A/N: hey everyone, sorry about the delay...life interfered, so I offer you this quick update to get us back into the swing of things:)

All errors/typos are my fault entirely...

Disclaimer: yeah, um...Skins still isn't mine, but a girl can dream, right?

Chapter 15: Making Amends

Naomi stood behind her desk, with her back to the room, staring out the window as a steady spring rain fell. She had left Sophia and Emily in the kitchen because she needed a moment alone to think.

She had always known, somewhere in the back of her mind, that someone, somehow would find out about Sophia's link to her. But of all people, it had to be Mandy?

Mandy, who wanted nothing more than to hurt Emily. All because the younger twin wanted nothing to do with the tall brunette. And that had to being saying something, because in the short few months that Naomi had known Emily, it was so easy to see that the red head wouldn't hurt anyone, she never had a bad thing to say about anyone.

To Naomi, Emily was the living embodiment of perfect.

After Sophia's little announcement, Naomi needed a moment alone to think. It was increasingly hard to do when Emily looked as if she would jump at shadows. The fear that manifested in the red heads eyes was something Naomi never wanted to see again.

Taking a deep breath, she knew it couldn't be put off anymore, so Naomi left the silence of her office and made her way back to kitchen. Everyone was still seated, all eyes on her as she stepped into the room and sat down once more.

"Alright, Sophia...start from the beginning." Naomi asked quietly.

The brunette told them how she had opened her store earlier, and in walked Mandy. Of course, Sophia didn't know at the time that that was who she was, but the girl had seemed odd, asking all sorts of questions before leaving.

Mandy had returned later that afternoon, poking around the store asking more questions and just freaking Sophia out. When it looked like the girl was going to leave again, she had point blank asked Sophia about Naomi and Ashley. When Sophia had asked her how she knew about them, Mandy laughed and said she knew a lot of things.

"Wouldn't you like to get a little payback?" Mandy had asked her. "A chance to get a little revenge. What do you say?"

Sophia was uncomfortable standing in front of the girl, that much she knew. "Yeah, probably not. That's not my sort of thing." She responded, feeling oddly protective of Naomi and Emily. "Is there something I can help you with? Do you need an herb for an illness or something?"

"Ya know, I thought you'd be begging for a chance to get back at that bitch for what she did to Ashley...I mean, the poor girl would have never offed herself if Naomi hadn't done what she did."

Sophia was brimming with anger, she could feel the energy swirling around her, but she tightened her control.

"I think you need to leave now." She told Mandy, as calmly as she could.

Mandy didn't move. Merely looked at her with contempt for what seemed like ages, until she finally turned and walked out the door.

"First my grandmother and now her?" Sophia stared wide eyed at the door as it shut quietly behind the brunette. "And she was seriously creepy!" She said to herself as a shiver ran through her.

"So that's it? That's all she said?" Naomi asked Sophia and watched he nod. "I wonder what her plan is?"

"I don't. I would just like her to go away and never come back!" Emily stated.

"But you know that isn't going to happen overnight, Ems. Please, just calm down, yeah? We'll deal with her." Naomi did what she could to comfort the twin, before turning back to Sophia. "What about the curse? What exactly did your grandmother tell you?"

Sophia dropped her gaze to her hands. "My grandmother is a bitter woman, okay? She's still angry that my mother usurped her role as the leader of the family coven, and she takes it out on the rest of us." Sophia started, pausing to gather her words. "Grandmother gave me the curse. I knew that she was practicing dark magic, that's why my mum took over, so I knew she would have something I could use. What I didn't count on was her being a total bitch and giving me an unobtainable goal."

Emily watched Sophia's face and saw the total remorse. "So what happens now?" She asked quietly, glancing over to Naomi.

"Finish what I've been working on before my time runs out. I never thought this had an end anyway, so...,"

"But it didn't stop you from hoping there was, did it?" Emily felt something shift in her heart and an unbearable sadness came over her. 'It didn't stop me from hoping either.' She thought to herself. "Naoms, I'm gonna go up to my room for a bit."

Naomi nodded and watched her leave the room, before turning back to Sophia. "So what does this really mean?"

"I'm not totally for sure. I don't know if that part of the curse holds because it was based in a lie, but I plan on talking to my mother about it...maybe see if she'll help me, but I don't want to get your hopes up again. She was well and truly angry that I had gone to my grandmother in the first place, so she may not be so willing to help me." Sophia stood from the table and gave Naomi a small smile. "I'll do my best though, Naomi, okay? I've got to get going, so I'll let you know if Mandy tries to contact me again."

