A/N: we are nearly at the end of this story a few chapters more
The next day
"is Josie seriously biting her sister's fingers for a reaction" asks Tori
"I assumed when she asked for some age appropriate alone time this would be about what happened, it's not preteen behavior, they lost two years together, this is probably how they interacted most days" says Tess as Gabriella ruffles Josie's hair and puts her hand out for another bite
"it's actually a language, they're having a conversation" says Jade
"what kind of conversation" asks Tess confused
"a conversation about trust, how much pain can I inflict before you tell me no, see now Gabriella is doing the biting, look how soft Gabriella is, Josie was a lot more aggressive and got softer" says Jade
"there is probably some licking of fingers happening as well, it could also be a play version of how rough they want to be when lovey stuff happens" says Caitlyn
"they used to do this all the time, Gabriella would mess up an experiment, blame it on Josie then let Josie drag her around, now that I realize the situation it's a power thing for sure, Tess you said Josie said she was the aggressive half of the phantom sister right" says Shane
"yes and Gabriella was the calm happy one, which before now seemed like an impossibility" says Tess
"I managed to find a small paper written by someone who had died and been revived and he described a conversation with a two faced spirit, he boldly asked if they'd ever experienced life themselves and the only reply he said he got was the aggressive face saying it was a purely magnetic experience, they aren't just playing for sub or Dom rights in the future, they're fighting to see if they can switch roles once they die" says Shane
"so you saw this coming a mile away, why didn't you tell your family" asks Tess
"for one my mom would have ended them, like seriously she'd have taken them to a wave pool and returned without them, neither Josie nor Gabriella can swim, not well enough anyway, with Gabriella in the picture now for Christmas I have to try and convince them to heal her, she snapped her wrist last week, it's not painful enough for her to want to wait hours in a hospital waiting room to get it fixed, but it's just painful enough that she's doing bad at work, the bad news is she insisted on coming to meet this girl she's a secret Santa for" says Shane as Josie and Gabriella run and hide
"girls I have it under control" says Tara James as Julia Gray shows up
"and what exactly do you have under control Miss T, huh, can't handle that maybe I know better" says Julia
"I stayed with Mike despite the abuse FOR Tess, so she had a freaking family to grow up in, you sent your terminal brother to his grave because he had the audacity to try and make you feel safe when you got news that Josie had been raped and left for dead" says Tara James as Tori, Jade, Cat and Cally slowly back away
"you know what mom, I'm done, I've tried to include you in my life since uncle Brown died, the music world still hasn't gotten over Uncle's death mom, one call the police department and you're behind bars so I suggest you think long and hard about destroying more of our family especially since I just found out that I'm going to be a father" says Shane angrily as Josie and Gabriella listen in around the corner
"I want to talk to them, Shane you should know I only lashed out at my brother because I'd been planning Hannah's big birthday party when I got the news, I'd already spent four grand for the party, I'd rented a limo, I'd paid two grand extra to get her favourite band to play, I'd waived the money back guarantee because her birthday was only two days away, I never meant to hit him Shane, I'd spent so much money, money I couldn't get back, I'd lost them all and he offered to give me his cancer treatment money, said he wasn't going to make it anyway and that I needed the money, so I hit him and told him to get back in the hospital and get better because you and your brothers needed him" cries Julia as Josie tackles her from behind
"you sad" giggles Josie
"Your mother was always a major sports girl, are you happy here" muses Julia
"yeah, you no mad, you no try take Gabriella away from me" asks Josie as Gabriella slowly comes over
"morally I know I should report it yet logically I know nobody would believe me, besides your mom always said you were going to be different and people were going to try and hurt you guys, now I can see at least one reason why so no I won't separate you two" says Julia as Gabriella hugs her
"you not hate us" asks Gabriella scared
"I've never hated you, my job at the museum was one of selling things, I was a manager so how things look is how I lived for the longest time Brie, I've never hated you girls, I understand there is something ethereal about you two and your healing thing, also I've been told that when an angel dies they haunt those that attack their sister" says Julia
"I mean there is some truth to that, just ask Mike" says Josie
"no way… who did that, he was complaining that I messed up the family photos for weeks" laughs Tara James
"grandma Grace did, she was furious that he'd try and make my life worse after everything I've been through" says Tess
"you know she supported everything you ever put your mind to music, art and fashion, only now do I realize she was setting up a mold for me to follow, hey Tori Cally said she'd be here since she didn't have anything planned for today" says Tara James
"that skin biopsy she had last week, they found cancer so they asked her to come in for an emergency biopsy check to see how bad it is and if she has other cancers as well" says Tori
"and I guess they think Cat might have it too as she isn't here either" asks Mitchie
"they both have susceptibility to mutations of any kind, good or bad, being identical twins it's very reasonable to check the other when one comes home positive for cancer or any kind of skin condition" says Tori as Jade gets a text from Cat
"guys they're ok, it was benign, though as a precaution they're being asked to monitor their sun exposure, Andrea why would they call them in if it was benign" says Jade
"if a blood test result shows signs of potential risks like blood flow issues in a test for cancer it will be flagged as an emergency, like say no clotting happens, it would mean no surgery was possible, chances are they had to have a full physical checkup right then and there to make sure there were no more possible sites of concern, they wouldn't just be looking for cancer, any skin condition affected by sun exposure would be enough to make the doctor request that they stay inside as much as possible" says Andrea
"my sister would be doing the physical, she's non binary and also aside from being a superb registered therapist at the hospital she also studied and perfected the art of finding every way a cancer can present" says JoJo
"you know Josephine I'm both surprised and not at the same time" says Tess
