"You're up late."

Those three words made me stop. Sitting at the kitchen table, with paperwork spread across it in front of her, was Carol. It took a couple of moments for me to register that it was really her. Then a couple more moments to register what she said. By the time I had finally managed to get to the point where I could respond, she'd already turned back to the papers.

"Had trouble sleeping." I managed to mumble out as I dragged myself over to the coffee maker. Pulling the pot free, it took a bit of effort to properly pour some into my nearby mug. The rich smell alone was enough to make me feel better. It wasn't piping hot, but it was still warm enough to enjoy. Practically as soon as I took a sip of that bitter gold with a hint of chocolate, I was awake.

"You got up late last week as well. Is this going to be a habit?" If the coffee hadn't woken me up, that would have. Swallowing, I glanced over at her. She wasn't actually looking at me, tapping the paper in front of her with her pencil. It didn't fool me; she was just pretending to be paying half attention.

"You'd wake me up if it was a problem." It was the blunt truth. If Carol was thinking I was slipping, she'd stop it. It was just one of the annoying things about her. It is super important that you get up early so that you can be ready for the day, in her words. The only reason she'd let me sleep in was…

"Your sister seemed to think you could use it. Said she could hear you when she went to the bathroom. If this is becoming an issue, we'll have to see about getting you some melatonin." With that, she started writing again. The conversation was over. Part of me was thankful I didn't have to talk to her any more than necessary, but I still had a sour taste in my mouth. It wasn't the coffee.

Maybe part of it was the fact Vicky was trying to act extra nice to try and 'make up' for what she did last night. It just made me mad. Her response to almost killing someone was an attempt to suck up to me. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't asked what was wrong. Just asked if it was going to be a problem and then decided on the solution if it was a problem. Didn't ask me what I thought or why I was having trouble sleeping.

It was ridiculous, considering the reason for it. If she had asked, then I'd have had to lie. So why was I mad about her not questioning it any further? It's better when she talks less.

Turning away from her, I walked over to the sink. I just didn't want to look at her anymore. Through the window above the sink, I could see snow softly falling. It was something else to focus on. Apparently, it looked like there might be snow on and off for the whole month. On the one hand, crime rates probably decreased. On the other hand, car crashes almost definitely increased. It was a tough case to say whether it was actually better or worse.

"Have you made any Christmas preparations?" That made me blink. Turning to look back towards Carol, she was giving me this expectant look. The fact that she was talking to me again was just weird. We usually only said the bare minimum to each other in the mornings. What game are you playing?

"Yeah, me and Mark went shopping to pick up presents last Saturday." It was a simple question to answer, at the least. We had spent a fair few hours wandering around the mall, picking out things we thought the rest of the family would like. I thought I had picked out some good gifts for everyone.

"Mark and I." I rolled my eyes at the grammar correction, but she didn't stop to chide me on it. "He mentioned it to me last week. He took Victoria out today. Said it was only fair since he took you out last time. It's nice to see him doing so well."

"Yeah." It really was nice to see him doing better. Hopefully, it'll last until Christmas proper. Christmas kind of sucked as is, let alone when Mark was feeling bad.

"Since he's doing so well, I want him to get some nice presents this year. I've already selected something for him. Since you did your shopping with him, I assume that you didn't get the chance to grab him something?" My response died in my throat as I realized that I actually hadn't gotten him something. It completely slipped my mind. A small blush lit up my cheeks.

"Figured." Reaching over to her wallet, she spoke as she opened it up. "I want him to get good gifts from us all this year. Hopefully, we will keep this going. Get something nice for him with this, alright?"

It took me a second to get a good look at what exactly she was handing me. Two one hundred dollar bills, crisp and clean. Probably fresh from the bank. It suddenly made sense why she had the paperwork out on the table. She was budgeting for presents. Giving her a nod, I took the bills and stuck them in my pocket. "World's best present got it. I'll get it today."

