Violet hated water.

She liked it when it rained, but otherwise she hated water, and she especially hated water in communal situations; pools, the beach, etc. She just felt uncomfortable around all these people in their hideous swimsuits, and she felt self conscious in her own one piece, sitting on the side of the pool, just kicking her feet gently in the water. She heard footsteps, and looked to see Courtney approaching her, seating herself and handing Violet a soda she'd gotten from the machine inside. Courtney twisted the cap off her own and took a long drink.

"I'm so glad it's summer," Courtney said, "I mean, the heat sucks, but it's nice to not be in school."

"Yeah, school does suck," Violet replied, opening her own soda and sipping some.

For the past few months, Violet had been seeing a speech therapist, recommended by Noreen, to help her with her stuttering and difficulty with words. It had been paying off, as Violet hadn't found herself stuttering or stammering anywhere near as much as she once had, and she was feeling better about herself. She kicked the water again a bit, and looked back at Courtney.

"Do you wanna stay over tonight?" Violet asked.

"Okay," Courtney said, smiling, "We could get BBQ for dinner. It is summer, after all. You have to eat BBQ in the summer, it's, like, the law or something."

Violet laughed as an older boy - maybe two years older - walked past them and said hello before climbing up the ladder on the lifeguard tower. Courtney couldn't help herself but stare, biting her lip. After a minute, she focused her attention back to Violet.

"Is your mom home?" she asked, "She won't mind if I stay over?"

"Nah, she likes you," Violet said.

Indeed she did, this much Courtney knew full well. After all, not that Violet knew this, Nat had offered to pay for Courtney's medical needs when she had the money necessary, and judging how well things had been going, that should be anytime now. Courtney smiled at the idea of spending the night in the Simple household. It always felt warm and welcoming, unlike her home. Ever since her mother was gone, her home hadn't felt the same, so she always appreciated having a stand in mother like figure to fall back on, and Natasha was nothing if not loving.

                                                                                              ***

"A book?" Nat asked, sitting with Corrine on the couch in the editing bay at the studio.

The studio was in actuality simply a small building on a lot they'd rented out for production, and they'd since moved all of Corrine's editing equipment into it so she didn't have to edit at the college anymore. It wasn't an enormous building, but it had everything they required to continue producing the show at a profit, since the price of rent was just right. Plus, with the subscription model Jay had implemented on the site, not to mention sales from the merch store, Nat was in better financial shape than she maybe had ever been in her whole life.

"Yeah, you know, everyone who works in TV eventually writes a book," Jay said, putting his feet up on a stool and putting his hands behind his head, adding, "like, you could really delve further into the topics you cover on the program, but with more detail. Really get into these things, maybe help people."

"I'm not a writer," Nat said, "That's why I wing everything."

"We could hire a ghost writer. You tell them what you wanna say, and they mesh it into something workable, publishable," Jay said.

"Question," Corrine said, raising her hand, "...why's a book a good idea?"

"Because it helps further her presence. When the show is off air, as it is during the summer, it's important to remind those who might otherwise forget about you that you're still here, and that you'll be back," Jay said.

"If they forget about her because she vanishes for a few months then are they even really fans?" Corrine asked, making Nat chuckle.

"It's just a suggestion, jeez," Jay said.

"I appreciate your ideas," Nat said, "I do, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am about that. I like the medium I am in and I chose it for a reason. The kind of things I say require a visual, not just text. I don't want to water down my message simply for the hope of a few more dollars."

Nat's watched beeped, and she looked at it before nodding and standing up, stretching.

"I have to go, I'm having lunch with my sister," she said, "Anyone care to join?"

"I don't wanna intrude, plus I have things to set up here still," Jay said.

"I don't mind intruding. Free food is good food," Corrine said, standing up as Nat laughed and walked to Jay, kissing him on the head before she and Corrine exited the room. They headed down the hall and out the building into the parking lot. Corrine climbed into Nat's car in the passenger seat as Nat got into the drivers seat and pushed the key into the ignition. Corrine put her seatbelt on and Nat sighed.

"I hope I wasn't too harsh on him," Nat said.

"I don't think you can be too harsh on him. I don't think he feels things like judgement. I think he just rolls with it," Corrine said, "Now, someone like me, I feel judgement in every single thing said to me, even in the times when there is no judgement I will sense it. I will create judgement out of no judgement. But I suppose that's what comes from a lifetime of being judged."

Nat wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure what. She knew Corrine's relationship with her parents was rough, but she also didn't want to pry. Instead she just said she understood, and drove in silence. Noreen had suggested they meet a bistro downtown - Noreen was a big sandwich fan and it was something that Corrine could find something to eat as well - so Nat parked across the street and she and Corrine walked over. They found Noreen almost instantly. She was seated by a window, in a brightly colored striped sweater and jeans, her hair in duel buns. She smiled at the girls as they sat down at the table with her.

