Stricken - LPF Family Saga continued

This is in response to Sarah's 'Stricken' (damn you, I was gonna steal that name!) and a chat we had on MSN a few days ago about picking up our beloved (and dysfunctional) LPF/LP family.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, it was borne from a Games thread called 'The Discombobulated family' or something like that, and it grew into a life all it's own in the Writer's corner. There were, I think, at least four or so different versions of it, all penned by Sarah (Woodyloveslinkin), Meaghan (Greyfoxx), Mel (pheonix791989) and myself.

My original, All About the Music, or AATM as it's known here >>: http://www.linkinparkforums.com/showpost.php?p=315480&postcount=1

Foxx had >>:http://www.linkinparkforums.com/showpost.php?p=320610&postcount=1

Sarah had >>: http://www.linkinparkforums.com/showpost.php?p=317486&postcount=1 and >> http://www.linkinparkforums.com/showpost.php?p=316050&postcount=1

Mel had >>: http://www.linkinparkforums.com/showpost.php?p=334637&postcount=1 and >> http://www.linkinparkforums.com/showpost.php?p=317036&postcount=1

There's probably others but I don't remember... too long ago really!

Well, for anyone not willing to read any of the above, the basic plot I tried to explain in this first update. It should be self-explanitory, but if it's not, it should make more sense as we go along.

It was in no way a 'serious' story (anything worth publishing), but for a bit of fun kept at least 4 of us writing and refering to each other as 'family' in these here forums. That's how the 'LPF family' came about - too much duct tape and random silliness in the games thread. Here we are now a few years later. And I thought it was high time for the sake of it we should pick it up again and see what we can do with it.

Sarah and I figured too much had happened in the past stories to make it feasable to pick up from where a few left off, but for the most part we both kept the main characters and kept the key elements of a bad marriage and a worse divorce and so and branched off from here. We've omitted a few lesser characters and replaced them with a few new faces.

As I said this isn't rocket science so don't expect Pulitzer prize winners here. It's just for fun. The real stuff I'll keep for my studies and myself

Now all that's been said, I guess all that's left to do is post and hope... it all comes back to me as I go!

A million points of light glimmered as she twisted the band between her fingers. With a sigh her brow furrowed, her teeth piercing her bottom lip.

“What’s the matter?” a low voice grumbled. “Don’t you like it?”

Forcing a smile Ravyn bowed her head and shook it. Feeling a hand sweep her back she closed her eyes, willing the cresting memories away.

“It’s not too late. We can always take it back,” he suggested, “have it changed.”

His touch was warm and slow as it traced the curve of her shoulder and slid down her arm, coming to a stop against the back of her hand. She felt him raise it up again and expelled a heavy breath as his lips caressed her flesh. When she opened her eyes her smile had softened with a heartfelt thanks.

Ravyn shook her head. “I don’t want to change anything.”

“Good,” David smirked. He leant close and stole a light kiss. “Then if it’s not me, what is it? Why do you look scared?”

“I’m not scared,” Ravyn defended.

A loud click resounded from the back of her throat when she swallowed. David pulled away and frowned at her. It was little more than a bowed face but to his legions of fans it was ‘the’ quintessential look that graced every poster, tee shirt and website that endorsed him and his ‘hard rock’ band. Ravyn pouted and shrugged but knew that the gesture wasn’t just weak but it was nothing short of a lie. Drawing in an anxious breath she turned her back and put a few steps distance between them.

“I’m just… nervous,” she said.

Over her shoulder she saw little change to David’s façade save for a curiously peaked eyebrow. She sighed and turned away from him again.

“I don’t know. Just this… us… you… having your kids and my kids all under the one roof for the first time… hopefully… Seems a bit… overwhelming, sort of.”

David’s s****** brought instant heat to her cheeks that she wasn’t able to hide from him. She put up feeble resistance as he took her hand and drew her back against him. As his arm snaked its way back across her shoulders, she tried hard to present a convincing poker face. But in a heartbeat she found herself reminded of Rob as if he were standing there in his stead, found herself relieved not to feel so dwarfed by her ex husband’s imposing height and apathetic stare, and a nervous smile crept across her face. The sparkle of the solitary stone shining from her finger made something inside of her sink as she did her best to force all thoughts of Rob away. Raising her eyes under her own duress Ravyn stood face to face with the bald-headed, heavily stubbled and blunt expression of her future husband and forced that same strained smile from before to the surface.

The look on David’s face, always tightly reigned and composed, assured her he was receptive to her plight, but in his usual stoic way he didn’t share it.

“I know, it’s natural to be nervous,” he said after a moment’s consideration, “but you shouldn’t be. My girls will be fine. Besides, it’s not like you’ve never met them before. They’re not strangers.”

“But I’ve only seen them a few times and even then it’s hardly what you’d call quality time. I feel like I don’t even know them.”

“You think I do?” he questioned. He scoffed. “You will. We’ve got all the time in the world to get to know one another, especially once we actually do get married. They don’t have a choice then. None of them.”

Ravyn’s frown darkened. The colour had over the course of the day been slowly draining from her face. She shook her head as he studied her.

“That’s part of the problem. I think they’re all a bit… upset I didn’t consult with them before we decided to do this,” she said. “I haven’t even really spoken to most of them since… you know… what happened with me and… Rob.”

Again David shrugged. “Divorce,” he said, as if that explained everything.

Ravyn looked unconvinced. “No it’s more than that. It’s like… we’ve all changed. We’ve all grown apart over the past year or so. I don’t even remember the last time I had a decent conversation with Vi or Melissa. As for Meaghan-”

“She’s a resilient girl,” David intercepted, his tone undecipherable between the arc of his smile and his furrowed brow. He basked in a brief memory with a wry shake of his head. “I remember the shit she gave you and Chas years ago. Hellcat that one, you did well. I can see why she was your only child. With him I mean. She’s definitely a Bennington.”

Ravyn’s face pinched but softened as David tugged her briefly again and inclined his head against hers. Again Ravyn was glad she didn’t have to feel ribs against the side of her face as she lolled against him.

“Which one’s Vi again?”

“The eldest.”

“And Melissa would be-”

“Third. Well, twin. Younger of the two.”

“Ah yes. The skater. You told me. And there’s another one-”

“Sarah.”

“Clearly you appear to be hesitant about the notion of contraception.”

Ravyn pursed her lips up and glared at him. David’s expression remained unchanged, but it had grown rosy and his dark eyes sparkled as he s******ed at her embarrassment.

“Lucky me. I always wanted a big family,” he murmured.

“What, 6 isn’t enough for you; 2 of yours, 4 of mine. You a glutton for punishment or something? It's like the Brady Bunch from hell.”

“Hmm. Chester always said you were neurotic. We’ll have to work on that.”

Ravyn frowned and rolled her head away from his apparent intentions. “You know, I just… wish I knew where they all were. That they were all safe. That they were at least coming. I know no one’s really a big fan of this wedding and everything, and they think I’m just rushing into it-”

“Their problem.”

“But I left messages and stuff… I tried to get in contact. I don’t know. It’s like half of them don’t want to know me anymore: that I’m dead to them or something. It’s like they hate me for walking out like I did.”

“I’m sure they don’t hate you.”

“Clearly you don’t know my kids,” Ravyn responded.

She opened her mouth to continue the repartee but found the will behind it choking her. All she could do was shake her head. The memories of too many arguments, of too many tears shed over too much time, and the familiarity of guilt and responsibility burdened her into silence. As much as she had tried to reason to herself and anyone that would listen that what she had done the right thing by removing herself from an arguably bad situation, the sheer magnitude of the pain she knew she had left in her wake continued to echo back and forth over the months like ripples on a still pool, and what was worse she knew the pain was amplified across more than just her sad and solitary life but to all those around her as well.

“I know it wasn’t a happy home but I can’t help but think that he’s still had the last laugh you know, turning them against me.”

“I don’t think so,” David intoned, his voice now little more than throaty grumbles at such close quarters. “Kids absorb everything that happens around them. From what I’ve heard they’re certainly not stupid.”

“No,” Ravyn intoned, “Unfortunately they’re not.”

She was reminded of the countless times she had overheard or suspected that her children had plotted to get their parents back together again, and had to give due credit to their creativity and stubborn refusal to accept defeat, even right to the very end. But the memories lashed her heart as much as they inflated it and once more she fought to push such old thoughts away. It seemed like only yesterday she had been stressing over Melissa as she acted out her teenage rebellion and ran away, or stood over Vi’s hospital bed after his angst-induced car accident, or Sarah’s as she defied every law and drowned out her emotions, or had been met with a barrage of criticism as Meaghan falsely and publicly accused her then step-father for being a wife beater and almost shattered his music career… No, she sighed, her children certainly weren’t stupid, and in part that was exactly what worried her so. But David continued talking, doing his best to allay what he probably suspected were superficial fears.

Besides, he countered, as far as he knew Rob Bourdon seemed like a decent kind of man.

“The few times I’ve met him he didn’t strike me as the manipulative type. He’s a bit… You know. Well he’s not sharp is he; he let you get away – twice. Don’t misunderstand me, he’s Chester’s friend, and Chester’s my friend, so I trust him, well, I trust his judgement. And I don’t think Chester would be friends this long with a guy that was a complete asshole. And he could have been. He had ample opportunity, right?”

“I know,” Ravyn uttered. She was so laboured by guilt at that one small insinuation that briefly she wasn’t able to summon her eyes up from the floor.

