OK guys - here is the final part of episode 1! Thanks for the reviews - I love that you are enjoying this structure. I am afraid that as its the only character I can really play with, that Kasey will always be quite dominant as a character but I will try and cover as many of the others as I can. As I'm only on episode 5 and back to work tomorrow I can't promise daily postings but I will try and keep up to date. As always, would love to know what you thought! Thanks to Mea23 for the pre-posting read-through and TheTBone for always letting me idea bounce.

Stef barely had time to grab a snack as she got home. She had filled Lena in on the development and it had gone about as well as expected. She left her getting the door as she bobbed upstairs to check on Mariana. Lena had shared some concerns that she was faking being sick. She poked her head round the door to find Kasey was getting ready as best as she could with one leg and Mariana was lying on the bed.

"This is a freakin' nightmare! Waiting for Lena every night is like having detention." she moaned trying to brush through her thick hair.

"You shouldn't have broken your leg then." Mariana retorted, disinterested, as Kasey turned round.

"Oh my God, Mariana - no wonder your stomach hurts." Kasey exclaimed in a fake panic. "You've swallowed Mom! Next you'll be making idle threats about sending us off to Yugoslavia."

"What makes you think they're idle?" Stef chipped in as Kasey swung round.

"Because Yugoslavia doesn't exist anymore." she smiled with a patronising flair. "I imagine it's hard to keep track what with how many years - "

"Finish that sentence and I'll re-form it just to send you there."

Kasey smirked before returning to her grooming routine as Stef wandered over to Mariana.

"You OK, sweets? I hear you're not feeling so good."

She put her hand on Mariana's head who flinched away slightly.

"I'm fine - just not feeling 100%."

Kasey looked round from the side with an eye-roll. Oldest trick in the book.

"You got something on your mind making you nervous?" Stef probed, also not convinced. She had read the book many times as a child and a parent.

"I'm fine, it'll just be something I ate." she insisted, slightly agitated. Stef knew when she was on a losing battle - Lena was right. There was something she wasn't saying. Seemed to be a popular theme of the day.

"Well OK." Stef resigned softly, "just get some rest and hopefully you'll sleep it off." She brushed her hair back and squeezed her shoulder before heading back over toward Kasey.

"You nearly ready?" she asked as Kasey tried to answer through a hair clip before balancing precariously on one crutch as she tried to put it in her hair.

"Almost. More ready than you by the looks of things. You not even getting changed?"

Stef shrugged.

"Thought I'd make sure no-one gets any bright ideas about cheating." she teased poking her tongue out slightly.

"They'll be quaking in their retainers." Kasey laughed in response as they both made their way towards the door.

"We'll be back in a few hours, honey. I'm assuming that as you're sick you won't be going anywhere...prove me right." Stef warned back to Mariana who forced a smile and rolled over.

"I wish I could stay for the party she's throwing ." Kasey whispered flicking her head as Stef chastised her with a look.

"Stop it. She's not feeling good."

"Oh come on - you're not buying that?" Kasey laughed quietly.

"I said she's not feeling good - I didn't say she was sick. There's something wrong. I'll figure it out. Especially if you keep an eye out..." Stef raised an eyebrow.

"Uh-uh. I'm not spying for you. It would disrupt the balance."

"What? You mean Mariana won't lie for you in the future?"

"Exactly." Kasey nodded with a smile as Stef rolled her eyes.

"Ah crap. I forgot my purse!" Kasey sighed rotating round to make her way back.

"I'll see you downstairs." Stef shook her head slightly and disappeared.

Mariana bit her lip thinking about the messages she had Sent earlier that day. She still had no idea what she was expecting from this. She hadn't spoken to her Mom in years - she barely remembered her. The last thing she really remembered was a shrill but slurred laughter and the closing of the door. She had said that she'd be back the next day and that Mrs Moran from next door would be there soon. She did come. An hour later - but Mrs Moran didn't realise Ana wasn't coming back that night. Or the next day. On the second night she called the cops and was gone before they had even come in the door. Mariana had seen Ana again, once or twice in passing, as she tried to attempt regaining custody in her few moments of sobriety but soon the call of the drugs and the fist of her latest boyfriend was too strong for her to not take the state up on its offer to remove her ball and chain.

