The Lyman Family

by bauerfreak

AU Josh and Donna have been married 20 years and are now both members of Congress raising two 16year old girls, Kaitlyn and Audrey.

5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

LeAnn Womack "I Hope You Dance"
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill-to-eat but always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

I hope you dance

May you never fear those mountains in the distance

Never settle for the path of least resistance

Living might mean taking chances, but they're worth taking

Loving might be a mistake, but it's worth making

Don't let some hell-bent heart leave you bitter

When you come close to selling out, reconsider

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

I hope you dance

The Lyman family had once again finally reached the end of the week. Friday at last! It was always easier to get out of bed on the final day of a long week. Audrey and Katie sped off to school on time. Though they knew they were doing just fine at school, today was midterms day and they were nervous. When you've gotten straight 'A's all your life, there's always a little voice in the back of your head saying 'don't screw up'. Hopefully, Mr. Hilman, the girls' english teacher, had graded Audrey's rewritten paper and she could have a sleepover that night to rehearse for the talent show. If her parents were in a good mood. Audrey prayed to God Capitol Hill would be good to her mom and dad today.

Midterms were to be handed out during third period, which happened to be AP english class. An outsider could tell the whole class's stomachs were in knots. It was a class of over-achieving Ivy-League hopefuls. They were all straight-A students with an enormous amount of pressure set upon them. At 10:55 a.m., Mr. Hilman began to pass out the one-sheet midterm papers that contained the current grades for all seven classes they were required to enroll in.

"Audrey Lyman! Kaitlyn Lyman!" he called amongst a bunch of other names the girls didn't hear. Both girls quickly got up and collected the bearer of either good news or bad news. They looked for and found the familiar pattern that seven straight A's formed on their papers. A sigh of relief. They could relax a little over the weekend.

"Don't forget to return these to school on Monday with a parent signature. Have a good weekend!" Mr. Hilman announced as the bell rang. From the cheerful hum and smiles from the other students, Audrey and Katie could tell that their grades were similar. "Oh, Audrey! I have your english paper graded." Audrey had almost forgotten to ask him amidst her relief about midterms.

Audrey got up again excitedly from her seat, smiling in anticipation. She could just feel it when she had an 'A'. She reached his desk and he turned her paper over, smiling.

"Nice job, Lyman. Let's not repeat this again, okay?"

Audrey did a little dance as she saw the 'A' on her paper. "Thank you, Mr. Hilman. Don't worry, I won't."

Katie was waiting for her sister at the door to the classroom. She smiled when she saw the same expression on Audrey's face.

"You got an 'A'?" She inquired.

"Yeah!" She cheered. "I'm gonna call dad right now to see if I can have a sleepover."

"You brought your cell phone into school?" Katie asked, always one to be mindful of school rules.

"Only today. I leave it in the car the rest of the time."

"Hell raiser." She joked. "I'll see you in government, okay?"

"Okay, see ya." They went their separate ways. Audrey quickly found the girls' bathroom a few doors down and locked herself into one of the stalls, dialing her father's office.

He picked up on the third ring.

"Josh Lyman."

"Dad!" Audrey said excitedly.

"Audrey? What are you doing calling me at 11:00? Aren't you supposed to be in class getting something called an education?"

"It's passing period, dad. Anyways, guess what?" She played a guessing game like she was seven years old with a playful attitude that matched.

"What is it, Audrey?"

"I got on 'A' on my english rewrite and I got straight A's again on my midterm!"

"Really? That's great, honey. Good job." He told her, not surprised. His little girls were awesome.

"Soooo…."

"Soooo….what?"

"Can I have my sleepover tonight?"

Josh scrunched his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, knowing that he'd have to let her. He was having a good day but there was nothing quite like a houseful of giddy teenage girls to bring the mood down to a halting stop. And to lose sleep.

"Pleeeeeease?" She begged in her sweetest voice. "We'll promise to be quiet."

"Yeah, that's likely." He commented. "Alright, but only the three girls we talked about before, okay? No one else." He gave in. He anticipated her screeching in to the phone and pulled the receiver away from his ear.

"EEEeeeeeee!" She predictably squealed. "Thank you, dad! Thank you thank you thank you! You're the best!"
"I know. I'll be home at 4:30, okay, and we can go pick up pizza."

"Oh, dad. Ella's working at the shoe store and she gets off at, like, 5:00. Can we go pick her up?" Ella Parker was one of Audrey's best friends and was also close to the whole family in general. Last year, when her home life got kind of rough, she'd even lived with the Lymans for two months.

"Yeah, sure. I need a new pair of work shoes. She can hook me up. She gets paid on commission, right?"

"Yeah. Okay, see ya then!"

"Bye, sweetheart." He smiled to himself as he pushed the power button on his cordless phone. Great, he thought to himself. Five hyper, giddy teenage girls on a Friday night rehearsing a most-likely hideous dance to a repulsive song. What could possibly be better?

Audrey was in a dangerous mood. When she was fresh off a high like straight-A-midterms-A-on-the-english-paper-sleepover-tonight-with-best-girlfriends mood, she could do some crazy things. She just couldn't help herself. Katie knew this and was not surprised about what she did that day in government class.

Always one to want to impress (especially Galen Morris) and pull a fast one on any adult, she was in the mood to get under Mrs. Taylor's skin. Well, she wasn't particularly in the mood to get at her in particular, but the perfect opportunity happened to come up that day in class. Daria Clark was celebrating her last day at school before she moved to Oregon and had brought in some cupcakes. Daria also gave one to her teacher, who happened to get some on her chin. Mrs. Taylor also happened to be quite overweight and had more like two or three chins. She also wasn't anyone's favorite teacher. In fact, she was the reason for the word 'bitch', as the girls had come to call her behind her back.

