A/N: I seem to be on a roll this week, and I'm feeling really generous, because I love you all, like, a lot! HEHEHE!

I wanna thank everyone who has added this to their Alerts/Faves.

Any typos/grammatical errors are mine:)

Disclaimer: In a perfect world, I own Skins...but since we all know that this is NOT a perfect world, so sadly, no I do not own Skins.

Chapter 4: The Plan

Emily spent the morning going over employee schedules. It was boring work, but she was able to get it done in as little time as possible. She didn't mind working at her dads gyms, she had always enjoyed the physicality of the job. Fitch Fitness started out as one gym, when the girls were little, but her mum and dad had built it up over the years, so that now there were over a hundred locations in the UK and Ireland. Her parents were in the works to expand in France by next year.

While that was great for the family, it meant that her parents were traveling a lot. Which meant that Emily was left in charge more often. Once all the schedules were complete and the few phone calls she had to place out of the way, Emily thought about the charity ball. She found herself thinking back to that night quite a bit since last Saturday.

Actually, she had been doing that a lot in the past couple of days. Thinking back to that night. Or more importantly, thinking about someone from that night, well two people, actually. So she took the easy route and picked one of them, because she was the easiest to deal with.

Mandy. Selfish, arrogant, conceited Mandy. What she said that night really freaked Emily out. She wasn't above admitting that she was a little bit scared. So much so, that she had an appointment at the local Citizen's Advice Bureau to see what could be done. Her mum insisted that she contact them, so in about thirty minutes that's where she would be.

Emily left the office and went down to the reception area, where Panda was manning the front counter.

"Morning, Pandapops."

"Oh, hey Emsy. How's it going?" The other girl asked.

"It's been a good morning. I finished up the schedules for the month."

"You're so full of adventure." Panda said with a grin, making Emily laugh.

"I know, right?" Emily said as she came around the counter. "Listen, I have an appointment on the other side of the city, so can you hold down the fort for me?"

Emily left Panda to watch the gym as she made her way across town to the CAB. After spending an hour inside, she walked out with nothing more than a number for a solicitor. It felt like a huge waste of time, because she could have gone to their family solicitor for that. Emily looked back at the building.

"Thanks for nothing!" She muttered to herself as she headed to the bus stop. What a waste of the day!

"You know they say that talking to yourself is the first sign of going crazy." Emily jumped as the voice floated from behind her. She turned around with her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming out. She came face to face with Effy Stonem.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to freak you out." Effy said with a small smirk.

"Holy shit, you're like a ninja!" Emily said as she started to calm down. "What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?" She actually felt a little bit afraid as she asked.

"No, even if you are a bit stalkable. I was at the coffee shop over there," Effy pointed to the cafe on the corner, "when I saw you walking out." She reached into her shirt for the pack of cigarettes she kept there. "Thought I'd come over and say hello." she explained as she took one of the fags and placed it between her lips, and then lit it.

Emily sighed with relief at Effy's excuse. "Sorry. This whole thing with Mandy has me a bit jumpy." She ran her hand through her hair, trying to getting rid of the nerves the brunette had produced in her.

Effy watched her collect herself, feeling contrite for scaring her. "I apologise again Emily. What are you doing right now?"

The red head looked confused by the question. "I was gonna head back to the gym. I left Panda in charge."

"Why don't I treat you to lunch?"

"Okay. Where to?" Emily asked as Effy led her to the car that was back by the cafe.

"Do you like Chinese? I know this great little place and I was headed there anyway to get something for Campbell." Effy got in the car at the same time that Emily did.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Just let me text Panda and let her know." She said pulling her mobile out of her purse and punching out a quick text. "So, Effy? You came all the way into town for a coffee?"

Effy smirked at her question, but kept her eyes on the road. She thought about the real reason she was in town and not at home. "I needed a break and felt like some coffee." She said with a shrug. "Sometimes Naomi gets intense and it can be a bit much."

"I get it, she's a slave driver."

