Another Way To Die

Fox Bourdon, now 19, lived with her stepfather, David Draiman, and his two children from his previous marriage, Jos, 17, and Jessie, 15. Along with her half sisters, Sarah and Mel, twins, going on 20 this year, but her brother Viking, 21, had moved out, leaving her stuck with her mother biological mother Ravyn. Her biological father, Chester, whom her mother had an affair with during her marriage to her previous husband, Rob.

Fox looked to the clock to see what time it was, it was only midday. The school holidays had proven to be going slower than usual. Maybe because David was away these holidays, on tour, he said, and most of the family believed him when he said he was on tour. Except for Sarah, who was the trouble stirrer with her new stepfather but got on pretty well with her stepsisters, sometimes.

"Where the hell is everyone?" asked Fox, as she realised that the house was silent. Usually, at this time, her mother would be glued to the CI channel on their television (also known as the idiot box in her mother's terms) and everybody would be out and about and in and out through various doors that led outside either to the front of the house or the backyard. "Mom..where are you?" No response. So Fox decided instead of calling out to her mother she would probably go and look for her. Was she at work today? Fox didn't know. She knew her mother ran a bakery chain but it was rare that she wouldn't tell the family that she would be at work today. She left the living room, and went to the kitchen. Jos was sitting at the huge table inside the kitchen that had black and white tiles for its floor, and a massive cooking area. She was reading a gossip magazine with her pink metallic iPod blaring some RnB music. "Jos!" Fox felt the need to yell at her to try and talk to her through her blaring music. No response. Fox walked over and sat down in front of her.

Jos noticed her stepsister's presence in the room and looked up, as she took the white iPod earphones out of her ears.

"What?" asked Jos, with the music still blaring and the gossip magazine still opened in front of her. "What do you want?"

"Have you seen Mom around?" asked Fox.

"Have I seen your Mom around?" Jos restructured the question. "No." Fox sighed. "Why? What's the matter?"

"Nothing, the place seems too quiet," answered Fox.

"Well, Dad's on tour for a couple of weeks, he told you that before he left, and people have places to go and people to see," explained Jos. Fox felt as though Jos was treating her as though she was stupid or something, despite the age difference.

"You mean your Dad?" Fox mocked.

"Whatever," Jos dusted off her shoulders. "Was that your only question you had for me?"

"You're such a bitch," Fox commented as she left the table and went in search for her half siblings, wherever they were. She went straight for the back door to see if Sarah or Mel were outside, as Jos rolled her eyes and plugged herself back into her own little world with the gossip magazine and her iPod back into her ears. Fox opened the door to see Sarah lying down on the grass under the shade of the trees just right near the pool.

Her hair was wet and it was obvious that she had gone for a swim in the large inbuilt pool that David's money had paid for, even the black and white bikini set that Sarah was wearing and the sunglasses that she was wearing over her eyes, were bought with David's money. She had her head buried in her crossed arms and looked like she was attempting to relax or sleep under the shade of the palm trees.

"What do you want?" Sarah asked as she looked up to see who had opened the sliding door to disturb her in her relaxed state. "You woke me up, I hope you're happy."

"Where's Ma?" asked Fox.

"And you're expecting me to know the answer to that?" asked Sarah, sitting up straight.

"We have the same mother, so yes I do," answered Fox.

"I have no fucking idea," Sarah replied, quite rudely. "Is Jos inside?"

"She is but she said she has no clue as well," answered Fox. "Where's Mel?" Sarah shrugged as she got to her feet and then did Fox only notice that she had bought her stereo player outside with her. "Is Ma at work?"

"What did I just tell you?" asked Sarah, angrily. "If I honestly knew I would've told you by now. What would want me to withhold my mother's presence to a person like yourself, Fox?" Fox shrugged. Sarah stopped in front of the stereo and pressed play on it.

"Do you remember the last time you blared music outside?" asked Fox. "The cops were called because one of the neighbours had reported a domestic disturbance and it was you playing your music too loud. What is it this crap anyway?"

"It's not crap, it's better than what you listen to," Sarah retorted. "Go off and find sis." Just as she said that the karate kid of the family walked through the back door. "Hey, karate kid, did you pull some moves today or did you get the crap flogged out of you like usual today in training?" Jess stopped and looked at Sarah with a filthy glare.

"Is there ever a time where you are not mean to me?" asked Jess. "Do you know what time your Mom is coming home?"

"Whenever she feels like it," answered Sarah. "Why?"

"I need to get some stuff from in town," answered Jess.

"Like what?" asked Fox.

"Then how the hell did you get back from your karate training if Mom didn't pick you up from it?" asked Sarah.

"I got a friend to drop me home," answered Jess. "Does anyone who is legally allowed to drive a vehicle want to drive me into town?" Jess looked to Fox and then to Sarah.

"I will," offered Sarah.

"I said someone who can legally drive," said Jess, blankly.

"Look, do you want that stuff from in town?" asked Sarah. Jess nodded. "Then I don't see the problem. David's got two cars left in the garage which Mom has right now, so leaving one car left for someone else to drive. And I know where the keys are to it." Sarah smiled as she went past the two girls and went inside. She went straight for the key rack beside the fridge. Jos saw what she was doing and smiled. She took an earphone out of her ear to talk to her stepsister.

"What are you upto this time?" asked Jos, as she realised that she had just answered her question, by looking at Sarah with the key to one of her father's cars in her hand and a guilty grin on her look. "I think I just answered my own question. Can I come?"

"I don't see why not, just dropping your annoying sister downtown," answered Sarah.

"She's your sister as well," Jos added.

"Correction, stepsister," Sarah corrected, as she went into her bedroom to put some shorts on and some shoes. Moments later, she came out and everyone who she had previously spoken to were in the kitchen.

"Ma's going to chuck the shits if she finds out that you've done this," Fox had to remind her sister. Sarah shrugged, as she disappeared to go into the garage to get the blue car out. Sarah reversed out of the open garage door and beeped the horn to indicate for everyone to get in. And in a matter of time, Jos was in the passenger front seat and Jess was in the back seat, looking out the window, leaving Fox at home.

They were on the main highway, when someone broke the silence that was had filled the car, (other than the CD that Sarah had chosen to play). Jos turned the CD down and looked to Sarah, who was in her own little world and the second that she did, Sarah's cellphone started to ring.

"Can you pick that up?" she asked Jos.

"What? Doing more illegal stuff is too much for you?" asked Jos, smiling at her own joke. Sarah held back a laugh, as Jos picked up her phone to see who was calling her stepsister. It came up with Mom's Cell. "It's your Mom. Should I even pick up or just let it ring out?"

"Pick it up, or else she'll be ringing me forever," answered Sarah.

"Hello?" Jos picked up Sarah's cell.

"Is that you Jos?" asked Ravyn.

"Yeah, Ravyn, it's Jos,"

"Can you tell me something?"

"Yeah, sure thing,"

"I'm driving back home now on the highway, why did I see your father's car on the road?"

"Ah, I don't know what you're talking about, when I left home, it was there,"

"So where are you now? And where's that ungrateful child of mine that I gave birth to?"

"I don't know, she must've left her cell in my bag, last I saw of her she was with a guy,"

"Oh shit, don't say that," Sarah whispered.

"What guy?"

"I don't know. Why all the questions?"

"Because I just saw you in the blue car of your father's with Jess in the back, and Sarah driving,"

"You must be seeing things..."

"Hang up..." Sarah whispered.

"I might be old Jos, but I'm not crazy, I saw what I saw-"

SMASH!

Sarah lost control of the car in the split second that she had focused her attention on Jos as she told her stepsister to hand up on her mother, and went smashed into an upcoming tree. All three of them found themselves stuck in pieces of demented metal. Sarah looked around quickly to see if everyone was okay. To her luck, everyone was still awake. She saw a trickle of blood run down Jos' forehead and tried to turn to see if Jess was okay, but she was stuck. She couldn't move.

"Can everyone hear me?" asked Sarah, as she saw Jos meet her gaze. She nodded, but cringed at the same time. "Are you hurt, Jos?" Sarah soon realised that she was too bleeding as well.

"Yes..neck.." answered Jos, slowly.

"Okay, are you hurt Jess?" asked Sarah.

"Not really," answered Jess.

After a couple of minutes of silence between the trio, they heard voices outside. One voice sounded very familiar to Sarah.

"Dad! Daddy!" Sarah tried to yell, but knew she would probably go unheard.

"Sarah?! Is that you?" asked Rob, as he was outside, and was a couple of cars behind the blue car that his daughter was illegally driving. He turned around to one of the other men that had bothered to stop for the wrecked vehicle. "My daughter is in there. We've got to get her out."

A couple of minutes later after hearing various noises including strange voices and Rob's voice, they heard the driver's door start to shift. Finally, after a couple of minutes the door had completely come off. Rob looked devastated to his daughter in a car accident and immediately got her out. He told the other men who were there to and get the other girls out. But he didn't know that they were his ex-wife's new man's children. Rob laid his child on the ground.

"Hey! That's my stepdaughter, mate! Get your hands off her!" they heard David's voice approach as Rob got to his feet. Rob wasn't impressed. So this was the man that his wife had left him for? "And who do you think you are, exactly?" David approached Rob, so that they were face to face.

"Her biological father," Rob answered bluntly.

****

****

"Why won't he just go?" Ravyn asked David quietly. "Isn't it obvious that I don't want him around? Can you please ask him to go away?"

"He sort of has a right to be here, Sarah is his child, isn't she?" asked David, quietly, as though he was doubting the relationship between Sarah and her biological father. Ravyn pouted. "Well, I'm just saying."

"Yeah, you say a lot of things, don't you?" asked Ravyn, trying to keep her anger under control. "And why are you so back so quickly?"

