All characters that are from the TWILIGHT saga by Stephanie Meyer belong to Stephanie Meyer. All others belong to me. I do not receive profit for these stories except for the joyous enjoyment of reviews.

This story follows right after When I'm Gone: Third Installment to GONE Saga, so if you haven't read that one or the two before, please do.

The timeline of the story will coincide with Gabriel Michael Laskaris' growing up years, starting at Seth and Rosa's wedding day, April 12th and will progress from there.

AN: Here's a new chapter! Enjoy and please, review! I've got an outline for the next one on paper already!

Chapter Sixty-Seven (15 Years Old)
December 30th

"But why can't I go?"

Sam rolled his eyes as he shoved his chair back, finding it preferable to be standing whenever he had to go head to head with his eldest daughter, "Because I said so."

"That's not a reason," Bailey glared at her father, crossing her arms defensively across her chest, "All my friends are going to be there."

"I'm sure they are," Sam set his fists on his hips, cocking an eyebrow at her, "And I'm sure there won't be any adult supervision either."

"Oh my god," tossing her hands up into the air, she spun around, gripping the edge of the kitchen counter as she grounded out between her clenched teeth, "We're seventeen…we know what's right and wrong."

"Really," Sam scoffed in obvious disbelief, rolling his eyes towards his wife who bit back a laugh, "Because up to now, you've somehow shown your inability to use your brain."

Spinning around, her face showed open mouthed shock, "Are you saying I'm stupid?"

"No," Sam tilted his head to the side as he crossed his arms over his broad chest, his hands still in fists, "I'm saying you have the habit of not using your brain…or perhaps, you just don't care to do the right thing."

Offense written all over her face, she planted her fists on her hips as she turned to her mother for help, "Ma!"

"I'm not getting involved," Emily kept working on the numbers for the bakery, the inventory list needing updating at the end of every month as well as tracking the profits for tax purposes, "This is between you and your father."

"That's bullshit!"

"You watch your mouth, young lady," Sam slammed his hand against the table, making Emily and Bailey jump in surprise, so rarely did he lose his temper…except, of course, whenever Bailey was involved, "Bitch all you want at me but you do not talk to your mother like that. If you can't keep a decent tongue in your head, I'll ban you from talking."

Bailey scoffed at him, rolling her dark brown eyes –lined with black eyeliner and highlighted with shimmering eye shadow –she tossed her long hair over her shoulder, "You can't ban me from talking."

"Go ahead and try me," Sam shifted his shoulders, the t-shirt he wore moving shifting along with the movement, "And you're not going to that party."

"Ugh," Bailey let out a frustrated growl, stomping around the table and down the hall towards the bedroom she shared with her little sister, "I hate it here!"

"So do I!"

The heavy silence following the slamming door was broken by a heavy sigh as Sam sat back down, running his fingers through his hair, "That girl's going to be the death of me."

The lack of response from Emily had him looking over at her, eyebrows lowering at the way she was staring into space, "Emily? Are you okay?"

She gave her head a slight shake before pointing towards the kitchen counter, her face growing pale by the second, "Look at that."

Standing up, he moved around the table towards the kitchen sink, his own face draining of color as he studied the splintered indentations along the edge of the counter Bailey had gripped with both hands, "Oh god…"

Emily's head shook back and forth, trembling fingers pressed against her mouth as her eyes stayed glued to the splintered wood, "This can't be happening…Bradley hasn't shown any outward signs…why is Bailey?"

"I don't…I just…" Sam took in a deep breath, tilting his head back as he blew it out, looking over his shoulder at Emily's tentative question, "What if she phases?"

"I don't think it's a matter of what if anymore," Sam moved around the table, able to sense Emily's need for reassurance and comfort, dropping down to a crouch to be at eye level with her, "It's a matter of when…the wheels are in motion and there's no stopping them."

Emily bit her bottom lip, brown eyes bright with unshed tears. Reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear, Sam caressed her scarred cheek with his thumb, "It'll be okay, baby. She's a strong girl."

"She's a lot like you," Emily touched his face, her fingertips tracing the defined edge to his jaw line, "I didn't want this for my daughters…but I suppose there could be worse things."

"I don't know when it's going to happen," Sam pulled her into his arms as he stood up, wrapping his arms tight around her, "But when it does, we'll be ready…we'll help her through it."


11:26PM

Turning in bed for the fiftieth time, Bailey let out a heavy sigh as she stared up at the ceiling. She was feeling restless, as she did most nights, but on top of that, her very skin felt alive, little currents of electricity running up and down just below the surface.

Kicking off the blankets, she sat up, needing to move but she knew pacing the length of her room was out of the question what with her little sister being asleep and, although Bailey had no problem making others miserable, her little sister was not part of that list.

