A/N: HELLO ALL YOU WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!

First, I am so so so so so sorry that it's taking me this long to get this up...I have tons of reasons, but I'm not gonna bore you with them, and I honestly meant to have this up earlier today and then the last chapter of TNC up this evening, but real life slapped me in the face today...

Yes, that's right, my family welcomed a 6lb. bundle of joy and love into the world tonight, when my nephew and his fiancée gave us their baby boy! OMG, you guys...he's so fucking perfect, it's unreal! Ten little fingers, ten little toes, folded ears and a face like a monkey, but that's alright cuz he'll grow into it:D

So, MSWITSEND, please forgive the lateness of this chapter :D I've gotta dedicate this one to you, because you are simply so badass... ;D

Disclaimer: Skins: NO - Mistakes: YES

Chapter 23: Gobblers End and Children of Gemini

"Babes, are we almost there yet?"

Emily smiled as Naomi, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the massive Land Rover, asked the question again. For the twentieth time.

They had been on the road for two and a half hours, leaving before sun up, because they wanted to make sure they got to spend as much time as they could just relaxing.

Naomi's uncles and Franky had decided that they would extend their stay, opting to spend as much time with Naomi and Gina as they could, so Emily and Katie had invited their mum and dad out for the weekend at the urging of Gina.

"It'll be good for the old folks to get together without you kids around." Gina explained when Emily asked. "Besides, I hear Jeff is a member of the Fitch Fitness where they live. When I mentioned who your parents were, he gushed like a little school girl."

And it didn't take much to get Freddie, JJ and Panda on board, but then again, Naomi and Emily didn't think it would.

So Katie, Emily and James had decided to take them to a small campground that Rob and Jenna had taken them to when they were much younger, before the business took off.

"Where are we going again?" Effy asked from her spot next to Katie in the backseat, as Emily checked the rearview mirror to make for sure Cook was still behind in the car.

"It's a nice quiet little spot that our parents took us to when we were little." Katie explained, smiling at Effy. "Although we haven't been there in a long time."

"Sounds like a fun time." Franky said, smiling as she looked out the window.

"It'll be great!" Emily gushed excitedly from the drivers seat. "And...we're almost there." She said this as she slowed down, and then made a turn onto a one lane dirt road, that led back into the woods.

They came to a stop in a clearing in the middle of the forest, next to a lake. Emily and Katie jumped out of the car and came to stand by a small dock, with everyone else coming to stand next to them. James came running over to where they stood, a smile on his face.

"Fuck! It's just like I remember it!" He couldn't believe that it hadn't changed in the years since they had been here last. "This is gonna be fucking sweet!"

Emily and Katie laughed as they threw their arms around him and Naomi smiled as she watched.

"Alright! Let's get this party started!" Cook shouted as he began to unpack the cars and handing stuff to Freddie and JJ. "Jamieboy, catch!"

Cook tossed a couple of sleeping bags at James, breaking the Fitches out of their lovefest. After that, it didn't take long for them all to get camp set up.

"So, I've been wondering something." Franky said, as they sat around, drinking while they relaxed.

"Yeah?"

"Effy and Katie?" Franky looked over at the two of them, smirking. "How long have you two been together?"

James shrieked, "Katie's munching the muff?", as everyone else looked back and forth between the two embarrassed girls.

Effy glanced at Katie before answering, quietly. "We're not together."

Katie sat there, feeling scared yet hurt. Scared to admit out loud in front of her friends that she liked a girl and hurt that Effy denied that they were kind of together. She looked around and saw the disbelief on Franky's face, the wonder on her brother's and confusion from Freddie, Panda and JJ.

But it was the look of encouragement and sympathy on Naomi's face that gave her the courage to speak up. "We're taking it slow, if you must know." She said, hearing the shakiness in her voice, and when she glanced over at Effy and saw the surprise, she knew she made the right choice.

"I knew it!" Freddie called out to the rest of the group. "You all owe me twenty quid!"

Naomi, Emily and Franky all laughed, and Effy still looked surprised, but when Katie scooted closer to her, she smiled an actual smile. Once that was out of the way, everyone settled in and started partying, determined to have a fun weekend.

