~*~ Chapter 6 ~*~
"Here we are!" Scott announced opening the door to the firehouse. He was back early from his trip, which turned out to be more successful than he had hoped. He had easily convinced his key witness to return to Port Charles with him. As long as he could provide excellent security for her while she was in town. With that in mind, he offered for Janelle to stay with him at the firehouse. This way he could supply the security that she requested and he could keep her under his watchful eye at the same time.
Janelle entered the house right behind him. "Wow, what an interesting place you have here." She remarked.
"Well you know me...I like unique...what other people don't have. " He grinned. "Let me show you around." He said picking up her bags and giving her the grand tour.
"So...tell me...why do you have all of this security?"
"Well...I guess you could say I'm an overprotective father. Actually, my late wife left my daughter quite a large bit of money and when she was younger she was kidnapped over that money. I never really felt that she was out of danger so I installed the best." He explained.
"Oh...I see" she said, not knowing what to say.
"And knowing that I have this set up, makes me feel better when I'm not here." He added.
"So this is where you will be sleeping, please make yourself at home. I need to make a few phone calls and get everything in order for the trial. If you need anything, just press the intercom button marked office. I'll hear you." He explained leaving her to settle in.
"Thank you...I'm just going to settle in and maybe watch the news" she said. Janelle unpacked the few bags that she had brought with her and retreated to the kitchen for a drink. After getting a large glass of water, she sat on the sofa to watch the news. That was a trick that she had to learn about any new town that she visited.
Karen pulled into the driveway shocked to see Scott's car there. "I wonder why he is home so soon" she thought to herself. Hoping that he was in a good mood considering the news she had for him. However, she was more than shocked when she entered the firehouse to see a strange woman sitting on the couch flipping through the newspaper and glancing at the television every now and then.
"Hello?" Karen said glancing around for her father.
"Oh...Hi...I didn't hear you come in" the woman said and then mumbled under her breath "I thought he said this place is secure... Hi, I'm Janelle..."she began but was interrupted by the sound of the slamming of the back door.
"KAREN!" Serena yelled moving from the kitchen to the living room. Only noticing Karen in the room, she began to speak her mind.
"What did you do, call him as soon as you saw that I was home yesterday? You had to make sure he had enough time to get back here so that he would be here when I got home?" Serena accused.
"Serena...now is not the time" Karen said trying to get her to notice Janelle.
"Wow...does he have you trained well...Little miss perfect." She still hollered.
"Serena...I don't now what you are talking about...but right now is not the time to discuss this." Karen tried to remain calm but her voice was getting louder and louder.
"Yeah...Right, Karen...Like I'm supposed to believe that. I'm not as stupid as you were."
"Oh yeah...your sure not being to convincing of that right now." Karen yelled back.
Janelle just stood off to the side and watched the show. She had no idea who these women were or why they looked ready to tear each other apart. However, she was beginning to have doubts about staying there during the trial.
As Serena and Karen continued to argue, Scott finally came up from the basement office.
"What the hell is going on here?" he shouted trying to get the attention of his daughters. "Karen, Serena...that is enough." He yelled again as they still continued their confrontation. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"
"Why don't you ask Dr. Perfect over here...she's the one trying to run my life," Serena shouted to her father.
"Dr. Perfect...cute Serena...you're the one who came in here throwing accusations at me based on your assumptions...I'm not even close to running your life...but I don't want to see you get hurt or worse...dead." Karen replied with a calmer but still raised voice.
"You don't know..." Serena began.
"Don't even say it, Serena...you're that one that doesn't know."
"THAT'S ENOUGH...BOTH OF YOU GO TO YOUR ROOMS." Scott shouted. Instantaneously, both girls stopped their argument and looked at Scott.
Realizing what he said to get their attention, he quickly corrected himself, "Serena, go to your room. Karen...go to the kitchen. I want to talk to both of you. I don't know what is going on here but I am sure as hell going to get answers from you two."