"Do I have some cake on my chin?" She asked the front row after feeling something on her face.

"Which one?" Audrey chimed in without missing a beat. The class fell silent as Mrs. Taylor's face slowly took on an evil glare. The eyes of the entire class were on the teacher, who stared at Audrey. Audrey had a smug look on her face. Katie covered her mouth so she wouldn't laugh but was thinking that Audrey just written her own tombstone.

"Go to the Dean's office now!" Mrs. Taylor boomed, pointing to the door with her chubby pointer finger, her arm fat wobbling. Audrey meekly got up from her seat and collected her things and walked triumphantly to the door. The other students snickered in disbelief and awe, trying not to burst out laughing to avoid the wrath of Mrs. Anderson.

They'd call her parents. But Audrey was a step ahead of them. At the beginning of the year, she'd changed the phone numbers on both her and Katie's emergency contact cards so the school would never be able to reach them. If something serious ever happened, Katie would, of course, know the correct number. Her parents' email addresses were public knowledge, but the school would leave messages on the phone machines before resorting to that. Sure, they'd find out eventually, but not before the sleepover. Audrey had to get her kicks. Her dad would probably think it was funny.

After being detained in the dean's office for the rest of the day while the dean tried to reach one of her parents, Audrey was finally released at the end of the school day. She met Katie at their usual spot, Audrey's locker. Audrey had a smug look on her face as she strolled up to her sister's locker.

"Audrey Elizabeth Lyman, what the hell has gotten into you?" Katie demanded with an amused look on her face. She had to admire her sister's guts. She could definitely never do what Audrey had just done. That was the difference between them.

"Thank you, I'll be here all night!" She told Katie as she began to turn the combination to her locker.

"Mom and dad are gonna kill you when they find out."

"Yeah, but not tonight." She said. Audrey just had no remorse.

"You just got un-grounded! What the hell is the matter with you?"

"No one knows."

Katie rolled her eyes and rested her head on the locker next to Audrey's.

"Let's just get out of here." Katie pleaded. Audrey packed only one textbook into her backpack this weekend, planning to take a break from studying after pulling straight-A midterms.

"Amen to that." She said, zipping up her backpack. The twins then walked down the long hallway of Northern Virginia New School out to their car. Audrey was on a high, so there was no arguing about who was going to drive. Katie also knew they'd have the stereo on full blast with the windows down as Audrey sang awfully to the radio.

"Pour me! Pour me! Pour me! Pour me another shot of whiskey! Bartender hit me one more time!" Audrey screamed out the window. Katie buried her head in her hands, embarrassed, but she had to smile. This was the scene the entire way home.

Donna arrived home at about 3:30 just after the girls got home from school. She'd managed to make an emergency meeting with a psychologist in D.C., Dr. Hampton, and needed to get Katie to her 4:00 appointment. They rushed out the door, leaving a giddy Audrey home alone until her father arrived at 4:30.

At Dr. Hampton's office, the usual paperwork intimidated Donna and Katie, but they slowly worked through it. Finally, Dr. Hampton was ready to see them. As Katie got up, she felt a few butterflies in her stomach. A shrink was waiting to see her. What the hell had she done wrong?

Donna and Katie waited in near silence in their patient room. Donna glanced at her watch…4:13, and then glanced at her daughter.

"So, how was school today?" She tried to make conversation, but it seemed so unimportant compared to the reason they were sitting in that very room.

"It was fine."

"Did you get…never mind." Donna stopped herself. She didn't want Katie to feel that grades were the only thing important to her, but Katie already knew what she was going to ask.

"My midterms?" she finished for her mother. "Yeah. Straight A's again."

Donna nodded. "You work hard, honey. We're proud of you. But don't drive yourself over the edge."

Katie threw her head back in annoyance. "Well, it's a little too late for that talk, don't you think?" She snapped. "I'm in a friggin' shrink's office, for crying out loud!"

"Okay, Katie. Let's just drop it for now." She said, looking at the floor. Katie rolled her eyes. They remained silent for the few more minutes it took for Dr. Hampton to come in. Doctors gave Donna the creeps. Doctors of any kind.

There was a loud knock on the door and Dr. Hampton walked in without giving them a chance to answer.

"Good afternoon, folks." He greeted warmly. Dr. Hampton was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and bright red hair, looking a bit freakish. His face was friendly, though as he smiled at the two nervous people staring back at him.

"Hi, Dr. Hampton." Donna stood up. "I'm Donnatella Lyman and this is my daughter, Kaitlyn."

Dr. Hampton shook Donna's hand and then turned to shake Katie's, who remained seated despite her parents' teachings to always rise when an elder greeted her.

"A pleasure to meet you both." He took a seat on his special swivel-chair. Doctors were always possessive about those things. He cleared his throat before beginning. "Well, let's start with a little history. Donna, would you care to enlighten me?"

"Certainly." She rubbed her thigh nervously. "Well, uh, Katie was born along with her fraternal twin Audrey on June 2nd, 1988 here in D.C. Normal pregnancy, birth, infancy. No major illnesses besides the usual Chicken Pox and the like."

"Okay. Katie, how would you describe your childhood?" He turned his attention to the unsure 16-year-old sitting across from him.

"What about it?" She nervously glanced at her mother for a second.

"Was it happy? Did you have any major problems with parents or siblings?"

"Uh, I guess it was normal. Aside from having two politician parents. I guess there's always been a lot of pressure."

"What about your relationship with your sister?" He probed.

"We've always been pretty close, but competitive." Dr. Hampton nodded agreeably but sensed her mother was perhaps holding her back.

"Okay." He started. "Well, Mrs. Lyman, I'd really like to speak with Katie individually for a while, if you don't mind."

