A/N: I'm so sorry! I work full time in the summer so I almost never come home with the energy to write haha. Review please, they're what keeps me going!

Kaleigh

As soon as Amelia left, I beelined for the car and got the hell out of Suburban Bliss™ as fast as I could. I rationalized to myself that I wasn't technically doing anything wrong because they were the ones who dismissed me from school, but it still felt like skipping.

I didn't know where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to be around people who didn't know me, who had no clue that I had aborted a pregnancy at the ripe old age of 18, who didn't know that my birth mother basically hated me and my adopted mother was an abusive drunk, who didn't know how badly I hated myself.

I parked near the Space Needle, where I knew there would be a million tourists even though it was the middle of the week. I tried my hardest to blend in as I paced the streets, hands in my coat pockets and head down. I didn't walk with purpose or destination in mind. I just walked.

Eventually, as the sky started to turn darker despite how early in the day it was, I figured it would be a good time to try and double back to my car. I wasn't worried about getting lost; I had no where to be and no desire to be at home. I just… was. And that was enough for then.

I got the weird sense that somebody was following me, like the scene in Willy Wonka where Slugworth approaches Charlie out of nowhere. I kept checking my back until finally, I recognized a guy that I had seen a time or two before earlier today.

Me being me, and not caring about literally anything at this point, stopped dead in my tracks, making eye contact, and started tapping my foot. When he didn't turn around and walk away, I put my arms out in a "What the fuck?" gesture.

Finally, he started walking towards me. I got a little scared but didn't waiver, taking in the details of his face in case I would need them later. For whatever reason that might be.

"So I suppose you're wondering who I am," he said once he got close to me.

"I don't give a fuck who you are," I spat. "Just leave me alone."

He looked amused. "Well, she said it would be tougher with you, now didn't she."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your mother."

I rolled my eyes. "You're going to need to be a little more specific. I've only had, like, three of them." But I knew which one he was talking about.

"Well I'll give you a hint. She isn't your birth mother and she isn't a doctor. Does that narrow it down?"

"Slightly," I remarked. "What the fuck is she sending you over to me for?"

"I represent the offices of Ronald Ferrara. Your mother has hired us. She is requesting to see you. If you don't comply, legal actions may be taken against you."

"Oh yeah? What legal actions?" I called his bluff.

"Subpoenas, probably," he said.

I fake-smiled. "Okay, well I'm all set with that. Don't come near me again or I'll kick you in the balls."

I took off in the other direction, not even bothering to check if he was following me. I knew I probably shouldn't have lost my temper, but who the fuck was she to send some rando to go follow me and threaten "legal action"?

I checked my phone. I had a few missed calls from Lex, a text from Amelia asking where I had gone off to, and an apology from Jess with the request that I call her back later. I decided to call Lex first.

"You will never believe what just happened to me," I said at the same time as she said "Mom sent some guy after us."

We were both silent for a second.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I just talked to him. It's all a bunch of bullshit."

"You think so?" She said in her ever-present worried voice.

"I do. What can she do? She lost the custody battle. She can't sue us for not wanting to see her. Right?"

She sighed. "No, but maybe they are planning to appeal the custody decision. Either way, don't go to see her, no matter what that guy says. If they are planning an appeal, they'll find a way to spin us visiting her to their advantage."

"I wouldn't call it a visit more so than a threat to call off her goon before I do all the shit she did to us, to her." That got a giggle from Lex.

"Make sure you have the baseball bat ready!" she added with a chuckle.

"Alright well if that's all you've got…"

"No, Kay, wait a sec. Amelia told me you have an office detention. What happened?"

"Why did Amelia tell you that?"

Lex paused. "I don't think she meant to gossip about it or anything like that. I was just on the phone and she was saying that you seem a lot more like yourself since this weekend except for the fact that you were in trouble at school. I was the one who pushed but she wouldn't tell me what for."

"What? That's the best part. But yeah, I punched this kid Graham in the face. He was making jokes about me being hormonal. I think Nick told everyone at school. So now they all know… I got dismissed early today."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I am. I just… wish none of this had ever happened, to be honest. I hate high school. I just want to be at UMass already."

"UMass, huh? What made you pick that?"

"Well, they're giving me the most money for one, and two, all my friends are going there. You know. From before."

"Am I the first person you've told about your official decision?"

"You are," I confirmed. "Don't tell Amelia or Owen just yet. I want to do that myself."

"'Kay. I'm going to go, now. I'll see you this week sometime."

"Alright, bye."

It took me another couple of minutes to find my car. When I did, I scanned the parking lot for that guy one last time. It was almost completely dark out, and my stomach was rumbling for dinner. I figured I was in the clear and started back, feeling better than I did on the way here.

Amelia

Kaleigh came in some time before dinner, which was surprising because I thought I was going to have to convince her to get back here before curfew after the past few days that she's had. I could tell she was tired, she just didn't want to admit it. With the excitement of Lexie and the pain she was experiencing after the clinic, she should be exhausted.