Mariana blinked a tear as memories the past ones filled her head, all laced with fear. Fuzzy but haunting memories; the lists of names she didn't even bother trying to remember; having one hand clung to her blanket and the other clung on to Jesus; the screaming the first and only night they tried to separate them. She shook them away as the tear escaped. She had spent so many years hating Ana for leaving but she was tired of hating her for it. She barely recognised the woman from her memories in the words of the woman she was now speaking to. She seemed committed and engaged. She was trying to turn things around. Mariana was safe now, she had the net beneath her. Ana had never provided security for them because she had none of her own. Mariana was in a position to support her now - at least at the beginning. She'd just need the money to get back on her feet and then they could rebuild their relationship together. She could show her how well she had done - how much she had achieved. She could finally have all of the parents in her life together - join her two worlds. She repeated it over and over.

"What?" she shook her head after realising Kasey was talking to her. She wasn't even sure when she had come back in the room.

"I said I'd text you when we're heading back so you can hide whoever you're sneaking over." she repeated.

"I'm not sneaking anyone over." Mariana snapped back as Kasey recoiled.

"Chill out, Mari - I'm kidding." she assured her placing her bag over her arm with another precarious balancing act.

Mariana laid her head back to look back at the ceiling again.

"Sorry - I just...I'm really tired."

Kasey nodded gently. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." she commented before making her way out. Mariana didn't respond but simply continued her stare before checking her phone again anxiously.

Once Kasey eventually made it down the stairs she could sense there was tension.

Stef, Mike and Lena were heading towards the door, all three looking flustered.

"Hey, wait up!" she shouted limping slightly faster.

"Change of plan, sis. Brandon's AWOL so we get out of it too." Jesus smirked before a condemning look from Lena.

"What?" Kasey looked over to her parents, thoroughly confused.

"Right, Kasey. As if you don't know." Mike snarked at her as Kasey gawped.

"Brandon and Callie seem to have taken a roadtrip to San Ysidro." Stef added, agitated.

"That's crazy..." she replied, shocked. "Brandon? There must be some mistake..."

"And you don't know anything about this?" Mike asked her as Kasey flared up.

"Right - because if someone's in trouble I must have caused it. I can't believe you're..." began before Stef cut her off with a hand on her chest.

"Enough - Mike, Kasey has nothing to do with this." There wasn't time for that familiar and monotonous fight. It had become so frequent that the reaction had become reflex, but she quickly turned to her daughter suddenly realising it was possible. "I mean - you don't know anything, right?"

"I dunno - last night I saw Callie hanging round Brandon's room and snooping around a bit but I figured she was just checking out the house."

"So you did know something..." Mike said accusingly as Kasey got further riled.

"Right Dad - I know she was upstairs, yes. What's your problem? You think I'm her bodyguard while she cases the joint? That I'm covering for them?"

"It wouldn't be the first time you've lied to us..." Mike shot back as Stef grabbed a launching Kasey again.

"Mike! Not productive." she scolded him gripping Kasey's shirt tight.

"We have to get moving." Lena interjected.

"Right - Kasey. No-one leaves this house, got it?" Stef ordered as Kasey bit back another retaliation. It morphed into a frustrated sigh. The three of them left with Mike throwing her one last look.

"Do you have to bait her?" Stef scolded as they closed the door.

"She may know what they're doing!" he protested. "Where they are going."

"She doesn't." Lena replied firmly. "Why are you being so hard on her recently?" she asked climbing into the back seat.

"I'm trying to be a parent! Clearly they're both getting out of control." he responded.

"Oh come on Mike, we've talked about this. It was weeks ago and she's suffering the consequences."

"And what about Brandon? He's got us chasing him almost to the border for God knows what reason!"

"Well let's find him so we can find out..." Stef responded speeding the car out of the drive.