Donna was slightly surprised, but she should have expected this request. He was here to see her daughter, not both of them. She supposed it was the protective mother thing. She darted her eyes a little uncomfortably.

"Oh, of course." She slapped her hands on her thighs and got up. Donna looked back at her daughter, who was staring at the floor. "I'll be right outside, okay sweetie?"

"Okay, mom." She said with a little urgency in her voice, as if she just wanted her to get out.

"Okay." She smiled slightly and then scurried out the door into the waiting room.

Josh Lyman got home at 4:30 sharp after being dropped off by a neighbor. He could tell Audrey was home because he heard her music blaring all the way outside. He made his way through the house to her bedroom door, which was shut even though she was the only one home. He banged on the door as loud as he could to get her attention, but to no avail. Finally, he gave up and opened the door to find Audrey actually cleaning her room. She was having guests, so she didn't want to be perceived as a piggish slob, which she really was. He didn't want to touch her because she might freak out, so he just waited in the doorway until she saw him. Which scared the shit out of her anyway.

"Holy shit dad!" She screamed, but he couldn't hear her over the music. She made her way to the stereo and turned it down.

"It's a good thing I didn't hear that. It looked like you just mouthed a cuss word."

"Never from this sweet angelic mouth." She told him.

"Yeah. You ready to go?" He asked her, hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, let me find my purse." She dug through a pile of clothes that was off in one corner and finally emerged with a blue-striped bag.

"Okay. We're a go." Audrey told him. Josh held his arm out as if to escort her, a regularity in her younger days. Audrey smiled over-exuberantly, raising her nose snobbishly as she took his arm and Josh had to laugh.

"Don't laugh at me. I'll tear you a new one."

"Excuse me?" He laughed again.

"No time for conversing, father, I have an appearance to make." Josh just rolled his eyes.

They soon arrived at Bob's Quality Shoes where Ella Parker worked in the mall. Josh and Ella had a great banter together and he planned to milk it today while she had to work. He strolled in and Ella immediately smiled from the counter when she saw the two Lymans. She was working though, so she had to act somewhat professionally.

"Good afternoon, sir and miss. Did you get lost? The yuppie store is just around the corner next to Overpriced Jewelry-R-Us."

She had a playful smile on her face, trying to keep up the façade to her boss that she was working.

"No thank you, miss. We were looking for a low-grade store. I was looking for a brown shoe." Josh told her vaguely. Ella had told him once that she detested when customers were so vague with their requests.

"Well, you've come to the right place, sir. We even sell our shoes in pairs, so if you play your cards right, you can walk out of here with not one, but two brown shoes!"

The three of them looked at one another with a mock-enthusiasm on their faces. Josh started laughing theatrically and leaned back, letting his voice resonate throughout the store, causing a few other customers to glance over.

"Well, wonderful! Is this your daughter? My, isn't she stunning? If I were you, I'd buy her a new Mustang and a shopping spree to the mall."

"Why thank you, miss. She's actually just had major plastic surgery. Hideous as an ape."

"Oh, delightful!" She said with the straightest face. Audrey beamed back at her. "I can see where she gets her ape looks." She shot back. Audrey snorted in laughter.

"Miss, I have a lovely brown purse that would go wonderfully with that birthmark on your upper arm I see staring at me." Audrey glanced at her right upper arm where she did have a small brown birthmark.

"Well, you see…" She played along, "I've been having problems deciding what color purse to get because it keeps changing colors. First it's black, then brown, then kind of an ear-wax yellow…"

"Darling, let's not discuss your skin problems in public." Josh stopped her, disgusted, even though he knew she was joking.

"Well, anyways, Mr. Lyman, let's find you two new brown shoes." Ella suggested and began walking to another part of the store as the Lymans followed. They soon picked Josh out a lovely pair of Merrells and proceeded to checkout.

Back at Dr. Hampton's office, he was just getting started getting to know Kaitlyn Lyman.

"So, Katie. Describe your relationship with your mother for me."

"My mother?" She asked for clarification nervously even though she'd heard him just fine.

"Yes."

"Well, we get along okay, I guess. I mean, we're not exactly close."

"Have you always felt that way, or just recently in your teen years?"

Katie thought for a moment. "Always, I guess. She's a great mom, but I've always just preferred my dad."

"Okay. Tell me about your relationship with your father." He glanced at his paperwork. "Joshua Lyman?"

"Yeah, that's him." She smiled at the many fond memories, "He's like my best friend. We love the hell out of each other."

Dr. Hampton smiled. "You've always had a special connection with him?"

"Yeah, I'd say so. We just kinda click. We're a lot alike."

"So, your relationship with your father's great, with your mother so-so, and with your sister just fine?"

"Yeah."

"So, what made you start taking Ritalin?" He asked, straight-up.

Katie looked away and examined her fingernails, one of her nervous habits.

"I don't know…"

"Tell me more about the kind of pressure you're under. Your father's a Senator and your mother's a member of the House of Representatives. There's gotta be some high expectations there."

"Yeah, there is. I mean, I've always been driven to do well, you know. But sometimes I feel like they're breathing down my neck a little bit, especially my mom." She found it surprisingly easy to open up to Dr. Hampton, even though she'd known him only 15 minutes. "They both went to Harvard, so they kind of expect us to get into the Ivy League too."

"I see. When did you feel the pressure start to get overwhelming?"

A moment clicked in Katie's head, one that had always seemed to define her drive in school.

