The front door opened and voices echoed through the house, sending me into a panicked state. As the footsteps began to get closer, I looked around the kitchen, making sure that everything was perfect. It could've been better, but it was good, and the best I could do in four hours. I leaned back against the counter, waiting for them to walk in, and soon enough, they did. The first thing I noticed was the reaction to what I'd done, and I was pretty sure it was good. All eyes widened at the food laid out on the dining table, and I hoped it was enough to make them forgive me, at least a little bit. Biting down on my lip nervously, I crossed my arms and wrung my glove-covered hands.

"Emma!" Jane shouted, being the first to notice me. I smiled as she ran towards me, her arms tightening around my waist.

"Hi sis" I sighed, hugging her back.

"Emma, what are you doing here? I thought you were staying with your aunt and uncle" Mom said, walking towards me with dad.

"I was. But I guess I missed Whitechapel too much, I missed you all too much" I shrugged, tears coming to my eyes. She smiled, pulling me into a hug.

"Well I'm glad you're back" I nodded, glancing at my brother who was still in the doorway.

"Hi E" I greeted nervously. Though the rest of my family were glad I was back, I wasn't sure if he'd be the same about it.

"Why did you come back?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

"Ethan!" Mom gasped. I shook my head.

"No it's fine mom, he has every right to be mad at me" I reassured, glancing back at her "Can you guys give us a minute?" I asked hopefully. They all nodded, quickly exiting the kitchen.

"I'm glad you're back, believe me, but why did you come back? You got out of all this supernatural mess, why would you want to come back?" He asked, shaking his head.

"Because I missed you guys, all of you. Toronto was good and easy but..." I shrugged, trying to find the words "It wasn't Whitechapel. I guess in some way I missed the chaos, and I missed actually having people to talk to about this stuff" I finished.

"Well, we missed you too" He said, pulling me into a hug. I smiled, hugging him back.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me" I sighed, pulling back after a few seconds.

"So, Sarah got to you huh?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.

"How did you know about that call?"

"I was with her when she made it, and I heard everything. But I honestly didn't think you'd be back the next day" He shrugged. I nodded.

"Well, this was meant to be a surprise I guess. And I cooked dinner for you guys" I gestured to the food on the table.

"I noticed. And I have to say I'm surprised you didn't burn it all" He admitted. I chuckled.

"Yeah well, you still have to taste it" I pointed out. He nodded.

"If I get ill, you're the first person I'm blaming. Anyway, would it be okay if I invited the guys over? I was gonna play Nights of Ninjitsu 4 with Benny and Rory anyway. I guess I could give Sarah and Maya a call" He offered. I sighed in thought.

"Uh...I don't know. You're happy I'm back, but they might not. Especially Benny" He rolled his eyes.

"Are you kidding me?! Emma, did you not hear Sarah's call yesterday? And Maya's been dying to see you ever since you left!" He exclaimed. I nodded.

"What about Benny?"

"Well, he's been weird. It's like he's the same, but he's not. Believe it or not, he's actually better at magic" He admitted. My eyes widened.

"What?"

"Yeah, he practices every moment he can. He used to come over nearly every night, remember?" I nodded "I'm lucky if he can come over once a week now. Your leaving really changed him Emm's" He shrugged. I sighed guiltily.

"I didn't mean for him to change. And I shouldn't have left it the way we did either, I feel so bad about it" I said, shaking my head.

"So does he, believe me. Let me call them Emma, it'll be better for us all if they know you're back" He begged. Biting my lip, I nodded.

"Okay. I have to go unpack, but call me when they get here okay?" I asked, rising from the chair. He nodded excitedly, immediately pulling out his cell-phone. I smiled in amusement, heading towards the stairs.


After about half hour of unpacking, my bedroom door slammed open. Jumping in surprise, I turned to see who'd entered my room, but I immediately found myself tackled onto the bed.

"You're back!" A familiar voice exclaimed. I laughed, hugging my best friend.

"Hey Maya" She pulled back, jumping to her feet.