"Good. If you decide on something you can't carry back, call, and I'll come to pick you up." And that was that. She turned back to her paperwork, quickly scribbling in the two hundred dollars she just gave me. How much did you spend on me? The thought drifted through my head as I finished off my coffee.

It wasn't an ugly thought. Carol knew better than to try and give me coal when everyone else got diamonds. If only because Vicky wouldn't ever let me get 'less' than her. Okay, that's an ugly thought.

Hot water filled the mug as I refocused. It was more just a question of how much she was spending this Christmas. It seemed like it might be a lot. If she was giving me two hundred to spend on Mark, then she might have spent more herself. On top of what Mark and I spent on our shopping, whatever she had spent on Vicky and me, it seemed like it was… potentially a lot.

Was this alright? Carol worried about money. A lot. This wasn't an uncommon sight. She sat at the table, stressing out over bills and budget. Though that was partly because she handled New Wave's overall budget, I knew it had to partly be our family budget. The house wasn't cheap for taxes, we couldn't exactly live a cheap lifestyle, and Mark not working didn't help. She is literally setting up the budget. It'll be fine.

Finally convincing myself that this would be fine, another question reared its head. What was I gonna get him? A few moments passed without any really good ideas. Which meant I was gonna have to go shopping. Walking around alone in a mall… Yeah no. Carol was not an option, Vicky was still on my shit list, and it'd defeat the point if I went with Mark. Putting the mug in the drying rack, I turned to walk up to my room. That left a total of one person I could ask. It was time to make a call.

"So, you're here to buy your dad a Christmas present?" Wendy asked as we reached our destination. The Hillside Mall. It was the largest mall in Downtown and the closest one to my house.

"Yes, we're here to pick out a present for Mark." The question made me roll my eyes. It was the third time she'd asked it. It didn't seem like something hard to understand.

"You asked me to come with you to buy a present for your dad." Oh. I turned slightly to give her a stink-eye. Her hands came up in a 'don't shoot' posture.

"Just saying! Isn't this, like, usually something you should do with the family? Why not Vicky?" The thought of Vicky sent my gut twisting slightly. A night's sleep hadn't gotten rid of the anger. It was still just sitting there in my gut.

"She's with Mark." It was the only thing I managed to grumble out before turning away. That killed the conversation. For about half a minute before, Wendy started talking again. At least she didn't go back onto that topic.

"I probably should get a bit of Christmas shopping done for my family as well, even if I can't get them anything super big with my allowance. Better something than nothing, right?" I'd been around her enough to know she was waiting for me to answer.

"Yeah. Better something than nothing." It came out partly as a sigh, even as we finally reached the doors of the mall. It seemed like a lot of people had similar ideas. How long until Christmas? Two weeks? Yeah, two weeks.

Even as the warm air hit us, I pulled my hoodie tighter. The odds of someone recognizing me were low. They weren't zero. It was the last thing I really wanted to deal with. Wendy just kept talking, jumping a little to look over the crowds. "Any ideas on what you want to get him?"

"Not really…" That came with another sigh. "I'll probably think of something if I see it. I just gotta see it first. Because right now, I'm drawing a blank."

If I knew what to get him, I wouldn't have asked you to come with me. The thought went unsaid, though. The entire point of bringing Wendy was the fact that wandering around a mall alone was just sad. Though knowing Wendy, she would have done it and looked just fine. It was more the image of a lonely loser wandering around.

"So we're window shopping! Good, that's the best way to get gifts. Let's get it started, then. Come on." Wendy quickly looped an arm through mine. The noise I let out was totally dignified. It wasn't a surprised squeak that got a laugh out of her as she dragged me off to the first store she saw.

"How can we have gone through so many stores and found nothing good?" I let out a small groan as we exited yet another clothing store. Wendy let out a 'tsk, tsk, tsk' as she quickly tapped out a note on her phone.

