The next day I woke up in the arms of the man I loved. I breathed in his scent and snuggled closer to his chest, glad we had made up the previous night. My daydreaming was interrupted by a knock at the door.

'Sky, are you awake?' Sally called.

Zed jumped. 'I'm not supposed to be here.'

'Hide.' I whispered, fidgeting. Zed dived into my closet and shut the door behind him.

'Mmm.. yeah just about.' I replied, pretending to have just woken up.

The door open and my adoptive mother walked in with a smile on her face and a glass of water in her hand. She placed it down on the bedside table and perched on the edge of my bed.

'How are you feeling?'

'Much better.' I replied with a smile. 'I think I was just overtired.'

'Good. Did I notice a ring on your finger when you came in?'

'Um yes.' I showed her the beautiful promise ring Zed had given me.

'It's lovely.' She smiled. 'For some reason I thought it was on the other hand! Just as well you're not engaged yet, huh?'

It was on the other hand, wasn't it? I could tell Zed was smirking from the tone of his voice.

'Yeah I don't think Simon would be too happy.' I forced out a laugh, ignoring Zed inside my head.

'What are you up to today? I wondered if you wanted to go shopping?'

'That would be great. I'm at the Benedict's for dinner, but I'm around until then.'

'Great.' She stood up and headed towards the door. 'Just let me know when you're ready to go.'

'I will.'

Sally closed the door behind her and Zed crept out of the closet, a definite smirk on his face.

'Okay I'm totally embarrassed, can we drop it now?'

'Nope.' He popped the 'p' as she put his hands on my hips. 'Can to explain, my darling?'

'Er... not really.'

'Please.' He whispered, his face close to mine. 'Otherwise you won't be getting any kisses.'

His silky voice made me shiver and his dark eyes were looking right into my soul. I thought back to that night with the guy at the bar talking to me... Zack was it? He made me feel uncomfortable so I used the ring to get rid of him; to show I was in a secure relationship.

'Who is he?' Zed's voice growled. I'd obviously not had my shield up and had let him right into my thoughts.

'I think his name was Zack... I'm not sure.' I shrugged. 'But I'm safe, so it doesn't matter.'

'He may have been the one to spike your drink.'

'I didn't see him go anywhere near it.'

'Maybe he was fast.'

I gently stroked the back of Zed's neck, trying to calm him down. I hated it when he was angry.

'Sorry. I'll speak to Vick and see if there's any updates.' He apologised, kissing my forehead. 'You go and have fun with your mom, and I will see you at dinner.'

'See you then.' I kissed my boyfriend before he disappeared back out of the window he'd climbed through the night before.

Denver was busy for a weekday; some schools were not yet on the holidays, but there were still loads of families, tourists and groups of friends shopping the summer sales. It was nice that Sally had taken the day off work to spend some time with me, as we hadn't had proper bonding time in a while.

'So, what did you get up to in California then?' Sally asked as we had our lunch in Starbucks; paninis and frappucinos (with cream, of course).

'Spent a lot of time relaxing.' I replied. 'But we went sightseeing, saw loads of celebrity houses and headed to Disneyland for the day!'

'Zed in Disneyland? That's a sight to see!'

'Oh I know!' I laughed. 'He didn't want to go there, but he caved because he knew I wanted to.'

'He's wrapped around your little finger.'

'Yeah, he is.' I smiled. Obviously, Sally didn't know about Savants and soulfinders, and that's how I wanted it to stay.

'I guess that's why I wouldn't have been surprised if that ring had been an engagement one.'

'We're not ready for that yet.' I replied, though I had thought about it.

'Well hopefully he'll ask Simon's permission before proposing; he's old fashionned like that.'

'You think Simon will ever give him permission?'

'I'm not sure. But he'll be happier about it if things are done properly.'

As I tried on new clothes throughout the day, I couldn't help feeling like everyone was growing up too quickly. Yves and Phoenix were married and were going to be parents. Trace and Diamond had gotten married in Venice not that long ago. Xav had his soulfinder, Crystal. Zed and I had been together nearly two and a half years. Will, Uriel and Victor had not yet found their soulfinders, but they were getting closer to finding out. Then the Benedict family would be whole.

I decided to dress up for dinner and take along my camera to get photos with my second family. I wore my hair down with a waterfall braid across the back of my head. I wore a strapless turquoise dress that fell just above the knee and some silver sandals. The evening air was cool, so I threw over a cropped white cardigan before heading out of the door.

'You look lovely darling. Are you staying over at Zed's tonight?' She looked at the red polkadot overnight bag in my hand.

'Yes, I'm not sure how late the party will go on.' I replied. 'Would you mind giving me a lift?'

'You could drive.' Simon smiled, appearing from the kitchen. He threw me a set of car keys.

