Chapter 25

~Wow, it's been awhile. I'm finally feeling some mojo for writing again, and I have ideas for this story so, as long as my brain keeps connecting with my fingers, updates should be more regular (that and the fact that I am finally getting a new computer). Thanks to those who have stuck with this story!

Two days later, Katie was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, when she heard the front door open. The silence was shattered by her father's deep voice and the chattering of her three sisters. With a loud sigh, Katie slammed a pillow over her head in hopes of regaining the silence that had once reigned throughout the house and it worked for a few minutes, until her sisters converged upon her.

"Katieeeeeeeee!" Allie shrieked as she ran through the open bedroom door, jumped through the air, and landed on top of her. Katie gave a loud "Oooof!" as the wind was knocked out of her and she struggled to return her sister's ferocious hug while, at the same time, struggling to breathe.

"Allieeeee," Clara complained. "You're going to kill Katie before anyone else has a chance to hug her!" Allie thought about her sister's statement for a moment, shrugged and, if anything, held on to her sister even tighter. The patient Clara simply rolled her eyes, moved further into the room, and embraced a part of her older sister that had eluded her younger sister's grasp.

"I missed you, Katie," Clara said into her shoulder.

"I missed you guys too," Katie said as she looked over their heads at Ellen.

"Hey Brat," Ellen said affectionately from the doorway.

"Hey," Katie responded back with a small smile.

"How's it going?" Katie just stared at her older sister and shook her head slightly; she was not going to get into it with their younger sisters in the room. Besides, if truth be told, she didn't have a coherent answer to the question.

"Did you hear?" Allie asked as both she and Clara pulled out of the massive hug. "Dave's back!"

Katie mustered up some enthusiasm and brightness. "I know!"

"I'm so glad he's back," the little girl continued. "I want to show him my new Barbie and I want him to fix my playhouse, and I want to have a tea party with him and, oh! He's making his yummy 'pasketi and meatballs for dinner tonight!"

"Hey Al?" Ellen asked. "Why don't you go find Dave and ask him to help you with your playhouse now? We are going back to camp tomorrow, so there's not much time."

"'Kay, El," the little girl replied as she hopped down from the bed and ran out the door. Ellen moved from her position in the doorway and sat down in Katie's desk chair. She stared at Clara, who was still sitting on the bed, until the younger girl squirmed and finally asked, "What?"

"Beat it," her eldest sister said, as she nodded her head towards the door.

"Why?"

"Older sister talk."

"But I'm an older sister too!" Clara whined as Ellen rolled her eyes.

"Once you hit thirteen, you'll be included in the older sister talks but, until then, hit the road."

"You can hang out in my room with me after supper, okay?" Katie told her as she got up from her bed.

"Fine," she said to Katie and then turned to Ellen. "You don't have to be such a bitch about it."

"Clara!" Katie said, shocked that both at the language the younger girl had used, and the fact that she had snapped at their sister.

"Whatever, Squirt," Ellen said with a roll of her eyes. "You'd better not let mom hear you talk like that."

"Or my dad," Katie added. "He's not too fond of that word," she said as the taste of ivory soap flooded her memory.

"Whatever," was the girl's only response as she left the room and shut the door behind her.

"What was that?" Katie asked her older sister in surprise. "Clara's supposed to be the meek, polite one."

"Yeah, well, camp has given her a whole new attitude."

"And a new vocabulary. Mom's going to love it."

Ellen shrugged her shoulders. "Meh, it probably won't last. I remember when I was her age at camp. I thought my new attitude was so cool, but I usually didn't bring it home with me." Ellen paused for a moment and then continued. "Speaking of mom and Dave, how are you doing with everything?"

Katie just shook her head and stared at the floor. "I don't know how I'm doing," she said and it was the truth. She was so happy when she first learned her dad was alive, but now...now the realization had sunk in that her parents had lied to her AGAIN! Not only that, but they had made her live through his death! The knowledge that her mom could have alleviated all of her misery and anguish over her father's death with just a few words sent white hot anger through her, and the knowledge that she did it all with her father's blessing...no, at her father's URGING, caused waves of different emotions to crash within her. While she was eternally grateful that her father was, in fact, among the living, her emotions swung from happy, to angry, to sad, to confused, to frustrated, to betrayed…sometimes all within the same minute. Katie could feel her older sister's eyes still on her, so she elaborated.

