering, at the same time that Andrea's vigil was held in another part of town. Sam noticed Stevie calling and knew that he was probably angry with him for not coming down to the actual location, but it was safer and his congregation felt more comfortable meeting at their church. Mercedes had spoken about the event on her panel talk show and he arranged a gathering and an offering. The fact that Stevie expected him to show up at the venue, especially considering that those people frequently incited the police, or vice versa was unreasonable. He had already explained that.

But Aphasia's text: We would have been there for you.

That did hurt. A lot had happened over the past few years. It started about 2 years before… Sam remembered because it was near the time that he and Mercedes had their twins - Blessing and Bliss. Shortly afterward, Stevie and Matt had been arrested at a Black Lives Matter rally. Their version was that the police began shooting people with rubber bullets and throwing tear gas into the crowds and they were simply trying to make sure that children and women were kept safe and found cover. Well, in that process, Stevie "knocked down" an officer. Matt's original version used the word "tackled," but he recanted later, saying that there was tear gas and he may have not seen it accurately. The tackle got Stevie arrested. Matt's recognizable face and proximity to the area got him picked up, as well.

As public figures, it was highly publicized and spoken of in the media. They weren't there together, but it was rumored that they were and it made sense to a lot of people. Stevie had been speaking out against white supremacists, outing them, and working to basically ruin them. Several white nationalist organizations referred to him as a "super-traitor," Brotherhood betrayer, The White Guilt Gladiator; even called him SuperTraitor (as a name), and everyone readily knew exactly who they meant, in addition to the usual 'N word' lover, race traitor, self hater, etc. The White Knight for Black Lives meme had began as a hopeful white ally made some fan artwork of him and did not realize it was highly problematic, and was dragged across the Internet for it.

Stevie was rumored to be on a hit list of neo Nazi groups and often thought to be associated with many political & activism groups that he was not actually affiliated with. "I'm not part of any group. I just attack the white supremacy, because it needs to crumble." It was like some of Matt's earlier work, but with a better budget and inside investigations. To identify these agents of white supremacy, their stepping stones, all of the branches and the leaves was hungry work and required a lot of help from other white people, because they had the advantage of getting close to those others.

The media often pitted Sam and Stevie against each other. Stevie wanted to destroy those people. Sam wanted to save them. Of course, having spent many years now in the public eye, both brothers were good at responses that said how much they loved each other and respected each other's choices, even if they weren't what one another would do.

Sam was just as concerned about white sheets and ghost skins, but he chose to minister to them and become a spiritual advisor, as he once had when it was time for him to reform. Some were saved, others weren't and many Stevie shut down, either way. Some, after being rehabilitated, Stevie joined with to help him keep them from destroying other lives, something Sam also disagreed with, because he didn't want those who were freshly out of the life to get sucked back in. So, it had been about two years since Sam and Stevie had a decent conversation, and about the same amount of time since Stevie and Matt's unlikely alliance.

Matt, as a well known activist, journalist, commentator and political critic was easily tied to Stevie and they were both listed as persons of interest with the government, openly supported BLM and seemed to also support Antifa. They each spoke of intersectionality, hated white supremacy and uplifted black women, though Matt will still contest that Stevie's uplifting is fetishizing...

Their defense teams worked together to get them released and charges dropped, but both were positive that they were still being watched. They decided to combine resources and exchange information. Many people thought that at least Stevie, if not Matt, was a domestic threat, or at the very least a vigilante. There was no proof, but Sam did not want his church connected to any possible illegal actions and kept his distance from their dealings.

.

Mercedes was smiling and parting with the people leaving out of the building when her phone buzzed and she answering, "Babydoll Evans…"

"Doll…" It was Stevie.

"Hey! What's up? I'm just well-wishing the people leaving from the church vigil." He was silent. "I wanted to be there. Stacie said she'd go for me and for her."

"I know it's not your fault. I was just wondering if y'all have been roped into Cheri's St. Patrick's Day/Birthday Bash Reunion?"

"Are you sure that's what you're trying to ask me?"
"Positive."

"I'm down, but Sam is still thinking about it. With us being disconnected from The R Word franchise - I doubt that he'll do it. I'm sorry. It's like we went from a brand in one lifestyle to a very similar brand in another lifestyle and we just have to make sure that the church is safe. For the sake of the congregation and all of these souls, as well as ourselves." She sighed.

"It's okay. So… Y'all did a thing at the church, then? Maybe that'll help Phai and Matt feel a little better about y'all not showing up for someone who has never ducked out on y'all."

"Stevie… I promise you, I really wanted to be there…"

"You're on the phone with Stevie?" Sam asked in the background. Stevie hung up and tossed his phone into the passenger's seat...

Mercedes led a talk show panel that started out as a podcast she put on her blog, called the Blind Leading the Blind, branched out to be a studio talk show sponsored by a radio station, and grew to status of live studio talk show with a panel of blind women who spoke about their issues, ableism at large, world issues, entertainment, and featured blind people who did great things and made history. Her personality and the arrangement of guests grew the fan base to mainstream. Everybody Ain't Able became a leading organization to address ableism and accessibility and Mercedes went on to create another blog similar to it, a sister site, But God Is (Able), the Christian based similar space, affiliated with Sam and Joe's church, The Abundant Life and Enduring Truth Church, which they usually just called "Life Church."

Sam and Joe ran the church together - a multigenerational, multicultural megachurch and Mercedes was the First Lady, while Stacie was the Asst. Pastor's Wife and First Lady's Right Hand.

