Summery: Nina's back at school, it's another year, and it's got her thinking about some of the finer things in life and the things that are most important.

Note: The idea came from a story called We Are Family by allyouneedislove1797 and I really recommend you all go read it. It's a great story.

P.S. This story will be filled with Fabina, Peddie, Willow/Alfie (don't know the couple name for them) and Jeroy.

So, I hope you all enjoy the story and please feel free to leave a review.

XOXO

Family: it was a pretty powerful word in Nina's opinion. It could either describe your blood family or the friends who were there for you through everything. To Nina, it had always been important. Her parents had died when she was five, not leaving her many memories of them, her Gran was still around, but she hadn't talked to her that much since coming to Anubis house, and her Aunts and Uncles only tended to call on holidays or birthdays. But as she looked around, she couldn't help but smile as she looked around at the breakfast table. Nina was sitting at one head of the table, Fabian was to her left, their hands clutched together underneath the table, smiling slightly, Amber was to her right smiling at Alfie and Willow sitting next to her acting as cute as they had the day they'd officially started dating. Across from Alfie and next to Fabian was Jerome who was whispering something in Joy's ear, causing her to blush. Joy saw her looking and smiled. The two of them had become great friends since Nina's second year and since she'd come back. Apparently both of them being gone for a year and the panic it installed in their friends made them bond. Then, next to Joy, was Patricia and at the other end of the table was Eddie, with KT next to Willow on Eddie's other side. The three of them were locked in a debate, or more specifically Eddie was trying to win an argument against both KT and Patricia, but was losing sorely. He must have said something, since the two narrowed their eyes at him and picked a thing of grapes from the bowl and started throwing them at him, making them laugh when he tried to dodge them.

"What did you do now, Miller?" Jerome teased as the housemates all looked up to see the three laughing.

"He tried to argue with us," KT and Patricia said simultaneously.

The housemates all looked at each other and laughed, "Really? You haven't learned by now to not argue with the two of them?" Alfie asked, raising an eyebrow, "Dude, even I knew that."

Eddie rolled his eyes, smirking as Patricia laughed and threw a spare grape at him. He turned to her and narrowed his own eyes. Nina could see his eyes sweep over the table, stopping when he saw her looking and winked before reaching over for the milk. "Wrong move, Yacker," he said, grinning evily.

Patricia's eyes widened, realizing what was coming, "Don't you dare. Eddie, I swear if you pour that on me I'll—," but she never got to finish because before she could say what she would do, Eddie poured the milk on her head.

Everyone looked at each other, their eyes wide and slightly scared. They all knew what happened when Patricia got angry, "Oh now you're going to get it, Slimeball," she said, grabbing the pitcher of orange juice.

Eddie laughed and got up, quickly running from the room and grinning from ear to ear, "You'll never get me alive!" he yelled back as he ran up the stairs, Patricia stalking after him, looking as if she were trying to suppress her own smile. "I don't plan for you to get out of this alive, Weasel," she called back.

The others looked at each other silently, all trying for as long as they could to hold their laughter in, but once they heard Eddie's shout of, "Aw, come on!" they couldn't hold it in any longer and fell into gut busting, tears coming to their eyes laughter. It was just so…them.

"Alright, dearies," Trudy said with a faint hint of laughter to her voice, "time for school. Off you pop."

They all quickly went to their rooms to get their things. Amber and Nina were sharing a room with KT while Patricia, Willow, and Joy were sharing a room now as well. The funny thing was that the girls rarely spent time in their own beds. It wasn't odd for Amber, Nina and KT to stay in Joy, Patricia, and Willow's room one night and vice versa the next night. It had been that way since Nina had come home at the beginning of the year two months ago. It had brought them all so much closer that they were practically sisters.

The guys though were very protective. Especially of their girlfriends, but it wasn't unheard of for them to stick up for the girls they had come to know as 'sisters' or the girls to stick up for their 'brothers'. The Anubis house residents found it funny that because of their strong bond together they would get looks of jealousy. Especially from Isis house where they were more concerned with wining and being number one instead of the bonds between the housemates.

