Alexis couldn't stop shaking.

She was sitting in her apartment on her couch, with Ellen in a loveseat across the room and Rick picking up the place, likely to keep himself from losing it, and was unsure what exactly it was she was feeling. Some sort of fucked up liberation? Perhaps. But it felt deeper than that. More...raw. Visceral. Alexis looked over at Ellen, who was sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest, hugging them tightly and shaking a little herself. Rick was the only one, seemingly, who appeared from the outside to be somewhat stable. After a bit, he finally stopped and looked around the apartment, then exhaled.

"A damn shame to leave this place," he said, "it's pretty nice."

"Leave?" Alexis asked, looking at him.

"Well, you can't stay here, someone is going to come looking for, presumably the police. You did assault a man, after all. Now, granted, self defense and there were 3 of us who witnessed the whole thing, plus it isn't like your parents are patron saints of virtue in societies eyes, but still," Rick said, as he walked over to Ellen and knelt in front of her, touching her arm as he looked back at Alexis, "is there anywhere you both can go?"

"...John," Alexis muttered, "Ellen can go with John."

"Okay, and what about you?" Rick asked.

"What about me?" Alexis asked.

"You need some kind of plan," Rick said, getting up and walking to the couch, sitting beside her, "we can either wait for the cops to come get us, we can flee but that makes us look guilty, or we can turn ourselves in. In the end they'll recognize, I think, that it was self defense, especially since it's three of us against them, but for the time being-"

"I don't care what happens to me," Alexis said, sniffling, "I just care what happens to her, and we've already got that figured out, so it doesn't matter now."

Rick wanted to help her. He wanted to save her. But Alexis knew best what was right for her, and ultimately, he wasn't going to fight her on that. Rick sighed and leaned back against the couch cushions, trying to relax. Alexis stared at the wall ahead of them, thinking of something entirely different though. She was thinking about the day she almost drowned. Her own parents hadn't seemed to care then, and maybe, in some twisted way, this was her revenge for their negligence. Sure, she wanted to save her sister, she could frame it as noble and heroic, but in the end, maybe she really just wanted to get back at the people who'd proven to her at such a young age just how disposable she actually was.

                                                                           ***

"Is it weird for your family to meet your therapist?" Lilian asked as she drove, "cause it feels wrong somehow. Not that I ever complain about you guys, but still. Therapy is supposed to be a private thing, and, for what it's worth, I have known him longer than I've known any of you."

"Did you hear that, Maddie?" Miranda asked, glancing to the backseat where Maddie and Lux were seated, "we aren't important enough to even be discussed in therapy."

"Rude," Maddie replied, the three of them chuckling.

"No, you know what I mean though," Lilian continued, laughing herself now, "like, two separate worlds. I talk to him cause I DON'T wanna dump everything on those around me. I don't wanna be Alex, basically, no shade to her. God knows I love the girl but she drags everyone around her into her nonsense and it's dangerous and exhausting. I don't want to put you guys through that. If I have a problem, I deal with it myself, or with a professional."

"We're a team, Lily," Miranda said, reaching over and putting her hand on her thigh, "you can depend on me, you can fall back on me, that's what I'm here for. What kind of partner would I be if I wasn't supportive emotionally? I mean, it's good to have a therapist, yes, but you need to know you can count on me too."

Lilian smiled and reached down, putting her hand atop Miranda's and squeezing gently. Lux, from the backseat, watched with a sort of quiet, introspective awe. This was what a family should be. She had no idea, however, that a family didn't have to be people you weren't actually related to. Course she'd always known about adoption, foster homes, that sort of thing, but it just never occurred to her, somehow, that people sometimes found eachother and decided then and there, hey, you're my family now, and that was very cool to discover firsthand. She looked at Maddie and smiled. Maddie had been such a good friend, inviting her into their home, and now she was being invited to important family functions. She felt...lucky. And after a number of years feeling like the unluckiest girl in the world, it was nice to feel lucky.

The car pulled up into Gregg's driveway and parked. Lilian exhaled anxiously, adjusted something in the rearview mirror, then got out of the car. Miranda walked around to her and took her hand, and they waited for the girls. Once the four of them were together, they all headed up the pebbled walkway and towards the front door.

"Why did he even invite us?" Maddie asked.