"We had last minute cancellations, and we got to go home early," answered David, sincerely, as he noticed that the doctor had come and stood patiently waiting at the end of Jos's bed. "Doctor's here." He pointed out for Ravyn, who was sincerely in a bad mood. Ravyn put a fake smile on for the doctor.

"Hi, Doctor," she said.

"Are you the parents of Josipa?" asked the doctor. David and Ravyn nodded. "Can I have a quick word to you in private please?" They both nodded again as the doctor hurried them out of Jos' ear reach. They finally came to a small quiet spot in the corridor. "Do you want to know the good news or the bad news first?"

"Ah, bad news," answered David slowly.

"I lied, there is no bad news," smiled the doctor. "But I shall tell you the good news. We've done various x-rays on Josipa and several blood tests and the only thing that we can find what's wrong with her is, just whiplash."

"And what about Jessie or Sarah? Anything wrong with them?" asked Ravyn.

"Just a bump on the head for them," answered the doctor. Ravyn wasn't impressed by his diagnosis, considering the car wasn't even insured and now they had to pay good money on fixing the car instead of spending it on other things. "Just keep Josipa in bed for a couple of days and don't let her do anything that might make it worse, like lifting heavy objects and whatnot."

"Do you know what's happening with Sarah?" asked Ravyn.

"I don't know personally and professionally," answered the doctor.

"Thanks for that," smiled David as him and his wife disconnected themselves from the doctor and reconnected themselves with the rest of the family, well, the majority, of the family, but this time not including Rob.

"Where did he go?" Ravyn asked Mel. Mel looked about confused who she was referring to. "Your father."

"Went to see Sarah," answered Mel, wondering why did she have to be here when Jos and her were only stepsisters and not actual biological family. "Can we go yet?"

"No," answered Ravyn. "What gave you the impression that we were going?"

"Well, if we're not going, can I at least go?" asked Mel. "I'm bored shitless and I hate hospitals. And plus, I can legally drive."

"Tough luck, you're going to do that right thing and stay here until Josipa is officially released by the hospital," Ravyn rectified, still very angry at what Sarah had done and the fact that she had gotten herself hurt along with both of her stepsisters.

David noticed that Jess that was slumped in a chair reading a magazine that the hospital provided, near the end of Josipa's bed. He walked over to her and knelt down in front of her, hoping that he would notice him. She looked over the magazine and smiled at his stupidness.

"You know there are other ways to gain my attention?" asked Jess.

"Meh," David shrugged. "You feeling a bit better?"

"Still in shock about the whole thing, it's not everyday that you get away from a car crash alive with a few bruises, and a few scratches," answered Jess. "When are we going home?"

"When your sister is released, which should be soon," answered David.

"What's happening to Sarah?" asked Jess.

"I don't know, but she did commit two crimes at the same time, so I think there would be major repercussions, maybe even jail time," answered David. "Trying not to think about the worst possible scenario, because guess who gets to comfort Ravyn if she does go to jail?"

"You," answered Jess.

"Precisely, my point," David commented, as he turned his head and saw Sarah being escorted down the hallway, towards them, by a policeman and her father, who wore an unimpressed look on his face. "Here she comes now."

"Ma'am," the policeman, Rob and his daughter, stopped just near the end of Josipa's bed. Ravyn walked over and stood beside her daughter that made her feel smaller than she actually was.

"What's going to happen to my daughter?" asked Ravyn, angry and at the same time, concerned. The maternal instincts were kicking in big time. "Is she going to jail?" The policeman shook his head and Ravyn felt a wave of relief sweep over her. "Then what's going to happen to my daughter? I mean, she's not going to get off with a slap on the wrist is she?"

"No, not at all," the policeman answered. "Well, that's not really up to me at all, but I do know that she has a court hearing for this incident of hers."

"But she's not going to go to jail, if the judge finds her guilty?" asked Ravyn.

"Considering her age and considering it's her first offense, I highly doubt it," answered the policeman. "The court date shall be mailed to you, but she has been put on a curfew. She is not to be out and about at nine at night or any time until seven the next morning." The policeman turned to Sarah. "I hope you don't have night shift."

"No," replied Sarah, shortly.

"What happens if she's outside our property after the curfew?" asked Rob as the policeman looked back at Sarah's father. Ravyn slapped her forehead, she was just waiting for a stupid question to escape his mouth.

"She gets arrested and held downtown until the court date," answered the policeman. "Well, my business has been done here." The policeman looked back to Sarah. "Remember, you have been warned and you have a curfew placed on you until the time of the court hearing. If I were you, I would stay indoors all day." The policeman left the scene without another further ado.

Jos was released minutes later, officially, by the hospital and shortly left the hospital. Sarah and Mel took a ride with Rob, to give their mother time to chill out before she went completely off her head at Sarah. Jos, Fox, and Jessie took the car that contained the hot-headed mother of the family and the through-one-ear-and-out-the-other David.

"All I can say is, your mother is pissed," Rob bluntly started the conversation, looking to his eldest twin daughter in the front passenger seat. "I've never seen your mother so pissed off with someone." Sarah snorted, as Mel resorted to putting her iPod earphones on and blaring her punk music. "What was that for?"

"I think I've seen Mom more pissed at you for your disappearing acts than at me, even right now," Sarah answered.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that from now one, okay?" asked Rob. Sarah didn't say anything and Mel was too busy with her music blaring to the point that Sarah recognised what band and song she was playing. "Your mother and I might be a bit older than you guys, but we're not stupid."

"And you keep telling yourself that from now one, okay?" asked Sarah. Rob didn't bother arguing with his daughter over such a pointless argument. He knew she wouldn't listen, even if he had held a gun to her temples. "I take it, you don't like David?"

"Naturally," scoffed Rob. "Am I meant to be in love with him or something, the man that took my wife of several years, away from me?"

"Hey, correction Dad, she left you, and didn't automatically ditch you for him," Sarah found herself defending her mother's actions and reasons for leaving her father. "Remember, the reason why she left you? Because you were never home and she felt as though she wasn't married to at you because you were never there for her. Also, when you were home, you never made a situation better. Do you remember Mom saying that to you? Do you remember it at all, Dad?"

"Do you want to walk home?" asked Rob, as Sarah had just hit a couple of sensitive nerves with her father. Rob now wasn't happy with Sarah as he had now perceived her as the enemy.

"No, but we, the family, have told you this several times," answered Sarah, as Rob started to slow down in his driving. "Dad, you can't punish me for something you're refusing to let go of. That's unfair." Rob came to a halt, on the side of the road.

"What are we doing?" asked Mel, unplugging herself from her own little world. "What's happening Dad?"

"Your sister's walking home," answered Rob, as Sarah shook her head. "I don't want a teenager telling me how to feel. Remember, I am your father and I'm more mature than you?"

"What did she do that was so bad?" asked Mel, but no one heard her.

"I beg to differ," scoffed Sarah. "Fine, I'll walk. Just to make you happy and to make your day." Sarah opened the car door, slammed the door shut and started to walk on the other side of the road.

"Dad!" yelled Mel. "You can't do that to Sarah!"

"Watch me," muttered Rob, as he put the car into the right gear and slammed down the accelerator.

****

****

"Where's Sarah?" was the first thing Ravyn noticed when Rob and Mel came through the front door. Ravyn had been waiting for Sarah to come home so that she could go off her head about what had just happened. She knew something was up by Mel's face. It was the displeased face that Ravyn had grown to read. Mel didn't say anything but barged her way past her mother and the rest of her siblings, and into her room, where she slammed the door shut. "R..o..b.." She found herself growling at Rob, as she had a feeling that Rob was to blame. Rob stopped and looked at her blankly. "Where is my daughter?" She already was furious about Sarah's actions and the last thing she wanted to do was lose her nut over something that her ex-husband had done.

"She pissed me off and I made her walk," answered Rob, simply. "Now, if you don't mind, I've got people to see and places to go."

"No you don't!" yelled Ravyn, as Rob tried to turn around and open the door but she had already run and blocked the doorway. "Where exactly did you make her walk from?"

"The highway," answered Rob. "Now move, lady."

"Don't lady her," defended David, grabbing Rob by the shoulder and turning him around. "And call yourself a father?"

"Ah, yes I do, I have three kids to that woman if you have forgotten," answered Rob, bluntly. "Now, I need to go, Ravyn and David. I'm like you, I had to give up going places to be there for my kid, just like how you both gave up your day jobs to see if Josipa and the rest were okay. Or have you forgotten that Sarah is not your child, David?"

"I haven't forgotten anything," growled David. "You better start telling us where your daughter is or the cops should be arriving pretty soon to get you arrested for child neglect."

"It's not as though she's a child, she's an adult, for the love of God, she's twenty this year," Rob started to defend his actions. "She's well known for getting herself into and out of sticky situations."

"She's also my daughter!" Ravyn found herself yelling at Rob. Rob turned around. "You didn't go through nineteen hours of labor and you didn't carry around two mini ponies in your stomach for nine months, so who the hell are you to talk?"

"Hey, without me, they wouldn't have been born," Rob added, pathetically. There was a knock at the door, and the three of them hoped to the heavens that it was Sarah on the other side of the door. Ravyn opened the door and her eyes lit up when she saw it was the daughter that her ex-husband had left behind. "See. She's here, safe and sound."

"Oh my baby girl," she said, as she threw her arms around her daughter. "I was so worried about you." She turned around and faced Rob. "See. This is part of the reason why I wouldn't allow the courts to grant you full custody of our children. The exact precise reason." She turned around to her daughter that was red-faced and sweaty from the walk and threw her arms around her again. "Don't you ever let your father drive you anywhere. You could've been abducted or raped or something. I'm so thankful you're home."

"Does this mean I'm out of the original lecture?" asked Sarah, innocently.

"As if!" snorted her mother. She let go of her child but still faced her. "What happened in the car that made your father want to kick you out?"

"She pissed me off so I made her walk," answered Rob, casually, and finding himself repeating himself at the same time. Ravyn turned around to face her ex husband and frowned.

