A/N: Wow, really thanks for those reviews :) I'm flattered. Can't stop smiling right now ^^ So, another one, enjoy :)

By the way, there's a Dutch sit-com (well, it finished last January, but it was on TV for almost nine years) about a stepsister and a stepbrother (and some other people, they're just two of the maincharacters) and eventually, in the last episode, they marry ^^ So, just saying. XD Has nothing to do with this story ^^ (or maybe it has)

Chapter 2

If you asked a few minutes ago, I couldn't tell two words were going to ruin my life. This couldn't be true. My life just fell into pieces when the told me my mom died, and her husband too, but just when you think it's not possible your life could be any worse, it just gets worse. I think this is what 'worst' is like. Your worst nightmare. I look at Alexandra and she is dead pale, just like a ghost. I still don't want to comfort her, but I don't know what else I can do.

"Are there other options?" I ask the cop. I don't know for sure if he knows something about other options, but at least I can give it a try.

"Well, I don't know that for sure, but since there's not other uncle or aunt who can take care of you, and your grandparents are either deceased or not able to take care of you.. I don't think you have much of another choice." he shrugs, clearly uncomfortable as a broken chair.

Oh my god, there are no other choices? Maybe I just want to a foster family or something. I mean, that's always better than living with her, right?

"And foster care?" I ask, because I really don't want to think about living with Alexandra. I already know the answer, since my mom and stepfather appointed Alexandra as my legal guardian, I don't have much of a choice right there. I have to live with Alexandra. Well, as long as we just stay out of each other's way, it's possible, perhaps, but I don't know if I can handle having dinner with her and that kind of stuff. Maybe I should just get used to the fact that Alexandra and I have to live together. A wave of nausea just crashed down on me. I think I have to vomit, so I stand up and run to the bathroom. Everything I ate the last few hours ended up in the toilet. I gag a few times more and I feel two cold hands on my shoulder, stroking my hair together, behind my back. I close my eyes, because I realize who it is, and I'm not sure if I want her to touch me like that. But before I can tell her to leave me alone another stream of vomit lands in the toilet.

"I know you hate me and you don't want me to touch you, but you don't want vomit in your hair." Alexandra tells me, still holding my hair. I close my eyes as I try to wake up. This has to be a nightmare, this cannot be real. This is some sick joke or something. Maybe my mom and stepfather just want to test us. How much we hate each other, just to check if they can plan on a holiday trip together as a family. Well, that didn't work out. I still dislike her.

"Casey, you have to say something. You didn't say a word since the cop told us I'm your legal guardian. I know you don't want to be, and I surely as hell don't want to be, but we don't have another choice, right? I mean, I'm a grown-up. I can look for a place myself, and just put you in foster care or something and run away from it. And I don't know, because there's nothing to win here for me, but it's in their will. I can't change that. I didn't even know. And concluding from your reaction, you didn't either. I think they should have discussed it with us. And I can't be even mad at them, because they're gone. And I'm really sad, because they are."

I narrow my eyes. This isn't the real Alexandra Cabot speaking, right? This must be some sick kind of joke, because the Alexandra I knew didn't talk about feelings. And she sure as hell didn't have something to win over here. She probably disliked me as much as I disliked her.

Alex's POV

What am I saying? I cannot say such things to that redhead in front of me. And she's vomiting, and that's really disgusting, so why are you holding her hair back? I must have been sick or something. I should just say no to that cop and they should put Casey into foster care. I cannot take care of her. I'm just eighteen years old and still studying and next year I'm going into college. Besides, taking care of yourself isn't easy, but taking care of someone else is really difficult. And to think of it, I don't even like that girl. She is everything I'm not and other way round. She doesn't want to be like me. She doesn't care about the stuff I care about. I can't take care of her. I need some advice about this. Maybe I should call my best friend Cheryl. Maybe she knows what to do. When I reassured that Casey'd stopped vomiting I walk back at the living room, where the cop is still sitting on the couch.

"Can I think about it?" I ask him, a little hesitant.

"Of course. You don't have to decide right now. I assume you just stay at this home for the next couple of weeks, at least for now?" he asks me, still a little uncomfortable.

"I guess we are. I think we need to take care of the funeral and stuff, don't we?" I'm living in a rush right now. I don't really realize what just happened and what the consequences are. I just lost my last parent. My daddy. I was always a daddy's girl. I loved him more than anything in the world, although, maybe he didn't even know. I walk back to the bathroom as I see Casey stopped gagging and she seems to relax. Or maybe she's just collapsing.

"Are you okay?" I ask her, but she shakes her head.

"Our parents are dead, Alexandra. Don't you understand? My life is ruined. You have to take care of me, because that's in their will." she sighs. I know what she means. She doesn't want this. She doesn't want me to take care of her. She hates me.

"Well, at least you can live in this house." I try, but she seems to be even more upset.

"With all the memories of them. It's a big house, Alexandra. Are you sure we can handle this? We're just kids. Do you know what kind of responsibility you're gonna have, taking care of me? That means so much. For example, if I'm in an accident, and I think that chance is really huge, since all of our parents died, and I'm becoming a vegetable, you get to decide if I live. And I don't have a choice in here, because that's in their will. I cannot be my own legal guardian." she sighs. "My god, we're so fucking screwed."

"Well, tell me. Do you want to be a vegetable in case something happens?" I ask, frowning a bit. This is so weird. We never talk to each other. We almost always try to avoid each other.

"No, just pull the plug. Nothing good can come from being a vegetable." she exclaims.

A awkward silence falls down on us as we are in the bathroom. I decide it's better to just leave her alone and walk back to the living room. The cop is standing when I enter the room.