Naomi stood with her and walked her to the foyer, grabbing her coat and handing it to Sophia. "Thank you." She said simply.

Sophia nodded and walked out, leaving Naomi alone.

"So there is no way to end this?" Katie's voice floated into the foyer, causing Naomi to quickly turn around.

She saw Effy and Katie standing there.

"Well?" Katie asked impatiently.

"I guess not, but I never thought there was a way to begin with, so-,"

"Bullshit, Campbell! You think I don't see the way you look at my sister and wish things were different?" Katie came to stand in front of the blonde. "Just because I'm not glued to you practically 24/7 doesn't mean I don't see what's going on!"

Naomi fought the urge to smile, Katie had more nerve than most people she knew, and she wasn't afraid to show it.

"How I feel about Emily doesn't change the way things are, Katie. So I plan to spend as much time with her as possible, figure out a way to keep her away from Mandy and finish living out the rest of my life." She responded sadly.

Katie couldn't find any words to say to that, as she and Effy watched her walk up stairs. When Naomi was gone, she turned to Effy, noticing the tears that slipped silently from her eyes.

"What's the matter?" Katie asked, as she quickly slipped her arms around the taller girl, hugging her, feeling a sob rack her thin body.

"She's just so...resigned to her fate. She's already given up and it makes me sad and angry." Effy said through her tears, as she finally broke after all these years.

"Shh...it'll work out, I'm sure of it." Katie whispered into Effy's hair.

Effy pulled back to stare at the older twin. "How can you say that? How can you sound so sure?" Effy asked, looking at the younger girl intently.

"Because of Emily." Katie replied simply. "C'mon, let's go find Cook and go out."

Effy wiped her face, shocked that she let the tears fall, shocked that after all this time of handling everything rather well, she broke. She nodded and followed Katie to look for Cook.

A drink sounded fucking wonderful right now.

Emily had been laying down resting her eyes, trying to block out the headache that arrived when Sophia did and also the heartache she felt when Sophia explained about the curse.

She hated herself for feeling weak, which was how she felt right now, because there was nothing she could do to help Naomi. And she desperately wanted to, more than anything.

As Emily was about to doze off, she heard a knock on her door. She figured it was Katie and she didn't want to see her right now, so she stayed still, hoping she would go away.

When another, more persistent knock sounded, she sighed as she got up. Emily opened the door, prepared to give Katie a good bollocking, but stopped short when she saw it was Gina.

"Hello, love. I didn't disturb you, did I?" She smiled down at the girl, noticing the tired look in her eyes and the strain in her face. "I can come back later, if you'd like?"

Emily could feel the concern coming from Gina and she smiled. "No, please, come in."

"So I just spoke with Naomi." Gina stated as she followed Emily to the large sofa on the other side of the room and sat down. "I thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing."

"I could be better, yeah? Mandy could fall down a big hole and never be seen again and I would be okay with that, but knowing that she's going the extra step to find out about Naomi and Sophia...," she trailed off trying find the right thing to say.

"It makes it more real and scarier than it was?" Gina supplied, an understanding look on her face.

"Yes!" Emily breathed out. "I mean, I'm nothing special, ya know? I wish she would find someone else to fascinate over."

Gina chuckled. "I think it's because you bruised her ego and rejected her. There's always going to be people like that in this world, Emily. You can't control her any more than you can control the sun."

"I know."

"But that's not the only bothering you, is it?" Gina had a quizzical look on her face, causing Emily to blush.

"No."

"Well, how 'bout you talk to me? I know I'm not Naomi or Katie, but I'm a pretty good listener."

Emily smiled at her. There was something special about the woman, she always had a way of putting things into perspective, making the complicated simple and making you feel safe and secure. She wondered, not for the first time, how Naomi could've changed so drastically when she was younger with a mum like Gina.

"Actually, I would like to talk, but not about that," she knew Gina would understand what she meant, "I wanna ask you about Naomi's father. Would that be alright?"

Gina was taken aback by the direction the conversation just took. It's not that she didn't still think about Gareth. On the contrary, she still thought about him a lot, even if it wasn't every day like it used to be. She swallowed, trying to clear the lump that seemed to form in her throat, and nodded to the petite girl.

"I would like to ask you about his last research trip. I found a lot of his notes and papers in his study and Naomi gave permission to go through them."

Gina's eyes widened at that. "Naomi took into the study?"

