CJ and John stood side-by-side and looked at their childhood bedroom. The walls that had been covered with posters of sports heroes and rock bands and some of CJ's larger drawings were now bare. Any of their toys and games they weren't taking to their new school were packed away in boxes to be stored, and anything they no longer wanted or needed had been bundled up to be distributed to local charities.

Their mother had argued against cleaning out their bedroom completely, but both boys seemed to know instinctively that this was their first concrete step towards manhood and neither intended to dwell too much on the past.

"It's okay, momma," CJ had said in an effort to comfort his mother, "we'll be back for a holiday in a few months."

"Yeah, momma," John added, coming up behind his mother and encircling her waist with the long, gangly arms of a thirteen year old boy, "we'll be back so soon you won't even miss us."

Sarah had tried her best to smile but she was finding it a bit difficult when she realized that John had to bend his neck downwards ever so slightly to rest his head on her shoulder. Her boys really were growing up in every sense.


The other female member of the Bartowski family was also finding it a bit difficult to let go of the past.

Lisa sat in the middle of her bedroom floor surrounded by some of her most cherished possessions. She had already packed her clothes and the few other things that she had deemed essential, such as her first teddy bear and the box set of ten seasons of "Glee" that her parents had surprised her with for her last birthday. Well, it was a complete set of the musical numbers from "Glee," at any rate.

Lisa had heard gossip from some older girls at school about the rest of the show and had solemnly agreed with her parents to wait until she was older before watching the entire program.

"Much older," Uncle Johnny had growled, but his frown turned into a sunny smile when his goddaughter assured him with a hug and a kiss that she would wait.

Anyway, with all of the necessities and a few other things stowed away and ready to be packed into the car to go to the airport, Lisa was taking a few self-indulgent moments to say goodbye to her other things, her room, this house and what was soon to be her old life.

Lisa thought back to when she could first remember. It was just a series of impressions but they were still overwhelming ones, and she smiled at the warm feeling these memories generated.

Soft arms that held her gently but firmly, rhythmic murmurs and sparkling blue eyes over a bright smile. The smell of fresh soap and a tinkling laugh. Then brown eyes and joyous laughter and hands that encouraged her to move around and test her limits. These two were momma and daddy, that much was obvious. Then a different set of light and dark heads carrying different and distinctive smells – her brothers. Tickling and teasing from Light-hair, cuddling and long, transfixing gazes from Dark-hair.

The last earliest memory was of a voice that boomed with pleasure before deep blue eyes and a smile of wonder swam into view. Being grasped by hands too big to hold in her own and swung way up into the air before coming to settle against a smell of burnt leaves and alcohol and sometimes musky sweat. The unique olfactory hallmarks of her Uncle Johnny.

Lisa reviewed each image and sensation as if it were brand new, savoring the comfort it gave her knowing that these were the people who loved her, who still loved her and cared about what happened to her. Those who would be there for her whenever she needed them. Those she loved.

Unreeling her short life as though she were watching a film, Lisa remembered picnics and family trips to the beach, meals around the dining room table, her first unfamiliar days at school, and Sunday mornings playing with her brothers under a makeshift tent slung between their beds. Reading a book with Flash curled in her lap, absently scratching his ear when he nuzzled her arm for attention.

There were uncomfortable memories as well. The sting of guilt after some minor wrongdoing followed by the purification of confession, the usual childhood disappointments of being misunderstood or underestimated or being held back when she wanted to soar with the older children.

And that's where things were about to be different. Lisa was finally going to be with the older children, treated the same way they were, asked to do the same things and shoulder the same responsibilities.

A sudden spasm of doubt washed over the young girl. They all had so much confidence in her, her mother and father, Uncle Johnny, her brothers, even Auntie Diane. Would having the Intersect be enough? Would she be able to live up to all this potential she kept hearing she was supposed to have?

Just then, as Lisa was starting to succumb to her fears, CJ and John tapped lightly at her door before coming in and sitting on the floor, one on either side of her.

"You okay, sis?" CJ inquired, running a soothing palm over her shoulders.

"Yeah, Lisa, you look sad," John observed, taking her hand in his and stooping his head down a bit to try to see her eyes, which were fixed firmly on the floor.

"I am, a bit," Lisa whispered. She figured if she ignored the tear that was beginning to roll down her cheek that her brothers might not notice it, but they were too close and too attuned to her melancholy mood not to understand that their little sister was struggling with the changes they were all facing.

"Scared too, huh?" CJ added along with a short sideways hug.

"How did you know?" Lisa inquired, looking up now as she wiped her eyes with the back of one hand and sniffled slightly.

"'Cause we're scared too," John clarified brightly in a way that Lisa would never have recognized as anything but self-confident.

"But you're all packed and ready to go. Look at me. I can't seem to finish here and who knows what's going to happen? What if the Intersect doesn't work? What if the new school is too hard? What if I'm homesick or the teachers are mean? Or the other kids are mean?"

"Well," CJ stated in a philosophical tone, "we can't know what's going to happen until it happens so what's the point of worrying ahead of time?"

"Yeah," John continued, giving Lisa's hand a tight squeeze between both of his, "and whatever happens, we'll be there and we'll all figure it out, so you're covered, Lisa."

A small smile began to form on Lisa's tear-streaked face when she noticed that her brothers had exchanged a fleeting glance over top of her head, a look that meant they had formed a plan without even having discussed it using some type of twin psychic communication, and she wondered what they were about to do.

As if they had read their sister's earlier thoughts, they each lightly grasped one of her wrists in a hand, then used the other to support her underneath that arm. Before she could squirm from the tickling sensation, they stood up abruptly but smoothly and hoisted her into the air, running from the room in a coordinated gait and down the stairs to the living room, all the while making jet engine or bird noises.

Lisa's dark mood was gone. This was a game her brothers used to play with her years before, sneaking up from behind to give her a surprise flight. But they had gotten out of the habit, then forgotten about it and, eventually, so had Lisa. Now, flying through the air once again with her brothers at her side, Lisa added this sensation to her list of good memories from her past and felt a sense of security and self-confidence return and settle in her abdomen somewhere around her solar plexus.

Chuck and Sarah, who were sitting in the living room along with Casey and Ilsa, were amused by the lively activity that was bursting all around them. CJ and John swooped Lisa through the room, being careful not to knock anything over, and when they finally set her down, beaming, Sarah inquired, "You haven't done that for years. What's the occasion?"

"Well, momma," Lisa explained while still trying to catch her breath, "CJ and John were just showing me that they'll be there for me at school and I'll be able to depend on them, just like when they used to fly me around. I know they'd never let me fall."

Lisa put an arm around her brothers' waists and smiled at the assembled adults before adding, "So now I know when I'm at school, I'll have two of the best wingmen in the world right there with me."

The girl's expression changed to one of bewilderment when the four adults and her brothers variously began to bark with laughter, roll eyes, and groan at this observation, and she removed her arms from her brothers, jammed her fists onto her hips, and demanded, "Will somebody please explain to me why that's funny?"