"Really? You've been gone for a month and the first thing you say is 'Hi'?!" She shouted, throwing her hands up.

"What else do I say?" I asked, rising to my feet.

"I don't know!" She groaned. I smiled.

"I missed you"

"I missed you too!" She sighed, pulling me into another hug. I chuckled.

"How've you been?" I asked, pulling back.

"I have a lot to tell you" She smiled excitedly, sitting down on my bed. I nodded, sitting opposite her with my legs crossed.

"So, tell" I begged impatiently.

"It's a pretty big secret, Emma. All the others know too but, I needed it to come from me" She started, licking her lips nervously.

"Maya, you can tell me anything" I reassured.

"I'm an Azeman"

"Uh...what?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

"We're like vampires. Except we're an all female race, and at night we turn into bats" She explained. My eyes widened.

"Okay" I sighed, not sure what else to say to it.

"If it helps, the others weren't meant to find out. But when you left I was pretty bummed out, my best friend was gone. I couldn't do my homework and I wasn't my usual cheerful self. One night Rory followed me home, he was trying out this super-hero thing, something about saving innocent humans...but anyway. Once a week I have to feed, and the sneaky idiot caught me. Explaining it to him was so hard, but it was relieving as well. He's pretty good at keeping secrets, as it turns out" She shrugged, toying with one of my pillows.

"Wow, I didn't see that coming" I admitted, shaking my head.

"You remember the blood drive? How I had that big bag of chips with me?" She asked. I nodded "Well, the reason I was scarfing down junk food was because of the blood" I nodded in understanding.

"So, if you turn into a bat at night, then why aren't you one now?" I asked, gesturing to the window. The sun was slowly setting, so the sky outside was a dark-blue colour.

"I don't turn batty until the age of 18" She explained. I nodded.

"Since you're telling me all this, I'm gonna guess that you know about the rest of us"

"You mean how you and Ethan are seer's, Benny's a wizard, and that Erica, Sarah and Rory are vampires? Yeah, they kinda filled me in" She shrugged. I chuckled.

"Fair enough. It's weird, the first day we met I asked Rory not to bite you" I admitted. She smiled in amusement.

"It wouldn't make any difference if he did, but at least now I know why he's so dedicated to Erica" She said.

"Yeah. Are you the only one here?" I asked curiously. She shook her head.

"Everyone's downstairs" She explained.

"Everyone being...?"

"Ethan, Rory, Sarah and..." She paused, averting her eyes nervously.

"Maya, just spill" I sighed, shaking my head.

"And Benny" She finished. I nodded, biting my lip in thought.

"Does he know I'm here?" She nodded.

"Well he hasn't run out, so I guess that counts for something" I muttered, once again hugging the Darth Vader teddy.

"Was being apart from him as easy as you thought?" She asked knowingly.

"I thought it would be. My first week in Toronto, I couldn't sleep at all. When guys flirted with me, I couldn't get him out of my head" I admitted.

"That's how break-ups usually work Emma. They're not supposed to be easy, especially when those two people are supposed to be together" She shrugged. I rolled my eyes.

"He's better off not going out with me, he can't even touch me! It was no normal boyfriend-girlfriend thing Maya" I sighed.

"He's a wizard and you're a seer, even without the vision thing it wouldn't have been normal. You guys made it work, I know how happy you both were when you were going out" She pointed out. I shrugged.

"It doesn't matter, he hates me now, and he has every right to" I said, shaking my head.

"He could never hate you, he's just mad you left. Look Emm's, forget about Benny and everything that happened before, okay? You're back now and the others are desperate to see you. So get off your downer and come downstairs" She smiled, rising to her feet.

"Fine" I groaned, putting down the bear as I stood from the bed.

"There's my girl!" She exclaimed. I laughed, rolling my eyes.

"Where are my parents?" I asked, letting her drag me out of the bedroom.

"It's Friday, they decided to let us celebrate your return by giving us a free house" She explained.

