SHORT CHAPTER. JUST WANTED TO GET SOME KIDS IN HERE FOR YALL. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! MORE COMING SOON.


"I don't think I'll ever get used to this place." Allison commented between a mouthful of pizza.

"Everyone at school thinks I'm insane for not living here…" Jason paused to take a nice shot at the pins, waiting until he hit that last pin right in the middle of the lane. Then, with the macho look of a victor, he walked over to where the girls sat, "But… like… it's like living with thousands of people living around you.."

Stevie smirked, "And living in the dorms is all that different?" Brushing the grease off of her hands onto her pajama pants, she conceded, "But trust me, I get it. Living here isn't always the life people would think." She looked around the bowling alley that was in their basement, – "But, this part is pretty cool – especially when having nights of no sleep on days like this." Looking at her phone and seeing it was 4 in the morning.

Everyone was silent for a few moments as they let it sink in. Stevie watched her two younger siblings, so different lately but so very familiar. It wasn't like she never talked with them anymore – her and Alli spoke multiple times a week, depending on the relationship status, bad teachers, or frustrations that they both were having. Jason was a little bit more sporadic. He enjoyed his bit of partying – but always stayed on top of his studies. He wouldn't tell them, but they all knew that he was pretty much at the top of his class. But they only joked about it with him.

Jason had flown in a few hours before, and Stevie had been there to pick him up. Allison told them to meet at the hospital. And they'd sat there for hours. For what seemed like eternity.

But they'd all been there.

And Stevie knew when her mother walked out of Emma's room – that things were going on. Something.

Because while her mom had kissed all the kids, thanked them for coming, she soon came up with an excuse to need to go – back to the office.

They'd been told to go home, that Emma was going to be resting for quite a while after her surgery.

"What do you think's going on?" Jason asked quietly through the silence.

Allison jumped on it, "You mean the fact that she was kidnapped, thought to be dead, and then four years later rescued and brought back in a very bad medical condition? I think that's kinda how it's all going now."

Stevie bit back a smile.

Jason shook his head, "I mean with mom." He apparently saw the incredulous look on Alli's face, and explained, "She was playing the politician with us when she was talking… like, the whole thing about how they appreciated us coming… that… and then just leaving?"

Allison chimed in, "Yeah. And when she told Dad goodbye, remember how she like… froze?"

It was true. But Stevie just said, "There's got to be so many feelings right now…"

"Can you imagine?" Allison whispered, staring out across the room at nothing. "She was so little when they took her. And now, like…" Her voice got even quieter, "I saw her and she was just so different."

"And then she doesn't only get to come home..." Stevie added, gesturing around the room, "She gets to walk into our lives now, which looks nothing like it was before."

"Not to mention the press." Jason muttered.

Murmurs of agreement came from all three kids.

And Stevie presented, "But we think that we have it bad with the press? When Emma left, she was just the Secretary of State's kidnapped daughter."

"Now she's the rescued love child of two presidents." Alli finished… "Putting that into perspective, maybe we need to really make sure that any press that gets out is… with us treating her no different…"

Jason, always willing to say the things no one else wanted, "If she survives…"