I couldn't stop staring at her. She knew didn't know who I was obviously, but I recognized my little girl at first sight. MY little girl. That sounded so odd. I couldn't believe how much she looked like her mother. My little girl was the spitting image of Amelia, so tiny and delicate. I could tell she was a fighter just like her mom though, she had that same never say die glare that my Amy would get whenever she disagreed with me. She would just dig in her heels and nothing anyone said would change her mind, Id forgotten what an absolute pain in the ass she could be.

I sat at the booth in the boathouse and stared sadly at my little girl, who had glanced right past me without knowing who I was, I was staying in a hotel while I was in town since Cassie and her circle were spending all their time in my old house. Just being in the boathouse again brought back so many bittersweet memories of all of my friends and our time together here. I guessed Ethan had inherited it, the little prick. Out of all of the people in the chance harbor circle Ethan had been my least favorite, always running off his pompous little mouth about how he and Amelia were "written in the stars" I had come close to killing very few people that were weaker than me in my life but Ethan was number one on that list.

Cassie sat at the bar smiling and talking to several teenagers around her age, a dark haired girl with dark eyes and the same kind of quiet intensity Dawn had had at that age, a pretty girl with bright cheerful eyes and Sophie Ann's brilliant smile, and a tall striking brunette girl with a happy smile that was dimmed with some of the same sadness sweet little Elizabeth had been touched with. She's so much taller than her mother, taller for a girl than Charles ever was, where do you think she gets that height from, where does she get that messy brown hair. She's the spitting image of our mother in all of her pictures. I pushed the voice of my darker half out of my head, my night with Elizabeth had been a mistake, Amelia and I had been fighting and fiery little Liz had been very vocal about what she thought of the direction I was taking the circle. I had always had a thing for tiny girls who could kick my ass.

Across the bar from the girls there was a dark haired boy who strongly resembled Ethan around the eyes, and a tall blonde boy lounged against the bar, it took me a second to figure out who he was but I had still been in chance harbor when Jake Armstrong was born, Sarah had even named the kid's godfather, though god knows I had failed his parents so badly there was no way I'd have tried to raise him. All the memories where overwhelming me, all the smiling and laughing and playing, all the times we'de all joked around with each other. When Patrick had introduced Sophia Ann to us, when Charles had brought Elizabeth into our little group, I had been so happy. They had all looked up to me so much, for all the good it did them.

I smiled at the memories and at the picture of my little girl sitting with her own friends, making her own memories for later in her life. Now that I was there I would make sure all the memories she made from now on would be happy ones. I wasn't going to let those religious nut-job witch hunters touch her, and if they tried, may god have mercy on their soul's because I sure as hell wouldn't. I heard a creak from across the booth and looked over to see an older man with dark brown hair and a serious expression staring back at me. I felt a twinge of guilt looking at little Charlie after what had happened with Elizabeth, but I selfishly shoved it down so I could spend just a moment enjoying having my best friend back.

I grinned across the table at him "Charlie, just the man I was hoping to run into. I see your girl over there with my Cassie, spitting image of her mother." Charlie's serious expression tightened "What are you doing here Harry? I hadn't expected to see you again after you ran out on us. After you left half of us to die in that fire I assumed you'de stay away." My grin faded into a sorrowful expression, I had expected everyone to be upset, I'd left them all with no explanation and they'de lost their friends and loved ones as a result, but it stung that my best friend, my partner in crime, had nothing for me but scorn.

"The council found me right before the fire Charlie, they took me to stand trial for what happened to Justin. I…couldn't face you all after what happened, I only found out about the fire later, but I knew it was my fault that they died, my fault for not being there." The tension holding Charlie up drained away as he slumped in his booth. "Oh, I just don't care anymore Harry, after all this time, I just cant force myself to feel the resentment anymore." I cleared my throat to change the subject, my best friend never could hold a grudge, if I changed the subject I was sure he'd just go with it. I didn't expect his forgiveness anytime soon, but apathy was better than the hatred I had been waiting for.