David s******ed as he slid his other arm around her. The two slivers of metal that arced his chin shimmered in the half-light as he lowered closer.

“Stop beating yourself up about it, Rave. I’d be the last one to judge what you and Chas did. Of course I know about it. I was there on the sidelines wasn’t I, watching Foxx grow up, watch her grow up to be just as stubborn and crazy as her father, but I didn’t judge you for it. I can’t. Both my girls came from relationships like that. What am I going to say? Hell I didn’t even know about them until not all that long ago: well Jess I did, Jos… let’s just say she was a… happy accident. But the bottom line is we all fuck up occasionally. It’s natural. It’s human. You learn from it. Hopefully. And try not to do it again. I don’t know what part all of that, of you fucking around and getting pregnant to Chas and Rob running off on tour every other day had to do with the dissolution of your marriage, and it’s not for me to say, but the fact he took Meaghan in and raised her like she was his own has to tell you something. You’d hope. And you both did the best you could with what you had, why else would you stick it out for what, 15 years?”

“16. But who was counting?”

“Whatever. So it didn’t work out. You wouldn’t be the first, especially in this industry, and sadly you won’t be the last. I guess that makes it easier this time around,” he ventured, stooping to rest his brow against hers. “At least you know what you’re in for. It won’t be that much of a shock seeing as how you’ve done all this before.”

Ravyn’s shoulders rose and fell without responding. Unspent tears choked her but in her heart she relived an age-old ache that never went away. But still as David stood with his arms around her, Ravyn sought shelter in against his chest and relished in his scent and breath and again fought to keep the memories and grief of her past at bay.

Pity Rob had never been like this, she thought, willing to talk, to share, willing to show me such outward displays of affection without needing to be told, then things might have turned out differently, my family and my children’s once bright promising futures may have all turned out much differently. But she knew she was kidding herself. No matter the sins of her past it hadn’t always been his fault or hers, still the sight of the diamond shimmering on her finger stabbed at her in silent accusation.

Haven’t you learnt anything? She wondered, trying to ignore the fact there seemed no one around to lend their support, to tell her she was doing the right thing and to share in what was she hoped would be her promised second chance at a happy family life. Are you seriously willing to go through all of that again?

“Yes,” she replied, the sound little more than a whisper muffled against the material of his black tank shirt.

With a reticent pout she cuddled her fiancé closer and tried to block it all out, block out everything, and make believe just for a little while at least that her disastrous marriage and bitter divorce and the pain of her begrudging offspring hadn’t really happened at all so she didn’t have to face any of it.

If only it would be that easy, she thought, but inside she knew otherwise. In this family nothing ever came, or left, quite that easily.

One line:

“Clearly you appear to be hesitant about the notion of contraception.”

Literally made me choke on my food, because I found it so damn funny. Wow, I so wasn't expecting that to be said, especially so forward and casually how David it put it. *lol*

What can I say? This family has come a long since the early days of AATM and a series of stories that came after your one. I love the emotion in this and how you've captured her fears and wants into this, is just totally breath taking writing here woman!! I can totally understand (not the marriage/divorce part of course) how Ravyn feels in this story. I just don't know what to say - (well I do really but it's a metaphor) I jut love the intro to this. Really sets the scene perfectly....

Well done! I say!

niceee nice nice!!

I love the lpf family kinda stories

can't wait for more!!

Thanks guys

The knock at the door came sharply at 6:00pm.

Aimlessly strolling through the 4,000 square foot house, Ravyn heard it and froze, her heart clenching like a closed fist inside of her chest.

“Oh god,” she caught herself utter under her breath.

With an anxious step she hurried down the hall, peeking her head around corners before she came to a stop just beneath the internal staircase. From the room in front of her the blunt clatter and clang of weight stacks echoed with piercing regularity. Pressing her hand against the cream coloured wall Ravyn drew in a deep breath and followed it in. David sat at a machine nursing a blood red towel about his neck. Sensing her presence he glimpsed up, his face and head from the collarbone up rosy and gleaming with perspiration.

“What?” he huffed.

Ravyn tried unsuccessfully once she opened her mouth to say anything but all that issued up from it was a tight strangled sound. As if on que the doorbell chimed and David s******ed, running the towel over his face and crown. His joints popped and creaked, protesting his movements as he shifted out from beneath the equipment and slowly pushed himself up onto his feet.

“They’re here,” Ravyn eventually managed.

Fingers toyed with the neckline of her tee shirt that she looked at now with a hint of fastidiousness. Beneath the high sleeves her several tattoos spilled down her upper arm and wrists with a sudden garish quality. Ravyn could see her heart beating an erratic rhythm beneath the material as she watched David approach in her peripheral vision.

“Maybe I should go change. You know… more appropriate.”

Instead of saying anything David slid an arm around her and pressed his sweaty lips to her brow. He s******ed and, weaving his way past, walked away from her.

“It’s not like they haven’t seen them before Rave.”

“I know, I know, I just… Impressions,” she excused.

But David was already half a room away and acknowledging the sounds at the door with a lackadaisical sigh.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming…”

In the foyer Ravyn could hear the door open and the sound of voices, female, echo back with familiarity and greeting. Drawn towards it more out of sheer necessity she lingered a few metres away, coming to a stop just inside the living room as she saw the two new visitors come into view. With a growl David picked up the shorter of the two, the younger, and crush her tiny frame against his chest to the girl’s obvious delight.

“Aha, Jessie!”

“Uh-David!”

Ravyn smiled and bowed her head, her expression slipping away beneath the sudden stare of the other girl, Jos, closing the front door behind her.

“How was your trip?”

“Long,” Jessie huffed, grunting as she slipped back onto her feet. She smeared her face with a grimace and re-adjusted the spectacles atop her nose. Stepping around her David reached out and slid a cordial arm around his eldest. With a tight smile Jos inclined her head to receive his kiss on the cheek and nod back in acknowledgement.

“How’s Arizona?”

“Hot.”

“You, Jos? Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” the pretty brunette said, tucking her hair back behind her ear. Behind the lenses of her glasses she stood looking about. Her shoulders rose and fell without conviction and fell the same time Ravyn’s rose to meet them from a room’s distance away.

“Good, well we’ll get you inside and organised first and take things from there,” David said, snatching up all but the pair’s hand luggage. “Girls, you remember Rave. From last time.”

“Yeah,” one of them uttered.

Behind him both girls had stopped and looked at the solitary woman in front of them with obvious reservations. Though they were both short, both slight of build, and both for the most part inheriting their father’s dark features, Ravyn found herself avoiding the duo’s stern-faced stares as if she were a side of meat being inspected in a butcher shop’s window.

“Hi,” she managed to say at last.

David, now at her side, emptied his hand of a suitcase and slid an arm around her waist again. For a moment Ravyn felt strong enough to hold both girls’ stares and return them. She even managed to hold a smile without feeling it sit like a grimace upon her face. When David kissed her brow once more and excuse himself to go up stairs, Ravyn couldn’t help but note the way Jessie was looking at her, with her brow crumpled and her lips pursed, at that brief gesture of affection. She nodded at David and watched him go leading Jos with a proprietary nod through the living room and up towards the staircase. On impulse Ravyn tried to appease Jess with an apologetic smile. The teenager snorted and headed without another sound after her father and sibling.

As their footfalls thundered up the stairs Ravyn’s face fell as she stood rooted to the spot, her eyes stinging with tears. In her mind’s eye she could see Melissa and the way she used to hang off her father through the haze of a long-gone memory. With that Ravyn felt her heart sink and draw her shoulders down with it. She shook her head: she wouldn’t allow herself to dwell on thoughts like that anymore. With an anxious stare she glimpsed up, searching the high cream coloured walls for a clock, but all she could find amidst the silence and minimalist décor were reminders everywhere she looked of her fiancé’s fame and various notable achievements.

She couldn’t help but feel like an unwelcomed visitor in her new home.

Oh I wonder what'll happen next???

Yes indeed, first impressions are everything and by the sounds of it, Jos and Jessie aren't too happy with their father's new love if they are treating Ravyn the way they are now.

As always, I can't wait for more.

and again I say niiiice! haha

I kinda like this ''darkness'' of the whole family. Everyone went through the same problems n now they're put together and stuff ^^

me likes

I know, lazy me, I haven't even editted it. Got to go to bed (like, half hour ago) so thought I'd cross my fingers and hope it all reads okay. If not... forgive my senility and sleep-deprived eyes

The four of them sat outside in the shade of the entertainment area, scraping their plates of the last of their mid-afternoon feast. Above them the blades of a ceiling fan lazily teased the sultry Californian air. It was still tainted with the scents of grilled meat, spirits, and chlorine from the in ground pool nearby. With a whistle David summoned his 4-legged companion, a black and white canine by the name of Lisa, over to his chair. Scuffing the dogs thick fur beneath his palm he tossed down a few bones and sunk back in his seat, guzzling beer from the bottle poised in his hand. Beneath his standard black tank top his chest swelled and deflated with a sigh.

“Everyone had enough?”

Across the table, united by their silence and skewed smiles Jos and Jessie nodded. Ravyn, as always, returned the gesture like the corners of her mouth were permanently spasming. Scraping the legs of her chair across the cement she made to stand and started gathering plates into a pile in front of her. David made a sound of reprimand that had all at the table looking back at him with caution.

