AN: Sorry it took a little longer than planned but... 2 chapters at the same time guys :) enjoy and as I've already been told by one of my friends, it's real good. But I'd like to know what you think so if you can just hit the little button review... I am welcome to any comments be it criticism, praise, questions, whatever

I do not own MI High, just all the new characters e.g. Kittie, Michael, SJ

Oh, be warned, there is violence in this chapter and if you don't feel comfortable with self-harming, then don't read the end.

Kallie x

Chapter 20

Kittie's POV

I let Michael take Oscar home. I left before he was released, partly because I knew he wouldn't want to be around me right now and partly because I needed to get back to the little ones and sort out the house. We'd only moved in here a couple of days ago and it was still a mess despite Uncle's cleaning crew coming in and blitzing the place. There was no dust or anything, there were just things everywhere. Once again despite being in separate rooms, Sophie and Cal had managed to have a clothing fight across the landing.

I sighed and walked along the landing, picking up the clothes, hoping they were clean. I opened Sophie's door and saw her lying on the floor colouring. Maybe it was best that she had her own room again like she had when we stayed at the house on our vacations away from the hotel.
"Tell me, why did you and Cal have another clothing fight?" I asked, folding her clothes and putting them on top of her chest of drawers.
"Cal was moaning about sequins and frills and pink clothes so I threw them at him," she replied, not even looking up from the paper.
I rolled my eyes. "So of course he decided to throw some of his clothes too."
"Yep." Either she ignored the sarcasm or she didn't pick up on it which would have been surprising seeing how Alec tends to speak sarcastically when he's home.
"Right. Can you put your clothes away for me now then please?"

She didn't move. I turned and walked to the door. "You can help me make fairy cakes once you're done," I added and smiled. That would get her up and doing as I asked. Bribery through cake always works when it comes to any of my family, including me.
As I thought she would, she jumped to her feet, scattering the pens. "Just me and not Cal or Tom?"
I shook my head. "Michael's not back yet so I need to keep an eye on all of you especially when an oven is involved."
Her face dropped and I could tell she was missing having someone else around. At the hotel there were loads of staff who would help keep an eye on them when needed but it was too short notice now and without another adult type person in the house, I didn't want to risk it. Luckily I was quick on my feet. Comes from being a spy I guess.
"Tell you what, you can make your own fairy cakes each. Then we can have a party to celebrate us moving back into the house."

She looked up eagerly. "Will there be jelly and ice-cream?"
I nodded, folding my arms. "Yep. There'll also be crisps and party rings and tuna and egg sandwiches, of course not together because that would be yucky. We can have pizza swirls and fish finger sandwiches. You know that's a favourite."
"Yay!" She ran and hugged me. "Now?"
I nodded. "Yep. Go tell the boys and I'll go and get Charlie."
She looked at me and I laughed. "I'm going to put him in the Moses Basket in the dining room and have the baby monitor in the kitchen, don't worry."
She nodded and bit her lip, thinking. Obviously this was a habit she'd picked up from me. "So we really do get to make fairy cakes?"
I looked at her puzzled. "Of course. Why wouldn't we?"
She twirled her hair and looked down at the ground. "You've been super busy lately and haven't even had time for goodnight stories let alone fairy cakes."
"Really?" she nodded.

I didn't know. I couldn't believe I hadn't realised. I guess maybe I had been really wrapped up in things lately what with getting Oscar back and everything. I felt so ashamed for being a bad sister. Here I was supposed to be looking after them who wanted me and instead I'd been trying to look after Oscar who didn't want me.
I knelt down on the floor in front of her and looked at her. "I am so sorry but I promise that's gonna change. Work's sorted for now and we're all together in this house, well mostly. I'm working on Alec, Luke and Jack but you know Alec and Luke are at Uni. I'll see if I can get Lexi here or SJ or someone. I will be here when you need me from now on, I promise."
I hugged her and she hugged me back. I can't believe in 4 weeks she'd gone from being this little girl who wanted me to hold her to her telling me I hadn't been spending enough time with my family.
I let go and smiled, taking her hands in mine. "Now, I'm going to have a friend come and stay here for a bit but that's not going to stop me spending time with you, okay?"
"Is it Oscar?"
I nodded. No sense lying to her. "Yes sweetie, it's Oscar."
"Why's he coming here?" she asked. "Doesn't he have a home anymore?"

