Disclaimer: Chapter three, and I still do not own them…I will continue to not own them, as sad as that is for me.

Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me reviews for this story; it definitely motivates me. And happy holidays (no matter which holiday you're celebrating) to everyone :)

In this story, Clay does not exist. Not because I don't like Clay, but because…well, I'm sure everyone has heard stories about why Clay died on the show; I will not go into it.

Sorry that this took a little while to get out to you, but it's longer than the previous chapters, so I hope that makes up for it a bit.

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"You can open your eyes." The blonde gal obeyed Raife by slowly opening her left eye to examine where they were before trusting herself to open both.

"We're at the park."

Raife allowed himself a sly smile, "You sound disappointed, Spencer. Did I make a bad choice?"

Spencer looked the rocker suspiciously before answering, "I love the park. I'm just trying to understand your choice." Suddenly Spencer grinned, "Jack!" Only her voice echoed. Oh, it wasn't echoing; it was someone else. Someone else was there, and…

A girl with dark hair was chasing a small yellow Labrador puppy across the park. The puppy had no collar on, but the girl was holding both a collar and a leash. Apparently the puppy was still a little too small for its new collar, and all the smells in the park were too great to pass up. "Jack! Come back! Jack!" The puppy paused for a moment to look at the girl before slowing to a brisk jog through the park, as opposed to his full-out puppy run. "Jack! I'm serious!"

The blonde put her camcorder next to her on the bench; she had been taking some video of the park when she had heard the yelling. Spencer looked up from her video screen just in time to see the puppy running toward her, oh, almost past her, but…"Whoa, Bud. I think someone's trying to catch you." She reached her arms out and grabbed him. He seemed pleased enough to meet someone new; he licked her chin. "Hi to you too," he was really adorable and his tail wagged. No wonder someone wanted him back. Spencer was smitten.

The dark-haired girl caught up to them a few seconds later. "Oh my gosh, thank you. Aiden would kill me if I lost him. Who knew they could run so fast?"

The blonde grinned, still holding the lab. "He's adorable. I can see why your boyfriend would miss him."

"He's Jack and a terror, and he's not my boyfriend. He's my sister's best friend. Well, she's just a half sister and sometimes he's a boyfriend, but usually not, I think he's secretly...Sorry, hi, I'm Kyla." The girl seemed friendly enough, if a little bit too…bubbly, so Spencer stuck her hand out, the one not holding the puppy, Jack, to shake Kyla's hand.

"Spencer. It's nice to meet you, Kyla."

"Likewise," they both smiled at each other momentarily, before they realized there was nothing else to say, and a second seemed to drag into a minute, and suddenly they both realized they were strangers, and that the one had the other's sister's best friend's dog.

"Here's Jack," Spencer tried her best to keep it from seeming weird. "So, uh, I guess I should get going."

Kyla accepted the dog, and Spencer had started to walk away when, "Wait! Let me repay you," was shouted from behind the blonde's back.

She turned around, "For catching a dog? It's okay, like I said, he's adorable."

"You have no idea how much you saved me by doing that though." Kyla paused to put the dog's collar back on. "And you saved Aiden twenty to life and he doesn't even know it!" Spencer gave the dark-haired girl an odd look, so Kyla explained her previous statement with, "You know, for not killing me…" Spencer smiled and Kyla continued, "Umm, are you into yoga at all?"

"Sometimes, why?"

"I help run a yoga class, and if you like, if you have a few minutes, I can get you a coupon for a free class?" Spencer pulled out her cell phone, checking the time. "Look, I swear I'm not crazy, but it's the best idea I have right now, so if you have just a moment, you can come get the coupon?" Spencer put her cell phone back into her pocket. "You and I both know that you just going to leave, because it was weird."

Kyla was right. Spencer really had nowhere to go that afternoon. She relented with, "Okay."Yoga was good for the body and the soul after all, just like chicken soup. Kyla seemed nice too actually. Spencer tried to rationalize her following a strange girl out of a park mentally.

"Really?"

Kyla's grin was contagious and so Spencer nodded and repeated her, "Okay," with a matching grin.

"We don't have to follow them by walking."

"We don't?" Spencer had been staring at the exchange, transfixed, until Raife had spoken, and now that he was talking, it was still hard for Spencer to pay complete attention to him. She was busy remembering the rest of the day; she didn't even notice when everything around them changed until a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Kyla, I'm home!" Spencer realized that the voice was getting closer to her, and she also realized that she did not recognize this voice, but she really wasn't sure what to say to the voice. "Kyla?" The voice was still getting closer with a, "Kyla!" It was soon followed by a, "Oh, you're not Kyla."

Spencer looked up to notice the tan girl standing next to her. She was…wow. Not that Kyla wasn't wow too, but this girl was…wow. And her voice and…Spencer wasn't usually this shallow, but she couldn't help the shy smile that came out next, "Definitely not."

"I'm Ashley."

"I'm Spencer."The girls shook hands and exchanged smiles.

Spencer was busy recovering from her stupor and Ashley was busy trying to find the right words. "Look, you're a friend of Kyla's, right? You're not, like, breaking into our apartment and stealing everything in sight are you?"