Looking over at the glowing green numbers of the alarm clock, she flopped back onto the bed and went back to staring at the glow in the dark stars, visually tracing the constellations there in hopes of getting sleepy but after another five minutes, she gave up.

Grabbing her phone from the bedside table, she took her pillow and quietly snuck out of her room and out the back door. Part of the house's back roof was flat, an eight by eight square Bailey had long ago claimed as hers. She kept a sleeping bag up there, wrapped in a waterproof tarp, for nights when it just felt too claustrophobic to sleep indoors.

Tonight was such a night.

Tossing her pillow over the edge, she tucked her phone into the band of the yoga pants she wore as pajamas along with a baggy UW sweater Brady had given her some years back. Grabbing the lowest branch of the tree beside the house, she easily made her way up, hand over hand, until she was able to step onto the cool tiled surface of her little hideaway.

Pulling out the sleeping bag from the tarp it was rolled in, she spread it out and slipped inside, adjusting her pillow under her head as she stared up at the night sky, lungs expanding as she took in a deep breath of the night air, the scents of moist dirt, evergreens and sea salt calming her but not enough to fall asleep.

Five minutes passed before she finally gave in to the urge. Taking her cell phone from her waistband, she scrolled through her contact numbers before tapping on the one she wanted, eyes on the twinkling stars above as it rang.

"Hello?"

Bailey's eyebrows lowered in surprise at the unexpected female voice, "Who is this? Where's Brady?"

"Brady's in the shower. May I ask who is calling?"

She wasn't at all sure what the painful lurch in her chest meant but she didn't like it, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Sandra. Who are you?"

Swallowing past the thick knot in her throat wasn't easy but she succeeded in keeping her voice neutral as she answered, "No one important, apparently."

Ending the call, she set the phone to the side, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth as she stared at the sky, briefly wondering why the stars were so damn blurry before a tear slipped down the side of her face, feeling shock at the realization she was crying.

Turning to her side, she buried her face into the pillow and let herself go, desolation and emotional chaos overwhelming her to the point of gut wrenching sobs, her chest painfully tight and the hot knotted feeling in her stomach growing with every tear shed.

She hated knowing it was her fault he'd found a way to move on with his life, hated him for finding someone to spend his time with, but right now, she hated herself even more than she hated him for doing what she'd said.


January 16th
2:45PM

Tyra was excited, unable to stay still as she helped her mama pack a cooler with snacks, running back and forth between the table and kitchen counter where mama was getting all the food stuff ready.

They were all going camping tonight so mama could help Emmie be a wolf, like her brothers and Daddy. Mama had offered to let her spend the night with Granma Sue but Tyra really wanted to get to play with her brothers –it would be like having a bunch of puppies!

Aly and Ady always told her how much fun they had, playing tag and chase, running up the mountain and then back down, how they wrestled and rolled around in the dirt and went swimming in the river. It all sounded like too much fun for her to miss so she'd asked with a pretty please to come along for this special camping trip.

"Okay, sweetie," Mama handed her a bag of bacon flavored puppy snacks Tyra had insisted on buying for her brothers, the little girl's mouth spreading into a grin as she placed it into the cooler, "Make sure your brothers don't see those until its time. It might upset them."

"But they taste like bacon," Tyra tipped her head back, giggling when her mama kissed her nose, "And all my brothers like bacon...Emmie doesn't, though. She says it's not nice how they kill pigs to make bacon."

Shaking her head as she laughed, Leah returned to cutting up some veggie snacks for the kids. They planned the whole camping trip to include dinner over a campfire before the moon came up, the kids looking forward to playing in the river before they had to do their four legged patrols.

Rick had bought several Nerf balls at Tyra's request –he had laughed when she'd told him she wanted to play fetch with her brothers –while Leah made sure she had what was needed for their hot dog and French fries dinner, as well as what was necessary for a blue corn pancakes and sausage links breakfast.

Embry had volunteered to buy a tent and since Tyra was the one who would need it to sleep, he'd gotten a two person sized tent, along with a couple of extra sleeping bags.

"Mama," Tyra hopped over to where Leah was, looking up at her, big brown-green eyes dancing with excitement, "Do I get to play in the river?"

"Baby," Leah snapped shut the container of veggie snacks, handing it down to her daughter, "It's going to be cold –"

"But I want to swim with the puppies."

She cleaned off the counter as she laughed, hanging up the daisy patterned towel on its hook now that she was done with her to do list, "Your brothers are going to have fur to keep them warm –you won't have any."

Bottom lip poking out, she dragged her feet as she headed to the table and climbed up onto the chair to place the container in the cooler, wedging it in between a bag of sausage links and one of marshmallows, "Will Emmie get to swim?"

"If she phases and it's up to it, then yes," Leah let out a sigh as she watched a look of loneliness sweep across her little girl's face, her own heart breaking as her little girl curled her fingers over the back of the kitchen chair to rest her chin on them, her voice downright pitiful, "So I'll be the only one not getting to swim."

