OK for people who are wondering which character is which please refer to the 2nd chapter or third one, I cant remember right now. (Edward and Elijah are Elrohir and Elladan) And since Gabrielle is supposed to be 36 years old, Cecile

Ps: Ari's full name is Arianna Hope Elissa (note the spelling) Sarah Talia Dunn. And she uses all of them. And in case you want to know, here's everyone's ages.

Felicity: 14

Sam: 13

Arianne: 16

Maurice: 65 (I don't have the patience to figure out his real age)

Merrie: 13

Pip:12

Leonardo:17 (See Maurice note)

Gina: 16

Bellergarde: 15

Bella: 28

Gabrielle: 33 (see Maurice note)

Edmund: 36 (see Maurice note…again. And yes, I know he's older than Gabrielle.)

Diana Marie: 37

Fatima: 13

Elijah:18

Edward:18

(later characters, can't reveal who they are now)

Theodora: 55

Elsa: 21

Everett: 20

Sven: 65

Manhattan, New York

September 22, 2002

"Edmund? Edward? Elijah? Anyone home? Hello?" Ari searched around her large apartment

for any signs of life. Not that she expected anyone. Eli and Eddie were probably climbing

rocks or doing some other indoor extreme sport. Ari had always done a lot of stuff with

the two brothers, but they had gone kind of crazy after their mother, Cecile Cardeau-Pent

had been raped. Then to make it much, much, worse, she decided that New York was

way too dangerous and moved back to France. This all happened when Ari was about 11

and her brother's were 13. They had been kinda traumatized by everything and had been

left back 2 years. It was a really hard time. Edmund (Ari had stopped calling him Da

after she found out that he wasn't her real father when she was 16) had stopped being

this really great father and he kind of became a recluse, painting more and locking

himself in his library with his books. Ari didn't think things would ever get back

to the way they used to be, no matter what Gabrielle said. Gabrielle had moved

away with her husband Carlson to Qubec and came back rarely. Carlson was

the governor of Qubec and they never came down any more. Not that Ari

minded, because, in all reality, she didn't like Gabrielle too much.

She was a bit weird, she was always so pessimistic. She was probably the last person that

Ari had wanted to see in their living room at that moment.

" Oh, hello Gabrielle. I thought you were still in Quebec."

" I decided to come down for a visit. How are you Elissa?" For some reason Gabrielle

had a really weird habit of calling her by her 3rd name. The strangest thing was that, out

of her many names, Elissa was the one she used least of all. It was probably because she

had no idea where it came from.

" Umm Gabrielle, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Ari, or Arianne or

Hope if you have to but not Elissa!"

" All right, darling, you needn't shout. And Elissa is such a pretty name. Much nicer

Arianne Hope Elissa Sarah Talia Dunn. If I was you, I would delete all those other names and just use Elissa." Gabrielle sipped her diet soda.

" Yeah, and then if I didn't want to tell people my real name, I couldn't give my middle names." Ari decided right then that she really hated Gabrielle.

" Oh, how could I forget you're peculiar habit of lying about you're real name. Now I have to leave, I have a photo shoot in an hour, but tell you're fath-Edmund that I will be by later to talk to him. Oh and tell you're father that Maurice Istari will be dropping by as well. Good bye Elissa." Gabrielle grabbed her fur coat and fashionable white fedora and walked out the door.

" Bye, Gabrielle." Ari called ' And I hope you choke on you're diet coke and get red paint thrown on your fur coat.' Ari privately thought. She would not hear the end of it if Edmund ever heard her thinking such things about dear, smart, sucessful Gabrielle. A few minutes after she left, Edmund came in, his navy pin-striped blazer open, his tie undone. It was obvious that he had had a very bad day, and when Edmund Pent had a bad day, you didn't want to go near him. Edmund looked around and saw Ari staring at him.

" Oh, Hope, get some water please. I've had a very bad day, the writers have completely messed up the script, and the actors are not cooperating. And then I find out that Maurice has not come home yet, when I need to speak to him. Has Gabrielle been here yet?" Ari nodded. Oh, yeah this was a very bad day.

Manchester Ohio

Same day, at night

Felicity walked down the hill from her house to the Gangerman's. Sam and her were going to go to he local coffee house, Espresso Train which, in their little, too small for Starbucks town, was the only coffee house anywhere. She got down to the small house and knocked on the door. One of Sam's many sisters ansewered.


" Hi, Kathy, umm is Sam ready." Kathy shyly nodded then called into the house

" Sam, it's your girlfriend! She wants to know if you're ready yet!" Felicity blushed. She and Sam were best friends, nothing more. Sam ran towards the door his face beet red.

