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"Do you like it?" Beau to Bellamy

"Oh, I love it!" Bellamy gushed at her reflection. She ran her hands through her hair from the roots to the tips, marveling at how well the temporary hair dye had taken to it. She had pink hair! She hadn't wanted to bleach her natural hair, so the color wasn't as vibrant as it probably could've been, but Bellamy still loved it.

Over the past few hours, Beau had dyed, washed, and dried Bellamy's hair. She'd kept her eyes closed or her back to the mirror while he worked so she could be surprised by the final outcome. She'd never done anything to her hair before, but she'd always thought it would be so cool to have a different color, if only for a little while. Bell had settled on pink years ago, and tonight, she could finally check pink hair off her bucket list.

"What do you think?" Bellamy asked Beau, turning towards her boyfriend and framing her face with her hands. "Does it suit me?" She didn't know if pink hair suited her, actually, but that was kind of the point! Bellamy had always lived in such a small, dull box. Her limited resources meant that she couldn't try to be someone different, even if she wanted to. Pink hair might not suit her in the long run, but it would be fun to pretend for a few weeks. And who knew, maybe Bellamy would love having pink hair so much that she made the change permanent.

"Should we do yours, too?" Bell teased, waggling her brows at Beau. As fun as it would be to both have pink hair, she was only messing around with him. Beau had helped her check so many things off her bucket list over the past few months, and he'd been right there by her side through all of them. That was enough for her; she didn't need him to change something about himself just because she was.

Beau laughed, said he’d think about it, and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. Bellamy grinned at the lens when he held it up to her and snapped a photo. When Beau showed her the image she squealed in delight and turned towards the mirror again. She loved feeling like a brand new person. A cute as hell new person, if she did say so herself.

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“I wonder if we would’ve dated sooner…” Chase to Kendall (if she never moved away)

"I think so…" Kendall said, turning her head on his chest so she could smile up at Chase. She thought a lot about what her life could've been had she never been adopted, and thinking about being with Chase longer was one of her favorite things to imagine. Kenny realized she'd never shared these thoughts with her boyfriend before, so she sat up so she could face him fully.

"We would have been each other's firsts for everything," Kendall told him, nodding her head matter-of-factly. "And I don't just mean kissing or sex… I mean, like, I would have been the first girl you ever asked to a school dance… and you'd be the first boy I picked out a dress for… and the first boy I'd spend hours talking to on the phone when I should've been doing my homework." She smiled wider. "We would've gotten in trouble for sneaking out to see each other or coming home past curfew..." There were so many firsts they could've had together. So many firsts that Kendall wished she had with him.

"I sometimes wish things happened differently…" Kenny admitted, her smile faltering slightly. She'd never said this to anyone before, but Chase wasn't just anyone. She knew he wouldn't judge her. "Like, don't get me wrong, I love my parents… I love the life they gave me, and I am so lucky and thankful that they picked me to be their daughter." Kendall sighed and shrugged slightly.

"I just… I just know I would've loved my life as a Vorster, too, you know?" Kendall hadn't always known that Adler and Dakota wanted to and tried to adopt her. She'd only learned that since coming back into their lives, but she'd still always wondered. The six months Kenny spent with them as a kid had been some of the best of her life. It was the only time in her life that she'd gotten to experience life having siblings, and it was a feeling she'd always missed. Life would have been different, but Kendall would have been happy.

"I would have loved having you in my life all these years…" Kendall wrapped her fingers around Chase's and brought their clasped hands to her chest. Maybe things wouldn't be as she imagined them had she stayed in London. Maybe she and Chase would have gotten together too young and fizzled out the older they got. Maybe they would have just been best friends. She didn't know for sure, but Kendall was certain they would have eventually found their way back to each other, and to this moment right now. They were soulmates, and she believed that wholeheartedly.

"I'm just glad we're together now," She said, falling across Chase's body with her own. "And that you can never get rid of me."

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new dress

Bellamy had never gone on a date. She knew nothing about dates. She didn't even know if she was supposed to consider this a date, or just another one of the outings Beau was taking her on. There was a difference, though, because tonight wasn't specific to a bucket list item. When they were together a few days ago, Bell mentioned that she loved pizza and Beau asked if she wanted to go to this Italian restaurant he knew and loved. Bellamy had said yes, but neither one of them had called it a date... so, was it?

She was trying not to fret over it. Even if this were supposed to be a date, that wouldn't change anything, right? She and Beau would act the same as they did every other time they were together. Plus, Bellamy didn't want to assume that Beau actually wanted to date her. They were just friends. He was the only friend she had, and Bell didn't want to screw that up by assuming he liked her. So, this wasn't a date.

Bell was waiting outside of her apartment building for Beau to come pick her up. When she saw his car turn around the corner, she stood up and waved at him. Beau pulled up to the curb and got out of his car, even though Bellamy was walking towards him already, and when she saw him she knew she'd fucked up.

Beau was dressed nicely... like really nice. Bellamy was wearing the same jeans she'd worn every other time they were together and one of the five tops she owned. She didn't have anything else and hadn't even considered that she would need to dress nicer than usual. Beau had just said he wanted to take her to an Italian restaurant... not that it was a fancy one! Nothing about Bellamy gave off "fancy"...

"I'm underdressed..." She said by way of greeting. Bellamy frowned, tugging at the shirt she'd picked.

"It's okay," Beau replied, smiling. It seemed like he could tell she was uncomfortable now, though, so he looked at his watch. "We have time... if you want to change. It's okay if you don't want to, though, I don't care." Bellamy was already shaking her head.

"I don't have anything else..." Bellamy murmured. God, she could just curl up and die.

"Then we can go somewhere else... I'll be overdressed, it's fine." Beau was being too nice to her. Bellamy was still shaking her head. She didn't move one way or the other, not taking another step towards his car or her apartment building. She didn't know what to do... Bellamy wanted to go eat, but she didn't want people looking at her because she was underdressed.

"I don't have a dress..." Bellamy explained. She had one skirt but it wasn't a nice one and she'd still be underdressed if she put it on. Her clothes had never been an issue before, because she never went anywhere. Bell wore a uniform shirt and jeans for work and didn't go anywhere else that required fancier clothes. Her entire closet could fit into one duffle bag. Her entire closet cost less than the shirt Beau was wearing, probably.

"Do you have your list?" Beau asked. Bell's brows scrunched in confusion, but she nodded. She took her notebook out of her bag and handed it to Beau when he held his hand out for it. He clicked the pen that was clipped to the notebook and turned around to lean over his car. Bellamy watched him flip through the pages until he got to the end of the list and then he wrote something down. Beau replaced the pen and handed the notebook back to her, his thumb holding the right page.

At the bottom of her ever-growing bucket list he'd written "Let Beau buy me a new dress" Bellamy was already smiling before she even finished reading the sentence. Beau was grinning back at her when she looked up at him.

"Come on," Beau said, opening the passenger's door to his car. "I know a place." Feeling ten times better than she had just a minute before, Bellamy got into his car.

Before they even got to the store Beau knew of, Bellamy decided that she'd try to find something long. The brown loafers she was wearing (and almost always wore) weren't formal, so she'd need something that covered them. She couldn't walk in heels and she hated breaking in new shoes. So, she'd just cover them. Bell also figured she should find a brown dress to match her shoes. And, because, brown was her favorite color to wear. Fall was coming up, so hopefully that store had good brown options to pick from.

"Pick out whichever one you want," Beau told her once they'd arrived. Bellamy nodded and started combing through the dresses on the racks. She didn't know what would look good on her, so she just grabbed anything brown and let the salesgirl put it in a dressing room. When she'd gone through the entire store (luckily it was a small boutique), Bell had five dresses to try on.

The first few didn't fit her right and Bellamy quickly vetoed them, but the last two she was torn on. She hadn't shown Beau the first three dresses, but since she couldn't decide between the others, she pulled the curtain back to get his opinion. "What do you think?" Bell asked. Beau looked up from his phone and his brows rose in appreciation (or, at least, what Bell thought was appreciation).

"You look really beautiful, Bell," Beau said, smiling. Bellamy's face heated from the compliment. "Do you like it?"

"I'm between this one and one other one..."

"Let's see that one, then..." Beau waved his hand towards the dressing room again and Bell pulled the curtain closed to change. The second dress was a prettier. It was silky smooth and had beads woven into the top. The skirt was flowy and brushed the ground exactly how she needed it to. Bellamy had never seen a dress so beautiful... but it was more expensive than the one she'd just shown Beau, and so she was hesitating. She would show Beau anyway because maybe he'd hate it.

Bellamy pulled the curtain again and stepped out. When Beau looked up, he let out a low whistle of appreciation. She blushed again and fought off the urge to cross her arms over her chest. "That's the one..." He declared, standing up from his seat.

"It's more..." Bell started but Beau cut her off with a tut of his tongue. She hadn't fought him up to this point, so why stop now? Plus, now that she was wearing it, Bellamy really wanted this dress. She didn't know when or where she'd wear it again, but it would be nice to have it in her closet.

Beau came over to snap the tag off the dress so that he could take it to the cashier and pay. While he did that, Bellamy went back into the dressing room to shove her clothes into her canvas bag and put her nasal cannulas back in. She also tried to fix her hair a little so that the rest of her matched how pretty her new dress was. Bell thought she looked a little silly like she was a kid playing dress up, but she was going with it.

"All set?" Beau asked, taking her bag from her. Bell smiled and nodded and let him lead the way back to his car. They made it to the restaurant just in time for their reservation and she could tell that this would be the best meal she'd ever had. Bellamy had already decided that today was the very best day of her life so far but when Beau told her to "get anything she wanted", she knew for certain. Even if this wasn't an official date, it still felt like one to her.

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"I know he's ours. I have no doubt about it. But if this makes my parents accept the situation more readily, I want to just give them the assurance they need. It has nothing to do with how I feel personally. I just want to make this work for everyone." Damien to Autumn.

Autumn smiled up at Damien as he spoke. She could've stopped him after his first sentence, but she let him finish. Even if she didn't need him to reassure her, she let him finish. When Damien finally stopped, Autumn put her hands on his cheeks and nodded her head as she said, "Okay, of course…" She hoped her smile was reassuring.

Autumn knew that Florian was Damien's. There was no one else the baby could belong to and she knew that for a fact, but she didn't expect everyone to believe her completely. The fact that Damien did believe her made Autumn so happy, but she couldn't blame his parents for being skeptical. They didn't know her, they didn't know she wasn't the type of person to lie about this. She knew what the outcome would be, so Autumn didn't see a point in trying to fight them on this.

"It's okay," Autumn assured Damien. "I'm not upset. It makes sense that they'd want to be sure." She knew that Damien came from money and, to an extent, she knew that his family was full of important people. Autumn wasn't interested in trying to be a golddigger, but now that Damien knew about Florian, she did think their son deserved to reap the benefits of his father's wealth. So, if the Merciers needed a test to prove Florian was related to them by blood before he could, then they'd get the test done.