"No, it's not that." Effy said as she thought of a way to describe her friend without putting off the red head. "She's passionate about things that matter to her, so much so, that she can lose sight of things around her."

"I see. So what is she getting overly passionate about?" She asked as they pulled into the car park for the restaurant. "Some big new piece of software?"

The two girls walked into the building and were shown to a booth near the back. After ordering drinks and getting a couple of menus, Effy answered her.

"No. Naomi's having us research a project." The brunette said, as the waiter came back for their orders. Once the young man left them alone again, Emily smiled at Effy.

"What kind of project? What kind of research?"

"I can't really say at this time." Effy told her as she took a drink. "All I can say is we are definitely not professional researchers." She said with a chuckle and Emily smiled at her.

"You need to hire someone who can do the research for you." Emily said with a shrug. "I mean if you guys are busy with other work, it would be beneficial to have one or more people committed to doing the grunt work for you."

Effy stared at her as if she had just come up with the answer for world hunger. "You're so right! Why didn't we think of that?" She asked herself, as Emily giggled at her. "That would really help us out. But where would we even find anyone like that?"

"You could probably hire someone through a temp agency. Or maybe a couple of employees at the company." Emily suggested.

They talked about it for a few more minutes, and then switched to other topics. After they had finished eating, Effy reminded her about the party on Friday as they walked out. Emily was confused about that. She didn't know about any party, but she confirmed that, yes, her and her friends were looking forward to it, and then they went their separate ways.

Cook stood in the middle of the office with a look of pure frustration on his face. He had been stuck in this room for days it seemed liked. He had gone through thousands of pages and old books, yet he still couldn't find anything to do with the fucking Children of Gemini. He felt as if his head would literally explode if he didn't get out of the house soon.

He scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to clear his head. He thought that Naomi was on the right track when she suggested this new avenue, but now he wasn't so sure. To be honest, he didn't think he had it in him to do this sort of shit. Research! He knew nothing about it. He wasn't organized enough to do it.

Naomi had put them all to work looking through this stuff, but him and Effy really couldn't get their heads around it. It was just too much for him.

"This is bullshit!" He yelled out loud, just as Naomi walked into the room. She merely raised an eyebrow at him and he ducked his head, embarrassed that he got caught losing his temper. "Sorry, Naomi."

She felt for him, she really did. This kind of stuff wasn't easy for him. She sighed. "Why don't you take off for the rest of the day, Cook?" She sat down at her desk as he stared at her. "I know you wanna get out of here. Go ahead and go."

"Naw, I can't leave until Effy gets back." He shook his head at her.

"Cook, I mean it. Go ahead and go. Effy should be back soon, so I'm pretty sure I can handle it." She told him. "Besides, you're driving me a bit crazy because you're doing that whole muttering under your breath thing that you do."

He looked indignant at her statement, but then he grinned because she was probably right about it. "You're a real ball breaker, ya know that? Fine, I'll go, but don't forget you have a four o'clock appointment at the office with yer mum and Kieran."

She waved him off, knowing full well about the meeting. She sat at her desk and started reading through more census reports from the eighteen hundreds. It was as far back as she could go, seeing how they didn't start keeping records until 1801. Not that it mattered she still wasn't finding anything useful.

She was in the middle of a very riveting census report from 1821 when Effy strolled into the room looking like the cat that ate the canary. Naomi couldn't help but stare at her friend for the thousandth time since last Saturday.

"And what's put that smile on your face?" The blonde asked, still a little put off by the fact that the brunette even knew how to smile.

"We are having a party." Effy stated as she placed the bag from the restaurant on the other girl's desk. No emotion whatsoever in her voice, but smile still in place. 'How does she do that?' Naomi thought to herself, and then it clicked in her brain what Effy had just said.

"What do you mean, we're having a party?"

"Friday. I invited the Fitches and their friends."

"And where is this party taking place?" Naomi started to feel her anger rise.

Effy just looked at her as if she were a child that needed to have everything explained to her. "Right here of course."