Serena turned and went upstairs in a huff and Karen grabbed her purse and was heading to the door and out to her car.
"Whoa...Karen...I said the kitchen...here, not yours." He said approaching her and grabbing her hand. "Move it...I'll be in there in a minute."
Karen didn't say a word; she just crossed the room to the kitchen to await her father. Scott turned to Janelle, "I'm sorry. I have no idea what has gotten into those two."
"You know...I can stay at the hotel...I don't want to cause problems here." She said.
"No, you're not causing a problem. There is obviously something happening between them that needs to be resolved." He said. "They have never acted that way towards each other."
"No need to apologize...but may I ask...who are they?" she said but then seeing the look on his face she began to back track. "I'm sorry...it's none of my business."
"No no it's okay. They are my daughters. Karen is my oldest and Serena is the epitome of the rebellious teen," he tried to explain.
"Why don't I let you have some time with your daughters? I'm going to take a walk down to the lake," she suggested.
"Thank you" he replied as he headed to toward the kitchen.
Karen was talking to Chris on her cell phone when Scott entered the kitchen. She quickly ended the conversation and turned her attention to her father. "So, who's they latest fling?" she asked sarcastically.
"Karen, that's enough...you may be an adult and a doctor but I am still your father and I don't need this attitude."
Karen was taken back by Scott's scolding. He had never showed his authority over her before. "I'm sorry...you're right...that was way out of line," she said trying her best to apologize to her father. "But still...who is she?"
"That is Janelle. She is the key witness in my case. She is going to be staying here during the trial for security and safety measures," he answered. "Now do you want to explain to me what I just saw? You and your sister have never acted this way...what happened in the one day that I was gone?"
"Serena and I haven't really been seeing eye to eye since yesterday," she said.
"Well that's obvious, but why?
"Well, yesterday I received a call from Mr. Rico. Serena skipped her afternoon classes with three of her friends and came here for a small party, a game of twister, and some whiskey."
"Whiskey? No that can't be," he denied.
Karen shook her head as she retrieved the empty bottle from the garbage.
"Well, where did it come from? Why didn't you call me?" he questioned.
"I don't know where they got it. Every time I try to ask Serena about it, she jumps down my throat and we end up in an argument like the one that you were just exposed to. I didn't want to call you until I had some answers. I was hoping that I could sit down with her when she got home today and figure this out rationally. But when she saw your car, she came in the house screaming at me for calling you. " Karen explained.
"Who was here with her?" he asked.
"Jessie, Todd, and some kid named Seth."
"Did you talk to their parents?" he grilled.
"The only thing that I told them was that you were out of town on business and as soon as you got back you would call them." She explained. "I can't do this again. I can't go through this with her. I don't know what triggered it but I can't go through the broken promises and fights. I can't watch her turn into what I was at that age" she confessed and began to cry.
Scott pulled her into a hug. "Calm down honey...this isn't going to go that far. She has me and you to help her through this," he said trying to comfort her. But the truth was that he didn't know how to handle this either. The only time he dealt with anything like this was when Karen relapsed into drugs. But he just had to be support; Karen already knew how to solve the problem. "It's okay honey, we'll get through it. Why don't you go upstairs and lay down for a little while. I'm going to have a heart to heart with your sister," he said as he picked up the whiskey bottle and walked Karen upstairs to his bedroom. Karen laid down on the bed and closed her eyes as Scott covered her with a throw blanket and gently kissed her forehead. He stood in the doorway for a minute watching her fall asleep as he prepared to confront daughter number two.
Scott took a deep breathe as he knocked on Serena's bedroom door. She had been sitting on her bed staring at the twister game nervously awaiting the wrath of her father. "Come in, "she said when she heard the knock.
Scott entered the room holding the whiskey bottle behind his back "Hey, how ya doin'?" he asked bringing the bottle from behind. "Care to explain this?"
"Why...I'm sure Karen told you all the details."