"Oh, baby," her mama moved across the room to lift her out of the chair, hugging her tight and pressing a warm kiss on her round cheek before pulling back to look into eyes identical to her own, "I promise when it gets warmer, we'll have another camping trip and you can swim with all the puppies. Okay?"

Grinning at her mama, she threw her skinny arms around her neck and squeezed, mama's laugh a bit choked. Letting go of her neck, Tyra gave her mama's cheek a big juicy kiss before wiggling to be put down, heading down the hall in search of Avy and Ricky.

It was going to be so much fun!


Two hours before sun down

Emmie was scared but she'd decided to approach this whole new experience from a scientific stand point, having brought a brand new journal to take notes while she could.

She'd decided to pay attention to time of phasing, rate of phasing as well as the phases of phasing–she had always wondered if it would hurt and she hoped she could at least observe one or two of her brothers before she had to do it herself –if she had too, that is.

It was the not knowing for sure that scared her –she couldn't help but feel it made any possible preparation completely useless.

Sitting cross legged on one of the sleeping bags, she watched as the boys kept shoveling in hot dogs, having already lost count on how many each of them had eaten –well, except for Ricky. He'd eaten two entire hot dogs sans buns before stuffing his mouth with as many marshmallows as he could fit until mama stopped him.

"Baby, you're going to get sick," mama tried to get him to spit the marshmallows out, Alyx and Andrey laughing as Ricky shook his head, his little cheeks puffed out like a squirrel with a mouthful of nuts, "Come on, Erick, spit them out, please."

Emmie giggled at the look of mutiny on her baby brother's face as he shook his head again, his blond hair falling across his forehead as he tried working his little jaw around the mouthful of marshmallows but she knew mama was going to win at the end and sure enough, mama pulled the full name card and had Ricky spitting out a wad of chewed up marshmallows right into her hand.

Alyx and Andrey laughed at the look of disgust on their mama's face as she tossed the slimy marshmallows into a trash bag and cleaned her hand off with a wet rag, "Okay, you two, go find something to do that doesn't involve laughing at me."

Andrey sobered up rather quickly, getting up from the forest ground where he had been sitting to wrap his arms around mama, "We weren't laughing at you, mama. You made a very funny face."

"Yeah," Alyx stood beside his brother, giving mama the dimpled smile that always got him out of trouble, "We were laughing with you."

"Nice save, you two," mama ruffled Alyx's hair before placing a kiss on Andrey's forehead, Alyx moving in place to get one of his own while Ricky used the temporary lack of attention to toddle off with the bag of marshmallows.

Looking down at her notebook, she made a couple of notes, finding it interesting how the boys related to their mama –it wasn't unusual being all her brothers, from oldest to youngest, were seriously dedicated mama boys but for the first time, she was seeing something different…she was seeing it from the perspective of a pack.

"What are you doing?"

Emmie looked away from mama and the boys, smiling as Embry sat down beside her, "I'm just observing."

Embry's eyebrows lowered as he pulled up his knees, loosely wrapping his arms around them, "They're your family, Emmie. You should be participating, not observing."

"I don't know how to participate," Emmie wiggled her pen between finger and thumb, "They're…different out here…more…more natural, I guess."

"And they're still your brothers," Embry linked his finger over his thumb, looking over at the notes she had written down so far, "Lycanthropes?"

She lifted a shoulder in a shrug as she flipped a couple of pages of her notebook, "I thought of doing some research…I just…I just wanted to know about the history behind the myth. Did you know that almost every culture around the world, for dozens of years, have told and retold stories of werewolves and vampires? It's not just us."

"Yeah, you should have seen how surprised we all were when we found out about your father," Embry bumped her shoulder with his, giving her a teasing grin, "Of course, your dad made sure to point out we weren't technically werewolves but shape-shifters."

"There's a difference?"

"Apparently."

They sat there, watching as Tyra played a game of catch with Zak and Xavier, Gabe by the side of the river talking with Dad while the twins chased after Ricky, who still had the bag of marshmallows, the little blond two year old laughing as he evaded his older brothers, which wasn't hard since they weren't trying very hard to catch him.

"I'm scared," Emmie whispered, blue eyes dropping to the notebook on her lap as she nervously flipped to a clean page, jotting down a couple of phrases, "There's no way for me to prepare myself…I've been asking Dad and the boys questions about what it's like…if it hurts…if I'll still be able to be myself. They tell me that –they think like wolves. They work together and are able to communicate…I don't know what that means."

Embry nodded, about to tell her it was how it worked with shape-shifters as well but she kept talking, "My brothers are used to being wolves, they know their wolf but…I don't. I don't know who –who I'm going to be…I don't know them."

