"Why do you keep checking your watch?" Ria asks Kenz from the backseat, noticing how she's been married to her watch for the entire drive.

"In exactly thirty seconds it will be twelve."

"And?"

"Wait for it." She holds up her index finger, keeping us in suspense. "It's official. The zone in the capital is now exactly four miles. One in every direction. The mystics safely hidden."

"What does that do?" Mikey asks, glancing up from his phone.

"It means your mother is minimizing ground zero, the martyr she is." I snap, taking a breath as I turn onto a dirt road. "I didn't mean that."

"Your mother is trying to keep minimal casualties, if this goes wrong."

"Won't Dani realize she's in a box?"

"No, Danielle has one obsession in this life and that is Lauren." Sighing, I take a sharp left, tires losing traction slightly in the mud. "Wherever Lauren is, Danielle will stay."

"If this goes wrong, how bad is it gonna be?" Mikey asks.

"Does mother expect to make it out of this?" Ria talks over her brother.

I go to answer, only to find myself without one. I don't have an answer. I don't have one for his question or her question or any of the million ones running through my mind over and over again until I find myself sounding like a broken record. I don't have any damn answers. Not one. A scary thought because it's been a long damn time since I found myself here, so uncertain. Last time I felt this I was standing behind some sleazy bar, serving some sleazy drunk men fawning over anything with a pulse. It's been a long time since that day. In many ways, it ended up being the greatest day of my life.

It's easy to say the day I met Lauren was the greatest, and my God it's a close second, but I think that night…that was it. Fake smiles, drunk enough to get through the night, pride buried deep down along with all that self-loathing and then I see her. The thought earning the faintest of smiles as I glance over at Kenz. If that moment never happened, if it wasn't for that little girl…I never would have met Lauren. I never would have had Sean, Ethan, Mikey, Ria and Charlie. I never would have met Dyson and Hale and Niko and everyone else. So many people, so many chapters in the story of my life.

"Me and your mother don't always see eye to eye on things and right now is one of those times, but…I can say that she is most likely…" I notice Kenz glance at me. "Not most likely, is doing what she feels is best."

"And we're doing….?"

"Stop asking so many questions." Ria orders, slapping her brother on the arm.

"I'm just tryna figure out the game plan here because a few weeks ago we had a whole family, but now I don't even know who is left."

"You have a family still, we're just going through something right now." Kenz lies…or maybe she doesn't, I'm not really sure.

"How about we play the silent game for the last few minutes, yeah?" I glance back at them, nodding.

Yeah, the silent game.

.

2 Days Later

.

The rare sun glistens off the water, several ducks crossing from one side of the dock to the other. A warm breeze wraps around me like a nice snuggly blanket on a winter's day. For a brief moment as I sip my perfect temperature coffee, it all seems just so…peaceful.

And then the moment passes.

Life comes hurling back and all it's misery. Warm breeze continues but it's not all that comforting. The ducks reach the other side and I find their victory lackluster. The once perfect blend of comfort in my cup now dull.

Oh well, story of my life.

"Hey, mom." Mikey calls from the cabin, pulling my attention. "Can we…?"

He trails off, the sound of a car fast approaching rips my attention from him to the silver BMW that has no business driving off road. I wave my son back into the cabin, dropping the cup as I walk away from the lake, toward the car. It's tinted windshield keeping me from seeing who the crazy driver is. My fists clenching, none the less…not that I can do much at this point.

The driver's door opens and then the passenger's, but no one steps out. At least for a solid thirty seconds, until I see a big, blonde head emerge and I can't help laughing. Ty stepping out from the passenger's side, pulling his sunglasses off. The two look exhausted, I'm sure it's how I must look to everyone.

"Well I wasn't expecting a kiss, but a hello would be nice." She laughs heavily.

"What are you doing here?"

"We're here to serve our queen, "Ty says, stopping at the hood of the car. My lips part to give him a smart ass comment only to find him dip his head to me.

"Both of them." Skylar finishes for him.

.

4 Days Later

.

"Get up!"

Skylar's voice sounds far away, the pain ripping through my body familiar and foreign all at the same time. Fingertips digging into the dirt, blood spilling out of my lips, tears in my eyes. I can't see, can't hear…can't move.

"Get up!"

Ty's voice further away. Desperately I to find consciousness only to slip further away. Something grips my shoulder, flipping me from my stomach to my back. A surge of power followed by a rush of relief ripping through my body. Vision clearing as I find myself looking up at Skylar, her hands on my face.