"Well, I remember when I was in third grade," She started, "We'd just gotten our report cards. Third grade is the first year you actually get letter grades. I got six 'A's and one 'B'. My parents both said they were so proud of me and of course I believed them. I was going to their bedroom that evening to say goodnight, but I heard them talking so I stopped to listen. They were talking about how I could've gotten a 'B'. I realized later in life that they thought the teacher calculated my grade wrong and they needed to talk to her, but as a nine-year-old, I assumed they thought I was stupid. That 'B's weren't good enough. So I went to bed without saying anything. And ever since then I can remember never ever wanting to get a 'B' in my life again. Never getting a 'B' is hard work. Almost impossible in high school. I had to study. A lot. I would stay up really late to study but I kept falling asleep. My friend Ally told me about Ritalin pills she was using for the same reason – they help you stay up late to study. So that's why I started using them. To study. To not get a 'B'."

Ella scanned the shoes into the computer and then picked up a cylindrical spray.

"Sir, when I was assisting you with your shoes, I noticed a strong odor coming from your feet. Would you care to try some of our new foot odor neutralizer?"

Josh smiled and laughed. "No thanks, miss."

Ella nodded, smiling to herself. "Seriously, sir, you have a problem. This one's on the house. For your daughter's sake." She finished checking them out and handed Josh the bag.

"Thank you, come again." She smiled.

"Bye." They called back in unison. They left the store and sat on a bench just outside the doors to wait for Ella to get off. Five minutes later, Ella burst through the doors.

"Oh, God! I hate my job." She complained.

Josh and Audrey stood up.

"You're so talented, though, Ella." Josh teased as he put his arm around her neck and playfully strangled her and then let her go as they walked through the mall to the doors.

"Hi, Mr. Lyman. Hi Audrey." Ella greeted them.

"How's my favorite shoe salesman been? I haven't seen you forever." Josh asked her.

"Maybe you shouldn't ground Audrey so much, then."

"You'll have to help her with that." He retorted. Ella smiled at Audrey, both knowing about english class that day as she reached the mall doors.

Josh had ordered four pizzas a while ago, knowing teenage girls had large appetites. Josh reluctantly sat in the back seat of Audrey's Honda Accord with Ella in the passenger seat as they drove to Papa John's. My, this felt weird, he thought to himself. He sat silently and listened as the girls rambled on about their days, about what teachers sucked and who said what to who and who wore what. He marveled at how quickly the girls changed from sounding like little girls in their conversations into women in a matter of a few seconds, talking about the newest Skittles flavors and then their precalculus homework.

They arrived at the Lyman household around 6:00. Donna and Katie had gotten home just a few minutes earlier after a silent and cold ride home. Katie felt a little better, but the session had also stirred up some previously suppressed feelings and memories about her family, her mother especially. She stayed in her room until she heard her father's warm voice and smelled the sweet Papa John's pizza asking her to come out. Katie wasn't too excited about Audrey having her three best girlfriends over. She didn't mind Ella, Bailey and Lana, but she'd rather have a quiet night to herself. The two other girls arrived moments later and soon there were paper plates and liters of soda out on the kitchen counter amongst excited voices and girly giggling. Katie went to stand by her father, who put his arm around her and snuggly hugged her and kissed her on the head, knowing she'd probably had a session that had stirred up some feelings. He wanted to be there for whatever she needed. After all, he knew what therapy could bring up after going through it himself.

"Come get your pizza, you tub of lard!" Audrey told Ella in her best Napoleon Dynamite voice.

"Audrey Elizabeth Lyman!" Josh scolded her. "Mind your language."

"Ella, how many pieces of pizza can you have and how much soda? Have you worked it into your meal plan?" Donna asked her. Ella had Type One Diabetes and had to keep a close eye on what she ate. When she'd lived with the Lymans for two months last year, Donna and Josh had become experts with the disorder. Ella had to keep her blood sugar between about 80 and 200. They'd also kept a spare AccuCheck in their home for testing and learned how to work it. As a teen who had lived with the disorder since she was seven, Ella was pretty self-regulating, but the Lymans would rather be safe instead of sorry. The Lymans had known Ella for almost her entire life. The girls met in preschool and had been attached at the hips ever since. They'd been there during the scary hours when Ella became desperately ill as her blood sugar climbed up to 2000. That's when her parents had found out she had Diabetes. Over the years, they'd had a few scares, but it was mostly under control.

"I can have two pieces." She said, swallowing down a mouthful. "And I think I'll just have some water to drink."

"Smart choice." Donna said. They had a long history with Ella. Her parents got divorced five years ago and her father quickly moved across the country to California. Ella was an only child, so she was left alone with her mother, whom she'd never particularly gotten along with. Their relationship had worsened as Ella reached her teen years and not having a father around didn't help. The Lymans offered to take her in for a few months to give mother and daughter space from one another. Josh and Donna had grown even closer to her then, and Ella had become almost a third daughter to them. Ella had especially taken to Josh, clinging to any sort of male role model in her life.

The telephone rang and the adults sighed at the interruption.

"I'll get it!" Ella called. She still answered the phone even though she didn't live there anymore.

"Hello?" She asked and listened. Josh and Donna watched her out of the corner of their eyes, expecting for one of them to be called to the phone. Ella stood and listened intently to the voice on the other end of the line. Then she hopped up onto the counter, crossed her legs, and got a mischievous grin on her face. Donna and Josh looked at one another, both knowing what was ahead.

"Hewwo?" She repeated, changing her voice so she sounded three years old. That got her friends' attention. They all smiled, knowing what she was up to. Another pause.

"Do you have a belly button?" She asked in her silly voice. They all started laughing, trying to suppress the sound. It was a telemarketer. And Ella loved to mess with telemarketers. Another pause. Ella moved her eyebrows, as if intrigued by the conversation.

"I'm three." She said. More giggles from the audience.

"No, mommy and daddy are in their room with the door closed. Daddy said he's gonna give mommy some lovin'." They all burst out laughing, but Ella kept a straight face.