"Well, then," Embry pulled her into his side for a one armed hug, "Your brothers call your Dad Alpha –"

"Not Dad?"

"Not on the full moon nights," Embry smiled at her as she stared up at him, blue eyes looking large and vulnerable behind her blue rimmed glasses, "Then there's your older brother –they call him Spastic. Your Uncle Seth came up with that one."

Emmie bit back a giggle as she looked over where her older brother was –he was now playing keep-away with Ricky, the little boy giggling as he tried to get the marshmallow bag back from Gabe by climbing all over him.

"Now your brother Zak," Embry pointed over at Zak who was currently giving Xavier a piggy back ride, "They call him Shadow –he's the only one that's black and white –black face, black back, black tail, white throat, white legs and white belly. He's very quiet –"

"No surprise there," Emmie responded with a small smile, "I wouldn't think their personalities would change radically...or do they?"

"Nope," Embry dropped his arm to lean back on both hands as he stretched out his legs, "The twins –your brother Gabriel tagged them as Thing One and Thing Two."

Emmie's burst of laughter had him grinning as he covertly checked his watch, the shadows fluttering over the flowing river having already alerted him to the approaching dusk time. He continued introducing the rest of her pack brothers, "Xavier got the name of Skippy –you'll get to see why tonight."

Emmie's smile grew as she watched her brothers and sister playing, mama and Dad occasionally having to step in before something got out of hand, "And, of course, there's Pipsqueak."

The laughter bubbling out of her had Embry feeling like everything in the world was right, a feeling he still found surprising despite having felt it for twelve years every time he heard her laugh.

Bending over, she held on to her stomach, unable to keep the tears of humor from escaping, thinking how fitting it was, Ricky's wolf name –the littlest of the Laskaris had the habit of squeaking whenever he ate, something all his siblings found hilarious which in turn meant he kept doing it.

If anything, the Laskaris baby knew he was loved and adored by all and for that reason, found no reason to hold back on anything, wrong or right. Especially if it made others laugh.

While the twins got away with mischief due to their identical dimpled smiles, Ricky got away simply because he was the baby –and he knew it.

Letting out a shuddering sigh, she wiped at her wet cheeks, the muscles of her stomach hurting but it was a good kind of hurt. She looked over at Embry while he himself studied the scene before them –the shadows were lengthening and there was an odd energy in the air Emmie had never felt before.

"What about mama?"

Embry's mouth tipped into a one sided smile as he glanced sideways at her, "They rarely get to see her on full moon nights –whenever they do, it's like Christmas and New Year's and their birthdays all rolled into one. They absolutely adore her…they call her Mama Moon."

Emmie's eyebrows dipped down to create a little furrow over the bridge of her nose as she thought over what he'd said, finally realizing why it was sounding familiar, "Mama Moon? As in Mother Moon –the one who gave the Laskaris the ability to change into wolves?"

Embry gave one short nod, watching as Leah gathered two blankets from inside the tent, along with an empty canvas bag, "Yes. You've heard the story before?"

"Yes," looking around the riverside clearing in bewilderment at the way the energy around them kept increasing to the point of getting goosebumps all over her arms, "Embry…what's going on?"

"You're feeling the energy?"

She nodded, watching her brothers as they moved about, the twins pulling their sweaters over their heads and tossing them on one of the spread out sleeping bags, "What is it?"

"It happens just before they phase –your Dad and Gabe go first, followed by the twins then Zak, Ricky and lastly, Xavier."

"Baby, it's time," mama came over to where they were, Tyra coming along with her, little hand tucked in mama's larger one, "We'll go a little deeper into the woods, okay?"

Swallowing hard, she could feel the fluttering in her stomach which she knew was due to her nervous system responding to the sudden flood of adrenaline, "Is it going to hurt?"

He gave her a reassuring smile, reaching up to sweep back her long dark hair before gently taking hold of her shoulders, "For us, it feels like fire climbing up our back…but it's not painful."

A sharp pitched howl had Emmie and Tyra jumping, both of them looking around until they saw two large wolves sitting by the riverside, one a sandy brown and the other a darker red-brown color with chocolate brown ears, their blue eyes studying them inquisitively.

Swallowing hard once more, Emmie took a deep breath as she slowly rose to her feet, her stomach cramping with nerves and fear in the worst way, "Will you be here? Well –Bear."

Embry grinned at the mention of his alter ego's name, giving her cold hand a comforting squeeze as he answered, "I'll be waiting for you –we all will."


"Well, that was anti-climatic."

She felt the vibrations of his grumbling laughter against her back, smiling as she looked into luminous dark brown eyes, "All that adrenaline wasted and now I can't sleep."

