Just as Sarah had hoped Friday passed completely without incident. The chess set retained its position on her desk where she had left it, the white king remaining blessedly absent, and there were no mysterious messages awaiting her when she turned in for the night. All was as it should be.

Sarah heaved a contented sigh that evening and closed her eyes in the knowledge that everything would once again return to normal. Or so she thought

The next day was spent round a friend's house. In actuality Sarah and her friend spent a good part of the day out on the town doing some unnecessary shopping but they returned to house later on for food and the chance to just be lazy. The two girls spent the day happily chatting away all of life's little problems.

When the time came for Sarah to return home she found herself somewhat reluctant to leave. It had been a long time since she had passed a day in such a manner and she found that she had thoroughly enjoyed herself. It had been an average type of day and Sarah didn't want to let the fleeting sense of normality that had crept up on her slip away. She and her friend promised to do something similar again next weekend, perhaps at Sarah's house instead.

It was dark by the time Sarah got home and after she announced herself she flopped down contentedly on a sofa in the living room. Her father glanced up at her as she entered and smiled absently before returning to his evening paper. Toby was sat on the floor at his feet gurgling quietly to himself. Listening Sarah could hear movement in the kitchen and guessed that that would probably be the best place to go and look for Karen.

Heaving herself up Sarah went in search of her stepmother. Just as she had guessed Karen was in the kitchen, stood over the sink washing up the instruments that had been used as part of the evening meal. Politely Sarah greeted her stepmother and then sat down at the kitchen table to watch her.

Eventually Karen sighed exasperatedly and dropped the plate she was cleaning back into the bowl. Resignedly she turned on her stepdaughter. "What do you want Sarah?" she asked, knowing there was a request hovering in the air between them.

"Is it ok for my friend to come over next Saturday?" Sarah replied; not at all fazed by the fact that Karen knew there was something she wanted. She was good at things like that.

"Which friend? The one that had you over today?"

Sarah nodded.

Karen considered form a moment, running through the social calendar she kept stored in her head, away from prying eyes. "I don't see why not." Sarah beamed and got up in order to leave. "There's a condition though Sarah." Karen added. The girl paused in the doorway, knowing really that it would have been too good to be true otherwise. The woman continued. "Your friend can come over during the day as long as you agree to babysit Toby that evening. Your father and I have plans."

"Done," Sarah said promptly, not giving it a second thought. As far as she was concerned it was a fair deal.

Karen raised an eyebrow at Sarah's lack of hesitation. Finally though she shrugged it off. "Ok good, if that's everything?" Sarah nodded again and walked away. "Oh Sarah," Karen called after her. "Send your father in would you? He said he'd dry up this evening."

Back in the living room Sarah was about to relay the message when she caught her father getting to his feet.

"No need," he smiled when he noticed her gaze. "I swear that woman thinks I'm deaf," he said playfully as he strolled by. "Watch out for Toby for a bit will you? There's a good girl."

Shaking her head at the weird world of parents, step-parents and adults in general Sarah dropped back into the chair she had been sitting in before. Toby was still on the floor and didn't seem to have moved from when she saw him last. She could hear him murmuring away to himself though so she knew he was fine.

For a while Sarah just watched him, apparently content to just sit and make noise. She smiled and raised her hand to try and stifle a yawn. She wondered what it was like to be that young; to be able to entertain yourself for hours on end with absolutely nothing. Or perhaps not nothing.

Frowning Sarah noticed for the first time that Toby seemed to have a small object clutched in his hands. Absently she wondered what it was.

"Toby? Hey Toby what's that you've got there?" she called softly. Apparently recognising his name Toby glanced up at her. He gave her one of those lopsided, toothy smiles that was somewhat lacking considering that as of yet he only had a handful of teeth, and then returned to whatever it was he was doing. Sarah sighed. "You're going to make me come over there aren't you?" she moaned, not having the energy to move. Toby smiled again but made no other response.

Eventually Sarah's curiosity got the better of her and she pushed herself up off of the sofa and walked over to where her little brother was seated. She crouched down next to him and grinned when he turned to look at her.

"Alright I'm here now are you going to show me what you've got?" She held out her hand expectantly. "Come on Toby please? I want to see." She pulled a face at him and he giggled happily but still wouldn't show her his prize. Sarah glanced around the room. "Ok, what about a trade?" she wondered aloud, catching sight of a certain well loved bear that had fallen down the side of an armchair. She reached for it and then held it out to Toby. "Look who I've got," she teased.

Toby's eyes went wide and he tried to grab for the bear but Sarah pulled it out of his range. His face told that her that he wasn't happy.

"You want Lancelot?" Sarah asked. It was obvious that he did. "Fine you show me what you've got and you can have him. She held out her hand again. Toby stared at her with his blue eyes and Sarah could tell that he didn't understand. "Ok let's try it this way. Here you go." She offered the bear once more to the small toddler and this time he snatched at it with both hands letting whatever it was he had been playing with fall to the ground.

Sarah smiled indulgently at the boy as he hugged the stuffed bear to his chest and then turned her attention to the mysterious object. When her eyes fell upon it she felt herself go cold. Without thinking she reached forward and picked it up, cradling it in her hand as her mouth gapped open. Sarah blinked, trying to dismiss what she was seeing but it still remained; the white king nestled silent and innocent within her palm.

Fury blinded her and swept away the cold dread. She stood and clutched at the piece in her hand so fiercely that the edges dug into her skin and caused her to wince. Completely forgetting that she was supposed to be watching over Toby she turned on her heel and fled upstairs to her bedroom. The door slammed with a resounding crash behind her and Sarah rounded on the mirror, knowing that however quiet it seemed the person in question would be watching, and listening.

"You can't do that," she growled, softly at first before raising her voice to a bellow. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" She was shaking with anger. "You can't involve Toby in this, that's not how it's done! I won him back and you can't take him! It's not fair." The last sentence was no more than a whisper as a headache was beginning to form at the back of her mind and Sarah rubbed at her temple violently. "What do you want? What do you WANT from me?"

Weary Sarah closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the door. When she opened them again her gaze fell upon the board game that she herself had left out in a show of false assurance.

"Is that it? She asked the otherwise empty room. "That's it isn't it?" Not surprisingly she received no answer. "Fine." Sarah stalked over to her vanity table and glared at the board fiercely. "You want to play?" she yelled bringing the white king down soundly with a crack of wood on wood. The set was now complete. "Then let's play!"

Well you've done it now Sarah. The game is on and you had best hope you know what you're getting yourself in for. If not then you can bet that this is only going to end in tears.

Ok so this is a bit of a short one but since I got such a large response from my last update I thought I'd treat you all. Plus I think this is a rather appropriate place to end this chapter don't you?

Just to warn you in advance: I'm back at uni now and the work is piling on so I'm not sure when I'll be able to update next but I'll try.

Good now with that out the way...you know the drill by now. Reviews mean updates. Even if you just give me a 'thumbs up' up or 'thumbs down' it would be appreciated. Of course feel free to elaborate on that...

Finally I would just like to say a big thank you to all of you who have reviewed already, or added this story to story alert etc etc. You have my gratitude.

Until then...