"What!" Naomi was standing now as she came around the desk to stand toe to toe with the brunette. "Don't you think that's something you might have wanted to talk to me about?"

Effy shrugged her shoulder and said nonchalantly, "I'm talking to you now."

"This isn't funny Effy. You know we can't have people here, especially them!" Naomi was really panicking now, but Effy threw her arms around the blonde, trying to calm her down.

"Listen, I know you're scared, but you've let people see you before. Besides, I thought you got on really well with them?"

"I did. It was nice to have someone else to talk to for a change, but they don't know about me. The real me." Naomi said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"What would you say if I told you there was a way for the twins to get to know you?"

"What do you mean?" She asked suspiciously.

"Well, I just happened to run into Emily Fitch today and treated her to lunch. I was telling her a little bit about what we've been doing, and about how we're cocking it up."

"Effy! Why would you tell her?" Naomi couldn't help but shout at her friend. She was getting nervous and she didn't know how to control it.

"Calm down. I didn't tell her everything, just that we've been having a hard time with all this shit." Effy explained, waving her hand at the piles of paper on Naomi's desk. "She suggests that we hire a researcher. You know, someone who does this better than me and Cook."

"Okay, what does that have to do with the Fitches?" Naomi asked, still not understanding Effy's damn logic.

The brunette merely smirked and let it hang in the air for a minute, toying with the blonde because it was always fun to wind up her friend. "I stopped by the office one the way home and did a little bit more checking on those two."

"And?" Naomi asked with irritation clearly in her voice. She hated this side of Effy. The mysterious, closed off girl that she used to be when they were younger.

"It just so happens that both of them worked for the local paper when they were in college." Effy told her proudly, but Naomi being Naomi, didn't quite grasp what she was getting at and stood there with a stupid look on her face. "In the research department!"

So that's how Emily had found out about Naomi's involvement with the business. It seemed a little too convenient to Naomi, but Effy had a point. She did need help going through all this stuff, and if one of the Fitch girls could break the curse, what harm could it do?

Life wasn't that easy for Naomi, and she knew it. It would be hard to make a connection to the girls, but she knew she had to try. But Effy was right, she was scared. Naomi was terrified, because for the first time in a long time, she felt something for someone.

Not for the first time since Saturday, she found herself thinking about Emily Fitch. At the oddest times, the small red head would make her way into Naomi's thoughts. She knew she liked the other girl because she was intelligent and very easy to talk to. Naomi had enjoyed spending time with her and her friends, but the blonde knew that if it hadn't of been for the fact that she was covered from head to toe, none of them would have looked twice at her. She didn't think she could stand it if Emily rejected her, but she didn't think she had it in her after all this time, to make any impression on anyone.

The blonde sat back down at her desk, as Effy sat in the chair in front of it. "I don't know, Ef. It's not like I'm an easy person to know these days."

Effy didn't say anything right away. She knew the blonde was speaking the truth, it wasn't a secret after all, but she also knew her friend. Naomi wanted someone to care about her and she wanted to care for someone. In a small, teeny tiny corner of her mind, Effy was glad that Sophia had cursed her friend. Only for the fact that it almost brought the real Naomi back to them. For years, it had just been the five of them. Effy was so ready for Naomi to accept anybody else into her life.

"Well, here's your chance then. All you have to do is, be brave." Effy told her, as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

Effy let the statement hang in the air and didn't respond to the blonde's glare. Naomi knew it was no use trying to get anything more out of her friend, so she returned her thoughts back to the exciting census report.

Emily walked into the home she shared with her family after finishing her day up at the gym. She knew that James and Katie would be home, but her parents had gone to France this morning so it would just be the three of them.

After her lunch with Effy, she seemed to have more questions about Naomi Campbell. Emily had found out, through her research on the Campbell Corp., that a few years ago, Naomi had been involved in an accident. It was never disclosed the full damages of the accident, but it made the blonde a bit of a recluse. As Emily entered the family room, she heard Katie yelling at their brother.

James was a bit of a freak at times, but being only fourteen, it was practically a given.