Later that evening, when Naomi and Emily snuggled into there small tent, Naomi wrapped her arms around Emily and whispered into her ear, "I love you. Good night, Ems." She then placed a kiss on the back of Emily's neck.

"Good night, Naoms." Emily replied, as she felt her heart shift and then start to beat faster.

It took her longer than Naomi to fall asleep, so she laid there in the dark, listening to the soft breathing of Naomi, and thought to herself how it didn't scare her so much any more when Naomi would tell her that she loved her.

"My father, you're great-grandfather, was a mythology professor at the University of Dublin." Aunt Millie sat with Sophia, Alicia and the rest of the coven, and remembered her da. "He was a very intelligent man, always happy. He loved his family. As you all know my sisters, myself and our brothers were born in between May twenty-first and June twenty-first."

Sophia looked lost as her mum, aunts and cousins all seemed to grasp what she was saying. Aunt Millie waited a few ticks for her to catch on.

"You're all born under the Gemini sign." Sophia breathed out quietly, as the penny dropped, finally realising the full scale of how twisted her grandmother really was.

Aunt Millie smiled at her great-niece. "Exactly, love. Da called us his Children of Gemini...he was over the moon about that for some strange reason, all of us being born within that time frame. The first time my sister used the Child of Gemini catch in a spell, my mother was furious." She paused, as one of her nieces got up to make tea. "We had a neighbour boy, Colin Gallagher, that lived up the street from us and Millicent had the biggest crush on him, but he had eyes only for Maureen McEvoy. Millicent did everything she could to get him to notice her, but poor Colin was head over heels for Maureen."

"So what happened?" Sophia asked, sitting on the edge of her seat along with some of her cousins.

"Well, young Colin came to Millicent, because she told him that she could help him get Maureen to say yes to a date." Aunt Millie told her, taking a sip of the tea that had just been placed in front of her and waited as her nieces and great nieces settled back down. "Millicent was so full of hatred for Maureen, and she had planned to make sure the spell she used would ensure that Colin would never go out with her. I don't know where she learned the spell she used, because our mother had never taught us anything like it, but use it she did."

"What happened, Aunt Millie?" Alicia asked, but knowing her mother, she probably already knew the answer.

Aunt Millie looked sad for a long moment. "Millicent chanted the spell in front of Colin, but the boy didn't understand the words she was saying, so he didn't know that she had bastardised a simple True Love spell. 'No one else, in your heart, will there be. A Child of Gemini, you must seek.' Maureen didn't know what had hit her, as she stumbled through life looking for a Child of Gemini to fall in love with her." Aunt Millie paused again to sip at her tea, glancing at the clock and realised that the coven had been gathered for almost three days. "Look, what say we stop for now? We're running on our third day and I know we've all got things that we need to be getting on with."

Sophia felt a rush of frustration run through her. "But we haven't solved anything!" She all but whined, earning a look from her great-aunt and some of her mum's sisters. "N-Naomi's time i-is r-running out." She finished quieter.

"You listen to me, and you listen good," Aunt Millie's voice become hard, something most of them sitting around the table had never heard before, "I should let you fix this on your own, as a punishment!"

"Aunt Mill-,"

Alicia was cut off by her aunt. "Quiet! You have no control over this, Alicia. I'm the one who deals out the punishments here." Millie said with a glare then turned back to Sophia, who had shrunk in her seat. "You knew the rules of going to your grandmother! We have that rule for a reason, Sophia and because you willingly went to Millicent, you will pay the price!"

A murmur rippled around the table as the cousins and aunts all started tutting at once.

"Aunt Millie, is this really necessary?" Alicia asked, afraid for her daughter, because the punishment for associating with her mother was exile from the coven.

"Yes, Alicia, it is. Sophia needs to know that sooner or later, this was always going to float out into the open and that there was always going to be consequences. But," Aunt Millie started to think about the whole situation, "I think a full exile is too extreme...she did come to you, explained herself and that she had been wrong...,"

Tara had been quiet the whole time she sat and listened about her mother. She had never agreed with her mother's ideas about the Dark Arts and just the fact that she used her niece to get back at them, wasn't sitting too well with her. "We need to do a binding spell."

Alicia looked at her sister in shock. "What?"

