Chapter Two

It was Monday morning, the hardest day of the week for the Lyman household. After lying in for two days, the family of four had to get their bodies back on track. They liked their jobs and school was okay, but like most of the world, they had the Monday morning blues. Josh and Donna headed off to D.C. after they'd gotten the girls going. They'd decided not to raise their daughters in the hustle-bustle capitol of the United States and moved to the suburbs after witnessing first-hand the cutthroat politics of the city. They instead decided to set up home in the nearby town of Manassas, a 30 mile drive from the city. There, they could own a decent-sized colonial-style home complete with a white-picket fence. They sent the girls to the New School of Northern Virginia, a small private school of about 250 kids in nearby Fairfax.

Their parents had dragged them out of bed and now it was Kaitlyn and Audrey's responsibility to get themselves ready, drive to school, and get there on time. They could sleep in a whole twenty minutes later since they'd both received their driver's licenses. What an adventure that had been. Donna had been too terrified to teach them, so it was Josh's brave soul who took on the responsibility. Let's just say the family's Jeep Grand Cherokee had a few new scratches and Josh rediscovered the capabilities of his lungs. He also seriously considered fighting for a higher driving age, but Donna told him he was being ridiculous and overprotective. Even though he was a powerful Congressman, Donna could still put him in his place like she'd always done.

Katie was always the twin who took extra personal care of herself. On this Monday, she bravely got into the shower at 6:00 a.m., styled her hair and carefully applied her makeup. Audrey, quite the happy-go-lucky one, rolled out of bed at 7:00 a.m., fifteen minutes before they had to leave, threw on whatever didn't smell and pulled her blonde hair back into a ponytail. She was not the perky Monday morning girl her sister was. She was finally applying a minimal amount of powder and a dab of lip-gloss, when Katie burst into their shared vanity center to hurry her along.

"Would you get your skanky ass going? Jesus! We're going to be tardy!"

"Jesus, we're going to be tardy!" she mocked, glaring at her sister in the mirror.

"You don't have to get all bitchy. I don't want to lose my car privileges."

"Take a chill pill."

"Just hurry!" she said nervously, waving her hands around frantically. As Katie left, Audrey made a face at herself in the mirror to dismiss her sister's uptightness. Katie had been a spaz lately, she thought to herself. She quickly finished up, grabbed her backpack and headed for the kitchen. Their mom had left them both a granola bar and a glass of orange juice on the bar along with $20 each for the week's lunch money. They both chugged back their OJ and grabbed the bars to eat in the car. Katie had already taken the car keys. Audrey didn't feel like fighting her this morning and followed her wordlessly out to the car. The twins climbed into their brand-new Honda Accord they shared. Donna thought getting them a new car was over-the-top, but Josh liked to spoil his daughters. The rule was that they had to get to school on time or they'd have to take the school bus again until they could prove they could be "responsible" again.

It was 7:15 and the tardy bell rang at 7:30. Katie sped a little to make sure they weren't late. At a usual 12-minute drive, they were cutting it close. As they drove, Audrey noticed her sister nervously tapping the steering wheel at a stoplight.

"Katie, would you CALM DOWN?" she urged. "We're not going to be late."

Katie let out a dismissive sigh. "I hope not. If we are, it's your fault."

"Oh my God, Katie, big deal if we get one tardy and lose our car privilege for, like, two days."

"Well, you may not care what mom and dad think but I do."

"Suck up." She muttered just loud enough for her sister to hear, still staring out the side window.

The light turned green and Katie accelerated fast, pushing an unprepared Audrey back hard into her seat. They remained silent for the rest of the trip, letting the music on the radio fill up the coldness between them.

The girls soon pulled into the school's parking lot at 7:26. Katie switched off the ignition and speedily exited the car, slamming her door. She threw the keys to her sister and then attempted to run into school in her flip-flops.

Audrey casually strolled to the door and chuckled sympathetically at her twin.

"What a kiss ass." She told herself. Audrey was by no means a rebel, but had a much more casual, carefree approach to life that contrasted her sister's. To Katie, everything was a big deal. She always had to please their parents, teachers and coaches. Audrey liked to please them also, but didn't go out of her way to do so.

Audrey made her way down the hall to her first class of the day, precalculus (on time!), something she knew she'd never use after high school. But she had to take it to get that damn, coveted Academic Honors Diploma.