Giving her a teasing eye roll, he let out a huffing bark which Emmie knew was laughter at her sarcasm. Despite him being unable to communicate the usual way, being he was still in wolf form while she wasn't –something they realized wasn't going to happen after thirty minutes of waiting, shivering naked under a blanket –she still had the uncanny ability to know what Embry's huffs, growls and barks meant, not to mention the myriad of facial and ear expressions.

She snuggled further into the half moon space of Bear's curled up body, a blanket spread over her drawn up legs which she was using as support for her opened journal. She watched her little sister playing fetch with Xavier and Ricky –well, Skippy and Pipsqueak, since they were currently in full out wolf form.

The four oldest were with Dad –Alpha –doing patrols while mama, who stayed in wolf form, kept an eye on the three younger ones. Embry –Bear –had stayed behind to watch over all of them but mostly, to keep Emmie company.

"I've never been out in the woods at night," she studied the surrounding area, noticing the way the moon turned the flowing river into quicksilver, the rocks along the shore line bleached of color, "It's beautiful."

Embry huffed, slightly shifting his large body before settling his head on his front paws, his eyes following Tyra, Skippy and Pipsqueak. It was fun to watch the eight year old, who was older sister to both Xavier and Ricky, being pushed and teased by the puppies, both about the size of an average wolf, which meant they were at eye level with Tyra.

They'd already gone crazy, stealing bacon treats from her without performing any of the tricks she tried to teach them. Now, they were playing tug of war with each other, the Nerf ball in danger of being torn in two when Tyra tried to wrestle it away from them.

Embry caught the look shared between the puppies and knew what was about to happen, nudging Emmie's elbow with his muzzle to direct her attention to them just in time to watch as they simultaneously let go of the ball, Tyra falling back on her bottom with a yelp of surprise.

Emmie giggled, watching the ball fly out of Tyra's hand and into the water, Ricky bounding after it with exuberant yips, water splashing as he jumped into the river without hesitation. Xavier stopped at the edge, high pitched whines escaping him as he shifted back and forth, dipping his head to sniff the water before stepping back and letting out a high pitched howl.

Tyra got back on her feet, moving to stand next to Xavier as Ricky struggled to swim upstream, ball in mouth and water churning with his efforts. Emmie sat up straight, smile ebbing away as she realized the river's currents were carrying her little brother downstream.

Before mama could jump in to rescue Ricky, Dad stepped out of the woods on the opposite side of the river, the moon bleaching his sandy brown fur to almost white. He fished Ricky out of the water by the scruff of his neck as he crossed over, the dripping wet puppy kicking his legs and wagging his tail as Dad easily carried him across the rushing water.

As soon as his paws touched the ground, Ricky shook himself, spraying water over Tyra who let out a shrieking laugh as she tried to move out of the way, bumping up against Dad's hind leg, "Daddy, make him stop!"

Embry could see Leah tensing as Rick's wolf looked over at the little eight year old blond, her giggles increasing as he sniffed her neck and hair, his huge head bumping her as he kept sniffing before giving her one long lick, from jaw to temple, Tyra letting out a squeal and Leah visibly relaxing.

Emmie laughed as her sister tried using the hem of her t-shirt to wipe her face, watching as Dad turned his head towards her mama, big blue eyes bright under the moonlight. Quieting, she watched him approach mama; he nudged the underside of her muzzle with his before he…she could only describe it as a hug, mama's head resting on his shoulder and his on hers, their eyes closed as they let out simultaneous sighs.

It was a beautiful sight.

"He loves her."

She watched in awe as Dad and mama nudged each other, low growls and whines barely audible thanks to the noise of the rest of the pack returning to the camp, Tyra squealing in excitement as brother after brother came to her, sniffing and nudging, tugging at her clothes with their teeth.

She laughed as the one she knew to be Gabriel –Spastic –grabbed on to a mouthful of the back of Tyra's denim overalls and carried her towards the tent, her little sister laughing and squealing as the others came along, the twins nipping at her fingers and licking her face even though she was squealing for them to stop.

Emmie quieted as the black and white wolf she knew to be Zak, broke away from the rest and moved to where she sat with Embry, his blue eyes studying them both. Once he was close enough, he bumped heads with Embry in greeting before moving closer to her, his cold wet nose touching her cheek as he sniffed her.

Emmie laughed at the tickling sensation, grimacing when he licked her cheek before wiggling close enough to lie the top half of his large body across her lap and over her notebook, his heavy weight instantly putting her legs to sleep.

"Zak, you're too heavy," Emmie laughed as she ran her fingers through his soft fur, giggling some more at the way his chest vibrated and his eyes closed when she scratched between his ears.

If she were to measure him, she knew her little brother would be about the size of a Shetland pony while her father was along the lines of a Clydesdale, mama about a couple of hands shorter while Gabe was at least half a hand taller than mama. As for the twins, they were all definitely smaller than Zak yet bigger than an average wolf while Xavier and Ricky could be easily mistaken for actual wolves.