"No...Karen told me what she saw when she came home and that she tried to talk to you but it always turned into an argument much like the one that I just witnessed," he said. "So, what do you say...why don't you give me the rest of the story?"
"What's to say? We skipped school, we drank a little, and we got caught. We made a mistake. So punish me and let's get passed this," she said.
"Where did it come from?" he asked.
"I don't know. Jessie and I went to the kitchen to get something to eat and when we came back, Seth and Todd had it."
"So, Seth and Todd brought it," he stated.
"I don't know," she said looking down to the floor.
Scott looked at Serena, realizing that he had to approach this in a different way. "Come with me," he said taking her by the hand and crossing the hallway into his bedroom. "Tell me what you see in here," he said quietly to Serena so as not to wake Karen.
"What?" she question, "it's your bedroom?"
"Yeah...but what do you see in here?"
"Your bed, your dresser, your chair...I don't know."
"Look closer," he urged.
Serena stepped in to the room a little further and turned around to look at the room. "All I see is Karen asleep on your bed."
"What did you say?" he asked.
"Karen is asleep on your bed...so what," she repeated stepping back across the hall into her bedroom and Scott following.
"Did you ever wonder why Karen was never around and you never met her until we moved to Port Charles? Or why Karen calls me Scott and not Dad? Or even why you two have different mothers?" he asked.
"No not really..." she answered sitting down on her bed. "She was in med school living in San Francisco while we were in Canada, she was married."
"That's true, but that's not the right answer. Karen is here and all that stuff happened because I was drinking one night and so was Karen's mother. And you know what? I didn't get caught until 18 years later when Rhonda told me about Karen. You see...Rhonda and I went to the Prom together and we were drinking...Hey we were having fun, you know...and that fun turned into us making love down along the river."
"Dad, I don't want to hear this..."Serena interrupted.
"No...you are going to listen to this...We were drunk out of our minds, we had sex, and we went our separate ways. We didn't love each other. But it didn't matter, we had fun that night. I graduated and went to law school. Rhonda quit school and moved to a shady part of town. Suddenly she found herself a single mother with no one to turn to. But you know what? That night...alcohol made everything okay. So she kept drinking. For the next 17 years...Rhonda was drunk and Karen was alone. Until this great guy took Karen in and gave her a pill to take away the pain. Didn't matter to me...I had a great Prom night, became a lawyer, married Dominique...I had a great life. One night I ran into Rhonda and we got to talking. I felt bad for her...so I tried to help an old friend by giving her a job. I thought it would help her and her young daughter. Rhonda still never said a word. Then your mother died, you were born, and I left town. I never gave Rhonda or anybody a second thought. Then...I don't know why...but Rhonda finally decided to tell me in a letter. Suddenly, I had two daughters. So I sent Karen a note and a check and focused my attention on you."
"Why didn't you keep in touch with Karen?" Serena asked as she got up and went back to the doorway of Scott's bedroom.
"Good question...Because I was afraid. I was afraid that Karen would blame me for everything that went wrong in her life. I was afraid to hear the words 'my mother was a lush because of you' or 'I never had a childhood because of you.' I couldn't bare the thought that my daughter might hate me. So I chose to leave well enough alone."
"But she doesn't hate you dad."
"No...no she doesn't...she loves me and she loves you too...and she is scared to death of what this one incident may turn into. She has lived that life and she doesn't want you to live it too." He paused as he took in Serena's expression. "You know...she never called me...she wanted to sit down and talk to you first. She wanted to understand the situation."
"Oh..." Serena said. She was starting to feel really guilty. "I guess I owe her an apology."
Scott nodded in agreement. "At least."
"Dad...do you hate Rhonda for what she did?"
"No, Serena...I was upset that she cut me out of Karen's life and I regret everyday that I missed with Karen. But she gave me a beautiful daughter and for that...I could never hate her."
"I see..."she said smiling, realizing for the first time how much her dad loved her and her sister.