"I'm so pissed off, El! They lied to me, to us, AGAIN! They made me go through one of the hardest times of my life for nothing! There were times I honestly never thought I would get over my dad dying!"

"I know," Ellen said quietly, remembering how distraught her sister had been and how long it had taken her to mourn Dave.

"I don't know...I feel like a monster, you know, being mad that dad's alive. I feel like I should be all sunshine and lollipops because he's not dead."

Ellen shook her head. "You should feel however you want to feel. I don't blame you for not knowing how to feel; the situation is great because Dave is alive, but it's awful because of what they did. If it's any consolation, I'm not really happy with mom and Dave either. I think what they did to all of us sucks. Sure, I can understand some of why they did it, but I can't believe that what they did was the best option." Katie smiled, glad that someone was on her side and kind of understood what she was going through. "So have they talked about what comes next?"

Katie shook her head. "Nope, they've actually been giving me space. I couldn't believe they let me stay here alone while Dave went to pick you guys up and mom went to work. Plus, after I kinda snapped at mom the other day, she's been letting me stay in my bedroom during 'non-sleeping hours.' I just have to keep the door open, and I can't actually be under the covers of my bed."

"That's progress."

"That's what I thought," Katie said with a nod. "So I've just kinda been spending most of my time here. Mom and dad usually pop into my room to see how I'm doing when they are up her, but I just ignore them. Dad showed up yesterday to pick me up from work, but we didn't talk, and they make me eat meals with them, but they are quiet. I'm just afraid if I start talking, I'm going to say stuff that I can't take back."

"So have you thought about where you're going to live?" As much as Ellen had disliked her sister when they first met, they had grown close and she really did not want to lose her again. Sure, she would probably stay with them whenever Dave had to go out of town but, after living with her full-time for five months, Ellen didn't want her to move out.

"I don't know what's going to happen with that. I know dad wants to go back to the townhouse, but since he's technically dead, he doesn't have access to any of his money and all of our stuff is in storage." Katie paused for a moment. "They've both been sleeping in mom's room."

"What?! You saw them?"

Katie nodded. "They're not even trying to hide it like before. You remember how my dad would sneak up after all of us went to bed and then he'd sneak back down to the couch in the morning?" Ellen nodded. "Well, they're not doing that now. They usually come to my bedroom to say goodnight, close my bedroom door, and then they both go to mom's room."

"That's...I don't even know what to say to that," the older girl said with a slight gag.

"Right?" Katie said with a shudder. "Anyway, can we not talk about me anymore? I just want to get my mind off of everything for a little while."

"Sure," Ellen told her. "We go back to camp tomorrow afternoon, so we don't have much time anyway. I'm actually surprised they pulled us out at all, but I guess mom and Dave wanted us to see for ourselves that Dave is actually alive and..." Ellen trailed off, knowing her sister wouldn't like what was coming next.

"And what?" Katie asked suspiciously.

"And they want to talk to all of us after supper tonight."

Katie rolled her eyes and sighed. "Great, exactly what I don't want to do."

"I hear you."

"Anyway," Katie continued, shaking her head slightly, as if to clear it. "I hear you have a camp boyfriend?"

Ellen got a dreamy look in her eyes and nodded. "His name is James and God is he gorgeous! He lives in upstate New York and he plays Varsity football, so he's really strong, and he plays guitar and sings for kids at the Children's hospital in his hometown."

"He sounds perfect," Katie told her. "So how does he kiss?" She was intensely jealous of her older sister; her dad had made it abundantly clear, on numerous occasions, that he wouldn't even consider group dating for her until she was sixteen.

"Katie!" Ellen shrieked, as if offended that she would ask such a question. Then a devilish smile overtook her face and she responded, "He kisses like a dream."

