I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed my story. I am just soooo happy that you like my story that much! And special thanks to twin muse. I promise that this story will only get better. But tell me how you want it to end. I have some ideas, but I would love some more ideas, because what I have thought of doesn't exactly fit right with the rest of the story.
Thanks to my awesome betas! You guys help me out more than you know.
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Alexandra hung closely to her father as the two walked through the airport terminal. Taken in her surroundings, the only thing she could think of was that they didn't just leave the country, they left the planet. Everyone looked different. Everyone spoke a different, an unusual language. She was able to understand a word here, and a word there, but they talked so fast. She looked up at her father for a moment, as he paused to look around the large room.
"Daddy, is she here?" She asked.
"I'm still looking."
"What does she look like?"
"Like a larger you. Only her hair is longer, and she's taller, and her face is longer."
"I look like her?"
"Yup."
"Is Juliana going to be with her?"
"I don't know sweetie." Vaughn held his daughter close, as a shady group of teenagers passed. Alexandra watched them pass. He watched as the last tram for five minutes, carrying people to the terminal emptied and left. They were supposed to meet there, but she wasn't there. He looked down at his oldest daughter, and smiled. "How does ice cream sound?"
Alexandra brightened. "I want strawberry." She said, skipping with her father to the ice cream store.
"They don't have strawberry."
Alexandra's face fell. "They don't?"
"Only coffee flavored."
"I hate coffee." She whined.
"I'm only kidding Angel." Vaughn stepped up to the front of the line, and ordered. "Un helado de la fresa por favor." He said. Grunting, the employee scoped the ice cream for the little girl. Vaughn handed the ice cream to Alexandra and the money to the man.
"What did you say Daddy?" Alexandra asked.
"I asked him for a strawberry ice cream."
"Oh." The familiar chimes of an approaching tram made Vaughn look at the doors.
"Come on; let's go see if she's on this tram."
Alexandra took Vaughn's hand and held it tight, as a wave of people tried to around her, like water avoiding a rock. There were so many faces. She looked up at all of them, wondering if one of them was her mother. But from the way her father continued to look told her that they were not her mother. A voice broke the noise. "Michael!" Vaughn looked towards where he heard his name. Alexandra jumped to see if she could see her mother.
"Sydney?" Vaughn called. There were still too many faces passing him, to see her.
"Where is she Daddy?"
"I don't see her yet."
"Michael!" Vaughn took his daughter's hand, and pulled her through the crowd of people. Alexandra was concentrating on avoiding running into people that she didn't notice that her father had stopped.
She looked up at the woman that he was embracing. She looked in awe. This was her mother that she was looking at. There were only a couple of pictures of her around the house, and they were so old, but Alexandra could definitely tell that she was looking at the woman that gave her life. Her mother smiled, as she bent down to get eye level with her. "You must be Alexandra." She said. Alexandra was surprised that she spoke English. Everyone in Spain only spoke Spanish. Or so she thought. Her mother just proved her wrong. Alexandra took refuge partially behind her father. Sydney just smiled. "Can I get a hug?"
Alexandra walked over and went into her mother's waiting arms. She couldn't help but smile as she realized how natural it felt to be in her mother's arms. "Hi." She whispered.
"Hello." Sydney said. Her face shone brighter than any star in the sky. For weeks, she had wondered what her oldest daughter looked like, and here she was, hugging her. When they pulled apart, Sydney just looked at Alexandra, disbelieving the resemblance between her, and her Juliana. The people had long since gone, and they were all alone in the hallway.
Vaughn spoke, diverting Sydney's attention. "Is Juliana with you?"
"No, unfortunately she had school. She's not as lucky as you to get school off."
"But it's a Saturday!" Alexandra said. The trio began to walk towards baggage claim.
"She has a school that helps her with some things, and they are teaching her English. But she's only a very beginner." Sydney tried to explain. "It's only half a day." Alexandra smiled at her mother.
"Daddy is teaching me Spanish."
"He is?"
"Yeah, but I only know a little."
"A little is a lot."
"Huh?"
"A little bit of Spanish can get you a lot."
"Oh."
"Where are you guys staying?"
"At a small hotel downtown."
"If you can cancel your reservation, Rosa and Luis had to leave last night at the last minute, and offered their room while they are gone. Luis's mother is really sick, so they took Raquel and went to tend to her. They offered their room, and I'm sure that Juliana wouldn't mind if you took Raquel's bed for a while."
"Why wouldn't Juliana mind? Wouldn't Raquel be the one to mind?" Alexandra piped in.
"They share a room."
"Oh."
"That sounds great." Vaughn said.
