The sun began to creep in through the blinds, but the first sign of a new day didn't come for Peter and Sophie until the alarm went off at 6:45. Rolling over, he was tempted to hit the snooze button again before realizing that he was getting into a really bad habit of showing up to work later then usual and people were starting to ask questions so he turned the alarm off instead. Turning over onto his other side, Peter cuddled up with Sophie for a few moments before whispering in her ear "Time to wake up sleepy head."

"Five more minutes," she moaned sleepily.

"Come on, it's a big day for the Cliffhangers. They have never reacted well when we put a new member into their group, and I think today is going to be the worst. I'm going to go put on the coffee so get a move on." He then kissed her on her cheek before heading out of the bedroom. After a quick stop in the bathroom, he continued to the kitchen. He had decided he was going to surprise Sophie and have breakfast made when she came out. Working diligently, he managed to have scrambled eggs, bacon, and coffee ready to go and he still had not heard a peep from her. When he finally decided to take breakfast to her, he headed down the hall with the tray, and when he reached the doorway, he saw that her side of the bed was empty.

"It's about time you got up," he called before he heard noises in the bathroom that would lead him to believe that Sophie was throwing up. "You OK, honey," he asked, peering into the bathroom.

After a few more moments in which she did not answer him, she got up and turned on the sink. Once she had rinsed her mouth out, she emerged from the bathroom with her blonde hair plastered against her face.

"You don't look so good," he said, walking towards her and brushing her hair away from her face.

"I'm fine…now," she said, finally starting to regain some of the color in her cheeks.

"I think maybe you should stay home today," he said directing her towards the bed.

"I'm fine, really," she said but as she neared the bed and smelled the bacon and eggs, she made a beeline back to the bathroom.

"That's it. I'm calling Jeff and telling him that we aren't going to be in today."

Once the urge had subsided, Sophie emerged from the bathroom once again, this time taking a seat far away from the breakfast that Peter had just made, just in case the urge hit her again. "No Peter. You yourself said that it was a big day for the Cliffhangers. We need to be there."

"It's OK," Peter said, sitting next to Sophie. "I'll just have Jeff hold Carrie back a day. I don't want to put her with the Cliffhangers if one of us isn't there to supervise the interactions."

"Peter. She's already been here for a week. We never hold students back this long. It's not good for her to continue to be isolated from everyone, and you know that. Go. I'll be fine," She said giving in to the fact that at least one of them was staying home from work today.

"Are you sure? Peter asked as he removed the tray from Sophie's side of the bed and motioned for her to climb back in under the covers.

"Yeah, besides, it might be fun to take it easy for the day, catch up on the cheesy daytime television," she said as she followed Peter's lead and crawled back into bed.

Walking over, Peter gave Sophie a kiss on her forehead. "I'll call you later," he said before turning towards the closet to get dressed before he headed off to work.

~*~

Peter sat in his office going over the morning paperwork when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he called.

"Good morning Peter."

"Morning Jeff. What can I do for you?" he asked while shuffling his papers and placing them in a neat pile off to one side.

"There is someone out here to see you, a Carrie Jenkins, and Kat and Hank would like a moment of your time when you're not too busy."

"Thanks Jeff. Tell Kat that I need to deal with Carrie and make sure she gets the big tour, etc. She knows the new student routine. Once I get through with that, she and I can talk. Tell her that she is welcome to sit and wait for me if she wants, or considering that Hank is here with her, I can find her later."

"Sure thing Peter. No Problem."

"And Jeff?"

"Yeah?" Jeff asked, standing in the doorway.

"After you send Carrie in here, can you head down to the cafeteria and ask Daisy to come here. The Cliffhangers are on kitchens this morning and they should still be down there, finishing up. Tell them that when they are done, to head to the lodge. They should no that already, but a subtle reminder never hurt."

"No problem Peter."

When Jeff left, Peter took a moment to compose himself. Carrie had already been here a week and this was the first time he was able to meet with her. While it had always been against policy to keep a student sheltered for so long upon first arrival, he found himself with no other alternative when she was brought in as high as she was. The worst part for him was that he had told no one, other then Sophie about the new girl, but he had to for the good of the group. The nurse told him the day Carrie was brought in that she was so doped up that she would be out of it for awhile and that they were giving her IV drugs to sleep off the effects of whatever she had taken. After sleeping for the first two days, the drugs had finally worked their way out of her system and she was no longer a danger to herself or to the other students. He was quickly snapped out of these thoughts when he saw her standing at the door.

"Hey Carrie, why don't you come in and take a seat," Peter said, motioning to the seat across from his desk.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she said, taking the seat, but giving no sign of care. Peter could tell that she was going to be a tough one to crack. From what he had been told, her tough draw in life had made her unwilling to accept love.