At that moment there was the clearing of a throat from the doorway. "Mom!" Ellen exclaimed, turning red. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Enough to hear about your dreamboat at camp," Erin teased with a smile. "I'm going to the market to pick up some things for dinner tonight; do either of you want to come?"

Ellen nodded and got off of the bed. "Sure. Can we stop at Target too? I want to pick up a few things to bring back to camp tomorrow."

"That's fine," Erin told her. "Do you want to come along, Katie?"

"No thank you," the teen said coolly; Ellen there or not, there was no way she was going to spend time cooped up in a car with her mother.

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The next evening, Erin and Dave were driving home after dropping Allie, Clara, and Ellen back off at camp, and their conversation was anything but light.

"Are you ready for the next couple of days?" Erin asked as they drove down the highway. They had numerous meetings with the higher-ups at the Bureau and the CIA, and they were facing Congressional hearings. Not to mention all of the paperwork he had to produce and submit everywhere just to prove he was alive.

"I'm ready for whatever they throw at me. The only sticking point is if the committee wants Katie to testify; that is my line in the sand."

"I'm worried about her, Dave. I know it's only been a few days, but I don't think she's coping very well. She's quiet, withdrawn and she spends all of her time alone. I wish she would talk to us, if only so we could discuss the future with her." Erin paused for a moment, knowing what she was about to say could start an argument, but it had to be talked about. "We need to discuss our custody arrangement, David."

Dave's hands tightened around the steering wheel, and his lips thinned. "I told you when we first started this that I would never give her up, and I meant it."

Erin felt herself reacting in anger and she tried to keep it at bay, knowing it wouldn't help the situation. "I know you did David, but-"

"But things have changed," Dave interrupted, this time without anger in his voice. "I get it, Erin; you've had her full-time for almost six months."

"I have," Erin said with a sigh of relief; while no arrangement would be perfect, it seemed as though she wouldn't have to fight him for more time with their daughter. "And I can't go back to the odd weekend day and when you go out of town. I won't do that to myself, I won't do that to Clara, Ellen, and Allie and, most importantly, I won't do that to Katie. Once she's past her anger at us, she's going to need normalcy and stability in her life."

"I know, and that's why I'm thinking that Katie and I might not go back to the townhouse."

"Oh?"

Dave nodded. "There are some houses for sale in your neighborhood and I was thinking of looking at some of those. Besides, I'm not even sure Katie will want to return to the townhouse; it might be too weird for her. Once I'm officially declared alive again, I'll see if I can't find us a temporary place, like a hotel or something. I don't want to crowd you, or for you to get tired of me.

"Does it seem like I'm getting tired of you?" Strauss asked. "If so, then I'm not doing things right, at least not in the bedroom."

"Erin-" Dave started.

"I didn't see you for nearly six months, David, so no, I am not tired of you and you are not crowding my space. In fact, I'm going to miss you when you leave, even if you are just down the road from me."

There were a few minutes of contemplative silence in the SUV, before Erin broke it.

"You know we're eventually going to have to force her to talk to us, right?" She asked. "As angry and confused as she is with this situation, we are going to have to discuss things with Katie at some point, if only to let her vent her feelings toward us and for the healing process to begin."

"I know, but I am content to give her as much time as she needs at this point," Dave told her. "I want her to know that we're here for her, in whatever capacity she needs us. I know she's been having nightmares since I returned; when I woke up to go to the bathroom this morning, I found her sleeping on the floor of our bedroom."

Erin nodded. "While you were gone, I noticed that whenever she is stressed, she has nightmares about the kidnapping. Usually she climbs into bed with me, but I guess she doesn't feel comfortable doing that right now. How did she get back to her bedroom?"

"I carried her," Dave replied. "I feel like I should be doing more for her, but I don't want to push her. I don't know, maybe she would have been better off if I hadn't returned. I'm a shitty father, Erin, and I have been for most of her life.

"What are you talking about, Dave? You're a great father."

"No, I'm really not," Dave told her as he thought back on all of the times he had messed things up with their daughter.