“Girls,” he said. He gestured with an open hand and said little else as he continued sipping at his beer.

Dubiously Ravyn looked around. Jos and Jessie were frowning at her.

“No, it’s okay, I can do it-” she said.

Feeling David’s fingers wrap around hers, Ravyn hesitated and stole another quick glance around the table. He urged her to sit, that his kids would take care of it, seeing as how she had gone to the trouble of preparing the rest while he grilled – in truth she had gone overboard, littering the tablecloth with enough food for a family three times the size, still subconsciously in the habit she no longer had a use for – and, he added on his daughters’ behalves, they didn’t mind – even if the looks on their faces attested otherwise. Barely able to contain his smug smirk around the rim of his bottle, David sunk back in his chair again and watched Jos and Jess get to their feet and start taking the empty plates up the long winding path to the back door: a proverbial lord in his open-aired castle.

Trying to mask her guilt behind an appreciative smile Ravyn sat on the edge of her seat and watched on as the girls dwindled into the distance and disappeared behind several huge sprawling oaks.

“Thanks. But I could have done it. I feel bad. They’re guests.”

“Nonsense,” David dismissed, thumping Lisa’s side with cupped-palmed pats. In the resounding silence all Ravyn heard for a moment was the sound of the dog’s collar rattling and the sound of insects lazily chirping behind the mini grotto behind the pool. She sighed.

“You know, you’re… making me feel useless,” she commented. “Well, you’ve got a housecleaner. A pool cleaner. Someone to do your yard, do your washing. What am I supposed to do here? I feel like I’m gonna go stir-crazy staring at the walls all day.”

David s******ed but didn’t say anything right away, watching Lisa tire of the affection and bound off to chase a cicada. He sipped at his beer and offloaded another sigh, his face scrunching up as he peered out beneath the wooden area out towards a typical azure sky.

“Well, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. But I’m not used to this. I’m used to… running around looking after the kids. You know, being up to my knees in dirty laundry, spending half the night in the kitchen, making beds, finding missing socks… sorting out arguments, you know…?” Ravyn fell silent. It wasn’t just from the look, or lack of expression she was getting back from her fiancé, but something else. Bowing her eyes she watched her chest sink, feeling so out of place and ungrateful that her throat closed up and momentarily silenced her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

David just sighed. Draining his beer he set the empty bottle down. The chair groaned as he shifted forward towards her.

“What is it?”

“Pardon?”

“This,” he motioned. He nodded towards her beguiled expression as a hand lightly cupped itself around her forearm. “You. You’ve been acting strange for days. You’re not having second thoughts are you?”

“What? No. Don’t be silly,” Ravyn scoffed. Her light chuckle and pink cheeks died prematurely as David shifted his chair closer. His arm slid around the back of her seat as he relaxed against her.

“You’re worried about your kids, about them meeting me.”

Ravyn shrugged nonchalantly. David leant closer and cleared his throat with a low rumble. The smell of beer and sweat permeated her nostrils as she sought to hold his serious stare.

“Rave, I know this transition is difficult, but they have to get over it,” he told her. “They have to deal with and move on. If they don’t want to be here and share in your day then there’s not much you can do about it. They’re old enough to make their own decisions now, make their own mistakes. You’ve done your job, now it’s time for you to live your life and stop living for other people, and that includes me. If you want to go upstairs and clean toilets and sort the laundry then that’s your choice, you know where they all are, but personally, if it were me, I’d be taking every opportunity to just sit back, relax, and do what you want for a while.”

Despite her reservations a small smile crept across Ravyn’s face as David sat running her long dark hair through his fingers. With a small s****** he nodded, leant forward, and coaxed her into a tender kiss. As birds sang and insects applauded Ravyn also heard, over the lazy din, the sound of music humming from her hip pocket. Realising it was her cell phone she withdrew enough to give back an apologetic smile and watched David retreat back into his seat with his expression balanced somewhere between amused and irritated.

“My god, it’s Sarah,” she beamed, glimpsing at the phone’s screen.

David nodded and sunk down against the backrest, applying dark sunglasses over his eyes. His brows rose and fell as his lips arced in some semblance of a smile. The rings encircling his chin reflected the blue of the pool as he cleared his throat and folded his arms and watched Lisa sniff the yard, her claws clicking as she padded across the cement.

After a few minutes talking, Ravyn thumbed a button and sat in silence as David returned from the nearby bar.

“So?” he wondered.

Ravyn was rosy-faced and her expression had lifted immeasurably from moments before. Still there was a hint of concern in her gaze.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said. Then she reconsidered. “She’s uh… she’s wanting to know if she can bring someone along. A guy, or something.”

“And?”

“And. Well, I dunno. I don’t even know who he is,” Ravyn admitted. Her brow furrowed as she thought about it.

“So what’s the problem? She’s old enough to date isn’t she? Or isn’t she? Second? Third?”

“Second,” Ravyn answered. Then pushed out a slow breath and picked up her smile again. It was now at half the strength it had been before.

David pondered his beer and eventually conceded with a shrug.

“I don’t see what the problem is. We've accounted for all of them on the invitations, just in case. But... she’s your daughter, not mine,” he said.

Ravyn nodded, not willing at that point to remind him again that once their vows were all over he would be her father, or at least one of them, and dismissed it away, her thoughts suddenly taking her elsewhere.

“I know, it’s just…” she started, but that was as far as her confession got. In truth she didn’t know how to accept the fact that her kids were growing up and moving on and she was no longer an integral part in it: even if it was basic human nature, it didn’t soften the blow at all.

Sarah arrived the following morning and was, surprisingly, alone.

After the initial hug and gestures of greeting, Ravyn asked her eldest daughter where her so-called ‘friend’ had disappeared.

“Oh, Jack,” Sarah dismissed with a face and a wave of her hand. “We had a fight. He’s… I don’t know. I don’t care. Probably in the studio knowing him, writing another cryptic song about me. Asshole.”

Ravyn’s mouth fell open and her eyes narrowed at the word ‘song.’

“He’s a musician?” she asked, her voice pinched in concern.

With that one word Ravyn felt the heat rise in her face and her stomach clench into a painful knot that a lifetime of therapy could not undo. A groan escaped her, not at the thought that her daughter, who had grown up watching the trials and tribulations of life married to a rock star, and had despite all the warnings repeated her same sins and followed in her mother’s footsteps, but at the sudden understanding exactly why Sarah hadn’t mentioned this ‘Jack’ before.

“What?” Sarah asked, feigning innocence. “You’re not the only one in this family who can bang a rock star, you know.”

“Excuse me?”

“Speaking of,” Sarah sidestepped, her expression haughty and sly as she raised her face to inspect her immediate surrounds. “Where is the devil?”

“David,” Ravyn reminded, as she pushed the door to a close and locked it.

She turned to see her daughter pick up her bags and make her way down the short corridor with her nose still held aloft and stepped in behind to escort her. In front of them the living room opened up in cream, light, and airy splendour.

“Not one for clutter, huh?” Sarah noted, shifting her handbag against her shoulder. “Already I don’t see this working out. Has anyone told him about what you’re like when you’re having a lazy day? I’m surprised anyone even lives here. Looks like something out of a magazine. Like an Ikea catalogue.” Then she s******ed as her casual glance eventually met to lock with her mother’s. “Uh oh. You better not tell Rob. Sorry, dad.”

“Sarah-”

“What? I said I was sorry,” Sarah excused. “It’s not like he’s ever really been that much of a father anyway.”

Rather than respond Ravyn groaned and rubbed at her brow, her expression more so than her silence saying it all for her. Realising she wasn’t about to get a bight, Sarah too exhaled and physically let her guard down. Her tone, expression and her shoulders dropped simultaneously as she allowed a moment to pass in silence. Eventually she drew her shoulders back up again.

“So, where is he?”

“He’s out the back. With his girls.”

“They’re here? Both of them?”

“They don’t get to see him that often,” Ravyn explained, retrieving the heaviest of her daughter’s luggage, “They’re having a bit of quality time. I thought I’d leave them to it.” As Ravyn directed her to follow her to one of the guest rooms, she confessed with a strained voice, “Anyway, I’m glad you’re finally here. I was starting to feel a little outnumbered.”

“Where are the others?” Sarah asked.

Ravyn continued up the staircase and didn’t respond until they reached Sarah’s door. Shifting the strap of her handbag over her shoulder again, Sarah rounded on her mother and stopped. She looked down over her seriously.

“Mom?” she prompted.

Ravyn shrugged, her lips tight and arced into a weak semblance of a smile. She shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

“Well aren’t they coming?”

Ravyn sighed and pushed open the bedroom door. As with the rest of the house the cream walls and pale carpet carried on inside. Natural light flooded in from several high glass-panelled windows, leading out to a large open deck area. Beyond it, dappled by the shade of several large trees, the rolling green lawn and winding cement paths led out to a large entertainment area complete with three wooden gazebos and a large rock-bordered swimming pool in the centre. On the edge of the pool a girl sat, her face bowed in a book while another swam nearby. Beneath the shade of one of the gazebos David emerged, walking on a lean to pat the black and white canine trotting along at his side. Sarah watched as Ravyn crossed room and deposited the luggage at the foot of the queen-sized bed. Eventually she slid her handbag off and left it atop the cream coloured covers and met her mother at one of the windows, following her trail of sight outside.