Aunt Millie, however, smiled at her niece. "You're absolutely correct, Tara."

Sophia felt like she was about to cry, but then she remembered that she brought this upon herself, so taking a deep breath, she looked at her aunt. "Of course. I understand, Aunt Millie."

"You can't be serious?" Alicia was livid and was about to leave the room when Tara place a calming hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place. "What?"

"Let Aunt Millie explain." Tara nodded toward her aunt, trying to reassure her sister.

"Sophia, what you did was wrong. You acted like a spoilt child, using your powers to exact revenge on someone which is something we've all agreed, as a family coven, is wrong." Aunt Millie said, watching as the girl continued to shrink into the chair, as she kept her eyes down. "And you went to my sister, who we've again agreed to not associate with, for a spell that you knew, at its core, was born of Dark Magic. Both of those offences are punishable by exile from the coven and the family, but...,"

Sophia looked up quickly in shock. "But? But what?" She asked, her voice sounding hopeful.

"You did come to us yourself," Aunt Millie conceded thoughtfully, "we didn't have to find out some other way." She gave the matter a few seconds of silent thought, whilst the rest of the family held their breath, in suspense. "You're going to give me your notes, everything that has to do with the spell Millicent gave you and your mother and I will see what we can do about it," Sophia let out a cry of relief as she heard what her aunt said, "but you my girl...you do not get off scott free."

"Whatever you decide is fair, Aunt Millie. I know that what I did was wrong, no matter how I justified my actions at the time." Sophia told her, grateful beyond belief.

"I'm so glad you feel that way, because on the eve of the summer solstice, your powers will be bound for a year." Aunt Millie said, dead serious as Alicia gasped loudly. "I'm sure you'll agree that the punishment is fair, Alicia, yes?" She asked her niece, raising a still delicate eyebrow in question.

Alicia nodded before replying. "Yes, Aunt Millie."

"Fine. That's settled." Millie shifted in her seat and then turned to Alice. "You still have those vials of your mother's blood?"

"Yes, Aunt Millie." Alicia answer quietly, but then shifted uncomfortably. "Is this really necessary? I mean...it just doesn't seem right for us to go around binding powers behind people's backs."

"Aye, lass...this is very necessary!" The hardness was back in Aunt Millie's voice, as she glared at her niece. "Do you think this is the only time your mother has done this? And, if I'm not mistaken, we all agreed when we took over the coven, that if she broke the treaty, which she has, this would be the consequence!"

"Alice, Aunt Millie's right," Alicia said gently, "I know you still hold a small flicker of hope for Mum, but she's gone. We all know what the Dark Arts take as a payment, Al...she knew too, but she just didn't care enough about us to not use."

Alice wiped away the stray tears that had started to slip down her face. "I know. You're right, it's just...she's our mother."

"Love, she hasn't been your mother since your father left." Aunt Millie told her, not for the first time, feeling a sadness over the situation her nieces found themselves in all those yeas ago. "You know I'm right about that."

Alice nodded. "I know, Aunt Millie. I've just always hoped...for her to be better."

"But that's just the thing, Alice!" Tara spoke up. "She doesn't want to be better. She's content to live and wallow in her bitterness, and she'd drag us all down if she could."

Alice knew everyone was right, so she sniffed away the few tears and sat up straighter in her seat. "Alright, I get it. On the eve of the summer solstice, we bind Mother's powers for good."

Sophia watched the struggle between her mum and her aunts and knew this was hard for them, the guilt she had been feeling over Naomi suddenly flared to include them as well. But then she remembered that if her powers were bound, her link to Naomi would be lost, and Sophia felt oddly sad about that. "How much longer until we adjourn the coven?" She asked nervously.

Alicia and Aunt Millie merely glanced at her, as if to call her out on the insolence.

Sophia swallowed thickly. "I-I only...ask because I'd like to get my notes together...," she trailed off as Aunt Millie kept the eye contact on full. "Alright! I would like to let Naomi know what is going on."

"Sophia, are you telling me that you've stayed in contact with her? After all this time?" Aunt Millie questioned, when suddenly a thought hit her. "How did you actually cast the spell, because I'm almost positive that this is a Blood Magic spell?"