I could see she was confused and I didn't blame her. She knew nothing about our spy lives. I shook my head. "It's not that. He's… very sick at the moment and his new family can't look after him so he's coming here. Can you…." I hesitated. I needed her to be on my side and not resent Oscar being here but if I asked her to help me look after him… it just didn't feel right. She was only 4 after all but at the same time I didn't want to make her feel like I was too busy for her. I had to do it, well say it.
"Could you help me look after him? Get him drinks; make him feel safe and okay? You could even help me with medical care if you wanted. You know, you have your doctors kit which you got for your birthday and you haven't tried it out on anyone other than Michael and he ended up falling down the stairs cause you bandaged him up too much."
She giggled and I hoped that meant she was willing.
"I really could use your help," I added. "What do you say Nurse Sophie?" I looked at her, unsure what she was going to say, how she'd react. Maybe I'd asked too much of her.

She nodded. "Okay, if it means you spend more time with me."
I smiled. "Yes, of course. I have an idea." Brainwave, yay! I love how quickly I can think on my feet. "Tomorrow's Saturday. How about we – both of us invite some friends for a sleep over. We can do make-overs, watch films, eat popcorn, make smores… and we can save your fairy cakes as a special treat. How does that sound?"
"No boys?" She looked at me sceptically, worried I would go back on my word.
I shook my head. "Nope, none allowed."
"Not even Oscar?"
"Wh – hey." I tapped her on the nose, a little surprised but mainly happy she was being her normal cheeky self again, as well as a little hurt that she thought I'd want him there when all I wanted to do was spend time with my little sister. "Not even Oscar missy. The only boy we may have is Charlie and that's only if he gets wvery gwrumpy."
She beamed. "Charlie's allowed because he's just a baby. He's not a proper boy yet."
A proper boy? "Oh, a proper boy." I stood up. "And what may I ask is a proper boy?"
"Not a baby," she replied with a huge cheeky grin on her face, and she knew it.
"Ooh. Cheeky monkey." I tickled her and she squealed happily, squirming a little like she always does when she gets tickled. I stopped and she looked up a little sadly.
"Okay, you go get Cal and Tom, I'll get Charlie and make sure you three all wash your hands properly, otherwise no-one gets to make cakes."
She nodded and pushed up her sleeves. "I'll get them to through girl power." She turned and strode down the corridor to Cal's room as best as a 4 year old could in princess high heels.

I smiled, and realised just how much like me she was. I used to do that with Alec, Luke, Jack and Michael when I was younger. "Yes, you go girl. Girl power." I laughed and turned to head downstairs to get Charlie. I stopped, remembering what she had on her feet. "Make sure you take off your party shoes first please sweetie and put on slippers or something." I shook my head, ignoring the squeals of protest coming from Cal and Tom as she tried to herd them downstairs. I continued along the corridor and down the stairs to fetch Charlie and the baby monitor. I know it's in one of the boxes in the nursery, just not sure which one.

An hour later I was up to my elbows in cake mix. Scattered on the table were a whole bunch of different ingredients – flour packets on their sides spilling all over the floor, hundreds and thousands which had escaped from pots and were now rolling across the table in lots of different directions, butter with the lid off, the lid sat on top of the tub of glacier cherries instead and there were several small collections of broken egg shells. To my left Cal, Sophie and Tom were helping themselves to the left over cake-mix. Tom looked at me and grinned mischievously, shovelling in the mix.
"So did you all have fun making the cakes?" I asked as I turned to survey the damage. Mum would have probably ended up with the kitchen like this but as long as they had fun that was all that mattered.
"Yeah!" came the muffled response as they continued to eat. On the walls and work surfaces, even the cooker (although I'm not entirely sure how they managed that) were various different splashes of cake mix from the three different batches. As per usual because one was doing something different, they all wanted to. "So there's chocolate cupcakes with extra chocolate chips for Cal, pink and white fairy – sorry butterfly cakes for Sophie and red ones for Tom." Because he wanted to be different like he normally is. He's the least normal out of the 4 of them and he's only 2.
"With blue icing and a cherry when they're cooked," he added, grinning at me again as he scooped more cake mix out of the bowl with his finger.