'What are these?'

'Keys.'

'To what?'

'Your car.' Sally grinned. 'Go outside!'

I wasn't sure what I was expecting; something rusty and old that could only get me to the gallery and back. After all, we had money but not lots of it. I opened the door and gasped.

In the driveway was a shiny, turquoise Vauxhall Corsa; it was a model from only three years ago too.

'Thank you!' I squealed, hugging my adoptive parents. 'You didn't have to do this!'

'We were hoping to get you one for a graduation present.' Simon smiled. 'But we couldn't find one the right colour.'

I unlocked it and sat inside, leaving the door open. I adjusted the seat so that I could reach the pedals.

'It's perfect.'

Simon and Sally stood by the car, arms around each other's waist.

'Just look after it okay? Any repairs and gas money is coming out of your pocket. I've insured it for you, so it's good to go.' Simon explained. 'You'd better go or you're going to be late!'

I started up the car and put it into reverse. I carefully pulled out of the driveway and headed in the direction of Zed's house. Yeah, we were definitely all growing up too fast.

Arriving at the Benedict house, I was glad they had a spacious driveway. I slowly parked the car as Zed came out.

'Is that yours?!' He asked, admiring my lovely little car.

'A late graduation present!' I grinned. 'Isn't it great?'

'Really good condition.' He commented, circling the car. 'Looks brand new. How does it drive?'

'Er... good?' I didn't know much about cars. I just knew the difference between an old banger and a decent ride.

Zed laughed and pulled me in for a kiss. 'Well it suits you. You look beautiful as always. New dress?'

I gave him a little twirl. 'Like it?'

'Of course. But I like the girl who is wearing it more.' He kissed my nose. 'Come on, everyone is waiting.'

The Benedict house was buzzing; Saul and Karla, the seven brothers and four soulfinders filled up the living room nicely. Karla had moved the sofa from the study into the living room to provide more seating space, but even then my fellow soulfinders were either perched on their partner's laps or squished up next to them.

'Sky!' Diamond beamed, rushing towards me. She pulled me into a hug and kissed my cheek. 'How are you? We've all heard what happened.'

'I'm fine.' I replied with a smile. 'How are you?'

'Fabulous!'

I reached over to hug Crystal, who was having a conversation with Phoenix. I loved having so many brothers and sisters; it was perfect being part of a big family.

When we were all sat around the mismatch of joined tables for dinner, Yves and Phee stood up to make their big announcement. I wondered how many family members already knew about the good news.

'So, you're probably all wondering why we called all the family together.' Yves smiled, holding Phee's hand tightly.

'Yeah, making us all travel from halfway across the country.' Xav laughed.

'Or halfway across the world.' Trace added with a grin.

Yves rolled his eyes at his brothers before carrying on. 'We wanted everyone to be here to hear the news.'

'I'm hoping the news is good.' Diamond smiled, running her fingers along her wine glass.

'It is.' Phee grinned.

'We're having a baby.' Yves announced, placing his hand lightly on Phee's slightly curved stomach; if you didn't know how skinny she was usually, then you wouldn't have noticed it was a tiny baby bump.

The family cheered and clapped, smiles on their faces.

'When is it due?' Diamond asked, raising her glass.

'Well it's early days.' Phee replied. 'But he or she is due about seven months from now... February 14th.'

'A perfect Valentines present!' Diamond cooed.

'I'd like to make a toast.' I smiled, raising my glass. 'To Yves, Phee and the bump. You're going to be wonderful parents!'

'To Yves, Phee and the bump!'

After dinner, we sat around with our drinks and caught up with what each of us had been up to over the past few months. Diamond and Trace shared their photos from their honeymoon in Verona, Yves and Phee shared their photos from Paris, Crystal and Xas shared their photos from their first few months in New York, and Zed and I shared our graduation, prom and holiday photos with the rest of the family.

'Wait, stop the photos there.' Vick said, leaning forward on the sofa.

Zed paused the photo of the two of us on the Saturday night, both of us grinning from drinking alcohol underage.

'What is it?' Zed asked, looking at his brother in confusion.

'Can you zoom in on that guy behind Sky?'

My boyfriend did as he was asked.

'Is that-' Saul started, before being interrupted by Victor.

'Zack Kelly.' Victor frowned. 'He must have followed you to California.'

'He must have been the one to spike Sky's drink.' Karla shook her head in disbelief.

'If he followed Sky to California, who's to say he hasn't followed her back?' Crystal's eyes filled with worry.

'He may well have done.' Victor responded.

'I won't let him hurt you.' Zed whispered, running a hand through my hair.

But his words just weren't comforting enough. My knees sank and I fell to the ground before anyone could stop me.