NOTES: So, here's the next chapter. There's a big blow-out in here, and I'm not sure I'm too good with argument scenes. Well, let me know what you think.

Chapter 3

When Carter woke up the next morning, Rosie was pressed up against her, sleeping soundly against Carter's shoulder. The older girl smiled and brushed a few stray hairs out of her best friend's face. She hadn't woken up this happy in a while. She pressed a kiss to Rosie's temple and just lay there for a little while, admiring Rosie as she slept.

A smell began wafting through the air, a smell that could all be that of Carter's favorite breakfast meal: pancakes and bacon. She could smell the grease and the sweet maple syrup and it was all making her mouth water. Who, however, was cooking in the house? Her father didn't cook much and Carter had never really been interested in cooking. Rosie could cook, but she was asleep in Carter's arms. That left only one person…

Carter wiggled out of bed and stood up, confirming her suspicions: Mikayla was out of bed. Carter stood still for a moment, watching Rosie roll over into the warm spot she had been occupying moments before. She smiled softly and padded out of her bedroom and through the house to the kitchen, where the delightful scent was coming from.

Mikayla turned around when she heard a chair scrape back on the tile floor, spatula in hand. She had a bit of flour on her jaw and neck and was smiling widely.

"Morning, Carter!" she chirped and Carter only groaned in response. She'd forgotten that Mikayla was a morning person – always. Carter would force herself to wake up early for school, but when she didn't have to be completely awake in the morning, she could be pretty grumpy.

"Morning," she finally mumbled. Mikayla grinned, pleased just to get a response out of her estranged sister and continued flipping pancakes. She was sure her sister and father hadn't had a good homemade breakfast in a long time, and she wanted to give them a little "thanks for letting me come home" gift, if that made any sense.

"Good morning," a voice sang out. Mikayla glanced back to see Rosie glide into the kitchen. Carter lifted her head and smiled as Rosie dipped down and kissed her sweetly on the cheek. "Good morning, Mikayla," Rosie added, waving at her best friend's sister.

"Good morning," Mikayla returned, smiling politely.

"I forgot you cooked," Carter said quietly.

Mikayla shrugged and flipped a pancake. "It's been a while. Aunt Rachel always had professional cooks at the house."

"She would," Carter snorted. She turned as Joe walked into the kitchen, sweaty and smiling from his morning run. Mikayla smiled – some things hadn't changed, thankfully. Joe had faithfully run at least two miles every morning for as long as Mikayla could remember.

"Morning, girls!" he said cheerfully, embracing Carter and Rosie. The two girls smiled adoringly up at him and he grinned back before moving to Mikayla. "Making pancakes, honey?"

"Yep," Mikayla replied. "They should be done in ten minutes, I think." Joe nodded and wrapped his arms around her. "Daddy!" she giggled. "You're all sweaty! Ewww!"

"Aw, c'mon!" Joe chuckled. "Give your old man a hug, huh?" Mikayla sighed dramatically and sank into her father's sweaty hug for a moment. She had missed this place so much.

"Okay, old man," she teased. "Go take a shower. We'll wait for you." Joe nodded and mock-saluted Mikayla before jogging toward the stairs and the bathtub. Mikayla glanced at her sister and Rosie to see them both giggling, foreheads pressed together. She smiled at how totally wrapped up they were in each other. It was the cutest thing she'd ever seen.

****

After breakfast, Carter disappeared. Mikayla had heard her arguing with Rosie about something in their bedroom, and then she'd seen Carter march out the back door, looking pretty pissed off. Rosie had come out of the bedroom a moment later to find Mikayla staring at her and had only weakly smiled before taking off up the stairs, a pile of fresh clothes in hand, to take a shower.

Her father had gone into town for some reason Mikayla couldn't remember and with Rosie busy in the bathroom, Mikayla figured this was a chance to speak with Carter alone that she couldn't pass up. The moment she stepped out onto the back porch, she could see her sister's silhouette sitting on the very edge of their dock by the lake. Unsure what would happen next but holding onto a movie star's determination to get things done, Mikayla padded barefoot down to the dock.

When her foot touched the hot wood of the dock, Mikayla froze and took a deep breath, inhaling the forgotten scent of the lake and watery breeze. This dock was easily the twins' favorite place in the world, thanks to the memories of their mother it brought to mind. The day their mother passed away, they'd say out where Carter was seated now and held each other, taking turns crying into each other's necks.

Mikayla swallowed hard and made her way to the end of the dock. She was certain Carter had heard her but her sister made no move to acknowledge her. So, she just sat down beside her and touched her arm.

"Hey," she said, gazing at her sister's profile.

Carter lifted her head and turned to her sister. "Hey," she said gruffly.

"Missed you."

"I'm mad at you," Carter said shortly.

Mikayla sighed and dropped her gaze to the water. "I know. But…I don't get why."

Carter looked at her. She figured she would get the silliest issue out of the way first. She was already pretty certain she knew how Mikayla would handle it. "What do you mean you don't know why? You stole Donnie when you knew I liked him. You knew it, Mickey!"

"Carter, that was so long ago. You have Rosie now." Mikayla looked at her sister pointedly. "I see how you are with her… Why the heck are you even still mad about Donnie?" Carter didn't respond. "Look, can we just…call it a truce? I mean, I don't like Donnie anymore and you don't either. So…let's just let it go. Please?"

"That's not the only problem," Carter said lowly. "And you know it."