"has she ever gone out of her way to save patients" asks Julia
"oh every day, she's kinda OCD that way, every day on her lunch break she goes down to the waiting room of the ER and talks to everyone there, finding and writing down their symptoms and picks out the ones that fit her criteria and hand the rest to the nurses in the ER by symptom severity, always clears out the waiting room in half an hour as they can focus on the more severe patients so it's a two sided sword that way, she's only ever been wrong once and only because that guy was a creep looking to rape cancer patients, seriously messed up, thankfully he's in jail now and she isn't given fault for not realizing it as even the cancer doctor believed he had cancer, it was only when they did the tests and scans did they find out he was lying" says JoJo as Andrea kisses her
"why isn't Andrea at work" asks Tara as Maria walks in
"because the patients I'm set to work with can be violent to new nurses, nearly killed the last three, Athena is ramping up my hours slowly, besides the agreement was I'd get to work with my old patients via video call till the new doctor understands everything they need go know about them, I'm down to two patients there" says Andrea
"how often do you work" asks Tori
"four hours every two days but I get paid for a full shift daily minus weekends, those patients need to get used to me and Athena feels it's best if my time is staggered for now, she believes that after two months or so they should be used to me then I can work my full ten hour shift" says Andrea
"you chosen for reason, not just twansfered" says Josie
"I don't understand" says Andrea
"she has a point babe, there was a literal bid battle on you, between the hospital that got you and a hospital in Quebec" says JoJo
"Sarah and I are from Quebec, Duparquet to be specific, we were raised to speak French, that cult messed up everything, mom couldn't get a job for good pay so we moved to Pennsylvania and she got a job almost immediately, then when I was six and Sarah was four we got taken by the cult, I don't even think I remember a pinch of French" says Andrea
"so I assume the e in your name Should actually have an accent above it when written then" asks JoJo
"generally, yes I'm still not at peace with what the cult made me do to be 'purified', it caused me great pain" says Andréa as JoJo nuzzles her
"guys Cat and Cally are on their way home from the hospital and Cally isn't in the best mood" says Maria
"she get attacked again, I wish people would stop attacking her, they put out a freaking press release explaining that there is nothing serious going on between them" says Tori angrily
"except people might believe they have a reason to lie" says CeeCee
"it doesn't matter, they're protected under the Sasha Copeland act that was passed a few years ago, Sasha Copeland came out as gay and was murdered, however she'd also been abused as a child by her mom for a few years before they got arrested" says Caitlyn
"now hold on Dani said a few days ago that there was a protective agent here, it's you isn't it Caitlyn" asks Tori
"you really think the president of these here states let's me coach his daughters about dancing and not have me hired for special work, everyone in Congress who has children has the option of having a protective detail agent, a few years back there was an incident where a senators kid was scared of the protective detail that was assigned to their family, it ended with her running away and never being seen again, the president believes that a friendlier approach would work better and so far it has" says Caitlyn
"I know him, sweetest former senator I've ever met, tried to resign but wasn't allowed because his voice was important at the time, much like Frank's, silver hair and she'd be about fifteen now right" says Mitchie
"yeah, why have you seen her" asks Caitlyn
"Caity babe that's the girl that shovels our laneway and showers here, Mitchie invited her over for Christmas and she agreed, said she missed being appreciated and part of a family" says Tess
"ok I'll give his wife a call nobody say a word" says Caitlyn as she calls Danielle Yoko
"to what do I owe the pleasure Miss Torres" asks Danielle
"I believe we found Olive" says Caitlyn
"y-you found her, oh Joe is going to go nuts if it's true, he's spent thousands of dollars on private investigators trying to find her" asks Danielle
"the search is over, I invited her over for Christmas Mrs. Yoko, she agreed, I know it would be a long trek down here from north Vermont but she admitted that she misses family" says Mitchie
"how is any of this even happening, we asked the state of new York to see if they could find her as we do have family there" asks Danielle
"she moves around, the investigation would be chasing a ghost, she's only been here a year and a half and only because the town doesn't like how many homeless teens we have so they make deals with people who have money or charitable businesses so they set up a donation fund where these teens get to work actual jobs or have routines but don't get forced to stay in a specific house, they are allowed to return to their homeless community, it's all about trust, she gets to make money so she can buy bare essentials, all homeless teens in the program get a small data plan and a phone supplied by the town" says Mitchie
"is she happy, how does she identify" asks Danielle
"I mean she could be better, she hasn't said directly but keeps talking about this friend she had and rejection, some girl names Veronica Shore" says Caitlyn
"oh sweet Veronica Shore, ya she came out as gay last week and was laughed at by her parents and disowned so we took her in, she's a big fan of Victoria Vega's music, apparently her parents never hugged her, Joe hugged her when she walked in that night and you could see she was confused, she said 'I liked that, what was that, the thing you did with your arms', she also cries anytime a song says Olivia" says Danielle
"Olivia also goes by Beverly now, at least that's what she told the community revival people, I accidentally called her Olivia once and she looked in my direction and said 'what did you call me', she didn't seem angry about it just confused as to how I knew that name, anyway you, Joe and Veronica come here for a few days around Christmas, maybe a week if you can afford it, she is" says Mitchie
"deal, however Veronica is kind of out of it lately, yesterday was the anniversary of Olivia being missing and she's not doing so well, her doctor thinks she might have extremely bad bipolar disorder so I don't know how well she will travel" says Danielle
"that sounds like extreme depression and guilt to me, sounds like she's blaming herself for everything, from her parents hating her to Olivia not being there to comfort her" says Andrea
"just tell her we found her friend and she will have a very comfy bed to sleep on when she gets here, oh and plenty of gifts to open" says Caitlyn
"ok I will certainly try" says Danielle as she hangs up