"And you do that with all your children?" asked David.

"Hey, all my children have pissed me of a lot, but I never made them walk on a highway, especially in this heat, god, you could fry an egg on a car's engine in this heat," retorted Ravyn. "Rob, just get out of my house. Before I call the cops."

"Fine, I'm gone," sighed Rob, as he made his way out of his ex wife's house and not giving an apology to anyone in the household, including Sarah. He slammed the door behind him, and Sarah casually walked off, seeing if she could away from being lectured.

David caught grip of Sarah's arm and held her back. She turned around and gave him a filthy look.

"You're not my father and you have no right to punish me," growled Sarah, angrily.

"But I'm still your mother, and you're not going to come away from this with just a slap on the wrist," replied Ravyn, walking up to her daughter and giving her a stern look. "David's only doing what your original father failed to do."

"That's impossible to start with," retorted Sarah, starting to smile at her own upcoming joke. "Neither of them have any balls to start with."

"How would you know?" asked David. "I have two kids."

"Yeah, your ex probably cheated on you," answered Sarah, as Ravyn looked like she was going to physically snap at her daughter and the things that she was coming out with;

"Sit down before I hurt you, seriously, Sarah!" Ravyn snapped, as David let go of Sarah's arm so that Sarah could sit down in the living room. Ravyn followed her daughter's actions with her eyes and as soon as Sarah's backside had hit the cushions, Ravyn looked to David.

"Don't listen to anything she has to say, she's already in too much trouble for it to be a nightmare," Ravyn told David, trying to calm herself down. "I'll go back to work for a couple of more hours after I do with this one. What are you going to do with yourself, now that you're back from tour?"

"I've got some business to do with Jack White," answered David, as he looked to his watch and looked back to his wife. "I didn't count on Josipa ending up in hospital or for Sarah to be in such deep water, so I told him he could come over at five. I was talking to him just before I ran into the crumpled car on the highway. And the time is now three."

"I've got to be back by four or at the latest half past," Ravyn explained.

"Did he just say Jack White?" asked Sarah, as she got to her feet and the adult's attention was now on the mischievous child. David nodded slowly, not knowing what to say to that. "Do you mean the Jack White? As in Another Way to Die, The White Stripes, and The Raconteurs, Jack White?" Ravyn shook her head at her daughter's eagerness to meet her celebrity crush.

"You're not going to be here when he comes, because you know where you'll be?" asked Ravyn, as Sarah shook her head. "You're coming to work for me, to work off that car. I don't care for any of your protests against my decisions."

"And plus, one of her places are hiring at the moment," added David, with an evil grin.

"I get paid for this work I do for you?" asked Sarah, thinking that this was the least possible punishment she had encountered so far.

"Don't think this is the only thing involved in your punishment," Sarah's stepfather continued. "Trust me, there's more to come."

"Well, I don't want to get accused of hiring slave labour, so yes, you get paid, and that money's going straight to my hands to pay off the car you destroyed," Ravyn said, smoothly, feeling proud of herself and David in handling her daughter's reckless actions. "And to make sure you don't quit your responsibilities, you're signing a contract stating that you will be working for me for five years." Sarah pouted. "I'm not joking. You're lucky that you're the only person I'm doing this to. Teach you some responsibilities about what happens when you cross your mother too many times."

"Then do I get to see Jack White if I work today?" asked Sarah, seeing if she could bargain with her mother. Both David and Ravyn shook her head. "You know, I wasn't the only person in that car. Jos even lied to you."

"I know, I'm well aware of that, and you know what I'm doing about your stepsister?" asked Ravyn. Sarah shook her head.

"When she gets over her whiplash, we're making her work as well," answered David. "Your mother and I take lying very seriously Sarah, you should know this already."

"And Jessie? Is she going to get off with a slap on the wrist?" asked Sarah.

"I'll deal with Jessie in my own way," answered David. "She's not going to get off with just a slap on the wrist." Ravyn made her way to Sarah and sat on the reclining armchair, with a serious look on her face. Sarah sat back in her original spot. "I've got to go hun." Ravyn and her husband caught each other's eyes and she nodded. "I'll be back soon."

"Drive safely," she replied, as David went through the front door. Ravyn looked to her daughter with a stern look on her face. "Now, Sarah, we have to talk about what you can and can't do or say around this place."

****

****

"Welcome," David grumbled as he opened the door for his new friend, Jack White. Sarah wasn't home now, and he had to make sure of this, by calling Ravyn before at work to make sure that Sarah wasn't at home.

"Thanks," he said as he walked into the mansion of a house. He stopped and looked around, as he realised that his long stringy hair that covered his eyes wasn't clouding his perception of the place. It was big, after all, and he had only just seen the entrance and the front yard. David looked outside, thinking that he better should move his car off the front grass before he gets an earful from his wife about how parking on the grass ruins it. He was beginning to think she was more fussy than his mother was at times.

"I'll be right back, better move the car," he said to Jack. "Make yourself at home." David left Jack with a smile and ran over to the car to move it. Jack managed to put a smile on his dial, as he slowly walked through the house, looking at every family picture and every momentum that had a significance to this family that lived in this household.

"Who are you?" asked Fox, as she stopped, stopping her journey to the pantry to try and scavenge what was left of the previous trip to the grocery shop. That was a thing she hated about this family, it was so big and if you wanted to eat something, you had to basically get to it first to have it or it gets eaten by other family members. She was hoping that she would get some noodles, that's if Sarah or Josipa, the other two big noodle eaters of the family, hadn't gotten to them first. Jack didn't know what to say to this red haired teenager that had appeared out of nowhere. He assumed she must be related to David, someway or another. He scratched the back of his head to try and figure out what he was meant to say. Fox frowned as she realised she had seen this face before, in her household, many times. Fox rolled her eyes at Jack. "Oh god, not you."

"What? What did I do?" Jack asked, innocently. "Is it a bad moment right now? I mean I was here with David to try and talk a collaboration through. Did I catch you at a wrong time?" Fox just stared, wondering what the hell he was on about. "Let me guess, you are his daughter?" Fox shook his head. "Niece?" Fox shook her head again. "Sister?" Fox shook her head again. "Ah...mother by any chance?"

"God, you are a nut case in real life," answered Fox, bluntly, as she gave Jack a weird glance and continued on her way to the kitchen to see what she could find for herself.

"Who are you talking to this time around?" asked Mel, who had heard Fox speaking to someone, of course, under the impression that she was most probably talking to one of her invisible friends. Jack saw an older version of the red-haired teenager come out, but this one was brunette. Mel stopped as soon as she realised who was standing in her house, and who Fox had just passed.

"I'm not talking to myself you know, there is a person here," Fox replied to Mel, who was just flabbergasted to see that her twin sister's celebrity crush was casually standing there, looking like he didn't have a clue about anything that was happening. "I think David's gone insane." By this time, Fox had buried her head in the pantry and was desperately trying to look for some two minute noodles.

"What do you want with our family, Mr White?" asked Mel.

"So you know who I am?" asked Jack, a bit surprised.

"You've obviously never seen my sister's side of our room," answered Mel. Jack looked a bit confused. "Do I dare scar you for life and tell you who lives here that would literally take a bullet for you Jack, or should I call you just Mr White from now on?"

"You can just call me Jack, I don't mind," answered Jack.

"Well, as long as it remains that way and not 'Daddy', I'm fine with that," retorted Mel, angrily. "What's your dealings with my stepfather?"

"Ah, stepfather?" Jack couldn't help but to ask.

"Do I look anything like David, Josipa or Jess?" asked Mel. Mel slowly shook her head to answer Jack. "No. And I want it to remain that way."

"Give him a break, he's a decent man," Jack told Mel, as Mel shrugged.

"I'm sure he is but it's just my opinion, that's all, it can be rather harsh at times," Mel replied, as she saw David walk up the front yard. "Again, what's your dealings with my stepfather?"

"Doing a collaboration," Jack shortly answered. "Why do I feel like I've done something wrong here?"

"Depends," answered Mel. "Have you done something wrong?"

"I'm quite positive that I haven't done anything wrong, or as far as I am concerned," answered Jack.

"Well there you go, you should feel no need to feel like you've done something wrong," Mel said to him, as David entered the house and shut the door behind him. "Have fun with your gangbang or whatever you called it before."

"A collaboration," Jack made it clear. Mel smiled and left the scene, going back into her room. Jack turned to David who stood next to him. "Who is she?"

"Melissa, my wife's twin daughter from her previous marriage," answered David. "Why? What did she say to you?"

"She has an attitude adjustment problem," Jack just had to say.

"Yeah, just like her mother," added David. "You know what they say, like mother like daughter. No exception here." Jack was still trying to come to terms with what Mel and Fox had said to him and had a gut feeling that his presence was unwanted in this household.

"Who's the redhead child?" asked Jack. "Is she yours?"

"Who? Fox?" David asked.

"I don't know, don't expect me to know all the names in this household," answered Jack, innocently. "What am I, a family tree?"

"Again, Ravyn's daughter, and again, same attitude adjustment problem, all of her girls have it," David explained. "Not including the son, well, I've only met him once and he seemed an intelligent and bright kid. He really makes me wonder how the hell could he and Sarah be possibly related at times." Jack really wanted to say something but decided against the decision to say it. "Why don't you sit down or something?"

"You know, I was thinking the same thing," Jack lied, as he threw on a fake smile on his face.

"What do you drink?" asked David.

"Bourbon and coke," answered Jack, as David shook his head. "What? You're out of it?"

"No, no one, and I mean, no one touches the bourbon and coke stash, because all of it belongs to my wife," answered David. "The last person who touched that ended up sleeping outside, and that was one of her daughters that she that to. She's very territorial over certain objects in the house, including me See this is why I tend to drink straight spirits when the occasion calls for it."

