Disclaimer: I don't own Higher Ground or any of the original characters. I do own Carlene Radzilovich.

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Sophie was walking towards Peter's office, when she thought she saw a movement behind the wood shed. She went there to see what was going on.

What she found was Scott and Shelby kissing passionately, with their hands all over each other. She cleared her throat loudly.

Shelby and Scott were completely absorbed in what they were doing, but when they heard the noise of someone clearing their throat, they quickly broke apart. They found themselves facing an angry Sophie. "Umm … hi Sophie.", Shelby said guiltily.

"That's the third time I caught you in two days! Don't you think you're stretching your luck quite a bit?" Sophie demanded, impatiently.

"Sophie, I already am on kitchens and Shelby is on wood chopping …" pleaded Scott.

"So you think I should let you off easy?"

Scott and Shelby looked at each other, realizing this wouldn't happen, then looked at the ground. They really didn't want another punishment.

Sophie thought for a moment, then sighed as she made a decision. "For the next 48 hours you aren't allowed to speak to each other or come within 10 meters of each other. That includes sitting at different tables during meals and sitting as far apart as possible during group. Someone will check on you regularly. Understood?"

Both of them looked absolutely shocked and started to protest. "But Sophie, that's …"

"I don't want any discussion." Sophie immediately cut them off. "Two days is not that long."

Hearing the veiled threat of an even longer time on these restrictions, they shut up and nodded.

"Now go to your dorms. It's ten minutes past lights out." Sophie commanded and started to walk off. When she turned back and saw Scott and Shelby linking their hands and starting to whisper to each other, she called out to them. "Remember your restrictions. They start right now!"

There was a bit of groaning, but they broke apart and went off in different directions, not wanting to get into even more trouble.

"Good night!" Sophie said, satisfied. She only got grumbled answers.

"Hey, mountain man." Sophie said as she entered Peter's office.

"What took you so long? I thought you just wanted to tell everyone lights out?"

"I caught Scott and Shelby. Again. I told them not to have any contact with each other for the next two days." She sighed. "I don't know what to do with them."

"Don't you think that maybe you are a bit hard on them? Maybe we should turn a blind eye every once in a while?"

"I caught them three times in two days. And that's only the times when I confronted them. Two or three times I did turn a blind eye. It's not like I go looking for them."

Peter shook his head. "They should learn to be more discreet, then." He wanted to put aside this subject.

"So, who is this friend of yours? Someone I know?"

"I don't think so. Her name's Carlene Radzilovich. I met her at my father's retirement party. Thanks to her the evening wasn't as boring as I thought it would be."

Smiling, she thought back. They had ended up talking for hours and hours, it was as if they operated on the same wavelength. Finally, Carla had helped her to get her father home without any major embarrassment. Sophie had been glad that Carla didn't give her a look of pity like most other people in that situation would. Suddenly she realized that Peter was talking to her.

"… a bit uncomfortable taking someone I don't know on a hike with the kids. Even you haven't known her for very long…" There was a bit of concern in his voice.

"Peter, I don't think she will be a problem. Besides, she will arrive on Saturday. So you will have something like four days to see what she is like, how she behaves around the kids. If you don't want her on the hike after that, she won't come. It's as easy as that."

"Aaalrright. Could you give me some more information about her?"

At that, Sophie had to laugh a little. "Peter, she is a guest, not a new admit! But ok, you can ask me questions and I will answer them to the best of my knowledge." She was kind of amused by his request, actually.

"Ok, here goes." Peter said after a bit of thinking. "If you met her at your father's retirement party, does that mean she's a soldier, too?"

"Yeah, she's in the Navy. If I recognized her uniform correctly, she's a commander."

"Is she married? Does she have kids?"

"She's widowed with one son."

"Did you meet the son? What's he like?" Peter thought maybe from that he could see what kind of mother that woman is.

Sophie sighed. "I met her at that party. We spent that evening talking with each other. Her son wasn't there. So I didn't meet him."

"So, can you tell me what she's like?"

"Well, when I first met her, I was a bit put off by her straightforwardness. But other than that she can be extremely funny, occasionally sarcastic but also sensitive with a lot of empathy. As a woman it probably wasn't easy for her to climb the ranks, I know that there are still a lot of sentiments against women in the military. I know that other than her son she doesn't have any close family, but some of her remarks led me to believe that once she had a big family. She likes all kinds of outdoor sports but also horse riding. I think she has had some success in dressage competitions. Well … I don't really know much more about her. But I know that I like her and could easily trust her."

"That sounds good. I don't know why I am so tense."

Sophie looked at him closely. "You look tired. Could be you are just sleep deprived? If you want my advice: take one thing at a time, wait and see what happens."

"You are probably right. We have to tell the Cliffhangers about that visitor of yours, though."

Sophie nodded. "I'll do that in group tomorrow."

"Good night, mountain man.", she said, giving him a quick kiss.

"Good night."