Part Three: Chapter Four

November 9, 1985

"Here, Emma, you just wait here on the doorstep and I'll go in and tell them your coming. Then you can call your mom or dad or whoever is…available."

"My brother," Emma mumbled quietly, hands in her pocket, eyes gazing at Sara's house.

"Your brother then," Sara opened the door into the house and looked around. Leroy was sitting in his armchair, arms splayed out on either side, bowl of chips in his lap. He was snoring quietly; Sara could see a string of drool falling down his fat cheek. She curled her lips in disgust but walked towards her uncle all the same.

"Leroy," she muttered. He didn't budge. "Leroy," she said with more emphasis.

Some quick snorts emitted from the man in the chair and he turned on his side, a loud snore released from his breath. Sara sighed and touched his shoulder with another call of his name.

Leroy jumped, then glared up at Sara.

"What do you want? Why aren't you doing homework or making dinner or something?"

"I have a friend waiting outside. I was wondering if she could come in."

"And do what?" Leroy barked.

"Talk, I suppose. Maybe she could eat dinner with us."

"I ain't given that kid any of our food."

"Where's Em?" Sara asked.

"She's grocery shoppin' why?"

"No reason, I'm just wondering."

Leroy grunted.

"So can Emma come in then? She won't eat with us if you don't want her to."

"Fine, but don't wake me up anymore or I'll have to give you a good smack on the arm."

Sara gathered all her strength to avoid rolling her eyes and swept back over to the doorway, opened it, and called out to Emma. She was standing in the same spot as before, hands still in her pocket, her hair tucked behind her ears, green eyes still gazing at the house.

"You can come on in." Sara muttered, attempting to smile.

"Where's your phone?" Emma asked as they walked into the house.

"I'll show it to you," Sara answered as they strode past the lazing Leroy. Sara put a finger to her lips to show Emma she needed to be quiet and they tiptoed past him into the kitchen. Emma didn't stare at the dirty floor, or at her languid uncle, or anything else Sara thought any normal person would be repulsed by.

"The phone's over there in that corner." Sara whispered, pointing at the phone.

Emma thanked her and walked over to it. Sara waited patiently for Emma to complete the call as she talked in a whisper to her brother on the other end.

"All right. Goodbye" and Emma hung up. "Where are we going to go?"

"My room." Sara motioned for her to follow, stepping quietly through the kitchen towards the hallway. Emma followed just as stealthily, even trying to avoid stepping on the chip crumbs since they cracked loudly underfoot.

When they finally reached Sara's room, Emma walked in first, Sara followed, shutting the door behind her with a loud sigh of relief.

"You're lucky you were allowed in. At least I think you're lucky, unless you don't like it here. Then you're definitely not lucky. It's horribly dirty here. Leroy always gets mad when I offer to vacuum. He says one of his favorite shows will be on so I can't." Sara stuffed her hands in her pocket, feeling herself blush. She probably said too much too fast, she was just socially challenged that way. She walked over to her mattress, flopping down on it with another heavy sigh.

"So this is your room?" Emma asked quietly, looking up at the ceiling, down at the mattress, and over at the bookcase.

"Yeah, it's not much. So what's your room like?" Sara asked, placing her chin in her hands as she lay on her stomach over the blankets. Emma came over and sat down by her.

"It's a powder blue, matching blankets and pillowcase. I have a desk and a bookcase, and a pile of stuffed animals. It's clean, and organized, and horribly lonely."

Sara stared up at Emma for a second then looked away, realizing she was being rude, but she had never heard Emma say so many words in one sentence.

"Sounds better than this. I don't even have a proper bed." Sara muttered. "I've gone through three different bedrooms in my lifetime. My first went from pink, to purple to an ugly white wallpaper and green carpet. It was horrible. Then I went to pink again, shared with a little girl. Now this one." She gestured around at the room.

"Sounds stressful,"

"Yeah, at times,"

They were silent.

"So, what's your brother like?" Sara questioned.

"Oh he's wonderful. His name's Alex. He's about seventeen. My parents are never home, they work. Where are—never mind." Emma blushed and Sara knew why. She was just about to ask where her parents were.

"I had a brother…three of them, and a sister. But they weren't real, they were foster siblings."

"What were they like?" Emma asked.

"Well Derek was really nice for the first year or so, then he started hanging out with his friends to much for my liking, ended up getting into a car accident because his friends were driving drunk. I don't know what happened to him after that. Then there were Mike and Taylor, twins, really outgoing and boisterous. Finally there was Meg, annoying, bossy, and way too smart for her own good and I helped her reach that point, taught her how to read."

"That sounds nice." Emma commented.

"Yeah, it was. I miss them."

"Why'd you come here? If you don't mind me asking of course,"

"Well it was the car accident. My foster parents didn't have the money to take care of Derek's surgery so they sent me away in order to get it faster."

"Oh,"

They were both quiet again.

"I think it was really great what you did to Chandler." Emma muttered suddenly.

Sara blinked.

"It wasn't really all that great. I was out of line, way out of line."

"No you weren't, you were provoked."

Sara was quiet.

"Thanks Emma. Thanks a lot."

The girls both smiled.


A/N: I know, I know, very much a filler chapter. I'll probably have another one out sometime later today or tomorrow morning.

I loved the chapter before this one. It was really fun to write. And it was great when Sara showed Chandler what he was messing with by making up that mean chant.

Somebody will be showing up in the next chapter and the rating may be bumped up to PG-13 if I decide to add a certain plotline. BTW Emma is a dedication to my bestest best group of friends! You rock! Or at least the Emma in this chapter. I've got the main-main-main plotline planned out completely and I'm thinking there'll be maybe two or three chapters more. :( I don't want it to end but everything does eventually right?

Happy Easter everybody! ;) Here comes Peterokay, I'll stop singing. And a thank you to all my reviewers! If you've been reading and haven't reviewed, please do so! You phantom readers bug me! I want to know if you're reading. Just type something like 'hi' or 'I read your story', just so I know if you're reading.