Spencer was momentarily stunned, but then Ashley broke out into a grin, complete with a nose crinkle, and the blonde realized she was joking, so she did the logical thing…she joked back. "Just this bottle of water…and a yoga coupon once Kyla finds them."

"I suppose that's okay," Ashley allowed another nose crinkle. "So how come I haven't seen you around before?"

"You're her sister, right?" Spencer remembered Kyla saying that her sister lived with her when they had first walked into the apartment. It really had just been a short walk from the park, but now Spencer had been sitting in their kitchen for fifteen minutes while Kyla ran around the apartment searching for the coupon. Ashley nodded and Spencer continued easily, "Just checking…you know, making sure that you're not breaking into her apartment and stealing everything in sight."

"Witty."

"Kyla and I just met today actually."

The blonde meant to explain the situation more, but Kyla chose that moment to walk back into the kitchen. "Spencer, I'm really sorry I'm just having no…Oh, hi, Ash."

"Hey Kyla," Ashley smiled, no nose crinkle that time Spencer noted.

Kyla was still her bubbly self, even with no luck on the coupon front apparently. "Oh! Ashley, since you're home, you can do me a favor…"

"No."

"You don't even know what it is yet."

"No."

"Just come with Spencer and me to the gym for a class."Ashley was busy a water bottle for herself out of the fridge, but she paused long enough to stand up and raise a single eyebrow at her sister. "Come on, it's the only way I can get Spencer signed up for free; I can't find those damn coupons anywhere, and I have to teach…but you could keep her company!"

Ashley took a sip of her water and let out a wistful sigh, "So I would get to be all downward facing dolphin?"

Kyla corrected, "Dog. Not dolphin."

"It's okay, I, really, I don't need to go."Both girls turned to look at the previously silent Spencer who shrugged in response to their looks. "What? I don't have to go."

"Yes, you do. I owe you something. Ashley just doesn't understand the love of yoga yet." Kyla continued, "It could be fun."

Spencer had to agree, "It could be fun."

Ashley looked at the blonde girl's hopeful face."Spencer…"

"Carlin," the blonde provided.

"Spencer Carlin, you are a dangerous weapon. I'm not sure yoga is ready for me, but it's going to have to be."

"Goody!" Kyla clapped her hands happily and Spencer laughed.

The Present Day Spencer looked at Raife. She frowned, "Do I really have to see how I look doing yoga?" He just laughed and the scenery changed.

Kyla stood at the front of the room with the real yoga instructor. Apparently she was working her way up the totem pole until she get to be a real instructor; she was fairly new to the area, so she didn't have enough seniority to have her own class yet. "And reach your hands up and…"

Spencer and Ashley were in the back of the room, and admittingly they were only paying a little bit of attention to the class. They couldn't help but talk; it was just too exciting to meet a new person to pay complete attention to the stretches. Ashley whispered, "Favorite color?"

"Depends, is it on my wall or on me?"

"Good point." Ashley gave it a thoughtful momentary pause, "I don't want to answer that one now either…"

"Guys!"Kyla had taken the time to wander to the back of the room to yell, well, whisper yell, at them.

"Sorry," Spencer apologized and Ashley just smiled at her sister.

The blonde continued after Kyla had walked a few feet away, "Biggest fear?"

"Eating bad sushi."

"Seriously."

"Have you ever had bad sushi?"Spencer shook her head 'no'. Ashley solemnly nodded, "Then don't judge."But she cracked a smile at the end of it anyway. "I'll explain it sometime; it really is a funny story when you're not busy trying to balance on one leg." It was Spencer's turn to smile…and almost fall over. "What's yours?"

"Currently? Getting lost in New York and not being able to find my way back to campus."

"NYU?"

"Yup. Freshman."

Kyla had wandered to the back of the room again, due to the look that the instructor was giving the two girls. She glared, "You two can continue your conversation in the hallway." Spencer muttered an apology and Ashley simply cracked up.

Spencer waited until they were in the hallway before asking Ashley the important question. "Did Kyla really just kick us out?"

Ashley grinned, "I think so."

"Huh," the blonde was a bit perplexed. "I've never been kicked out of anything before."

"I've never been to a yoga class before." Ashley's grin really was contagious. "There's a first time for everything, right?"

"Definitely a first time for everything," Kyla interjected. "I've never had to kick someone out five minutes before the session ended."

"You coulda kicked out us earlier," Ashley taunted.

"But then I wouldn't have gotten to see you almost fall over."

"Hey!"

Spencer giggled and two brunettes whipped their heads around to look at her oddly. "You two are so related."

"And you two are so not allowed back into my yoga class." Before anyone could add anything else, Kyla's cell phone began to ring. "Aiden! Hi. No, I didn't lose your dog. Jack's at my apartment and he's just fine…"

Present Day Spencer giggled as she listened into Kyla's phone conversation. "Good memories?" Raife asked. Spencer nodded.

"Hey? Where'd it go? I…Oh…" The wooden floors were disappearing below Spencer's feet again.

"We have places to go; people to see."