"You haven't found something good. I've found plenty of stuff I could buy my family." That was part of the problem. So much time was spent wandering through clothing and shoe stores that were useless to me. Because Wendy was considering buying her Dad a band shirt or her Mom a "Kiss the Cook" apron.

"It's easier when you're looking for cheaper stuff…" Saying my previous thought would be an asshole move. So I just went with the second-best reason. If I was going for cheaper stuff, I could have just bought a whole bunch of random stuff I thought he'd like. A mug, some new shirts, and jeans, maybe new shoes, the basic stuff would be easy. Yet it wasn't exciting. Mark deserved something exciting.

"You'll find something. Just gotta look in the odd places! Come on; maybe you'll find something for him in here?" Grabbing me again by the arm, she pulled me towards another shop. It made me want to groan again. The place had a dragon on its sign and was named "Game Hall." Seriously how uncreative do you have to be to name a place Game Hall?

We got inside, and I was surprised. It wasn't just some big video game store. It was somehow even nerdier. Board games, some books that I couldn't recognize, what looked like some older video games and just random nerd memorabilia were scattered all over the place. It also wasn't empty. There were two guys at the counter, and in the back, I was pretty sure I could see some people I vaguely recognized from school. What they were all doing sitting around a table, I had no clue. Beyond them were at least several people wandering the shelves.

"My Dad was a pretty big nerd back when he was in high school and college. Maybe there's something retro he'd like in here?" Wendy offered as a suggestion even as she started walking into the shop to search for herself.

"Maybe…" My voice trailed off as she started looking at the books. Those didn't ring any bells, so they wouldn't work. Shoving my hands into my hoodie, I started looking. As far as I can remember, Mark never really played video games. At least if he used to at some point, he never really mentioned it. However, something was bugging me as my eyes glided over the games. They landed on some stuffed mascot, and it clicked.

Arcades. My eyes widened as I finally had something to go off of. It was based on a really old memory, but if I was right. It'd be a perfect gift. Something he'd enjoy and something meaningful. Though would they actually have something that fits that? I started searching again, properly this time. There was a lot of stuff that was useless to go through. Nothing on the standing shelves or the opposite wall. "You manage to get an idea?"

Wendy suddenly popped back up. I jumped. My hand nudged some old retro game box, and I had to lunge to grab it before it hit the floor. Breathing a small sigh, I put it back in its spot before turning to fix Wendy with a glare. The girl let out a nervous laugh and raised her hands. "Didn't mean to startle you? If it broke, I would have paid for it… so, uh, you've got an idea? It looks like you got an idea."

I kept the glare up for a moment before just letting out a long sigh. Maybe it was just because of last night. This was already feeling like a long day. "Yeah. Do you see anything arcade-related here? Like, classic arcade stuff?"

"You mean like that thing they have behind the counter?" She pointed over at it. The counter area was dominated by cards and miniature sets, so I hadn't actually looked at it properly. On a shelf behind the counter, there was a box with a bunch of arcade characters on it. Getting a little closer let me read what it was. At Home Arcade Console, complete with thirty-plus classic arcade games. One hundred and fifty dollars.

"Yeah… Like that thing." She gave me a big toothy grin. I just rolled my eyes and moved to get in line. Whoever the clerk had been talking to had left. There were a couple of people in front of me. They seemed like parents, with how many random questions they had for the clerk.

Minutes ticked by as he answered them and made their purchases. It was like I could feel my patience shrinking with each tick of the clock. Wendy, the traitor, had wandered off to talk to the kids in the back playing cards. Rather than suffer through this with me.

Finally, there was only one person in front of me. The middle-aged woman stepped up and pointed a finger toward the console. My heart dropped. I didn't even hear the conversation they had as he grabbed it from the shelf to bag it. I did not just sit in this line for like five minutes for some soccer mom to steal the perfect present.

"Excuse me?" The clerk's voice made me blink. He was giving me a weird stare, even as the woman moved towards the exit. With the console happy in a bag. My eyes snapped back to him as she left the shop. Focus girl. Present.