"Hi Corrine," Noreen said.

"Yes, hello, good afternoon," Corrine replied.

"I hope our lunch isn't interrupting anything important," Noreen said.

"Oh, please, like anything I do is important," Nat said, making Corrine chuckle; Nat slid her overshirt off and hung it on the back of her chair then asked, "Have you ordered anything yet, or?"

"No, I figured I'd wait for you guys so we could order together," Noreen said, "what are your plans for the summer?"

"I'm just going to try and relax," Nat said, "Honestly, I've been working myself to the bone. I need some time off. Recoup and all that. Not that that means I'm not thinking of ideas or anything during this time. Just means that I'm not working 24/7 as usual. In fact, we were just at the studio talking shop, so."

"And you?" Noreen asked, looking at Corrine, who just shook her head.

Corrine had been planning to go to Hawaii to see her girlfriend, but a week before leaving the trip was suddenly cancelled and she hadn't talked about it since. Nat let her keep the money she'd given her, because that was a gift more than anything, but she hadn't pried. Curious as she may have been, she felt she shouldn't intrude that overtly into Corrine's private life. She felt when Corrine was ready, if ever, she'd tell her.

"Sleep. I like sleep," Corrine said, "Nat's got the right idea. Rest."

"Maybe you guys should get a bed at the studio so you can take naps together," Noreen said, making Nat raise an eyebrow as she glanced at Corrine, who blushed.

"What do you say?" Nat asked, "I'm open to trying anything at least once."

                                                                                              ***

When Courtney and Violet got back to the house, Nat still wasn't there.

This was good, actually. This meant they could take some time to get settled in before she got home and they asked about dinner. The girls went upstairs to Violet's bedroom and played music while Courtney, true to her word, helped Violet learn how to properly apply makeup. After a while, Courtney stepped back and looked at her work, as Violet looked at herself in the vanity mirror.

"I look...pretty," Violet said.

"You have good bone structure in your face, and that helps a lot," Courtney said, "Honestly, a lot of girls would kill to have the kind of face you do. You take my advice and you'll have a boyfriend in no time."

Courtney started packing up some of the makeup, as Violet stared at herself in the mirror. She cleared her throat, then lowered her voice.

"I don't know that I want a boyfriend," she said.

"Oh?"

"I don't know that I want anyone," she followed up with, "I just...I don't understand romance and how you feel compelled to be with someone like that. That much intimacy is terrifying to me. I don't even really find people attractive. I feel weird, like there's something else wrong with me."

"There's nothing wrong with you, Vi, some people just...aren't wired that way," Courtney said, putting the makeup bag down and sitting on the bed cross legged, adding, "It's totally fine if you are. If anything it'll make life easier I'd say. Less bull to deal with. Unlike me. That guy at the pool, the lifeguard who's about our age, god...I wanna get to know him. He's so cute."

"He is?" Violet asked.

"Yeah! And he's always really nice to me the few times we've talked," Courtney said, "I was thinking of maybe trying to be a lifeguard. Or, like, a helper or something. That way I could spend more time with him during the summer."

Violet didn't respond. She didn't want to say anything that might hurt Courtney's feelings, so she just looked back at herself in the mirror, admiring her face. Her entire life she didn't have a single friend except her mother, and she felt protective of Courtney, and now it seemed like she might lose her to some random boy. This was going to be a bad summer, Violet could feel it.

Eventually, Nat came home, Corrine in tow, and they agreed to get BBQ for dinner. Even Corrine had some, which surprised Nat considering her aversion to eating most things, but Corrine stuck mostly to one particular item, so. After dinner, the girls watched movies upstairs in Violet's bedroom, while Corrine and Nat sat downstairs, eating cookies from a box and watching music videos on mute. As Corrine dug into the box and pulled a handful of cookies out, Nat glanced over and sighed.

"So," Nat said, "Um, about what Noreen asked, I was wondering the same thing."

"What, you wanna sleep with me?" Corrine asked, making Nat laugh.

"No! God no, I mean, no offense, you're cute and all but no, but about the summer in general," Nat said, "You know, what your plans might be and stuff. I know you canceled your trip to the islands, and I just...I wanna make sure you're okay. Is everything okay?"

Corrine stopped chewing and looked at Nat, keeping eye contact for once.

"You don't have to mother me," she said sternly.

"But I like mothering you!" Nat replied.

