Okay, so this chappy has some drama, lol. I only own my OC, Isabella and whatever OCs I mention in this chappy, which would be Cori and Shay. If you haven't please go vote on my poll and thank you to those who have already voted:) Thank you those who have reviewed so far, much love goes out to all of you, you're the main reason I've stuck with this story,lol:) Thank you Angel for beta-ing this chappy:)

*Shannon POV*

As we reentered the House of Doom, as I had recently dubbed it, Izzy held onto my hand tighter. I leaned over and kissed her temple. The family wasn't at the table, but Wes was cleaning up it up. "Where is everybody?" I asked him.

"They too became fed up with Ivan, so I let them have the keys to their rooms. I hope you remember the layout of this house, Bella, I fear your friends may have gotten lost." He chuckled and Izzy chuckled as well before leading me up the winding staircase. Soon, we got to her room and plopped down on the bed. Surprisingly, our suitcases were already here and waiting for us.

"That butler of yours is pretty cool. We should totally bring him home with us."

"Shannon, we are not stealing my mom's butler." She chuckled as she gathered a tank top and a pair of shorts. Isabella went into the adjoining bathroom and I ended up following her.

"You never really told me about your mother." I stated and she sighed.

"Go out there and wait like a good boy, and I'll tell you." She kissed my forehead and I raised an eyebrow."

"Yes, ma'am." I gave her a cheesy smile and waited on the bed. A few minutes later, she came back out. Even though she was wearing something as simple as a tank top and shorts, she was still as gorgeous as ever and it made me realize how lucky I was. While she was in the bathroom, I changed into a pair of sweatpants.

Izzy sat between my legs and rested her head back against my chest. I draped my arms over her shoulders and smiled. "Took ya long enough."

"Shut up, do you want to hear about my mom or what?" She asked, a smile playing on her lips and I nodded.

"Okay, my mom must've been the kindest person on Earth. She never had a mean thing to say about anybody. I never remember her being upset or angry about anything, even when my Dad died. She'd say that he was in a better place. My mom was strong and passionate, loving and sweet."

"Kind of like you." I replied and she smiled.

"You could say that. She would've liked you Shannon. Both of my parents would have liked you. I really wish you could've met them."

"How do you know they would like me? After all, I would be dating their only daughter." I asked as I laid on my back. Isabella moved as well so her head rested on my chest and her arms were around my waist. Placing a hand around her back, I kissed her forehead.

"Well, you're strong, responsible, good-natured, loyal, respectable, kind, and passionate about the things you love." She replied.

"Yeah, but had you not figured out the truth with Cena, you'd still be dating him and we'd be friends."

"You are totally different from Cena. First of all, you love me. My parents would've spotted that right away. Second of all, I trusted you more than I ever trusted John. He was never there, you always were."

"Izzy, I have to tell you something about Cena." I stated, knowing that now was better than never.

"What?"

"John was…planning on marrying you to get you into bed, then break it off…" I sighed as I saw her fists clench. "I'm sorry, Izzy. I-I…It…I'm just glad it didn't happen that way." I stammered.

Isabella relaxed and kissed my jaw. "You wouldn't marry me just for sex, would you Shannon?"

"Of course not. I love you, Isabella. I really do. It was hell living without you and I wouldn't jeopardize our relationship, just because I wanted to 'get some'. Besides, if I did marry you, just for sex, and you found out, you'd leave me for sure. And I just can't live without you. I'd rather have you hate me than live without you and you know how much I hated having you hate me."

"I know. I'm sorry I asked, Shan."

I rubbed her back. "Don't be sorry. It was a legitimate question and you needed a legitimate answer."

"Thanks. Do you want to go home tomorrow? I won't mind."

I chuckled. "Sure, but I'm starving. What time is it?"

"Almost five, why?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm getting some real food." I said getting up. Isabella followed and we went down the stairs and into the dining room. Our little family was all at the table, indulging in home cooked pizza.

"You guys didn't tell us?" I asked.

"You were having a bonding moment, I don't know about anybody else, but I wasn't about to go interrupting on a relationship-building experience." Cori stated as she took a slice of pizza. Izzy and I sat down and took some pizza. "Your stepfather who has a PhD in being evil has gone upstairs."

"Oh. I'm really sorry guys. I shouldn't have let you come." Izzy sighed.

"It's okay, we wanted to come." John shrugged. "So, we should start planning a Christmas party."

"J-john, it's only November." Shay replied.