Something cold and wet touched the back of her neck, her eyes colliding with another pair of blue eyes when she looked over her shoulder, a grin spreading over her face when he ducked his head under her chin to sniff her neck.

"Hi, Daddy," she whispered into his ear, laughing when it twitched before he gave her chin a lick then dipped his head down to tug at one of Zak's midnight black ears.

"Can they communicate," Emmie turned to look into Embry's dark brown eyes as Zak moved from her lap, bounding over to where mama was along with the two younger ones, Dad nudging her shoulder again before heading back to mama.

Embry dipped his head in a nod, nudging her between her shoulder blades in encouragement for her to stand, her blanket pooling over her pen and notebook as she walked across the clearing to meet the rest of her pack.


January 22nd

It was quiet in the house, which experience told her meant all hell was going to break loose, she just didn't know when it was going to happen. She could only hope when it did, she would be able to keep her cool.

Putting the finishing touches on dinner, Leah looked over at the time on the microwave; her mom and Charlie were going to be arriving soon, as well as Seth and his family. It was going to be a quiet celebration dinner for the twins' tenth birthday; although Rick jokingly said it was more of a celebration of surviving them for ten years.

Leah had to agree, being her charming little terrors seemed hell bent on giving her gray hairs and she knew the silence in the house meant they were up to something and she couldn't help but feel a bit of trepidation over what it could be this time.

Setting the table, which had twelve seats and took up most of her small kitchen, she thought back on the last ten years, a soft smile on her face as the memory of her failed preparations for their first birthday came back to her. It was for that reason she hadn't made them a cake, neither Alyx nor Andrey able to stomach frosting since getting themselves sick from their splattered first birthday cake.

Instead, she'd made cinnamon apple pie along with homemade vanilla ice cream. The twins loved pie –they especially loved apple pie and ice cream.

A sharp drawn out whistle followed by a loud bang and a shriek broke the silence, her heart jamming into her throat as the back door slammed open, Tyra running in, wide eyed and scared, "They did it, mama! They did it!"

"What happened, baby?"

Tyra grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the back door to the backyard, the ribbons around her blond pigtails coming undone as she frantically looked at her mama, "They set the sky on fire!"

She looked up to see the fading red streaks, the darkening blue sky behind it clear of clouds, "What the hell?"

Alyx's head poked out from the tree house, his dark hair a mess and face streaked with what looked look soot, "Mama?"

"What are you two doing?"

"They're setting the sky on fire," Tyra supplied the answer, her bottom lip poking out in a pout as Andrey's head popped out beside his brother's, both twins giving their little sister a narrow eyed look.

"Tattle tale."

"Don't you dare," Leah marched over to where the tree house was, able to see from the side lacking a wall, her eyebrows lowering as she caught sight of blue sky through the sloped roof of the simply made play house, "Your father did not put a hole on the roof of that tree house."

Andrey shifted around until he was sitting on the edge of the floor, his feet hanging from the side, "We cut out the hole."

Leah's brows rose in surprise, "Why?"

Alyx stood up, dusting his hands on his jeans in hopes of getting rid of the black soot before mama saw it but only succeeded in dirtying his jeans, "We needed to have an opening for our fireworks to go out of."

Leah's mouth dropped open as she looked up at the sky, which was once again clear of any color but its darkening blue, "Fireworks? Where did you get fireworks?"

Andrey and Alyx looked at each other, neither really wanting to tell mama the truth about their latest mess up but just then, the window to Emmie's bedroom opened, their older sister sticking her head out, "You stole the batteries out of my camera!"

Alyx let out a heavy sigh before he responded back with a yell of his own, "Yeah, well, your camera is the only one that has lithium batteries!"

Emmie's blue eyes widened along with her mouth, Leah looking from her daughter to her boys then back to ask, "Why does that matter?"

"You used lithium," Emmie shook her head in total shock, reaching up to push her glasses up her nose, "Are you insane?"

"What," Leah did not like being out of the loop of whatever was going on between her children, and at this very moment, that was exactly where she was, "What is the problem with lithium?"

"Lithium is what makes fireworks go red. It's also extremely unstable," Emmie pushed her long hair back over her shoulder, her mouth pursing in displeasure as she glared at her twin brothers, "You also need black powder to make fireworks. Where did you get black powder?"

Leah's head snapped back to her boys, face blanching as they hemmed and hawed before Alyx muttered, "We stole some of Grandpa's shotgun shells."

She was having a hard time filling up her lungs with air as she realized the danger those two had put themselves in, the fear paralyzing her enough not to act on the rage that was coming right along with it.

Emmie frowned at her twin brothers, grabbing the edge of the window to pull it back down but not before yelling at them, "You stay out of my chemistry books!"