"I just didn't go. That's all there is to it," Corrine said, "Who cares what the reason is. It just didn't happen. I'd rather stay here and work on things anyway. I like to spend most of my spare time in the editing station at the studio. Learning some of the new equipment is going to take some time, and I'd rather get familiar with it now than before the new stuff starts being made."

Natasha sighed and looked away back at the TV. Corrine put the cookie box down on the couch and folded her arms, her long black shiny hair covering her face, and Nat was surprised when she heard her start to cry. Nat didn't say anything, but after a minute Corrine - surprising Nat to the nth degree - climbed across the couch and laid her head in Nat's lap, sobbing. Natasha, surprised but not shaken, stroked her hair and just held her.

"It's okay," Nat said, "You're okay here. Whatever happened, you're okay here."

Between Corrine, Violet and Courtney, when had Natasha become a mother to three?

                                                                                           ***

"Do you think I'm a good mother?" Natasha asked as she and Jay lay in bed one morning.

"Yeah, I do," Jay said, "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, sometimes I worry that I'm not, that I'm too focused on helping everyone else instead of just being with my own daughter," Nat said, "but like...the other night, Corrine just started crying on my couch, and I just had to hold her for a while, and it just made me feel like I'm more a mom to other people and while it feels good to be there for these folks, it also makes me worry about my relationship with Violet."

"The mere fact that you worry about whether or not you're a good mother, and don't just take it on assumption that you are, is enough proof that you're a good mother. Those who automatically believe they are would never second guess themselves. They'd consider themselves infallible. But you're always striving for more, asking to be better. That's enough for me."

Nat smiled and looked up at the ceiling, sighing.

"...when I got pregnant, I was scared that I wouldn't know what to do. That I wouldn't do the right things or that I'd do the right things in the worst possible way. I wasn't even sure I wanted to be a mom, honestly. But I think a lot of women go through that, so. Even still, I hated questioning myself. I want to be self assured and confident, but more often than not I'm worried that I'm screwing everything up in ways I can't notice until it's too late."

"Nat," Jay said, leaning on his elbow, "a year ago you dissed an entire school assembly because they didn't treat your daughter kindly, you dissed their parents failings to their faces, and you're letting your daughter see her father even though your relationship with the man crumbled and burned. You always put her first. Please don't ever think anything less."

Natasha smiled as Jay leaned over her and kissed her, running his hand up her face and into her hair.

"You're a good woman, it's just that society has conditioned women to believe the worst about themselves," he said quietly, "so listen to those who know you best. You're great, and you do great, and I love you."

Natasha blushed and leaned up, kissing him back. It was hard to argue with him. Besides, she couldn't risk making him angry.

He ran all her camera equipment and he'd be expensive to replace.

The theatre was quiet, aside from a bit of shuffling and some folks clearing their throats or rustling their pamphlets. Natasha was seated on a couch on the stage, but the lights were off, and nobody could see anything. She took a long, deep breath, then pressed a button on the earpiece attached to her head and whispered, "Let's go."

The lights blasted on, and suddenly she was bathed in warm light, now clearly visible to everyone in the theatre, as they all began to clap. Natasha smiled softly and waited a moment, before cupping her hands and looking out directly at everyone.

"Thank you for coming," she said into the headset mic, "I'm Natasha Simple, and welcome to my first live show. If you're here, it's likely because you're lost, confused or in need of help, but let me assure you that you're doing better than me, and I get paid for this schlock. Either way, like me, you're likely dissatisfied with your life and I can understand why. Life is, as a concept, extremely dissatisfying. I mean, let's face it, most of us, myself included, are never going to be wealthy, or fulfilled or even what society often considers 'happy', but I think that's the biggest lesson I've had to learn since my husband left...is that it's perfectly fine to not be those things, and it's sick to think it's wrong to think that way."

A smattering of applause made Natasha smile as she stood up and started pacing.

"I mean," she continued, "I'm supposed to see my divorce as a 'fresh start' or some shit, but it's not, it's an ending, and that's okay. It's okay to see things as endings, not new beginnings. Why do so many self help books praise the concept of closure, yet are afraid to see things as endings? You can't have it both ways. Either be afraid, or lie, but don't try and have your cake and eat it too. You just wind up with cake everywhere, making a mess, and life is messy enough, isn't it? So let's try to conquer the mess, shall we? Tonight, you and me. Together, we could maybe make something out of nothing."

Some more light applause, as up in the booth where Corrine was doing her job with the lights and sounds, Jay smirked. He sipped his hot coffee and sat down on a stool beside Corrine, crossing his legs.

"It's so good to see her be so headstrong," Jay said, "this has been such a weird year, and it's nice to see she hasn't lost any of her step."

"She's a rock, yes," Corrine said.