The doorbell went and I was pretty sure I knew who it was, although it could have been Mrs Briars from down the road about the roses again. Even if it wasn't, I couldn't have them in the kitchen on their own with the oven going.
I clapped my hands. "Right, everyone may take their bowls of left over cake-mix up to the play room using the back stairs please. I really don't want to be cleaning cake mix out of the carpet instead of doing story time tonight." I covered my ears, trying not to get cake mix on them.
"Yay!" they all squealed excitedly as they jumped to their feet. I helped Sophie off the counter, glad I had worn an apron. Their clothes weren't so lucky. I sighed. Just like the kitchen, I'd clean them later.
"Alright, off you three go. Just don't get cake mix on the toys or the TV. I'll bring Charlie up in a minute and put on Ceebeebies."
They ran up the stairs, giggling and laughing. I hoped they wouldn't trip and hurt themselves but the bowls were plastic so they couldn't do much damage. I washed my hands in the sink and went to the front door. The mess in the kitchen I could clean up later.

As I expected, Michael was at the door with Oscar, Rose and two MI9 agents who were supporting Oscar. One of them was Joe and he winked at me. I hugged Michael, glad he was back safely even though I'd seen him two hours ago at MI9 HQ. "Come in."
They came in and then I realised why Oscar was being… well carried and wasn't responding.
"The doctor gave him a pretty high dosage of pain killers just before we left to help," said Michael, knowing I was wondering why Oscar was like that. "With the pain," he added as I looked confused. "Knocked him out before we'd even got in the car."
I nodded. "Okay, Luke's room is made up and I highly doubt he's going to come back much before Christmas. Did you want to show them where to take him?"
Michael nodded. "Uh, sure."
"Up the main stair case, not the tower one. It may be a little difficult to move with three in a row up that one," I said as the followed Michael to the stairs.
He stopped and turned back to me. "You worry too much Kittie," he said, kissing me on the forehead. "I know this house backwards like you do. Stop worrying." He left, talking to the guards as they made their way up the stairs.

I looked at Rose. "Welcome to my house."
She smiled. "It's nice to see that you've got a proper home."
I nodded, unsure how to respond. "I can show you around if you like."
She nodded. "I'd like that." I wasn't sure if she was just being polite or not.
I smiled anyway. "Okay, let me just grab Charlie and we'll head up to the attic, start at the top."
She smiled. "I haven't seen him since we met Honey… I mean you. How is he?"
I smiled and walked through the door on the left to the dining room. I walked past the table to the Moses Basket and picked up Charlie. "Hi baby. We're going to show Rose around the house, okay?" He looked up at me with his large blue eyes and smiled. I hoped he didn't see me as his mum. "Okay," I said, knowing he wouldn't answer because he's a baby, cradling him in my arms.

I turned to Rose. "Shall we?"
She smiled at me again and I was a little surprised. I always thought she was rather serious.
"If we go down to the basement instead we can work our way round in a circle and I can show you this monkey's room first."
"Okay then." She hesitated slightly. Normal people wouldn't have noticed but then again, I'm not normal. "Can… Can I hold him?" she asked.
"Of course you can." Maybe there was still a lot I don't know about her. I passed Charlie to her and was a little surprised that she knew how to hold him.
She smiled down at him cooing, something else which was very un-Rose like, or so I thought.
"Do you have younger siblings?" I asked as we walked down the stairs to the basement, something my parents had extended after Alec, Luke and Jack had all decided they wanted their own rooms in the attic, and when my parents got fed up of the arguing amongst them, retreating to the bottom of the house.
"No, just me," she replied, not looking up from Charlie.
"Oh." Maybe she has family or cousins then or… Grace.