For a moment neither one of them spoke as the silence of the big empty house settled around them. David could be heard whistling to the dog as she raced out of sight and bounded back, depositing something at the bald man’s feet. With her arms folded across her chest Sarah pouted at her mother and for a moment said nothing. Eventually the silence, and lack of response, got the better of her.

“Mom, I don’t… I don’t get it,” she said as tactfully as was possible. “No one likes him. No one likes you being with him. He’s weird. He’s nothing at all like dad. I’d call you crazy but it’s a well established fact insanity runs in this family, I should know-”

“Sarah-”

“But seriously, if you want to get with something that’s big and fat and hairy why don’t you get yourself a dog? At least you know that will never leave you; at least you know you can always get rid of it. You don’t have to marry it to keep it-”

“Sarah-”

“Well, at least he won’t stray; no one else would have him. And he is housetrained. And bald. And at least he won’t leave too much hair all over the furniture I guess, well not from his head anyway, but-”

“Enough!” Ravyn snapped, her eyes glowering at her daughter.

For a moment Ravyn’s expression appeared to be shifting through degrees all over her face. At last she shook her head at her daughter. She opened her mouth to speak but initially no words came out.

“That is something I’d expect from your father, not you,” she said. Her nostrils were flaring as she sought to regain her composure. “Jesus, Sarah. Can’t you be happy for me, just this once? Don’t I deserve a little happiness too?”

“You had it,” Sarah defended, though her voice that just moments ago had been rife with sarcasm was now tight with innocence, “with dad.”

Ravyn deflected the notion and turned her attentions back out the window where Lisa was bounding around her master, barking excitedly. Her expression softened as she stared but lowered her eyes when she sensed Sarah was shuffling too close towards her. Rather than accept sympathy, or any equal gesture that her daughter was poised to offer, Ravyn picked her chin up and folded her arms in a huff across her chest. With a sharp look she eyed off her fiancé and his daughters, as one splashed the other, and the sounds of their playful voices carried back as dull muffles through the glass.

“Those days are over,” Ravyn stated. Her jaw was squared tight. “He had his chance and he blew it.”

“You left him,” Sarah reminded.

Ravyn slid her eyes across in warning.

“Look, I hope you didn’t come here with a half-assed plan in mind to break me and David up, and don’t look at me like that because I damn well know what you’re like. I know what all of you were like before your father and I split up and I swear to God as much as it’s gonna hurt, I’d rather not have any of you there than ruin his and my special day,” Ravyn said, her voice so low it seemed dispassionate. “I love you all but I can’t deal with that shit anymore. I’ve moved on and it’s about time. I have a right to be happy and I’m happy here with him. If the rest of you don’t like it…”

“But what about aunt Jo?” Sarah wondered.

Ravyn’s shoulders, and hard act, crumbled with that final word. Her mouth opened but refused to speak. Rather than respond Sarah heeded her mother’s silence and dismal glare and decided for the time being she’d pushed the matter far enough. The silence was interspersed with the lively sounds coming in from outside. Inside however the atmosphere was as cold and as empty as a tomb.

“My sister made her choice,” Ravyn finally murmured.

The two women remained silent then letting the statement pass without resolution or response.

As Sarah pretended to preoccupy herself with her bags, Ravyn drew herself away from the window, gingerly twisting the silver band around her finger, her face slack but fighting to get right. She nodded to her daughter and motioned something by way of letting her get settled in. Sarah, feeling apologetic, met her mother just inside the door and put her arms around her. Ravyn balked but immediately relented, her watery eyes and her unstable smile saying for the moment what her words, or those left unsaid, had not. It was then, just as the women parted that Ravyn caught sight of something on her daughter’s hand. Ravyn frowned and leant in closer as Sarah chuckled and tried to pull her hand away.

“What the hell is that?” Ravyn said, as Sarah laughed and turned her back.

She was for a brief moment that same rebellious teenager that had gotten away with so much under the umbrella of her parent’s bitter separation and was unrepentant now that the truth was coming out.

“Let me see that,” Ravyn demanded, her voice caught somewhere between shock, fear and awe.

She pursued Sarah until she cornered her by the bedside and snatched her daughter’s hand up to stare at what appeared to be a diamond sparkling upon the younger woman’s finger.

“Is that what the hell I think it is?”

Sarah shrugged, her blue eyes brilliant against the hot pink of her face as she met her mother’s stupefied stare and said simply, “Surprise?”

:yahoo: :yahoo:

Damn I'm so happy with that chapter's ending, you have no idea (you probably do but still!) how happy I was! It was a YAY! moment, especially how you penned it as well, I so wasn't expecting that at all. I'm still so:yahoo: about it! I loved the spit between Ravyn and her daughter, ahh, sounded so like me about David and me with my real mum at times, *lol*. Wow, is all I can say about Sarah's trip back home, I see the sparks flying already and what..she only just came home? LOL. I just hope Jack and I, don't end up like Rob and Ravyn...divorced . Keep it coming, keep it coming, and LOL at the Lisa dog-naming part...was stuck for names hey?

haha sweet, I'm so happy this is back on track

I love our family

can't wait for all the characters to enter and the following drama to unfold

this is gonna keep me coming to lpf

LOL at the Lisa dog-naming part...was stuck for names hey?

As for the rest of the story, glad you like. I was planning on introducing him (Jack) as your other half straight up, but thought initially it's too many new faces. Once we establish a firm base of regulars then he's coming back. As to whether or not you two last is anyone's guess. That was a random thing. Just illustrating a point on how all you youngin's are growing up and living your own lives now is all, time passed, etc. Plus you said no babies so I thought this was a new direction to take with you as a character. We'll see where it all leads... *thinking*

haha sweet, I'm so happy this is back on track

I love our family

 

can't wait for all the characters to enter and the following drama to unfold

this is gonna keep me coming to lpf

Aww Vi! *tackle hugs* Where have you been? Have missed you! And hey, glad you're back (and reading this stuff again - it's only befitting seeing as how you're an integral part in it) - It's something random, picking this story up again. It's probably nowhere near as polished as it could be, but for now I'm just happy to be back on familiar teritory. And having a bit of fun in my bizarre little way.

I love our family too. And I swore I'd never pick it up again and flog a proverbial dead carcass. But here I am. With a whole new directional change (and creative license on some of the 'past' characters and events). Missed 'us' for want of a better word, the way we used to catch up and chat and stuff at the height of all this developing - seems like a long time ago. But anyway, gives me something else to look forward to besides payday for a little while I suppose (plus as much as I like MS, it's so heavy even from a writer's perspective I needed relief. I'll finish it one day, just not today. Keep you posted).

And I sincerely HOPE this is good enough to warrant you coming back. Man, you know how to make me grin like an idiot!

Thanks guys. More when I get around to it.

If you're perceptive you'll have noticed the title change (Thanks Sarah and Jeezy, I think) this was because Sarah changed hers and gave me free use of the song (title). I think it's (the song, and the lyrics damnit) befit this whole damned saga really, from the very beginning all the way through to now.

Thanks again guys.

And Jos, I looked you up in the Member's Pics thread. Hope I've got the physical details/description right. Put it down to artistic license if I don't - or I'll change it. Say the word.

Her first day in the Draiman house and Sarah was less than impressed to be there. She had managed to evade her mother’s barrage of questions by citing she was too tired from her trip from Detroit to answer them and would do so soon, on the one hand jumping out of her skin to tell the world her incredible news and on another relieved for the moment to be free of such invasive scrutiny. Time passed slowly, dragging its heels, as she endured meeting her mother’s so-called ‘new family’ and the big dumb oaf that was meant to represent some sort of paternal figure in her life, almost twenty years too-late. She didn’t like David from the moment her mom had relayed her good news over the phone so many months ago: it had been too soon she thought and she had been ill-prepared for such news: even now she could still feel echoes of that terrible conversation resonate within her and churn away like some ravenous tumour. Though she knew little about him, she had decided immediately to despise the ground this charlatan walked on – and it was only made worse from the second their eyes met in the living room of his huge, expensive, over-blown house.

“Sarah.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” David acknowledged, grinning at her.

Sarah had nodded and glimpsed aside, forcing a smile to the obvious relief of her mother. Then David had done the unthinkable and reached out to shake her hand. Again, led by her mother’s silent bidding, Sarah took it, wore a kiss on the cheek, and forced herself when he withdrew not to physically shudder with revulsion. Taking seats upon the several sofas that dotted the room they ‘spoke’ briefly afterwards, even if the only voice to be heard over the fraught silence was one guttural baritone; David’s. As he attempted to initiate conversation - Sarah for the most part responding with short yes or no answers, occasionally shrugging, and pretending to listen and appear as though she actually cared to hear what anyone had to say when she obviously didn’t - her eyes were never far away from her mother.

Later, and to her relief, they moved outside where Sarah felt free to light up a cigarette and calm her nerves with her lungs full of smoke. Though Ravyn disapproved Sarah felt emboldened by her act of defiance, knowing arguably her mother couldn’t say anything. David however sat and drank and remained silent, and for a brief and delicate moment in time Sarah was almost tolerant of her mother’s choice of new partner – it didn’t last long.

It was warm out, sultry, and as the sun slowly descended towards the treetops, David fired up the grill again to Jos and Jessie’s sly and secretive smirks. As Ravyn excused herself inside to gather some food, Sarah remained in her seat across from the two girls, both of whom continued to watch and study her with vested interest.