"We can do it whenever…" She shrugged, waving a hand. "I'm sure we can call my doctor and see if they fit us in soon." Autumn loved the OB she'd gone to during her pregnancy, she'd never had issues getting an appointment. She wasn't sure what a paternity test entailed or how long results took, but if the Merciers wanted it rushed then they'd figure it out.

Wrapping her arms around Damien's neck, Autumn pushed up onto her toes to kiss his cheek. "He's your baby, I promise…" She said, smiling. "And I want your parents to love him, so we can do whatever is needed, okay?"

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i had a dream and wrote a thing

These past three days had been the very best of Emilia's life. She didn't know she could have so much fun, especially with her dad, but she'd been proved wrong. Never in a million years did Emilia think that her dad would want to take a vacation with her. A vacation! She'd never thought she'd go anywhere outside Iceland and now she was in England. England!

Emilia didn't know what to think when her dad came into her tiny and damp basement bedroom a few days ago and said they were going on a trip. He'd told her not to pack anything and not to ask any questions, so Emilia silently followed behind him. She didn't have anything to pack, anyway.

When they arrived at the airport, her dad handed her a passport that she didn't even know she had. She remembered a few months ago her dad had come into her room and taken a picture of her against one of the white walls in their house. And now, looking at the passport, Emilia realized what that had been for.

Emilia didn't ask any questions and her dad didn't provide any information as they went through security and hurried through the airport to their gate. She'd never been on a plane before. She'd never left Iceland. Emilia was nervous, but she didn't say so. She just did what her dad told her to do and stayed silent.

Turns out, planes were fun! Emilia got to watch a movie and eat snacks, and she only got a little bit scared when the plane took off and landed. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but she bit her tongue. Her father would tell her sooner or later why he'd taken her to London. Until he filled her in, Emilia decided to try and enjoy herself.

There was something in the air in London that made her dad the nicest version of himself. He was joking with Emilia and taking her to see all the sights. He even let her use one of the pillows and blankets on the floor in their hotel room! She'd stayed quiet unless he was asking her something, though, because she didn't want to scare away his good mood. Her father was usually so mean to her, and she didn't want to give him a reason to be when they were having so much fun together.

On the last day of their trip, they woke up early and walked over to a big park. Her dad sat her down on a bench and told her that he needed to run an errand. She wanted to know why she couldn't go with him but didn't ask.

"Give me your passport," Her dad said, holding out his hand expectantly. Emilia had been holding on to it during the trip so she could look at it whenever she wanted to. She never felt like a real person, but looking at her passport made her feel like she was one, even only for the duration of this trip. "You're going to lose it if I leave it with you." She didn't want to tell him that she wouldn't lose it, because that would just upset him, so Emilia handed it over.

"Sit here and don't get up," Her dad went on. "Do you understand?" Emilia nodded. "Do not move until I get back." She nodded again. Her dad took his backpack off his shoulder and put it on the bench next to her. Then he patted his pockets to make sure he had his wallet, their passports, and anything else they might need, and then he left without another word. Emilia watched him walk away until he disappeared.

She didn't have a watch and didn't have a great concept of time, anyway, so Emilia didn't know how long her dad would be gone or how long had even passed. To pass the time, she watched the people around her. There were so many people running around the park, pushing strollers or talking on their phones as they walked. Emilia had never seen so many people in her life before this trip. Every few minutes she'd look back the way her dad had left, hoping she'd see him coming back.

Being alone had never bothered her… she preferred it, actually, because when she was alone no one was hurting her. But being alone in a foreign place was different. She didn't know anyone here and didn't know her way around. Emilia felt a little silly for being homesick especially because she hated home but… at least it was familiar.

She didn't start to worry that something was wrong until the sun began to dip low in the sky and the park started clearing out. Emilia's gaze was now fixed on the path her dad had taken when he walked away. She kept telling herself he would reappear any second now… but he never did. By now their plane home had surely taken off. Did… did her dad forget that he'd left her here? Had Emilia misunderstood what he'd said? Was she supposed to meet him at the airport?

To keep her mind from wandering, Emilia opened the backpack her dad had left with her. Inside there was a small blanket, a box of granola bars, a change of socks and underwear, a water bottle, a notebook and pen, and 20 euros. That was it. The socks and underwear weren't for a man, either… they were her size. This backpack hadn't been for her dad.

Emilia's dad never came back. That first night, she'd stayed awake all night on the same bench, crossing her fingers that he hadn't abandoned her here. Emilia knew her dad didn't like her… that he didn't want her… but would he take her to a foreign country and abandon her here? She couldn't accept that, so she sat on the bench and waited.

Emilia only got up from her spot when she had to. Every few hours she'd run over to one of the public restrooms and quickly use it. Then she'd refill her water bottle and run as fast as she could back to the bench. She didn't want to miss her father coming back for her, and she knew how mad he'd be if he got back and she wasn't there. For the rest of the day, she'd watch the people passing her and waited.

When the sun went down again, Emilia pulled out the blanket and wrapped it around herself. She dozed in and out of sleep all night. When the sun came back up again, she ate a granola bar, drank the rest of her water, and ran back to the bathrooms. This cycle repeated for another two days.

Emilia didn't know what to do. It was clear that her father wasn't coming back, but she didn't know what to do with that information. She didn't know what to do on her own. She'd never been taken care of exactly, but she'd never been on her own either. Where was she supposed to live? Where was she supposed to get food? What was she supposed to do? So, she stayed on the bench.

For the most part, no one looked at her. No one had said a single word to her in days, and Emilia hadn't spoken in even longer. She felt invisible and like she was going to wither away to nothing right here on this bench.

"Hey," A man's voice said from behind her the morning of the… whatever day it was. Emilia turned around so quickly, her heart hammering in her chest. Her dad had come back for her! She hadn't been looking in the right direction and had missed him approaching! But when she looked up into the man's face, she found that it wasn't her dad. "Are you okay?" This guy asked, his brows drawn in with concern. Emilia glanced around, unsure if he was talking to her or not.

"I've seen you sitting here for days…" He went on. "I run here every morning and some evenings…" Emilia realized that she had seen this man before. He was one of the runners she'd been watching every morning. "Are you okay?" He asked again.

"My dad…" Emilia croaked, her voice horse from disuse. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm waiting for my dad…"

"Does he leave you here in the mornings and come back later or something?" The stranger asked. Emilia shook her head. The guy frowned and looked around. She figured he was about to say his goodbyes but, instead, he held out his hand. "I'm Jason…" She stared at his hand for a few long drawn-out moments before tentatively taking it.

"Emilia…" She murmured, giving his hand one quick shake before letting go and hugging her arms around herself again.

"Are you hungry, Emilia?" Jason asked. She shook her head even though she was starving. Emilia was trying to preserve her granola bars and had only taken a few bites at a time.

"My dad is coming back for me… he told me not to move." Emilia said, putting as much conviction into her tone as she could.

"Okay," Jason nodded. "Well… if I brought you a sandwich or something, would you eat it? Maybe some chips and a drink?" Emilia looked away from him, towards the path her dad had gone down, and then back at Jason. She nodded, dropping her gaze down quickly. She could still see him smiling from the corner of her eye. "Great… I'll be back, okay?" And then he left. Emilia figured she'd never see him again.

Not much time had passed before Emilia was being approached again. This time two men in police officers' uniforms were coming towards her with stern expressions on their faces. She shrank into herself, hoping they wouldn't see her. But when they stopped just a few feet in front of her, Emilia knew her shrinking hadn't worked.

"There's no loitering here…" One of the men said.

"I'm not…" She murmured, shaking her head. Emilia didn't know what loitering meant.

"You've been here for days…" The other man barked. "Come on, get going…" He reached down to grab her and Emilia jerked back. Her fear only made him angry and he grabbed her again. She didn't mean to resist, but she couldn't move! She had to stay here.

"Come on, girl," The first policeman said. "Get up… stop resisting!" They both had their hands on her now and Emilia thrashed against their hold.

"I can't… I have to stay here!" She begged.

"We're going to arrest you if you don't get out of here…" The second man shouted.

"Hey!" Someone in the distance yelled. "Hey, no! Wait a second!" Jason ran over with bags of food in his hand. "I just went to get us food, what are you doing?"

"She's been loitering… she's resisting arrest!" The police officer was angry but clearly less so now that he was speaking to Jason.

"Why is she under arrest?" Jason asked, shaking her head. "She's just waiting for me to get back… right, Emilia?" At the sound of her name, Emilia looked at him.

"Yes…" She replied, nodding her head.

"See… we're together… she's fine…" Jason said to the officers, smiling at him to try and defuse the situation. The two other men let go of Emilia's arms and she dropped back down into the seat she'd been sitting in for days. Jason sat next to her, still smiling at the policemen. "Have a nice day…" He said to them, raising his brows as if to ask 'why are you still here?'. They lingered for another few seconds before walking away.

"You don't have anywhere else to go?" Jason asked her once he'd pulled out the sandwiches and handed one to her.

"No…" She mumbled, taking a small bite of her sandwich. "I'm not from here…" Jason grinned and chuckled slightly and Emilia looked at him again.

"Oh, sorry, I could just tell you're not because of your accent… where are you from?"

"Húsavík… Iceland…" Emilia said. Jason let out a low whistle and she frowned. She was a long way from home, he didn't need to tell her.

"Look… let me walk you to a shelter or something?" Jason suggested after a few minutes of silently eating their sandwiches. When Emilia started shaking her head, he went on. "I don't think your dad is coming back Emilia… and if something happened to him… well, no one will know to come here."

"I don't have any money…" Emilia said. She didn't know what a shelter was or how much it cost to stay in one. But the 20 euros she had was surely not enough.

"It doesn't cost any money to stay in one…" Jason promised. "My best friend's mom runs a really nice one not too far from here… we can go there… and I'll come check on you tomorrow, if you want?" Emilia glanced at him again, curious to know what his motive was, but Jason looked genuine. He was smiling kindly at her and she couldn't see any trace of deceit behind his eyes. She decided to trust him because what other choice did she have?

They finished their sandwiches and chips on the bench. Jason asked her questions to try and help her figure out her situation, but Emilia didn't have many answers. He seemed surprised when she said she didn't have a passport or any type of identification, but then he'd just shrugged and said they would figure it out. Strangely enough, Emilia believed him. And when it was time to leave, she got up willingly and followed him out of the park.

The women's shelter he took her to wasn't far and was indeed very nice. Jason helped her check herself in and made small talk with the woman behind the counter. When another lady came out to greet her, Emilia was hesitant to leave Jason's side.

"No men are allowed back there," Jason explained. "But you're in good hands with, Mandy… and I'll come see you tomorrow, okay?" Emilia looked between him and this Mandy woman. "I promise." Jason added when she still didn't move.

"Come on, honey," Mandy smiled warmly. "Let's get you a shower and a fresh change of clothes, okay?"

"See you later, Emilia…" Jason took a few steps backward towards the door. He waved his hand and smiled. Emilia waved back, but couldn't bring herself to return the smile. Turning back to Mandy… she took the woman's offered arm and let herself be led back into the shelter, hoping she hadn't made the biggest mistake of her life by coming here.