Audrey and Katie Lyman had two classes together this year: AP English third period and AP government sixth. During both classes, Audrey studied her sister carefully. She couldn't seem to sit still. She was either nervously tapping her pencil on her notebook (a sound that soon came very annoying) or moving her heel up and down. Finally, when Mrs. Taylor had her back turned in sixth period, Audrey quickly snatched the pencil from Katie's hand, causing her to receive an evil glare from her sister. They exchanged a series of looks between themselves, the "evil twin facial communication" as their father called it. When Audrey felt she'd conveyed her message of "Get a grip", which was replied by "Fuck off", she tossed Katie's pencil on to her desk. Galen Morris, who sat behind Katie and held a certain fascination in Audrey, observed the whole thing. He was in several honors classes with both girls, and was a member of the soccer team and yearbook committee. Plus, he was a smart cookie, ranked second in their class. Katie and Audrey weren't far behind, ranked fourth and seventh respectively. His gorgeous blue eyes were a favorite topic of discussion for many of the girls in school. He smirked but then returned his attention to the lesson.

After the bell rang, Katie started in on her sister when they reached the hallway. Galen stood back but wanted to talk to Audrey.

"What the hell is your problem?" Katie demanded.

"What's MY problem?" she dismissed. "What the hell is up with you? You couldn't sit still in English or government." She looked around for a moment to make sure no one was listening and leaned in. "Are you on crack or something?" She asked, half-jokingly but somewhat seriously. She'd never seen her sister act like this.

Katie was insulted and it showed in her face. "How dare you imply that I am on crack!" She spoke a little louder than she'd intended. "Freakin' bitch." She took a low blow and quickly turned and walked away. If only their mom knew what a sailor's mouth her sister had, Audrey thought, her mouth would be sparkly clean with soap.

Galen approached Audrey now that her sister was gone.

"Everything okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

Audrey looked down the hall at her sister walking to her last class of the day. Seeing she was well on her way, she turned her attention back to the handsome young thing standing beside her. She suddenly wished she had the self-discipline her sister had in the morning to make herself a little more attractive. But she was not a morning person.

"Yeah. She's just been acting a little weird lately. Well, weird for her."

"I see." He chuckled. They started walking in the other direction, where they each had their final class. "Well, Audrey, we really miss you in yearbook. You have quite the eye for layout."

Audrey smiled, excited that she was missed. It had been a little over a week since her father had forced her to quit both yearbook and swimming because of her English grade.

"Really? I miss it too. My dad said I could rejoin once I bought my grade back up, but I don't know if Mrs. Anders will let me."

"Are you kidding?" he exclaimed. "She's going crazy without you. She's got Ed Groves working layout. He sucks."

"Special Ed?" she called her classmate by his given nickname. "Is she crazy? Man, I'll really have to think about it." She said, heeding the advice of her Cosmogirl magazine, trying to keep him on a leash.

"Do." He urged her. There was an awkward moment of silence. "So, how's that English grade coming anyway?"

"I have a B+ right now after doing a little extra credit. I'm working on rewriting my Hamlet essay."

"Oh yeah? I could help you out if you want." He eagerly suggested. "Unless, you know, if your sister's helping you." He didn't want to tread on twin territory.

Audrey laughed. "Oh God no. My parents would have a hissy fit."

"Okay, well I could call sometime. Are you in the white pages?"

"Uh, no. My parents sometimes get hate calls." She explained. She reached back and pulled a tiny notebook from the front pocket of her backpack. Audrey wrote down her number on a piece of paper, tore it off and gave it to Galen.

"There you go." She said smiling. "Call any time."

"Okay. Talk to you later." He smiled back. They'd stopped in front of Audrey's classroom so she turned and disappeared inside. When she knew he was gone, she clenched her fists up near her chin and moved them up and down quickly, closing her eyes and smiling in victory.

Katie and Audrey both had cross-country practice after school until 5:00. Audrey couldn't help but notice that Katie wasn't up to snuff. Usually competitive with one another, she lagged behind during their 5-mile run, finishing significantly behind her sister. She was visibly upset by her performance, but Audrey let it go. Katie had all but bitten her head off when she'd confronted her about her many nervous behaviors throughout the day. After practice, Katie got her things together as quickly as possible and Audrey followed suit, seeing that her sister just wanted to go home.