"Think about it..."he said winking. "But don't wake your sister...I'll be downstairs...and by the way..."
"Yeah Dad?"
"You're grounded for three weeks," he said as he left Serena standing in the doorway of his bedroom watching Karen sleep. She never really understood the hardships that Karen had faced. Just that she had a hard life. But as she stood there and thought about Scott's story, she was finding a new appreciation for her older sister.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Serena stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the living room just in time to see Janelle walking through the door. She sat down next to the railing, eavesdropping on the conversation that was beginning between Scott and Janelle.
"Hey, your back…did you enjoy your walk?" Scott asked when he saw Janelle enter.
"Yes, it was beautiful. Do you go fishing in the lake down there?" she asked.
"Yeah…I go down there a lot to unwind. I even managed to get my girls interested in fishing. Worms and all," he said smiling at the thought. They were both unaware of Serena sitting on the balcony. Nor did they notice Karen behind her with her arms wrapped around Serena giving her a gentle hug.
Serena turned her head to look at Karen and whispered "I'm sorry…" Karen smiled and whispered "me too." Karen had heard the entire conversation between Serena and Scott. It took everything that she had to lay still and pretend to sleep. She had never heard Scott open up like that and she just wanted to reassure him that she didn't blame him for anything. The sisters exchanged a look and as if they were reading each other minds; nothing more needed to be said between the two.
"Did you get things straightened out with them?" Janelle asked trying not to get too personal. They were both sitting on the couch and Janelle was in the position that she finally saw the girls at the top of the stairs.
"I hope…I have never seen them fight like that. They have such a strong bond and love each other so much that seeing that was like sticking a knife in my heart. I don't know…how do you make your kids understand?" he asked shaking his head.
"I think they already do." Janelle said tapping him on the shoulder and pointing to the balcony.
Scott turned to see Serena sitting on the balcony with Karen behind her with her arms still wrapped around her little sister. A big smile painted his face at the sight as the girls said in unison "Hi, dad."
"Here we are!" Scott announced opening the door to the firehouse. He was back early from his trip, which turned out to be more successful than he had hoped. He had easily convinced his key witness to return to Port Charles with him. As long as he could provide excellent security for her while she was in town. With that in mind, he offered for Janelle to stay with him at the firehouse. This way he could supply the security that she requested and he could keep her under his watchful eye at the same time.
Janelle entered the house right behind him. "Wow, what an interesting place you have here." She remarked.
"Well you know me...I like unique...what other people don't have. " He grinned. "Let me show you around." He said picking up her bags and giving her the grand tour.
"So...tell me...why do you have all of this security?"
"Well...I guess you could say I'm an overprotective father. Actually, my late wife left my daughter quite a large bit of money and when she was younger she was kidnapped over that money. I never really felt that she was out of danger so I installed the best." He explained.
"Oh...I see" she said, not knowing what to say.
"And knowing that I have this set up, makes me feel better when I'm not here." He added.
"So this is where you will be sleeping, please make yourself at home. I need to make a few phone calls and get everything in order for the trial. If you need anything, just press the intercom button marked office. I'll hear you." He explained leaving her to settle in.
"Thank you...I'm just going to settle in and maybe watch the news" she said. Janelle unpacked the few bags that she had brought with her and retreated to the kitchen for a drink. After getting a large glass of water, she sat on the sofa to watch the news. That was a trick that she had to learn about any new town that she visited.
Karen pulled into the driveway shocked to see Scott's car there. "I wonder why he is home so soon" she thought to herself. Hoping that he was in a good mood considering the news she had for him. However, she was more than shocked when she entered the firehouse to see a strange woman sitting on the couch flipping through the newspaper and glancing at the television every now and then.
"Hello?" Karen said glancing around for her father.
"Oh...Hi...I didn't hear you come in" the woman said and then mumbled under her breath "I thought he said this place is secure... Hi, I'm Janelle..."she began but was interrupted by the sound of the slamming of the back door.
