Carter had finally finished packing up her belongings. She didn't have much in her apartment, but enough to make it entirely hers. She slowly packed all of her posters tubes and took all of her books from the shelves. It has a long process. It felt like she was erasing bits of herself away from the past couple of years. Her sisters would no longer live down the street from her and no more stopping by her parents for Sunday dinner and take home leftovers. She laid in the middle of what was considered her bedroom and stared up at the ceiling.

"Are you ready to leave, or are you just going to continue to lay there being overly dramatic," her older sister's rough voice came from the doorway.

Carter just stared at her sister, willing her to leave her alone for just a little while longer. She wasn't granted that.

"Overly dramatic it is," Nina stated, sitting down next to her. "Just make it quick. We have to be at the airport in an hour and do not have time for your usual overdramatic fainting. What was it? Eleventh grade. You lied around moping that you didn't get first in the Science Fair."

"It was rigged against me," Carter mumbled. "None of the judges liked me."

"Well, suck it up, buttercup. You're going to Florida. I wish I could go with you."

"What's so great about Florida?"

"Hot guys... or hot girls... roaming the beach, half-naked. What's not great about it?"

"I'll be spending the majority of my time inside, with air conditioning."

"Gahhhh!" Nina moaned. "You're so boring. You better go to the beach once. I expect to see pictures."

"I won't even be close to the beach."

"That's why you meet some girlfriends and boyfriends at work a take a weekend trip there. It's not that hard. I'll even let you sit on the beach and read. You don't even have to go into the water. Actually, we probably don't want you to. Saltwater and you don't make the greatest combo."

"I'm glad you remembered that one small fact about me," Carter said sarcastically. She would have made a joke about Nina and water, but that would have been too cruel.

At that point, another figure was standing at the door.

"Are you ladies ready?" their mother asked from the door.

"I am," Nina said. "I don't know about Carter. She's really mopy."

"She's lived here for years. Don't let me remind you how upset you were when you went away to college. You wouldn't let go of my tail, no matter how much I pushed you away."

"And now it's time to push Carter way. Glad you understand my point, Mom," Nina said as she stood up and skipped out of the room.

"Why did you have to give me such a crazy sister?" Carter asked her.

"Nope, you're not going to put that on me. You're the one that chose her."

"Are the twins coming?"

"Will wasn't able to get off of work because his boss is a complete... Anyways, I have no clue where Bradon is, haven't for a while. He'll probably pop up again soon. But are you ready?"

"Not really."

"Neither am I. My baby is leaving the nest."

"Technically, I'm not your baby."

"Oh, hush, you're all my babies. Now, get over here, and give me a hug."

Carter stood up from her lying position and walked over to her mom. It always felt amazing when she wrapped all of her limbs around her children. It always made things better.

"Ready to go now, kiddo?"

"Definitely," Carter said.

"Well then, let's get all of the things you're taking with you. We can send the rest of it to you later."

Carter grabbed two suitcases from the floor beside her, handing one to her mom, and put her backpack on containing some books, her personal laptop, wallet, and all the documents she needed to board the plane. She also picked up that safe that doubled as a briefcase. She took one last look at her room before walking out of it, her mom walking out behind her.

They walked to the apartment's main room, expecting to see the rest of the family that could make it there. When they found the room empty, they left and walked to the elevator and make their way down. As the doors, Mal was standing before them instead of behind the desk like he usually was.

"I guess this is so long, kid."

"I guess it is, Mal. Try to stay out of trouble," she warned him.

"You know I won't, kid," the two unlikely confidants hugged before Carter and her mother made their way outside.

As soon as the two were outside, a tiny body crashed into Carter. Looking down, she saw Danni's blonde hair. She also heard a slight sniffling and knew that her younger sister was crying.

"I'm not going forever, little one."

"But, you're still leaving, sissy."

"Not forever."

"Feels like it."

Carter wanted to hold Danni, but her hands were full. Nina came up from behind the little girl and picked her up on her hip.

"Come now, little one, we need to get Carter to the airport."

"I don't want her to go," the tears kept on, but they slightly quieted down.