"Well, we ran into him at the hospital when Miranda was getting information about her SRS," Lilian said, "and we talked a little about what was going on lately, and he agreed to let us come see him tonight. We were kinda surprised too, to be honest. It seemed a little out of the blue. But we know that his daughter is like Miranda, so I guess he just sort of assumed it would be nice, which it will be."

"What is SRS?" Lux asked.

"Sex Reassignment Surgery," Miranda said, making Lux look even more confused.

"I'll explain it later," Maddie mumbled, and Lux smiled, nodding.

The thing was...Gregg had his reasons for inviting this particular group of women over, and by the end of the evening, Lilian would come to realize he probably needed to talk to her more than she needed to talk to him.

                                                                       ***

Rick had gone to get suitcases, while Alexis and Ellen were gathering clothes for Ellen, along with some other vitals. Alexis gave her a spare toothbrush, some toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, clothes she didn't wear anymore, as well as a hairbrush. All temporary of course, until she could manage to get her own, not that Alexis was going to want any of this back. She just didn't want her sister to be completely unprepared. Ellen was sitting on the bed watching Alexis gather items and dump them into assorted piles.

"This guy, John, is he nice?" Ellen asked.

"He's very nice, he adopted me legally," Alexis said, and Ellen's eyes widened.

"He did?"

"Mhm," Alexis continued, folding some clothes to put in the suitcases Rick would soon return with, "so don't worry when I say he'll be your best bet in taking you in. He has proven he would do literally anything for me."

"What about you? What are you going to do?" Ellen asked.

"I don't know yet," Alexis said, and she meant it. She had no backup plan. She had no recourse. No idea of what action should be taken her own benefit. All that mattered at this moment was ensuring the further safety of her sister. Ellen tugged at the tassels on her sweatshirt, frayed and weather from her fingertips and teeth, and she looked down at her lap.

"...why did you come?" she whispered.

Alexis sighed and sat on the bed beside her.

"Because," Alexis said, "mom and dad were never there for us. The only reason they kept you there was because they knew they could control you. Get you to get them what they needed or wanted without any backtalk. You don't deserve that. Geena and I were lucky enough to get out. You should be as well. You can do great things, Ellen, I know you can. You're smart and talented, and I know that with the right environment and support system, you could become the person you should've been instead of the husk they made you into. I love you either way, you're my sister, but I'd be so happy to watch you flourish."

Ellen was surprised. This wasn't the sister she remembered. Geena had always been loving, kind, compassionate. But Alexis...well, she hadn't been cruel or anything, but she'd been distant. She'd been somewhat standoffish. To hear her sister speak like this, she started to realize just how much she had grown, and a lot of that, likely, was thanks to her rehab. Alexis had nearly died herself, but she'd found a group of unlikely people who loved her no matter what, and were going to help her, outcome be damned. Now Alexis seemed to have taken that in full and turned it back around, giving it to her own sister, and Ellen had to admit...it felt good. Ellen smiled weakly as Alexis reached out and rubbed her back, feeling her spine through her sweatshirt and grimacing.

"You need to see a doctor," Alexis said softly, "your eating disorder has gotten so bad."

"I know," Ellen replied quietly, "and they made it almost impossible for me to eat, to gain weight."

"Well that's all gonna change now," Alexis said, smiling, as she pulled Ellen in for a hug. As she rubbed her little sisters back, Alexis could only think of two things...the first was how her sister would finally be safe, finally have the chance to grow, come into her own, the way Geena and Alexis had. The second...

...was about Geena's boat.

                                                                        ***

"You have a beautiful home," Miranda said to Gregg's wife, Kristen, who smiled, thanking her as she led the guests into the dining room. The house was filled with warmth, both from the heat of the kitchen, but also in a metaphorical sense. As Miranda, Lilian, Maddie and Lux followed Kristen through the doorway and into the dining room, Lilian couldn't help but feel like a somewhat inferior mother figure.

"Please, sit down," Kristen said, opening a bottle of wine for the adults and pouring some into each of their glasses, "it isn't often that Gregg has clients come to the house, so you must be something special."

"I'm not special," Lilian said.

"In the head, maybe," Miranda retorted, making Lilian snort with laughter and playfully hit her arm as she picked up her glass to take a sip, smacked her lips and then added, "actually, I don't think it's Lilian he wanted to see as much as it was me. I think I'm the one he was interested in."