Stepping up to the counter, I looked at the shelves behind him. The floor behind him. Maybe he had another one of those? None visible. He was still giving me that weird look. "Um, sorry… That console the woman bought? Do you guys have any more of those?"

"You look and sound familiar? Have we met before?" Dammit. The last thing I wanted right now was for someone to recognize me. Turning my head to the side, I scratched my cheek. Letting out an awkward laugh as I tried to get things back on track to the more important topic.

"I don't think so. So, about th-" He slapped his hand onto the counter and grinned. Of course, he managed to put it together, of course, I had to deal with this. When I just wanted to buy something.

"I knew I recognized you. You're Panacea! You healed my sister's leg after she got hit by a car, I was in the room when you did it. Man, you saved her a lot of pain, she was supposed to never be able to walk right again! Why in the world are you here in my shop?" As he asked that question, I slowly turned my face back toward him. Closing my eyes and letting out a long sigh from my nose.

"I'm trying to buy a present. Are you going to bug me anymore about work, are you gonna answer the question? Do you have any more of the Arcade Consoles? Like the one you just sold?" Opening my eyes again, he was giving me a sheepish look.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. We definitely got more of those. The owner bought a whole bunch of them. Usually, people put in orders for them, so we only keep one out on display. Pretty sure we still got like five left that haven't been ordered through. Should I go…?" As he let the question hang, I leaned forward.

"Yes. I want one." The words hissed through my teeth. It got the point across. He nodded his head and hurried off towards a door in the back. Following him with my eyes as he walked, I spotted Wendy staring at me. She raised an eyebrow at me. I raised mine right back at her.

Part of me was expecting her to come over, treating the eyebrow as a challenge. She just went back to talking to those kids at the table. Leaving me waiting at the counter for the guy to come back. It took about another minute for him to come back. "Had to dig it out of the box. Let me get you rung up."

It was finally going to be over. He put the console in a bag, complete with the weird dragon logo the store had. He pressed a few buttons on the cash register. Before he could even tell me whatever amount it would be with sales tax, I had the two hundred on the counter. Blinking, he just took the money and got the change together.

"Here's your change and your receipt. Sorry about the initial thing, it's not every day you get to meet a cape you know?" It took some effort to not snatch the money out of his hand. Stuffing it into my pocket, I just shoved the receipt into the bag before picking it up. It was heavier than it looked.

"Don't mention it. Seriously. Don't." He winced slightly at my words. I didn't feel bad about them. Wendy said goodbye to her new apparent friends to hurry up and join me. Thankfully she didn't drag me into some other shop right away. The two of us just walked for a bit through the mall. I could tell she was constantly glancing at me.

"So… What was that ab-" It was obvious what she was going to say. It wasn't something that I wanted to hear. There had been something I had been putting off. So I literally cut her off.

"I didn't eat any breakfast. Come on, let's get some lunch." There was no chance for her to argue as I started that way. She just followed, a small pout on her face. Too bad, not having that conversation.

As we got closer to the food court, I started looking for what I wanted. It hadn't been a lie. I hadn't eaten any breakfast. My stomach was probably starting to eat itself. The run last night had sucked then, it was still sucking now. "What do you want to eat?"

"I'm not really hungry…" Wendy finally stopped pouting to trail off, putting her hands into her own pockets. It didn't sound convincing. Turning my head, I stared at her and raised an eyebrow.

"What? I'm not hungry." She raised an eyebrow back at me. It still didn't sound any more convincing to me.

"Wendy, you can't go on a hunger strike because I didn't want to talk about something." The brain liked its schedules, and this was around the time we ate together. There was no way in hell she wasn't hungry.

"Oh, so it has to be because of you? Maybe I just ate a big breakfast?" She crossed her arms, leaning back a bit as she did so.

"I've seen your biology Wendy. You could probably eat a whole cow for breakfast and still be hungry around now. Your metabolism is crazy." It was something a lot of the girls at school were jealous of. A couple of times people had even asked me if I could boost theirs so they were more like her.

