Disclaimer: See prologue chapter

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Chapter 24

Just Mitchie

Mitchie stood alone in the living room of what was soon to become her main home. The rest of the family including her beloved Shane were back at the main house (as they had taken to nicknaming the Torres home) sleeping as far as she knew.

The house had been vacated only three days beforehand and the cleaning company that had been brought in to give it a thorough going over had only returned the keys to them that morning. It had then received an immediate security search from Sandy and Megan to make sure that no special bugs had been left in place.

(That had left the younger generation rolling around the floor in hysterics. It had also led to far too many bugs jokes that had the girls hitting a certain Connect 3 around the head with pillows.

That morning, Mitchie had woken up, got ready and then sneaked downstairs to lift the keys from her foster father's office and lifted the keys. She had then slipped out of the house and over to the house she and Shane had selected (after a major argument with her brother that had them all rolling in the aisles again). Why she was doing this on her own, she wasn't quite sure – only that she needed to do it by herself.

For ten years she had been a loved child with only an adored brother and grandparents for company. She had enjoyed that life as only a child could, hurt by the lack of attention from her parents but in truth not really caring as long as she had the brother that she adored with every little bit of her childhood heart. When that was stolen from her in the horrific and tragic way that it had been, her whole world had exploded into so many pieces, even now she sometimes thought that they had not all been brought back together.

The six years that had followed she had been an only child, a loved only child but one plagued with by her lack of memories for who she had been and tormented by those who seemed incapable of understanding outside of those who protected her.

Her only solace had been her music, much as it had before her memory loss and how now continued to be with its return.

It had been like the sun breaking though after a never-ending storm with her arrival at Camp Rock and the return of her memories. Her reunion with her brother was an event she knew would live in her memory for ever.

She had been a creature torn in two until that time, an unknown before with a painful present – only for it to be brought together in such a way, the repercussions were still going to that day.

Repercussions' that were the joy of her existence and the love of her life and for her, all centred on the tall, dark-haired figure of Shane Grey.

These last two years had been a healing period for all of them – especially for her, Jason and Shane.

As much as they had seemed to come together so naturally that summer and with all the events that had happened following it, it had not really been all that surprising when they found themselves all in therapy for a while.

Both Jason and Mitchie were dealing with residual anger towards the events that had happened and towards their parents (something Caitlyn was also dealing with as well). Shane was learning to cope with the way that he had reacted to his life being out of his control the way he had felt it had been.

Yet even the therapist realised that when these five young people were together (all this happened before the advent of Deanna into their lives), the best form of therapy was the music that they all lived for. It soothed the demons that they lived with and in some cases, managed to dispose of them all together.

But this... this house was a different ball game altogether - A different set of rules that she was only beginning to understand in some ways even though some were already indelibly edged into her very soul.

This house meant putting away the true final realities of childhood. She had to put behind her not only those vestiges stolen from her but those returned to her. It meant taking on responsibilities that she had not truly thought about before and this house was the visual representation of it.

Dreams of the future were no longer that. Dreams were now reality.

It was not that she approached this next stage of her life with any true apprehension for she knew that Shane would be there to share in everything but it was only natural that after everything she had been through, she experienced some fear.

That, she realised suddenly to herself, was why she had come to the house by herself: To face that fear before it could overwhelm her and take from her the joy she was ready to experience in her shared future with the man she loved.

With that sudden realisation hitting her, Mitchie suddenly broke into laughter and spun round in circles. As long as she remembered that she was never truly going to be alone there was not going to be a problem because she knew, oh how she knew, Shane would do everything in his power to ensure it for her: just as she would for him in return.

This house would be their home because they would make it that way together. Much as they had done with everything that they had faced since they had found each other that summer at Camp Rock. There was truly nothing to fear because all she had to do was look out of her front door and all the good things in her past would be there right in front of her.

Her foundation was there, true and steady and built in stone, waiting for her just to build the stage of her future in the way that only she and Shane could – together.

Her self-confidence in herself and her future abruptly returned, Mitchie ran to the front door and closed it behind her, her one thought to return to her current home and to Shane.

RC-CS-EC

A decidely introspective Mitchie is what we have here. She just jumped up today and decided that she needed to have this moment to herself.

She hopes that you all enjoy looking into her thoughts at the moment and hopes that you understand that the author of her thoughts had been immersing herself in Pride & Predjudice fanfiction in recent days thereby influencing some of the language that is contained within this chapter.

As always she hopes that you enjoy the chapter and feel the desire to repond in the usual way.

Looking forward to seeing what you have to say ;op