Kasey shook her head violently in anger at her Dad. This was exactly what she had been facing recently and she didn't know why. He just seemed to be on her case constantly. Brandon screws up and he's on at her - it never used to be like that. If anything he'd let her get away with everything in the past. He was always the good cop.

She plonked herself next to Jesus.

"I don't get it - what happened?" she asked him as he barely took his eyes off the video game. He shrugged.

"Brandon and Callie didn't come home, Mom tracked his phone and they were nearly in San Ysidro.

"He's not got the car; they must have been travelling for ages. The metro line there is useless and the bus stops at every corner.

Jesus shrugged again. "Well Moms and your Dad looked like they were ready to kill him. Doesn't look good for Callie."

Kasey shook her head. "She did seem pretty detached. There was something on her mind. Maybe she knows someone there? Maybe one of her parents or something. Rogue parents seem to keep popping up." Jesus snapped his attention to her with this latest comment.

"Is that a dig?" he asked as Kasey got defensive.

"Of course not, where did that come from?" she studied his face as he shook it lightly

"Sorry - I just. Stuff is really weird right now. Mariana she...she's just being really...off." Kasey raised her eyebrows, welcoming more, but Jesus simply rolled his closed lips around trying to stop himself from saying any. He wasn't even sure where his reflex had come from. Clearly it had been triggered by the reminder of Ana and maybe this was a sign that his suspicions about Mariana were affecting him, even though he had tried to ignore them. There had been her strange behaviour with the laptop the day before and he had found a lot of money in her purse earlier in the day. He wanted to tell his older sister but not even he knew what it was yet. Maybe it was time he found out.

"I'm sure it's nothing. Just the stress of everything with Ana." he put the controller down and his leg tapped violently. Kasey sighed. He clearly wasn't ready to talk about it.

"You better take your pill." she said fulfilling the role of responsibility her Moms had left her with.

Without saying anything he got up and went to the kitchen. Kasey sat back with Jesus' discarded controller and began to play herself.

She got quite into the game before she heard some yelling and angry footsteps down the stairs. She waited to finish the level she was on before heading up to see what it had been. Jesus paced his floor furiously and just before she arrived he picked up a cushion from his bed and tossed it violently onto the floor with a grunt.

"Woah! Dude? What happened?" she looked back to the room Mariana would be in as if to look through the wall. "Everything OK with you two?"

"Does it look like it?" Jesus shot back at her and collapsed onto the bed holding his face in his hands.

"Where'd Mariana go? What did you fight about? Ana?"

"God!" he snapped. "Why does that woman keep coming up?" he rolled over onto his side and thumped the wall as Kasey flinched slightly.

She let it slide, seeing how upset he was.

"Did she run off out the house?" she asked, suddenly remembering the other events that had happened that night.

Jesus sat up and shook his head, his teeth firmly pressed down on his lip. He didn't even know for sure and he'd just let her go - probably to give that addict the rest of that money. He couldn't tell Kasey, it was bad enough that he knew. If he told his sister she'd probably cover for them and she was getting in enough trouble recently.

"Jesus! Where did she go?" Kasey demanded.

He shook his head again. "It doesn't matter Kasey, it's not your problem."

"It is my problem when Moms get back from chasing one lost kid and have to immediately find another one who bolted on my watch. They're not gonna be in the mood for drama."

"It's not...she just...look she just went to get some air. She'll be back before Moms are."

"Well she better be!" Kasey wasn't going to humour another lecture because of her siblings. She was about to say more but took a deep breath seeing how upset Jesus was.

"What were you fighting about?" she repeated softly she asked hobbling over to take a seat next to him. They both sat back against the wall and he leaned in against her. She put her arm around him and began to softly massage his hair. She had done it for the first time when they had discovered his ADD. Once when he had been having an episode and they were trying to balance his medication it had calmed him down. Kasey knew that fighting with Mariana was something Jesus hated more than anything - if it was about something serious. They had been inseparable the first few years and she knew that he held her protection above all else.