Mercedes didn't work at the church much. Mostly, she posed for photos, showed up with Sam at various events, and worked on her show. It was her passion. She now had people to handle all of the things that she once had "an assistant" for. She had a whole team. She sold Pieces of Mercy to equal partners - Santana, Lauren and Becky and while they still had her listed as the founder, she had not touched anything related to the business in about three years. Her eldest son, Heaven was four now, and she also had another son, Bliss and a daughter named Blessing - both were two. Between being a pastor's wife, mother of three, talk show lead, and running a very popular blog, she rarely had time to even do social events. Fortunately, her church work and or job were things that she loved and had fun doing.

Stacie also had work that she loved doing, no kids yet, but she was still working on her education and able to do work pertaining to her degree at an environmental conservation facility and horticulture around the church and at home. Honestly, she and Joe were leery about having children. They both were apprehensive about the current economy and the state of the nation, as well as the world. They lived sheltered enough lives, but she remembered and knew the kinds of things that happened outside of her bubble. Stevie made sure of that, any time that she saw him.

She had come to the rally, but not been able to get to him. She cut through the crowd to get as close as possible to the stage, because he was setting to the right of it, or he was standing in the back, but when she tried to get over to him, guards let her know that area was restricted. Only the organizers, speakers and partners were allowed back there. She pointed at Stevie, "You see that guy with the beard and the hair in the back, that's my brother. You can't tell because his beard, but we're twins. He invited me and it's important that I let him know that I'm here, so can you at least go tell him that?"

"Miss… If I were to do that, you could come past this border. If he's your twin, just call him and tell him you're here."

Of course, she had already tried that. He didn't answer. She waved her arms and called, "STEVIE! STEVIE!" The guard gently pushed her away from the area. Stevie didn't get her messages until after it was over and when he called her back she fussed, "I made a very big deal about being here and I couldn't even get to you!"

"I'm sorry. The security detail got amped up at the last minute. There were some alt right threats about starting a riot and Matt got paranoid. Thank you for coming, though. I could hear it in the background of your messages. Andrea liked you. Well, she thought you were sweet. She didn't really like white people."

"Not even you, the White Knight for Black Lives?"

"Stop. Are you heading back to your church to help get cleaned up?"

"Uh, no. We've got staff for that. I'm still in the traffic of the rally. Next time, pick me up. You guys get that special route. Was Cheri there?"

He laughed, "No. You know that she doesn't like to get involved…" He changed the subject, "But, are you trying to go to the party that she wants to throw?"

"I mean, I have to. It's for our birthday."

"Among other things. Mostly, it's an excuse for her to party and put it onto one of her shows or channels or websites."

"Daddy and Mama T are going to be here, so I'm sure there's gonna be a less party type gathering for the family. Cowboy said he was excited to see his Uncle Sammy. He called me yesterday, actually."

"Cheri never locks her phone," Stevie said, shaking his head.

"She's been even more reckless than usual lately…" Stacie began.

"She's fine," Stevie cut her off. "I need to grab some sporting goods. Phai and I are going to punch out all of our stress. Talk to you soon."

"Okay…?" She was worried about him. They all always were, these days.

"Thank you so much for coming. I appreciate it."

She smiled as the traffic finally appeared to be clearing up. "It was no problem at all."

.

Cheri had finished filming for the season, and to be honest, it was tiring, but also so much fun. She had gotten the job as a face-saving move by the producers after so many complaints on the nature of the representations. They figured that having someone who actually knew the real people on the show was a good way to show people that these were simply characters and the show was not actually connected to the real life people from the book. Of course, they also had to put a disclaimer in the opening to dignify that fact after Quinn's lawsuit, but Cheri had been a fan, the actor playing Sam was a fan of hers from her reality show times and she often mentioned wanting to be on it, so they made it happen for the fourth season.

After Nuclear Site, Cheri was the breakout "star" of the show. People loved the Steerio and the Stake, but the Cheri of it all - someone so delicate, yet tough and so naive but enduring was endearing to many people. They wanted to know more and see more, but Stacie had had enough and the guys didn't feel comfortable moving forward when everyone wasn't on board. Therefore, she was offered a different show - not a live in situation, but a follow around situation with limitations to the camera access.

Getting an Extension was a look at her extended family - the Robinsons, her grandparents on both sides and how they connected with the Schuesters. But, that had a shelf life because despite her mother's snarkiness that usually made reality TV juicy, Radja turned off so many people with her disdain for Stevie that the show was a flop.

So, she was extremely shocked and honored when a network spoke to her about YET another show. Born to Shine was about her trying to get back into pageantry and in the course of it, she had knee surgery, worked on pageant panels and had some auditions, because she thought that perhaps if she could get into shows in any form, it didn't have to be pageants. She and Jake went to various auditions and he went into theater while she began to make guest appearances on different popular shows as a one time character or an extra.

Twin Magnet was about her being a twin's wife, a twin's best friend, and mother of two sets of twins. But, since Stacie was still against the concept of reality TV, the studio asked Mason to serve as Cheri's "best friend." That one deserved another season and they were in the works for it when she was contacted for the role of Giselle St. John in The R Word series. She didn't even think twice about accepting it!

.

Mercedes came into the living room, where Sam was on the couch with a sleeping Bliss next to him, and a 'fighting her sleep' Blessing on one side of his lap and Heaven on the other as he read them a story. She reached around for him he took her hand to bring her next to him, on the empty spot. "Hey. Are we going to go to that party? It feels wrong to miss it, no matter what's going on between you and Stevie, but also.. It seems like going might make it less enjoyable for him."

Sam cleared his throat and sighed, "I guess… We'll see how dinner goes."