"KAREN!" Serena yelled moving from the kitchen to the living room. Only noticing Karen in the room, she began to speak her mind.
"What did you do, call him as soon as you saw that I was home yesterday? You had to make sure he had enough time to get back here so that he would be here when I got home?" Serena accused.
"Serena...now is not the time" Karen said trying to get her to notice Janelle.
"Wow...does he have you trained well...Little miss perfect." She still hollered.
"Serena...I don't now what you are talking about...but right now is not the time to discuss this." Karen tried to remain calm but her voice was getting louder and louder.
"Yeah...Right, Karen...Like I'm supposed to believe that. I'm not as stupid as you were."
"Oh yeah...your sure not being to convincing of that right now." Karen yelled back.
Janelle just stood off to the side and watched the show. She had no idea who these women were or why they looked ready to tear each other apart. However, she was beginning to have doubts about staying there during the trial.
As Serena and Karen continued to argue, Scott finally came up from the basement office.
"What the hell is going on here?" he shouted trying to get the attention of his daughters. "Karen, Serena...that is enough." He yelled again as they still continued their confrontation. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"
"Why don't you ask Dr. Perfect over here...she's the one trying to run my life," Serena shouted to her father.
"Dr. Perfect...cute Serena...you're the one who came in here throwing accusations at me based on your assumptions...I'm not even close to running your life...but I don't want to see you get hurt or worse...dead." Karen replied with a calmer but still raised voice.
"You don't know..." Serena began.
"Don't even say it, Serena...you're that one that doesn't know."
"THAT'S ENOUGH...BOTH OF YOU GO TO YOUR ROOMS." Scott shouted. Instantaneously, both girls stopped their argument and looked at Scott.
Realizing what he said to get their attention, he quickly corrected himself, "Serena, go to your room. Karen...go to the kitchen. I want to talk to both of you. I don't know what is going on here but I am sure as hell going to get answers from you two."
Serena turned and went upstairs in a huff and Karen grabbed her purse and was heading to the door and out to her car.
"Whoa...Karen...I said the kitchen...here, not yours." He said approaching her and grabbing her hand. "Move it...I'll be in there in a minute."
Karen didn't say a word; she just crossed the room to the kitchen to await her father. Scott turned to Janelle, "I'm sorry. I have no idea what has gotten into those two."
"You know...I can stay at the hotel...I don't want to cause problems here." She said.
"No, you're not causing a problem. There is obviously something happening between them that needs to be resolved." He said. "They have never acted that way towards each other."
"No need to apologize...but may I ask...who are they?" she said but then seeing the look on his face she began to back track. "I'm sorry...it's none of my business."
"No no it's okay. They are my daughters. Karen is my oldest and Serena is the epitome of the rebellious teen," he tried to explain.
"Why don't I let you have some time with your daughters? I'm going to take a walk down to the lake," she suggested.
"Thank you" he replied as he headed to toward the kitchen.
Karen was talking to Chris on her cell phone when Scott entered the kitchen. She quickly ended the conversation and turned her attention to her father. "So, who's they latest fling?" she asked sarcastically.
"Karen, that's enough...you may be an adult and a doctor but I am still your father and I don't need this attitude."
Karen was taken back by Scott's scolding. He had never showed his authority over her before. "I'm sorry...you're right...that was way out of line," she said trying her best to apologize to her father. "But still...who is she?"
"That is Janelle. She is the key witness in my case. She is going to be staying here during the trial for security and safety measures," he answered. "Now do you want to explain to me what I just saw? You and your sister have never acted this way...what happened in the one day that I was gone?"
"Serena and I haven't really been seeing eye to eye since yesterday," she said.
"Well that's obvious, but why?
"Well, yesterday I received a call from Mr. Rico. Serena skipped her afternoon classes with three of her friends and came here for a small party, a game of twister, and some whiskey."
"Whiskey? No that can't be," he denied.