Sophia squirmed under Aunt Millie's glare, but then remembered that her aunt was going to read her notes, so she would find out anyway. "I...well,"

"Sophia! What aren't you telling me?" Alicia was growing angry with her daughter. This whole situation was becoming a huge mess and she was concerned that they wouldn't be able to clean it up.

"Do you remember when we were invited to the Campbell's place? All those years ago, before the charity ball?" Sophia managed to get out, and Alicia nodded. "Yes, I knew who they were when I suggested the idea about asking them to invest in the family business, you were right about that...so when we were there, for tea, I went to the bathroom, remember?"

Alicia gave it some thought. "Yes, but what did you do?"

"I snuck around upstairs until I found Naomi's room, looking for anything I could use," Sophia explained, dropping her eyes in shame, "when I found a razor and a bloodied flannel in the en-suite. I took them and brought them home with me."

"Sophia! You used us!" Alicia shouted, as she stood up and leant against the table toward her daughter. "You used your family to preform blood magic! How could you do that?"

Sophia cringed at the anger in her mum's voice, because she had never heard it before. "You don't understand...," she trailed off, as Alicia's eyes flared with barely controlled rage, but Sophia knew she had to explain, "I was so heartbroken over losing Ashley to Naomi in the first place, but after Ashley...died, well, it got worse, didn't it? It wasn't fair that Naomi Campbell was able to go on with her life whilst Ashley didn't, and heartbreak turned into rage."

"Sophia, there are treaties between the covens, that have been put in place to keep us safe from the outside world." Tara said gently, almost understanding her niece's reasonings. "Using blood magic goes against those treaties. Other covens will be looking at this...at us...now, to see how we handle the fallout. Didn't you think of that when you cast?"

"Treaties and other covens were the furthest thing from my mind at the time, Aunt Tara. I was angry!" Sophia snapped out, feeling the need to justify herself. "My whole world had been ripped away from me! The only person who had ever made sense of what I was, who believed in me, was gone!" She slumped back in her seat, as sobs racked her thin frame, and she buried her face in her hands. "I just wanted Naomi to hurt and feel as bad as I did. I'm sorry!"

Sophia finally broke then, at her mum's dining room table, surrounded by her aunts and cousins as they all looked on. Knowing what she knew now, she realised that she had never truly been living her life and that was her one main comfort after cursing Naomi. That she was able to live her life the way she wanted to, whilst Naomi suffered with scars and pain and nightmares and her voice in Naomi's head, keeping the blonde in line, was the lie that Sophia had told herself. But now, she saw the bigger picture clearly, and what she was seeing was disturbing and ugly.

A couple of Sophia's cousins rushed over and hugged her, one of them running a hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry!"

Aunt Millie gave Alicia a look, and she sat back down, her anger dissipating with each tear that fell, as she watched her daughter break down about this for the second time.

"Sophia, you will not contact Naomi Campbell again, am I clear?" Aunt Millie told her, earning a slight nod from her niece. "Good, your mother and I will deal with the Campbells and hopefully clean up this mess you've made. But I'm warning you all right now, if the Campbells decide to end our funding, I'll let them. Contract or no contract, they've earn that right." Aunt Millie gave everyone around the table a look that dared them to defy her, but all she got was murmured agreement.

Alicia had her two nieces take Sophia up to her room as she adjourned the coven and watched as everyone left her and Aunt Millie alone to figure out what they would need to do.

Sophia cried herself to sleep that night as thoughts of Ashley and Naomi swarmed through her brain, and she prayed to the Goddess that her Aunt Millie could fix this.

'What the fuck am I doing out here?' Mandy thought to herself as she walked along the fence for the hundredth time. "There is no fucking way to get into this place!"

She wanted to scream, she was so angry, but Mandy knew that was useless. She was so fucking close to the endgame, she could see it in her mind. The revenge against Emily and Naomi was within reach, but she just couldn't scale this last hurtle.

The Campbell residence was completely surrounded by a ten foot stone wall, that was added by Naomi's great-grandfather during the Second World War and no matter how many times she walked along the wall, she couldn't find an open spot. If only she could get onto the grounds, she'd be able to sneak into the house.