Their dad walked from leaning against the driver's side door to grab the things from his wife and daughter, leaving the women to their emotional moment. Because he was not crying, not at all, he would probably say if they asked him.

Nina walked to the black SUV behind them and placed Danni down on the seat. Carter and her mom decided to help her dad pack everything. It felt weird to see her entire life practically filled into four containers, and this was just some of the most important things that she couldn't live without for a week or two. When done, both parents walked toward the front seat while Carter walked to the second row, where Nina and Danni were already settled. As soon as she buckled in, Danni was crowding in her chair. It was amazing that she hadn't choked herself with her own seatbelt.

They were off on the way to the airport down the highway—the entire ride was silent without anyone feeling the need to break it. Carter and Danni were cuddled in their seats. Nina watched an animal documentary on her phone. Their parents were concentrating on the road in front of them, with their hands clasped together.

In the central part of the airport, they make sure to park because they all wanted to go in. This time, when they got out of the car, Carter was carrying Danni on her hip, and everyone else brought her stuff, making sure that her dad was holding the safe. She felt terrible about it, but everyone knew that Danni would not let her go anytime soon.

As they walked through, Carter noticed her mom was getting dirty looks. It always made the family uncomfortable when people would do this, mostly when only Will's and her differences were easily prominent: their tails. Unfortunately, humans were terrible. They would usually try to glare these people off, but they all didn't have the energy today.

Once they got to where Carter dropped off her luggage, Danni's grip grew exponentially. Instead of talking this time, she simply dug her face into Carter's neck. She could feel that salt of the tears reacting to her but said nothing. And then the person at the concierge desk asked them:

"You know that you're more than four hours early, right?"

"It's better this way. Trust us," Carter told her, with a blush rising on her face. It increased when the woman in front of them gave them a suspicious look.

"Well, you can go through security now if you want..."

Carter could feel the woman's eyes on her as they walked away. She didn't turn back because she knew that would make her more suspicious and tighten her arm around Danni. When the two of them got to the rest of their family, her father asked her:

"You ready to do this?"

"Nope, but I rather get this over with."

"Come here, little one," the girls' mother said to Danny, grabbing the girl from Carter's arms. "It's time to say 'goodbye' to your sister."

"Bye, sissy," Danni said softly, waving her hand softly.

"Bye, squirt," Nina said to her, messing her hair up.

Fixing her hair again, "I'm not that much younger than you."

"See you later, sweetheart," their mom said.

"Bye, momma." Turning to her dad, she said, "Let's get this over with."

The two of them walked side-by-side down to the security checkpoint. Fortunately, there wasn't a long line to get through. The two of them quickly got to the front of the line with a ticket and passport at hand. As soon as she got up to the front, a continuous beeping started to fill the area. The agent ushered her to go forward, and the sound slowly crescendoed to a loud screech.

"Ma'am," another came up to her, "would you mind coming with us."

"I'm coming with her," her dad spoke up from behind her.

"Sir, you are not allowed to do that."

"Seeing as I'm your boss," he said, pulling out his identification, "I'm pretty sure that I can."

The woman took his ID and quickly gave it back once she was done looking at it.

"Sorry, Director Williams, I didn't recognize you. Who is this woman with you?"

"One of my daughters."

"Oh," the woman quietly said, with an understanding look on her face. Carter guessed she would have understood with everyone at the agency, seeming to know about her and her siblings. At least it looked like she wasn't going to give Carter a hard time like some people might have. "If you two can follow me, we can have you out as quickly as possible."

Carter and her father followed the agent into the back room. From the corner of her eye, she saw the other people in line looked at her, but Carter just shrugged it off. She knew this would happen and would need to dad to circumvent the trouble it would inevitably bring.

In a few minutes, Carter was done. A surprising feat considering the trouble she usually had. Sometimes it took her hours to get through airport security. She said goodbye to her father one last time. On the other side, Carter quickly found her gate. There was still three and a half hours until Carter would be able to board. She found a quiet spot in the corner and got her laptop out—no better way of passing the time than getting lost in a video game.