First off, I'd like to declare that I absolutely loathe Karma as a character, for numerous reasons. That being said, I will try to be as fair as possible and not overdo it. For those of you wondering, I envisioned someone looking fairly similar to a younger Colbie Smulders (I HAD to pick someone from Canada, I just had to) for Kate. This chapter won't include any aspects of Jessie's new life. In the meantime, I'm open to suggestions. I have a vague idea of where it will head, but ideas are always welcome. Thanks again for all the reviews, and enjoy!

"What the fuck do you mean she's GONE?"

Lauren couldn't believe this. She hadn't even gotten her left foot in the doorway before Farrah started bombarding her with questions about Amy – which, that in itself was alarming, since Farrah was NEVER home before six.

Had Lauren seen her at school today? Well, no.

Had she talked to her in the last couple days? Uh...

When was the last time she had seen her daughter? Come to think of it, not since Amy had picked a fight with Farrah and left to go stay at Reagan's.

Except she didn't. Reagan hadn't seen her for days, or so she told Farrah. Apparently, the girls had had an argument and Reagan hadn't seen Amy since. She even openly led the elder Raudenfeld (or Cooper, as she was now dubbed) throughout her apartment to actually prove that no, she wasn't there. Farrah might not have always agreed with her daughter's choices – both sexual and otherwise – but she did love Amy dearly. And now she was missing, with no indication as to where she had gone.

Amy, her sexually confused but goodhearted stepsister, had disappeared.

Farrah slumped onto the couch, head in her hands, when Lauren confirmed she too had not seen or heard from the young woman. As she began to cry, Farrah looked up with the most heartbroken eyes she had ever seen and Lauren felt her heart drop.

"Her bank account is empty. Her phone number isn't in service, her computer is missing, and no one's seen her for three days." Farrah began to sob harder. "My baby's been gone for THREE DAYS, Lauren! And I never noticed, the school never noticed, you and your father never did... I need her back, Lauren. I need to see Amy and know she's all right. Oh, God, it's all my fault. I should have noticed sooner. I should have realized that something was wrong when she yelled at me like that. What if she hates me, Lauren? What if she left because of me? What if she trusts the wrong person? What if she gets hurt? What if she's already -"

"Farrah, STOP!" Both women were shocked at the tone Lauren used, but she composed herself and pressed on anyway. "Amy is fine. At least, she was when she left. You said that her savings were gone, right?" Farrah nodded. "So we have to assume that she withdrew the money so we wouldn't be able to track where she was going through her bank account. We have to assume her plan was to move somewhere else, not to..." Lauren cleared her throat, and spoke more softly, "...die."

Silence enveloped the room as Farrah processed Lauren's words. Yes, what she said made sense, but why would Amy leave in the first place? Farrah certainly had no idea. Although, to be fair, she really couldn't think straight at the moment – she was consumed with worry, self-blame, despair, you name it. Putting it simply, Amy's mother was a complete train wreck.

But Lauren knew why. She knew why Amy had been acting strangely the past couple weeks. She knew why Amy hadn't been paying attention in class, why she had all but ignored Shane, why Reagan had stopped showing up at the Cooper residence unannounced, and why Karma and Liam seemed to be openly flaunting their newfound relationship.

Because as always, Amy had tried to do the right thing. She wasn't about to let the entire school eat Liam alive with the revelation that he had slept with someone else straight after breaking up with Karma. Amy had confessed to Karma, and begged her forgiveness. She begged Karma to not give up on ten years of friendship and Amy declared that she wasn't about to give up on Karma, despite all the utter SHIT they had been through in recent months.

And Karma had slapped her in the face. Literally and figuratively. She called her a variety of colourful names and chose Liam over Amy. The whole school knew about it – even Lauren, who had been obsessing over why that fucktard Theo had stood her up. But, much to Lauren's delight, the school had now turned against Liam AND Karma. And Lauren knew that the shit had yet to hit the fan; once everyone found out that Amy had disappeared, the show would begin. These might be immature idiots, but at least one person would be able to piece together why Amy left (and Lauren would bet anything Shane would be that one person).

Now, Lauren wasn't the nicest young lady, but she had really started to care for Amy. Lauren wanted to find her as much as Farrah did. But they had no starting point, nowhere to even begin looking. So as Farrah called the police to report a missing minor, Lauren declared that she was going out to "clear her head".

She drove straight to Reagan's and relentlessly pounded on the door until Amy's (ex?) girlfriend answered. Lauren had to bite back a gasp at the older girl's appearance; she wore no makeup, her hair pinned up on her hair messily, and her eyes red and puffy from crying. She was wearing some sloppy, oversized clothes and Lauren assumed she hadn't moved from her crying position since Farrah had left hours before. Reagan didn't even bother to hide the hope that lit up her eyes once she saw Lauren.

"Where is she? Have you found her?"

Lauren shook her head. "No. We haven't. We've called the police, but so far, nothing." Reagan's face feel and she retreated into her apartment to sit down in the kitchen. Lauren shut the door and followed. She sat down opposite the DJ, and chose her next words carefully. "Reagan, I need to know what happened between the two of you. Amy loved you. You know she did. She never would have left you willingly, unless she thought that you wanted her to."

At this, Reagan began crying again. She took a few minutes to compose herself before she began to speak. "I know. I know she loves – loved – whatever, me." She coughed and Lauren waited for her to continue. "She came over right after she told Karma about the wedding night. Amy said she wanted to be honest with me, she said that she wanted me to hear from her, as it actually happened. I want you to know that I didn't yell or scream or anything at her, Lauren. You need to believe me. But I was so overwhelmed that I needed space, and I told her to leave. I told her to leave and I didn't say anything else, even when she begged me to say something. I practically threw her out. I turned off my phone so I wouldn't have to deal with the reality that she slept with a guy." Reagan took another deep breath. " I needed time. I needed to figure out if I was okay with that, even though we weren't actually together when it happened. I wasn't ready to talk to her about it. I didn't even know she was gone until her mother came barging in this morning. She never told me anything."

At this, Reagan began crying again and (against her normal behaviour) Lauren pulled her into a hug, as the DJ cried on her shoulder.

Ten minutes later, the girls had broken apart and Reagan had calmed down again. Amy's sister knew that it was time to go, so she left with the promise to call Reagan with any developments and the invitation for her to come over whenever she pleased.

As she was halfway around the door, Lauren turned around.

"This isn't your fault". And with that, she left without another word. She already knew her next destination. And as she approached the Ashcroft household, Lauren knew exactly what was about to go down.

Lauren rang the doorbell, and when Karma's mother answered the door, she smiled the fakest smile she could muster. "Hi, Mrs. Ashcroft. Is Karma home, by any chance? I need to talk to her about Amy. She's missed the last few days of school, and Karma would know what homework she has in Chemistry."

Karma's mother smiled and called for her daughter upstairs. Lauren could feel herself twitching with anger as she saw Amy's former best friend descend the stairs, confusion forming on her face when she saw who was standing at her door.

"Lauren? Is everything –"

Karma wasn't even halfway through her sentence when Lauren hit her as hard as she possibly could. Satisfied, Amy's stepsister turned around and began to walk to her car, ignoring Karma's cries of anguish. There were more important things to focus on. Like finding Amy.