The anger finally won out, her brown-green eyes darkening as she glared at her two little terrors, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Oh, come on, ma," Alyx clambered down the knotted rope he and Andrey had nailed into the floor of the tree house, making it down on record time, his twin landing beside him within seconds, "Fireworks don't give heart attacks."

"Yeah," Andrey shrugged as he gave his mama the dimpled smile, "It's no big deal."

"Not like when we climbed to the roof of the community center," Alyx shrugged, his own dimpled smile in place, hands slipping into the pockets of his dirty jeans, "Then tried to rappel down using our own made up harnesses."

Andrey choked back a laugh at the memory, rubbing his own dirty hands on his t-shirt as he supplied another worst case scenario, "How about when we took Grandpa Harry's harpoon and canoe to go whale hunting and ran into that injured shark instead? That's definitely worse than making fireworks."

"Making our own parachutes out of our bed-sheets and jumping off the twenty five foot cliff," Alyx lifted both shoulders as he gave his mama a sheepish smile meant to diffuse her anger, "If that didn't give you a heart attack, fireworks won't either."

"You are not helping your case," she pointed a shaking finger at them, working hard at staying angry but it wasn't helping, not when she was wondering how the hell she managed to keep these two alive for ten years –alive and out of prison!

"Hey, what's going on out here," Seth's voice cut into the moment, Leah turning as he came out through the back door, Rose beside him followed by Gabe and Vivi, hands linked between them, "I didn't know there were going to be fireworks. Didn't you say a quiet dinner?"

"That's where I made a mistake," Leah ran her shaking hands through her hair as the rest of her family spilled out into the backyard, "It's never a quiet anything when involving Alyx and Andrey. It never has been. I don't know what the hell I was thinking!"

"Mama –"

She spun around, her frustrations over her failures as their mother spilling out as she pointed at the twins, "You two are grounded!"

"What," Alyx exclaimed in shock, rightly so being their mother had never before grounded them –no, it was usually their father who did that, "We were practicing chemistry!"

"Yeah," Andrey joined his twin's righteous defense of their actions, "It was an experiment! You never ground Emmie for doing her experiments!"

"Emmie does not put holes on roofs," Leah brushed her hair out of her face before waving her hands around in agitation as she stuttered over her words, "Or-or-or steal shotgun shells! Now, go c-clean up and if you keep arguing with me, there w-won't be any a-apple pie for either of you."

Wide eyed and open mouthed in shock, they stared at their mother, everyone else silent in surprise at the outburst from a usually indulgent mother. Looking at each other, they shook their heads, muttering as they headed into the house, Leah able to hear every word.

"It's our birthday –how are we not getting apple pie?"

"So not fair!"

The silence was heavy, the stomping of feet fading as they headed down the hall and up the stairs to the second floor. Covering her face with her hands, she let out a long drawn out breath, almost choking on it when Seth cleared his throat before speaking up.

"I take it the fireworks weren't your idea?"


February 14th

"I've got something for you."

Vivi smiled as they stepped around the football's field house, the bleachers blocking most of the winter sunlight, "You didn't have to get me anything."

"Uh…yeah," Gabe grinned down at her as they stopped a couple of feet from where the water fountain was, Vivi dropping her bag down at her feet as she leaned back against the cool concrete, "You're my girlfriend…it's Valentine's Day…it's kind of a given."

He smiled at her giggles, propping his shoulder against the wall to her right side, her shoulder brushing against his chest as he dug into the pocket of his jeans, "I've been working on it for a few weeks now…I really hope you'll like it."

"I will," she assured him, gold-brown eyes widening as he handed her an intricately braided black leather necklace with a clear marble fixed in the middle, a ray of sun causing the silver star inside it to dance, "Is that…"

"The marble you asked me to guard for you," Gabe's mouth lifted into a one sided smile as he tapped his finger against the marble, the star dancing frenetically with the movement, "I braided it into the design –it won't fall out. I just thought…since you're mine –my girlfriend –you can wear it and I can still look after it for you."

Her smile was sweet, her face flushed pink as she dropped her eyes to study the braided leather, a fingertip moving over the small knots and twists, recognizing the pattern as being identical to the embroidered leather cuff bracelet Doug had given to Nika some years back, "This is…beautiful."

"I used black leather so it'll match your bracelet," he took it from her, unhooking the silver lobster clasp as he moved to stand in front of her, his fingers brushing her skin as he placed it around her neck, hands under her long red-gold hair working to link the clasp as he smiled down at her.

As soon as he linked it closed, he cupped her face in his hands, thumbs brushing over her high cheekbones as he touched his mouth to hers, her breath sweet to the taste. She lifted her arms to drape over his broad shoulders, his own hands moving over her shoulders and down her back to pull her against him as the kiss deepened, their tongues exploring each others' mouth with shy curiosity.