"Okay. Bye bye." She hung up. The room erupted in laughter again at the ending of the performance. They could always count on Ella for a good laugh. Ella smiled, pleased with herself.

"You push me over the edge." Donna said.

After dinner was over and the plates were cleared, Audrey and "the three stooges", as the group was affectionately called, headed off to Audrey's room. Katie didn't quite feel like joining the fun and went off to her room to read. Josh and Donna let her be for a while, but they discussed the day as they cuddled on the couch watching TV.

"I think Dr. Hampton brought back up some hard feelings." Donna told Josh. Josh was laying behind her on the couch as they both faced the TV straight ahead.

"What hard feelings?"

Donna gave him an, 'oh come on' look and so he continued. "I mean, yeah, she's always been under pressure, but we never beat her or verbally abused her or anything."

"Pressure is a tough thing for a teenage girl, Josh. You've gotta understand that."

Josh kissed Donna's cheek and clasped his left hand over hers and supported his head with his other.

"I know. I'm a bastard." He admitted.

Donna looked back at him. Josh had softened up a lot after they'd had the girls. He was a little calmer and a little more in touch with others' feelings. Well, as much as a politician could be.

"Oh, Josh, shut up. She needs some help. And she's getting it."

"Yeah." He agreed. Josh kissed her cheek again. His kisses moved slowly over to her ear, then her neck as his hands began to roam also.

"Josh, stop." Donna told him. "There are five teenage girls in the house and we are in the living room."

Josh groaned.

"I'll keep my hands above the clothes." He offered a compromise.

"Josh, you're pitiful." She told him.

"That's why you love me." Josh said as his mouth covered hers.

Katie lay on her bed contently reading the latest installment of The Princess Diaries novels, her favorite series. Reading had always been her escape ever since she knew how. There was something about the way the black ink and letters danced across the page; the feeling of the paper beneath her fingers; the smell of fresh pages when she walked into a bookstore. She would stay up late as a little girl after her parents had put her to bed reading under the covers with a flashlight. All they had to do to punish her as a little girl was to take away whatever book she had been reading. That was torture enough for the bookworm. So she escaped this Friday evening from her stressful week of school, after being discovered of her Ritalin abuse habit. She was slowly de-toxing, and pain regularly shot through her body. Advil helped a little but she still felt the pain. Katie heard her sister and her friends giggling in the next room as they sorted through an assortment of different songs, trying to decide what to do for the talent show. Perhaps if she wasn't de-toxing she would join them, but not tonight. But part of her still wanted to.

A light knock on her door.

"Can I come in, baby?" She heard her father ask.

A smile crept across her face.

"Yeah." She quickly called back, setting her book down across her stomach.

Josh walked in and closed the door. He sat down on the bed next to his daughter.

"Whatcha reading?" he asked, picking up the book. "The Princess Diaries? You still read this crap?"

"It's not crap. It's chick lit."

"It's chick shit." He exercised some rare profanity in front of his daughter, laying the book back down on her bedside table. Katie punched him, but not with much force, showing evidence of her body's weakness.

"So, how did your meeting with Dr. Hampton go?" He asked, patting her knee in encouragement.

"It was fine. He seems nice." She looked up at him.

Josh nodded for a few moments before saying anything.

"Did he bring up anything that upset you?"

"No, not really." She looked away, a telling sign that she was lying. Josh studied her face.

"He did, didn't he?" Josh guessed. Katie slowly returned her eyes to his before nodding ever-so-slightly. "That's what therapists do, Katie. And it's hard. Especially the first time. Remember, I've been through it, too."

Katie nodded again but didn't speak. She felt tears burning in the back of her eyes, but she didn't want her dad to think it was bothering her that much. But it was hard. Katie closed her eyes momentarily to keep from crying, but it wasn't working very well. She put the heels of her palms in her eyes and rubbed them as she felt the tears threatening to spill over.

"Katie…" She heard his body shift to sit closer to her. She kept her head down as she quickly sat up and threw her arms around his neck.

"It's so hard!" She cried into his shoulder. Josh just held on to her tight and stroked her hair as he let her cry.

"I know it, baby. Just let it out." And she did.

"I just want it to go away." She sobbed. "And my body hurts so bad and I just want the pain to go away!" Katie just cried for about five minutes, tired from the de-toxing, from school, from hiding her problem, and now from trying to fix it. It was all just too much. Finally, Josh felt her breathing return to normal as she became quiet. He carefully pulled her away and she started to wipe her eyes.

"Hey. You shouldn't be in your room all alone. Come on out and watch some TV with your dorky parents. Whaddaya say?" He suggested, trying to look at her eyes.

Katie didn't respond for a few seconds but then nodded slightly.

"Okay, good." Josh took her hand and brought Katie to her feet. "Bring your blanket so you'll be cozy." He suggested. Katie grabbed the quilt that sat neatly folded at the foot of her bed as Josh walked to and stopped at the door. As she turned around, a frown painted her face a pale color, and she kept her eyes on the ground. She walked out and her father followed behind her.

Donna saw Katie from the corner of her eye.

"Hey, sweetheart." She greeted. "Come to join us?" Donna figured she was by the blanket and Josh's face.

"There's plenty of room." Donna smiled. "We'll make a Katie sandwich." She suggested the ritual they used on Katie as a little girl whenever she felt bad. "The Cosby Show is on!"

The Cosby Show was one of Katie's favorite TV shows. She'd only ever seen it as reruns since it aired before she could really watch.

"Docta Huxtable!" She exclaimed.

"We can eat us some Jello pudding while we watch!" Josh said in his best Dr. Huxtable impression.

"Let's not and say we did." Katie suggested, mortified by his impression. He wasn't funny.