Just then Gregg appeared in the doorway leading in from the hall, sighing, shaking his head.

"She doesn't feel well," he said, "she got a whole outfit together, but she just...doesn't feel well. And I can't blame her, considering."

He glanced towards the table, walked over, picked up his wine glass and drank the whole thing in one long gulp. Miranda chewed on her lip, then asked where the restroom was, and proceeded to stand up from the table and head down the hall. Thing was, she wasn't actually in need of the restroom. She was looking for Gregg's daughter. And she found her bedroom easily enough, after all it was the one room in the hall that had a door plastered in stickers and a few small posters and stick on glow in the dark stars. Miranda smiled and knocked lightly.

"Hey, uh...are you in there? I'm a friend of your fathers," Miranda said, "can I come in?"

A pause. Silence. Then a voice.

"You may enter," she said, and Miranda did. She shut the door silently behind her and reoriented herself to this kids bedroom. It was so girly, so feminine, so absolutely cute. Miranda was jealous, she had to admit. If she'd gotten to express herself this way when she was a child, maybe she'd be more at ease with her femininity nowadays. Either way, her eyes eventually landed on the bed, where a twelve year old girl was laying upside down across its frame. She raised her head and a single eye protruded from behind her long hair, staring up at Miranda.

"Hello," she said softly.

"Hi there," Miranda said, "mind if I join you? I'm an expert in moping."

Miranda then laid in the same position next to the girl and sighed, making the girl chuckle.

"Your dad says you're not feeling well," Miranda said, "wanna tell me what's up?"

"I don't even know you and I was told never to talk to strangers," the girl said.

"Oh, so talking to me is out of the question, but letting me come in your and lay on your bed, that's totally fine? Gotcha," Miranda said, "just glad to know where the boundaries are established, that's all."

The girl laughed louder this time, which made Miranda smile. Miranda had never told anyone this, not even Lilian, but the way she saw it, she always promised herself that if she could help another little girl who was like her feel better about herself, then she would jump at the opportunity. She knew, firsthand, what it was like to deal with this stuff on your own, and nobody, especially a child, deserved to feel that way. Miranda chewed on her lip, the tried a different approach.

"How about if I were to tell you that your dad invited me specifically to talk to you?" she asked, and that got the girls attention.

"He...did?" she asked, "why would he do that? That's so weird."

"It is weird," Miranda replied, laughing, "but his heart's in the right place. I wish more parents would do this sort of thing. Would know that, sometimes, the best help is outside help. Most parents don't have the necessities to cover everything their child goes through, and it's okay to seek that help through other adults, so long as they know and trust them, of course. Now me, personally, he shouldn't trust. I did kill like fifteen people," Miranda said, the girl laughing again, as Miranda smirked and continued, "but that doesn't mean I don't know what you're going through."

"It isn't fair," the girl said, "I got what I wanted, without any problems, and I should be happy."

"You're right, it isn't fair," Miranda said, "but that's what it is. But we can't help it, you know? Even when things are at their best, we can't help but feel a general feeling of unease or anxiety or outright unfairness due to our very specific predicaments. It isn't fair to have to go through this, especially with all of society watching, just to be yourself, but you're braver for it than they'll ever be."

The girl gave her a puzzled look and cocked her head to the side.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, "I don't have any problems with who I am."

"...oh. Then what are YOU talking about?" Miranda asked.

"It isn't the identity stuff that's bothering me," the girl said, "it's the cancer."

That, Miranda had to admit, hadn't been the answer she'd been anticipating.

Meanwhile, back in the dining room, while Gregg helped Kristen get the food from the kitchen and plate it before bringing it out to their guests, Lilian couldn't help but think about how beautiful this place was. What a lucky little girl Gregg's daughter was, to get to grow up in such a warm, safe, loving environment. A clean and quiet home. Securely tucked away from the awfulness that existed just beyond its walls. She sighed and finished her wine, then noticed Lux was looking at her.

"What?" Lilian asked.

"Are you jealous too? Cause I am," Lux said, and Lilian chuckled, nodding.

"Yeah, very," Lilian said, "I'm sad that I can't give Maddie and her friends a home like this. You likely come from a home like this, archtecturally speaking, but not filled with the same warmth, I'm guessing that's why you're jealous. I just feel inferior, like nothing I do is good enough. I'm always measuring myself up to the other women around me with kids, and I'm always feeling like I'm coming up short. It's very upsetting."

