When Tucker pulled his car to a stop in front of the house, I had to take a deep breath.

Inside, waited my sister and my parents.

Even though I'd already somewhat 'faced' my parents, this time was going to be different.

In my head, I was screaming at myself to stay in the car, but my hand was opening the car door.

Within a second, my body was out, even though my mind was screaming at me to stay put.

"Come on guys." Tucker said, wincing as he walked up the steps.

Sam reached over and took my hand. "You ok?"

All I could think about was what Tucker brought up earlier. They'd tried to kill me…

My mouth felt like sandpaper. "Peachy."

She gave me a funny look and I looked away.

We climbed the stairs as Tucker rapped on the door.

After a few seconds, Jazz came to the door and opened it.

"Hi guys, come on in." She smiled at Tucker.

He winked at her and walked into the house.

"What can I help you with Mrs. Fenton?" I heard him ask.

He had disappeared from my line of vision as I climbed the rest of the steps and walked into the house.

Sam was right after me.

She took my hand again as we stepped into the house.

"You guys ready to work?" Jazz asked, grinning.

"Yeah, just give me a minute, ok?" I asked.

She nodded. "All right."

I squeezed Sam's hand. "Can you come with me for a second?"

She nodded and shrugged at Jazz as I led her to the stairs.

We ascended the stairs, then I led her to my bedroom.

"What's up?" She asked, the door still open behind her.

I dropped my voice to a whisper. "Tonight, during the party, don't leave me alone with them ok? Never."

She nodded. "That's not a problem, Danny."

"I'm serious, Sam. Please." I said.

"I know you're serious." She pulled me into a hug. "And so am I. I won't leave you with them, I promise."

I swallowed and leaned my head against her shoulder. "Ok."

"So, we're good?" She asked, pulling away. "Because did you see that massive cake on the table? I can't wait to dig into that!"

I laughed. "Yeah, we're good."

"Good." She squeezed my hand. "I meant what I said, Danny. I won't leave you alone with them, ok?"

I nodded. "Ok."

She let go of my hand and started for the stairs.

I swallowed.

When she was halfway down, she turned around and glanced at me. "You coming?"

"Yeah," I replied, heading for the stairs.

When we got back downstairs, I found Jazz rather than my mom.

"What can we do?" I asked.

"Well, there's table's in the garage that need to be brought in here so we can set them up and put food on them." She said.

I nodded. "Ok, I can do that."

"I was going to ask Tucker but…" She trailed off.

"It's ok, I understand." I replied, turning back to Sam.

I gave her a kiss on the cheek, then turned to Jazz.

"Don't let her in the kitchen. I remember what happened last time." I said.

Sam laughed and swatted at my arm. "Shut up."

I winked at her and headed to the garage.

When I got there, I realized that my father was already in there, grabbing tables.

He turned around, two in his hand, and he saw me standing there.

"Danny." He nodded.

I nodded back and walked over to the tables, grabbing three.

He narrowed his eyes as I passed him and headed back toward the house.

Once I was inside, I sat them down in the kitchen.

"Danny, you're home?" My mom asked.

I swallowed. "Yeah, I am."

"Oh. I didn't hear you come in." She said.

"Jazz let me in." I said.

"Oh." My mom replied.

"Yeah. I'm going to go grab more tables." I said.

She nodded. "Ok. Thank you."

"Yeah." I replied, heading back out.

I passed by my dad who was now carrying four tables.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, and simply passed by him to get more.

There was only one left, so I took that one.

I tucked it under my arm and headed back inside.

"This is the last one." I told my mom as I sat it down. "What else can I do?"

Sam came into the kitchen with a wet cloth and started wiping off one of the tables.

"How about you set them up so Sam can wipe them down?" She asked.

That was fine with me. At least this way, I wasn't anywhere near my father.

Setting up the tables only took a couple of minutes and when I was done, I went to go find Jazz.

She was in the living room, moving a bookcase out of the room.

"Here, let me help." I said, coming over to the other side, lifting one side of it.

"Thanks." She said as we set it down inside a spare room.

"What room was this one?" I asked, looking around at the empty walls.

"This is the room that leads to the emergency ops center, remember?" She asked.

I swallowed. "There isn't an emergency ops center, anymore."

"No, I know that." She said, then sighed, pushing her hair out of her face. "Never mind."

"Have you seen Tucker?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, just a few minutes ago, actually. He was in the dining room, setting the table with decorations.

I nodded and exited the living room, headed to the dining room.

When I got into the dining room, I saw Tucker immediately.

"I didn't realize you were into interior design." I joked, leaning against the doorframe.

He turned around and gave me a mock-dirty look.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." He replied.

I laughed. "Ok, enough with the name-calling."

He nodded, smiling. "So, how have your first few days been?"

I shrugged. "Ok, I guess."

"Yeah? You going crazy yet?" He asked.

"What? Who…umm, why would you think that?" I asked.

He laughed. "Because it's written all over your face, dude."

I shook my head. "No, I just uh…I had a run-in with my dad the first night I was here and I've been trying to let it go and leave what happened in the past, in the past but…"

"But you can't, can you?" He asked.

"Not really." I replied.

"Look, no one expects you to let it go that easily." He said.

"But it's been five years." I said. "I should have by now."

"Even if your parents and your sister don't understand, I do and so does your fiance. That's enough right?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Danny?" My mom called from the kitchen. "Can you come here?"

"Yeah," I called back, nodding at Tucker as I exited the room.

"What do you need?" I asked, as I walked into the kitchen.

"Can you go outside and help your father cut some firewood?" She asked.

I swallowed, not sure how to respond.

For some reason, I answered. "Yeah, sure."