"I swear to God, James, if I catch you spying on me one more time, I will kick you in the balls so hard, you'll have to yawn just to be able to scratch them!" Katie had always been inventive with words the angrier she got, Emily mused. She snickered at her siblings as she went through the mail that was sitting on the table. She heard James run into his room and slam the door and Katie stomp down the stairs.

"When did you get home?" Katie asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I just walked through the door. How long have you been home?" Katie shrugged her shoulders at the question.

"Not long. James was prancing around in one of my skirts again. Ugh! He's such a mong!"

"He's expressing his softer side." Emily commented with a chuckle. "Just like you express your bitchy side."

"I'll show you my bitchy side by beating his softer side!" Katie huffed as she picked up a magazine from the coffee table, causing Emily to laugh out loud.

"Aw, Katie, you know you love him, dress and all."

Katie couldn't keep her lips from turning into a smile. The two girls sat in silence for a few minutes, before Emily remembered about what Effy said.

"Oh, by the way, are we doing anything on Friday?" She asked, and then watched as her sister turned red.

"Well, Effy may have invited us to a small get together on Friday." Katie replied, sheepishly. "I told her we would go."

"Us, as in you and me?"

"All of us. Freds, Panda and JJ too." Katie told her as a thought came to her. "How did you find out about it?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Emily countered and shot her a look of curiosity.

"I don't know, I just figured you didn't care for them. You seemed kinda distant that night."

"So you were planning to go without me?" Emily was disturbed by that fact. "Really, Katie?"

"No!" Katie was quick to reply. Emily knew she was up to something, but she couldn't place it.

"What's going on Katie?" Emily demanded. "What are you hiding?"

Katie was starting to regret her decision to not tell Emily about the party, but she had a good reason. Or so she thought. The older twin knew she was going to have to tell Emily about what had happened.

Emily was hanging on to her temper by a very thin thread. It was just like Katie to not tell her things, but she honestly couldn't fathom why Katie kept this from her.

"Katie, I'm waiting." The younger twin was now pacing the room in agitation. Katie hung her head and sighed.

"Alright! Fine!" The older twin sat down and folded her hands in her lap. "I was going to tell you Em, I really was, but when Panda and I were talking about it the other day at lunch, Mandy was there and heard us talking."

"So? What does that have to do with going to the Campbell House?"

"She cornered me in the toilets and told me to tell you that she meant what she said." Emily had never seen her sister so uncomfortable. "So, I was going to cancel with Effy."

"Why would you cancel?"

"Emily, do you think we need that freak following us everywhere you go? That's what she's doing." Katie's lisp was more pronounced than usual, which alerted Emily to how scared her sister was for her.

"Kay, I can't stay cooped up in the house because Mandy can't take a hint and fuck off." Emily sat back down and sighed before addressing Katie again. "I won't hide from this. Fitches don't hide from their problems, we face them head on, yeah?"

Katie hated to admit it, even to herself, that she was scared for her sister. It showed her biggest weakness, her sister. She had always taken the role of 'Big Sister' seriously, sometimes a little too much, but since Emily had come out, Katie figured she had backed off quite a lot. It didn't stop her from wanting to protect Emily.

"You're right. My head knows it, but my heart is screaming at me to lock you up, so she can't hurt you." The older twin stated.

"Look Kay, I'm going to see Doug tomorrow, so don't worry, okay? But I did tell Effy that we'd all be there, so we'll be there." Emily's mind was made up, because she knew she had to see Naomi again.

It took Effy the rest of the afternoon to convince Naomi into hiring the Fitch twins as her research assistants, or at least talk to them about the opportunity. The blonde finally agreed because she really did need the help, but she knew that once the girls saw what a monster she was, neither one of them would want anything to do with her.

As Naomi sat in her mother's office and discussed the future of Campbell Corporation, a plan for a party was slowly taking shape in her head.

Well? Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Reviews are welcome, they really do push me to write this, so...let me know your thoughts:-)

Marsupial