"Well I'm not hungry, and it's not a hunger strike. Get yourself some food, I'll be over here." This time she didn't give me a chance to respond. Walking away from me to head over to the tables. I watched her for a few moments before letting out a groan.

Why can't things be simple? I started over toward one of the restaurants, a pizza place. Vicky pisses me off, I piss Wendy off. What's next, Wendy pisses someone else off? Does the chain continue until all of Brockton Bay's mad?

The worst part was that everyone had a right to be mad. Vicky's royal fuck up was still bothering me. Wendy was probably pissed about me snubbing her. It didn't sit right with me though. Sure, we hadn't been friends that long. I still thought I had a decent read on her though. Normally she would have just kept poking at me until she got what she wanted.

Maybe I was just being dumb. Maybe she just actually wasn't hungry and I was just pushing her about it. Maybe she was just a bit annoyed with the day as well. Walking around the mall noting down all the random things she could buy her family on her phone. I wasn't probably the best company, no matter how hard she tried. Finally decides to try and just address the problem. I interrupt her and accuse her of something.

As I stepped into the line for the restaurant, I felt my stomach twist. It wasn't from hunger either. Wendy was the first proper friend I'd made in a long time. She gave a shit, and I was just throwing it back into her face. Even if I felt like shit that didn't mean I could take it out on her. I'm my own worst enemy.

It wasn't too late though. She hadn't just left… A quick glance over my shoulder proved that she hadn't. Just staring at her phone at one of the tables. That meant I had a chance at fixing this. Saying sorry probably would have been enough, but I had been a bitch. It needed to be more.

Stepping up to the counter, an idea came into my head. I placed my order and paid using the last of my allowance. Stepping aside, I impatiently tapped my foot. The damn console's bag was digging into my shoulder. My peace offering was eventually done.

Wendy looked up as I slid the box onto it, giving me a confused look. I just lifted the lid of the box, revealing the contents. "Split it? Supreme with cauliflower crust. Your favorite."

"I said I wasn't hungry…" She stared at the pizza for a few moments. Before glancing back down at her phone. Looking at the list of stuff she was thinking of buying. You're hungry. I'm just not gonna call you on it.

"Even if you're not hungry. Come on. I'm trying to make up for earlier." A few moments passed as we just stared at each other. Then she sighed and put her phone away. Reaching out to take a slice from the box.

"You're lucky this is my favorite…" It was not much more than a mumble before she took a bite. Relaxing internally at that, I sat myself down. Grabbing my own slice to eat. Even if it wasn't my favorite. Hungry was hungry.

It didn't take long for the two of us to work our way through most of the pizza. Neither of us said anything as we ate. It wasn't until there were only two slices left that I took a break. Letting out a quiet sigh of contentment as I leaned onto the table. Watching Wendy finish the last of a slice, I couldn't stop the snort that escaped me. "I knew you were hungry."

"Oh shut up." She rolled her eyes at me. She didn't disagree with me though. "I was gonna eat when I got home. I just wanted to save my allowance for buying presents. Trying to be more… thrifty."

"Oh." A few moments passed of me staring at her before I brought a hand up to my forehead. "Yeah, that makes sense. I feel even worse now."

"You were acting like a bitch." That just made me cover my eyes with the hand on my forehead. In the darkness, I felt Wendy's hand pat me on the head.

"I accepted your pizza, so consider yourself forgiven. Seriously though, you've been in a bad mood all day. You've been avoiding conversation all day. Shutting down every time I bring up Vicky. You even snapped at that clerk at the game place. You feeling alright?" Dragging the hand down my face, I opened my eyes to peer from between my fingers.

"No. No not really." There were a lot of reasons why I wasn't feeling alright. "Had it rough last night. Didn't get much sleep. Didn't eat anything until now. You can probably put the pieces together."