"So? It's so we can plan it perfectly and have time to get the perfect present. Let's draw names from a hat." He smiled and grabbed his hat and a pad of paper. Neatly scribbling everybody's names on the sheet of paper, the ripped them apart, folded them, and put them into the hat. Passing it around, Cori and Shane drew names, then Shay and John. When John drew the name, his smile gave it away, well maybe not to his 'Secret Santa'. Then Izzy drew a name and she laughed and shook her head. I tried to peek at it, but she stuffed it down her shirt.

"Hey! No looking!" She smirked, knowing it was the one place I couldn't grab it without being labeled 'pervert'.

Then I drew the last name in the hat and looked at the name neatly written across the paper. Butterflies fluttered around my stomach as I held the paper tight in my fist. A smile nearly crossed my face, but I fought to keep it off. I had drawn the perfect name and I already knew what the present was. I just hoped it would be perfect enough…

As it turns out, we did leave the next morning and I doubted anybody was bothered. We loaded ourselves back into the car along with our suitcases and began to drive back. "So, you debut later on, right?" I asked Izzy and she nodded.

"Next week, babe. The team of Izzy and Shannon are back." She chuckled and ran a hand through her black locks.

"Then what do you plan on doing for the next day or so?"

"Hmmm, probably hang out with you and however many of the family is home." Izzy shrugged.

"Which means you'll be all by your lonesome self besides Shan, wait, Matt might be home, I'm not sure." John informed.

"Thanks, John." She smiled as we pulled into Isabella's driveway. As we got inside, set our stuff down, and sat down, Isabella smiled nervously. "Guys, I'm going to go out for a while, I'll be back soon, okay?"

I started to get up. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, it's fine." She kissed my cheek. "I'll be fine." She said as she grabbed her coat and left.

*Izzy POV*

I got into the car and drove through the streets. Soon later, I turned onto a dirt road. It was the new way to get to his house and I was getting nervous. I shouldn't have, after all, I've known the man for years. Yet, I had just left and didn't contact anybody. Hopefully, he'd accept me back, but with him you could never know.

Sighing, I calmed myself as I got out of my car and made my way up to his porch. Carefully, I knocked on the door and waited until a brunette woman answered it. She instantly smiled and hugged me. "It's great to see you, girl." Beth smiled.

"You too, Beth." I nodded and she backed up.

"Beth, babe, who are you talking to?" I heard his voice as he came up behind Beth.

"It's Izzy, honey." She gestured to me before going back inside.

The man turned to me and I could swear he looked so much different. He had redone his hair and had a more relaxed look about him. His surprised gaze turned into a glare and my smile fell. "Izzy, what the hell are you doing here? Did Seattle get too boring too so you decided to live your life here again?"

I was taken aback , this wasn't at all like him. He had never acted this way to me before. "Jeff? Are you okay?"

" No, I'm not okay. You left, Izzy. You can't come back and expect things to be the way they were before."

"I never assumed that, Jeff. I know thing's have changed. I didn't expect you to change though." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"People change too. I've changed, Shannon's changed, everybody's changed. Yes, even you."

I rolled my eyes. "I know I've changed." Sighing, I shook my head. "I'm done talking to you, Jeff. I tried to be a friend and come over to say hi and all I get are jabs from somebody I thought I could trust." I stated as I started down the steps again.

"So you're leaving when things get too hard, you don't want to deal with them. Where are you going this time? Cancun? Maybe Jamaica? Somewhere where all your troubles wash away on tropical islands full of mystery and adventure? Are you going to give us a warning, or are you going to make us wait ten years to hear from you again?"

That was the final straw, I walked back up the steps and glared. "You know I left because I needed to take a break from everything that was going on."

He scoffed. "You were running from your problems."

"Like you don't? Some people just aren't strong enough too go through crap every single day, Jeff. I needed to clear my head and think, it's no different that the many times you disappear for weeks and sit in your studio doing what you do. You are dealing with it in your own way and I dealt with mine in my own way."

He stood silent and his jaw clenched. I knew he knew I was right. We stood there glaring for a few moments before Beth came back. "Izzy, would you like to come in?"

"She was just leaving." Jeff replied for me and I nodded with a small smile.

"Yeah, I gotta go, I'll see you soon, I promise." I gave her a quick hug before walking down the steps. I could hear her yell at him and he argued his case back. Shaking my head at his antics, I got back into my car before the tears started to fall.