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"Is something wrong?" Evan to Odette

Odette looked up at Evan, blinking through the tears in her eyes. She started to shake her head, but she stopped herself. Something was clearly wrong, or else she wouldn't be crying. But Odie felt so silly about why she was upset, but it felt important to her. Evan hadn't made her feel bad about anything since the kidnapping, though, so she decided just to tell him.

"My game didn't save..." Odette murmured, looking down at her new Nintendo Switch. Her original device had been in her bag during the kidnapping and had been broken beyond repair at some point. For years, Odette had been playing the Animal Crossing games each and every time they came out. She loved getting lost in her little island and could spend hours playing. And it was gone.

"My Animal Crossing island..." She clarified. "It's all gone... I have to start all over." The look on Evan's face told her that he knew nothing about Animal Crossing and what it entailed. Odie couldn't explain that it had taken her months to get the specific villagers she wanted. Or that she was almost done filling up the museum with artifacts. She couldn't explain that her island had been perfect, and there was no way she'd remember all the little details. Not in a way that he'd fully understand, at least.

"None of my friends play anymore..." Odette said. "You have to, like, play with friends to get all the things you need." She was sure she could ask her siblings and cousins to charge up their Switch's and log in long enough to bring her apples or oranges or whatever she needed, but it just wouldn't be the same as playing alongside someone from the beginning. "I just don't think it's going to be as fun anymore..."

Odette still wanted to play, though. Those men had taken so much from her already. She could barely sleep; she couldn't stand to be alone. She couldn't let them take every ounce of joy, and Animal Crossing had always brought so much joy. So, Odette wiped her eyes and looked back at her new console. "It's okay, though," she promised, trying to smile at Evan. I'm still going to play."

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rescue mission

Five days had passed since Odette and Kiana were taken, but Odie didn't know that. At some point, she'd lost track of time, which bothered her. She always knew what time it was and how much time had passed. Odette kept trying to look down at one of the many watches she always wore, but the kidnappers had taken them. They wanted them clueless about the day and time, and she was spiraling over it.

The past five days had been absolute torture. Whoever had taken them weren't like the kidnappers portrayed in the media sometimes, the ones that just wanted money but didn't want to hurt who they'd taken. These men didn't care about their well-being. The girls had barely been fed, they hadn't had a proper bathroom break, and the walk-in closet they were shoved in stayed dark almost constantly. The kidnappers always played loud music right outside the door so Kiana and Odette couldn't hear what was going on outside. Neither of them had slept much.

On top of being starved, they were also bound around their ankles and wrists. When they'd first been dumped in the closet, the ropes around their wrists had been taken off, and they were able to cling to each other. The duct tape that had been put over their mouths had also been ripped off, causing Odette's lips to bleed. They'd tried to undo the knots around their ankles, but it was no use. And when one of the men came in later, Kiana fought him as best she could. He'd slapped her so hard across the face she'd been knocked out. Odette had nearly choked on her sobs as the man tied both of them up again.

When Kiana woke up eight minutes and fifty-seven seconds later, Odette was cowering in the corner and shaking uncontrollably. Kiana managed to scoot over to her and hold her as best she could with her bound arms. "I wet myself..." Odette admitted in their mother's tongue, feeling so scared and ashamed. She was disgusted with herself. She wanted to go home.

"It's okay, Odie..." Kiana promised, speaking Hungarian, too. But it wasn't okay, because the next time someone came into the closet, he started screaming about how disgusting Odette was and how they weren't going to clean up after them. He left, and when he came back fifteen minutes later, he threw a bucket of cold water over them, soaking them to the bone. Cold water was thrown over them multiple times. Since no other water had been given to them, Odette and Kiana had to suck the moisture from their hair so they wouldn't die of thirst.

The days passed, and the girls got weaker. The few times food was given to them, it was presented violently. Someone would open the door and hurl food at them. Odette's cheek was bruised from where she'd been hit in the face with an orange. Kiana had started covering Odette with her own body every time the door opened and was far more bruised than Odie was. Odette couldn't eat the food they did get. She didn't trust it, even when Kiana tried to coax her into trying something... anything.

Odette kept expecting something horrible to happen to them, something worse than being hit or doused with freezing water. She was sure that they would be raped sooner or later. It was torture in itself waiting for it just to happen already. She kept trying to prepare herself, but that was impossible to do. For days on end, every time the door opened, Odie was sure it was about to happen. The only stroke of luck they'd found was that these men hadn't touched them besides slapping them around. But Odette would still have a panic attack every time they were alone again.

No one had been in for hours. Kiana and Odette's stomachs were past the point of growling and now just ached painfully. Their hands and feet had long since gone numb from how tightly they were bound. And Odette's muscles were screaming from how tense she'd been for days on end. The waiting was agony. Odette couldn't take much more of this... she felt like she was dying.

"I wish I knew what time it was..." Odette murmured for what had to be the tenth time just today. It's all she could think about. She felt so lost. She felt like she was losing her mind. Her head lulled against Kiana's shoulder, and she snapped it back up, trying to stay alert.

"Try to sleep..." Kiana said, trying to soothe her. Odette couldn't sleep, though, because that would only disorient her further. Plus, the loud music blaring outside the door made it hard to stay asleep. It was like every time she drifted off, a louder song would start to play.

"The music..." Odette mumbled, starting to cry again. As if she'd commanded it, the music abruptly shut off. It was quiet for a few long seconds before chaos began. There was yelling, guns being fired, and banging from somewhere nearby. Kiana and Odette began to shriek in fear, cowering together in the corner.

"I love you so much..." Kiana cried, tucking Odette's head against her chest to protect her from whatever was coming for them.

"I love you... I love you... I love you..." Odette whimpered, over and over. Her entire body jolted with every shot they heard, expecting this one to hit her or her sister.

"Kill them!" Someone screamed right outside the door. "Fucking shoot them in the head!" The locked door began to rattle, and the girls shrank back against the wall even more, trembling with fear more than they had this entire time. There were more shots, and then silence. They were choking on sobs and screams when the door finally opened.

"No, please, please no..." Kiana begged, holding Odette tighter.

"Kiana..." The voice was soft, too soft for the situation. "Odie... It's Uncle Adrien... we found you..." He didn't touch them and stayed by the door, waiting for them to realize who was speaking to them. Kiana picked up her head first, blinking against the brightness shining into the room.

"Uncle Adrien..." She breathed, crying in relief. Adrien was kneeling in the doorway, Evan was standing a few feet behind him, and their Uncle Demi was there, too. This rescue mission was a family affair.

"Move!" Someone else shouted, pushing past them into the closet. Andre hit his knees in front of his daughters. "My girls..." He cried, taking Kiana's face in his hands. Odette finally looked up from where she'd been hiding against her sister's chest.

"Daddy!" Odette bawled, trying to get to him. She forgot her arms and legs were still tied up, so she only fell forward in her haste.

"Give me something to cut these fucking ropes..." Andre barked, reaching his hand back expectantly. Someone handed him a knife, and he immediately began to saw through the ropes around Odette's wrists. When they fell away, he choked back a sob at the bruises and welts that covered her skin.

While Andre cut through Kiana's ropes, Odette threw her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. She never thought she'd see her dad again. But he was here. Their family had found them, and they were safe.

When Kiana was free, too, her arms were around Andre's neck like Odette's, and their dad hugged them tightly to his sides. He kissed their heads and assured them over and over that they were safe, that everything would be okay now.

"We've got to go," Adrien said, squeezing Andre's shoulder. He nodded and tightened his hold on both girls. Their legs were still wrapped up, and cutting through the ropes would take too long. Andre tried to stand up while hanging on to both of them, but couldn't manage against the weight of both girls.

"I'll get her..." Evan said, moving past Adrien and crouching next to Andre in the closet. Andre stared at him over Odette's head for a long few seconds before finally nodding. Gently, Evan unwound Odie's arms from her dad's neck and put them around his. She immediately buried her face against his chest as he lifted her into his arms.

"My watches..." She murmured. "I need them..."

"Find her watches..." Andre ordered one of her uncles, cradling Kiana against his chest. "Find everything that's theirs... I don't want anything of my daughters in this place."

"I got your watches," Evan told her. He'd seen them on the dresser when they came in and put them into his pocket. Odette didn't know if she'd ever be able to wear these specific watches again, but they were hers and she wanted them.

"What time is it?" She asked. Maybe it was a trivial question, but she needed to know.

"It's 2:48 PM," Evan told her. "Saturday." Odette nodded. They'd been taken on Monday at 12:32 PM. She'd never lost track of time for so long before.

Odette and Kiana were loaded into the back seat of an SUV on either side of Andre. He kept his arms around them while Uncle Attie and Evan cut through the ropes around their ankles. He kept noticing new cuts or bruises on them, but no one asked how they got them yet. Elias was back at their house, waiting to examine them, and the family would hear the truth then.

"You're safe..." Andre soothed, saying it over and over again, so the girls knew it was true. Adrien had barely driven them all five minutes before both Kiana and Odette had fallen asleep against their dad's shoulder. It was finally safe enough to sleep, if only for a minute or two.

[lunarcharacters]

kidnapped

Classes were done for the day, and Kiana waited for her car to arrive to take her to her studio for a few hours. She was on a bench, scrolling on her phone while she waited. The university was a safe place, nothing had ever happened here, so she didn't feel like her guard needed to be up. She wasn't paying attention to anything but her phone, so when someone came up behind her and grabbed her shoulders, Kiana let out a yelp.

"Oh my god, you scared me..." She complained, swatting at her boyfriend as he circled the bench to sit beside her. He was laughing his head off. Kiana wrinkled her nose and leaned away when he went in for a kiss. She was only pretending to be mad, though, and could never resist being kissed, so she relented.

"Let's get dinner tonight..." John suggested, nuzzling into her neck.

"I'm sure that can be arranged..." Kiana mused, feigning nonchalance. John kept kissing her face until she was giggling and agreeing. "But later..." She said, finally getting control of herself and her boyfriend. "I've got work to do."

"Okay, okay, later..." John agreed. Kiana saw her car pull into the roundabout, and she stood up. John followed suit, walking with her towards the sleek blacked-out town car. Before he let her get in, though, he grabbed her by the waist and spun her around. "I'll miss you..." John murmured, kissing her again.

"I'll miss you, too..." Kiana sighed, melting into him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against the car as they kissed.

"Kiki!" Someone shouted. Kiana broke away from the kiss and looked over to find Odette running towards her, arms waving.

"What are you doing?" She called out to her sister. "Where's Rob?" Their guard had been with Kiana earlier but was supposed to have gone to find Odette hours ago.

"I ditched him..." Odette panted, catching her breath. "Can I come with you?" Kiana laughed and rolled her eyes. This wasn't the first time her sister had slipped away from their school guard, and it wouldn't be the last.