"I'm gonna go now. If you need anything, you can always call the police station. They know about your situation." he assures me, weakly smiling.

"Okay, good night, officer." I tell him as I close the door behind his back.

Casey's POV

It's been two months since my mom and her husband died. I'm laying down the ground of my room, my music turned on very loud. I feel numb. I feel the dried up tears on my face. My eyes are sore. I was crying for a long time, but I stopped. I guess it's just because I ran out of tears.

Tonight I'm so alone, this sorrow takes a hold. Don't leave me here so cold, never want to be so cold.

Music seems to understand me. My feelings.

I'm falling in the black, slipping through the cracks, falling to the depths, can I ever go back? Dreaming of the way it used to be, can you hear me?

Nobody can hear me. I don't have any people who love me unconditionally left. First I lost my father, my favorite person in the world. Then I lose my mother, who's not my father, but still. If there exists a God, I'm sure I didn't something terribly wrong, but I don't know what. I don't deserve to be punished like this. I don't deserve the pain I feel in my whole body. I can't eat, I can't sleep.. I cannot look in the mirror anymore, because all I see is a ghost. The ghost of my past. The ghost of my lost soul. I want to feel something else than just pain. I got interrupted from my thoughts, as someone, probably Alexandra, knocks on the door.

"Casey? Can you open the door?" It's Alexandra. I stand up a little reluctant and walk to my door to unlock it.

"What?" I ask, still numb.

"Well, dinner is almost ready and your friend Alyssa called. I told her you would call back in a few minutes, is that okay?" Alyssa was my best friend. I know her for a long time now. I guess it's been, like what? Ten years or so?

"Okay." I answer and I turn around to turn my music off. When I turn back to the door again, I see Alexandra is still standing in my room. "What?"

"It's just that.." she pauses. "Never mind." and she leaves my room again.

I frown. What was that about? She's so weird. By the way, living with Alexandra turned out not to be the worst thing in the world. The last two months she's been really nice to me. Well, perhaps 'nice' is a strong word, I would rather use the word 'bearable'. She just left me alone if I wanted to and made dinner for the two of us. She also cleaned up the house, well, with my help of course, and all other things that come with having a home. I walk downstairs, to the phone in the living room. I decide to just call Alyssa back. She's been a great support the last few months.

"Hey, Alyssa, it's me." I say when she answers the phone.

"Hey, how are you?" she asks me.

"You know. You?" I ask.

"Well, I'm doing fine. I was just checking up on you. I thought maybe I could stop by tonight? I sound like you can use some company." Over the past few months Alyssa came by a lot. I really enjoyed that, because I got some distraction from my pain.

"Yeah, that seems great. See you in an hour?" I suggest.

"That will do. See you, Case!" and she hangs up.

I walk back to the kitchen and tell Alexandra Alyssa is coming over tonight.

"That's okay." she mumbles. She seems distracted.

"I think you're burning the potatoes." I notice. That's weird, normally she's not that absent-minded. I frown. She looks tense. I narrow my eyes. In the light of the kitchen, I can see she cried. Her eyes are a bit swollen. The Ice Princess can cry? Well, I've seen her crying, the night our parents died and on the funeral, but it's been two months. I still ain't doing well, though, but I can't imagine she isn't. She seems fine all the time. Should I ask her if she's okay? I don't know. I wake up from my pondering, because Alexandra dropped the pan with potatoes in the sink.

"Damnit, damnit, damnit." She curses. I see she burned her hand, because it's red like hell.

"You have to cool down immediately." I tell her. I turn the tap on and carefully grab her hand. "There's gonna be a nasty wound. I guess it's second degree burn-wound." I put her hand in the soft stream of water to cool it down.

"Thanks." she breathes.

An hour later the doorbell rings. We finished our dinner and I am doing the dishes right now. Alexandra walks to the door to open and Alyssa enters the kitchen after a few minutes.

"Hey, Case." she smiles. "Good to see you. Almost done?"

"Yeah. I just have to put everything in the dishwasher and then I'm ready, uncle Al." I say as she grins and she starts helping me with the dishwasher.

A few minutes later we're done and we walk to my bedroom.

"So, how are you and your evil stepsister doing?" she asks me as I sit down on the floor against the wall with my knees pulled up. Alyssa sits down next to me.

"Well, just fine, I guess. She isn't as bad as at first. She changed, I guess. I don't know if it's temporarily." I say as I look into her grey eyes. She's really a pretty girl, although she doesn't realize that. Maybe that's what makes her that beautiful. Her innocence. She's so nice and really cares about me. She has dark hair, falling down on her shoulders. "She was being absent-minded today, though. I don't know what she's up to. I don't understand. She even burned her hand, when cooking. She never does that kind of stuff. She's always perfectly in control."

Alyssa frowns. "That's weird." She seems to be thinking.

"What's up, Al?" I ask her, looking into her eyes.

"I don't know. I.. No, I'm just being silly." she decides to end her sentence.

"Tell me, Al." I nudge my best friend's side. She chuckles. That's her weak point. I know all her weaknesses, and she knows mine.

"Alright, just stop tickling me!" she chuckles. "Maybe.." she's talking conspiratorial right now. "She's in love with you." She wiggles her eyebrows.

"Oh my god, you didn't just say that." I exclaim giggling.

"Well, it's possible. We saw her kissing another girl a few months ago." she grins.

"There's no way, uncle Al." I tease. "If she likes girls, I wouldn't be the one for her. I'm pretty sure about that."

"Yeah right." she chuckles. I pout at her. "I'm kidding, Case." she says as she places a quick kiss on my temple.