"No surprise there," Jack rolled his eyes.

"Take a seat, why don't you?" offered David. "I'm sure I can satisfy your taste for alcohol with a different drink." David walked into the kitchen while Jack went down the small steps and into the large entertaining area.

"You sure have a big house here David," commented Jack, as he took the seat that was notorious for being Sarah's place to sink her backside into for hours at end in front of the huge television and watching mostly the cartoon channels. "It's nice and comfy."

"Yeah, in more ways than one," David joked, hoping that he wouldn't get that joke. Jack did in fact get that joke but had decided to go against his intentions to add onto it, seeing that he didn't know his wife at all. "Are you married Jack?"

"Yeah," answered Jack. "Fox should know that." David stopped pouring drinks for the both of them and thought for a second of who and what he could be talking about with that comment. There was just silence. "Is that the one that likes me? Or so, that's what Melissa implied to me in our conversation."

"Oh holy mother of a cow, no, Fox would rather marry guys who are old enough to be her father let alone touching you without the aid of a ten font cow brander," answered David, as he closed the bottle of spirits and picked up the two glasses that he had mixed vodka and other substances in with. "I think the person you're thinking of, is Mel's twin sister, Sarah."

"God, is contraception an alien object to your wife or something?" Jack couldn't help but to ask. David couldn't help but to laugh at the fact that Jack had the guts to come out with such a comment about Ravyn when he hadn't even met her. "I mean, how many kids does she have?" He started counting on his fingertips. "You've got the boy, one, Mel and Sarah, two, three, and Fox, four. Four fucking kids."

"Funny you should say that, I said that to her on our first date when she told me how many kids she had," replied David, entering the living room with the two glasses of mixed cocktails in soft drink glasses. "Nah man, she's all good that woman of mine. But her ex husband, is a nitwit. I think the cogs in his brain must revolve around an Ikea table or something."

"So he's an Ikea nitwit produced from those junk mail leaflets that you get in the mail?" asked Jack, as David let out a small laugh. "Very interesting." David placed the two drinks on the coffee table in front of them and then realised where Jack was sitting. He smiled, as Jack took to the drinks. But before he could sip his drink, he noticed David's smile, as David, by now, was trying to hold back laughter. "What's wrong? Was it something I said?"

"The over-obsessive fan that lives in this household, sits in that seat night in and day out," answered David, starting to laugh.

"Holy fuck, in that case," Jack replied, as Jack slammed his drink on the coffee table and got to his feet. He ran to the other side of the room and made himself comfortable in an armchair. "Is that better now?" David couldn't help but to laugh even more at Jack's reaction, as David thought that would never be his reaction, but to just sit there and accept the fact that he was sitting in Sarah's seat. David nodded as he sat on a nearby armchair as well, with his drink in his arms. "So how is this going to work?"

"Who said anything about working tonight?" asked David, smiling. "We're gonna do what men do best. Drink." Jack got to his feet and retrieved his drink. Jack and David raised their glasses. "Cheers."

"Cheers for being famous and married, so that no crazy obsessed fan get in your pants just to go and tell the tabloids next day," cheered Jack.

"I'll drink to that," agreed David, as Jack and David drank their soft drink glasses empty, just like that in one shot.

****

****

It was now about seven in the evening and Jos has assured herself that being so physically sick and in so much was pain at the same time, wasn't fun. She hadn't done anything since she had gotten home and now was eager to get out of the house and do something productive, as she had planned in the morning, before she knew she was going to get in the car that would end up causing her so much pain. She had stayed in bed the whole time, while she heard people out and about, outside. But she was quick to notice one thing, they had a guest over and they were drinking with her father.

Her stepmother and stepsister weren't home and her other stepsister, Mel, had decided that she would go to the shopping mall with her friends instead of keeping her stepsister company, like she would normally do at times of boredom,

Her cell phone started to ring.

She leant over to the bedside table which had her pink and white lamp turned off on it and various bits of jewelery on it.

"Hello?" she asked, not knowing who was calling.

"Hi sweetheart, how's it going?"

It was Mark, her boyfriend. This was a big deal in the eyes of her father, if he was ever to find out about Mark, because in his eyes there was one motto for his girls and the dating world - no dating until you graduate. Jess knew well there was something going between her and Mark, because if Jos wasn't at school, at the mall, or not home, she was with Mark. Or in the mind of her father's, she was a friend's place.

"Good, well, not so good,"

"Oh? Care to explain?"

"My dumb ass stepsister decided to take one of my father's cars for a spin, just to drop Jess off downtown. But guess what? We ended in a car accident and I was dumb enough to agree to come along."

"Aww, honey, did you get any major injuries?"

"Yeah, whiplash, which is slowly easing off,"

"Easing off enough for you to come over tonight for the party?"

"Oh shit, I forgot about that,"

"Well, it's still on if you wanna come over. Have you told your father about us?"

"And, what? Risk the lectures and the no-dating-until-you-graduate speech?"

"I'll take that as a no,"

"You don't know my father like I do and as much as I love the man, he gets on my nerves quite a lot,"

"What time will you be over?"

"Very soon if I can get someone or something to cover for me, cos you'll know what Dad and his new woman would be like with me going to parties,"

"Alright sweetheart, catch you later,"

"Same here,"

Josipa hung up, as she sat up. She had lied about the whiplash easing off to Mark, it hadn't gotten any better and even though she was doped up pain killers, the drugs weren't doing anything for her really. She got to her feet and walked to the door. Stopped as she listened for any other noises than drunken rants outside in the living room.

The front door opened as Ravyn and her daughter came through it. Ravyn stopped and looked at the pair of men talking away in slurry speech on the couch. Ravyn saw Jack and smiled briefly. She waved to him, as she realised Sarah was trying to look for something in her pockets and didn't even see her celebrity crush standing just metres away from her.

"Hi, you must be David's wife," Jack assumed, as he took another mouthful of whatever was in his glass and Ravyn had a feeling that it wasn't water that he was drinking.

"Yeah, nice to meet you," replied Ravyn, as she hurried over to David, and looked at him sternly. "Get him out of here."

"Why?" asked David, innocently. "He hasn't done anything wrong." Ravyn pointed to Sarah who just by luck was occupied by her own stupidity. "Is she still in trouble?"

"Uh huh, idiot," answered Ravyn who looked back to Sarah to see that she still had her mp3 player in her ears and was looking for something that was obviously frustrating her. That was the only reason why Ravyn didn't take her music off her by now, she knew something like this would happen.

"Alright, let's go out the back and light up the barbecue," David said, as he got to his feet, stumbling and swaying in his walk. He wasn't the only one to do it, Jack looked like he had way too much to drink as well. "Unless you want to have a stalker for the rest of your life, I suggest we hurry outside." Ravyn didn't even bother trying to help her husband stand. She had seen him off his face before so many times, compared to Rob and his non-drinking ways, David looked like the Devil.

Ravyn turned around, after making sure Jack and David hadn't smashed or broken anything in their journey to the backyard, and stood in front of Sarah. She frowned, as she kept on seeing Sarah trying to find something in her pockets.

"What have you lost this time?" asked Ravyn. Sarah didn't hear her. Ravyn rolled her eyes as she pulled both of her earphones out of her ears. Sarah looked up and frowned. "God child, you're going to go deaf by the rate you're going, listening to all that music so loud. What have you lost?"

"Just a piece of paper with a number on it," answered Sarah, innocently.

"Who's number was on it?" asked Ravyn.

"Just a number, none of your business," answered Sarah.

"It becomes part of my business when I have to give birth to you," Ravyn retorted. "I didn't go through hours of pain just to be told that my child's business is not of my own, thank you. Now who's number was it?"

"Never you mind, keep your nose out of my business and I'll keep my nose out of your business," replied Sarah. "Who was here before? I thought I heard another voice."

"Never you mind, keep your nose out of my business and I'll keep my nose out your business," mocked Ravyn, walking away.

Sarah shrugged as she realised that it couldn't be that important. She kicked off her shoes in the middle of the hallway entrance and walked to her bedroom, to go and hibernate for the night, or until dinner was called. She had a bad feeling that her mother was going to make her cook dinner for everyone else or cook her own dinner as punishment for wrecking the car. However, before she could get to her room, she suddenly saw Josipa looking through the small gaps of her half-opened door. She stopped, looked and frowned at her own stepsister.

"Ah, I see the whiplash can't be that bad for you to look guilty," commented Sarah. "Who or what are you looking for?" Jos looked to Sarah, and quickly grab hold of her arm and dragged her into her room, closing the door behind her. "What the hell is wrong with you? Have you finally gone crazy?"

"You know my dad's thing about dating, right?" asked Jos, as Sarah slowly nodded. "You see, there's a guy-"

"And you want me to cover for you.."Sarah finished off Jos's sentence for her. Sarah shook her head. "I'm in enough shit as it is with wrecking the car. I don't even want to begin to imagine the look on my mother's face if you get caught sneaking out with a boy and I'm somehow involved."

"Please, I really like him and..yeah..you should know you've had guys in your life," Jos tried to explain, but knew she was failing. Sarah sighed.

"Alright," Sarah gave in, to get it all over and done with as soon as possible. "But don't go through the front door, go out your window, idiot. I'll tell mum that I'll bring your dinner into you, seeing how fragile you are, apparently." Jos smiled and wrapped her arms around her stepsister for covering her. "Don't get too attached, it's only one time I'm doing this. And if she asks, I had nothing to do with this, alright?" Jos nodded.

"Thank you so much," Jos thanked, as Sarah nodded and opened the window for her stepsister.