Karen shook her head as she retrieved the empty bottle from the garbage.
"Well, where did it come from? Why didn't you call me?" he questioned.
"I don't know where they got it. Every time I try to ask Serena about it, she jumps down my throat and we end up in an argument like the one that you were just exposed to. I didn't want to call you until I had some answers. I was hoping that I could sit down with her when she got home today and figure this out rationally. But when she saw your car, she came in the house screaming at me for calling you. " Karen explained.
"Who was here with her?" he asked.
"Jessie, Todd, and some kid named Seth."
"Did you talk to their parents?" he grilled.
"The only thing that I told them was that you were out of town on business and as soon as you got back you would call them." She explained. "I can't do this again. I can't go through this with her. I don't know what triggered it but I can't go through the broken promises and fights. I can't watch her turn into what I was at that age" she confessed and began to cry.
Scott pulled her into a hug. "Calm down honey...this isn't going to go that far. She has me and you to help her through this," he said trying to comfort her. But the truth was that he didn't know how to handle this either. The only time he dealt with anything like this was when Karen relapsed into drugs. But he just had to be support; Karen already knew how to solve the problem. "It's okay honey, we'll get through it. Why don't you go upstairs and lay down for a little while. I'm going to have a heart to heart with your sister," he said as he picked up the whiskey bottle and walked Karen upstairs to his bedroom. Karen laid down on the bed and closed her eyes as Scott covered her with a throw blanket and gently kissed her forehead. He stood in the doorway for a minute watching her fall asleep as he prepared to confront daughter number two.
Scott took a deep breathe as he knocked on Serena's bedroom door. She had been sitting on her bed staring at the twister game nervously awaiting the wrath of her father. "Come in, "she said when she heard the knock.
Scott entered the room holding the whiskey bottle behind his back "Hey, how ya doin'?" he asked bringing the bottle from behind. "Care to explain this?"
"Why...I'm sure Karen told you all the details."
"No...Karen told me what she saw when she came home and that she tried to talk to you but it always turned into an argument much like the one that I just witnessed," he said. "So, what do you say...why don't you give me the rest of the story?"
"What's to say? We skipped school, we drank a little, and we got caught. We made a mistake. So punish me and let's get passed this," she said.
"Where did it come from?" he asked.
"I don't know. Jessie and I went to the kitchen to get something to eat and when we came back, Seth and Todd had it."
"So, Seth and Todd brought it," he stated.
"I don't know," she said looking down to the floor.
Scott looked at Serena, realizing that he had to approach this in a different way. "Come with me," he said taking her by the hand and crossing the hallway into his bedroom. "Tell me what you see in here," he said quietly to Serena so as not to wake Karen.
"What?" she question, "it's your bedroom?"
"Yeah...but what do you see in here?"
"Your bed, your dresser, your chair...I don't know."
"Look closer," he urged.
Serena stepped in to the room a little further and turned around to look at the room. "All I see is Karen asleep on your bed."
"What did you say?" he asked.
"Karen is asleep on your bed...so what," she repeated stepping back across the hall into her bedroom and Scott following.
"Did you ever wonder why Karen was never around and you never met her until we moved to Port Charles? Or why Karen calls me Scott and not Dad? Or even why you two have different mothers?" he asked.
"No not really..." she answered sitting down on her bed. "She was in med school living in San Francisco while we were in Canada, she was married."
"That's true, but that's not the right answer. Karen is here and all that stuff happened because I was drinking one night and so was Karen's mother. And you know what? I didn't get caught until 18 years later when Rhonda told me about Karen. You see...Rhonda and I went to the Prom together and we were drinking...Hey we were having fun, you know...and that fun turned into us making love down along the river."
"Dad, I don't want to hear this..."Serena interrupted.
