AN: Thanks for reading. All reviews are welcome. AN

Reese stood before her stove, staring into the steel pot. Her eyes remained fixed upon the calm surface inside, willing it to burst open in a bubbling triumph of basic cooking skills. The nail of her thumb wedged firmly between her teeth, she cast a hasty glance to the side table next to her couch. It chastised her with its nonchalant inanimate way. Wedged inside the broken bottom shelf of the rickety looking side table was the financial means of her escape.

She had been fervently ignoring the side table. Its pitiful embellishments bore a startling resemblance to a mother's disapproval. Over the past few months, she had wrapped the serious overturns of her life in the warm fuzzy enclosure of blissful ignorance. Through rose colored glasses, she had happily turned a blind eye to her own goals. Goals wrought into her skin from the numerous traumatic moments that littered her handful of years.

It was the stark elephant in the room, and it would not be ignored any more.

She had to leave.

Reese knew that no matter what happened, she wouldn't… she couldn't stay. Regardless of the fate of her stepfather, her life could not continue here. Too many memories. Too many fears. It tarnished her development. And she wanted to develop. Her life up to this point had forced her to "grow up" in the wrong way. It left her emotionally stunted. Sometimes the only option was to start over.

Glancing about the small apartment, Reese was struck by the startling temporary state she lived in. Her place of residence showed no impression of herself. Her personality. Her desires. Her heart. Her love. SHE was nowhere. She'd ghosted through the tiny flat, ensuring a clean get away. If she died today, no one would be able to tell that she'd lived here for several years.

A shudder rippled through her. She didn't want to be invisible. She wanted to create the home she'd always dreamt of. One filled with memories that were good and bad. Passion and hobbies. Reese frowned as she thought of what hobbies she had. Nothing really came to mind, and that is when it hit her. She had no idea who she was. Was she a kind person? A cruel one? Did she paint? Did she like books? Was she sociable or shy? So much of her life had been geared around hiding and preparing. Preparing to get out was her entire life, and faced with the future, Reese had no idea what she wanted to do. All she had known was that she wanted to leave the state and put as much distance between herself and her mother and stepfather.

Her mind wandered back to the broken and bloody mass that had sat tied to the chair in that warehouse. She thought about that single gunshot that had echoed through the halls. That sound was still crystal clear in her ears. She'd never mustered the courage to ask Harry what exactly happened as she left, and he never volunteered any explanation. In the end Nothing done out of forgiveness or vengeance would fix the damage long since cut into her.

The old man's "disappearance," not that she dwelt on the reasoning for it, meant less than nothing to her. Reese wondered absentmindedly if her mother noticed the absence. Did she mourn him? Was she wailing at the door like an ungodly banshee for the abusive wretch that had burrowed its way into her affections as some unseen parasite living by way of tooth and claw?

Fortunately, she'd never have to see the pitiful creature mourn a monster before her own blood.

An angry bubble of boiling water popped sprinkling her elbow with a few hot droplets. She hissed in pain and surprise. Rubbing the scalded flesh, Reese snagged the packet of pasta noodles from the counter and shook half of the noodles into the pot. Fishing the pasta server out of the drawer, she poked and prodded the noodles until they were all reasonably submerged into the water.

The dull ring of her phone snapped her out of the cloud of melancholy. She snagged the phone from the counter and clamped it firmly between her ear and her shoulder.

"Hi." The sweet sounding voice answered, its timidity palpable even over the phone. Reese pulled the phone from the vice grip between shoulder and ear, and gingerly placed it against her other ear.

"Hi, yourself," She responded, a smile perking up at the sides of her mouth. "What's up?" The silence that followed her question shook its awkward fist at her smile. "Is something wrong?"

A muffled shuffling answered her. Reese's shoulders slumped slightly, her mind ran wild with the worst of possibilities. Ninety percent of these possibilities ended with her being alone again, but worse off for having known some peace.

"Nothing's wrong really," he finally formed more words. "It's just…" In her mind's eye, Reese could see Harry shifting uncomfortably as he held the phone. Heart in her throat, she sighed audibly into the phone.

"Just spit it out Harry," She coaxed. "The suspense is killing me."

"I want you to come to dinner and meet with Mom."

Reese blinked, the utensil slipping form her grasp. It clipped the edge of her pot, flipped through the air, and skidded across the kitchen floor.

"Dammit," she muttered.

"She's my mother, Rey" Harry's voice hardened noticeably.

"It's not what you think," Reese muttered as she went to fetch the fallen server. "I dropped my… thing." She squished up her nose at the little dust bunnies that had taken refuge on her pasta server.

"You thing?"

"Yeah," Reese answered. She pinned the phone back between her ear and he shoulder again, as she went about furiously washing the dust bunnies away. "You know that doodad that you scoop pasta up with? It's got prongs and holes and what's its."

"Right," The hint of amusement in his voice added to the boyish charm that Harry seemed to just radiate. "So about that dinner…"

Reese blinked and turned off the water.

"When are we doing this?"