"Now go," Sarah insisted, as she looked to the time and started to smell food being cooked in the backyard. "I think your father's cooking dinner so I'm going to be out the back if you want me, some time in the future when you get back. And don't try to call my cell, it broke in the accident today which Mom's majorally pissed at, as well." Jos gave Sarah one last smile and managed to climb out the window without another sound made or another word said. "Be back by nine at least, that's when Mom goes around to check on us all." Jos was in the garden and nodded. She waved goodbye to her stepsister and ran across the front lawn and eventually down the street. Sarah sighed and closed Jos' window. She turned around and left her room. Now the smell of sausages and steak was getting strong and she wanted to see what else was cooking.

She started to walk outside, and grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket, while walking at the same time to the back yard, she opened it. She tried to see if it still would work and turned it on. It turned on but the screen was cracked and all, and she could barely make out what was being displayed on the screen. Jess walked past and gave her a small smile.

"Dad's cooking food outside," Jess said, as Sarah rolled her eyes and Jess kept on walking to her room. Sarah pushed the back door open and stepped outside.

"And this is the infamous Sarah I've been telling you about," said David, as he pointed to Sarah who had just looked up, wondering what the hell was going on, other than David attempting to cook whatever he had put on and Sarah could just tell that he wasn't cooking sausages or steak.

"You are an idiot, you're cooking Ma's pot-roast on that thing, she's gonna kill you," started Sarah, slapping her forehead with a spare hand, and then she realised who was standing next to him, holding a bottle of beer. Her face went as red as the shirt that he was wearing and dropped her phone, so that it fell in the bucket of cold ice that she had stopped next to.

"Hello Sarah, I hear you're a fan of me," he said, as Sarah didn't know what to say and forgetting the fact that she just killed her almost-recoverable cell phone. Sarah didn't know what to say, so she said nothing, she just stood there with her mouth gaping open as though she was one of those revolving clown heads at a county fair.

"Oh my God, Jack White," she whispered to herself. "My future husband is standing in front of me...in my house...in my backyard.." Sarah was literally lost for words, as Jack couldn't help but to laugh at the face on her expression.

****

****

Sarah was still speechless, she literally didn't know what to say. Was this the person that was in the living room while she was busy looking for that stupid piece of paper? She was still as red as his Get Behind Me Satan album cover.

"You want a drink or something?" asked Jack, just trying to be kind to his newly met fan, who also turned out to be the stepdaughter of the man he was planning to have a collaboration with. "You drink beer?" He held up his beer, indicating what he was drinking was beer. Sarah shook her head silently. "Do you want a drink?" He found himself repeating the same question, that he realised that Sarah hadn't answered him on. Sarah shook her head. She didn't want to say anything just in case she said the wrong word. Jack turned to David and lowered his voice. "Does she ever speak this one?"

David couldn't help but to laugh as he realised his wife's pot-roast wouldn't cook all the way through on the barbecue.

"Speak is all she ever does!" laughed David, as he held the raw meat in his hands and chucked in the rubbish bin next to the three-burner barbecue. Sarah ignored David's laughter and continued to stand there like a frozen statue. "Talk to her some more and then maybe, you could get something out of her."

"Ah, okay then," replied Jack, softly, as he turned back around. "You wanna sit down or something?" Sarah nodded again silently, as Jack rolled up his pants, putting the beer down on the ground firstly, picked up his pants and sat on the edge of the pool. Sarah sat down next to him, trying to control the little girl inside of her and what crushes she had tucked away in her little Book of Crushes. She just wanted to squeal like a little girl. But she restrained herself from such actions. "Which band of mine do you like?"

"All....of them," she managed to answer, as Jess came back outside with a plate of raw sausages and steaks that Ravyn had sent her out with to give to her father. After discovering that her pot-roast had disappeared, she soon assumed the worst, and her assumption was right.

"There you go," said Jess, placing the sausages and steaks plate near David. David smiled simply and as drunk as he was, he gave his daughter a bone-breaking hug. "Please Dad, I want my bones to be intact when I wake up tomorrow morning."

"You're my baby girl and I'll never let you go," replied David.

"Yes, I'm sure I am," assured Jess, as David let go of her. "You're gone, aren't you?" David shook his head. "I'll take that as a yes." Jess couldn't help but to smile as she sat down on a nearby chair and watched her stepsister and the guy that wanted to collaborate with her father, have a conversation.

"Favourite songs?" asked Jack, trying to hold back laughter as he found Sarah's shyness highly amusing but at the same time, he didn't want to insult the number one fan of the household.

Sarah had to think about this one. Her natural instinct was to say all of them, but she didn't want to sound too desperate. She knew if she sounded too desperate Jack might not want to return back to David's place, in fear that he'll come face to face with his life-long stalker.

"I have a couple," she answered slowly, as she kicked her feet around in the pool. "Which band and album do you want me to start with?"

"David," came Ravyn's voice, as she came outside with a worried look on her face.

"Yeah," replied David, looking to Ravyn who had stopped and crossed her arms once she saw Jack and Sarah talking to one another. Ravyn looked at David and gave him a nasty glare. "Oh, about that. You've got to ease off a bit when punishing your kid. The girl's having a nice time with her wannabe future husband."

Sarah just wish her stepfather hadn't just said that, as she went more red. Jack just felt flattered and somewhat apologetic for his previous act when he found out that he was sitting on Sarah's seat. He just took a mouthful of beer and smiled at her.

"As I was saying before, David, your stupid dog is on our bed, casually blessing it with its drool," Ravyn continued. "Now, I don't know about you, but I prefer not sleeping in dog's drool when I go to bed tonight." David rolled his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me like that."

"Don't be my mother then," retorted David, as he walked past his wife to go get his dog, Niles, a huge St Bernard, off their bed before his wife said another word about it. He loved his dog, a lot. He was that drunk he didn't even notice that none out of three pets weren't outside - Niles, and two of Ravyn's cats, Miffy and Mouse. Ravyn took one last look at the pair sitting on the pool's edge, casually splashing their feet in the pool. And of course, Jess about to crack up laughing at them both for the way they were acting towards each other, as Jess was still sitting back enjoying the show. Ravyn sighed as she walked back inside to see what Fox and Mel were upto.

"Ah, okay, I don't know this in order but I'll try my best to remember," Sarah continued. "I'll start with a couple of the top of my head, I would say that all of your songs are my favourite, but that would just sound so desperate of me." Sarah let out a little laugh. Jack just couldn't believe that she was talking so much. "A Martyr For My Love For You.." Jack just had to laugh. "What?"

"Nothing, continue, no wait, don't for a second," answered Jack, as suddenly Niles head-butted him and Jack fell into the pool. Jack had originally planned to tell Sarah a tale of hium and Meg on tour, but his plans had faded to black. Sarah hid her laugh by covering her mouth. David had just came through the back door and just was standing there laughing at Jack, as with Jess who was laughing hysterically. Jack had come to the surface and flicked his black hair out of his eyes. He realised that he had split his beer everywhere in the pool, but he couldn't help but to laugh.

"Are you alright?" asked Jess, who was the only person to ask if he was okay or not.

"Yeah I'm fine," answered Jack, who saw David laughing and had a feeling that he had put the dog upto it. "I'll get my revenge Draiman, you can count on that."

"Good boy," David told the dog, as the dog came back to its master and laid down in front of David. David bent down and gave him a pat.

"What just happened?" asked Ravyn to David, who had just come back from Fox's room and saw Jack in the pool. David stood up and smiled innocently. "Why do I have a feeling that you've got something to do with this?"

"I'm innocent," answered David, guilty as ever. "Niles just ran full speed at Jack and pushed him into the pool." David gave Ravyn a peck on the cheek and went back to cooking the steaks and sausages.

"You want something to dry you off, Jack?" asked Ravyn.

"No, I'm fine," answered Jack, still keeping himself afloat in the pool. He looked to the floating beer bottle beside him and then back at Ravyn. He smiled."And plus, it's kinda refreshing."

There were several knocks at the frontdoor and Ravyn thought that whoever was knocking at this time of night, was most probably Rob, back again to ruin a good moment, like he usually did or, insane people that never heard of dinner time. Ravyn frowned and scratched the back of her head, hoping to the heavens above that it wasn't Rob.

She stopped and pulled the front door open to reveal a policeman with Jos by his side.

"What the hell?" asked Ravyn.

"Mrs Draiman?" asked the policeman, sternly, not looking too happy at all. Ravyn nodded slowly, not knowing if this could be real. Josipa, getting in trouble? Was this even possible seeing how good she usually was? "Is this your daughter?" Ravyn nodded again. "We have to talk to you about what Josipa has been up to."

****

****

It was now a couple of hours after that Josipa had been escorted home by the policeman and since Ravyn had nearly been given a heart attack, originated from her surprise that out of all the children to do something as stupid that Jos had done, it had to be the most unlikely child. They had decided against giving Jos an outright lecture on the spot about her behaviour, because of Jack's presence within the property and the likelihood that David might turn the collaboration between the two men into a manmade disaster.

They ate their dinner outside under the stars, with smiles and laughter being shared across either end of the table, all except Jos, who merely picked at her food, without a word being said.

Once the cab was called for Jack, Ravyn hurried all the children to bed and gave them a threat that if they snuck out and news of it reached her ears, there would be hell to pay. Now, the dilemma now was trying to organise a punishment before the large lecture took place the next morning, hopefully without the presence of Jack being around.

David sat at the end of their bed, feeling like his head was going to explode. He had sobered up quite a bit when Ravyn tugged him aside from a conversation with Jack and told him what had happened. He himself, couldn't believe that Jos, out of all kids, Josipa was the kid that was in trouble with the law this time around. He felt clueless and didn't know where to start with trying to discipline his own kid, let alone what ground to start picking at her with. He fully recognised that she had done something wrong, and he didn't want her to get away with it and make her think that sort of behaviour that landed her in trouble, was okay.

