Merry Monday everyone.

I'm sorry to announce there will only be three chapters this week up to Wednesday as I'm off for a mini getaway. The story will resume next Monday

SPOILERS : Kendall and Miranda have a heart to heart and Marissa gets ready for her new job.

...

Miranda thought it was a bit strange when Aunt Kendall came to the house with Spike and Ian after school. Aunt Kendall said that she had come to ask a very special favour of Miranda to test out some new products of the Fusion Junior range. Gabby cried out that she wanted to help too but Aunt Kendall said she needed Miranda.

Mommy was smiling and encouraging her. Miranda wondered if this was another idea to help give her happy thoughts for bedtime. She didn't mind, it sounded like fun.

So Aunt Kendall left Ian and Spike to play with AJ and Gabby and took Miranda back to Fusion headquarters.

Set out on the table in the middle of the room was a small array of boxed make-up sets.

"I wonder if you could look at this packaging." said Kendal. "We are trialling different Christmas designs and I want to know which ones you think are most successful."

Miranda sat at the desk and reached out to pull the five different boxes in front of her. One of them had silly cartoon reindeer on it; one a weird female snowman. The one that drew her attention was gold and shiny like a Christmas bauble and the makeup boxes inside were also all round like Christmas tree decorations in green and gold and red.

"I like this one." said Miranda. "The others look a little babyish."

"That was quick." said Aunt Kendall.

Miranda smiled, happy that she had been useful.

"Can you have a longer look at all of them and tell us what works and what doesn't." said Kendall; she had an official form that she passed to Miranda. "They are all numbered. Just don't take them apart because they are our only models. I'll go and find you a soda."

"Okay." said Miranda, having a closer look at the other boxes.

…

Kendall came back a few minutes later with two glasses of cola.

"So how are we doing?" she asked as she watched Miranda carefully filling out her form.

"Okay." she said, as she concentrated on her handwriting.

"And how are you doing... yourself?" Aunt Kendall asked, taking a seat beside her and putting down the glasses.

Miranda put down her pencil and looked up.

"I'm okay." she said, slightly quieter.

"Still having bad dreams?"

Miranda nodded.

"I do know a little about how you feel, you know?" said Aunty Kendall kindly.

Miranda looked up at her with wide eyes.

"You were like me." said Miranda. "Your daddy hurt Erica to make you."

"Yes he did."

"Did you have bad dreams?"

Aunt Kendall sighed.

"It wasn't quite the same. Erica was very young when Richard Fields hurt her. Too young to be a mother so she gave me away."

"Richard Fields. You know his name."

"Yes." said Kendall. "I sought him out. I grew up believing that my mother gave me away because she didn't care; that she didn't love me, so I tried to find my father instead. I didn't know what he had done to her."

"You met your daddy?"

"I did. He pretended to be nice but he was still a predator; still after little girls… Before I knew what he was I left him alone with your mother. That was a mistake."

"Did he hurt her?"

"Oh no, your mommy kicked him and bit him. She got him good."

Miranda looked please about that.

"What I'm trying to say… very badly… is that I had no idea why Erica gave me away. When I found out I felt sick… sick to my stomach. I was suddenly a part of a crime of no fault of my own. I found out the reason I grew up without my family around me was because I was a reminder of something that Erica didn't want to admit ever happened. It took years for us to find the closeness we have now. Years for Erica to be able to accept me and for me to stop feeling guilty and being jealous of Bianca for having all the things that I'd always wanted."

"You were jealous of mommy?"

Aunt Kendall lent back and exclaimed with expressive arm movements,

"I was sooooo jealous. We hated each other. I mean we used to fight all the time."

Miranda smiled and shook her head not believing it. Mommy and Aunt Kendall were the best-est sisters, they could never be mad at each other.

"Oh we did." said Kendall to her disbelieving niece. "And do you know what actually brought us together?"

Miranda shook her head.

Aunt Kendall gave her a little poke.

"You..! Your mommy's rape was horrifying, but it helped me realise how strong and how amazing my baby sister was. And then I found out she was pregnant! I went to tell her that if she didn't want to have the child that I would understand. Why would she want to be reminded of the man who had hurt her so badly? But she did want to keep her child… because of me. She already knew that you were not to blame for what your daddy had done; that you would be your own perfect little person, just like it wasn't my fault what happened to Erica all those years before. I think that is the first time anyone had ever made me feel like that. I spent years fighting for my right to be recognised, believing that I must be a bad person because I had come from such a bad place. But your mommy didn't see it like that. She knew I was just as much a victim as my mother was."

Miranda was watching her, but didn't know what to say.

"So mommy kept me because of you?" she asked.

"Your mommy kept you because she loved you!" exclaimed Kendall, "You must know that! Your mommy loves you so much she started a charity in your name. A charity that helps thousands of women and children all over the world that had been hurt the same way she had as a way to ensure that no one should suffer that kind of pain alone, hers or mine! That is an obscene amount of love. What other little girl do you know who has a name famous for saving lives?"

"No one." said Miranda quietly.

"Well there you go!" said Kendall brightly.

"Do you look like your daddy?" Miranda asked.

"I have blue eyes which must have come from him." said Kendall slowly.

Miranda swallowed.

"Do I look like my daddy? Mommy says I look like me but…"

The little girl trailed off and looked down.

"You've never seen a picture of him have you?" said Kendall.

Miranda shook her head.

Kendall sighed, wondering if she was over stepping her mark, but she could understand Miranda's interest. She herself had started into the mirror when she first found out about the rape to try and see how much of her father she could see there. Now Miranda knew the implications of her birth, and that rape was more than just a word, she was probably doing the same.

"Shall we find a picture." Kendall asked turning to the computer on the desk beside her.

…

It took a little bit of searching on-line to find a photograph of Michael Cambias. It was an old group publicity shot from Cambias industry and he was sitting in the front row beside his father.

"There he is." said Kendall, pointing to the face on the screen.

He didn't look quite as she remembered him. The smug grin was the same but his sharp nose and dark eyes had somehow slipped her mind.

"That's my daddy?" asked Miranda peering closely at the screen.

"That's the monster." said Kendall.

Miranda looked up at her aunt, confused.

"He doesn't look like I imagined!" she said.

"What did you imagine?" said Kendall.

Miranda bit her lip.

"He doesn't look like me."

Kendall smiled.

"No, you have your mommy's nose and your mommy's chin. The only thing you inherited from that man is maybe a little of his blonde hair. But you grandfather was fair haired too, so you might not even have that."

"He doesn't look like me!" said Miranda again, genuinely surprised.

"That's good news?" asked Kendall noticing a smile appear in Miranda's lips.

"If he doesn't look like me then I don't look like him!"

That simply fact seemed to have lifted a huge weight from her niece that Kendall hadn't even realised was there.

…