"Ok. We'll drop off your stuff, and then we'll go pick up Juliana from school, or you guys could just hang around the apartment." Sydney offered. "I have to take the bus, so we see a lot of the city on the way over. From the bus window, I could sort of give you the 5 cent tour."
Alexandra skipped. "Yea! Can we do that Daddy?"
"Sure." Vaughn said. "Why not?"
"And the other half of the city you can see on the way home." Alexandra and Vaughn looked uncomfortable by how crowded the bus was, but Alexandra quickly got over it, and turned around to watch the city. Sydney sat sideways as she narrated the different buildings. When they got to the apartment there was just enough time to drop the bags inside the front door before leaving to go get Juliana. They then had to sprint to the bus stop.
"Wouldn't it be easier to get a car?" Alexandra asked as she caught her breath in her seat.
"I have one. But it's broken, and I can't afford to fix it."
"Oh." Sydney showed Michael and Alexandra the more familiar sights along the way to Juliana's school. They got out half a block away. Alexandra held her father's hand tight, although she was tempted to hold her mothers as well. Vaughn felt his daughter get more nervous as they got closer. Around them, kids were screaming, and playing all sorts of running games. Vaughn smiled as he remembered when he first saw Juliana quietly sitting on the hill. But she wasn't sitting there. They followed Sydney to where they were able to see the top of the hill, but they didn't see Juliana. Sydney stood at the top so that she could see the entire playground. "Michael, do you see her?"
"No." He replied. Sydney jumped off the hill, and walked up to a girl about Juliana's age. She then jogged back to where Michael and Alexandra stood.
"Ok, I got to go talk to the teacher. Juli got kept over for not listening. I've got to go deal with that. Do you mind just hanging out or playing for a while, while I talk to the teacher."
"Sure." Vaughn offered. Sydney smiled, and then walked into the building. Alexandra looked around the playground, where kids were playing on the Saturday afternoon. "Do you want to go play Angel?" Vaughn said.
"No." Alexandra answered. Vaughn looked down at his oldest daughter. But she didn't notice. Vaughn looked at where her glance was focused at, and saw that it was no where. She was just looking at the end of the fence, where there was no one playing, or nothing to play with. There were more interesting things to watch than a fence. There was a group of older kids playing basketball, and soccer practice going on. Out of all those things, Alexandra decided to focus on the fence. Alexandra's face was barely white. He could tell that she was nervous. Her hands had gotten a little sweaty, and she didn't appear to be standing quite as confidently as she was earlier. Vaughn thought it was a little odd that she wasn't that nervous when they were that close to meeting her mother, but she was quiet, and scared when she was going to meet her younger sister.
"You sure?" Vaughn checked. He had never known his daughter not to want to go and play.
"Yeah." Alexandra said.
"Are you going to tell me why you don't want to play?" Vaughn prompted, although he already knew the answer."
"No." Alexandra said. She kept staring. After a short moment, she looked up at the father she knew and trusts. "What if she doesn't like me?"
"Who?"
"My mom, or Juliana."
"That isn't possible."
"Yes it is. Craig who sits four seats behind me doesn't like me."
Vaughn smiled, remembering what it was like when he was eight. "But he doesn't know who you are. I know that your mother already likes you."
"Really?"
"Did you see how happy she was when you hugged her?"
"No."
"Well she smiled really big."
"Did she really?"
"Yup."
"How will Juliana get to know me, she doesn't even speak English."
"That is why you're learning Spanish."
"I can only say hello, and would you like to play?" Alexandra snarled with disgust.
"That is all you need to know." Vaughn got down on one knee to get eye level with his daughter. "Alexandra, I don't think that them not liking you will be a problem. I think the only problem will be that for now, you wont see each other enough. One day I hope that won't be a problem. But Angel, I know that you will be loved. Everyone, loves you."
"Really?"
"Lets see who loves you already, there's me, and Grammy, and Uncle Eric, and Aunt Francie, Uncle Joe, and Calvin, and Uncle Will, and Mia, and Ally, and Leigh, and I know that Mrs. Marshall [Her teacher] and I bet that your mother does, and soon Juliana too."
"Thanks Daddy."
"Now, do you want to go play?"
"No." So, hand in hand, the two stood there, until they saw Sydney and Juliana come out.
Sydney pushed the door into Juliana's classroom. A book was open, and Juliana was looking at the pictures. At the sound of the open door, Juliana looked up. She smiled brightly. "Mama!" She cried, rushing over.
"*What are you doing in here?*" Sydney asked Juliana.
"*I got in trouble. I'm sorry Mama.*" Juliana said, her face sad.
