Hellooooo! As always, wanted to get this up sooner, but as always didn't get around to it even despite the fact that it's school holidays here at the moment. Have had quite an 'interesting' few days... One of my best friend's boyfriend's asked me to help with proposing to her so that was pretty damn big and hard to keep a surprise. Then yesterday for the public holiday a group of us went on a bush walk. All well and good, but I hate the bush and the whole time I had the pleasure of my bf reminding me how lovely and serene it was while I couldn't wait to get out of the place. That was all before it was decided that 'Oh hey, who needs to keep to the safety constraints of the track?! Let's go cross-country on a risky terrain and make our own track for fun!' Needless to say, injuries were incurred.

Meanwhile, my Fanfiction account has just passed it's 3 year birthday/anniversary so enjoy the celebratory chapter!

Chapter 28 – House of Cards

Rikki's POV

"And then there were four…" I exclaimed with the hope of the cliché factor of my comment being at least enough to provide a topic of discussion, or even dare I say it, something to argue about. Anything was better than the silence infestation plaguing Will's boat-shed currently.

Honestly, the turn of events that had determined the current group were truly impeccable. Will, Tam, Allie and myself were stuck together in the anything but spacious constraints of Will's boat-shed. Zane and Bella were out playing their roles in Bella's escape from Daniel and the rest of us were all stuck here as sitting ducks. Since the plan was for Bella to lay down a restraining order as soon as Zane picked her up, the mutual decision had been made for us to all hideout here at least for the night in case our share house in a locality that Daniel knew of, received a violent and possibly irrational visitor looking for his girlfriend.

... Hence, the confinement and grouping was the epitome of awkward.

Since Will had discovered that I had been hiding Bella's secret with her, our friendship had not quite truly recovered and was yet to bounce back completely, while it didn't take a genius to discover the lack of bond between and even the tolerance for my younger sister. While it was 'strike two for Rikki' in the enemy department, the others were only reduced to awkwardness in each other's midst. Will was uncomfortably trying to mask the awkward moments as he attempted to deal with his complete stranger of a daughter around myself and Tam, who he barely knew also. Finally, from the glances of attention that I paid to her, I noticed that Tam appeared a bit clueless and uncertain how to act, which was unusual for the generally confident teenager, until she started attempting to make an effort.

Tam put her phone away that had so far provided every ounce of entertainment for her so far, moving across the room and crouching down on the floor next to the youngest in the room who was occupying herself with a legion of toys which her mother had provided her with before she left. As the teenager picked a toy up and was inducted into the play corner after a smile of approval from Allie, she soon started asking questions about her new playmate.

"How old is she Will?"

I noticed my blonde friend who had been sitting in the corner without us realizing that he had been drifting off to la-la land had his attention pricked enough to disrupt him. "Huh, oh, one I think…" there was a brief pause, allowing him to mentally think over his answer before confirming the fact to my teenage sister whose face read disbelief over his reaction. "Yeah, she'd be just over one."

"How on earth do you not know how old your own kid is?!" she questioned in response with amusement, still very unaware and oblivious that there was a reason Will and I both knew behind the fact that all of a sudden a daughter had become affiliated with him during recent weeks after he made no public mention of her in the house passed the fact of their relation.

"I just don't, okay? I'm bad at remembering dates."

The amusement in Tam's voice was easily identifiable and clearly written across her face. However, she obviously decided to bite her tongue from the warning tone I heard and knew well of in Will's voice that told her he was not in the mood for jokes or being pushed about his lack of knowledge.

"Okay" Tam replied, obviously perceptive of the tone and steering away from the hard questions temporarily to move towards a lighter, jokier conversation. "She's a bit of a cutie... No offence, but she is way too cute to be yours."

"Wow, you really are Rikki's sister aren't you? Thanks…" Will teased with a laugh that had all the while earned himself a death-glare from myself at his comment that I was almost definite that he would have been expecting in my silent retaliation. "I agree with you though. She looks exactly like her mother."