The boys' locker room was noisy, metal doors slamming, voices rising and falling along with yells and shouts of laughter.

Marc ignored it all as he brushed his teeth, his near black hair damp from the shower he'd taken after baseball practice, already dressed in his street clothes. With classes over for the day, he had to head to his job over at the Newton store.

He put in four hours every Wednesday and Friday after practice, as well as a full eight hour shift on Sundays with the option of working extra on Saturdays if he didn't have games. His boss was actually very accommodating of his schedule, which was a good thing what with practice, weekend games and, of course, the occasional away games.

Spitting out the foam in his mouth, he caught sight of Hunter, one of the football players for the school, in the mirror. The stupid jock kept glancing at him as he returned his football gear into his locker, a smirk on his dirt streaked face.

"What's your problem, Heeds," Marc rinsed his toothbrush, shaking it dry before placing it into his navy blue dopp kit along with the tube of toothpaste.

Hunter shrugged, grabbing his own dopp kit from the top shelf of the locker, "Nothing, really…saw your friend Gabriel."

"What's that got to do with me?"

Hunter shrugged again, heading towards the showers as he smirked over his shoulder at Marc, "Gabriel's under the bleachers, getting lucky…with your sister."


"Are you fucking stupid? We have a game this Saturday!"

"He's gonna kill him!"

"Marc! Stop!"

Marc was practically seeing red and although he could hear his teammates behind him, he didn't stop. Crossing the football field, he edged around the side of the bleachers, moving at a flat out run as soon as he caught sight of Gabe and Vivi making out up against the side of the field house.

Gabe's hands were under her sweater but from the angle he was at, he couldn't tell if they were on her back or up her front –either way, he was violating the nothing south of the neck border rule.

As soon as he was within reach, he grabbed the back of Gabe's varsity jacket, yanking him off his little sister, "Get your hands off her!"

Stumbling back a few feet, Gabe was able to keep his balance only to land flat on his back, his throbbing jaw evidence of Marc's flying fist, "You fucker!"

Vivi's yells for them to stop faded into the grunts of pain, the sickening sound of flesh pounding into flesh. Marc could taste his own blood from the cut lip he was now sporting, his focus tunneling until all he could see was Gabe.

Aiming for his face again, Gabe ducked under the flying punch, grabbing Marc's wrist and yanking him forward at the same time he drove his fist into Marc's stomach, the older boy spitting out blood onto the ground before twisting his arm free only to grab Gabe's shoulders and return the favor, but with his knee instead of a fist.

Doubling over in pain, Gabe struggled to catch his breath but Marc wasn't giving him the chance, a fist connecting with Gabe's nose, the sound of cartilage snapping sickening as blood gushed out to drip down his mouth and chin.

"Stop it! Marc, stop!"

Vivi tried to grab her brother's arm only to be pushed back. Tripping over a buried rock, she landed on her bottom, hands scrapping against the rock littered ground having her let out a gasp of pain, soft enough to get lost in the noise of the fight but Gabe was so attuned to her it literally flipped his anger switch.

Without thought, Gabe rushed Marc, both boys grabbing on to each others' clothes as they struggled to get the upper hand. Keeping his hold on Marc's wool sweater, Gabe let go with his other hand to punch Marc on the side of his face, his knuckles splitting with the impact. Marc himself was driving a fist into Gabe's side, which wasn't easy being Gabe kept his elbow tucked in to deflect the blows.

It was in that brief moment just before Marc's teammates pulled them apart when he could have sworn Gabe started to blur around the edges. Blinking sweat and blood from his eyes as he struggled to break away from Michael and Cale's hold, he focused on Gabriel's very solid, and angry, face, telling himself it had just been a momentary lack of clear vision due to the sweat and blood.

"You two need to finish this on your own time and in your own turf," Michael warned them, glaring at Gabriel as he fought Hunter and Jason, both of them working hard at holding on to his arms, "We have a game this weekend, so do you Gabe, so quit now before a teacher shows up."

"Gabriel."

Marc watched as Vivi moved towards Gabe, a shaking hand reaching up to gently touch his swollen nose, Gabe yanking an arm free to catch her hand before it touched him, his thumb moving over her palm.

Yanking himself free from his teammates, he straightened his sweater, reaching up to wipe the blood from his eye, realizing he had a cut above his eyebrow, "Vivi, I'm taking you home."

She didn't respond to him, her eyes glued on Gabe's face as she softly spoke to him, "We need to get your nose fixed –it's broken."

Marc couldn't take it anymore, moving across the small distance and grabbing her by the upper arm, shoving Gabe back when he tried to pull his sister away from him, "Get lost."

"Marc –"

Looking down at her, she snapped her mouth shut at the sight of his near black eyes, her own wide as he muttered through tightly held teeth, "We're going home –now."