A week before the wedding

After their last encounter ended on a rather sorrowful note. Amy returned the day after to Texas. She battled on whether if she should stay more time trying to get Karma to talk or just to give up, but later on she found out that Liam's trip was expected to return any day now and she didn't want to get Karma in trouble.

The next couple of days after she returned, she came back a robot. Her routine consisted on going to work then home and then work again. She barely talked to anyone with the exception of Emma. Her niece was the only one who could make her smile these days.

"Honey are you here?" Amy heard her mother.

"I'll be down in a sec." Her daughter replied. She came down to greet her. "Sorry I was putting Emma down for her nap." Today Amy had the day off and as usual she wanted to spend it with her niece.

"So how have you been? I feel I've hardly seen you since you came back from your trip." Farrah told Amy. Both of them sat down in the kitchen table.

"I know. It's been hectic at work." Amy told her hoping her mother would drop the interrogation.

"Amy." Her mother looked at her. "You've been acting strange lately and I know it's because of Karma." Earlier that week the invitations for the wedding had arrived.

Amy smiled. "Mom, really I'm doing fine. Its just work, Karma is the farthest thing from my mind right now."

As much as Amy tried to sell her lie, Farrah knew her daughter well enough to know her behavior when it came to Karma.

"Have you decided if you're going to the wedding?" Farrah asked carefully.

Amy sighed. "I don't think so." Amy said looking at her mother.

Farrah nodded. "If you feel that it's going to be too painful for you to watch then don't go. Last thing I want is for you to be miserable."

Sunday morning they had a full house. Farrah, Bruce, Lauren and Matt were running around the place making sure they had everything before Amy could take them to the airport. Emma and Amy were in the family room watching how the four of them ran circles throughout the house.

They arrived at the airport about an hour before their scheduled time. Amy stayed with them until they announced the passengers were beginning to go through the gate.

"Remember to make sure they lawn is taken care of." Lauren was instructing Amy. It felt as if Amy was Lauren's teenage daughter and this was her first time alone in the house. Amy just nodded. Lauren had been telling her every little detail she can think of. "And also lock all doors before you go to bed."

"Ah man, seriously I can't leave the doors unlocked at night?" Amy joked sarcastically. Lauren gave her a death stare. "I got it, I got it." Amy said rapidly. Amy gave all her family members a hug.

"And last but not least, I don't want to come home and find you've turned it into the playboy mansion for the week." Lauren said in a motherly tone.

Amy couldn't help but smile. "I promise, I'll have them over just two days." She joked. Lauren wanted to get mad but she knew Amy was just pushing her buttons.

"Were going to miss you." Lauren said.

"It'll go fast you'll see." Her sister said. Amy leaned in to give Emma a goodbye kiss and Emma extended her arms wanting to be held by Amy. Amy held her and gave her a hug before handing her back to Lauren, when this happened Emma began to cry softly. In her mind her aunt was going with them. "You have to go with mommy." Amy said as she waved her hand. "Have a safe flight." And with that her family walked towards the gate.

That evening there was a welcoming dinner for the entire wedding party. The purpose of the dinner was so that the group would get acquainted with each other. It served as an opportunity for Lauren to meet the rest of the bridesmaids because the rest of them were from Liam's side of the family. The majority of the people there came from his side due to the fact that Karma wasn't very excited for the wedding itself.

After the dinner the group had a small gathering in the lobby making small talk and continued catching up with one another.

"Hey strangers." Shane said walking towards Karma and Lauren giving them a warm greeting.

"Oh my gosh it feels like we haven't seen you in forever." Lauren said retuning the hug.

"I know I've been traveling a lot." Shane said.

"So, fill us in. How are things with Pablo?" Karma asked.

"Unfortunately things didn't work out between us." Shane told both of them. "We broke up shortly after we returned from Africa."

"I'm so sorry. How are you taking things?" Lauren said sympathetically.

"Were fine. We realized we had different views on many aspects in life. It was something we both knew it was coming and we decided to remain friends." He responded maturely.

"Don't worry we'll get you back on the dating scene in no time." Karma placed a hand on his shoulder.

Shane smiled. "Actually, there's someone."

"When do we meet him?" Lauren said eagerly.

"Were at the getting to know each other phase. If he gets through you might meet him within the next couple of weeks." Shane agreed with them.