Mandy was walking back to the car she had hidden, deep in thought trying to come up with a back up plan, when she was abruptly brought back to the real work by the sound of an engine, coming from Naomi's gate. She looked up quickly and panicked because she didn't have time to jump into the bushes next to the road.

"Alright, love?" The voice of a slightly older woman asked in concern, as she stuck her head out of the passenger side of a white van that slowed down to a stop next to her.

"What?" Mandy blinked a few times, unused to anyone actually talking to her. "Oh...yes...I'm," Mandy stuttered, as she glanced between the lady and the Campbells gate, and then she saw the logo written on the side of the van, Elegant Cartering, "...yes, I'm just a bit lost." She replied, putting on her best innocent act.

"Oh, well...that's a shame, love. Well, hop on in and we'll give you lift." The woman told her. "We're driving back to Bath."

Mandy smiled. "That would be brilliant, thanks. I've got a friend that lives there, that's where I was headed actually when my car died and I got turned around whilst I was trying to find help." She explained, making sure to put enough gratefulness in her voice. No need to scare off a potential tool. "I tried to see if someone from that big house back there could help, but...," she trailed off, hoping the woman would take the bait.

"Oh, that's the Campbell place. We've just come from there, actually." The lady said with a smile, as she opened the door and stepped out of the van, "My name's Helena, and that young man in there," she pointed to the guy driving, who waved and smiled, "is Dutch."

"Hello, Helena, it's a pleasure to meet you." Mandy smiled at them both. "I'm Jessica." She gave them her old friends name in a slight panic.

"Well, love...in you pop."

Helena indicated the opened door and Mandy climbed in awkwardly, but then settled between the two seats, before looking around the van. Once Dutch had got back on the road, Mandy decided to dig for info.

"So, do you guys, like...work back there?"

Helena chuckled at the seemingly innocent question. "Oh no, we've just been hired to do a job. We're caterers, you see. The best caterers in the Bath and Bristol area. It seems as if they are throwing a party and they've a need for it to be catered, some fancy do." She explained as Dutch turned onto the main road, pointing the van toward Bath.

Mandy could feel herself vibrating at this unexpected turn of events, so much so that she had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself asking the million of questions she had. After a few minutes, she felt calm enough to respond. "That sounds exciting. I used to work for a café that did that type of stuff. It was always so fun to watch from the kitchen."

Helena smiled back at Mandy. "Really?"

Mandy nodded, as she smiled at Dutch. "I miss it actually."

"Well, how about a part time job, Jessica?" Helena asked.

Mandy had to control herself because she was about ready to die of happiness. This was it! Her chance of getting at Emily and Naomi! 'Keep cool, Mandy...don't seem too eager!' She admonished herself, before she took a few deep breaths to calm down.

Helena mistook Mandy's silence for embarrassment. "Or I could just mind my own business." She said out loud followed by a nervous giggle. "I realise that was terribly rude of me, dear to just assume that you'd even need a job."

Mandy could see her chance slipping away and decided to grab onto it with both hands. "No...no...I think it's a brilliant idea, really I do. I'm actually in between jobs at the moment, so this would help me out." She told Helena, who smiled at her.

"When can you start?" Dutch asked from the drivers seat.

"Is tomorrow too soon?" Mandy asked, laughing and Helena followed suit.

"Tomorrow's perfect."

The three of them made their way into Bath, with Helena and Dutch doing most of the talking, and Mandy adding things when it felt appropriate. She was honestly too wound up to pay close attention, because after months of running and hiding, Mandy was this close to her goal.

Emily and Naomi.

She knew there was a lot to plan out, because she had to be ready soon. This chance meant she'd have to go into work everyday so she could learn what she need to, but Mandy was more than willing to do that.

'Small minor sacrifice and as long as it gets me closer to Emily, definitely one I'm willing to make!' Mandy thought to herself as Helena and Dutch dropped her off in front of some random house and she got the address from Helena, promising to meet her there first thing in the morning and then watched them drive off. 'Small sacrifice indeed.'

A/N: okay, must leave this here...also, I've already got the next chapter of this halfway written, so it won't take as long to update :)

review, tell me your thoughts, bitch at me for taking so long to post, let me know you're alive and well, because I care :)