Oscar has told me how they'd spent a couple of days looking after Grace, the child of two of the people with the highest IQ's in the world. It turned out that Grace's IQ was higher than her parents, probably a result of the high factor from both of her parents. Rose really looked up to them. He'd also said that they'd had to look after plastic dolls for the week to test their parenting skills. Oscar had spent a lot of time looking after Grace instead of the plastic doll much to Avril's annoyance. I wonder if he'd have been with me if I'd been there at that point.

I showed Rose around the house and when she didn't have her attention fixed on Charlie, she was fascinated by the layout of the house and the tower as well as its history. In the end we stopped in the playroom with the little ones after Tom decided to have a screaming fit at me on the middle of the stairs. I ended up having to give him cuddles on the sofa to calm him down, rubbing his back as he hiccupped from his tears. Rose didn't seem too fussed by it. Instead she seemed fascinated and amused by it all, even after Cal bit Sophie.
Michael knocked on the door and came in although I'm not sure why he knocked. It's his house too. "Oscar's out for the count and Joe and Elliot are heading back now if you want a lift Rose.
She smiled a little sadly and reluctantly laid Charlie down in the Moses Basket – we have them all over the house just so we can keep an eye on him better when we're busy.
"Yes, alright. I'll see you at school on Monday then Kittie. Thanks for showing me around and letting me meet everyone." She tweaked Sophie's nose and walked over to the doorway.

I smiled and stood up, cradling a sleeping Tom, careful not to wake him. "Come back at any time. We'd love to have you over again."
She smiled and I could see it made her happy. Maybe spending time with Grace had made her realise how much she liked kids. Granted she still talked to them about science and archaeology but she had a real knack with them.
"I'd like that. Thanks Kittie. Let me know how it goes with Oscar."
I nodded. "Of course, but I highly doubt anything will happen." He still h – didn't like me at all and wasn't happy about being here.
"Sometimes you just need a little faith, especially in love. Love is something science can't easily explain. It's a force we can't really describe fully yet."
I nodded again feeling a little patronised. What was it with everyone telling me things like this? "Yes, Rose."
Michael coughed awkwardly, shuffling his feet. "I'll show you out. The house is a bit of a maze."
Rose nodded, realising what she'd been talking about in front of the little ones. "Yes, see you on Monday Kittie."

She and Michael left and I sat back on the sofa, sighing heavily. I really didn't want my life to get any more complicated right now, but with Oscar here, there was little chance of that happening. My complicated life juggling being a stand-in parent, spy and sister… Why did I agree to this?
Sophie tapped my arm and I looked down at her. "Yes sweetie?"
"What did Rose mean about Oscar?" she asked looking up at me with large brown eyes.
I hesitated. She wasn't ready for this yet and it should have been Mum with this discussion not me, but I didn't like lying to her. "Nothing sweetie," I replied, deciding that was the best answer for now. I'd tackle that hurdle later when she was older, hopefully much older.
She looked at me uncertainly then returned to her cartoon. I sighed again and tried to turn my attention to the mind-numbing cartoon. I'll sort out the party later, and the kitchen. I shook my head. I'd also have to call parents later for the sleepover tomorrow and think of an excuse about the lack of adult's present or get someone over. Later, I shall deal with that later.

3rd POV

Frank and Millicent talked for what seemed like hours in the cosy little room. After the tea was finished, more guards entered with cake and biscuits. To Frank, the situation felt so familiar to him that he almost forgot he was being interrogated by SKUL and almost thought he was back home having tea with his mum. He'd caught himself times and tried to ignore the familiarities. He suspected that Millicent's niceness was just a different method of extracting information, hence the "questions".

Throughout the conversations, Millicent gently probed him for information: names, places, dates. Frank had tried to be as vague as possible because he didn't want to annoy this lady, but now a plan was beginning to form. His earlier thought of giving inaccurate information actually seemed a very good idea at this stage. Then at least she would think he was co-operating and he could go a long way towards sabotaging SKUL's plans whilst keeping MI9 secrets. However there could be dire consequences in SKUL ever found out the truth but Frank hoped to be long gone by then. Gradually with the skills of a practiced liar, Frank began to feed lies into the conversation – slowly at first with apparent hesitation so as not to cause suspicion. Millicent acted her part well, not showing too much delight in the answers he was giving, remaining friendly throughout.