Emily suddenly thought she said something wrong. "You didn't know?" She watched as Gina shook her head. "Um...Naomi thought...JJ needed...," Emily stopped stuttering, took a few breaths and started over. "Naomi wanted JJ to have a place to work undisturbed, so she gave him her office and moved us into the study. I'm sorry if we did anything wrong." Emily dropped her gaze so she wouldn't have to see the anger in Gina's eyes.

Gina laughed as Emily finished. She looked up quickly and noticed that the older woman was crying and laughing at the same time.

"Um...Gina? Are you alright?" Emily asked.

"I'm more than alright, love. I'm...fucking ecstatic!" Gina replied, followed by more laughter, further confusing Emily. "Don't you see? Naomi hasn't gone into that room since she was...oh, she had to have been about thirteen...she absolutely refused to step foot into her fathers domain." Emily still wasn't grasping what made her so happy, Gina could tell. "Emily, Naomi grew up in that room. As soon as she learned to walk, she would follow her father everywhere, and seeing as how that was where he spent most of his time, so did Naomi."

"So, her childhood memories are in that room...," Emily started to get a clearer picture.

"Exactly!" Gina said, clapping her hands in delight. "She swore she'd never be reminded of him, if we weren't good enough for him, she didn't need him either! That was when she really started to change, became the conceited twat that landed herself in this mess!"

"This mess? Gina, she thinks she's going to die!" Emily was angry. Angry at the whole situation and angry that Gina seemed to be okay with it. "This isn't a mess, it's a fucking outrage!"

"Oh, I know all that dear, but as I've had extensive conversations with my daughter about it over the years, I know that she's made her peace with everything." Gina replied, much like a mother would, with a tone that Emily hadn't heard from her before. She suddenly felt very small and contrite for snapping at the woman.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, dear. I can see that you're concerned about her, so I'll let it slide for now. But never forget that she's my daughter and I love her with every fibre of my being. I don't take any of this lightly, but it doesn't change anything by acting all mopey about it." Gina finished and watched as tears slipped from Emily's eyes.

"I do care about her, ya know." Emily said shyly.

"Oh, I can see that, love. Anyone with eyes can see that. But you're still unsure of how what you feel fits in with the whole curse thing."

"Yeah, but if you don't mind, could we go back to talking about Naomi's father?"

Gina smiled at her, nodding her head. "Right, yes...go on, dear." Emily told her about what she had found, and Gina thought back to that time, remembering the research trip. "So what exactly did you want to know?"

"What do you know about him travelling to Mêdog County?"

Gina was surprised by the question. "Oh...well, Emily, that was a long time ago. Let me think...,"

"It would've had to do with medical research?" Emily supplied, helpfully.

"Ah, yes...Gareth had a friend working on cancer research at Oxford," she replied, smily fondly as she thought back, "I recall they used to talk about medicinal properties of certain plants in different regions of the world. Gareth felt it would be beneficial to investigate...," she trailed off, as Emily's questions started her mind working. "Emily, have you found something?"

"I may have. It seems as if Gareth chartered a plane to take him to Tibet," Emily told her, "it looks as if he was planning to meet up with someone and they where going into the Mêdog. Gina, if something had happened to them there, no one would ever know, the desolation was so complete back then, the area almost completely cut off from the outside world."

Gina started crying at the thought. Her mind went into overdrive, as she tried to remember more details about his last trip. "I've always felt that something had happened to him, I knew he would never leave us."

Emily quickly wrapped the woman into a hug. "Gina, I don't want you to get your hopes up, okay? Because until I more information, I'm only speculating the possibility. The thing is, Naomi believes he left her, she told me that that was what brought on the change she went through, what made her build up those walls she had."

Gina sighed, but wiped her eyes. "No, you're right...one possibilty out of a dozen. So, what do need?"

"Anything, no matter how small a detail, about that trip. Who he was talking to at the time, the name of his friend, what he was searching for...anything."

"Consider it done. You'll have everything by the end of the week." Gina told her with a smile and watery eyes. "Can I just ask...why are you doing this?"

"Because Naomi lost herself when she thought her father left her. She told me she felt unloved, which was doubled when that girl broke her heart. I want to show her that she's very lovable, and that there's nothing wrong with her."

Gina laughed in delight at Emily's answer, even if the girl was confused about her own feelings. She leaned toward Emily to hug her this time. "Naomi may not believe in the curse, but I do, Emily."

Gina left before Emily could reply, but it didn't stop herself from thinking that she did too and wondered if she was good enough to break it.

Well? You guys still with me? I hope so:)

I will be updating soon, so be on the lookout;)

Marci