They arrived home after a silent ride from Fairfax. Katie had sat in the passenger seat with her knees pulled to her chest. When they got home, their dad was already there. Donna and Josh tried to work their schedules out so one parent got home around 5:00. It wasn't such a big deal now that the girls were older, but Josh and Donna still liked to make sure at least one of them was around for them after school. The other usually got a ride with a friend from the neighborhood. Lately it had been Josh getting home first. Donna said it was because he was slacking. It was his job again to get dinner started. He picked pizza, something he couldn't easily screw up.

As the two girls walked in still dressed in their running gear he could immediately tell a difference in their body language. Audrey stood tall and walked confidently into the kitchen with a smug grin on her face. Katie, his usual ray of sunshine, had her arms crossed and studied the floor. She looked almost defeated.

"Hey girls." He greeted them from behind the breakfast bar as they both deposited their overloaded backpacks onto the floor. "How you doing?"

"Pretty good." Audrey replied, replaying her encounter with Galen Morris in her head. Katie didn't say anything and avoided eye contact.

"Mostly pretty?" Josh asked as he winked at the only twin looking at him. Audrey rolled her eyes theatrically, but no response from Kaitlyn.

"Dad, that's getting old." She told him. He often replied with that line from the time they were old enough to reply to the question. Secretly, she still liked hearing it and he knew it.

"You okay, Katie?" he tilted his head quizzically to the side, his hands in the pockets of the sweatpants he'd changed into after work.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She spoke quietly, looking down and squeezed her tired eyes shut for a moment. He, of course, knew she was lying but could tell she was in no mood to sit and explain the problem to him at the moment. Her problems, he knew, were a little more complicated now than they were when she was nine and he could solve them in 10 minutes. She'd always come to him when she was ready and he trusted she would again now. "I'm gonna go take a shower before dinner." She told him.

"Okay, baby." He studied her closely as she walked away. His thoughts were soon interrupted by Audrey.

"How the hell are you?"

He shook his head, snapping himself back to reality. "What? Watch the language. What's up with your sister?"

She sat down on one of the stools, as if she were already tired just from that one question. "Psh-I don't know. She's been actin' weird the last couple of days, especially today."

"Why do you suppose that is?" he tried to dig up some dirt.

"Dad, I honestly don't know!" she said truthfully. "She's a real piece of work, you know. A masterpiece you've created. Somewhat of an odd Picasso." She played around.

"And why are you in such a good mood?" he probed. She hadn't exactly been sweetness and light all week. She's been pretty pissed about being grounded, keeping to herself and walking around with her headphones blaring whatever angsty angry teen rap kids listened to these days.

"No reason." She wasn't sure how he'd react to her Galen news. Her mom was the one she normally talked to about that stuff anyway. Donna would get all bubbly and excited just like her daughters when she heard of their romantic interests. Plus, she needed to convince him to let her participate in the school's upcoming talent show so her friends wouldn't hate her forever. He couldn't take two things at once. "Red Baron deep crust pepperoni pizza? Kick ass!"

Josh gave his daughter a suspicious look.

"You're up to something. I don't know what, but you are."

She smiled at him over-angelically.

"Spit it out now, Audrey Elizabeth." He ordered her, taking a sip from the water bottle he'd been holding.

She sighed. She might as well try now – it was as good of a time as ever.

"Well, daddy…"

There was his first clue. She wanted something. She never called him that unless she needed a favor.

"No." he cut her off immediately.

"You're not even gonna hear me out?"

"I'm not un-grounding you if that's what you want."

"Will you let me ask my question?" She whined, flashing her sparkly brown eyes at him.

"Fine, but it's still gonna be 'no'." he said, convinced that he wasn't going to let his daughter manipulate him.

"Daddy, there's gonna be a talent show at school and me and Ella, Bailey and Lana want to do a dance for it and tryouts are next week and we have to rehearse and I can't if I'm grounded and I've been really good and I've brought my English grade up to a B+ and they'll hate me forever if I don't." she rambled all in one breath, looking at him hopefully.

"A talent show?" he asked. "Why the hell would you want to be in a talent show?"

"Because I'm talented." She said "And I'm special and you love me very much?" She gave him a toothy, insincere grin.

He smiled, moderately impressed by her attempt. "Nice try, baby doll, but I'm not backing down."

"WHY NOT!" she said a little too loud.