"I just think she's gonna get hurt if she lets her back in" he finally said raising a deep breath. "I don't want to see her because I am scared that even I will get hurt and she's already got Mariana screwed up even thinking about her." he alluded to her bad decisions without giving them away. "I'm just worried I won't be able to pick her up again."

Kasey sighed.

"Yes you can, you always can." Kasey reassured him. "I don't know what you two are going through with this - but I know you've been through worse...and you don't need to lift her by yourself now."

He nodded gently, much calmer.

Kasey thought back to what her Moms had said the night before. They were right, this wasn't her business and she couldn't expect Mariana and Jesus to have the same reaction, nor was either right or wrong - but it was between them to decide and then for the rest of the family to support them through.

"If you're there for her she'll be there for you - and we'll all be there for both of you." Kasey squeezed him tightly, pulling him closer

"I better give her a call." he said. "Thank you." he whispered. "Just make sure she gets back here. I really could do without any more accusations tonight."

He nodded as she got up off the bed and made her way to the door.

Jesus took a deep breath and called his twin's number. Unsurprisingly, she didn't answer but at least she'd know he was thinking about her.

After a few more missed calls he finally did get through.

She seemed upset. She was on her way home and he went out to meet her on the porch.

"Did you see her?" he asked, nervously. She simply nodded.

"You were right." was all she could say, holding back a tear. She sat down next to him and he pulled her in close. He was still mad but that didn't matter right now. They only had a few moments before their Moms pulled up.

Their Moms, Callie and Brandon all filtered out of the car and both twins looked up confused as they spotted an extra body - a small boy with a backpack like Jesus used to have. They weren't even sure they made those any more, he must have been keeping it for years.

They stood up as they approached.

"Who...?" Jesus began.

"Let's go inside." Lena suggested as the family shuffled in.

Stef was last in and closed the door behind them.

Luckily, Kasey was already in the living room so calling any kind of meeting could be avoided.

"Everyone, this is Jude. He's Callie's younger brother." Lena informed the collected family. The rest of the kids looked around at each other. Callie was looking subdued and Brandon guilty. Jesus was first to speak, impatient with the painful silence.

"Nice meet you Jude...I'm Jesus, this is Mariana." Mariana nodded at her introduction. Kasey stared at Brandon, trying to get eye contact. He eventually looked over to her.

"Kasey.." Stef whispered snapping her out of her daze she shook her head and instinctively smiled.

"Right, hi Jude. I'm Kasey - I'm Brandon's twin." the evening had thrown so much at them that not even Kasey had the energy or imagination for a smart comment.

Jude nodded and backed quietly against Callie's stomach.

"It's been a long night." Stef finally said. "Maybe you four should go up to bed while we get these guys sorted."

"Here, I can help you..." Brandon offered stepping forward as Stef put a hand on his chest. "I think you've done enough for the day. We'll be having talk tomorrow before breakfast." she warned sternly. "Your Mom and I need to discuss how we're gonna deal with you." Brandon stuttered but gauged that it was probably unwise to protest. He turned it into a nod.

The others made their way towards the stairs as Lena shepherded Callie and Jude through to the living room.

"Kasey." Stef called her back. "Thanks for looking after things" she offered up sensing that she could do with some encouragement after her earlier confrontation with Mike.

"They both gonna be staying then?" she asked, filling in most of the blanks.

Stef sighed deeply.

"Let's get through tonight, OK? " she replied as Kasey nodded. Stef gave her a kiss as she made her way up.

As Kasey left, Stef leaned back against the wall with a deep breath. She hoped Jude didn't have a twin.

Next up - Episode 2! Jude makes a new friend and Kasey begins to become suspicious of Callie.

"Hi - I'm Connor. I mean, well, I guess you know that..." he stumbled nervously through the words.

"Jude - but I guess you know that too..." the two of them chuckled at the slight awkwardness.

"Here is the workbook, Jude. Maybe for today Connor can talk you through some of the things we've been working on and we'll have a little chat at the end about what you'll need to do to catch up.