Mikayla shut her eyes. She did know it; she knew exactly why Carter was so angry with her. She knew the Donnie issue was not something that could keep Carter from talking to her for all that time she'd been living in California. It was about Mikayla's rise to popularity in school before she left and how badly she'd abused that position. She'd even used it against her own sister, allowing people to lash out at Carter due to her own lower standing in the high school social hierarchy.

"Sis, I'm so sorry. I know I hurt you. I know I let others hurt you, too. But…you don't get it, Carter. You don't get what it's like to be put in that position. You have to do what all the popular ones want or…you'll never hear the end of it. I'm so sorry…"

Carter was on her feet now, rage and shock displayed openly on her face. "That doesn't excuse what you did! What Chelsea continues to do to me, thanks to your influence." Carter's arms were tight across her chest as she glared down at her sister. "Look, we're through here."

"Carter, no! Come on, I'm not that girl anymore!" Mikayla protested, standing up and grabbing her sister's elbow. "I'm not that girl. I never was that girl. I hid. I hid under that. I wanted to be popular. I wanted to be at the top of the twisted social pyramid thing they have in high school. But I was stupid."

Carter just continued to glare at her. Mikayla felt as if her heart was being shredded into tiny pieces. She remembered when her heart had first started to rip: when Carter had refused to even acknowledge she was leaving for L.A.

"It killed me not talking to you, then. It was worse when I was in Cali with Uncle John and Aunt Rachel and I couldn't talk to you. Daddy tried to brush it off as you missing me and not wanting to make it worse, but I knew that wasn't it. It tore me apart being away from you, Carter. And then I come home, and you're all over Rosie… I feel out of place here."

"Good!" Carter snapped. "Because you are! You are completely out of place here. You were gone for two years and you should've stayed there. I know why you really left, Mick. You were afraid those kids were going to turn on you. And when they did, you didn't know how you were going to face me for doing all that horrible stuff to me. So you did what you do best: you avoided it.

"Well, great job! You successfully avoided it for two years and made me even angrier. That's why I avoided your phone calls. And that's why I wanted to scream and hit something when Dad told me you were coming home."

That was the end of her heart. Mikayla felt the pieces flutter down into her stomach. Carter had done what Mikayla knew she'd wanted to from the moment they met at the airport the previous day: she had effectively destroyed Mikayla. During her attempted apology, too.

"Rosie helped me learn to ignore the popular crowd. She taught that I was special and that their opinion of me shouldn't matter to me. And because of her, I don't like Donnie anymore. In fact, I hate him and Chelsea. She loves me, Mickey. And I love her, too."

Mikayla eyed her sister warily. After the way Carter had just laid into her, she wasn't sure if Carter was working to yell at her more or if she was truly trying to share her life. Carter's muscles had relaxed, if that was any indication, and she was smiling a little more. That, however, could have just been the effect of thinking about Rosie. Her eyes were kind of starry, actually, like she was almost in another world.

Mikayla decided that responding would probably be good and said, "That's great, Carter."

"We just had a big fight about you," Carter continued. "She wants me to forgive you. She thinks two years without talking is enough punishment for you. But I'm not sure." Her eyes clear up and her eyes bore into yours as she speaks. "You'll never understand what you put me through. You did it yourself and your former cronies carried on your work these past two years. But…you're my sister. And no matter what I've told myself…I love you. So…I guess I can forgive you."

Mikayla couldn't help but grin and threw her arms around her twin. She sighed softly, happily, because the two of them still fit together just like they always had. Carter squeezed her sister against her body, just for a moment, before stepping back and saying, "I don't trust you. You have to earn that back."

"I'd be happy to," Mikayla said, reaching out and squeezing Carter's hands. "I love you, Carter."

Carter sighed and gave her sister a little half-grin. "I love you, too, Mickey. Don't wreck me again. Please."

"I'll won't," Mikayla said solemnly. "I promise."

"And I know I said you're out of place here, but…it doesn't matter. In the end, you will always belong here. With me. And Dad."

"Yeah," Mikayla acknowledged. "I do. You're why I came back. And for Daddy, of course."

Carter nodded and started walking down the dock. When she realized Mikayla haven't followed her, she stopped and turned around. "What are you waiting for, ditz? Let's go!" Mikayla grinned and followed after her sister like a lost puppy dog, briefly wondering what happened to that pop star confidence she'd picked up in L.A.

When the two girls walked inside, Rosie was seated on the couch, watching something on TV with Joe. The two skipped up and squeezed in between their guest and their father. Carter slipped her arm around Rosie's waist and kissed her cheek, a silent apology that Rosie silently accepted, judging by the smile that crept onto her lips.

Mikayla curled up under her father's arms and they shared a smile. She had missed it here, and she hoped Carter was right: that as out of place as she may have felt, she would still always belong here. She was glad that she had Carter's grudging forgiveness and her father's undying forgiveness (something she could only assume came from that fatherly love). But she didn't have Carter's trust. And that would be the hardest thing to earn back.

It was school that would be the challenge, she realized. She would be put back into that old environment, the one that had killed her relationship with her sister. She shook her head, deciding that now was not the time to worry about that. She focused on the TV; they were watching some old black-and-white sitcom. And oh, there was the Christmas tree in the corner – it was an old holiday special. She sank into that happy Christmas world.

It was half an hour later when Mikayla felt it. Carter's hand covered hers, fingers threading through hers. She glanced over at her twin and smiled. They could fix it. One step at a time.