"Great, so I cooked for nothing!" I exclaimed.

"No, not for nothing, Rory's terminating that food as we speak" She reassured as we descended the stairs.

"Only Rory" I muttered as we finally reached the bottom.

With the open doorway leading the living room, I could see everyone in there. They were all staring intently at the TV, watching the Doug Falconhawk show. Ethan leaned against the arm of the couch, Sarah occupying the spot next to him, Jane took up the rest of the space of the couch, resulting in Benny sitting on the floor. As I walked closer, I noticed Rory on the arm-chair, scarfing down a plate of spaghetti. Maya entered the living room, settling down on the arm of Rory's chair. He looked up at her, smiling smugly before turning back to the TV. Ethan's head turned to the doorway, spotting me. He rose from the couch, coming towards me.

"Hey. Everything okay?" He whispered, not wanting to disturb the show.

"Yeah, I guess so" I shrugged.

"You wanna join?" He asked, gesturing to the others in the living room.

"Uh...I think I'll get a drink first" I replied. He nodded in understanding and I headed into the kitchen.

As soon as I reached the empty room, I leaned against the counter stressfully. I wanted so badly to go in there, join them like old times. But things had changed. My leaving had obviously effected them all in different ways, and I couldn't take it back. My selfish ways had changed everything. Benny was right, running hadn't helped at all, if anything it made things worse for me. I jumped up onto the counter, pulling my legs up and resting my folded arms on my knees.

"Hi Emma" I looked up from my legs, my eyes widening slightly.

"Hi. What are you doing in here?" I asked curiously. Benny shrugged, crossing his arms as he leaned against the opposite counter.

"Forgot about the popcorn. I thought you'd be upstairs" He said, grabbing the bowl off the table.

"So did I" I sighed, shrugging my shoulders.

"You back for good this time?" He asked curiously.

"I hope so" I replied. He nodded.

"How was Toronto?"

"Honestly? It was shit without you guys there" I admitted.

"Told you it would be" He said, throwing a piece of popcorn up into the air, successfully catching it with his mouth.

"You finally learned to catch it, huh?" I asked, gesturing to the bowl he held.

"I always knew how to catch it, you just kept throwing me off" He said. I raised my eyebrows.

"I did not! You just couldn't catch them with your mouth!" I exclaimed. He rolled his eyes.

"I could! If you think you're so good, give it a try" He challenged, placing the bowl back down on the table. I jumped down from the counter, grabbing a handful from the bowl.

"You ready to see how it's done Weir?" I asked, taking a single piece into my right hand.

"Give it a shot Morgan" He shrugged, leaning against the wall. I threw the popcorn high up into the air, tilting my head back as it came down. And like every other time before, I caught it in my mouth. Smirking, I looked back at Benny.

"And that's how it's done" I nodded, chewing the popcorn piece.

"Good to know Toronto didn't change you too much" He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Yeah" I muttered, averting my eyes.

"Listen Emm's, I'm happy you're back, really" I turned my head to face him.

"Really?" I asked, slightly hopeful. He nodded.

"Yeah. But I can't just forgive you like that" He sighed, clicking his fingers for emphasis.

"I know, I don't expect you to either" I shrugged.

"You left me when things got bad, if you just stayed then we could've worked it out" He said.

"I know, but I can't take it back!" I exclaimed frustratedly.

"I know you can't. Let's just try and start over, okay?" He asked. I nodded.

"I guess. And I hear you're better at magic now" I tilted my head, trying desperately to change the subject.

"Better? I was always amazing!" He smirked. I chuckled.

"Benny" I said knowingly.

"Okay, maybe I wasn't the best. But yeah, I'm a lot better now" He shrugged.

"Well, maybe one day you could show me one of your spells" I suggested.

"One day I will. Anyway, lets go back in. Doug's in an abandoned haunted prison" He said, excitedly pulling me into the living room. I giggled, sitting down next to him on the floor. I knew things wouldn't be the same, and maybe everything had gone downhill for me. But they could only get better, right?.