"Are you hurt or are you injured?"

"What?"

"Are you hurt or are you injured? If you're hurt, get the fuck over it. If you're injured, I'll heal you some more and then you can get the fuck over it."

"Great pep talk." I push her back, struggling to sit up. "Give me a damn minute,"

"We don't have a minute." Ty snaps from the porch, keeping my children at bay. "We don't have a second."

"I get it-."

"Do you?" She jumps up, staring down at me. "Look at you, pathetic! You're worse than that excuse of a person who ran away on your family. Pathetic! Scared and confused and lost. Get over it! Get up!"

"You're children are watching!" Ty yells, my fists balling back up. "What's left of them anyway. Look at you. Pathetic child! We call you queen? Ha!"

"Get up!" She yells and I lunge at her arms wrapped around her waist as she throws me back onto the ground. "Get up!" I try again to end up with the same result. "Get up!"

"I can't." Attempting to do it once more, I fall flat. My eyes shifting passed Ty to my kids who stare at me with this pitying look.

Get up Bo….

…I can't.

.

9 Days Later

.

"They're doing good." I say, taking a seat across from Kenz, watching Ria and Mikey racing Ty and Skylar around the far bend of the river. "They almost look like they're having fun."

"Fun, what's that?" She sort of laughs, taking a sip of her tea.

"Kenz, look…"

"Don't,"

"Just let me say…"

"Don't."

"Hey, I'm older here." My eyes meet hers as she gives me a 'yeah right' look. "I am."

"We don't have time for this and besides we're not the type to share our feelings and cry it out."

"There are things we can do…the mystics."

"We can't tamper with the natural order, you know that Bo. There would be a price."

"I'd pay it."

"An innocent life for mine? Two? Five? Ten?" She shakes her head. "I don't think you would, and even if you were willing I'm not."

"Then we can…we'll figure something out. Worst case, you die and then we have Dani bring you back since apparently she can do that."

"Seriously Bo?"

"I refuse to let you die Kenz."

"One way or another I will die Bo and soon." Sighing, looking down she pulls out a cloth hidden in her lap. Opening it up, she shows me the blood staining it. "And I'm good with that. I'm good Bo."

"Bullshit."

"I'm ready to be with Hale, Bo. It's been so long, I'm forgetting his face. I'm forgetting his dumb jokes. I'm forgetting our memories."

"We have pictures."

"Seriously?"

"Kenzi. You are…we are…" I feel tears begin to fill my eyes, letting them close I take a breath. "No matter what has happened, we are family. You are my sister. You are my heart. I love you."

"And I love you too Bo, but there's a time for everyone."

"Yours isn't now."

"Then when?"

"I don't know…when you're done being needed."

"I am." She smiles softly, taking another sip. Something Ty had whipped up to help with the pain. "I am."

"I call bullshit."

"Bo, all those years ago I thought that I needed you and it turned out you needed me. We needed each other. Then Hale needed me. Then Iel…piece of crap needed me. Sean and Dani needed me. We were this family and it was perfect. But then everything happened and….Lauren needed me. Sean needed me. Hell, even the people needed me. Then we fixed it and I was needed less. The twins came and then the next set and things were great, but slowly I was needed less. And for the past couple of years, I haven't been needed Bo. You and Lauren are fine. The kids are fine. The people are fine. And I…I am tired."

"We all still need you."

"No…not NEED."

"Yes, need."

"Bo…"

"Look at me." I gesture to myself. "Look at the wreck I am, that my family…our family is in. Tell me that we don't need you."

"Watch out!" Mikey yells, not a second later he jumps on the table and right off followed by Ria.

"Watch it!" I yell, the pair already curving the next bend. Ty and Skylar stopping beside us. "Yes?"

"You should be running too."

"I need a minute." I snap back at her, the rest of me and Kenz conversation having to wait.

.

13 Days Later

.

"What is wrong with you?" I ask myself, staring into the mirror.

Overall I look okay, better than can be expected. Skylar's shots of chi after kicking my ass are helping. But something is still wrong, very wrong. Apart from the obvious of course. Almost a month now and no abilities. No hunger. No glimmer of myself. Hell, even that voice that was lingering in the back of my mind driving me insane is gone.

"What's wrong with you?" I ask again, the sound of my children outside the door pulling my attention.

.

15 Days Later

.

"Get up!" She yells, clapping her hands together as if that would make a difference. "Get up!"