Tam nodded, looking down to the subject of the conversation whom she was playing with before returning her gaze to Will. "So who is her mum? It isn't your girlfriend, right?"

Since I was separated from the conversation, Tam's efforts were almost laughable. It was truly a case of one step forward, two steps back, I didn't even need to hear Will's response to know that. I could sense she made a slight headway with her jokes, but I knew the more that her intrigued personal questions continued; the further deeper she was digging herself into a hole.

"No," was Will's simple response to the question. Since Will and I had decided against informing Tam of all the nitty-gritty details and reasoning as to why she would be joining us as we migrated to the significantly smaller boat-shed for the night.

"What happened? How come you and her mother aren't together then?" she started asking nosily before she attempted to answer her own question. "Ooh. Let me guess... One night stand?"

Will's short answer to her last few questions that he clearly did not elaborate on had obviously not been enough for Tam. His slow response to my sister could have been interpreted as calm and patient, but I knew my friend better than that. I could tell that he would have been biting his tongue and clenching his teeth to avoid snapping at her unwanted questions and interrogation into his personal life.

"No. She's just from a previous relationship that didn't work out."

I could read the frustration on Will's face across the room from myself, while hearing it in his voice just confirmed the suspicion for me. Will's attempt at avoiding out of character snapping just played into my hand as a justifiable reason for me to snap at my sister… Any excuse has been doing it for me lately.

"Curiosity killed the cat, Tam" I sniped to the teenager who swung her head in my direction from her focus of the two individuals that made the father and daughter duo in the room.

"What? I'm sorry. I was just trying to make conversation. I figured that attempting to talk to Will would be a hell of a lot more fruitful than trying to talk to you again…"

Honestly, given my attitude and behavior towards Tam recently, I was not all that surprised that she had come to that conclusion... Finally. However, it was not going to stop me from defending my ego and pride, which was under attack after her comment.

"Shut up," I warned her irritably initially, giving her a roll of my eyes. "Just back off. Are you interested in heading straight back home? We're only letting you linger with us because your framing mother dearest as the Wicked Witch from the West…"

"And I appreciate you letting me 'linger'. One question, though. I'm wondering if you're jealous… Are you feeling threatened and uncomfortable because I'm trying to make friends with your friends? Is that why you're being so defensive and unnecessary around me? Is that it?"

From what happened next, all I could assume was that Will could read me as well as I could read him when he interrupted the argument moments before I went Barbie-doll-head-ripping-off mad.

"Alright, alright… Bella mentioned Allie needs a nap around now. I think I'm gonna need a hand. One of you want to help me?"

Across the room, Tam picked up the baby and subject of the intervened conversation, eagerly offering to help Will that she explained as an apology and peace offering for being so nosy. The change of subject led to another more harmonious discussion as the inexperienced father brainstormed ways that he could try to settle a one year old to sleep.

Five minutes later, the idea of Tam looking after her and putting a movie on from her laptop with the hopes of slowly relaxing the square-eyed young child to sleep was put forward and planned, given that it had worked for me when babysitting Allie a few times in the past.

"So, talk buddy. What's with the whole being distant towards Allie thing? When Tam offered to settle her, you couldn't have accepted and got out of that room fast enough" I said, questioning my friend as I slouched further into the outdoor lounge seating on the deck of the boat-shed. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts about being a part of her life and having something to do with her…"

Since Tam had offered to look after Allie in the room, with a movie enticement, Will and myself had made our way outside to do whatever we wanted to do, but away from the toddler and with the resolve of reducing noise and potential distractions or deterrents for her to sleep.

"No… it's not that I don't want to be around her or have something to do with her, really. In fact, I think that it's the other way around."

"What? Allie doesn't want to be around you?" I questioned, with a face that accidentally displayed a reaction as though it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard, making the blonde sitting on the edge of the deck with his feet dangling in the water, squirm that little bit more.

As he nodded back to my question, I took a moment to gauge Will's seriousness or whether it was all just one well acted out practical joke. His next confession shattered my cynical speculation. "I just don't think that she likes me very much. I guess, by keeping my distance from her a bit, she can't not like me."