"Help me out here a bit, Rave," David requested, as he took a sip of the glass in his hands which contained water. "None of my kids have done this. They're all meant to be good kids, well, unlike yours are notorious for rebellion around this house." Ravyn exited the bathroom in which she was ripping the hairbrush through her hair, after trying to drown herself in the shower and kept asking to the ceiling; why? David looked at her as she tied her wet hair back in a messy bun. "I mean, they're my kids Ravyn, they don't do anything like that. Maybe Josipa's part of a secret society, like a cult or a sect?" David couldn't help but to speculate. "I don't know, help me out a little bit please?"

"Don't go rushing to conclusions," frowned Ravyn, as she stood there, now crossing her arms. David shook his head and looked to the floor. He sighed, not knowing what to do. "I highly doubt that Jos is part of a secret society and I think you're just beating yourself up way too much over this." David looked back up to Ravyn who had uncrossed her arms by now. "If it was up to me, yes I do know I'm not that child's mother, I would've given her more than earful of what I have to say on this matter. And that's one of the main reasons why I didn't want to say anything, it's mainly because she's not my daughter and if I lay principles down on her which you don't agree on, I'll be called an evil stepmother or some weird shit like that. Your her father and you should know how to deal with trouble when it comes literally knocking at your doorstep." What Ravyn had said was true. She didn't want to be seen as an evil stepmother from hell, as she had been told various times by her own kids that they hated her when she laid rules and punishments down on them. In fact, it had become such a common event in her previous marriage to their father, Ravyn didn't even bother to take the I-hate-you and you're-not-my-mother insults to heart anymore. "You are a father after all David, you should know how to handle situations like this."

"But it's not everyday that the daughter of mine, the high successor, the brains of this family, gets in trouble for being at a nightclub that gets drug busted by the cops and gets busted for being underage with a false ID card on her hands, now tell me, how to deal with such news?" asked David, putting down the glass of water on the floor and he laid back in the middle of the large king size bed. Ravyn could understand where he was coming from. She sighed as she crawled up the bed and into her husband's arms. "I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't feel the need to ask and if I didn't feel so damn lost about it all. I mean, they never did anything bad in my previous marriage. Jos and Jess were always on their best behaviours, well, most of the time, anyway, that I can recall." There was a silence. Ravyn could hear his heavy heartbeat as she pressed her ear to his chest, as a means of a pillow and could feel his solid built arm hold her around her waist. "I never thought Jos would defy me in such a way." Ravyn closed her eyes, but didn't fall asleep. She was still listening for the meantime. "I just feel so...damn violated about this all. She's a good girl, I know that for a fact. She does well at school and in her assignments, and they all show in her report cards. Do you think this is the start of something awful?"

"She's a teenager Dave, as much as I hate to admit it, she's growing up fast, and she's in the middle of a teenage rebellion stage, let alone various shots of raging hormones," Ravyn put clearly. "I've dealt with it several times and I'm still dealing with it with my girls. But what we're going to do right now on is that we'll deal with her in the morning, but in the mean time, I could use a snuggle right now."

David sighed, as Ravyn opened her eyes and sat up straight, smiling faintly and weakly. She too was exhausted from everything that happened today and felt like it seemed to go too fast for her liking; the car accident, the punishing of Sarah saga, Jack, Jack and Sarah saga, and now the whole Jos saga. What was this? An episode of Days of a Lives?

"Come here sweetheart," smiled David, softly, summoning his wife with small hand gestures. She smiled as she made her way over to David slowly. He wrapped his hands around her waist and their lips met. They were locked in a soft passionate kiss for a couple seconds before she pulled away. "What's wrong?" He frowned as he realised that she was smiling. "What?" He was just a tad confused about what was happening.

"I remember when we first met," she reminisced on old memories of them.

"So do I, surprisingly, seeing how drunk I was when you stopped and asked me for directions to the nearest cafe and you were with your friend," he remembered, as they came back in for another kiss. He turned her over so that he was on top, leant over to turned off the only light that was on in the room, which was the small lamp on the bedside table.

He told himself that he might still be very drunk right now and not quite sobered up properly, but he knew what he was doing and was about to do, and had no regrets about it whatsoever.

****

****

There was a knock at Sarah's and Mel's room. Yes, they had the unfortunate task of sharing a room, yet again. They had to share a room back at their place when their Mum and Dad were together and they got stuck with each other once again.

Sarah was on her bed which was clearly marked by a Jack White throw rug that her father had given her last birthday as an attempt to try and repair the damage done. He had greatly failed. Sarah loved her Jack White throw rug, it was more of a blanket to her than a throw rug. It had a large picture of Jack White with his red outfit and white belt under a red umbrella looking up. In other words, her father took a picture of Jack, got it printed onto a throw rug and claimed it as a birthday gift instead of properly labelling it as an attempt to win a child over to his side. She was reading a book her mother had given her, it was called Tourniquet and was written by some random Australian teenager called Sarah Woodland. Sarah couldn't help but to love the fact that they had shared the same first name and both had some Australian blood running through their veins.

Meanwhile, Mel laid down on her pink and black striped bed cover, on her stomach, typing away on an internet forum. She unlike Sarah, kept her crushes to herself, and mostly on her computer. She had millions of files in folders that consisted of punk bands and icons that she merely adored for the sake of how hot the guys were in them. Her walls, unlike Sarah's, weren't covered with picture after picture of the same guy, again, Jack White, but she had photos of friends covering them, much what Fox's and Jess's room looked like (as they also shared a room like the twins, leaving with Jos the only child a room to themselves.).

"Can you get that?" asked Sarah, as she turned around to see what Mel was doing. "You're doing nothing productive, like usual."

"Can't you just get it?" complained Mel, as she stopped typing on internet forums and looked to her eldest twin sister. Sarah shook her head. "What are you doing that's worth me getting the door?"

"I'm in the middle of Tourniquet," answered Sarah. "Who the hell wastes their free time on internet forums when you can read a book and get more knowledge from the book than that thing you stare at and type away all day at?" Mel shook her head, still refusing to budge. "How about the fact that I'm older than you and you do what I say?"

Mel didn't know what to say to that. She had a good point.

"Alright, but just this once," Mel gave in, as she got to her feet and opened the door. It was only Jos. "Oh, it's the naughty girl who's in trouble with the cops."

"I'm still wondering if this is all a dream," added Sarah, bookmarking the page that she was one with a bookmark that was beside and closed the book. "What do you want?" Sarah put the book down on her bed.

"I need to get away from my room," answered Jos, closing the door behind her. Mel went back to what she was doing before. "So, are you all happy that you met the famous Jack White for the first time and made an ass of yourself at the same time?"

"Damn straight I am, and that's the answer to both of the questions you asked," answered Sarah. "Can I ask what went wrong? Because it's pretty obvious that you're in a lot of trouble with the folks here, even though they didn't say anything, anyone can tell when Mum's fuming mad." Jos sat on the end of Sarah's bed and faced the door, so that she faced away from Sarah. She buried her face in her hands and started to cry. "What's wrong?" Sarah patted Jos on the back. "What happened?" She knew that she better start asking the questions now than sooner because the answers would be different from her mother and David.

Jos looked up to Sarah, and removed her glasses. Sarah looked around for the box of tissues that was kept handy just in case, cases like Jos entered the room. Mel was quick to notice Jos' sudden mood swing and found the box of tissues. She handed them to Sarah, who Sarah ripped out some tissues and handed them to her stepsister.

"Fuck, I can't believe it went down so badly," she started, as Mel sat on the end of her bed, awaiting eagerly to know the reason why Jos was crying. Jos wiped her eyes with the tissues, crumpled them in her fist and put her glasses back on. "Mark and I were clubbing at this nightclub, at his friend's 18th. And since we're not eighteen yet, we got some fake IDs for twenty bucks off one of Mark's friends and then the bouncer let us in. So we were inside and suddenly, we heard gunfire and everyone naturally went down on the floor and there were a couple of screams. The guy next to us, like, literally clubbing next to Mark and I, got done for having ecstasy on him, apparently an undercover cop had fired the shot to get everyone down on the ground and I got accused of having dealings with him." Jos started to cry some more. "You know me Sarah, I wouldn't do that shit."

"But you would get a fake ID to go clubbing?" asked Mel, as everyone's attention was on Mel. Jos nodded slowly. "What? Don't give me that look. Obtaining or selling fake IDs is a black market industry, which is highly illegal. The money made in that business supports terrorism and the drug underground mafia. You could be found guilty of either supporting the black market trade or even supporting terrorism, which would then lead to a treason charge."

"How would you know this Einstein?" sneered Sarah.

"I watched a program on the CI channel about this with Mom one day," answered Mel. "Oh come on, do you think I'm stupid or something? I can retain information, you know?"

"And did you forget that you have to be over the age of eighteen to be formally charged with an offence such as treason?" asked Sarah. There was just silence as Mel just shut down by her twin sister. "Yeah I didn't think so." Jos and Sarah decided the best thing to do in this situation, is to ignore what Mel said or did. Jos and Sarah looked back to each other.

"What do I do?" asked Jos, still crying a little bit. "I snuck out thinking I would be back in one piece. But it's all backfired on me."

"I think it was just a case of you didn't know, and wrong place and wrong time," assumed Sarah. "Just tell your dad that and see how my Mom feels about it all. It bet it's going to be okay, so don't worry about it all. Just say to them what you said to me and it should be fine."

"Thanks," sniffled Jos. She was fiddling around with the soggy tissues in her hands, as Sarah patted her on the back softly. "You know, why I don't want to be in my room right now?" Sarah shook her head, but Mel just rolled her eyes as she went back to chatting online. "My room's right next to Dad's and guess fucking what?" Sarah innocently shrugged, not knowing what to think. "I just said the word." Jos winked.

"Oh god," Sarah just realised what she had just said and realised her reasoning behind coming into their room.

"Did I need that mental image in my head?" asked Mel, who was still listening in to their conversation. "Now I'm scarred for life."