"So, movie night in the common room again? Trudy said she already got permission from Victor, so we can totally stay in there if we all fall asleep," Amber said as she brushed through her perfectly straightened blond hair and grabbed her bag and turned to the others.

"Yeah," KT said, smiling, "we can move back the furniture and set up sleeping bags. It can be sort of like a campout."

Nina quickly agreed as they walked out into the hall to see the other three girls waiting for them. "Ready?" Joy asked. When they all nodded, they went downstairs to see the guys already waiting and then, together, they walked towards school.

HOA

Nina was stopped mid-day when a girl from Osiris house came up to her and asked to talk. "What's up?" she asked, the girl having dragged her into an empty classroom.

"How do you guys do it?" the girl, Isobel, asked her.

"What do you mean?" Nina asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I mean you guys at Anubis house seem so…together. Like you're one big family. I mean it's great, but…I've never really seen that happen, I mean, for housemates to be so close," Isobel said, shrugging as she leant against a desk.

Nina thought for a moment before smiling, "It's because we are a family," she said, shrugging, "I mean, we've argued before, like any siblings would do, but at the end of the day, we would do anything for each other," she said simply. Isobel nodded and smiled, nodding at her answer before walking out of the room with Nina behind her.

"What was that about?" Fabian asked, putting his arm around Nina's shoulder as she walked over to where they all stood.

Nina shook her head, "Nothing," she said, smiling.

They all nodded and went on with what they were talking about which was apparently planning the snacks and drinks for the movie night. "Just make sure there's no orange juice or milk. I don't think Patricia or Eddie would be able to stop themselves if they were faced with such a temptation," Willow teased.

Patricia and Eddie both laughed, rolling their eyes and smiled before they all turned towards their different classrooms when the bell rang, agreeing to continue the conversation later.

HOA

It was around midnight. The others were asleep, but Nina was the only one awake. She looked around at her friends…her family and smiled. Joy was asleep wrapped up in Jerome's arms, her head on his chest and a contented smile on both of their faces. Patricia was lying close to Eddie, her face turned to where it was near his left arm and their hands were intertwined. It made Nina smile when, in their sleep, when Eddie or Patricia would move, the other would follow as if they were magnets. Willow was curled up like a cat near Alfie, his arm wrapped around her shoulder, and her head lying on his shoulder with his resting on top of hers and their spare hands intertwined. Nina thought that she had never seen anything so adorable. Then, looking to her right, she saw Amber and KT. KT was curled up on her side, her hand curled around the moon key her great-grandfather had sent her, her eyebrows furrowed as if trying to shake off a bad dream. Amber, though, was curled up on her side sleeping peacefully, looking as if nothing could trouble her, and had a big smile on her face. Nina laughed, thinking her best British friend was probably having a dream about being stuck in a shoe store all alone. It would be heaven to her.

Nina sighed and turned to her left, looking at Fabian as he slept. One hand had moved close to her while he slept and smile smiled, reaching out for it and threading her fingers through his, brushing her thumb over the back of his hand. He must not have been that asleep because his eyes slowly opened and he looked at her with a small smile, "Hey," he whispered.

"Hey," she whispered, moving closer to him. Fabian's smile widened a little as he reached for her, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close to him, "I'm glad you're home," he whispered, kissing her cheek.

Nina smiled and kissed his cheek, "I'm glad to be home too," she whispered as she nestled into him and closed her eyes. The year was never boring at this school. She knew something would happen soon that would make them all fear for their lives or have to hide things from teachers, or parents in Eddie's case, but she knew they could do it. Since Nina had come back, they had brought in Willow, Jerome, and Joy officially into Sibuna, and it was a lot better. They didn't feel so guilty anymore about the past two years because now they could get everything out. After all, with a family like theirs there couldn't be any secrets.

But still, she knew there would be a new mystery, there always were, but they could face it. They were the residents of Anubis, they were Sibuna, and they were a family. In the end, that was all that mattered.