Pushing myself up, every muscle in my body screaming for a nice ice bath. My lungs burning or throbbing or maybe both, hard to tell the difference anymore. I glance over at the porch, Ty and the kids sitting on the steps drinking lemonade taking bets on how much longer I'm lasting. At least Ria always bets on me.

Skylar throws two punches I deflect. A kick I narrowly dodge, jumping back. Foot work has definitely gotten better. Picking up the pace she comes at me twice, heavier hits to my forearms. The bone cracking but she's relentless. Three more hits followed by a heel to my knee and I'm back down on the ground.

"Get up."

"Give me a minute."

"No." She nudges my leg with her foot. "Get up."

My raw palms pressed to the ground, dirt filling my wounds. I hear her laugh, Ty saying something I can't make out. Mikey says something I can't quite make either. She keeps yelling over and over again, Anger wavering to defeat. Hours of this, no days of this, playing a punching bag. I just need a damn minute.

"I am." My words barely heard to myself.

"Get. The. Fuck. Up." Her heel nudges my kidney, as if I wasn't already going to be peeing blood for a while. "Now!"

"I am!" I yell, pushing myself up faster than I have. She closes the distance between us, her hand in my hair as she holds the back of my head. Her forehead hitting mine, but she doesn't pull back. Anger raging over defeat now. "I AM!"

"There you are!" Her free hand mimicking her other hand. "Who are you?"

"W-what?"

"Who are you?" She's yelling again, my hands gripping her forearms. "Who are you?!"

"Bo."

"Who?!"

"Bo!"

"Who?!"

"Bo!" My hands gripping her forearms tight enough, pulling her hold from me with a surge of strength I hadn't felt in a long time. "My name is Bo."

She sort of smirks, pulling away from me only to step right back in. Leaning in, her lips over my ear. "Now you remember who you are, remember what it means."

"Whoo! Go mom!" Mikey yells and whistles, clapping his hands.

.

17 Days Later

.

"You really like Ty, huh?" I ask in between bites of my sandwich, taking a seat on the couch beside him.

"Yeah, he's cool." He shrugs, taking my sandwich from me. "I guess. You?"

"He's alright. I guess."

"Mother and Sky used to date?"

"Yup." I nod, sighing. "Your mother does questionable things from time to time."

"Like now?"

"Like…now."

"We're not gonna be the same are we?"

"I want to lie to you, I want to tell you that it will be okay. I want to tell you that we'll make it through this and eventually everything will go back to normal…"

"But you can't."

"No. I can't." Shaking my head, I glance out of the window at the sound of a yell. Ria jumping on Ty's back like a wild woman. "What I can tell you though is that I've been here many times before, having the same feelings and doubts as you. While we are never able to get back to the way things once were we often find something better. Something different."

"I don't want different."

"No, we often don't." Reaching out, I take his newly freed hand. "Life will go on with or without us, without an ounce of concern for our feelings. We can either adapt or we can resist, but like the tide the more you fight the harder it becomes."

"Is that what Charlie did?"

"Charlie…she um," Hesitating, I glance back out the window needing a moment. "Sometimes people are just on a different path than you hopped for or wanted for them. Sometimes it's choice and sometimes it's destiny."

"I don't accept that." He snaps.

"I didn't too, for a long time. Even now with Charlie, I…it's hard. It's always hard, but you come to accept…a lot." I kind of laugh, brushing his hair from his face. Still so young. "There was this woman, Sasha and she had a capacity for being good. For being very good. But it turned out that she wasn't good, she just had the ability to be good. Eventually she chose to be what she really was. That's an example of choice."

"Yeah, I know what a choice is mom."

"Shush up and let me finish." I hit his knee with my own. "There was this man, Dyson. He was a good guy, an asshole but a good guy. He made mistakes, but mostly when it didn't come to me, he did the right thing. Unfortunately he died as a bad guy, as a villain. It wasn't his fault, not really…something had taken control of him and…it doesn't matter. That's an example of destiny."

"Your point?"

"My point Michael, is that when things are happening you never know whether it's destiny or choice, even if it's you. And what you have to learn is that you have to let things play out sometimes. Because you never really know. Maybe this is your sister's destiny. Maybe this is who she's always been and will be."

"Or maybe she's tryna figure shit out?"

"Exactly. As much as I want to protect her, tell her what's best…I can't. This isn't about punishing her because she's my child, I could. I could drag her back and force her to stay, but why? Right now this is who she is, who she needs to be."

"It blows."

"Yeah." I laugh, wrapping my arm around his shoulder, pulling him close. "It really does."

.

20 Days Later

.

"You're slowing up."