"Kaleigh," I called as she began to skip the greetings and head right up the stair. She turned to me but made no effort to walk over to me. "I'm making grilled cheese and tomato soup. And Owen is upstairs making sure the jacuzzi is running right if you want to take a bath in our bathroom. I figure you might want to relax after everything."

She let her shoulders sag and walked into the kitchen, sitting at the counter. "Thanks."

The bags under her eyes were dark purple, and her eyelids looked like they were half closed. I could even tell that her movements were just a bit too much; she took each bite slowly and had her head resting in her hand the whole time.

Owen came downstairs and joined us soon after. "You alright, kiddo?" he asked, rubbing her shoulders for a minute as he sat down.

I was really surprised to see tears in her eyes as she looked up.

"It's just… nice to have a place to be able to let your guard down. It hasn't been like that for Lex or I in a long time."

"Did something happen?" I ask. She shook her head no, taking another spoonful of soup.

Owen caught my eye and we both knew something was going on. Not that something hadn't been going on for the past… forever. But something had happened to put her in this mood, because when I left her here earlier she was nothing but angry and fired up.

"Kaleigh…" Owen started. "Are you sure?"

"I am," she sniffled. "Sorry. I'm not trying to worry you or be dramatic or anything. It's just… the fact that you thought to make my favorite soup and run a bath… it's just like, the nicest thing someone has done for me in a while. And I kind of just felt all the anger I had form earlier roll of my shoulders, because it felt like it might all actually be okay."

"It will be," I assured her. "It's just an office detention. It won't follow you once you graduate."

She looked like she was going to say something else, but shook her head and continued to slowly finish her meal.

Well, I think that was the most we were going to get out of her for one day.

Alexa

I was walking back from my 6 PM neuro lab when my phone pinged with a message in my school inbox. Figuring it was a notification from the class website or something stupid like that, I ignored it until it pinged again. A chill ran down my spine as I opened the messages.

They were pictures. Pictures of me walking on campus… while it was dark out… alone… in front of the building I had just passed two or three minutes ago.

I frantically looked around me, but I couldn't see anyone suspicious. Most people didn't have classes this late, so the academic buildings had barely any foot traffic. My best bet was to get to the residential side of campus where there were lots of witnesses.

After sprinting across Main Street and into the closest dorm, where I didn't live but pretended to for the sake of getting inside, I inspected the emails closer. The last one sent showed me with my phone out, looking at the screen in horror.

Someone was following me.

Rationally, I knew it was most likely the PI my mother put out for Kaleigh and I but why would he send me the pictures he was taking?

The email address gave no hints; it just said "anonymous1 ". I scrolled through each of the emails again, looking for anything other than the pictures that I might have missed. But there was nothing.

After I had been standing in the stairwell for a few minutes, one of the RA's came up to me. "Do you live here?"

"No," I admitted. "Someone held the door for me. I just wanted to take a break inside. It's cold out there."

"Okay…" she seemed weirded out. "I'm just going to have to ask you to go now, sorry."

"It's alright. Thanks," I said as I pushed back out into the night.

I dialed Amelia.

"Hi, Alexa, I'm just about to do the dishes so can I call you-"

"Did Kaleigh talk to you at all tonight about a guy?"

"A guy… no, I don't think so. Why, what's going on? She did seem a little off earlier."

"Can you just… will you please just stay on the phone with me until I get to my dorm."

"Of course… Alexa, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I assured her and myself. "It's just dark and I saw a shadow or something. It's nothing."

"I'm going to ask Meredith if she can go get you. I want to talk to you guys. There's something going on, I can tell. Just earlier you were both fine and now you're acting like something is making you feel unsafe."

I almost broke down right then and there, and told her the truth. But I didn't want to hurt her by saying that my mother was back.

A cold breeze made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. "Okay," I said. "Don't hang up."

"I'm having Owen call," she said. I couldn't tell if she was upset that I wasn't sharing or if she was just trying to stay calm.

"Are you alright?" she asked again after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah. I'm almost there. Sorry."

"Don't be… What? Okay… Mer is going to come get you right now. It'll be about 20 minutes. She was already up that way."

"What? No she wasn't," I said, taking out my ID to unlock the outside door to my dorm.

"No, you're right, she wasn't, but she told Owen it was only going to take 20 minutes so maybe Derek is driving."

"I'm inside," I said. "I'll see you in a bit. Thanks. Sorry."

"Okay. Pack whatever you'll need for the rest of the week. I'll drive you to and from campus until we get this sorted out. Whatever 'this' is."

"Are you mad?" I asked carefully, fearing the answer.

"What? No of course not! Why would I be mad? Do I have something to be mad about, Alexa?"

"No, I don't… You just seem mad. She would have been."

Her voice softened. "Honey. I'm worried about you two. I'm upset that something is making you feel this way. But I'm not mad. I just want to get to the bottom of this and make sure my girls are safe. Alright?"

"Alright. I'll be there soon. I'll tell you everything, promise."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you, too."

My hands shook as I opened my door, quickly gathering everything to pack and running back down to the lobby before Lily could come back and question me. As soon as I saw Meredith's car pull up, I ran out to it, eager to leave.

Only it wasn't Meredith's car.