Josh, Donna and Katie watched the show with Katie snug in the middle of her parents. Katie laughed at the show but still her heart didn't seem into it. She enjoyed hanging out with her parents every once in a while, but not on a Friday night. What a dork, she thought to herself. At a commercial break, Katie got up to use the bathroom and Donna took the opportunity to seize a moment for her daughter.

Donna quickly got up from the couch, not explaining anything to Josh and headed towards Audrey's room. She didn't knock and walked into the room and pulled Audrey out away from her friends, taking her into Katie's room.

"Mom, what the hell are you doing?" A confused Audrey asked her mother.

"Audrey, I need to ask you a favor."

"What!"

"Katie really needs a little fun. She's been watching TV with us, but I really think she needs to goof around a little bit. Can you help us out?"

"What, so you and dad can make out on the couch? Bailey saw you. You're disgusting."

"She did?" Donna asked, embarrassed. "Oh. Well, no, that's not the reason. I think this could really help her, you know? Spice up her life a little."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll try." She said, meekly.

"Thank you so much, Audrey." Donna hugged her daughter.

"What would you do without me?"

Audrey went back to her friends and Donna back to her husband. Donna had an amused look on her face.

"What? What did you say?" Josh asked her.

"No more make out sessions in public, Captain Love."

"Why not?" He looked worried.

"We had a non-consensual audience."

Josh made a disgusted look. "Oops." He said innocently.

"Yeah. Oops. Keep your hands to yourself." Donna sat down next to him and then inched her way down the sofa away from him.

"We can't even sit together?"

"You can't be trusted, Joshua Lyman."

"Damn right. I'm married to a beautiful goddess."

Just then, Katie emerged from the bathroom. She was about to pass her sister's room when all of a sudden, the door opened letting hideous music pour out and a hand, presumably Audrey's, snatched her into the room. The door quickly shut again and giggles ensued.

Josh looked over at his wife. "Did you tell Audrey to kidnap Katie?"

"I might have." She admitted, "She needs a little fun."

"Hey, Katie!" Several of the girls chimed at once. Audrey had told them to be upbeat and nice, not that they didn't like her. But she was known for being a bit of a stick in the mud.

"Hey, guys." Katie smiled and waved nervously and then put her hands behind her back politely. The foursome were sitting on the floor or Audrey's bed with music playing in the background. Lana was eating peanut butter out of a jar. Disgusting.

Audrey rolled her eyes, seeing that her sister was uncomfortable. She had no reason to be. She was in her own house with her sister, adoptive sister, and two of Audrey's best friends.

"Oh my God, Katie, sit down!" She told her impatiently. Audrey shot her a look to tell her to calm down and get a grip.

"So, Katie," Bailey started. "We're still trying to decide on a song. You in?"

Katie looked around nervously and she was obviously not prepared for this and felt very uncomfortable at the thought.

"What? I'm not in the dance. I'm just hanging out for a while, I guess."

"Oh, come on, Katie." She bribed. "You have to be in it with us. Five is so much better than four. All the great groups have five."

"Uhhhh….."

"She's in." Audrey decided for her. Katie shot her a 'don't you dare' look and Audrey shot her back a 'shut up and loosen up a little' look.

Finally, Katie agreed. "Okay, I'm in." She didn't sound very convincing, but the outpouring of glee made her feel a little better. She couldn't tell if they were just being nice or if they were really glad she was joining them. She'd taken ballet classes all her life, but that was drastically different from the presumably ho-dance they would be performing.

"Okay, so here's what we've got it narrowed down to." Lana began, "Justin Timberlake 'Like I Love You', Gwen Stefani 'Hollaback Girl', Petey Pablo 'Freek-a-Leak', and Usher 'Yeah'. Any of those sound good?"

No, she thought to herself but was pretty sure she shouldn't say it out loud.

"Mom and dad will never let us do 'Freek-a-Leak', Audrey, it's a friggin' sex song."

"Yeah, that's what we were thinking." Audrey admitted.

"I guess Gwen would be my choice." Katie said.

"Well, should we take a vote?" Ella suggested.

"Yeah." They all said in unison.

"Alright, close all your damn eyes." Ella said.

She went through all the song choices and Gwen prevailed.

"'Hollaback Girl' it is." Ella announced.

"I'm gonna go get some more to eat before we start." Lana announced and got up.

"Oh my GOD!" Audrey said in her Napoleon Dynamite voice again.

"Shut your piehole." Lana snapped back. As she left, Audrey said something.

"She's seriously gonna get huge someday when her metabolism slows down."

"Audrey," Ella started, "You need to re-highlight your hair soon. You're totally getting the black crack."

Audrey took a piece of her hair in her hand and looked at it, disgusted. "I know. I'm still saving up my allowance."

"Oh my God." Bailey said. "Your parents are so strict. They make you pay for your hair with your own allowance?"

Both girls nodded in agreement.

"Well, we get $40 a week, but Audrey always blows it on stupid crap."

"At least I don't spend it on books." She made fun of her sister. "Dork."

"Did they find out about what happened in english today yet?"

"No, not yet." Audrey took a sip of Mountain Dew and shook her head dismissively. "I don't care. I'm always in trouble for something anyway. Katie, you haven't ratted me out, have you?" She looked at her sister questioningly.

"No!" She said, insulted. Katie was known as the goody-goody and had turned her sister in before because of a guilty conscience. She'd covered for her plenty of times, but she never heard about that.

Lana walked back in with a bag of cookies.

"You guys want some cookies?" She said in her best Corky Romano voice. They liked to quote movies.

"Lana, seriously, that's lame." Bailey told her. Lana shrugged and popped a cookie in her mouth.

"Were my parents making out again?" Audrey asked her.

"No. They were being good. They were laughing at some paper they were reading."

"They're so revolting." Audrey said. "I swear, they're always all over each other, aren't they Katie?"