"I'm not made of pure muscle!" I groan, coming to a stop as I lean over with my hands on my knees. "Give me a second."

"At least you're not wanting a minute anymore."

"Ass." I roll my eyes at him, standing up letting the cool breeze comfort me. "Is she okay?"

"Who?"

"Lauren."

"I don't know."

"Bullshit."

"I don't. We don't. She left one note, we were stopped before even reaching the zone."

"What did it say?"

"What does it matter, we're here."

"What did it say Ty?"

"It said," He takes a step closer, looking me over. "Sometimes we need to go back to the beginning to truly move forward. Sometimes we need to remember what we were to know what we're not. Sometimes the only move we have left is divine. And divinity never comes without sacrifice."

"Um, what?"

"Yeah, we sat in the car for twenty minutes trying to figure that out." Skylar blurts out, hopping out from the trees.

"We think the first half is about you." He says.

"The second half about her."

"Yeah, not following any of it."

"You need to figure your shit out. And she's sacrificing herself, or she's prepared to."

"Pretty big leaps there guys." I start jogging again, the pair not missing a beat.

"She signed it Niko." Skylar snaps, grabbing my arm forcing me to stop. "Niko blew his brains out to keep Dani from winning. A divine move is a move that changes the entire game, one that's being lost where there is no hope. Now I'm not one for poetry or riddles, it's bullshit. But I think this is pretty clear."

"Then why are you hear with me? Why aren't you off running to save your queen? Everyone would be running to die for the chance to help her."

"We are." Ty sighs. "If anyone can save her, it's you."

Once upon a time…maybe.

.

24 Days Later

.

"Dammit!" Ty yells, slamming his fists on the ground.

"Not so nice now when the shoe is on the other foot." I laugh, wiping the blood from my mouth.

Skylar jumps up, running toward me. Dodging left, and then right as Ty lunges. Skylar the unstoppable beast she is already charging me, her arms wrapped around my waist carrying me several feet backward until I bring my elbows down into her back. Letting me go she stumbles back into Ty. Feeling this overwhelming presence coming from behind me I duck, sliding backward as my children fly forward missing me completely.

The four forming a half circle, all ready to charge like the little savages they are. The thought making me smirk, the slight anger in their eyes making me smirk more. Think they got too used to winning. In union they run toward me and then I feel it. Confidence and pride, sure. Even an exhilarating rush of power, but it's the familiarity of…self that makes me smile. It's the rush of heat coursing through my entire body as I feel my eyes change. Familiar blue tint to the world circling in.

My children reaching me first, hands on their chests pushing them back through the air as I pull she chi from Ty and Skylar before they even near me. All four falling to the ground with a thud. Faint sound of Kenz laughing from the porch turning my smile back to a smirk. Oh yeah, I definitely missed this. The four stare up at me, annoyed and smirking right back at me.

"I'm back."

.

27 Days Later

.

"Still not tired of beating up the help?" Ria laughs, tossing me a bottle of water as Ty pulls Skylar off the ground.

"Eh, it's good for me. I'm working through some history with these two."

"I…don't want to know." She lets out another laugh, looking from them to me and back again. "So mom…"

"Yeah, you have something face as your mother calls it."

"I think, I think it's time."

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to be ready. I think I'm good."

"No, I mean yeah you're cool. You're good mom, you're better. I don't know if you're ready to throw down with psycho-sis, but you're good."

"If you don't think I'm ready, then why are you saying we should go back?" My eyes narrow, tossing my bottle onto the ground.

"Because me and Mikey are ready."

I almost laugh. "To take on Danielle?"

"No, to do what we need to. To make sure mother and Ethan are still…mother and Ethan."

"Absolutely not."

"So Charlie can take her own path, but we can't?" She snorts. "Yeah, Mikey filled me in on your Yoda talk. Look, mom, take a second and jump back from being overprotective. You know I'm right. Mother would never let her hurt us, not really. And we aren't stupid. All we want to do is go home, check on them and buy you a little more time."

"You are children and I am your mom, my job is to protect you, not the other way around."

"You are our mom and we are your kids and Ethan is our brother. We are family and we protect each other."

"We…." I stop myself, hand cupping her cheek. "When did you get so big baby girl."

It's funny how sometimes the paths you think people are on end up being different ones entirely. My baby girl, the trouble maker who ran from responsibility at every turn now stands here with her back tight and her chin up ready to take on the world. And Charlie, the most responsible child and smartest one I've ever met ran the first chance she got.

"When I realized what being your daughter meant."