" Kathy, how many times do I have to tell you, Miss Felicity is not my girlfriend!" He had on brown corderoy pants and a white button down oxford shirt. His light brown curly hair was messy….as usual.

" Hello, Miss Felicity, let me just get my coat and we'll go." Sam put on his plain grey flannel coat and walked out the door with Felicity. They walked down the few blocks to the the coffee shop together. Everything was so close in their town that everybody walked. Most people who visited said it was very European. Felicity thought it was just small.

When they arrived at the coffee house, they saw Merrie and Pip standing outside and waving. Pip had already gotten a big black and white cookie (his favorite) and was munching it happily. Merrie was sipping her decaf cappachino and had a two danishes in her hand. One thing that the cousins had in common was that they both loved to eat.

" Hey, Merrie. Hi Pip, how are you?" Pip looked up from devouring his cookie.

" Hungary." He said and went back to stuffing his face.

" Honestly, Mr. Pip is that all you can think of, stuffing you face ? My Da says that one day you are just going to burst with all the food you put into you're stomach." Pip stopped eating and offered Sam a tiny piece of his cookie (a really tiny piece). Sam looked at it for a while and then put it into his mouth. Merrie laughed before taking a big bite of one of her danishes.

" Hey, Felicity, want some? These are really good!" Merrie said, spitting crumbs all over the place.

" Umm, no thanks." Merrie shrugged and stuffed the rest of the danish into her mouth. They sat down at an outdoor table. Being September, it was still warm enough to eat outside.

" So, Lissie, whatcha going to wear to the party tomorrow night? I'm wearing my dark brown pencil skirt with my blue forties t-shirt. It's really cute." Felicity looked up from where she was eating her giant sprinkles cookie.

"I guess I'll wear my jean skirt and a peasant top." Merrie dropped her (3rd) danish.

" Lissie, this is going to be like the first party in like a century and you're going to wear a long, jean, SKIRT????????????!" Pip looked up from his 5th cookie.

" Umm Merrie? If it's the first party in a century wouldn't it be ok to wear a long jeans skirt?" Merrie looked at Pip like he was a tiny bug.

" What? Pip, for once in your 12 year old life, TRY TO MAKE SENSE!!!!!" Sam sniggered, but shut up when Pip shot him a look.

" Hey, I make sense! I make sense lots of times. Whose idea was it to get coffee?" Merrie stared him down.

" That would have been Sam's so point made, you never make sense , shut up!"
They talked through the night until about 9 when Sam looked at his watch and saw that he needed to get home . Felicity walked him to the door.

" Thanks for the nice night, Miss Felicity. It was real nice of you to invite me. I'll see you tomorrow then at the party." Sam turned around to go into the door, then turned around and gave Felicity a little kiss on the cheek and closed the door. Felicity smiled and ran all the way home to tell her sister. Maybe Samuel Gangerman like, liked her!

In the Baggin's House:

Bella was fixing a cappuchino for Maurice while they waited for Felicity to come back.

" You know, even though the coffee house in town is the best around, I still love you're coffee, Bella." Maurice stated,

sipping the milk foam from the top of the coffee. Bella smiled and lit a ciggerett. Maurice looked at her surprised.

" Yeah, well you try raising a 15 year old when you're still a kid. It's not easy. Oh don't get me wrong, I love Felicity,

but hey, I haven't even found the right guy. I shouldn't be raising a child." Maurice looked at her out of the corner of his

eye.

" But you're not a child any more, Bella. You're almost 28. But I can see you're point. No one would like to be a

parent prematurely." Bella sighed.

" Maurice, I'm going to be 28 and I only once left this town, when I was 16. That was eight years ago. How would you

like to be stuck in the same little town for eight years? I get back and 3 years later, my parents go and get themselves

killed and since I can't have my little sister in foster care, I take her in. Now I'm 28 years old with no where to go. I am

sick and tired of this little small town. You know, I have never gone to New York? I wanna see a sky scraper again. I

miss that. If I wouldn't be so worried about Felicity, I would pack up and leave right now." Bella sighed again.

" Maybe you can." Maurice mumbled. Bella did a double take.

" Huh?"

" Well, let me put it this way. I can come by a few weeks and check on Lissie. I have enough money for a plane ticket

to New York. You can stay with the Edmund Pent for a while. Lissie can take care of herself. Leave after the party." Bella

smiled.

" You mean it? You know that might just work. Hey! That ring! That ring that I found off that nut job! It makes me invisible!"

" I don't think-"Maurice started, but when Bella got an idea, she just couldn't stop.

" Yeah, and I can go live in New York, and finally write my book! Oh it'll be an international best seller! I'll do it! I'm

leaving, right after the party tomorrow night!"