****

***

It was four the next morning when the alarm rung on Ravyn's phone to wake her up for work. It took her a couple of minutes to figure out what that noise was because she was dead to the world in David's arms. She reached for her phone and turned it off, as she realised that David was dead to the world as well, happy in his own little place, and snoring his head off as well. She reached for a shirt of his that she could wear until she hit the shower. Her fingers managed to find one of his black singlets near her side of the bed and settled for that. She pulled him off her and dressed herself for a short time in his black singlet, which on her, it was like a dress, or an overgrown nightgown. She didn't mind, as long she was wearing something under her robes so that when she stepped outside into the hallway, to wake two of the kids up, it wasn't that obvious to them what he and her had been up to that night. Even though, she knew they were basically adults now and had been taught at school what goes bump in the night, she had to look half decent.

She tied up her night robe as she walked out into the hallway to wake Jos and Sarah up. First up, was Jos' room. She knocked on the door and opened it. There laid Jos dead to the world. Her face was hidden by a book that she had picked up to read before she went to bed, she still had her glasses on and all. She had decided to do David a favour and dismissed the fact that Jos had suffered whiplash from the accident involving Sarah smashing the car to metallic shards. And Jos knew that she had to work for her stepmother because Jos knew her father and her stepmother take lying seriously.

"Jos," Josipa's stepmother said firmly, but quietly, not wanting to wake the whole household up at once. Jos stirred a little bit, but not much. Ravyn raised her voice a little bit. "Josipa."

Josipa looked up and saw only the pages of the book above her. She frowned as she moved the book, and had started to wonder what time it was. She heard her stepmother repeat her name. She sat up and looked dazzled and confused.

"What?" asked Jos, still very wiry and confused. She now not only heard her stepmother repeat her name, but she saw her standing there in her black robes. Jos recognised the robes instantly - it was in fact her own mother's robes that her father had given her stepmother as a present. Jos frowned. "What's happening, Ravyn? What are you doing?"

"It's time to get up," answered Ravyn. "You're working today, remember?" Jos shook her head. "Well, not only are you paying off lying to me about the whereabouts of my own daughter, but you're going to pay off the grief you've caused your father and I, after last night's little stunt."

"What time do we have to be there?" asked Jos, not even putting in the effort of arguing with Ravyn, well, at least right now, it was too early in the morning for her.

"In an about an hour, so move," ordered Ravyn, leaving Jos to wake up and get ready. She moved on to her own daughter's room. She did the same thing. She knocked at the door and then invited herself into Sarah's and Mel's room. "Sarah." She softly whispered, as she came in and sat on Sarah's bed, just inches away where her daughter was sound asleep and in her own little world. She nudged at her daughter to wake up. Sarah mumbled as she rolled onto her side and pulled the sheets over her. Ravyn sighed as she took the covers off her and nudged her again. "Sarah, wake up."

"What?" asked Sarah as she opened her eyes and rolled back onto her back. She saw her mother sitting on her bed. "What's the time?"

"Four in the morning and you need to get up," answered Ravyn, briefly.

"What? Are you senile?"

"No, well, not as much as you are. Come on Sarah, you owe me this remember? I'm not the one that decided to smash the car into tiny pieces of metal along with driving an unregistered vehicle with no permit. And you have the gut to call me senile? Pfft."

"Oh Mom, can't I just-"

"What? Can't you just get away with it? No missy, it doesn't work that way."

"I was going to suggest before you cut me off, can't I just come in when the sun is up?"

"Depends, do you value your life right now?" They heard Jos' door squeak, indicating that she was up. In a matter of seconds, they heard her footsteps walk up the hallway. "Josipa is up." Sarah rolled her eyes at her mother and sat up. They heard the bathroom door shut, well, one out of three they had.

"Fine, I'm up and about, are you happy about that?"

"Shut up," they both heard Mel groan, as she rolled over onto her side and emersed herself in her covers. "Go back to sleep."

"Hurry up, but, we've got to be out of here in an hour," Ravyn urged, as she got to her feet. She took one last look at her daughter and left the room, leaving it wide open. Ravyn thought she must be hearing stuff because she just thought there was a knock at the door. Ravyn shook her head as she went to Fox's and Jess's room to see if they hadn't snuck out. No, they were there, snug as ever. Then the person at the door knocked again.

"Am I hearing things or is there a person at the door at four in the morning?" asked Sarah, now standing in the middle of the doorway, as Ravyn closed Fox's and Jess's door and looked to her daughter. "Do you want me to get it?"

"No, I'll get it," answered Ravyn, as she shook her head and continued down the hallway to answer the front door knocker. She opened the door and frowned. "Jack? What are you doing here at this time? It's four in the morning. Shouldn't you be recovering from your hang over like David is now?"

"No, I've dealt with the hangover," he replied, slapping the pocket of his pants to show her the sound of the painkillers stashed away in his pocket. "David wanted us to start at six, but I can't get back to sleep for some reason, so I thought, what the heck, I'll come over here early." Ravyn wasn't sure that his reasoning made sense, but let him anyway.

"I'll go get him for you," Ravyn offered. "But before I do, you want a tea or a coffee?"

"Ah, no thanks, big night of drinking and I'm still half-drunk," answered Jack, as Ravyn realised with him being half-drunk made perfect sense of why he thought that everybody was going to be up and about at four in the morning. Ravyn nodded and offered for him to take a seat. She poured the guest a glass of water, in which Jack accepted with a thanks and a smile.

Ravyn walked through the empty hallway and back into their room.

"David," Ravyn nudged David who was snoring his bald head off and probably was in the middle of a nice dream. David stirred. "You've got Jack over, you need to wake up."

"Huh?" asked David, still dead to the world. "What's this about the car being jacked up?"

"No sweetheart, Jack's here to start working with you, like he said he'll be, but he arrived a little bit sooner than expected," answered Ravyn. "You need to wake up to keep him occupied while me and the girls go out for the day to work."

"It's not time for work, I'm not on tour, silly, go back to the mental asylum," David ranted on his sleep. Ravyn just ended up slapping her forehead and walking out of the room.

She went back to Jack who looked like he was about to pass out.

"He'll be out shortly," she told Jack. "If he isn't up by the time I go, cos me and the girls have to go to work, go nuts, I give you my full permission to do whatever the hell you want to do to him. I frankly right now, need to get to work." She smiled as she let Jack watch the blank television screen in front of him and she went back to being focused on getting ready for work and trying to organise Jos and Sarah.

"Why is Jack here?" Sarah found herself asking her mother, rather somewhat confused but at the same time eager to know. Her mother didn't answer her child's question and went back to trying to get ready instead of playing twenty questions about why Jack was still half drunk and back already. Sarah just stood in the middle of the hallway looking somewhat surprised, despite what her feelings were at the time. Jos passed her and then turned around and stopped.

"Why aren't you getting ready?" asked Jos, as Sarah turned around and smiled at her stepsister.

"Jack White's here, to see me," she answered with a small giggle. Jos rolled her eyes and kicked at herself for even bothering to stop and ask Sarah. She turned back around and proceeded to get ready. Josipa knew that Sarah would get in trouble with her mother if she stood around in the hallway, daydreaming and planning her future wedding with Jack White.

****

****

It was nine in the morning, by the time that Jess woke up. She looked to see where Fox laid, and Fox wasn't there. She frowned as she realised what time it was by looking at her watch. Fox loved her sleep ins, and trying to get her out of bed was sometimes a difficult task.

She sighed as she threw the covers off her and her bare feet touched the ground. She walked out of her room, accidentally slamming the door behind her and walked to the kitchen, wanting to fill her stomach with anything that she could get her hands onto.

She stopped as she saw David and Jack talking away in the living room. Jack had his back to her but David saw her and smiled at her. Jack frowned and looked behind him. He smiled and waved at Jess who was standing there in pyjamas and with her messy hair.

"Morning," Jack said, as Jess wondered if he was enjoying the hang over or not. But Jack looked tidy, for someone that had drunk himself stupid the previous night. He wore black pants and a dark green top today.

"This is Jess, one of my daughters," David told Jack.

"Hi," said Jess, as she moved on with her journey to fill her stomach. She entered the kitchen and opened the pantry. She pulled out a half empty cereal box of Fruit Loops, placed it on the bench and yawned. She was still tired from last night. She pulled out a bowl and a spoon from the top drawer, and opened the fridge. She kicked at herself when there wasn't any milk. She groaned. She went back into the living room to tell her father that she wanted cereal and there was no milk. "Dad." She stopped beside her father, and wrapped an arm around him to get his attention.

"Yeah," David replied, stopping his conversation with Jack. "What is it sweetheart? Daddy's trying to have an important conversation with someone." Jess rolled her eyes at her father treating like she didn't know what she had just done to get his attention.

"We're out of milk and I'm hungry," answered Jess.

"Go have some toast or a donut for breakfast," suggested David.

"We don't have any bread or donuts in the house," Jess pointed out. "If that be the case, I would've done it and would have simply not bothered disturbing you."

"Go down to the bakery and get some bread and milk," David instructed, eagerly wanting to get back to that conversation with Jack. "And while you're at it, you can go get some donuts for me. Got any money?"

"Yeah," answered Jess. "Where's Fox? I didn't see her when I woke up."

"Gone to some fair that's on downtown with Melissa," answered David.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, I guess," sighed Jess, detaching herself from the conversation and letting her father and his new music partner get back to whatever they were talking about.

It was only a matter of time until Jess quickly grabbed some clean clothes from the laundry where there were just mountains of ironing to be done and piles of clothes to be put through a washing cycle. She ripped her hairbrush through her hair and put her hair back into a loose bun. She slipped some shoes on, grabbed her wallet and her phone, and left the house, to go walk up to the bakery that was just a block or two away; one out of several bakery places that was in her stepmother's chain of bakeries. She hoped that her sister was working at that one and hoped at the same time that Sarah was working in the one on the other side of the town.

