So sorry for the long wait!

...Continued

"She's here," Melinda thought as she cuddled the blanket under her chin. "She's here and Dad's crying. How I am suppose to like this girl? It isn't fair. What am I suppose to say to her?"

Then there was a soft tap on her door and she knew that her dad and Alyssa were wanting to come in.

"It's open."

Elliot pushed the door open and got straight to business with introducing the two of them. "Melinda, this is Alyssa. Alyssa, this is Melinda. You guys are sisters."

"Hi," Alyssa said shyly.

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. Of course I was happy I had a sister... I had always wanted another female in my life. I was still jealous though.

"Mel," Elliot said sitting down on the edge of her bed, "Don't be so rude. She's your sister."

Melinda scoffed and crossed her arm in front of her chest. "Yeah!" she yelled, "She's my sister! She's my big sister who got to meet my mom when I never got the chance! How do you think that makes me feel, Dad?!" She flung the covers off of her and ran out of the bedroom and down the hall and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Elliot sighed and hung his head low. He never really asked how Melinda felt. He was too excited that his other child was finally coming home.

"I uh, I should go talk to her," he said to Alyssa.

"No," she said, "I'll go."

Elliot gave her a small smile and Alyssa found her way to the bathroom where she knocked before barging in. Melinda was lying in the bathtub with the curtain closed so nobody could see her. Alyssa had to smile because she did the same thing when she was little. She sat down on the toilet and sighed heavily.

"You know," Alyssa began, "I used to hide in their when I was younger. Mom would come in and she would sit right here where I'm sitting and she would talk. She would talk about anything just to get me to open the curtain." Alyssa smiled at the memory. It had been hard leaving her life and living as somebody else. She missed her family and she was upset that she wouldn't be around to see her newborn baby sister. "A day doesn't go by that I don't miss her terribly."

Melinda pushed the curtain back far enough now where Alyssa could see that she was crying. She felt bad. She didn't want to be the reason Melinda was so upset.

"I have this picture in my head of the type of person she was," Melinda whispered, finally looking Alyssa in the eye."I have stories that people tell me and I see pictures but... I don't know. I never got the chance to meet her. Knowing that she was this wonderful person that everybody loved... Why didn't I get to know her? Why did those people have to kill her? It's all my fault!"

Alyssa took a deep breath and tears steadily streamed down her face causing her make up to smear. She stood up and walked over to the tub and sat down on the side of it. She wrapped her arms around Melinda and Melinda gladly accepted.

"I don't know," Alyssa whispered, "I don't know why they had to kill her and I wish they hadn't. I'm sorry that you never got the chance to know her... She was a great person and even better mom. She loved us kids more than anything else in the entire world."

"That's what everybody says..."

"She chose you," Alyssa said pulling out of their embrace, "She chose your life over hers. She wanted you to live and if she knew that you were so sad right now, chances are, she would be beating herself up about it."

Melinda sighed, "That's not what I want..."

"I know," Alyssa said gently, "I can imagine."

"What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"In witsec," Melinda said quietly, "What was it like? Were you with another family?"

"Yes," Alyssa answered, "They were nice people, I guess. It was hard at first. I didn't understand why I had to leave my family and live with new people. I had to change my name and everything."

"Did you like your name?"

Alyssa grinned, "I like my name Alyssa."

Melinda wiped her tear stained cheeks and then averted her eyes away from Alyssa's glare. She felt a little better about having a sister. Alyssa seemed like a nice girl and Melinda liked that. "I'm sorry for acting the way I did," she whispered.

"Ah, that's okay," Alyssa smiled, her pearly whites shining. "I probably would have done the same thing."

Both girls smiled and then there was a soft tap on the bathroom door. "Everything okay?" Elliot asked from the other side.

"You can come in, Dad," Melinda said standing up and stepping out of the tub. "Alyssa and I were just getting to know each other."

Now it was Elliot's turn to smile. All he wanted was for his girls to get along. "That's great," he said, "You better get back to bed though. School Tomorrow."

"Right," Melinda sighed, "Goodnight," she said to Elliot and Alyssa before making her way back into her bedroom and crawling into the warmth of her bed. She pulled the covers up just under her chin and then sighed. "Mom..." she said in a voice so soft you'd think it was a small child, "I miss you. I miss you and I never even knew you... Is that possible? I love you... I wish you could be here right now." Tears pooled in her eyes as she thought of what to say next. "What you did was courageous..." she went on to say, "Saving my life instead of your own... I don't really know what to say to that. I just want you to know that I love you so much and not a day goes by that I don't look at your pictures." She reached under her pillow and pulled out a crumple piece of paper that was the size of a wallet pocket. It was a picture of Olivia with her hands holding up her pregnant belly. She was grinning from ear to ear and Elliot said he never saw her happier. Whenever Melinda was sad or lost she would always hold the picture close to her heart. It made her feel like her mother was right next to her, whispering advice in her ear. "Goodnight." She gently kissed the picture and then placed it back under her pillow where it would remain safe and sound.