"Hey, check your voice." He started. "The deal was you can get back to your activities when your English grade went back up to an 'A'."

"Deal?" she questioned in a chastising tone. "What deal? I don't remember agreeing to anything. I just remember you deciding."

"That's because I'm the parent."

"And a lousy one at that." She snapped. There was the flare. The Audrey-flare, as they called it when it was funny, unlike right now.

"Audrey, I think you need to go to your room and cool down." Josh said as calmly as he could, motioning with his finger.

"Typical, dad. Run and hide when you can't defend yourself." She threw back at him as she stormed off. He heard her door slam. Audrey always had to have the last word. That was typical of their relationship nowadays, he thought to himself. They started off in a great, playful conversation and ended with her mouthing off and him seething mad. When did he ever run and hide? He'd seen himself on C-SPAN and thought he rocked. He put his hands on his head and looked up to the ceiling, letting out a groan. He just wanted Donna to get home so he could hold her and everything would be all right. And what the hell was up with Katie?

Josh was left by himself in the kitchen with Audrey furious at him and Katie in her own world. Real smooth, Josh, he thought to himself. He was a member of Congress, for crying out loud. He told people what to do all day and figured out international crises and he couldn't even figure out his own daughters. Then Donna walked in and everything was instantly better. She still had the same effect on him she'd had the day she hired herself.

"Hi, baby." He walked quickly over to her, his guide, relieved to see her. She hadn't even had time to take her jacket off when Josh put his right hand on her left cheek, directing her face to his and tenderly kissed her. But there was urgency and despair in his kiss too. After a few seconds, he broke the kiss and rested his hands on her hips and his forehead on hers.

"Hey, Josh." She put her hands on his face. "Everything okay?" she searched his eyes, knowing he must have had a rough day. He always had when he kissed her like that.

"No, but they're looking much better now that you're here." He confessed. She smiled at him and he grinned back, showing his famous dimples.

"Let me guess…one of the girls?"

She knew him well. After so many years in politics, hardly anything bothered him too much or puzzled him, except for Audrey and Kaitlyn.

"Both." He told her.

"Jackpot!" she lightly slapped his face with both hands. "What a way to start the week." She dropped her hands down and laced her fingers with his, bringing them up to shoulder level. "Maybe this will help a little." She started kissing him again, still holding his face in her hands. Her soft, gentle lips worked their magic against his, rejuvenating his spirit. If only all the world's problems were solved this easily. She finally broke the kiss off again and they stood with their foreheads pressed together as he ran his hands up and down her arms.

"What's wrong with them now?" she asked.

"I don't know what's up with Katie. She looked really upset, but not like she ever has before. Something's going on. Audrey's mad at me again because I won't un-ground her to practice for a talent show next week with the three stooges. I'm the popular one, once again."

"What's her grade in english?"

"'B+'. She's getting there. But not quite yet."

"Hmmm. She'll just have to work her toosh off, won't she?"

"Mmmhmmm." He agreed, leaning in for another kiss. His kiss was a little more forceful this time, and he quickly moved his lips to her cheek, then her ear, then her neck…"

"Josh, stop." Donna told him. "Not tonight." Josh stamped his foot.

"Why not?" He whined in his charming way, his eyes disappointed. God, he was hard to resist, she had to admit. It just didn't seem right with both of her daughters upset.

"I need to go be a mother first." She released herself from his embrace and started walking towards the oven to put the pizza in.

Josh let out an annoyed groan. "You wouldn't be a mom if it weren't for that!"

"Oh, you're the answer to my prayers, Josh. Thank you, eternally." She mocked him. He was such a wuss.

Donna was able to coax Katie out of her room after her shower to have dinner with her parents, but Audrey wasn't having it. She took two slices of pizza back to her room and stayed there most of the night. Normally, Josh and Donna wouldn't allow this because it was a sign of disrespect, but neither of them felt like arguing with Audrey so early on in the week. Katie still looked exhausted even after her shower. She ate her one piece of pizza with her head in her left hand, rested on the table and chewed apathetically. Her answers were all one-syllable.

"Did you have a rough day, sweetie?" Donna asked her daughter part way through the meal.

"Yeah." She replied, not even looking at her mother.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Are you on your period?"

Josh nearly dropped his pizza. As the lone man in a houseful of girls, he'd heard many things over the years he didn't care to hear, counting that right there.

"NO!" She answered, annoyed.

