Disclaimer: I don't own Higher ground or any characters from the show. I do own Carla.

Linkie: You will find out what Ezra wanted. But I'm afraid there's not much talking going on between Carla and Peter. You see, Carla doesn't want to talk...

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„Ezra, what happened?" Sophie tried to push all other thoughts away in order to concentrate on her student.

"I got a letter from my mother. She wrote that she was busy with several business trips in summer, so I'd have to spend all the time with my father..."

He looked as if he didn't know how to continue, so Sophie asked: "How do you feel about that?"

"When I first read it, I was actually relieved. I mean, I wasn't happy I wouldn't see my mother, but I wouldn't have to go back and forth between them, you know?" He looked at Sophie expectantly.

Having heard his concerns about that the day before in group, Sophie nodded. "I understand."

"But there was another letter. From my father..." Now, Sophie could see where this was going. "And he wrote almost the same. Very busy... a lot of things came up... have to spend the summer with your mother..." He looked out of the window forlornly. "Now I have nowhere to go."

"Do you want to call them, tell them about the situation, and try to work at least some visits into their schedules?"

"I don't know. If I do that, each of them will start blaming the other. They will probably work something out, if only to show that they are better than the other 'parental unit'. But I'm not sure whether I even want to spend time with them. I mean, with them angry at each other, standing between them will be even worse than I thought before."

"You don't have to call them if you don't want to. Just give it some thought, ok?"

"Well, the alternative is staying here, right?" – "Right." – "I'll give it some thought." He sounded listless.

Sophie thought she had to lighten up the atmosphere. "Hey, you make it sound like staying here was the end of the world! You wouldn't be the only one, you know.I know for sure that Daisy's staying here, too. Her father's still in rehab."

A smile was in Ezra's voice when he replied, "Maybe it won't be the end of the world, after all."

"Could you please decide within the next week whether or not you want to call your parents?"

"All right. Can I ask something else?" When Sophie nodded, he continued, "What's up with her?", pointing his thump at the door, "I mean, when I came in here, I could have cut the tension with a knive, it was so thick. But when I met her this morning, she seemed real nice."

At that, Sophie had to smile. Deja vu, she thought. "She said the same about you. That you were nice." A shrug. "I don't really know what's up. I don't know her so well. For sure I didn't know that she knows Peter." She looked at Ezra questioningly. "Are you ok? I'd like to look for them."

"No prob. I'll come back to you, when I've come up with a decision." With that, he left the office.

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Peter and Carla sat down at one of the picnic tables, facing each other. When Peter started to speak, Carla cut him off immediately, before he got out even one word. "Please, could you just give me some minutes of silence? I have to try and regain my balance."

Peter shrugged. "Sure, some minutes. Tell me when you are ready to speak."

Inwardly, Carla sighed in relief. The silence enveloping them was thick with tension; but still it was better than having to speak. The thoughts in her head were bad enough. They were running around in circles, changing too fast for her to really think about them; in short: they were getting her nowhere, they were only getting on her nerves. She new that she had to break the cycle. She began taking deep, slow breaths. Concentrated on her breathing. Pushed away every other thought, only breathing was important now…. She felt that she was getting calmer with every passing second. She was very aware of her own heartbeat now, her mind in a peaceful state.

After what seemed like hours but was actually just 5 minutes, Carla finally looked up. Peter took that as a sign that he could speak now. "You know, I really meant what I said to you. That I understand. When you're hurting, you sometimes want others to hurt, too. It's only human."

Looking into his eyes, she saw that he was sincere. "Alright, I overreacted. I'm just allergic to shrinks or anyone who behaves like them." Carla desperately needed a change of subject. "So your family name's Scarbrow?" Her voice had an amused undertone.

"Yeah, it's strange we didn't even now our respective names." Their period of silence had given Peter an opportunity to calm down, too. For the moment, staying with safe topics was ok with him.

"Nah, not so strange. I know close to nothing about you… wait, let me rephrase: I know nothing about you. It can't be much different for you right?"

"You're exaggerating. There are some things we know about each other."

"Sure. Just not much that still applies today – " suddenly she stopped speaking. She was looking at something behind Peter. When he turned around, he saw Sophie approaching. He couldn't read her face. Maybe Carla had been right with her remark before? He should try to speak with her – no, she just told him that she wasn't ready to talk, he would have to wait for her to start the talking.

Carla immediately jumped to the opportunity. "Hey, Soph! You want to give me the tour? I'd really like to see the wall we'll be competing at." She wore a friendly expression and a smile on her face, you wouldn't believe that not long before she had been quite distraught.

"Sure, come on."

The two women left without so much as another glance at Peter, who sat there feeling rejected.

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Daisy had been looking for Ezra. He hadn't talked to her all day, then she had seen him enter Peter's office. Something's definitely up, she thought. She had kept a close eye on the office door and when Ezra came out she followed him. When he finally sat down, leaning to a tree, she sat next to him. "What's up?"

"Daisy! You've been following me!"

"Yeah, so what's up?" she insisted.

"Why would there be something up?" he seemed a bit unnerved.

Her answer was predictable. "It's all in the cards. Besides, you've been evasive all day. So, what happened? Are you not going home in summer?"

Ezra was shocked. "How did you know? You eavesdropped?"

"Calm down. Just an educated guess. So I'm right?"

"Yeah. Both of them are too busy." He didn't have to explain who 'them' was. "Mother says to spend summer with father, father says to spend summer with mother. Looks like I have to stay here."

"I take it you aren't overjoyed with the prospect of having to endure my company during break?" Her voice sounded hurt.

"Daisy, really, it's not that…" he looked up to her grinning face and realized that her tone had been just a bit too hurtful to be serious. "Oh, god, you were just making fun of me! How could you!" But he couldn't help but grin at her.

"It worked, didn't it? Your mood just got better. Don't worry, we'll have fun here, too." She assured him.

"Alright, I believe you. Could we talk about something else? – By the way, I met Sophie's friend."

"Really? What's she like?" Daisy was as curious as most people are.

"She seemed nice. Asked me for directions to Sophie's cabin. Said her name's Carla. But there's something strange about her."

"Why do you think that?" She could virtually smell a good piece of gossip.

"When I went to Peter's office to tell him about my parents, she was in there with Peter and Sophie. There was a lot of tension between them. Peter and Sophie were standing next to each other, facing Carla. Peter looked confused, Sophie very angry. When I came in, Carla excused herself. Peter got all jumpy, asked if I had to talk specifically to him. When I said no, he ran out. Later, I asked Sophie what was up with Carla. She said she didn't know her too good, didn't know that she and Peter knew each other."

"I guess we'll find out." An idea had just come to Daisy's mind.

"And how will we do that? That evil grin of yours…you have a plan?"

That made her grin even more. "How about we ask her to take part in group? I'll bring my tarot cards…"