"Sure, I don't care," Kiana agreed. "But text Rob and let him know you're with me, please... you know he'll freak out if he can't find either of us." Odette rolled her eyes but took out her phone anyway. She turned it around to show Kiana once she sent the text.

I'm with Kiki so don't worry, silly goose!

Odette opened the door to the car and slid in while Kiana looked back at John. "So, I'll see you later?" She asked, finally unwinding her arms from John's neck.

"Yeah, later..." He agreed, kissing her one more time before letting her go. John leaned down into the car once Kiana was in it and waved at both girls. "Text me when you're done..." John stood up and shut the car door, and headed towards his final class of the day.

Kiana and Odette chatted casually while they drove towards Kiana's studio. Both of them were either on their phones or looking at each other, so neither noticed that the car turned in another direction. Kiana only looked up when she noticed that more time than normal had passed. Why were they pulling into an alley?

"David?" Kiana called up to the driver, tapping on the partition that separated the front and back seats. "Where are we?" Before David could answer, both back doors opened, and two large men were pushing their way inside.

"Kiana!" Odette cried, slapping at the man who was grabbing her. "Help! Help!"

"Let go of her!" Kiana screamed, struggling against the man who was grabbing at her. Her eyes went wide with panic when she saw the cloth in the other man's hand. The cloth that was now covering her sister's mouth and nose. "No! Odette!" Kiana screamed louder, kicking and slapping with all her might. She kept fighting until her own mouth and nose were covered.

When Odette came to again, her arms and legs were bound. There was tape over her mouth, and it was pitch black. She tried to scream anyway, but it was useless. Her arms were tied behind her back, and she couldn't move. Wherever she was, it was cramped. Where was Kiana? What was going on?

Odette used her fingers and her feet to feel around as best she could. She quickly realized there was someone next to her, and she started to panic even more. Her first thought wasn't that it was Kiana by her, but one of the men who did this to them. But when Odette found the hand of the other person, she felt the familiar rings that Kiana always wore. Odette did her best to pinch and squeeze Kiana's hand, but nothing happened.

Odette was sobbing in earnest now, her entire body trembling with fear. She was sweating, and her heart was pounding. Her teeth were chattering beneath the tape that covered her mouth. She'd never been more scared in her entire life. She didn't know what was going to happen to her or if her sister was alive. Odette couldn't breathe!

Seven minutes and thirty four seconds passed before Odette felt something against her fingers. Her muffled sobs turned into muffled exclamations, and saying Kiana's name. Her sister squeezed her fingers back, doing her best to communicate that they would be okay... Kiana wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

Kiana figured they had been stuffed in the trunk of their car. The space was cramped, and it felt like they were moving. Both of their hands were tied behind them, and they were back to back. There wasn't a lot of space to work with, but Kiana managed to roll over so that she was facing Odette's back. She leaned in close enough to nudge Odette's shoulder with her forehead. It took a few minutes of trying to communicate what she wanted from her, but eventually, Odette got it and rolled over too.

Odette couldn't see her sister, but she could feel her. And when Kiana's forehead bumped against hers, Odette began to cry again. Kiana was trying to say something to her, but she couldn't understand. She didn't understand what was going on or what was going to happen to them...

There was one thing both girls knew for sure, though. There were so many people in their lives who wouldn't stop until they found them. It wouldn't take long for one of their guards, or their parents, or Kiana's boyfriend, to realize they were missing, and once that happened, someone would find them... someone had to find them. They just had to stay as calm as possible until that happened.

[lunarcharacters]

questions

Tonight was Lydia's third night sleeping over at Casey's. She had gone back to the apartment she shared with her sister to check in and get more clothes, but she still ended up back at her boyfriend's. Lucy had been working a lot and studying, and was sleeping over with her own boyfriend, so Lydia didn't feel too bad. She'd told herself that tomorrow night she'd go back home for a few nights.

They were in bed already, neither of them wearing a stitch of clothing. Casey was taking a work call, and Lydia was busy painting her nails the prettiest shade of yellow she'd ever seen. Casey held the tiny bottle for her, even as he spoke into his cell phone. Every few minutes, Lydia glanced over at him and found him looking back every time. Her whole body blushed each and every time their eyes met.

Lydia finished off her last nail as Casey wrapped up his call. She took the nail polish bottle from him and put it on the bedside table. Turning back to him, she blew on her nails to dry them while he said his final goodbyes. When he wasn't otherwise occupied, Lydia fanned out her fingers for him to see.

"I like them," He said, taking her hand. Lydia smiled, admiring her nails, too. Having painted nails was another thing she'd never really had before Casey. Nailpolish was on the list of frivolous things she and Lucy didn't buy for themselves. Even if a bottle of nail polish was only a few dollars, that was money that could be used elsewhere. But Casey didn't even blink twice at buying her one of the fancier bottles of polish off the shelf. So, Lydia was now a girl who had pretty nails.

"You should move in with me..." Casey said, completely out of the blue. Lydia was still looking down at her nails, but her head snapped up at his suggestion.

"I... I can't do that!" She laughed, shaking her head. Surely he was just messing around, right? They'd only been dating since October! They hadn't even spent the holidays together! Or... or... well, Lydia couldn't think of anything off the top of her head, but she knew there were milestones! She was frazzled, and Casey was grinning.

"Why can't you?" He asked, no hint of jest in his tone. "I don't like you in that apartment..." Casey went on. Lydia frowned. "It's freezing fucking cold outside and your heater doesn't work... the neighborhood is dangerous and you're virtually defenseless... someone could bust through that door without even trying... I don't like that." None of what he was saying was wrong, Lydia knew that, but that was just life. She couldn't afford to live anywhere else.

"I can't leave Lucy... she needs me!" Lydia said, shaking her head. She helped Lucy with bills, and she didn't want her sister to be there alone for all the reasons that Casey had just mentioned! They were safer together. They protected each other.

"I'll pay for Lucy to live somewhere else..." Casey said, not backing down. Lydia was already shaking her head again, though, because there was no way her sister would go for that. "Or you both can move in here, and I'll go somewhere else..."

"Casey..." Lydia fretted.

"Lydia..." Casey sat up and reached over to tuck her hair behind her ear. "I want you to be safe... both of you." He stroked his thumb across her cheek, and Lydia looked up at him, already melting at his touch and seconds away from coming around to whatever he was saying. "And, selfishly, I want you in my bed every night... I want this to be our bed."

"Can we talk about it after the new year?" Lydia asked, her voice small. She didn't want to make Casey angry, but she needed to think about this... she needed to talk to Lucy and see what she thought. The new year was only a few weeks away... surely by then she'd be able to make a decision. Or, maybe, Casey will have changed his mind completely.

"Of course." Casey didn't sound upset, and that was new for Lydia. Her ex would already be shutting down and giving her the silent treatment if she didn't go along with something he was suggesting. But Casey wasn't her ex. He kept proving that over and over again. To prove that even further, he said, "But I'm getting your heater replaced..."

"Okay..." Lydia agreed, smiling shyly at him. "It can be my Christmas present." Casey snorted in response to that, and she looked up just in time to see him rolling his eyes.

"A basic necessity is not a gift, my love." Casey said, booping her nose. Lydia was too busy melting over the term of endearment to argue. Forgetting about her nails completely and whether or not they were dry, Lydia cuddled into Casey's side and let him wrap his arms around her.

After a few quiet minutes wrapped around each other, Casey spoke again, "You promise you'll think about it?" He asked, his tone so quiet that she wouldn't have been able to hear him if his mouth wasn't right by her ear. Lydia turned her head so she could look at him. She could see the sincerity in his expression, and she could feel it, too.

"I promise..." Lydia said, nodding. And she would think about it, and talk to Lucy. As scary as it was, and she quick as they may be moving, Lydia wanted nothing more than to be with Casey forever. She would probably come around to anything he asked her, no matter what it was or how fast it came.

[lunarcharacters]

deep and personal

Martha was seeing Cedric today, and she was dreading it. Not because she didn't want to see him, but because something had happened the previous evening, and she didn't want to tell him. She had been tempted to reschedule, but she knew him well enough to know he'd ask why, and Martha didn't like lying to people she cared about. She was going to do her best to skirt around the obvious, but that wouldn't be easy to do, and Cedric wasn't going to let it go once he caught on. So, alas, Martha had resigned herself to the fact that they were about to get more personal with each other tonight than any other time in the month they'd been hanging out.

"Hello..." Martha sang, breezing in through Cedric's door as soon as he'd opened it. She was comfortable here in his space and made herself right at home as soon as she walked in, usually. She stepped out of her shoes and handed Cedric her bag when he reached for it to hang it on a hook by the door. This was the routine.

"Sunglasses?" Cedric asked, motioning towards the frames that were still on her eyes.

"I want to keep them on," Martha said casually, tucking them back into place. "They're new..." She grinned at him and waggled her brows even though he wouldn't be able to see them. The glasses weren't new, but they weren't ones she wore often. These sunglasses were entirely too big for Martha's face, and so dark they were hard to see out of.

"What are you hiding?" Cedric asked without missing a beat. He crossed his arms over his chest. Martha gasped in mock outrage.

"What makes say that?" She asked, mirroring his posture by crossing her arms, too.

"Because when people wear giant fucking sunglasses inside, at night, it means they're hiding something..." Cedric narrowed his eyes at her. "The last time someone did that, it was my sister hiding a fucking eyebrow piercing."

"I didn't know Lena had her eyebrow pierced..." Martha said, using that comment as a segue to change the topic. Honestly, a rebellious piercing phase made Martha like Cedric's sister even more.

"Because our mother made her take it out immediately..." Cedric deadpanned. "Come on, just take them off... you're delaying the inevitable... I'm going to make you take out a piercing, if that's what it is..."

"I would never." Martha scoffed and turned away from Cedric to go to the kitchen. She was quite parched, actually. She hadn't even taken two steps before he had her by the arm and was turning her around again. Cedric reached up and plucked the glasses off her face.

So, okay, she had a black eye... whatever! It truly wasn't that bad, and Martha had covered most of it with makeup. It was still noticeable, though. Cedric's expression darkened as he looked her over. His gaze moved over her face and kept descending, he even held up her arms to check them.

"I bet you wish it was an eyebrow piercing, don't you?" Martha teased, poking him in the chest.

"Who did it?" Cedric said instead of laughing. A shiver went down Martha's spine.

"You're cute when you're all mad and protective..." She mused, flattening the hand she'd used for poking against his chest. She was still trying to skirt around this conversation.

"Martha..." Cedric all but growled. "Who the fuck did this to you?" Jesus Christ, he made it seem like her entire face was black and blue instead of just her eye. "I will end them."

"You can't end a sick 54-year-old woman, Ced..." Martha laughed, shaking her head. "My mother, okay, it's truly not a big deal."

"Your mother hit you?" Cedric clarified. His tone was still angry, but now he sounded more confused than he had before.

"To be fair, she thought I was my sister..." Martha mused, pressing her fingers against her swollen skin gingerly.

"Your mother hits your sister?" Ugh, she truly wasn't making this conversation any easier by beating around the bush.

