Idris, Maine

Clay slid out of her brother's jeep and stared up at the white house before her. It was two stories, with white columns and a balcony on the second floor. A porch littered with various plants coiled itself around the house, and the door had been painted a vibrant red, so as to stand out from the rest of the houses on the street. The house sat in the middle of a rather large block at the end of the street, and Clary could see the woods stretch towards the horizons. It was a small town, if anything she had seen was something to go by. It was the type of town rich people had their lake houses at, its location of being a half-an-hour drive from the city especially convenient for those who worked in the city.

They had dropped her brother's friend off at another big white house, before driving in stony silence to the structure that now stood before her. Jonathon had insisted on carrying her bags to the door, and Clary supposed that he hadn't changed much. She remembered him as a boy, always helping her, protecting her. But Clarissa reprimanded herself, those memories were wrong. The little boy who treated her as if the world revolved around her was a lie. He never would have left her if he had really loved her.

Jonathon came up beside her and dropped the bags. "You coming?" He asked with a grin, a far too cheesy grin. Clary stiffened, and offered him a painful smile, before following him up the steps and to the red door. The lights were on inside and it only took him a couple of seconds to unlock the door. It swung open to reveal a loudly decorated hall. A zigzag Missoni print stretched down the length of the wide hall that was accented with colourful paintings, photographs and a table holding a vase that was bursting with wildflowers. Clary supressed the smile, threatening to curl her lips. This was someone else's life, these photos, paintings where all built around her abandonment.

Jonathon took her coat and hung it on a hook by the door. He grinned once more before bustling past her with the bags. He dumped them by the stairs at the end of the hall. He turned, and beckoned her forward with another forceful smile. Clary gripped her backpack tighter and scuffed her shoes on the Missoni carpet as she made her way down the hall. Peering through the doors on her left and right, she saw what looked like a movie den, cushions piled hazardly on quilted couches, then there was a formal dining room, two great paintings of a woman dancing between curtains overlooking a great mahogany table.

Turning the corner to the kitchen, Clary was overthrown with the loud cheers that greeted her from her brother, and what looked to be her mother and stepfather. Jocelyn was just as she had remembered her, tall, willowy and beautiful. Her mother had the same red hair and green eyes as her daughter, only her hair was darker and her face held sharper angles and the tiny creases of age. The man next to her's dark hair was heavily salted silver, but he had bright eyes framed by rectangle frames and a kind, open face.

"Clary!" Jocelyn cried and raced forward to embrace her 'long lost' daughter, but her daughter shrunk back, palm raised in a gesture for her mother to stop. Jocelyns face changed incredibly quickly. She was shocked, this was her daughter, her baby whom she had been away for so long. Why wasn't she happy? Then she saw the look in that face, that resentment that had been haunting Jocelyn for years. The soft furrowed brow, the way her lips were slightly opened, it had all haunted Jocelyn since the first time she saw that look, when shed announced to the children the divorce all those years ago.

"Its nice to see you again Mrs Fairchild." Clary's smile was so evidently forced it was almost disgusting. Her hands had been drawn to her chest and she slid a step back.

'Well uh, well this is Luke," Jocelyn turned back to draw strength from her knew husband. He smiled at her and stepped forward to shake clarys small hand. Jocelyn noticed an unusual amount of bangles and friendship bracelets encircled her small wrist, as well as a Pandora charm bracelet that held only a few charms.

"Luke works at a book store, I heard from your father that you liked to read."

"Yeah maybe we could head down there and you could pick something out, you know as a little welcome gift." Lukes smile was infectious and Jocelyn could see that the icey wall her daughter had formed in preparation to meet her family, was slowly starting to melt. Clary was suppressing a smile.

"Speaking of welcome home presents," Jonathon said " Ive got a surprise come through here." He led her past Luke and Jocelyn to a nice white kitchen filled with potts and pans and vases. There, the puppy that they had bought her was bouncing around, and at the sight of its new owner he ran forward, tail wagging. Her daughter gasped, and fell to her knees to embrace the little thing.

"Oh my fucking god!" She exclaimed, Jocelyn winced at her crass language but the look of delight on her daughters face was all worth it. Maybe this would break her out from her cold shell. "Is he mine, is he mine?" Luke replied to her that he was. In this moment she looked like a child, like the child Jocelyn had left behind all those years. "Oh my what should I name him?" Jonathon had now fallen to the floor beside his sister, and the two were playing with the puppy, they looked like a happy family, with Luke and Jocelyn looking on. Jocelyn hoped, that now her daughter was here, they could finally be a happy family. Little did she know that this wouldn't be the case for a long while.

Authors note – Please don't stab me in the stomach for not uploading this chapter in foreves, and im also sorry for the change of location, even though Louisiana has some of the great locations that I had planned for the story, but the doggy wont be able to survive down there soooo sorry, for redemption some one come up with the best name for doggy