“So,” she sighed, pushing a ribbon of smoke upwards towards the heavens, “what’s your story?”

Jos, the older of the two continued to smile at Sarah, occasionally glimpsing at the cell phone that hung limply from her hand. Dark hair, flecked with red, framed her face and hung below her jaw in a sophisticated bob. She turned her face to the side, offering a profile glimpse, her lips pursed as she s******ed to herself in amusement. Bowing her head, mischievousness danced in her hazel coloured eyes.

“What’s yours?” she challenged.

The hiss and sizzle of a hot grill plate effectively severed them from David who, behind his light veil of steam and smoke, appeared too vested in his labours to listen in to the trio’s conversations, only looking up occasionally with a mindful frown and an encouraging half-smile.

“What are you doing here? I thought you didn’t like him?” Jessie the younger one scowled at her.

Sarah fought to internalise her amusement. “Really?” she asked, “Who said?”

“Your mom,” Jessie scowled. It reminded Sarah of a bully on the school ground instigating a fight for the sole purpose of doing so.

“Huh. So you don’t like her either I take it?”

There was silence for a moment on the other side of the table as Sarah gloated in her perception.

“It’s not… that we don’t like her,” Jos said.

She shifted in her seat uncomfortably. It was at this moment they saw Ravyn reappear and waited until she had passed, her face lit up with a Hallmark smile. They watched as she strode over to the grill and set her plates down and inclined forward to be met with a quick thankful kiss.

All three girls groaned and slumped in their seats simultaneously. Their eyes wandered, feigning innocence in case they had been overheard. Thankfully, after a moment’s silence where only the hissing of meat and the sound of Lisa barking somewhere across the yard echoed, the girls exchanged eye contact and appeared, comically, like three gun-slingers ready to duel from an old Western movie.

“So where’s your mom? Sarah wanted to know.

She had never formally met either girl before, and knew only what Ravyn divulged over their brief but continual phone conversations. When she saw both girls exchange a somewhat guarded look between them, Sarah’s brows rose in expectation.

“We don’t… have the same mother,” Jos told her, nipping at the end of her little finger.

“How does that work?”

“Well,” she began, “My mother’s German.”

“And mine’s not,” Jessie added.

Sarah frowned. “He’s got two ex-wives?”

“He and my mom were never married.”

Sarah blinked back digesting this information. “A German-Jew? Good luck with that.”

Jos told her that she and her mother had moved from Germany while Jos was still a baby and was too young to know the truth. She said that until a minor traffic accident several months ago she hadn’t even known she had a different father, she had always just assumed that the man that had raised her and who’s name she had been given, had always been him. Jessie on the other hand had no intentions on sharing her past history with anyone. Behind the thin round lenses of her glasses she continued to study Sarah the way one would a bug under a microscope.

“We know all about you,” she said.

Sarah made a sound as if to say she didn’t care either way.

“We know all about your family too, not just what Ravyn’s told us. David’s said she had a kid to a friend of his named Chester while she was still married to your dad.”

Sarah yawned and rolled her eyes, waving her hand in the air as if to gesture all that was in her opinion ‘old news.’

“I’m sure half the stuff he’s told you is nowhere as juicy as some of the things I could tell you.”

Jessie scoffed. “Like I care.”

“You should. Cause like it or not that’s going to be part of your family too. Oh god. I just realised something.” Flopping her head back Sarah groaned loudly, beseeching the heavens with a dramatist’s flair. “I already have a brother, one crazy twin-sister and a pain-in-the-ass half-sister, like I need anymore!”

“No one asked for this, it just happened.”

“No, Britney Spears’ breakdown; that just happened. This here, this whole thing is bullshit.”

“I think it’s kind of sweet,” Jos said. She stopped short of what she intended to say as two sets of eyes glared at her. She shrugged. “I don’t know, I think… if he’s happy and she’s happy, then what does the rest of it matter?”

“It’s gross. They’re too old. She shouldn’t even be here.”

“You think we’re happy with it? I just got to know him and suddenly she shows up and it’s like I don’t exist anymore,” Jessie glowered.

She muttered something along the lines of ‘if she wanted to be ignored she should have stayed home instead,’ but all that anyone caught was a flash of narrowed eyes, a severe frown, and bowed head over folded arms; the universal gesture of defensiveness.

But Sarah and Jos hadn’t seemed to notice. They continued their banter as the sounds of dusk settled across the backyard and the rich aromas of hot meat swathed the warm still air.

“They’re not hurting anyone.”

“Yes they are, they’re hurting me.”

“So the world suddenly revolves around you?”

“Yes it does,” Sarah quipped. “Deal with it.”

Before long the sound of a message tone resounded from Jos’ phone and she snatched it up and giggled at it excitably. At once she got to her feet and after excusing herself inside, she dashed away engrossed in her conversation as David acknowledged with a raised arm. Silently brooding Sarah watched on. Drawing another cigarette from her pocket she lit it up and inhaled deeply, forcing herself to watch as Jessie petted and conversed with Lisa so that she didn’t have to notice the movements going on adjacently through the steam and smoke haze. The sight of her mother with her arms around that fat bastard's waist and his too suggestively low on hers had Sarah’s temples pounding - not even thoughts of her own fiancé could save her. With a grimace she turned her head skyward and hoped and prayed for a miracle. Surely someone or something had to come and end this madness, she thought, if there is a God, surely.

Just then, across town, someone else who had been staring up into the same sky, watching the same sunset, opened the door of the cab and slipped inside.

“Take me to this address please,” the passenger said.

They handed over a piece of paper to the driver and relaxed back into their seat with a laboured sigh. As the vehicle began to move they stared out the window watching the world smear by in a myriad of colour and sound. They didn’t utter another word – the look on their face said it all.

I have indeed missed this =) or us, shall I say

so...this story is in all actuality a zombie, hmm

can't wait for the party-crasher either haha

Hahahahahahaha! Awesome.

...That's all.

Thanks guys.

Sarah, if I got any of the details wrong correct me and I'll fix 'em. Tried using your sources. See how right they are

Feeling movement beside her Ravyn’s eyes fluttered open. A blinding white light flashed into her eyes. She groaned. Bedsprings creaked and material rustled as she stirred to get away from it. Rolling onto her back she felt the warm shock of his beefy arm and shoulder pressing against her. She stifled a titillated purr.

“Mmm, morning.”

Pushing himself up from the pillows David tucked them in under his chin, his face still bedraggled from sleep and heavily shaded with stubble. As he smirked at her his dark eyes danced.

“Morning,” Ravyn returned with little more than a grumble.

Looking up she grimaced.

Above her the many mirrors set into the bed’s canopy cast her reflection like some unflattering anatomical study mosaic. She shielded her eyes with her forearm much to David’s apparent amusement. The mattress bowed and his hot breath caressed her bare shoulder as he trailed a path of soft warm kisses across the dip of her neck towards her lips. Still s******ing he pulled back and held himself over her on an elbow. He expelled a heavy sigh. Ravyn reluctantly let him draw her arm down and lay imprisoned beneath his gaze. His silence and that of the room around them unnerved her. She gave back a small smile. Eventually David’s expression softened and he bowed to kiss her again. They were unrushed and savouring the contact like old familiar lovers. Time laboured. Eventually when David pulled back again his brow was pensively furrowed. Together their breaths commingled and slowed to a more regular pace as they continued to study one another mere inches apart.

“I’ve been thinking,” he murmured eventually.

Ravyn felt her mouth pull up into a smile before she’d even had a chance to will it. Panic had swollen like a balloon inside of her chest.

“Mm-hmm?” she braved.

“We should elope,” David said.

Ravyn chuckled thinking he had to be having a lend of her. As the seconds passed and the look on his face remained firmly set into place, her humour fell away. She found herself frowning back up at him.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Why not?”

Ravyn balked and snorted her disapproval but the look on his face even at such close quarters was hard for her to decipher. She shook her head and stirred to pull herself up against her pillows.

“Well… you’ve already got everything planned, haven’t you? You’ve… organised everything these past few months-”

“All the good that will do if there’s only you and me in attendance,” David quipped. With a groan he drew away and returned his chin to the pillow once more, the crème material scrunched up tightly beneath both forearms.

“Think about it,” he urged, “My family’s not going to come because you’re not Jewish, and your family aren’t coming because… I’m not the Jew you used to be married to.”

“You don’t… have to turn it into a race thing,” Ravyn defended.

“I’m not,” David replied, “I’m just saying. I’m not Rob. Let’s face it Rave, it’s been 8 months since we’ve been together and not once have your kids stayed in regular contact much less in regards to this relationship, or our engagement. They have a problem with me then so be it, I’m a big boy, I can handle it, but… I don’t see the point of going through all the pomp and ceremony if, you know… I just don’t want to see you disappointed.”

“I won’t be disappointed. We already have some people coming; Chester and his lot, the rest of your band, your friends, those… guys from your label, people like that. Plus we’ve got your girls and Sarah,” Ravyn said, “That’s has to count for something, doesn’t it?”

“And what about the rest of your family?”

“We’ve been over this.”

“Yes we have, and so far all we have is Sarah. And she’s… hardly an advocate for this union is she?”

Ravyn hesitated. Her lips twitched in a vain attempt to smile.

“She just… has to get to know you better, that’s all. They all do. They will, they just… need more time. To adjust. You’ll see.”