"She and Manon have a complicated relationship..." Martha murmured. Throwing her hands up with a sigh, she just spit the whole thing out. "My mother has dementia... she was diagnosed a year and a half ago, and it's gotten really bad, really quickly... she has full-time care because she can't do anything herself anymore... most days she doesn't remember who I am..."

"Martha..." Cedric's tone was sad now, and he was reaching for her.

"I'm fine," Martha dismissed, waving a hand. She wasn't, not truly. It broke her heart that her own mother could look her dead in the eye and have no idea who she was. It devastated her that, even on good days, her mom was a shell of the woman who raised her. On the bad days, like yesterday, her mom could be so combative that it took multiple people just to hold her down until she was calmer.

It was Martha's fault that she'd gotten hit because she'd gotten too close to her mom while she was freaking out. Martha was only trying to calm her down, but she'd made things worse. Her mother had thought she was Manon (her older sister, who had been no contact with their parents for years) and was trying to hurt her. Martha knew that her sister would never do anything to hurt their mother, but in her agitated state, their mother hadn't known that. So, she'd started swinging.

"But..." Martha went on. "Sometimes she gets agitated... I got in the way..." She motioned towards her black eye. "But I'm fine, my honor doesn't need to be defended... and I'll remind you that I did try and keep my glasses on." Cedric reached out to put his hand on her cheek, and Martha leaned into it.

"I'm sorry..." He murmured, his tone low and sincere. "You could have told me." Martha wasn't sure if that was true, though. They didn't talk much about their families, considering everything that had happened between them. They were in a bubble, and she didn't want it to burst because of family feuds and drama. Plus, they were friends... and newly so. This wasn't something she'd told even the friends she'd had for years. But she appreciated Cedric saying that she could confide in him... even if she wasn't sure she could yet.

"Thank you," Martha said, smiling up at him. "Now, can we please drop it? I'm starving, and it's your turn to buy food." Cedric snorted because he always bought the food, but he didn't argue, and he didn't say anything else on the matter of Martha's black eye, even if he wanted to. And she got the impression he did want to say more about it, because she caught his gaze lingering on her for the rest of the night. But Martha had gotten deep and personal enough for one evening.

[lunarcharacters]

dress-up

Lauren's dad had been dead for three days. The first day, she allowed herself to cry all day while Alex held her. Soon after he'd arrived back in their hometown and found her asleep in her bed, Lauren let Alex bring her back to his house. His grandmother and sister wouldn't be back until the next day, so Lauren cried as long and as loud as she needed to.

The second day, when Abuela and Cat got back home, Lauren allowed herself to be taken care of by Alex and his family. She ate the food they made her, let them comfort her and fuss over her, and she cried some more but quieter this time. Lauren knew she was delaying the inevitable, but she just needed a few days.

On Monday, nearly three full days since she found her dad hanging from the rafters, Lauren finally got to work. There were calls that needed to be made and arrangements to be dealt with. And, most of all, she needed to start going through the house she'd grown up in. Lauren needed to pack up what she wanted to keep and figure out what she wanted to do with the rest.

Alex had driven them over bright and early on Monday morning and hadn't rushed Lauren when it took her almost half an hour to unlock the door and step inside. He'd sat next to her quietly as she called her dad's former colleagues to tell them the news. And, then, when she was too upset to make any more calls, Alex took over and called the funeral home as well as her dad's lawyer.

Sometime around eleven, the rest of their friends showed up ready to help. Lauren put on a brave face (even though she didn't have to) and started handing out tasks to the group. They were going to divide and conquer so she could be done with all of this.

Together, they tackled the kitchen, living room, and dining room. Lauren had three boxes of things she wanted to keep and the rest had been moved to the "sell" or "donate" pile. Ferris and Eden had started posting larger items on Facebook Marketplace for sale, and they were already getting hits. Willow and Dylan were sorting through the pantry and packing up everything that was still good so it could be donated to a shelter. Cat and Levi were wrapping up breakables in bubble wrap and placing them neatly in the boxes marked "Keep". Lauren and Alex had moved into her dad's office and she was doing her best to sort through everything.

Room by room, hour by hour, they made progress. Eventually, the boys moved out into the garage so they could sort through and post the various equipment and tools Lauren's dad had on Marketplace, and the girls moved upstairs. They were in the spare bedroom now sorting through photographs, random holiday decor, and a closet that Lauren couldn't remember going into in the past few years. This room had never been used for guests, because they'd never had a guest stay over. It had become their storage room, for the most part.

"Oh, you were so cute," Eden gushed, turning a picture of Lauren as a toddler around for everyone to see. She'd been tasked with taking pictures out of frames and transferring them into a photo album.

"You look exactly the same," Cat laughed, taking the picture from Eden and holding it up next to Lauren's face. Lauren mirrored her younger self, smiling with all her teeth like she used to. Her friends laughed and, for a minute, Lauren felt normal... like nothing bad had happened.

They all went back to their tasks, working quietly and listening to music, when Willow yelped and the sound of things falling came from the closet. "I'm okay!" She called out. There wasn't anything in there that could hurt her, but Cat jumped up to check on her anyway.

"Look what I found..." Willow said a few seconds later, coming out of the closet with a box in her hands. Lauren looked up from where she was sorting Christmas ornaments and gasped softly.

"My mom's wedding dress..." She said, tears already forming in her eyes. The girls gathered around while she gingerly lifted the lid and put it off to the side. Lauren smiled softly, pulling the dress up against her chest. She'd looked at the photos from her parent's wedding more times than she could count. Her mother looked so beautiful and they both looked so extremely happy.

"You should try it on!" Eden suggested, clapping her hands. Lauren blinked in surprise... she'd never thought of doing that before. She was sure that her dad wouldn't have let her but... well, he wasn't here anymore, and Lauren wanted to feel close to her mother one last time in this house.

"Okay..." She agreed, nodding. Lauren went into the bathroom that joined the guest bedroom and hers to change and the girls moved boxes and things out of the way. She got undressed and stepped into the dress, holding it in place as she shuffled back out into the bedroom to let Willow zip her up.

Her mother's dress was beautiful. It was a strapless sweetheart neckline with lace and beading on the bodice. The skirt was full with different layers of tulle that trailed behind Lauren. Her mother had been a bit taller than her and her chest had been fuller, but the dress still fit. Eden pulled the veil from the box and fluffed it out before fitting the clasp into Lauren's hair. All four girls smiled at her reflection in the mirror.

"In Serbian weddings, the bride and groom wear these crowns," Lauren told her friends. "Because on their wedding day, they're royalty..."

"You look like royalty," Eden sighed wistfully, fluffing out the train of the dress so it was on full display.

"The crowns that were in the China cabinet in the living room?" Cat asked and Lauren nodded. They'd packed them up earlier. Her face lit up and she dashed out of the room, presumably to retrieve Lauren's mother's wedding crown. Cat ran back in a minute later and put the crown on Lauren's head.

For a few minutes, Lauren posed while her friends took pictures, and spun around like she was a real-life princess. She'd never felt closer to her mom than she did right now. And Lauren knew that this would probably be the only time she ever put on this dress. She'd keep it, without a doubt, but it would go back into its box and stay there as it had for the last twenty years.

"Hey, babe?" Alex's voice called up the stairs ten minutes later. "Are you getting hungry..." He appeared in the doorway and trailed off when he saw Lauren standing there in the wedding dress. He blinked at her, processing the sight, and then smiled.

"We found my mom's wedding dress..." She said, smiling at him.

"Wow..." Alex said on a breath. "You look so beautiful..." Lauren didn't have any makeup on and her face was red and puffy from how much crying she'd done over the past three days, but she felt beautiful whenever Alex looked at her. He stepped over boxes to get to her and put his hands on her cheeks, leaning down to kiss her.

"That means your married now..." Eden sang out. "I should know, I just did this!" They all laughed, neither Lauren nor Alex denying what she'd say. Marriage was in their future, they both knew that. But Lauren wanted to marry him in her own dress and when her heart didn't ache as much as it did now.

"Ferris and Levi are ordering food..." Alex told the other girls. "Yall go tell them what you want..." Their friends got the hint and saw themselves out of the guest bedroom, leaving Lauren and Alex alone. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm okay," Lauren promised, giving him a soft smile. "Do you like the dress?"

"Yeah..." Alex looked her over again, blowing his breath out in a low whistle. "Makes me excited to see your actual wedding dress one day..." Lauren looked in the mirror again, smoothing her hands over the skirt. This dress was beautiful but wasn't her. She was playing dress-up, and she felt like it. One day she'd find a dress that was so perfectly her dress that would make her feel like a real bride.

"Help me change?" Lauren asked after a few more minutes of admiring the dress in the mirror. Alex rubbed his hands together and waggled his brows suggestively, making her laugh. "Oh, calm down, boy..." She teased, shoving him away. Alex grabbed her by the waist and buried his face in her neck, blowing raspberries and making her laugh even harder. It felt so good to laugh with him. When she was laughing with Alex, Lauren could remind herself that everything really would be okay. As long as they were together, she would be okay.

"Anything for you, my Queen," Alex teased, bowing deeply at the waist while Lauren took the crown off her head. She curtsied before turning around so he could help her with the veil and back zipper. Taking a break to play dress-up not only made her feel closer to her mom but healed a little piece of her, too. Lauren still had a lot of pieces that needed to be mended back together... but she was one piece closer.

[lunarcharacters]

pt 3

It was just past 6 p.m., and Martha and Cedric had just finished dinner. Their kids had been gone for two weeks, and despite speaking with at least one of them nearly every day, life wasn't the same with them all gone. Their home was too quiet, and Martha was ready for their family to be in one place again.

She was about ready to go and find Melanie herself just so this would all be done! Not that Martha thought she was better at tracking people down than the professionals but still, it was the safety of her children... she had a bigger stake in the game! But alas, Martha would let Adrien lead his team. She had half a mind to call him to check in (again), but her phone started ringing with an incoming call before she could.

"Oh, it's Damien," Martha said happily, holding her ringing phone up for Cedric to see.

"It's late for them," Her husband mused, checking his watch and calculating the change in his head. It was past midnight in Malaysia, but Martha had a feeling she knew what this call would be about.

"Hello, darling," Martha greeted, putting her phone on speaker. Dad's here, too," Cedric called out his own greeting. "How is everyone? How is my Florry? Does he miss me?" Martha missed her grandson more than she could even describe. She had missed more of his life than she'd actually seen, and she hated that.

"Been better..." Damien grumbled. "We're at Autumn's cousins house... staying a night or two." Martha picked up on his mood and didn't press about Florian.

"All of you?" She asked, exchanging a look with Cedric.

"No, just Autumn and Florian are with me..." Damien said. "I'm sure you know who showed up tonight..."

"Yes, were you surprised?" Martha thought Damien's best friend showing up after so many weeks would be a nice surprise for all of them.

"Do you know who he was here to see?" Damien asked, ignoring her question.

"Marcheline?" Martha guessed.

"You knew?" Damien sounded... hurt? And angry.