After a while, Frank's stream of "information" paused as he yawned. It was now very late into the night. Millicent took him out of a side door to a set of rooms adjacent to hers, but he didn't know that. If it weren't for the lack of windows (they were underground after all), it could have been a luxury hotel suite: king-sized bed, mini-fridge (well stocked), thick fuzzy carpets and a large flat screen TV which surprised Frank a little but then again even evil criminals like to watch SKY. Frank smiled pleasantly as Millicent bade farewell and left. He didn't hear the click of the lock as it fell into place behind her. As Frank couldn't find anything that resembled nightwear or clothes and the spare clothes he'd been offered still sat in Millicent's tea room, he climbed into the large bed wearing the bathrobe and his boxer shorts. It wasn't long before he drifted into a sleep plagued by nightmares.

Frank was jolted awake as the bathrobe was pulled from him, exposing his skin to the cold air. Before he knew what was happening, he was pulled off the bed and rammed up against the edge. All sleepiness was driven from his with a sharp slap across the face and Millicent swam into view.
"Good morning Frank," she said angrily. "Seems you weren't telling us the truth. Not quite the little snitch we hoped. Think you were being clever, do you?"
Frank knew he shouldn't bate her but he couldn't resist. "Actually I did. However I didn't think I'd be here when you found out. Turns out you're not all that stupid, well, most of the time."
Millicent squealed angrily and struck Frank again, sending him sprawling across the room onto his back. A hot white flash blinded him as he was hit with a searing pain. Again and again Millicent struck Frank across the back with a long piece of knotted rope. Frank's back reddened, and welts appeared where his flesh was struck multiple times. Only when his back was covered by bloody gashes did she stop. Satisfied, at least for now, she strode out of the room, wrapping the rope around her hand as she went. Frank slowly rose to his knees, wincing. He didn't dare look at his back. He curled up into a ball and bit his knuckles to stop himself crying. He wished someone would come soon.

Oscar's POV

I woke up with a tremendous headache in a strange bed in a strange room. I had no idea where I was or how I'd got here. Below I could hear lots of crashing, banging, shouting and the faint hum of a children's programme. I frowned and sat up in the bed, groaning from my aching muscles. Carefully I moved the duvet, glad to see I was still fully clothed. If SKUL were trying to lull me into a false sense of security, then they had another thing coming. I frowned again, making my head twinge. This didn't seem like something SKUL would do and… Then I remembered Kittie had rescued me and now… now I was staying at hers until I was well enough to go home. I just wish I didn't have to be here.

I climbed out of the bed, careful not to cause myself any more pain. Wobbling, I made it to the doorway and began to slowly climb down the stairs. As I reached the landing I heard the sound of laughter and shouting coming from the open door. I began to go towards the room, then I saw Kittie coming up the stairs. I hurried back through the door I'd just come through, back into the shadows. I pressed up against the door behind me, hoping she wouldn't see me. She didn't. She reached the top of the stairs and walked into the room with the open door.
"Come on guys," she called, disappearing into the room. "Cal, stop it, leave Sophie alone. Tom put that down! You're not supposed to touch the fish tank. Come on you monsters, food is waiting on the table."
Groans came but Kittie's voice didn't hesitate. "It's party food, remember? You know, cause we're back here, in our house."
This time cheers and the sound of running feet. I watched Sophie, Tom and Cal run down the stairs, followed by Kittie who was shaking her head and smiling.

When I was sure she's gone, I continued down the spiral stairs, hoping that meant I was less likely to be seen. I had no idea what this house was like or even why it had a tower. It seemed vaguely familiar but it was probably my imagination. I mean every guy dreams of being king of a castle when they were little. Obviously my imagination was playing tricks on me or I was confusing some childhood memory of when my dad took me to a castle before he disappeared. I missed him.

