Sorry for the long wait everyone! Classes just started, plus I've been running all over the place in all my free time, then passing out dead on my bed as soon as I get home... so... yeah. but here's a new chapter!

Chapter Fourteen

"I found her!" Sam exclaimed, causing Daniel and O'Neill to look up from their pages of student records collected from colleges all over the east coast. Sensing that they were waiting for an explanation, she continues on, as they both moved to stand beside her. "I've been looking through all of the student ID's that were acquired around the time that Aabit flew onto the east coast. It was a long shot, given the fact that very few colleges actually keep the photo part of the students ID on file, but I figured-"

"Carter!" O'Neill interrupted her. "Did you find her, or not?"

Sam got that light in her eyes, the one that she only gets when she knows that she's got it completely right this time. "Yes, yes sir, I found her. She's at the Winston-Salem College of Music, enrolled under the name of Abby Lawrence. She's been there for about eighteen months, right about when Aabit landed her ship on the east coast, and-" Sam turned her computer screen for them both to see. "This, sir, is a photo of my sister, Dalia Carter. Her eyes are green in this picture, but that doesn't really matter. It's her, I'm sure of it."

Shelly danced across the floor behind the back counter of the Starbucks where she worked in Winston-Salem, singing along to P!nk's "Raise Your Glass" and using a whipped cream can as a microphone, while Kylie beet boxed the background music across from her, and their manager, Lauren, simply laughed in the corner.

It was a Monday morning, about 8:20AM, and they had all three been there since 4AM, the opening shift could be hell on Mondays like this, it was completely dead. But they didn't mind, because they always found some way to entertain themselves. But today was incredibly dead, they hadn't had a single customer all day, which was incredibly unusual for a Monday, usually they had a mass of people from 6 to 7:30, and a few stragglers would come in after that until 10.

So today they took the opportunity to crank up the music, sing real loud and dance through the shop. It wasn't that they were slacking off; it was that they didn't have anything to do. Literally; they were the three most efficient employees in that location, probably why they were always given morning shifts together, and they had finished everything before they even opened the shop.

Today, Shelly and Kylie were supposed to get off at 10AM, while two other employees were scheduled to come in at 8:30 so they could take breaks and have some extra coverage to help with cleaning and such, Lauren would be relieved at 12:30, and replaced by the closing manager. But right now, the next shift was arriving, everything was done, and Shelly and Kylie finished their serenade, collapsing into chairs laughing.

Shelly hadn't really gotten much better since the breakup, but when she was working, or studying, she somehow would manage to forget, and feel more herself once again. It was then though, that their manager spoke up.

"Okay ladies, it's dead. Now that Jenna and Kate are here, why don't you guys just head home?" Lauren said, moving from where she had been sitting.

"Oh, I'm hurt Laurel," Kylie said teasingly, "I see how it is, you'd rather have the Brady twins over here than Shelly and I."

"Well, you know how much I love their braids." She replied, winking at the girls that had just walked in, having been given that title because of the fact that they were the two girls who always had their hair done up in a series of elaborate French braids. "Go girls, I've bored you for long enough! Now it's time for me to bore the Brady's."

"Thanks Laurel." Shelly said politely, smiling, but not happy about getting off early. And as they walked out the door Kylie turned to her.

"So, we've got four and a half hours before class starts, what do you wanna do!"

"Honestly, I think I'm just gonna head back to the college and get some practice time in, maybe finish some homework."

"Come on Shelly, you've been doing nothing but studying and working for months! It's time for a girls day. OH! I know, let's skip class and get manicures!"

"You know I can't do that Kylie." Shelly said, smiling, somewhat tempted.

"Oh well alright, but you have to work on our song with me."

"That I can do!" She laughed, and they headed back to Shelly's car, having carpooled over from the college.

Shelly pulled into the parking lot, but something seemed strange, there wasn't the usual buzz around the school that came with the 9AM class rush. A lot of people should have been in class, yes, but there were always people that were running late. It was simply a given.

"That's odd." Kylie said, voicing Shelly's thoughts. "I wonder were everyone is?"

"I don't know… I'm gonna go look around, why don't you go ahead and head to the practice room, I'll meet you there." Shelly said, pulling out her pistol.

"Shelly, you don't have to act so paranoid, it's probably just an odd day… come to think of it, isn't it a holiday?"

"No, you're thinking next Monday Kylie. I'm not paranoid, I'm just gonna take a quick look around. I'll meet you up there, 'kay?"

"Alright, but don't go shooting no innocent student's, okay Shelly?"

"Yeah, no problem."