"Really? You honestly believe that she doesn't like you?"

"Really. Just watch her. Around me, she's not fussed at all, but playing with Zane and even Tam, she's all smiley and interested. And it's not like I can even persuade her with playing with her favourite things or anything. I know nothing about her. You were there when Tam asked, I can't even remember her birthday!"

Will's thoughts that his daughter would never like him were obviously weighing heavily on him as he opened up, the distress being clearly written and translatable on his face as he spoke.

"I could tell that you were getting a bit frustrated when she was asking questions that you didn't know the answer to, but that sort of thing you'll learn over time. And I'm sure as she see's you around more and more, you'll be more familiar and recognizable to Allie. It's not the end of the world."

"You know what's weird and what I was stupid enough to even believe even for two seconds?" Will questioned, letting out a sigh as his gaze passed me, looking much further out over the canal of water. I gave him the one word answer that he needed in encouragement to continue.

"I know barely anything about Allie personally, but I just feel this connection to her. It's just like this magnetic force or something completely weird like that. She just draws my focus, all the time. The only thing I can compare it to is like being in love and infatuated with someone, but just being so much more on guard and with so much more feeling. I was stupid enough to think that she might have had a similar sort of thing that would at least result in a bit more interest in me than what she does."

Families are great... Are they ever balanced and remotely functional? Here I was, trying to steer clear from my sister, while Will was venting that he didn't feel close enough to his own daughter. "I hate families sometimes. Actually, I do most of the time."

"I know. Family can be stupid and make no sense or be weird, but then again everything about my situation is weird. It's kind of getting hard to differentiate what is normal and what's weird. Maybe normal is just weird. I don't know… all I know is that this is doing my head in."

"I present to you, William Benjamin, drama king of the year, everyone. Honestly though Will, apart from the whole Allie thing, which is in the process of being corrected, what else is that weird or wrong with your family?" I asked, putting forward my question to my fellow housemate who from my position, I could see no real problems with.

As Will looked out onto the water again, squinting from the beams of sun that were not there, before he finally revealed what I believed was really on his chest. "I haven't told my parents, or Sophie, about Allie yet… All of that is weird too, but I just haven't had the chance to catch up or call them about it yet. I don't even really want to tell them and if I did, I'd prefer to just give them a call, drop the grandparent-bombshell on them and hang up to let them deal with the aftermath."

"Wimp" I laughed jokingly at the blonde whose legs were dangling off the edge of the wooden jetty. Under normal circumstances, I would have expected my on-guard friend to fight to the death for the preservation of his dignity after the tease, but the paler variation of the same person had obviously no longer deemed such a battle of such importance.

"At least I have the excuse of just calling Soph" he shrugged, only contributing to my insult that I had directed at him. "Dealing with the parentals will be fun enough on their own – at least I'm already expecting their reaction to my news… it will induce one of two things; a heart attack or a mid-life crisis. Son of the year will go to me."

"Sometimes there's no clear cut right and wrongs with family. I swear it's just blurred lines of minefields and traps."

Although my comment was largely from the heart and reflective of my stance with my own family, Tam especially, I had not meant to nor had I wanted to reveal so much regarding the topic that I liked to ignore and continue pushing deeper and deeper down from the surface.

"So what about Tam?" Will asked as his head rotated to my direction. I despised the fact that all of his attention was turned towards me after the one comment.

"What about her? She's been putting the kid you're avoiding to sleep."

He rolled his eyes and I knew that my remark of defence was so far from working. "Come on Rikki. You're the ice maiden around her. She's your sister. You should at least give things a go with her before you shoot her down."

"We think that she's my sister. I'm still holding onto that little fragment of doubt."

"Rikki, you're kidding yourself. You look at Tam, and you practically see you. Why would someone even lie about being your sister? To steal the multi-million dollar inheritance that your dad left you?!"