"Not really, no," Martha promised. "I just assumed... when we told Marcie and Lolo they were going to Malaysia with you, she almost mentioned someone she didn't want to leave behind... and then Jean shows up asking where you all are and if he can go visit... I know he's your best friend, darling, but you've gone to Malaysia for longer than two weeks before and he's never wanted to hop on a plane to see you." She shrugged, it was all kind of obvious to her now that it was confirmed.

"Yes, well, he showed up and somehow I get yelled at..." Damien complained angrily. "As if they aren't the ones who have been lying to me for months..."

"Oh, darling," Martha sighed. "Don't look at it like that... there's been a lot going on. If they weren't ready to tell us, then they weren't ready to tell us..."

"How is getting mad at me because her secret boyfriend showed up unexpectedly in Malaysia supposed to help anything?" Damien vented. "How is that not going to stress me out even fucking more than I already am?"

"I'm sure your sister was just... I don't know, caught off guard..." Martha said, trying to soothe her son. "I agree she shouldn't have gotten upset with you, but her relationship is her business..."

"Not when it's with my best friend!"

"Even then, Dam... they should've told you in a different way, but it's still their business to tell when they're ready."

"I should've known you would be on their side," Damien spit. Martha's brows rose in surprise. He was really upset, clearly.

"Damien," Cedric warned. "Don't speak to your mother that way."

"I'm not on anyone's side," Martha said calmly. "I'm sorry if telling Jean where to find you all was a mistake, I thought it would lighten the mood... I'm not trying to cause you more stress, honey." That was the last thing Martha wanted to do. Damian didn't say anything and Martha sighed.

"We can bring them home," She went on. "You do have a lot on your plate right now and even more stress isn't good for you...your sister and brother are our responsibility... you have your own family to worry about."

"No." Damien said shortly. "If something happened to one of them it would be my fault."

"No, it wouldn't, Damien," Martha and Cedric said almost in unison.

No one said anything for a long minute. They just sat and let Damien go through whatever he was feeling. Martha wanted to hug her boy so badly that her heart actually ached. She put her hand to her chest, rubbing little circles against her skin.

"This is almost over," Martha promised. "And then everything will settle down and we can get back to normal... as a family."

"Yeah..." Damien mumbled.

"Talk to your sister," Cedric added. "Work it out."

"Sure..." Damien said. "Listen, I've got to go... Autumn is ready for bed."

"Okay, sweetheart," Martha frowned, feeling like this conversation did more harm than good. "We love you... tell Autumn and Florian we love them, too."

"I will... love you... bye." Damien hung up and Martha stared down at her phone for a few seconds before looking up at Cedric.

"Should we bring them home?" Martha asked her husband, genuinely at a loss as to what to do. "Or send them somewhere else?" She tried to think... they had other safe houses that they could go to. She could meet them at one until this was all resolved. The burden of everyone's safety didn't need to fall on Damien's shoulders.

"Let's give it a few days," Cedric said. "Let them work it out... if they don't, then we'll bring them home." Martha nodded even though she was frowning. Damien and Marcie were siblings. They loved each other, but they still fought. But she was confident they'd work this out.

"I'm going to call Adrien," Martha decided, picking up her phone again. She needed an update on where he was with getting this thorn out of all their sides.

[lunarcharacters]

he'll come around

The past two weeks in Malaysia had been lowkey. Autumn spent most of her time cooking, taking care of Florian, and binge-watching hours of television with Damien (among other nighttime activities). They'd gone out a few times to visit friends and check in with Yaya (who was staying with extended family in the city), but for the most part, they were staying in.

Logan and Love had finished three 2000-piece puzzles over the last few weeks. When they weren't working on a puzzle, they were watching movies or planning the solo trip he was taking next year. When they got bored, they went on walks or took naps. He was feeling a lot better, but he did miss home. Logan was trying not to think about it, though. He just wanted to pretend this was a normal vacation with his siblings and girlfriend.

They'd all just finished dinner and were settling in for the evening. Autumn and Damien were watching another episode of the show they were in the middle of, Logan and Love were playing a card game and Marcheline had gone upstairs to do whatever she did. The past two weeks had been hell for her, and she wanted to go back home more than any of the rest of them. None of them were expecting visitors. No one even knew where they were, besides their parents.

The thing about being in such a secluded part of the city, in a rental that no one knew you were staying in, was that visitors weren't expected. So, when someone knocked on the door this evening, it put the whole family a bit on edge. Damien jumped up, motioning for Autumn to pick up the baby and go into the other room where Logan and Love were. He moved towards the door, his shoulders tense. Logan's shoulders were just as tense and his heart was racing. He hated surprises, especially given the circumstances of late.

Damien looked through the peephole on the door and murmured, "What the fuck?" Before swinging open the door. His best friend, Jean, stood on the other side, throwing his arms up with a huge smile.

"Surprise!" He exclaimed, crossing the threshold and pulling Damien into a hug. Logan jumped up from where he'd been sitting and hurried over to throw his arms around Jean, too. He was both relieved and excited to see that it was someone he actually liked at the door. Logan thought of him like another brother, and it was really good to see a new face after so many weeks.

"What are you doing here?" Damien asked, confused but grinning.

"I've been bored as hell," Jean joked. "Called your mom a few days ago and practically begged her to tell me where the hell you got off to..." He glanced around, nodding in greeting at Autumn and Love.

"You could have just called me..." Damien said, raising a brow. Jean didn't seem to be listening.

"Where's Marcheline?" Jean asked, glancing around again.

"She's upstairs..." Logan waved his hand in the general direction of his sister's room. As if on cue, Marcie began to descend the stairs. When she got to the bottom of them and noticed Jean standing there, she blinked in surprise. A beat passed before a huge smile broke out across her face and she started running for him. Marcie got halfway to where he stood before she stopped herself. Love let out a gasp of pleasant surprise from where she still sat at the dining room table. Autumn's eyes went wide with shock.

"What are you doing here?" Marcie asked, glancing between Jean and Damien. Her brother was looking between them, too, and when it clicked for him, his head snapped in Marcheline's direction.

"What the fuck?" Damien exclaimed. "You're here for my sister?"

"I..." Jean started, but Damien cut him off.

"How long has this been going on?" He demanded. "And behind my back!"

"You're being dramatic..." Marcie said, crossing her arms over her chest and rolling her eyes. Damien stared at her expectantly. "Since my solo trip last year..."

"September?" Damien exploded.

"He went on your solo trip with you?" Logan asked, scratching his head. Wasn't the whole point of a solo trip to do it... by yourself?

"No," Marcie groaned. "I took a day trip to the town he's always talking about... the one his grandmother grew up in... well, I didn't realize he still kept in touch with the family that lives there... that he visits them." She looked from her brother's back to Jean.

"We ran into each other," Marcie continued. "And spent the day together... and it was different with just the two of us." She couldn't remember ever spending time alone with Jean. He was Damien's best friend, so her brother had almost always been around. Marcie hadn't ever thought about Jean in any way other than being Damien's best friend... until that day.

"I ended up missing the last train back to the city," Marcie went on. "So... I stayed at his grandmother's old house with him... he owns it now..."

"Oh my god," Damien groaned.

"In separate rooms, relax..." Jean grumbled, rolling his eyes. He nodded at Marcie to keep going.

"And I just stayed there for the rest of my trip, okay?" She threw her hands up. "And when we got back to the city... we just kept hanging out...we didn't tell you because we knew you'd be a weirdo about it..." They'd done more than just hang out during the trip and once they got back to the city, but it wasn't like she was going to give all those details to her brothers!

"But that's all this is... right?" Damien motioned between them. "This can't become something..."

"You can't tell me what to do, Damien..." Marcheline ground out between gritted teeth.

"He's my best friend, Marcheline!" Damien exploded. "What happens if it ends badly between you two? You're my sister! I would never be able to look at him the same if he hurt you..."

"I'm not going to hurt her..." Jean interjected, but Damien shot him a look.

"It's not going to end badly!" Marcie defended. "I'm happy, Damien... I love him! I..." She abruptly stopped, clamping her mouth shut.

"You do?" Jean said, surprised. He took a few steps towards her.

"Ugh, god damn, you!" Marcie pointed a finger at her brother. There were tears in her eyes from how embarrassing this entire exchange was. "You're not the one I'm supposed to say that to!" Now she was mortified and her brother was the biggest jackass she knew, and she didn't want to be in Malaysia anymore! Marcie's flight instinct kicked in and she turned on her heel and fled up the stairs, her hands over her face.

"Marcheline!" Jean called, shoving past Damien to follow Marcie up the stairs. Damien stared after them, open-mouthed.

"Whoa..." Logan murmured after a few long moments. He looked back at Love (who was practically bursting at the seams with excitement). "That was... unexpected."

"I can't believe them!" Damien exploded. "She can't be serious..."

"Can you guys watch Florian?" Autumn asked Love and Logan. They both nodded and she passed the baby to the younger woman. "Let's go talk on the porch..." She said to her husband, holding her hand out for him.

"Oh my God!" Love squealed once Damien and Autumn left the room. She bounced Florian on her lap until he was giggling. "On the inside... I'm screaming!"

"Do you think he loves her back?" Logan asked, sitting down next to his girlfriend again.

"Lolo..." Love blinked at him. "He flew to Malaysia... from France!" That was, like, almost thirteen hours on a plane... "He obviously loves her back." Love sighed and put her cheek against the top of Florian's head.

"Very unexpected..." Logan repeated, chuckling.

"Very romantic..." Love sang. "Let's hope your brother doesn't ruin it..."

"Nah..." Logan glanced behind him towards the back door that Damien and Autumn had just gone through. "He'll come around."

[lunarcharacters]

some time away

Martha was not the chef of the family. She had a few recipes that she pulled out when it was her night to cook dinner, but nearly everyone else in the family could make something better. She still loved being in the kitchen and providing meals for her husband and children. Martha did have one specialty, though, and it was pain perdu (French toast). Each of her children loved it, and so Martha made it often, especially on the mornings when she and Cedric had news.

"Good morning," Logan was first down this morning. He greeted Martha with a kiss on the cheek.

"How did you sleep, my angel?" Martha asked, smiling at him. It had been a stressful few weeks for her youngest and he hadn't been sleeping well.

"Okay..." Logan replied, shrugging. Which meant he hadn't slept that well at all. Martha frowned. She hoped the news that she and Cedric had for their kids would bring Logan some peace of mind. It probably wouldn't at first but in a few weeks...

"Morning..." Cedric came into the kitchen next, kissing the same cheek that Logan had. But he swatted Martha's butt with his newspaper and winked at her when she shoved him away. He joined their son at the table and Martha brought over the plate of toast. "Marcheline!" Cedric called out. She was usually the last out of her room on weekends. Martha had put everything on the table and had poured everyone a glass of juice before Marcie came in and joined them.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Martha greeted, adding food to her daughter's plate. She added a piece of toast onto her own, too. While Logan spooned fruit onto his plate, Martha picked up his glass of juice and took a sip of it. She thought that being nonchalant about it would make Logan feel better. She knew that he was watching her, even if it didn't seem like he was. Martha also knew that it would be a few minutes before he took a sip himself.