After taking a moment to compose himself, Peter began his introduction speech. "There are a few things you need to be made aware of, before I assign you a group and let you go get unpacked and meet your roommates and group members," he started. "First things first, standard protocol around here has a staff member searching your bags to make sure that you tried not to smuggled drugs weapons or inappropriate clothing in here. That being said," Peter said while at the same time reaching down and picking up her bag, "given your condition upon arrival, we searched your bag and found your stash, and have since disposed of it, so there is no need to even bother looking for it."

"That's got to be some sort of invasion of privacy," Carrie protested, not necessarily because she felt as such, but rather because she felt that was what she should be doing in such a situation.

"Feel that way, if you will, but when your parents checked you in…." He started before being interrupted.

"They're not my parents."

"OK, when you were checked in, your guardians signed a waiver releasing you into our custody for the time being, and along with that, they OK'ed the search of your possessions as well as a full physical and blood test." Peter could tell that the mention of her parents, or rather her guardians had really set her on edge, and decided to speed things up so that he could send Carrie off with Daisy. "Now, onto the rules. Horizon works because it is a safe place and the students feel safe here to open up and explore themselves. As a result, there is no sex, no drugs, no violence, and no inappropriate touching of any kind. Any of these things will be grounds for immediate punishment. Understood?"

"Yeah," she said while nodding her head that she understood.

"Any questions?"

This time, she didn't speak, or even look up at Peter, but shook her head that she indeed had no questions.

"OK, then, Daisy should be here any mom…" he started before being interrupted.

"You wanted to see me boss?" Daisy said while knocking on the doorjamb.

"You work here?" Carrie asked quizzically in Daisy's direction.

"No, she doesn't," He said towards Carrie, but at the same time waved his hand, telling Daisy to come in. Peter had now gotten up from behind his desk to meet Daisy, who stopped right next to Carrie. "Carrie, this is Daisy. Daisy, this is Carrie, the newest member of the Cliffhangers."

"Ah, fresh blood," Daisy said, rubbing her hands together and acting kind if sinister, but Peter knew from her tone that she was only joking.

"I expect you to behave yourself, Dais."

"I'll try my best, but I make no promises."

Ignoring Daisy's latest comment, Peter turned towards Carrie and said, "Daisy here will be your first week buddy. She will give you the grand tour, show you the ropes of Horizon, as well as filling you in in more detail about what is expected of you."

"Great," Carrie interrupted, "Sounds like so much fun."

Peter decided to chalk Carrie's attitude up to readjustments and continued. "So, unless you have any more questions for me at this time, I will let the two of you head off on your way, and I'll catch up with you in a little while." With that, Peter sent Daisy and Carrie off. At first he had doubts about pairing Carrie and Daisy up together, but in the end he figured that they each had something special to offer to each other, and would get along well, in the end.

~*~

After giving Carrie the grand tour, Daisy led her from the cafeteria to the main lodge. "God, this place is so summer camp," Carrie exclaimed after seeing the dorms and the cafeteria and the grounds.

"It may appear that way on the outside, trust me, it is anything but summer camp. We have a curfew, school five days a week that we are expected to be at, chores that are expected to be done."

"Chores?" Carrie asked surprised. "Isn't there someone around here to do that?"

"Yeah, us, so I suggest that you get used to it." Daisy said while leading Carrie through the main lodge and into one of the rooms off to the side. "This is where we have group three days a week, which we are also expected to show up to. I say three days a week, but Sophie, our counselor, has been known to have group everyday in order to torture us."

"And just what kind of chores are we expected to do around here?"

"We aren't expected to do anything around here the rest of the staff wouldn't do, but the traditional group chores include kitchens, meal preparations, wood-chopping, which is a favorite form of punishment around here, bathrooms, cleaning the main lodge, I'm sure you get the idea. Anyway, the rest of the group should be here shortly."

"So, do we always do things together?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Daisy said as she heard a noise in the hallway. In fact, she heard a lot of noise in the hallway, which told here that the rest of the Cliffhangers were on their way, winding down from morning chores. "You guys managed to finish up without me, huh?" Daisy said with a tone of sarcastic sadness. "It just breaks my heart to know I wasn't missed."

"Who's she?" Scott asked, ignoring Daisy and nodding in the direction of Carrie, who was sitting with her back to the door.

"Carrie, come here." Daisy called, but Carrie just sat there for a few moments before turning around far enough to make eye contact with Daisy and see there was a group of other people in this room staring at her. Daisy then started to make the usual introductions until she noticed that David wasn't here. Once she finished, she turned towards Scott and asked, "Where's David?"

"He forgot something back at the cabin and had to run back and get it."

"Did I manage to beat Sophie?" David called as he fell into the doorway, out of breath.

The sound of a new voice caused Carrie to turn around and see who had arrived. When she made eye contact with David, she asked surprised, "David?" as if unsure that she was seeing whom she thought she was seeing.

He returned an equally shocking "Carrie? What are you doing here?"