"Amy you didn't mention being hungry once." She pointed out, a concerned look on her face. "I had a reason for not wanting to get something to eat. You jumped at it to dodge the question. Why not get something right away?"

"Couldn't I just not want to interrupt your fun?" My voice dripped with sarcasm. She just gave me an unimpressed look.

She wasn't going to stop until she got answers. I knew her well enough to know that by now. "Fine. I was distracted. Thinking about other things. Happy?"

"Not really. Mostly because I still don't know what's bothering you." The concerned look had come back to her. "Is it something with Vicky? I've noticed you've been avoiding talking about her."

"What? Can't I just not talk about my sister for a day?" I gave her a side-eye. "We've gone days without talking about her before."

"That's because we had no reason to." She kept on pushing. "I ask you what Vicky might think about some piece of clothing, and I'm afraid you're gonna bite my head off. You two have a fight?"

"Yes." I spat it out, the hand on my face coming up to rest on my forehead. "Yes, Vicky and I had a fight. Are you happy now and going to let this drop, or are you gonna do what you usually do and keep pushing?"

"That's why you like me." She just got the most infuriating grin on her face as she finally leaned back in her seat. "I don't fangirl about meeting a cape. At least not since the party. I push you on the stuff I need to. So, what's the fight about? Was it something you did or something she did?"

A groan escaped me as I rubbed my forehead. If I shut it down she would just keep bugging me. She would probably tell if I lied. The full truth definitely couldn't be said. So part truth it was.

"She broke something important on accident, and I had to fix it so no one found out." She blinked once at that before tilting her head to the side.

"That doesn't sound that bad. Why are you so pissed about it?" My hand came down from my forehead to smack into the table.

"If this was the first time it wouldn't be that bad. This is the fifth time it's happened. I had to run across town to help her, in the middle of the night. I thought she was in serious trouble, but she just needed me to fix her mistake." Now that the gate had opened, I couldn't stop it.

"She promised me each time she'd get better at controlling her strength. That it would be the last time. Yet I'm pretty damn sure her promise doesn't mean anything. It's gonna happen again. I'm gonna have to cover for her. Again. Each time she digs the hole deeper, I have to jump in to save her." My other hand came up, reaching under my hoodie to run through my hair.

"Like, does she just not care? Is it just so minor to her that she doesn't matter? Is it just a game to her? Do I just have to sell her out to Mom to get her to stop? Or just let her suffer the consequences? Do I have to be a bitch to get the point across?" I had stopped paying attention to her, mostly ranting to myself.

Fingers wrapped around my hand on the table and gave them a squeeze. Turning my gaze back to Wendy, she was giving me a really concerned look. "Okay Amy, take a breath. You're gonna run out if you keep up like that. It's obvious that this is actually really upsetting you."

"No, I'm peachy." I felt guilty about being sarcastic that time. Wendy just ignored it.

"Have you told Vicky this?" She cut me off before I could respond. "I don't mean arguing with her about what she did wrong. I don't mean pointing a finger at her for messing up. I mean telling her how this has made you feel. Have you done that?"

I opened my mouth before stopping and thinking. Our conversation last night about what happened had been short. It had been a lot of berating and yelling at her on my part, as both Sequoia and myself. "No… No, I haven't."

"So… Maybe she would take it more seriously if she knew how it made you feel? I get the feeling she would if she knew how upset it made you." Some part of me expected to hear that. The rest of me hadn't wanted to hear that.

"Great, you want me to do the thing I'm worst at. Talking about my feelings." I finally dropped my other hand from my hair to the table. "You don't know you really don't help all that much?"

"Oh sure I do." She pulled her hand back from mine, reaching to grab one of the remaining slices of pizza. "You just don't like doing what you really should. You want the last piece, or can that be mine?"

A/N: Eight months. Not the longest hiatus. I just hope I at least finish this arc before I take another one. Originally I was gonna have Emma and Sophia show up in this chapter. But then it turned into the longest chapter, and I decided against that.