Shrugging her shoulders she attested that it didn’t matter, that as far as she was concerned he was her family now, the rest would eventually just have to accept it. But rather than respond David just lay there and frowned at her, the material that obscured the bottom half of his face taking the full brunt of what sounded to be a frustrated sigh. Pushing himself up he sat and turned, stooping down to snatch some clothes off the floor of which he slipped into. In the silence and the space of the large open bedroom he stood up, his joints protesting like whip cracks. Running the palm of his hand across his round scalp he glimpsed back at her and strolled from the room, not bothering to disguise the low disappointed grumble that followed him into the master bath.

“Hey,” a sleepy voice beckoned sometime later.

“Hey.” Ravyn looked up. Her smile grew when she saw her eldest daughter strolling into the room. “How’d you sleep?”

Sarah groaned. She shrugged. Her blue eyes were more vibrant than usual, albeit bloodshot and still half asleep. She strolled around the kitchen counters as Ravyn offered to make her a coffee.

“Thanks,” she croaked and nodded in agreement. “I need it.”

Trotting past with her ears raised Lisa paused at Sarah’s feet and sniffed the young woman curiously. With a snort she was gone again, her claws clicking at the tiles as she disappeared into the living room. With a frown Sarah watched her go and eventually slipped into a seat behind the glass-topped breakfast table on the far end of the kitchen. On all sides she was bathed in sunlight as it streamed in from the backyard: The sun’s rays were intensified just above the trees and rooftops of neighbouring buildings, and glimmered on the pool’s surface like a transparent blanket of diamonds. Despite the central air inside Sarah tugged at the collar of her nightshirt as if she could feel the humidity brewing.

“I hardly slept,” she yawned as she settled herself down, to answer her mother’s concerned stare, “I thought I heard my phone ringing a few times early in the morning and I thought it might be Jack. Then I couldn’t get back to sleep. I was going to get up but I was scared I’d get lost. This place is like Aladdin’s cave or something. I almost got lost on the way downstairs. There’s more doors in this place than there is a hotel. And I should know, I’ve seen enough of them travelling around with Jack and his band.”

Ravyn nodded in acknowledgement and didn’t speak as she prepared two mugs several metres away behind the breakfast bar. Her brow was furrowed in consternation. Behind them a wall-mounted plasma TV set droned on the morning news. It constituted the only other sounds of life in the house, as the two women remained distant on opposing sides of the bright spacious kitchen. As Ravyn poured the coffee Sarah sat sweeping her hair up and tied it back, yawning loudly as she surveyed her surrounds.

Soon after Ravyn approached with two steaming mugs in hand and set them down on the table. She sunk down into a seat opposite her daughter and for a moment said nothing. As they sat briefly lost to the sound of the morning’s headlines, the older woman eventually sighed and brought her shoulders up, her defences rising along with it.

“So. Aren’t you going to tell me about him?”

“Who?”

“This Jack fellow,” she hesitated, “This… other half of yours. Where’d you meet? What’s he like? - I can’t believe you’d go off and… get engaged of all things without telling anybody. I don’t even know this guy let alone anything about him – besides the fact he’s of all things a musician.”

As Sarah continued to sit and stare and pretend to look by all outward accounts innocent, the intensity of her smile began to take over, making her cheeks blossom and her voice change; the very epitome of a woman in love.

“Well I don’t know. What do you want to know?”

“Something. Anything. If he’s marrying you I have a right to know some details don’t I?”

“Well, he’s from Detroit but he lives in Tennessee. He travels around a lot; sometimes he takes me with him. He’s got two bands. Oh, did you know he was voted number 17 on the Rolling Stones’ list of best guitarists of all time?” Sarah said, her voice growing in pitch and speed as she continued speaking. “He’s six foot, just over, and he’s so dreamy. He’s got ten brothers and sisters, and he’s the seventh son, and yeah, his family’s Catholic. And I bet you didn’t know he even dated that actress Renee Zellweger for a while when she was making that movie Cold Mountain. He even starred in it. He’s starred in a few movies now. He sings, he acts, he plays all these different instruments; he’s so talented. You’ll just love him. I do.”

Ravyn just sat watching her daughter, saying nothing. Silence briefly recaptured the room. Sipping her coffee Sarah’s smile grew as she set her mug down and folded her arms atop the table. She made a point to play with her engagement ring as if seeing it for the first time – maybe she wanted Ravyn to fawn over it. Glimpsing down at it and appreciating the moment, Ravyn sighed and drew her hand up to rest her chin against it. This was not at all how she imagined she would have such life-changing news delivered to her, she thought, feeling again somewhat robbed of the moment. It was, sadly, something she realised she was going to have to get used to feeling as detached from the rest of her brood as she was these days. With a pout she mulled on her words a drawn-out moment before she finally opened her mouth to speak again.

“Yes, well,” she murmured, “that’s all well and good, but it doesn’t really tell me anything does it? What kind of person is he? Is he good to you? What are you two fighting about if you don’t mind my asking?”

Sarah shrugged. Her eyes that a moment ago had been sparkling with adoration lowered to the reflection shimmering inside of her coffee cup.

“I don’t know,” she said. But her tone of her voice and the heaviness of her shoulders all but screamed that she was lying.

Ravyn cleared her throat and shifted tact with her daughter.

“So what’s he doing that’s so important in Detroit? Is he visiting with family there or something?”

“No,” Sarah shook her head. She hesitated. “You could sort of say that. He’s… gone to see his wife. His ex-wife, or she soon will be.”

“He’s married?” Ravyn almost bellowed.

Sarah cringed but looked up at her mother with a half-hearted smile.

“Oh god-”

“It’s not what you think-”

“I bet it’s not,” Ravyn groaned, shielding her eyes beneath a white-knuckled hand. She rubbed her brow and face and came to rest with her mouth buried in the cup of her palm, her brows alone raised and waiting in anticipation for more. “Go on,” she uttered, “Tell me.”

Sarah seemed amused but she stirred upon her seat uncomfortably. Beneath her mother’s sullen stare she explained how Jack had been married twice before, once to a woman named Meg who was the drummer in one of his bands, and his second wife, Karen was a former model who had featured in the couple’s video clip, she was also coincidentally mother to Jack’s two kids, a little girl named Scarlett and a little boy named Henry. Hearing that Ravyn internalised another groan and bowed her face into her hand again in a state of dumbfounded silence. Again Sarah chuckled but her humour was laced with nervousness.

“But they’re not together anymore,” she added.

She argued that while Jack was trying to set divorce proceedings in motion it was Karen and her stranglehold of the kids that was causing friction in Jack and Sarah’s proposed nuptials.

“He’s an awesome father and he really wants custody of the kids but Karen’s being a bitch and causing us dramas. I told him he should just forget about it all for a while and come here with me just for a break you know, but he skitzed out and told me it was his problem and he’d like deal with it. I know he didn’t mean it because he’s not normally like that. I think he’s just upset that Karen’s using the kids against him. She doesn’t want to let him go, and she’ll do anything at all she can to ruin our wedding. She’s a bitch and I hate her. I just wish she’d leave us alone and stop trying to break us up already.”

Ravyn just sat and stared and sought to get her thoughts in order. Behind her palm her face wrestled to hang on to one definitive emotion though it was clearly going through a different one each second. She paused and stole another sip of her coffee. She didn’t enjoy it and set it down again in front of her. Of all the things she so obviously wanted to say for a moment it seemed as if verbal gridlock had formed in her throat, stalling her. With a discreet grumble she tried to clear it away and slid her eyes aside to the nearest doorway.

“Have you… talked to your father about this?” she asked. Her voice was low almost as if she were afraid somehow of being overheard. “What does he say?”

Sarah’s laughter echoed loudly around the kitchen like firecrackers.

“You’ve got to be kidding! Like he cares! What do you think I’m doing here?” she cried. Then she reconsidered. “Well… that, and you know… your wedding too. Speaking of, where is the big scary cue-ball?”

Ravyn’s chest deflated in silent reprimand. “Don’t,” she warned.

She rose to her feet and took her mug to the sink as Sarah’s smirk grew malevolently behind her.

“Please don’t do that. I know you don’t like him but I’m not asking you to marry him. I love him, that’s all you have to worry about.”

“I’m worried about him suffocating you in your sleep or stabbing you in the face with those things on his chin. Why the hell couldn’t you find someone normal looking? At least Jack looks normal. And he’s tall too.”

“Good for him.”

“But David-”

“What about David?”

Silenced by a familiar low baritone Sarah saw her would-be stepfather striding into the room. Though he didn’t look as though he had overheard her previous comments she suddenly bowed her eyes and her cheeks that were darkening and turned away as he made his way over to her mother. She heard them kiss and flinched as if physically affronted, preferring the panoramic views outside than even one horror-filled second unfolding behind her. Ravyn dismissed his question and a brief discreet exchange of words ensued before the sound of footsteps heralded his exit from the room. Sighing with relief Sarah turned around with a goading smirk lashing her face only to find herself in the flat serious gaze of her mother’s fiancé.

Standing behind the bar with Ravyn’s mug in his fist David drained the last of it and swallowed it down, following it with a loud exhalation: the sound of a man satisfied and satiated with his existence in the world. As Sarah continued to sit there staring at him, David set the mug down on the counter and smirked at her, his face lowered with his brooding trademark frown. No words were uttered as a state of tension besieged the room. Then, hearing her mother calling out for him, David snorted and winked at the vacant expression on Sarah’s face and casually strolled out, trailing a low grating s****** behind him.

