Once again, thank you for reading. I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it. Special thanks to HPforever-after, storiesbime, criminalmindsbitch, lizzabet and any for reviewing the first chapter. I'm glad you liked it. I will always try to reply to reviews (except anonymous ones obviously). Thanks again.


The car ride home was quiet. Kari and Melissa had a small conversation with Jack and he was extremely happy to have his sisters back.

When they arrived at the house Jack showed the girls his room, showing off all of his toys, before showing them to their rooms. He made sure to point out all of the things they had bought for them, including the new quilt covers.

Aaron and Emily went into the kitchen, to prepare lunch.

"What shall I make for the girls?" Emily asked, looking in the fridge.

"I don't know."

"I'll go and ask." She announced, closing the fridge door.

Aaron grabbed her arm, as she turned to leave. "I can go if you want."

"No, it's fine. I'll go."

He grinned at her as she walked out of the room. The girls are going to have a hard time scaring her off.

As Emily was going up the stairs, Jack came running down. "Don't run on the stairs, honey."

"Sorry." the little boy called to her, as he bounced into the kitchen.

She continued her journey up the stairs, coming to Melissa's door, which was slightly ajar. She knocked lightly, causing the door to open further. "Hey, can I come in?"

Melissa turned around, a little startled, and gave a small nod to the older woman, so she entered the purple room. "We're making lunch downstairs, I was just wondering what you fancied."

"I'm not picky, I'll have whatever." she gave a small smile, before returning her attention to her case. "I'd ask Kari though, she's fussy."

"Okay thanks, I will do." The raven haired woman turned to leave. She stopped in the doorway. "Do you have everything you need? I mean is there anything I can get you?"

The girl didn't look up from her case; she just continued unpacking her things. "No."

Emily left the room, closing the door over behind her. She then made her way over to Kari's room and knocked lightly on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Emily."

There was a long pause, before Kari spoke with a low tone. "What do you want?"

"Can I come in please?" She asked politely.

Another pause. "Yes."

"Hey." Emily said cheerfully as she entered the room. Unlike her sister, Kari had gone for the 'Emily way' of doing things, and left her unpacking till later. The teenager was sat on the bed with her laptop on her knee. "Is everything okay with your room?"

"Yeah."

"Is there anything else you need?"

"No." Kari's eyes didn't move away from the screen.

Emily moved over and stood by the double bed. "I was just wondering what you wanted for lunch."

"I'm not hungry."

"You really should eat something." She sat down on the edge of the bed and gazed at the teenager.

Kari finally looked up from her computer. "I said I'm not hungry." she spat, and as if on cue, her stomach started to rumble.

Emily smirked at her. "Really?"

"Yes really." The teen practically hissed.

"Kari, you have to eat something." Emily stated, as firmly as she could, without sounding demanding.

Kari locked eyes with older brunette, glaring at her as she spoke. "Fine, I'll eat. Happy now?" she enquired, raising her eyebrows at her 'step mom'.

"Very. What would you like?"

"What have you got?"

"A lot." she chuckled lightly. "What do you fancy? A sandwich? A proper meal? Some fruit?"

"Sandwich."

"Okay, we have ham, peanut butter and jelly, cheese, salami, jam…"

"Grilled cheese sandwiches." She interrupted, returning her focus to the screen.

"Okay, grilled cheese sandwiches it is." Emily jumped back from the bed and walked out of the room.

"Hey!" The voice called from inside the room, as Emily started to close the door.

She pulled the door back open again and stepped inside. "Yeah." she spoke softly.

"Is it okay if I move some of the furniture around a bit?" Kari looked like she was embarrassed to ask. She glanced up at the woman and her eyes seemed to be pleading with her.

"Sure, do you need a hand?"

"You really don't mind?"

"Kari, this is your room, you can do whatever you want." For the first time since they'd met, the oldest teen gave Emily a genuine smile, only a small one and it only lasted a second, but still it was a smile. "Within reason," she added.

Once again, the young girl fixed her stare on the computer.

"Okay, I'm going to go and make some lunch, come down in a minute." The girl nodded. "And then after lunch, I'll help you move some things around, if you want me to."

"I can do it myself." Kari's voice and expression had turned sour again, just when things seemed to be going so well.

"Okay."

Emily returned to the kitchen, to find Jack sat at the table with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and Aaron leaning against the side.

"What are we having?"

"Grilled cheese sandwiches."

"Did Kari choose that, by any chance?"

"Yep."

"Some things never change, when Kari turned nine she asked if she could have a birthday cake made out of cheese."

Emily chuckled at the thought. "Come on then, let's make these sandwiches."

"Is Melissa having the same?"

"She said she'd have whatever. I can go and check if it's okay though."

"It's fine." A voice announced, from behind Emily, as Melissa and Kari entered the kitchen together.

The adults made the sandwiches and sat down and ate with the girls. Jack had finished his lunch, but stayed at the table with his family. They filled the time with talk, about what the girls got up to in England and what their interests were at the moment. Most of the conversation was between Jack and Melissa.

Kari spent the majority of the meal in silence, keeping a close eye on her dad's wife.

After lunch, Jack, Aaron and Melissa went into the back garden and began to kick a soccer ball around. Kari went straight back up to her room and Emily started the washing up.

The dark haired woman was nearly finished cleaning up; when she heard a loud bang upstairs. She quickly dried her hands and rushed up the staircase. Without knocking, she burst into Kari's room, to find the young teenage girl on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees.

Without thinking, she jumped over to her and placed her hand on the girls shoulder. "Kari, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

The brown haired girl pulled away from her touch. "No, I'm not hurt!"

"What's wrong then, Sweetie?"

The youngster's head shot up and she gave Emily, what could only be described as a death glare. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

Emily was genuinely scared of the sixteen year old girl at this moment. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Kari's gaze softened slightly, but she stilled glared at the woman in front of her. "What's wrong?"

"It won't move." she breathed out.

Emily now looked around the room, to find the bed had been pushed into the far corner, there was a dresser in the middle of the room and another sticking out away from the far wall. The computer desk was sideways, away from the wall and a bookcase had fallen over.

"Come on, I'll help you." She offered, holding her hand out to the teenager.

Kari stared at the carpet, thinking for a moment before dragging herself up off the floor, refusing Emily's hand and not making eye contact with her.

"Okay, where do you want this?"Emily asked, gesturing to the desk.

"Over there." The teen pointed to the furthest wall from where it was now, the wall the headboard of her bed was against.

Once they'd finished moving all the furniture to where Kari wanted it, Emily collapsed onto the bed. "Wow, that was a mission."

Kari stood against the far wall, staring over at the woman sprawled out on her bed. "Thank you." she whispered, almost inaudibly.

A big smile spread across her face, as she heard her. "You're welcome. Are you sure this is where you want the bed?"

"Yeah, that's where I want it."

"Okay." Emily sat up. "I'll leave you to do… Whatever you kids are doing these days."


This was a Kari based chapter, next one will be more Melissa based and the first Non-Haley friendly chapter. Things will start to get angsty soon. I didn't really know where I was going with this story when the idea came to me, but I now have the first 25 chapters planned out on paper (If only writing stories was as easy and coming up with ideas and planning). I am hoping to have the next chapter up on Friday, Saturday at the latest.