I smiled wistfully at the kids "Look at them over there, so much like we were. I miss the way life was back then, between the heartaches." He smiled at me a bit "I miss it too. We were all so happy." I snickered "Not all of us." His smile morphed into a wolfish grin "Poor Ethan, we took every opportunity to make him miserable. He knew who was doing it too, it was obvious the pranks were magic, but he didn't want to lose face in front of Amelia." I couldn't help myself, I cracked up "Remember when we cursed his shampoo so it wouldn't wash out? He spent the day splashing water on his head every chance he got trying to get it out but there was always more of it. It kept dripping into his eyes too." Charlie started laughing with me "Please, that was nothing, what about the time we made his clothes invisible to everyone but him?" I was cackling at the top of my lungs now. "I forgot ab-"

"Hi dad, whose your friend?" I froze in my seat and turned to see the tall brunette with Cassie and her friends. She was giving me a welcoming and friendly smile that almost made me forget the fact that for a moment I had thought she was talking to me. Charlie sobered up but his smile didn't completely disappear, it seemed my old friend was willing to focus on the good times for the moment, Charlie always was a champ at compartmentalizing "Oh, Diana, this is my old friend-" I jumped in before he could say my name "Malcolm" I cut him off with a look, I had no doubt Amelia would have mentioned my name to my daughter, and I didn't want her to know I was here. She had been disappointed by me enough for one lifetime. "Malcolm McCoy" I decided to use Ebenezers last name, it was the first thing that came to mind, and the closest thing to another last name I'd ever have.

"Malcolm" Charlie finished, "he was a friend of mine in high school" which was true as far as it went. I hadn't been in high school but he had when we'de been friends. I smiled at them and tipped my head "Nice to meet you all, I recognize you all a bit, you look like your parents. And of course I've met Jake before." He looked a little surprised at that "You've met me?" I smiled wistfully "Your mother and I were pretty close. Sarah was like a baby sister to me, I left town before the fire, but I was devastated when I heard." He seemed almost conflicted about that, though I saw him try to hide it. I recognized the look, the feeling of not wanting others to see your pain because they might exploit the weakness. I'd seen it plenty in the mirror when I was with Justin. I smiled gently at him "Maybe I could tell you some stories sometime."

I widened my smile to include them all "I could tell you all some stories actually, your parents had their own little clique back in the day but they let little old me hang around a time or two." Charlie snorted at that "We didn't let you do anything. It was more like you let us hang around you." I rolled my eyes at him "You make me sound like the Fonz, I wasn't that impressive." Charlie laughed "You are the only six and a half foot man I've ever met who thinks he isn't imposing. It's one of your more endearing quirks, up there with your burger king obsession." I grinned unrepentantly "Hail to the king baby." Diana rolled her eyes "Oh god not another one."

I raised an eyebrow questioningly at her and she gave an embarrassed smile "Sorry it's just I've spent many a night listening to our resident burger queen harp on about the virtues of the king." She nodded over to Cassie, who gave a small blush "I'm not that bad am I?" Every person there besides me, including Charlie, just raised an eyebrow, it was a bit eerie. Cassie's blush darkened "It's not my fault, I have pleasant memories of it. My mom used to take me to Burger King whenever I got a good grade in school. She said my dad used to love to eat there." She looked a little sad talking about Amelia, which made a lot of sense, but she seemed almost as sad when she mentioned me. It made me wonder what Amelia had told her about me.

I gave her a cheerful smile, pretending not to notice the sadness "Well I'm glad to meet another subject of the Burger King." I stood abruptly and cleared my throat "Well I should get going, have to unpack" I nodded over to my friend "Catch you later Charlie-boy" I nodded to Cassie and her friends "Cassie, Diana, Jake good seeing you, and I look forward to being introduced to the rest of you next time we meet. Unfortunately I have some business in town to take care of so I'll have to say goodbye." I stood with a smile and gave them all a nod before strolling out the door. There was a bounce in my step that hadn't been there for years. I may have had a lot to deal with and there may have been a ton to do, but truth be told, it was good to be home.

Ok heres chapter two. Sorry its not really up to snuff I had to do an infodump this chapter so it's a bit frazzled but now that the scene is mostly set ill have plenty of background to expand on in further chapters. Read and review and let me know what you think.