"I guess." Katie said, uncomfortable with the topic. She was feeling a little sick again, but didn't want to leave and be accused of being a dork. She knew Audrey would defend her, but still. Katie was a teenager and what others thought of her was important.

"Bailey, we totally need to do your eyebrows." Ella told her. Ella was the beauty expert. She knew all the secrets and tricks and liked to test her skills out on her unwilling friends. Ella wanted to be a makeup artist for the movie stars one day.

"Last time you left me, like, five eyebrow hairs on each brow." Bailey reported hesitantly.

"Oh, I'm so much better now!" She said, insulted. "Aren't I so much better, Audrey?"

"Whatever you say, Ella."

"Get the wax." Ella said.

"I'll go get it." Katie volunteered, wanting to get out of the room for a few minutes. She went into the girls' vanity center and found the tub of wax in one of their many caboodles. Katie walked out to the kitchen to put the wax in the microwave and checked on her parents.

"Hi mom. Hi dad." She said. Lana was right. They were giggling pretty hard at something.

"Hey, Katie." Her mother said, still laughing. "How's it going in there?"

"Okay, I guess." She pressed start on the microwave and rested a hand on her hip. "Mom, did you put Audrey up to this?"

"You looked like you needed a little fun."

"Thanks, mom, now I'm stuck doing a ho-dance in the New School of Northern Virginia Talent Show."

Donna turned around. "That's great, honey. You'll love it!"

"Probably not." She said. Their type of dancing didn't exactly thrill her.

"You'll be great." Donna told her again. "You've got dance training."

"Yeah, ballet. It's a bit different from the music videos I'm sure it will be based on."

The microwave beeped.

"Well, I'm off again." She said, removing the wax with a towel. As she walked past the couch, she glanced over their shoulders, but Donna quickly turned the paper over. "What's so funny?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing." Josh said, but his face was red from laughter.

"Whatever."

Katie reached her sister's bedroom again and closed the door behind her.

"Something's really funny." She commented as she set the wax on the floor.

"Who knows. They're friggin' politicians. Their sense of humor is questionable." Audrey said.

"All right, lie down." Ella ordered Bailey as she sat on the floor, legs crossed, and gripped the wax.

Bailey made the sign of the cross as she layed down and rested her head in Ella's lap.

"Oh, please! Spare me!" Ella complained. Bailey giggled and rubbed her eyebrows a little, not knowing if this would be the last time she'd feel them. If Ella screwed up, she could always draw her eyebrows back on.

Ella began to meticulously apply the wax to Bailey's left eyebrow.

Audrey stood up, wanting to get on with the dance.

"Okay, so how should we start out?" She asked. "We should start with the q-tip." She joked, mimicking the movement. Lana threw a pillow at her, which took Audrey by surprise.

"Ow!" She said, falling to the floor, pretending to be hurt.

"Tell me when you're going to rip it off." Bailey said nervously to the girl who had control of her level of facial discomfort.

"When you know, it hurts more." Ella told her. "It's better to take you by surprise." She put a piece of paper over the wax and patted it down gently.

"I'll pee my pants."

"You fuckin' better not. You'll buy me a new carpet." Audrey told her while testing out some dance moves. Gwen Stefani's 'Hollaback Girl' was now on repeat in her stereo.

A knock at the door.

"What?" She yelled over the music, annoyed. What did they want now? They all turned to see Josh walk in the room. Ella took the opportunity to rip the paper off Bailey's eyebrow in this moment of surprise.

"Ow! Fuck!" She screamed.

Josh looked down at Bailey with a surprised but amused look on his face.

"Sorry, Mr. Lyman." Bailey apologized.

"That's okay, I understand." He corrected himself, "Actually, no I don't and I hope I never do."

"What do you want, dad?" Audrey tried to hurry him along.

"Will you turn down the music? If that's what it is?" He asked her.

"It's called rap, dad." Audrey told him.

"The only difference between rap and crap is the 'c'." He told them, hands in his pockets as usual.

Audrey looked at him, mortified. "That was beautiful, dad. What do you want?"

"Right. Two things. Ella, are you feeling okay? Blood sugar all right?" Josh knew she was pretty self-regulating but they tended to get a little rambunctious at sleepovers and she tended to forget or ignore her symptoms altogether amidst all the excitement.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ella told him as she examined her 'handiwork' on her victim.

"Do you need us to help you check? We've still got the spare AccuCheck." Josh told her.

"No thanks, Mr. Lyman. I'm fine, really."

"Okay. Keep a close tab on yourself, all right?"

"All right." She prepared her victim for the second eyebrow.

"I don't think I want my second one done. That was really painful." Bailey told her.

"You have to match!" Ella moaned. "You'll look like a fuckin' ape." She said. She quickly covered her mouth. "Oops! Sorry, Mr. Lyman."

Josh chuckled. "It's okay. Audrey, I need to talk to you outside for a minute." He pointed to the door with his thumb. He was smiling, so the girls weren't quite sure how to read the situation. Audrey got up and left the room and her father followed.

"Let's go sit on the couch." He said, gesturing with his hand.

"Why?" He didn't answer but followed her over until she was sitting. Donna took the opportunity to stand up as Josh stood next to her. Josh pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket.

"What's this?" He held it up and his eyebrows jumped in question.

"What's what?"

"E-mail from Mrs. Taylor."

Audrey dropped her head to hide her smile.

"Audrey, what the hell were you thinking?" Donna asked her, placing her hands on her hips.

Audrey slapped her legs. "It was a golden opportunity, mom. You don't know what degree of hell she puts us through every day. She had it coming to her in spades!"

"Audrey, just because someone's an ass doesn't give you an excuse to humiliate them." Said Josh.