"Sorry." She apologized. "Sometimes you get tired."

"I just had a rough day." She clarified again. Donna saw tears swimming in her eyes. "I need to get to my homework." She got up before her mother could ask any more questions.

"Okay, sweetheart. I'm here if you need me."

"Yeah." She put her plate in the dishwasher.

Josh waited until she'd disappeared into her room.

"See what I mean?" He asked her, wiping his hands with a napkin. "She's never like that."

"She's got me stumped." Donna agreed "But I think she'll talk when she's ready."

"She was about to cry." Josh pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. Let's just give her some space."

"So that means we'll be all by ourselves." Josh raised an eyebrow and put his hand on his wife's suggestively.

Donna slapped it off.

"Joshua Lyman! I said not tonight. Now leave it alone."

"You're so sexy when you're angry." He seduced.

"Oh my God." Donna laughed as she got up.

"Just call me if you change your mind, sweetheart. I'll be in the study." He called from the table.

"Have fun."

Josh got up from his desk in the study at about 11:30 p.m. after working on a report late into the night. After he'd turned the light off, he made his way into the kitchen to get a glass of water for bed when he saw a light coming from Katie's bedroom. Sometimes the girls stayed up pretty late to do homework, but he didn't think it was a good idea for Katie to do so when she was feeling so lousy, so he decided to go tell her to give it up for the night. Her door was slightly ajar, so he knocked gently and peeked his head in.

"Katie-bell?" He gently called, not wanting to awake Audrey in the next room, which was dark. When he heard no answer, he slowly pushed the door open. "What are you doing still up?" He asked.

What he saw when he opened the door was an exhausted Katie sleeping on the floor amongst several different textbooks and notebooks. He walked over to where his daughter was laying and kneeled down next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Katie, honey?" He shook her lightly. When he got no response again, he knew she was out like a light. He'd have to pick her up. She was pretty thin, but she sure wasn't a feather. Josh picked her up as gently as possible, not wanting to wake her up and carried her the five feet to her bed. He pulled back the covers and gently set her down. Apparently, he wasn't gentle enough as she jarred awake as her body touched the mattress.

"Wh…what…" She worded, terrified, jolting herself to a sitting position. She looked around frantically and finally found her father's face. "Daddy?" Her eyes bore into him as if she'd never seen him before in her life.

"Shhh….sshhhh." He silenced her "It's just me. It's daddy." He could see she was terrified and it was ripping his heart out.

Then she started breathing deeply and began to cry. She coughed nervously to try to hide her obvious lack of self-control. Josh instinctively took one of her hands in his.

"Katie, just calm down. Take some deep breaths."

She nodded and tried to do so unsuccessfully. Josh was studying her closely, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He'd never seen his daughter so out of it in his life.

"Here, why don't you lie down, okay sweetheart? And I'll sit with you."

She nodded again and sniffled as he helped her. Josh pulled the covers over her quivering body and moved himself up to sit closer. He held her left hand in his left like they were going to thumb wrestle. She gripped it like she was holding on for dear life.

"There we go. Now just relax and take some deep breaths." He reiterated. He reached over with his right hand and felt her forehead. She was sweating but her forehead felt cold. After a few minutes, Katie's breathing was finally slowing down and she'd stopped crying.

"Sweetheart, please tell me what's wrong." He begged her. He'd sell his soul right then to take away whataever was causing her pain. Katie stared back at him but didn't answer.

"Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" She whispered, needing him as if she were five years old.

"Of course I will." He patted her hand with his free one.

With that, she closed her eyes, just comforted by his presence. He watched her for a few more minutes as she slowly drifted off into a much-needed sleep. As he sat there, a thousand things ran through his head.

What the hell is going on? Is she on drugs? Is she pregnant? Why is she so out of it? Does she think we don't love her? Did someone break her heart? Is this about college? Why won't she talk to me?

The last question kept replaying over and over in his head. He and Katie had always had a very special relationship. He knew just how special it was because he didn't have it with Audrey. Katie was a daddy's girl – she always told him everything. He was her personal human jungle gym as a little girl. She came to him with every cut and bruise, every problem at school. Everything. Why wasn't she letting him help her now? With a heavy, confused heart, he carefully released her hand from his. He got up and kissed her on the forehead and gently wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. As he reached her door, he turned around and looked at her one last time as he turned the light off and gently closed the door.