It was the combined factor of insult, sarcasm and the mention of my favourite person that induced my snap at Will. "I don't know, okay, Will?! But I can't trust her. Not when she just shows up out of nowhere and I can't trust that she doesn't have some ulterior motive, even if she is my sister!"

"Why would you think that? She has done nothing to even create speculation or doubt about any of that!"

"Because she has just showed up! And even if she is innocent, then I am so damn bitter about the fact that I have gone through so much of my life without knowing my sister. I always remember her being self-absorbed but why the hell would mum keep sisters apart like that? I can't connect with someone that I feel so bitterly towards."

"Please don't snap my head off when I say this," Will quickly remarked, before he introduced me to a proposition of my sister. "But to me, it sounds like your gripes all root from your mum, not Tam. Give her a shot, a second chance… I know what damage can be done by not giving someone a second shot when they've deserved it. After Bella left, I kept ignoring her attempts to communicate with me and look at how damaging that turned out to be. I'm not saying that it's the same circumstances for you, but I lost the first year of my kid's life because I refused to swallow my pride and listen to Bella. Things would have been so different and much better if I had of just let her actually tell me. If you keep focusing on the circumstances behind Tam and not the fact that she's your sister who you can to hopefully gain at least a friendship with, who knows what sort of person she is and what sort of relationship or connection the two of you will have if you don't try."

I didn't quite know what to say as I felt the undesired sensation of a cooling hatred towards her which allowed me to understand and see what he was saying. Previously, I had never even wanted to consider the possibility of having something to do with Tam, I just wanted her to disappear and restore my family tree to the way it was for my first twenty-one years of my life as believing that I was an only child. Being in each other's lives was not a part of the plan; a hope that was weakened even further as Will continued to speak his views which I could only assume was relating to his own personal experiences.

"Not always, but sometimes people are deserving of the benefit of the doubt and a second chance."

"Stop making so much sense…" I criticized in a warning tone to the blonde whose face simply erupted in a cheeky grin that explained exactly how pleased with himself he was. "I'll give it a shot, but no promises. If I don't like her, I don't like her. No one and nothing can change my opinion then."

Will nodded his head, approvingly at my acceptance. "Good choice. But no one will hold it against you if you try and fail."

I nodded at his reassuring remark in confirmation, before the two of us were disrupted upon hearing the creak of old wood and hinges as the door of the boat-shed informed us of its opening. "Hey..." Tam whispered as she crept out of onto the decking holding the sleeping tot. "She fell asleep not even halfway through the movie! But I wasn't sure where you wanted her..."

"Thanks, you're a legend. Um...I'll take her, I guess... I'll put her to bed" Will replied, seeming anything other than the confident person I was talking to minutes earlier who was encouraging me with my own family. As he struggled to gently take the sleeping girl and position her comfortably as she snuggled deeper into his arms from the movement, it was a reminder that sometimes you get thrown in the deep end and only after will you realize how worthwhile or worthless it would be.

While I had decided that it was time for at least a chance at trying to extend an olive branch to Tam and after her many attempts that I had ignored or insulted instead of reciprocating, I realized that it was my turn to do so now. It took two people to make an effort and make it work, just as Will was nervous of.

"Hey Rikki," were the two words that as a reflex to hearing my name snapped me out of my thoughts. "What time is it?" Will questioned quietly, almost as though he wanted to know the answer out of curiosity, but in case it was a question that he discovered he did not want the answer to, his words would hopefully, but impossibly fade away.

It was getting late. Quite late. An answer I did not want to see and an answer that Will did not want to hear as the two of us helplessly and nervously remained fully aware of how high the stakes of the game one other girl we both cared about was playing tonight and the fact that we had heard nothing from her or Zane...

Thoughts? Thoughts on Rikki's ongoing hesitance towards Tam? Thoughts on Will's hesitance towards bonding with Allie? Thoughts on anything remotely far from perfect?

Next chapter: In the aftermath of the getaway night, Will and Zane are self-sacrificially placed in a compromising situation, with interesting results. Out of guilt, Zane takes his challenge of pushing Rikki & Tam together to a whole other level.