"*It's ok. Could you go outside and wait while I talk to your teacher?*"
"*Are they here?*" Juliana whispered.
"*Yep. They're outside waiting for us.*"
"*What do they look like?*"
"*Alexandra looks like you.*"
"*Oh.*"
"*Go outside, play, go find them, but I need to talk to your teacher.*" Juliana smiled, and ran outside. Sydney turned to the teacher, who sat at her desk, frowning as Sydney talked to her daughter. "*Why did you keep my daughter over. I wasn't aware that it wasn't the policy of this school to keep first graders after school.*"
"*Juliana sat in three time outs, but she still wouldn't stop.*"
"*Wouldn't stop what?*"
"*She continued talking, interrupting our class. She seemed excited about meeting her sister, and father. But you and I both know that that can't be true.*" The teacher smiled.
Sydney didn't feel the same way as the teacher did. She knew who was standing outside, waiting for her. "*And what makes you think that?*" She snarled.
"*Ms. English, I think that we both know your situation. We don't want to give her false hopes, about a family that could never be.*"
"*FALSE HOPES!?!?*"That was enough. Sydney couldn't handle it anymore. She picked up Juliana's backpack, stuck the abandoned book, in the backpack filled only with projects, and walked to the door. "*Juliana will see you next Saturday. If ever you want to set up a time to talk to me again, I suggest that you do not hold my daughter over to do so. I do not expect to see her ever held over until it is school policy, and she rightfully deserves it. And for your information, her father and her sister are out there waiting for us.*" Sydney stormed out without another word. She saw Michael and Alexandra still standing on the hill where she left them. The only thing that separated Sydney from Vaughn and Alexandra was a basketball court. Juliana was invited to a game of tag, and was running around with delight with her friends, in a near by field.
"JULIANA!" Sydney called. She stopped just short of the edge of the basketball court so that she could talk to her youngest daughter, without her father or sister there watching. Juliana waved to friends, and trotted over to her mother. "*Juli, why didn't you tell me that you were excited to meet Michael and Alexandra?*" Sydney asked, stopping at the edge of the basketball court to talk to the little girl.
"*I don't know.*" She shyly answered.
"*If you had told me, I wouldn't have made you come to school. You could have come with me.*"
"¿Verdad?" [Really?]
"*Yeah. Now come on, let's go say hello.*"
"*Is that them?*" Sydney slid the backpack onto Juliana's back.
"*Yep.*"
"*He's tall.*"
"*Yes.*"
"*Are they staying with us?*"
"*Yes, is that alright with you?*"
Juliana nodded. "*Where is she going to stay?*"
"*In Raquel's bed.*"
"*In my room?*"
"*Yep.*"
"*She won't like me.*"
"*Why do you say that?*"
"*Cuz I don't know what she is saying.*"
"*That is why you go to Saturday school, to learn English.*"
"*But I'm only a first year. I won't know what she is saying.*"
"*If you ever don't know what is going on, look at me or Michael, and we can tell you what we're saying.*"
"*I'm the only one that doesn't know English.*" Juliana pouted.
"*Alexandra is the only one who doesn't know Spanish. So you're both in the same pinch. Now come on, lets go.*" Sydney offered her hand, and the two began the small walk up the hill.
"*Are you mad at me Mama?*"
"*No, if anything, I'm mad at your teacher.*"
"*Good. I don't like her.*" Juliana grip on her mother's hand got continually tighter as the fast approaching hill got closer.
"Hola Juliana." Michael said, getting eye level.
"Hola." Juliana shyly said.
"Hola. My name is Alexandra." Alexandra said, suddenly assertive. Vaughn was taken aback. After the way she had acted moments before, the last thing he had expected was for her to be assertive like that. Alexandra smiled at her little sister, as the two met for the first time ever. Neither parent could believe the resemblance. They looked much alike, just as both had said. Their green eyes shone brightly. There was no mistaking the fact that everyone was excited.
Juliana looked up at her mother for a translation. Sydney did so. Juliana stood silent. "Alexandra, this is Juliana." Sydney spoke for Juliana.
"How about some lunch, on my treat." Vaughn suggested. "There looked like a couple of good places on the way over." Alexandra smiled brightly. Juliana quietly stood. Vaughn got down on his knees and asked Juliana if she wanted to go to lunch as well. Eagerly, Juliana nodded. Vaughn looked at Sydney for her approval. She herself smiled and nodded.
"Sounds wonderful." Sydney said. She looked into Vaughn's velvet green eyes. It was right then that she felt safe. That he would always be with her. Her cheeks blushed, and she turned away.
The now reunited family walked happily to the bus stop to go to lunch.