"So, daddy and I have been talking," Martha mused after everyone had served themselves. "And we think it would be best if you both joined Damien and Autumn in Malaysia for a few weeks..." She exchanged a look with her husband before looking at their kids.

"Malaysia..." Logan repeated, looking from his sister to his mom and back again. "For a few weeks?"

"Yes," Martha said. "They're leaving tomorrow and we'd like you both to follow on Wednesday at the latest... that'll give Damien a few days to find somewhere for you all to stay." Both Martha and Cedric thought the kids would be more comfortable in a rental home over a hotel.

"But... what about my classes?" Logan asked.

"We think a semester off would be good for you," Cedric said. "There's a lot going on right now... and after what happened earlier this week..." After Logan had passed out from dehydration while on campus and ended up in the hospital again... Their son was paranoid and anxious and classes would only put more stress on him. Logan was still frowning.

"Or we can look into online classes," Martha added.

"Okay, so, basically you're saying we're going to Malaysia..." Marcie said, looking between them. "Like... we don't have a choice?"

"Right..." Martha agreed.

"But what about Love?" Logan asked with more concern in his tone now.

"Yeah, what about..." Marcie started but she quickly stopped herself. Martha looked at her daughter and found that her cheeks had turned red. Clearly, Marcheline hadn't meant to say whatever it was she was going to say, so Martha turned to Logan, instead.

"I'm not Love's mother," She said. "I have no control over what she does or doesn't do." Martha glanced at her daughter again. "I don't have control over what anyone else does or doesn't do..." She said pointedly, talking about whoever Marcie hadn't said.

"You're both still going..." Cedric said. "Even if that means leaving someone behind for a little while." At the end of the day, the safety of their children was what mattered most to them. Love, and whoever else, would be here when Logan got back if he had to go without her. And it wasn't as if they would excommunicated! Logan and Love could speak every day while he was away.

"Okay..." Logan relented. He had never been the child who argued. "I guess it would be nice to get away for a little while..." He had always been the child to see the silver lining in something. Plus, he would be calling Love right after breakfast and asking her to come with him... it wasn't like his parents had said she couldn't.

"Marcie..." Cedric coaxed.

"It's not like I have a choice..." Marcie grumbled, stabbing her fork into her food.

"No, but we'd like you to be a little enthusiastic about it, darling," Martha said, patting her daughter's hand. "Think of all the time you'll have to work on your thesis."

"Oh, joy," Marcheline replied sarcastically.

"That's the spirit," Cedric said cheerily. Marcie rolled her eyes.

"We just want you both to be safe..." Martha reached out for both Marcie's and Logan's hands. It was hard to have them out of her sight and in the city when no one knew crazy Melanie's current whereabouts. Adrien and a few of the other trackers of the family were looking for her, but until they found her, Martha wanted her kids out of the city where she knew they'd be safe. "And no one here besides us know where Autumn is even from..."

"Okay..." Marcheline finally relented, squeezing Martha's hand. "Fine... for a few weeks." Martha nodded and smiled. This all better be taken care of within a few weeks. She couldn't go that long without her kids being in the same damn country!

"It's settled then..." Cedric popped the last piece of his toast into her mouth and stood up from the table. "I'm going to call Damien..." He kissed the top of Marcie's head as he passed her and went into the other room to call their eldest.

"So..." Logan mused after a few minutes of silent eating. "You didn't say Love couldn't come, right?" He just wanted to be sure before he called her and invited (begged) her to figure it out...

[lunarcharacters]

flying private

As promised, Daphne was at the Velvet Skyline show. She hadn't doubted that Levi and his band were talented (they had gotten a spot at this festival, after all) but she hadn't expected them to be as good as they were. She'd been around the industry long enough to know they had a successful career ahead of them. Daphne had already downloaded their debut album to her phone, and after tonight, she'd be listening to it on repeat for the foreseeable future.

As the show ended, Daphne moved towards the area behind the stage so that she could find Levi once the show was over. She had a backstage badge that got her into the roped-off area so she wouldn't have to fight their fans for Levi's attention. Daphne would wait until after he'd taken pictures and signed CDs with all the fans waiting to see them.

The band had just said their final goodbyes and filed off stage while the crowd cheered loudly. They all stopped for photos and signings for a few minutes before hurrying backstage. She waved at Levi when he noticed her and he smiled so wide that Daphne's heart skipped a beat. He came over to her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. She returned it, even though he was sweaty.

"What'd you think?" Levi asked once he'd pulled away from her. He waggled his brows and smiled widely.

"You guys are great," She told him truthfully. "You put on a really fantastic show." Not all bands had a stage presence. Some of them just made good music for albums but choked once it was time to perform. Velvet Skyline, though, seemed to have it all.

"Thanks," Levi said, smiling even wider at her. "I'm glad you came… What are you doing now?" The festival was officially ending and Daphne needed to find her sister so they could go back to their hotel room, but she could probably be talked into doing something else if Levi was the one suggesting it.

"I've got to find my sister but then…" Daphne started but trailed off when they heard someone shouting Levi's name. They were far enough backstage now that fans couldn't see him, so it wasn't some random calling for him. Levi looked over his shoulder and Daphne followed his gaze. A girl around their age was waving him over. "Who is that?" She asked, her brows drawing in at the concerned expression on the girl's face.

"My sister-in-law…" Levi said, his expression was confused. "Sorry, can you just…" He took Daphne's hand and she let him lead her back behind the stage and into the tent that had been set up for the band. "I don't want you disappearing on me…" Levi said over his shoulder to her with a grin.

There was definitely something going on and the smile dropped from Levi's face in a second. He kept hold of Daphne's hand, though, so she just followed along behind him.

"What's going on?" Levi asked.

"Alex had a voicemail from Lauren," The same girl from before told him. She looked from Levi to a group of people crowded around someone crouching on the floor with a phone to his ear. "Something about her dad… I think he died…"

"What the fuck?" Levi exclaimed, shaking his head. "He just talked to her before we went on."

"She's not answering…" The guy, who Daphne assumed was Alex, cried. "Can someone else try?" At least three other people pulled out their phones and tried to call. Daphne felt like she should leave, but she didn't want to speak up and draw attention away from the matter at hand. And Levi still held onto her hand.

"What exactly did the voicemail say?" An older man said. Alex stood up from where he'd been crouching and played the voicemail he'd gotten on speaker. A small voice came through the speaker.

“Hi, babe,” The voice said. “Um… my dad… he’s, um…he’s dead, Alex… I found him and…I need you…” The room was silent. No one knew what to say. There was really no other way to take the voicemail. Lauren's dad was dead and she'd been the one to find his body. But how? And why wasn't she answering now?

"I need to get to her," Alex was saying now. "Like, right fucking now." Everyone seemed to have their phone out as they searched for a way to get Alex back home as soon as possible.

"American Airlines has a flight that leaves at 9 tomorrow morning…" Someone said.

"7:45 AM with Delta…" Another added.

"Nothing until tomorrow afternoon with Frontier…" Someone else said.

"Fuck!" Alex cried in frustration. Daphne's heart broke at his expression. The next thing she knew, she was whispering to Levi without even really thinking about what she was saying.

"I have a plane," She said. He looked back at her, brows raised. "I mean, my family does… it brought us here… and we weren't planning on leaving for a few more days… it can take him home." Daphne figured she'd get in trouble for this later, but whatever. If someone she loved needed her like this Lauren girl needed Alex, she'd do whatever it took to get them, too.

"Are you serious?" Levi asked and Daphne nodded. He looked back to the group and got the attention of the older guy who had spoken before. He came over and Levi said, "This is Daphne…"

"Cohen," The man, Cohen, said, nodding in her direction.

"She said we can use her family's plane… it's here… and can be ready in…" He trailed off and looked at her.

"Less than two hours," Daphne filled in. Which may seem like a long time, but was far better than twelve hours or more for a commercial flight. Cohen looked between them, his expression confused.

"Sorry… who are you?" He asked.

"Daphne Reeves," She held out a hand for him to shake.

"I met her yesterday…" Levi supplied.

"Reeves?" Cohen repeated. "Any relation to Jody Reeves?" He'd met Jody a few times over the years when they were both still playing music, but he didn't know him that well. He didn't know him well enough to know if they had kids around the same age.

"He's my dad." Daphne said. Cohen nodded as if that made sense and ran a hand down his face. This was all too fucking much but what other option did they have? Alex needed to get home and if someone was offering a private jet for them to get back to New York, then they'd take it.

"How many can you take?" Cohen asked, looking over his shoulder to count how many they had in their group. Daphne did a quick count in her head, too. She might be offering the Reeves plane, but that didn't mean she was comfortable enough to go with them all alone. She'd need to bring Valerie and one of their guards. With the two required pilots, that left 7 seats.

"7…" She told him.

"What about a baby? Can she sit in a lap?" Cohen asked. Daphne nodded and shrugged, she didn't see why that would be a problem if it was okay for commercial flights. "Alright, call whoever you need to… thanks, we owe you one." Daphne smiled and nodded.

Cohen turned back to his group and whistled loudly. The chatter of them all stopped and everyone turned their attention to him. "Levi made a friend," He said, motioning behind him to where Levi and Daphne stood. "And that friend is going to let us use her family's plane… it can be ready in two hours." Everyone exclaimed or let out a breath of relief.

"But only 7 can go," He continued and faces fell. "This is how we're going to do it, and I don't want to hear any arguments, okay? The priority is getting Alex back home. Nothing else, got it?" Cohen looked around at everyone, trying to decide what the best way to do this was. "If you've already got a return ticket… go over there…" He pointed to the right. Catalina, their abuela, and Ferris' mom Jasmine moved to the side. Cat didn't look happy about it, but she held her tongue.

"Levi is going because it's his friend," Cohen went on, taking a few steps away from them. "And Alex, obviously," He waved Alex over to stand with Levi and Daphne. "You're all my responsibility, so I'm going…" He ran a hand through his hair and grumbled. Four spots left and six people. For Cohen, it was obvious that Bea and their daughter would come with them. The baby was back in the hotel room with the sitter but they had time to go get her. So, he motioned Bea over to stand with the "going" group.

"Willow?" Cohen asked her next. "In or out?" Willow went to stand by Alex. "Dylan?" Dylan followed Willow. "Ferris?" Cohen asked his son. Ferris counted how many people were already standing in the "going" group and realized there was only one seat left.

"There's not enough room for Eden…" He said, looking at his dad.

"She can stay with your mom," Cohen said. "We'll get her a ticket on the same plane with them." Jasmine, Gloria, and Cat were scheduled to return home the day after tomorrow. He'd book Eden a ticket tonight if he had to.

"I'm not leaving her here," Ferris said, shaking his head. Eden stood at his side, frowning.

"Then you're not going," Cohen motioned them over to the "staying" group.