Pressing the red button on her cell phone Sarah sighed and set it down again.

Why wasn’t he calling? She wondered with a miserable pout.

She tried hard to block out the thoughts that were suddenly rushing upon her but found her imagination running more rampant than usual in the unfamiliar silence. Frowning to herself she snatched up the phone again and proceeded to press a sequence of buttons before she stopped and deleted the message again. No, she thought, she had to make him realise those nasty things he’d said to her had hurt, even if he hadn’t really intended them. He had to learn she wasn’t just a dumb kid who didn’t know what she was talking about, but her defiant act didn’t last long as she glimpsed at his picture on the screen of her phone and crumbled.

The sound of movement out in the hall stole her attentions. She glimpsed up but no one was waiting there in her doorway. With a huff she uncurled her legs and pushed herself up off the mattress and made her way out of the room to survey the hallway with a dubious frown.

Where was everyone?

Hanging left she strode out towards the internal staircase and dropped her eyes as she turned just outside the master bedroom. The door was open and the big king size four-poster bed was thankfully vacant, but still a shudder ran the length of Sarah’s spine as she quickly hurried down to the ground floor to get away from it.

Through the glass double doors that led out to the backyard, muffled music beckoned. Out through the trees Sarah could see Jos down by the pool, sunning her pale skin as she lay flipping through some magazine. On the grass in her ghee Jessie was swinging what looked like a broom handle between her hands, striking out at invisible opponents. With a snort Sarah smirked at them and eventually strode out into the blinding midday sunshine.

“Hey,” she said, stopping short of the edge of the towel that Jos was laying on.

When she didn’t receive any answer Sarah strode around the younger woman and crouched to stab a button on the nearby CD player. The song cut off suddenly mid-word in jolting silence.

“Hey!” Jos snapped, squinting up over the rim of her sunglasses. “What the hell did you do that for?”

Rather than answer Sarah rose back up, enjoying the spectacle of her shadow towering over her would-be-adopted-half-sister. She smirked.

“Where’s mom?”

“Ravyn and David are out. They said they had to pick up some things from the printers or something, then they were heading over to see the Rabbi. Like I know. It’s their wedding, it’s none of my business.”

“A Rabbi?” Sarah echoed. She rolled her eyes. “Oi Vey.”

Returning her attentions to the magazine in front of her Jos turned another page and let the comment slip without so much as a hint of acknowledgement. The look on Sarah’s face darkened – as much as she hated to admit it she actually found herself missing Mel her hyperactive twin-sister. She relished in a memory of her sister’s Judaic rants, often aimed at mocking their father, and s******ed quietly to herself. When Jos glimpsed up at her with an arched brow Sarah’s smile slipped away and was replaced once more by a cool-faced apathy.

“Why do you call him David? Why don’t you call him ‘dad’ or ‘daddy’? I’m sure that big fat heart of his would get off on that,” she goaded, “if he even has one that is.”

Jos continued to scour her magazine and look by all outward accounts like she wasn’t even aware of Sarah’s presence looming over her. She shrugged.

“What’s your problem?”

“Where do I start? I’d like to say you but the list is already too long without adding to it.”

“You want to have a cry about it?”

“Do you want to?”

“Real mature.”

“Thanks.”

“Look, it’s not really any of your business is it what anyone else does, especially your mother. She’s old enough to control her own life.”

“It is if I say it is.”

“Really?”

“You know just because your father’s dumb enough to marry into this family doesn’t automatically make you the queen of everything, okay?” Sarah retaliated. “She’s my mother not yours. At least my mother wasn’t a dumb groupie that got knocked up by a strange bald fat man with no talent on the other side of the world, was she?”

Seeming to sense she’d struck a nerve Jos set her magazine down and arched her head skyward to face the other woman with her smile downright goading.

“You don’t know anything about my mother so don’t embarrass yourself,” she said. She folded her arms neatly in front of her, the very picture of innocence and virtue. “And just because you’re older than me doesn’t make you the boss, as much as you seem to think you are. You don’t have any jurisdiction here. You’re alone just like the both of us. You’re not special, and we’re not related so I don’t take orders from anyone, especially the likes of you.”

Sarah snorted angrily, noticing in her peripheral vision that Jessie had paused in her carters to watch on with sick amusement. Feeling her face blossom and her chest tighten with indignation Sarah scoffed, raised her nose in the air and strode a few metres away to sit on the edge of the rocky grotto overlooking the pool. Over the sound of cascading water and buzzing insects and the drone of traffic somewhere outside the yard, Sarah lit up a cigarette and drew in deeply as Jos pressed play on the CD player once again. She shook her head and locked her jaw – until she realised Jos was smirking back at her over her shoulder. She was tempted to speak but the volume of the music, some band she wasn’t used to, drowned out any possibility – and the look on Jos’ face looking so playful and mischievous made her frown back curiously. As she thought she huffed out a ribbon of thin grey smoke towards the sky. Her eyes wandered. Hearing the sound of her cell panicking in her pocket, Sarah snatched it up and pressed it to her ear without so much as glimpsing at the name or number on the screen.

“Jack?” she begged.

Her brow was knitted tightly and her heart pounding like a hammer at the back of her throat.

“Jack? Is that you?”

For a moment all that followed was silence, as much as was able through the music warbling from the CD player metres away, and it caused Sarah’s heart to clench as she waited for confirmation. She heard what sounded like a mutter then a s****** and was about to speak again when a voice finally answered her.

“What? Jack? Who the hell do you think this is?” a voice demanded of her.

As Sarah got up and strode away from the pool’s edge to better hear she realised it was a woman’s voice that had spoken to her. Cupping her free hand to her other ear she glowered, feeling sick at the sudden thoughts that jealously sprang to mind. She was about to mention Karen’s name when the sound of laughter erupted mockingly through the speaker.

“What the fuck’s wrong with you? It’s me you idiot, Fox. Don’t you recognise your own half-sister? It hasn’t been that long, retard.”

“Fox? Where are you?”

“Never mind that. Are you ready yet or what?”

“Ready?” Sarah balked, “Ready for what?”

In her ear Fox groaned and muttered aside to someone whose voice Sarah immediately recognised as belonging to Chester, Fox’s dad, and felt her anger give way to something more familiar. Her heart stammered and her throat became dry as memories threatened to assail her. Over the din all she caught were the words ‘party’ and ‘hours’ and eventually realised what her wayward half-sibling was eluding to.

“Well? Are you going to stand there all day looking deaf dumb and stupid or are you going to come over and say hello?”

“Over where? To your place?”

“Look up and smile,” Fox said.

Dubiously Sarah raised her eyes and saw movement on the balcony just outside her guest bedroom.

A woman in black and red and with flaming red hair stood leaning against the railing holding her fist in the air. Upon closer inspection Sarah realised Fox wasn’t waving but giving her the finger.

“Surprise,” Fox laughed into the phone, “you practically walked straight past me. You haven’t changed at all, still as blind as you used to be. Good to see some things never change, except maybe your hair colour.”

“How- how did you get into the house?” Sarah stammered as behind her Jessie and eventually Jos caught on to the impromptu visitor.

Again Fox just laughed as she pushed herself away from the railing and backed towards the door.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said, “I have my secrets. They don’t call me Fox for nothing. Now get up here and get ready. Tell the others to move their asses too. Chas will be back any minute to pick us all up. He’s making calls and setting it all into place as we speak so move it. You don’t want to keep everyone waiting.”

“Everyone?” Sarah said. Her voice was laced with apprehension.

Though she thought of Jack’s face she doubted his ability to steal onto a plane and fly over to LA without telling her, especially disrupting his plans back home with his young kids and Karen – no, in all probability everyone was going to include everyone else but him, but despite her disappointment Sarah couldn’t help but smile back nervously at her sister. Her mind was a dizzying blur of possibilities, and unlike Jos and Jessie who were relatively new on the scene, she had a better idea of just who Fox had been referring to, and what the night might bring. Tucking her phone back in her pocket Sarah strode on ahead to meet with her half sister with strange feelings churning away in her stomach as the other two behind her tentatively followed. For the first time since arriving Sarah felt as if things were changing for the better for her, and she didn’t waste another second thinking about how much she hated her mother’s new attitude or her choice in potential life partner.

After some good-natured ribbing and playful insults for her half-sister, Sarah and Fox hugged briefly, acknowledging the time lost between them with brief lapses into silence, name-calling, and smiles to suit. Despite the fact that they had two new faces watching them, Sarah couldn’t help but feel albeit briefly that things were, in a way, returning to normal, and the way they should have been.

Yay! Fox has arrived! And yes, you did get the details correct about Jack.

(p.s do you wanna edit your first post seeing that you got the name and I didn't steal it?)

Thanks guys

It had been a long flight but Vi had been relieved to see a familiar face when he stepped out of the arrivals gate.

A woman with red hair and a penchant for black attire stood waiting on her own at a distance from the thronging eager-faced crowd. Despite the fact halogen lights set the mood to virtually atmospheric Vi noticed she wore dark shades over her eyes, and her arms were, as always, folded defensively across her chest. Making his way towards her Vi scoured his surrounds and snorted to himself to notice that the young woman stood waiting alone. Although he had had only been gone a little over 18 months there was hardly an ounce of comfort to be gained from the feeling little if anything had changed in his absence.

“So, they finally let you out, huh?” he smirked as he came to a stop in front of the woman.