"Morning," was the first thing Jess heard when she walked through the bakery's doors. It was the opposite of what Jess had wanted, Sarah was the one behind the glassed over shelves and the counter. "Why are you here?" Sarah looked tired and unimpressed with the job that her mother forced her to work.

"Ran out of milk and bread," answered Jess. "And Dad wants to stuff his face on donuts. Do I get like a family discount on this or what?"

"Doubt it," answered Sarah, as Jess walked over to the display fridge and pulled out a carton of milk. "Did you just wake up or something?" Jess nodded, as she put the milk on the counter. "Lucky you. I got woken up at four and have been forced to work ever since. Or attempt to work. You said you wanted bread as well, and donuts?" Jess nodded. "Anything else?"

"Nope, that's about it," answered Jess, as Sarah turned around and gave her a loaf of bread. Without another said or done, Sarah packed up a couple of donuts for her stepfather in a white paper bag. "Enjoying the job?"

"No," answered Sarah. "I hate it. She split me and Jos up, so we're working at different joints and I'm stuck with a bitch who can tell me what to do."

"Your mother's here as well?" asked Jess, a bit confused, but she couldn't help but to giggle at her own insult directed at her own stepmother. Sarah laughed a bit as well, but tried desperately to keep a straight face.

"No, the person I'm working with is worse than Mom, lucky for me she's out on a break that she decided to take suddenly, and left the shop with me," answered Sarah. "You can have that all, for nothing." Sarah pointed at the food. "Mom wouldn't care. And plus, what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Thanks," smiled Jess. "I'll be off now."

"Have fun," replied Sarah, folding her arms. "Because I won't be. I'll probably end up burning this place or even trashing it."

****

Mel and Fox were at the fair right now, and each of them had a fairy floss stick in their grips. It was just a county fair, nothing too special. But judging by the little kids chasing each other, the type of kids that weave in and out the legs of people, it was something worth to get excited over.

They had only come because they wanted to get out of the house, and the fact that David had told them to get out of the house to 'give him and Jack some room to talk'. Mel saw this as ironic, seeing how they always stuck to the living room and didn't bother to go to another part of the property to talk things through. Fox saw this as an indication that David was somewhat not straight as a ruler anymore, homosexual ways.

Mel carried a blue plush teddy bear under her arm as she had won it at a bowling game and at the same time beat Fox at her own game, seeing that bowling was a sport that Fox was good at and Mel usually sucked a lot at it. Mel couldn't help but to laugh, when she was eating her fairy floss. She was reminiscing over old memories of family trips to the bowling alley and every time, she wasn't exaggerating on this recollection, Sarah would be the one end up giving up on the game entirely because she would just get gutter balls every time that she bowled.

"Look," said Fox, as Mel was brought down to earth, as Fox and Mel suddenly stopped. Fox pointed and Mel followed her direction. She pointed at her father with a woman, as they played a darts game. "Looks like they're having fun. Who is she?"

"Looks like Dad's moved on, from Mom," answered Mel. She was under the impression that this woman, whoever she was, was their Mom's replacement in their father's life. They were smiling and they were laughing, and they looked like they were enjoying themselves.

"I doubt it," Fox couldn't help but to doubt Mel's sudden assumption. "It's a well known fact that Dad won't ever move on from Mom and that insanity runs through the blood in this family. There's two common things you don't doubt in our family. I bet they're just friends anyway."

Yes, it was a well known fact that Rob would never move on from his previous wife Ravyn and that him starting to see someone else, was starting to think the impossible. Well, that's how all the kids who knew the family history like the back of their hands.

It was at that time, where the two sisters who had different fathers but the same mother, saw Rob kiss the strange woman7 who was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, on the cheek. She had long brown curly hair and looked very happy to go to this fair with Rob. She blushed and smiled at the kiss that Rob had given her.

"So what were you saying before about him not moving on from Mom?" asked Mel, with a triumphed smile on her face. She always loved it when she was right. "I wonder how Mom would react if we tell her that Dad's actually moved on..."

"She'll hold a party or something to show how glad she is that he's moved on and probably won't ever bug her again," Fox guessed, as they saw Rob and the woman now in each other's arms. "Or failing that, she'll drink herself silly."

"I'll go with the first one," agreed Mel. "I doubt that Mom would get upset and drink herself stupid over Dad moving on. I mean, we're talking about Dad here, she left him, not the other way around." Fox shrugged as she took another bite out of her fairy floss on a stick. "Do we tell Mom about this new woman of his?"

"Would she even care to start with?" asked Fox, as she shook her head. Mel shrugged. "Anyway, what she doesn't know couldn't hurt her, right?"

"Who is this new woman in Dad's life anyway and why haven't I heard him talking about her before?" asked Mel, taking another bite of her fairy floss. Fox shrugged as one another face each other.

"Don't expect me to know the answers to everything that's gone on in his life," Fox retorted. "He's not my biological father to start with."

"Hello kids," said Rob, suddenly appearing in front of them, hands in hands with the woman they saw him kissing earlier on the cheek. He was somewhat happy to see them at the fair. "You kids are up a bit early, aren't you?" Fox didn't say anything but merely smiled. Mel did the same, but she was unimpressed with his new choice.

"We couldn't sleep and we wanted to do something useful with our day," Mel shrugged. She wanted to say something about the woman who was standing there and smiling as though she was attempting to be nice.

"Oh, you guys haven't met have you?" asked Rob, innocently. "Joanna, these are my kids, Fox and Mel, and girls, this is Joanna." He was smiling as though it was something to be proud of. Both Bourdon girls were unimpressed with his new woman, Joanna.

****

****

There wasn't a word to be said from his two girls as they looked somewhat shocked and yet confused about Joanna.

"Err..." Fox managed to say which really surprised Rob who had known Fox to be a big talker. Or was that Mel? Rob had once again managed to confuse himself and kicked at himself for feeling like he didn't even know his own children. Rob simply justified that feeling and kicked it off by telling himself that Fox wasn't his child to start with. "Hi, I guess..." Fox managed to put on a fake smile while Mel stood there unimpressed. Mel folded her arms while giving Joanna death stares.

"How long have you been going out you two?" asked Mel, still with her arms folded and now was wearing a frown on her face.

"I don't know now," answered Joanna, sweetly as possible, knowing that she was going to be hated by all of Rob's offspring. "I think it's been a few months now."

"And has he told you, he's still grovelling after my mother?" asked Mel.

"Mel!" Rob suddenly found himself snapping at his daughter. "That is highly untrue and how dare you pick fights you cannot win." Mel looked sharply to Rob. "Don't speak to Joanna or I like that ever again, you hear me?"

"You know you haven't changed," Mel scoffed. "You're still trying to get back at Mom. And yes, for the record, I knew she was the one to leave you and not the other way around. You haven't changed a single bit since she left you. Since we, the kids, turned our backs on you. I hope this little new whore of yours makes you more happier than Mom ever did."

"We should go," suggested Joanna, softly to Rob, as she tugged his arm, knowing that he was starting to lose is temper. She looked back at his kids and softly smiled. "Now." Rob didn't say another word as he detached himself from the confrontation with Mel and walked in the opposite direction, with Joanna still gripped tightly around his arm. "Please Robbie, don't get angry. I don't like it when you get angry." She said in a rather somewhat girlish tone.

"I can't believe that all the things to bring up and to lie about to my face, just had to be said in front of you, that I dearly apologise for," he apologised, through gritted teeth as his temper was starting to rise. The more he thought about it, the more angry he got. "And to drag my ratty damn ex-wife into the equation. She's got nothing to do with us being together."

"Why do we have to ruin such a lovely occasion?" asked Joanna, as she was trying to keep up to his fast pace. "We were having such a nice time together. I know this might sound a bit bold and a little personal, but do you still have feelings for your ex?" Rob stopped and faced her with a stern face. "I'm only asking. I'm allowed to ask aren't I?"

"Why would I have feelings for a woman who complained non-stop about our relationship and then went and left me for a two-headed freak by the name of David Draiman?" asked Rob, sternly. "Now use your logic, why? Why would I?"

"There's no reason to start insulting my intelligence Rob," argued Joanna, who felt somewhat upset by the last remark that managed to escape Rob's mouth by mistake. "I just wanted to know, is that too much to ask from you?"

"You have no idea how angry I am about what Melissa just said to me," Rob continued. "Let alone what Sarah might say to me next time I'm that privileged to run into her."

"Why?" asked Joanna, still wanting to stick her nose into other people's business. "What will Sarah say?"

"The same thing her twin sister just said to me but with more swearing involved," Rob answered, as he turned around and started to walk at a fast pace. Joanna ran after Rob. "That's just great. My evening's been ruined by two brats, and one of them isn't even mine."

"Huh?" asked Joanna, trying to make sense of the last part that she had heard. "What do you mean that she's not yours?"

"Ravyn cheated on me when I was away, with, hear this, my best friend at the time, it was only one night but it made one more kid for me to look after," Rob answered, as Joanna frowned. "Yeah I know what you're thinking, what kind of wife was she? Well, in the end, not a very good one."

"Where are we going?" asked Joanna. "Are we already leaving?"

"We're going to go and pay an old friend a visit and tell her that she needs to keep her kids in line when it comes to their manners," answered Rob.

"But, but...I thought you said that she was a horrible ex-wife?" asked Joanna, remembering Rob saying that just a couple of seconds before and was somewhat confused by his actions. "I don't get it."

"You will trust me," answered Rob, shortly.

Rob on the other hand, had a different reason why he wanted to go pay Ravyn a visit, and the reason didn't include telling her off for her lack of parenting skills when it came to what they're allowed to say and what they shouldn't say. Rob still maintained that if the courts had granted him permission full custody of the kids, the kids would not be acting so freely like how his ex-wife lets them roam around wild, like wild animals in an animal reserve.

"Um...okay Robbie, whatever you say," smiled Joanna.

****