"Coming from the mouth of a politician who does so every day." Audrey said, smartly. This is when Josh and Donna wished they'd chosen another profession, because what she said was true. It was part of politics. Plus, Josh was as arrogant as hell sometimes, so he was even worse.

"You've just got a mouthful of smart-ass today, don't you? I'm in politics. You're in high school. There's a difference. You are to treat your teachers with respect, Audrey."

Audrey shook her head dismissively. "Whatever, dad."

"You are to apologize to her personally on Monday, you understand?" Josh ordered her.

"Okaaaaay…" She said, getting up. Audrey assumed she'd be grounded again starting tomorrow and waited for her father to tell her so as she walked to her room, but it never came. Huh….that's unusual, she thought to herself.

What Audrey didn't know was that the e-mail was what her parents had been laughing at the entire half-hour before Josh came to her room. They thought it was totally hilarious, but they had to compose themselves before they went to face their daughter. Josh had actually tried to enter the room three times before he actually did but had to turn around because he started laughing again. He didn't have the heart to ground her. That was his girl. Mrs. Taylor was a bitch from what he'd heard.

As soon as Audrey's door closed, Josh and Donna burst into laughter again.

"Oh, that was classic!" he said, his cheeks hurting from laughter.

"We need to write that one down."

Audrey walked in with a smug look on her face.

"What was that all about?" Bailey asked. Her eyebrows now matched, as well as the red spots around them from being violently ripped.

"They found out about english. Dad got an email from Mrs. Taylor."

All attention was focused on Audrey now.

"What did they say?" Ella asked, her eyes wide in interest.

"I have to apologize on Monday."

"Oh bummer." Lana said. "I could never apologize to that bitch." Lana had never even had her, but her reputation preceded her.

"So are you grounded?" Ella asked.

"No." She chirped.

"What!" Katie yelled. "That's a first."

"I think they thought it was funny." Audrey commented.

"That's probably what they were laughing about before." Katie put two and two together.

All the girls chimed simultaneously, "Ooooohhhhh…"

"Damn, Katie, what did you get on your SATs?" Ella asked.

"1540. You?"

"Nail polish."

"All right." Audrey interrupted. "We need to go to the mall and get ourselves some matching tanktops!" She announced enthusiastically.

"Woo hoo!" Lana yelled.

"I'm driving!" Audrey claimed. "Katie's got shotgun." She called for her sister, knowing she'd feel uncomfortable crammed in the back seat with two of her idiotic friends.

The fivesome quickly put on their shoes and headed out the bedroom door.

"Where are you going?" Donna asked.

"To the mall to get matching tank tops. Can I have some extra money?" Audrey asked hopefully.

"No." Josh and Donna said simultaneously.

"And Audrey, be responsible. Don't get crazy, okay?" Josh had seen how giddy the girls could get together and didn't want them to do anything stupid.

"Okay, dad, we'll be responsible, mmmmmkay?" She mocked.

What a smart-ass, Josh thought to himself and he shot her a serious look. Audrey smiled back.

"We'll be back in an hour…or more." Ella called as they walked out the garage door.

The five girls piled into the car with the twins in the front and the other three in the back seat. The seatbelts went on because they knew Mr. and Mrs. Lyman would be watching from the house.

"All right, bitches, here we go." Audrey said as they pulled out the driveway. The stereo went up as Ryan Adams' 'Everything I Do' came on, one of their favorite songs to mock.

"You know it's true!" They all mocked, holding their air-mics, "Everything I do! I do it for you!"

"And we're continuing the evening with our '90s flashback all night tonight. Next up, Britney Spears' 'Baby One More Time'." The radio personality announced.

"Oh, oh, oh!" They all screamed as Audrey reached for the volume. Audrey and Katie had made up a ridiculous twin dance back in '98 when the song was a hit, when the girls were eleven years old. They actually thought it was really good when they were ten and had been rooted on by their parents who thought it was adorable. Now, as sixteen year olds, they realized how ridiculous it was which made it that more hilarious when they milked it for all it was worth.

The whole car was dancing except for Katie, who curled up in embarrassment in the passenger seat.

"Oh, Katie, Katie!" Audrey yelled with Britney. They'd changed all the 'baby, baby's to each other's names when they made up their act.

"Oh, Katie, Katie, how was I supposed to know," She sang, "That something wasn't right here? Oh, Katie, Katie, I shouldn't have let you go-o-o-o-o" She exaggerated the notes and danced the best she could strapped in with a seatbelt trying to drive. "And now you're out of sight, yeah."

The back row joined in at the pre-chorus.

"Show me how you want it to be!" They sang. "Tell me Katie…" they all performed Britney's famous shimmy, finally causing Katie to burst out laughing, "Cuz I need to know now oh because…."

"My loneliness is killing me!" Audrey sang.

"And I!" The back row echoed.

"I must confess I still believe!"

"Still believe!"

"When I'm not with you, I lose my mind. Give me a sign! Hit me, Katie, one more time!" She pretended to slap Katie across the face after 'time', who was now red with laughter. The back row raised the roof on the same note.

"Oh Audrey, Audrey" Katie finally joined, and everyone cheered her on. "The reason I breathe is you. Girl, you've got me blinded!"

"Oh pretty Audrey/Katie, there's nothing that I wouldn't do." They both sang to each other over-exuberantly. "It's not the way I planned it."

"Show me how you want it to be! Tell me Katie/Audrey" (shimmy) "Cuz I need to know now oh because…"

The entire car sang the chorus, in between giggles. They finished the song in style, giving themselves a round of applause. Katie looked over at her big sister, laughing. She hadn't felt this happy in a long time. Audrey and her friends really were the antidote for an aching body. Katie took a deep breath and finally knew she was going to be okay with Audrey by her side.