"You're doing fine," Maddie said, without even looking at them, "if you weren't good enough, my dad wouldn't let me live with you."

Lilian...hadn't actually ever considered that. She always sort of assumed that maybe he'd picked her simply because of ease of access, his childs history with her, familiarity, that sort of thing. But never once had she considered, though she very rightly should have, Maddie had proven now, that it was because he knew she was a stable, dependable individual capable of keeping a child safe and happy. After all, it was her job. She did it almost every day. Almost every day she went out to a party and she made sure the kids there were safe and happy. Lilian smiled and patted Maddie on the head as Lux leaned over and hugged Lilian, Lilian using her other arm to hug Lux back. She had, in fact, built a nice little family for them.

And she couldn't be happier with the result.

                                                                             ***

Ellen had been dropped off at John's with her things, and was now sitting outside his trailer, on a bench, kicking the ground in front of her with her feet nervously. Alexis had told her before she'd left how much she loved her, and how Geena would be checking in, and how everything would be okay, but the one she promised, which made Ellen confused, was that she would be back. She didn't even clarify on when or anything...just that she would be back. Now, sitting in the car with Rick as he drove, Alexis exhaled and knew what her next move would be. She ashed her cigarette out the window and turned her head to look at him. She smiled weakly.

"You're really ride or die, aren't you?" she asked.

"God I wish we could get to the die part already," Rick said, making her snort.

"I know what to do, Rick," Alexis said, "and...I need you to do it with me."

Rick pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car, hands gripping the steering wheel. Alexis got nervous.

"...when you left rehab," Rick said, "...I kicked myself everyday for not going with you. I could've. But...but I thought that I was a lost cause and that I couldn't improve, and that I wasn't interested in improving, even though it meant being with you. I missed you SO much, Alex. Once you were gone, it was like there was this...this gaping maw in my heart, and nothing could fill it. Not even the vices that had once filled in for everything else with such ease. And then, seeing you at the grocery...once again I wanted to go home with you. Wanted to make it work. And, again, I didn't. I've regretted that too."

Alex smiled warmly, exhaling smoke and reaching over, patting his arm.

"Wherever you go, I will go, and I don't mean that in the creepy stalker kinda way, I mean, unless you're into that, you fuckin' weirdo," Rick said, the both of them laughing as their eyes locked; Rick sighed and added, "all I know is that I looked for something to make me happy my entire life. But nothing, not even the things that seemed to work the best, has ever worked as well as you have. It's high fucking time I admit to myself that I am madly in love with you, and yeah, I'm ride or die, so where we goin'?"

Alexis, on the verge of tears, tossed her cigarette out the window, grabbed his face and kissed him before answering, "The La Portia Docks."

When John got home that evening, he was confused by this skinny little disheveled young lady sitting on his bench. When he approached, he could see she was in obvious need of help, and that was before she handed him the note. John took it, opened the door to the trailer and let Ellen inside, following behind her as he read what Alexis had left for him.

"Dear John, okay that's a stupid way to start a letter, I mean what am I, a cliche? I kinda am actually. Anyway, this is my sister Ellen, my younger sister. Rick and I just rescued her from our parents, and I couldn't think of anywhere else she could be, SHOULD be, than with you. You did wonders for me, and now I need you to do the same for her. She needs help, John, she needs someone to guide her and watch over her. There's nobody I trust in this world more than you to do that. You've proven yourself beyond capable time and time again. I won't be back for a good while. Tell Geena we're sorry about taking her boat. She'll get it back though, don't worry. Anyway, we really need to go. Thank you for everything, and I hope you can do for her what you did for me until I can come home to you both. I love you, dad. I'll come back soon."

John sat down in his easy chair and felt his tears running down his face. Ellen had reappeared, and was standing next to him. He looked up at her, stood up and opened his arms. Ellen, somewhat hesitant but not one to doubt her sisters good taste and judgment, hugged him, and he squeezed her with more love than she'd ever gotten from their actual father.

"It's okay if you're mad at her, I don't think anyone would blame you," Ellen said and John laughed.

"Mad?" he asked, "I'm not mad. I've never been fuckin' prouder."