Kittie's POV

Having rescued Sophie from Cal and taken the remote out of the fish tank, I herded them downstairs into the kitchen where Michael was waiting with Charlie. They all sat down, still bickering and I had to separate Sophie and Cal again. I really didn't want to clean up the kitchen again today. Just as I was about to sit down, I remembered about Oscar. "Michael, I'm gonna go check on Oscar and see if he wants any food."
He nodded and placed Charlie in his high chair. "Alright, just don't linger behind any closed doors too long."
I glared at him and kissed the top of Sophie's head. "Behave all of you. I'll be back in a few minutes." I saw Cal look at the food eagerly and lick his lips. I waved my hand. "Feel free to start without me. I know what happens when Cal doesn't eat. Just don't eat everything. I want some left for me to eat."
"You sure Kittie?" asked Michael, hovering by his chair.
I nodded. "Yep. I won't be too long. I'm just going upstairs." Shaking my head as I saw Cal start to stuff his face, I climbed up the stairs to Oscar's room.

When I reached the landing, I hesitated. I wasn't in the mood to be yelled at by him. I dug my nails into my arm, wincing slightly as I drew blood. Then relief. I'd gotten used to pain recently. Physical rather than emotional meant that I could keep going better. Physical pain overwhelmed anything else and stopped my head from hurting so much, at least that was the theory. Every time, the physical pain took control, blocking out the emotional but that only lasted a little bit. Eventually it would leave me marked, hurting and a whole lot worse off.

I remembered how SJ had caught me once at Barclay. I was sat a corner of the common room during a study period having just cut, cradling my arm, the sleeve of my jumper pulled over my hand but the blood was beginning to show. She'd found me and pulled back the sleeve, exposing the cut. She didn't say anything, just took me to the bathroom and cleaned me up. She bandaged my arm and just held me when I broke down and cried. That was the first time I cried in front of her. We'd been stronger ever since, and I knew she'd hurt herself too. Like me she was riddled with scars, a lot of them self-inflicted. That's why she knew what to do. But I was going to stop. I couldn't keep hurting the people I loved by hurting myself. I'd told Michael, after he'd caught me in the bathroom cleaning up. He'd gotten so mad and threw away all my knives but I still found other ways of hurting myself. I know it is wrong and I was going to stop.

I shook my head to get rid of the memories and walked up to the door. It was open and the room was empty. I ran down the stairs, two at a time, careful not to trip and skidded into the kitchen. "Michael, stay here. He's gone. I'm gonna go find…"
"Go find who?" asked Oscar.
I can't believe I hadn't noticed him. "Uh never mind." I sat down in the empty chair next to him and stared at the table.
We ate in silence. Even the little ones didn't talk. There was a lot of tension in the room and despite being young, they picked up on it.

Oscar slammed down his plate. "Well? Go on, say it. You know you want to say it so just say it."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I shot back glaring at him. "I have nothing to say to you right now." I slipped a knife up my sleeve and shoved my chair back. "I'm going to eat in my room. I've got a headache. Michael, can you bath the little ones. I'll read them stories and tuck them in if you take them first."
Michael frowned then nodded. "Sure. Cal's room?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Soph and Tom are easier to move. Oscar, there's spare blankets in the box at the foot of the bed if you get cold."

Without waiting for a response, I turned and walked out the room. I ran up the spiral stairs and threw myself onto my bed, carefully making sure I didn't land on the knife. Wiping the tears away, I pulled out the knife, pushed my sleeve back and held the knife above my arm. I hesitated. It didn't feel right. Still crying, I threw the knife away, hearing it clatter as it landed somewhere in the darkness. I picked up my phone and dialled.
"Hey, long time no talk," came the voice from the other end.
I smiled through the tears, grateful to hear her voice.
"What's up hun," she asked when I didn't respond.
"SJ, we need to talk. I really need you here."
"Okay, give me 5 minutes and I'll be there, at the house for you. Don't worry, I'm coming."
She hung up and I leant back against the headboard and wiped away the tears with the back of my sleeve.