"No, I need to go," Ferris complained. He looked at Alex and his best friend looked back, a pleading in his expression. An expression that said please don't make this harder than it already is. Ferris wasn't trying to make this harder, he really wasn't, but he didn't want to leave his wife alone in Vegas. He didn't care if his mom was here. Ferris wanted Eden with him.

"That's not an option," Cohen said, his voice raised with frustration. "There's one seat left!"

"I'll stay," Bea raised her hands before Ferris could yell back. "It's fine… Cece is already asleep and it's easier not to wake her up. I'll fly back on Monday." Cohen looked at his wife and she shook her head as she moved to stand by Jasmine. He was annoyed, but he wouldn't argue. Ferris pulled Eden towards the "going" group.

While the band figured out who would be going and who would be staying behind, Daphne had called her sister and told her what was going on. Valarie agreed that she'd probably get in trouble, but didn't try to stop her. Valarie said she'd tell their brother what was going on and would meet Daphne at the tarmac with one of their bodyguards. Once they hung up, Daphne called the pilot and gave them the information she'd gotten from Levi. If they all stayed on schedule, Alex would be back home by 8 the next morning.

With everything settled, everyone packed up their stuff and started the trek out of the festival grounds and towards the awaiting SUVs that would take them back to the hotel. As he passed, Alex stopped and hugged Daphne, telling her thank you and how much he appreciated this. She hugged him back and told him she was glad that she could help. She then hugged Levi and promised she'd meet them all at the tarmac in a few hours.

Lauren still hadn't answered the phone by the time they all made it to their hotel and Alex's anxiety and panic had truly set in. There was nothing anyone could do to help, either, because they were just as lost as he was. All they knew was that Mr. Belin was dead and that Lauren wasn't answering her phone now. And that was enough to put everyone on edge.

"Everyone meet back here in forty-five minutes," Cohen said as they piled out of the SUVs. They said their goodbyes to the ones staying behind and hurried off to their rooms to quickly pack their bags. Cohen followed his wife back to their room and went in to check on Celeste while Bea filled the babysitter in on what was going on. He wasn't going to pack anything besides his electronics and bathroom things.

The band was supposed to be back in LA by mid-week for a few tour meetings and rather than canceling them, Cohen figured he'd fly back west and take the meetings while the band figured everything out with Lauren. They still had a month before the tour officially kicked off, and he hoped they wouldn't need to cancel any of the dates they'd set. But he'd take care of everything while the kids helped with Lauren.

"Maybe you can fly back with them," Bea suggested when he told her his plan. "Then we can rent a car and drive back to LA." That sounded like a better plan to him than flying Bea and Cece back to New York just to turn around and fly back west with him.

When he made it back to the hotel lobby, everyone else was waiting and ready to go. Lauren still hadn't answered. "She's probably asleep," Cohen said, trying to reassure Alex. "We're going to get you there by the time she wakes up, okay?" He hoped that was all that was going on with Lauren, and he hoped it was a promise he could keep.

[lunarcharacters]

hacked

Imogen and Killian had a lot of computers in their house. They had their "personal" computers (the computers they used while "under cover" that wouldn't show anything out of the ordinary if they were hacked). Then they had their work computer (the ones they used to spy on their targets, and they were so heavily guarded that they were nearly impossible to hack into). Plus a few more that Immy used for her own hacking side quests.

Tonight Immy was using Killian's under cover personal computer for some online shopping. She would've used hers, but it was upstairs charging and she didn't feel like going to get it. This computer was only encrypted with the basic spy protection software. The type of software that was easily penetrated by hackers who knew what they were doing. It hadn't happened yet, but considering the type of shady people they were dealing with, they could get hacked at any time. Imogen just hadn't anticipated that "any time" would be a random Wednesday evening while Killian was making them dinner.

"Woah…" She said, raising her hands from the keyboard when her screen suddenly went black. "Oh fuck, somethings happening…" Killian turned the stove down low so their food wouldn't burn and hurried around the island to look at the screen.

Imogen recognized the coding on the screen but it probably looked like gibberish to most people. But she could see that someone had accessed this computer through the wifi connection and had easily broken through the firewalls (as predicted). She read through the coding, growing more confused by the second. Whoever was on the other side of this wasn't looking for anything.

They kept watching as more code came up and then, after almost a minute, the outline of a rubber duck appeared on the screen followed by the words "Duck… duck… duck…" Imogen was just as confused as ever but Killian was laughing.

"What is this?" She asked, moving to the side when Killian reached over to start typing. He typed out the word "Goose" and hit enter.

"It's Tobias…" He said. "My brother." Immy raised a brow at him. "His nickname is Ducky." They both looked back at the screen to see what else Tobias had to say. The words appeared in Hungarian and Imogen had never been happier to know the language. She hadn't seen Killian interact with his family much besides Ambrose.

Hi. Call mom. Said tonight at dinner it had been too long. Also. Why are you shopping for women's shoes? …….

Killian reached over again and typed "Imogen is shopping", chuckling again.

Oh. Okay. Bye, then.

They waited for a few long moments, both just staring at the screen. Before, finally, more words appeared.

Love you. Miss you.

A few more code sequences followed before the screen went black again. A few seconds later the website that Imogen had been browsing popped up again as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Killian chuckled one last time before returning to their dinner.

"Tobias has never heard of texting?" Imogen asked.

"He's impossible to text," Killian replied, shaking his head. "He hardly ever replies. Hacking into a computer is way easier for him." Imogen nodded. She kept watching Killian as he prepared their food and couldn't help but smile each time a little grin graced his face. He clearly loved and missed his brother, too.

"You should call your mom after dinner," Immy mused after she found the shoes she wanted. Unfortunately, they had to limit calls to their family (or, well, Killian's family since Imogen wasn't calling anyone from hers) and it had been a few weeks since he'd called home. From what Imogen knew about his mother, she was the type who liked to talk to her boys often.

"Oh, no doubt," Killian agreed. "I've been meaning to anyway." He took the food off the stove and Imogen grabbed some plates. Killian took her arm when she passed and she looked up at him. "We can Facetime her, she'd love to see you, too." Immy smiled shyly and nodded. Even if they weren't technically and legally married, it was nice to feel included in family chats. She found it was easier to keep up the act that way.

[lunarcharacters]

romantic lads

Tonight was the first night in almost five days that Ferris was seeing his girlfriend. He and the boys had gone to their hometown on Friday like they always did, and it was the one weekend in almost a month that Eden couldn't tag along. Ferris could've stayed in the city, but he'd already promised his mom he'd be home, and he didn't want to let her down.

Usually, he and the boys made the drive back to their new city apartment on Sunday evening or Monday morning, but they'd had to stay back an extra day thanks to Ferris' car needing an inspection. None of the other guys minded staying home for one more night, but Ferris was chomping at the bit to get back to the city to see Eden. So now it was Tuesday and he was waiting impatiently for Eden to get out of school.

Since so many days had passed since they'd seen each other, Ferris decided he would make tonight extra special for him and his girl. He'd gotten her flowers and chocolate and picked up the ingredients to make her favorite dinner. Ferris was wooing her tonight, god damn it. He was setting everything up in his room and thinking about what else he could do when a thought occurred to him. Now, Ferris was digging around in Alex's cabinet in their shared bathroom.

"What are you looking for?" Alex asked from his bed.

"Can I use some of your bath shit?" Ferris held up a bottle of bubble bath in one hand and a bath bomb in the other. Alex had a ton of this shit stashed away surely he was willing to share.

"You're taking a bath?" Alex chuckled, standing up and coming over to get a closer look at what Ferris was doing. "By yourself?"

"No, asshole, with Eden!" Ferris rolled his eyes. "And you take baths by yourself all the time, what the fuck?"

"I take baths with Lauren..." Alex corrected, holding up a finger. Ferris didn't feel like getting into the technicalities of Lauren being four hours away, and talking to her on Facetime while taking a bath was still technically taking a bath alone.

"And you make it seem romantic!" Ferris said, going back into the cabinet to rummage. "It's been days, man, come on... you're really going to cockblock me from making this night special?"

"No..." Alex sighed heavily and nudged Ferris out of the way so that he could look through his stuff.

"What about one of those?" Ferris pointed to one of the bath bombs that he seemed to have multiples of.

"No, those are Lauren's favorite..." Alex grumbled. It took him a solid minute, but he finally found one he could part with and reluctantly handed it over.

"You're my best friend, you know that?" Ferris said merrily, tossing the bath bomb into the air and catching it again.

"Yeah," Alex replied, following behind him as Ferris went back into their room to finish setting up. "And as your best friend, I should tell you that you're gonna have to do more than tossing a bath bomb in some water and thinking that's enough..."

"What do you mean?" Ferris scratched the back of his head and grimaced. It was safe to say that Alex was the most romantic of them all. Sure, they all had their moments, but only half of them currently had girlfriends, and none of them had ever gone as hard on romanticizing their girl as Alex did.

"You've gotta get some candles in there, man," Alex said. "And I guess you can use a little bit of this bath oil Lo gave me... you, like, massage it into her... it'll make her skin really soft...oh, and music! Dude, you gotta have music."

"Okay, I can do candles..." Ferris nodded along with everything Alex was saying. He didn't have any candles, but he bet Willow had some in her room. None of them were technically allowed in there, but he bet he could get permission if he texted her! "And music is easy!" He already had so many playlists made with Eden in mind!

"And you better hope everyone stays quiet while you're trying to be romantic..." Alex raised a brow.

"Everyone should go to a movie tonight," Ferris decided. "My treat!" Alex shrugged like he didn't mind going out tonight and Ferris appreciated that.

"Just put a sock on the door or something... I don't want to walk in on you screwing your girlfriend." Alex leaned back against his pillows again and picked up his phone.

Their apartment was crowded, that was for sure. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Being the only girl, Willow got a bedroom to herself. The boys had all flipped a coin for the primary bedroom (which Ferris had won over Levi and Alex over Dylan) and the other two were put in the third room. So far, everything had worked out just fine for them. They spent most of their days in the studio or jamming in the living room, and on the nights Ferris wanted to be alone with Eden, Alex didn't mind going somewhere else to talk to Lauren. They all knew that this was only temporary and a necessary evil as they worked towards making their dreams come true. Tonight, though, was a rare occasion that Alex might be SOL.

"Sleep on the couch?" Ferris suggested, offering a hopeful smile.

"Or you could wrap up your romantic evening by the time we get home?"

"You've already gotten laid today, don't try to keep me from mine..." Ferris tutted his tongue. He knew that Alex and Lauren had gotten it on before she went to school this morning because he and Eden would be doing the same thing tomorrow morning. Alex knew it too so he just chuckled.

"I'm just messing with you," Alex said after a few minutes of silence. "Have fun tonight... she's going to love all this..." He waved his hand around the setup and Ferris beamed with pride.

"Just two lads being the most romantic fuckers in the city," Ferris put on a phony British accent. "Innit?"

"Sure is, chap," Alex replied in just as bad of an accent. Ferris laughed and checked the time again. One more hour and Eden would be here. And he was so damn excited.