The rest of the gathering went uneventful. Anyone with eyes could see the division between the families. Molly and Lucas felt out of place in many occasions. Don't get them wrong when their daughter was in high school they grew a liking towards Liam, but when they found out that they had gotten back together and soon learned they were engaged they were shocked to say the least. Any time they saw the couple interact they saw how miserable their daughter looked. Karma did her best on trying to put on a good show, but her parents knew her way too much to take notice that her inner light had been put out. The last time they saw her this unhappy was when her Gam Gam passed away and the person who got her through that was Amy.

Monday morning Lauren was in the lobby with Emma waiting on the rest of the group. She realized that she had forgotten to call Amy to let her know they had gotten to the hotel safely. Lauren selected the FaceTime app and waited for her sister to answer. Soon enough Amy appeared on her screen.

"Hey." Amy greeted.

"Good morning." Lauren replied. "Sorry I forgot to call you yesterday they had us on the run for most of the day and then at night we had a welcoming dinner."

"I figured. Why are you up at 8 in the morning?" Amy asked.

"Its 9, time changes. And I'm here waiting on the rest of the wedding party because we wanted to rehearse the ceremony and all that stuff." Lauren informed.

"How's Emma doing?"

"She's doing okay, you should've seen her last night at the dinner." Lauren smiled as she replayed the moment in her head.

"What did she do?" Amy wondered.

"Do you remember how she would get when Lindsay visited the house?" Amy nodded. "Well just like that, but towards Liam."

"That's my girl." Amy said proudly.

Lauren heard something over Amy's end at she recognized the location. "Amy what are you doing at the airport?"

"I got a call from Yale's med school. You remember Kate, the one from that went to med school with me?"

"The pretty one with long hair and big eyes?" Lauren questioned. She wanted to make sure she knew they were talking about the same person.

"That's the one." Amy confirmed. "Turns out she's a professor at Yale and she asked me if I could be a guest lecturer in a couple of her classes for this week and I haven't seen her in a while so it's a catch up opportunity."

"I like the sound of that." Lauren teased. Even she knew Kate always had this little crush on Amy, but Amy never gave her the chance.

"Its not like that, you know it. She is a colleague." Amy clarified.

"Look who finished her snack," Lauren was speaking to her daughter who was next to her eating some cookies. Emma walked to her mother. She placed herself in between Lauren's legs.

"Look Emma." Lauren said showing the camera towards her. Emma immediately recognized the person on the other end and Emma grinned at her aunt.

"Hi munchkin." Amy said smiling at her. "Are you being a good girl?" Emma nodded. "You keep behaving like that with your uncle Liam and there might be a present waiting for you when you get back." Amy told her joking.

"Toys." Emma squealed. Every time someone said present the little girl associate it with toys.

"That's right." Amy smiled.

"Don't encourage her, Amy." Lauren scolded.

"You are no fun." Amy replied. Both of them were laughing at the joke, but the PA interrupted them.

"I gotta go, they're calling my flight." Amy began to pick up her luggage. "I'll be close to you guys if you need anything let me know." Lauren nodded. "I'll text you when I land."

"Have a safe flight. Throw Mimi a kiss." Lauren told Emma and she did as she was told.

"Raudenfeld out." Amy said hanging up.

Lauren placed her phone in her bag. She hadn't noticed that they weren't alone anymore.

"What are you guys up to?" Karma greeted them.

"Mimi!" Emma yelled.

Karma furrowed her eyebrows, "Emma's nickname for Amy." Lauren explained. "We were just finished talking to her."

"Everything okay?" Karma asked, she still cared deeply for her.

Lauren affirmed Karma. "She is on her way to Connecticut she was invited to be a guest in some classes at Yale."

"That's great."

"Kate invited her." Lauren informed.

"Kate?" Karma questioned. She was taken by surprise.

"The one from her college." Lauren mentioned.

"Oh that Kate." Karma said. She knew from the start which Kate she was referring to. It was just that hearing that they were going to meet up brought back all the memories from when she would get jealous and she would blow up at Amy.

A/N: Hey guys. I'm really sorry it took me this long to update. I promise this is the longest I'll be gone. Thanks for all the feedback and reviews. Enjoy. Happy Holidays.