"No...you are going to listen to this...We were drunk out of our minds, we had sex, and we went our separate ways. We didn't love each other. But it didn't matter, we had fun that night. I graduated and went to law school. Rhonda quit school and moved to a shady part of town. Suddenly she found herself a single mother with no one to turn to. But you know what? That night...alcohol made everything okay. So she kept drinking. For the next 17 years...Rhonda was drunk and Karen was alone. Until this great guy took Karen in and gave her a pill to take away the pain. Didn't matter to me...I had a great Prom night, became a lawyer, married Dominique...I had a great life. One night I ran into Rhonda and we got to talking. I felt bad for her...so I tried to help an old friend by giving her a job. I thought it would help her and her young daughter. Rhonda still never said a word. Then your mother died, you were born, and I left town. I never gave Rhonda or anybody a second thought. Then...I don't know why...but Rhonda finally decided to tell me in a letter. Suddenly, I had two daughters. So I sent Karen a note and a check and focused my attention on you."
"Why didn't you keep in touch with Karen?" Serena asked as she got up and went back to the doorway of Scott's bedroom.
"Good question...Because I was afraid. I was afraid that Karen would blame me for everything that went wrong in her life. I was afraid to hear the words 'my mother was a lush because of you' or 'I never had a childhood because of you.' I couldn't bare the thought that my daughter might hate me. So I chose to leave well enough alone."
"But she doesn't hate you dad."
"No...no she doesn't...she loves me and she loves you too...and she is scared to death of what this one incident may turn into. She has lived that life and she doesn't want you to live it too." He paused as he took in Serena's expression. "You know...she never called me...she wanted to sit down and talk to you first. She wanted to understand the situation."
"Oh..." Serena said. She was starting to feel really guilty. "I guess I owe her an apology."
Scott nodded in agreement. "At least."
"Dad...do you hate Rhonda for what she did?"
"No, Serena...I was upset that she cut me out of Karen's life and I regret everyday that I missed with Karen. But she gave me a beautiful daughter and for that...I could never hate her."
"I see..."she said smiling, realizing for the first time how much her dad loved her and her sister.
"Think about it..."he said winking. "But don't wake your sister...I'll be downstairs...and by the way..."
"Yeah Dad?"
"You're grounded for three weeks," he said as he left Serena standing in the doorway of his bedroom watching Karen sleep. She never really understood the hardships that Karen had faced. Just that she had a hard life. But as she stood there and thought about Scott's story, she was finding a new appreciation for her older sister.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Serena stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the living room just in time to see Janelle walking through the door. She sat down next to the railing, eavesdropping on the conversation that was beginning between Scott and Janelle.
"Hey, your back…did you enjoy your walk?" Scott asked when he saw Janelle enter.
"Yes, it was beautiful. Do you go fishing in the lake down there?" she asked.
"Yeah…I go down there a lot to unwind. I even managed to get my girls interested in fishing. Worms and all," he said smiling at the thought. They were both unaware of Serena sitting on the balcony. Nor did they notice Karen behind her with her arms wrapped around Serena giving her a gentle hug.
Serena turned her head to look at Karen and whispered "I'm sorry…" Karen smiled and whispered "me too." Karen had heard the entire conversation between Serena and Scott. It took everything that she had to lay still and pretend to sleep. She had never heard Scott open up like that and she just wanted to reassure him that she didn't blame him for anything. The sisters exchanged a look and as if they were reading each other minds; nothing more needed to be said between the two.
"Did you get things straightened out with them?" Janelle asked trying not to get too personal. They were both sitting on the couch and Janelle was in the position that she finally saw the girls at the top of the stairs.
"I hope…I have never seen them fight like that. They have such a strong bond and love each other so much that seeing that was like sticking a knife in my heart. I don't know…how do you make your kids understand?" he asked shaking his head.
"I think they already do." Janelle said tapping him on the shoulder and pointing to the balcony.
Scott turned to see Serena sitting on the balcony with Karen behind her with her arms still wrapped around her little sister. A big smile painted his face at the sight as the girls said in unison "Hi, dad."