With a scoff Fox pursed her lips and rolled her shielded eyes away. When she looked back her act dissolved into a playful smile.

“You mean to say they let you back into the country?”

“Compared to you I’m a model citizen.”

“Model citizen my ass, remember the family you’re born into.”

“Criminal.”

“Closet-case.”

“Half breed.”

“Bourdon.”

Vi’s mouth opened in retaliation poised without speaking and grew to a smile. With a laugh he hugged his half-sister and made the most of her hospitality by squeezing her harder than she anticipated. Fox laughed and then, as if expected, put up a fight, pushing her affectionate sibling away from her. She whined with a scowl etched across her face and adjusted her glasses.

“It’s good to see you again,” Vi said in all honesty. His eyes strolled around the terminal again. “You look good. Prison food can’t be as bad as they say it is, you look like you’ve bulked up.”

“I could and still will kick your ass any day of the week,” Fox muttered, brushing her jacket down of all traces of human contact.

Though her voice was low and guarded Vi continued to smile at her knowing the young red head better than most to know she was acting tougher than her interior.

“You haven’t changed. Still the same bad tempered… well you know, as you always were.”

“And you still look like shit,” Fox said. She smirked back with a hint of her old mischievousness. “But we can’t expect miracles, given what genes you had to work with.”

Vi sighed. His smile though present since arriving was laboured. Hefting his carry bag over his shoulder he lingered in the direction of the luggage terminal before Fox relented and followed. As they walked side by side surrounded on all sides by people hugging and crying and kissing like mid-day movie extras, Vi looked up and scoured the corridor around him with the look of hope on his face fast fading.

“So… where is he?”

“Your old man or mine?”

Vi shrugged. He stood at the edge of the conveyor belt staring at the red light that signalled luggage was on its way out. His shoulders fell slowly.

“I dunno. Does it matter either way? I’m sure he’s… still too busy off doing the rock star thing to think of his only son flying in to the country. I’m sure whatever he’s doing it’s got to be important. Always was, wasn’t it?”

In his peripheral vision he saw Fox shake her head beside him.

“What?”

“Man, it just occurred to me how much you remind me of Mom when you talk like that. Damn defeatist, pessimistic bullshit.”

“And gee you don’t sound like Chester at all.”

“Screw you, you want to walk to Chas’ place you be my guest ass wipe,” Fox snapped.

She made to move but only drew a step away before Vi’s folded arms and defensive pose and pinched brow sapped the venom from her plight. She sighed and lingered watching him stare at the bags as if beseeching divine intervention from them. Snatching one up into his fist, Vi stepped in along side her – and abruptly stopped a few seconds later.

Fox, irritated by his constantly shifting pace, groaned and loomed closer trying to gauge in her colourful terminology just what her travel-weary half-sibling was doing. Following his trail of sight she saw some teenager barely a few years younger striding towards them wearing a black tee shirt with the word ‘Disturbed’ emblazoned across it. Both remained motionless watching the kid pass, the music blasting from his iPod speakers assailing their ears with a familiar voice and sending chills at least down one of their respective spines. Physically tense Vi let slip a loud breath as he turned and watched the kid’s head dissipate amidst the crowd thronging behind them. With his mouth dry and his stomach in a sunken knot, he repositioned the knapsack over his shoulder and shook his head, breathing a literal sigh of relief.

“What?” Fox challenged eventually, amused by the waxen expression on her sibling’s face. “You think he was going to recognise you or something just because Mom’s getting married to the band’s lead singer?” With a scoff Fox waved her hand, dismissing the notion, and the look on her brother’s face that was slowly becoming affronted, with a goading s******. “Oh please. Clearly you haven’t been in the country long enough to remember how it all works. No one knows, Vi; no one cares. It’s not like they’re on the news every night trying to keep the reporters at bay. This is LA, remember? If I scream Britney loud enough the media might give two shits. Believe me, if I scream David’s name the only people that might come running is that guy in the shirt, and Mom, period.”

Vi nodded, pushing his anxiety out through his nose. He nodded and agreed wordlessly that Fox, despite her usual high dosage of sarcasm and bluntness, was right – he had been away from this place and its icon-obsessed machinery too long – but still when his shoulders fell this time his expression and his heated gaze fell with them to the floor.

Amidst the voices calling out the number of other planes arriving, and amidst the gnawing chatter and movement of people swarming around them, Vi looked at that moment like he was standing alone in the centre of LAX and the world was still and silent and burdened with a lifetime of emptiness.

“I can’t believe she’s getting married again,” he said, “That she’s doing this. Again. It’s like a bad dream, isn’t it?”

He looked up to see if Fox had even heard him let alone cared to share an opinion either way but found her eyes wandering around listlessly watching a big guy with tattoos stroll past – he snorted bitterly. Of course she’d already had time to adjust to the news of her mother’s engagement but Vi felt as though he hadn’t. Though his parents had been legally divorced now for almost two years he still found old familiar pangs return like he hadn’t outgrown them, stripping him of his several years’ maturity he had gleaned while travelling and living abroad. Again Vi shook his head and opted for the silence rather than add anything. In truth nerves were starting to grow like a hunger in his belly. He had been looking forward to this trip in as many ways as he had been dreading it, and for more reasons than he cared stipulate, even to himself in his current mindset. With a decisive sigh he nodded and righted himself, pushing onward through the crowd to Fox’s open relief.

As they strolled the corridor and out towards the front doors Vi breathed in the taste of the city he had left behind, letting the sensations and the memories each one of them triggered to wash over him like waves. The city grew up before him, a towering choking jungle of people, noise and pollution – ah, in spite of it all it was still good to be home, he smiled.

Beside him Fox was motioning towards the car park. Once outside her stride increased and Vi was robbed of the chance of looking around in a tired and child-like sense of wonderment.

“We have to get back,” she urged, weaving through limbering cars and yellow cabs and the flow of mindless human traffic. “I’ve left Sarah with Dad and no doubt they’re about to rip each other’s heads off. That’s if Tyler hasn’t killed her first. Or Talinda. You know she hasn’t changed at all? Sarah I mean. In fact she has, she’s gotten more moody, if that’s possible, again, just like Mom. She gets worse as she gets older; I know it for a fact now.”

“Wait, Sarah’s here?”

“We’re all here. Well, Mel’s not, but we weren’t really expecting she was coming. No one’s heard from her for a month or so again. Mom’s a bit cut but she’ll get over it; she’s got two new half-breeds to dote her time on, or should I say, try and win over: Dave’s bastard kids Jos and Jessie.”

“What, are they twins too or something with names like that?”

“Huh. You wish. Looks like Mom’s lost her rank as slut of this family-”

“Hey!”

“Alright, town bicycle, but you get what I mean.”

Vi nodded, struggling to suppress his flash of indignation as he strode alongside his s******ing half-sister.

Could this already fractured family get any more complicated he wondered to himself, stung at the insinuation that their mother would lose interest in her offspring so easily in order to win over this guy she was so keen to marry. But in truth Vi was more dazed by the prospect that his wayward youngest sister, by blood, hadn’t decided to bight the proverbial bullet and join them – and wondered on impulse why he hadn’t done the same. Vi recalled the phone conversation where his mother had confessed her intentions and had stressed she would understand if he didn’t come, but it wasn’t so much that tentative tone of voice he’d heard too many times before that had swayed his decision as much as it had been impulse, that same hot sinking sensation in his belly persisted even now – He knew he would be burdened by guilt if he didn’t show up and suffocated by resentment and disappointment if he did, and either way it was a lose-lose situation, but at the end of the day he just wanted to see his mother happy – at least that was how he justified it to his inner critic. In truth he still wasn’t ready to face the fact that after everything this family had been through and after all he’d witnessed and that they had all endured Ravyn was in such a blind hurry to recommit to some guy she barely even knew and whom Vi only knew vicariously.

Fox was still rambling on in her usual egregious manner but Vi was only half listening, mentally going through the motions and all the possible scenarios in his head of the hours and days that lay before him - he wasn’t ready to face any of it. Tossing his luggage in the trunk of Chester’s car, Vi sunk in to the passenger seat, belted up, and sunk down. Fox revved the engine.

“Are you ready for this?” she asked.

Poised behind the steering wheel, her grin was goading, her expression playful, and her chuckle was downright menacing in its delivery.

Vi shrugged. His head was balanced on his fist propped up on the window’s ledge. “What? You mean about you driving? I grew up with three sisters remember, nothing you could do could ever scare me.”

Again Fox s******ed shifting the car into gear with a growl.

“I wasn’t talking about me,” she teased.

The car rolled forward and pulled out into the bright sunlit street. She didn’t say anything more on the subject and nor did she really have to. Staring out the window watching the bustling streets slip by, Vi huffed out another sigh trying to dispel the tension that was steadily growing within him. The further they drew away from the airport and the closer they drew towards one of Fox’s old family homes, the more Vi could feel the moment dawning upon him, looming above like a tidal wave about to crash down and drown him in his fruitless fight for survival. It didn’t matter what reasoning he tried to assert upon himself, he wasn’t ready to meet his mother’s future husband or this man’s offspring let alone try and contemplate calling this stranger ‘father.’ He already had one of those, for all the good it was worth – and all the pain that it caused. And as the car gently rocked and swayed in the late afternoon traffic Vi stared out through his reflection cast like a ghost on the glass of the window and tried hard not to think about Rob Bourdon at all.