The door opened, and Sharla entered, eating out of a bag of banana chips. She nodded at Jay, who raised his coffee cup at her, as she sat herself on the couch in the back and stretched out, groaning.

"I just came from the gym, sorry I wasn't here sooner," she said.

"It's fine," Jay said, "She just started a few minutes ago, you haven't missed much."

"Where's her kid?" Sharla asked, and Jay turned to look at her.

"She's on her way with her aunt," Jay said, checking his watch, "and honestly they're later than you are, so don't feel bad."

                                                                                                 ***

Sitting in traffic, Noreen tapping her nails against her steering wheel, she couldn't help but think they should've left sooner. Violet, sitting in the passenger seat, wasn't saying anything but was instead chewing on her hair absentmindedly, with Courtney in the backseat, reading a book she'd brought with her to ease the awkward quiet. Finally, Noreen sighed and glanced at her niece.

"Well, I hope your mom doesn't hold it, you know, too harshly against us for being late," she said.

"She won't. She never holds, um, anything against me," Violet said, "She'd have to, like, pay attention to me before she did that."

This admittance surprised Courtney, who glanced up from her book, but didn't say anything.

"Why do you say that? You know she loves you," Noreen said.

"I know, and uh, and I...I love, um, her too, but, like...like she's so focused on fixing everyone elses problems, and never, um, ours, if that makes sense? I feel like, uh, like everyone else's problems are more important, or something, like, I don't know," Violet said, her voice trailing off to a whisper as she finished.

"Well, you should tell her that," Noreen said, "I'm sure she'd listen. She adores you. I know she's busy trying to help literally everyone, and that, ya know, it has to be, uh, frustrating, but still. You're her daughter. You'll always come first. That's what my parents taught me."

This made Courtney smile, but also feel bad. She didn't have a mom to help her feel good. She had her father, and he did his best, and they were best friends, but it wasn't the same. She was, honestly, jealous of the relationship Violet had with her mother.

"I couldn't ever say, like, anything mean to her," Violet said, "That'd make me mean, and I don't wanna, ya know, be, uh, be mean."

Courtney sighed and went back to reading, not having said a thing, but having taken it all in nonetheless.

                                                                                           ***

"You're all here because, like me, you've been forgotten in one manner or another," Nat said, "Whether it's by your family, your friends, or even yourself...you've gotten lost, somehow, in the mix and you don't know how to get back to the trail, but luckily for you, I'm a Forest Ranger, and together we can weather the wildness of the wilderness together to find our way back to camp. Was that a ridiculous thing to say? You betcha!"

Laughter rose from the crowd, making Nat chuckle herself as she adjusted her earpiece and continued.

"But, that being said, I do firmly believe in my ability to not just help you, but help you help yourself, and help myself in the process. That's the thing my husband didn't understand. So many people think you have to do everything by yourself, and, sure, a lot of things you do have to do by yourself. I won't deny that. But one of those things isn't suffering. You do NOT have to suffer alone. That's why I'm here. I am here to tell you that you are not alone in how you feel, and that I completely understand, because I suffer too. We all do. Really, our suffering is the one thing that binds us all completely together."

Nat crossed the stage and nervously fidgeted with the buttons on her shirt before exhaling and facing the crowd once again.

"We're all going to be left. We're all going to be left in one manner or another, whether our romantic partner leaves us or our parents eventually die, one way or another, we're going to be left. And that loss hurts tremendously, but it also brings us all so much closer, because we know we aren't alone in experiencing it."

The doors to the theatre opened, and Natasha saw Violet, Courtney and Noreen enter and silently take seats in the back. Nat smiled and felt her eyes tear up.

"My daughter is the single strongest person I know, and I draw all my strength from her. I never tell her this, much as I might want to, but I can easily tell a crowd full of strangers because I don't have to worry what you'll think about me. I don't know you guys. So let me tell you that our children, these people...these are the ones that help us through the most. I wouldn't be here today if it hadn't been for her. Her birth made me realize that I was capable of loving someone - selflessly and unabashedly - other than myself, more than myself. She's developmentally challenged, and yet she's the smartest person I know, and every day I feel like I don't even remotely match up to how much smarter she actually is than me, than all of us. To have to navigate a world not designed for you...that takes brains. Courage. Strength. And she has far more of all of those things than all of us combined."

Noreen and Courtney glanced at Violet who was trying not to smile, clearly feeling simultaneously embarrassed but also loved at that exact moment.

"I know it's cliche to say your child gives you purpose, but before her I was aimless. I didn't know what I wanted to do for a living," Natasha said, "and now I've spent the past decade trying to help all of you, because of her. You're all here to see me, you're all fans of me, but I'm her biggest fan. Don't take your strength from me, or what I say or think, take it from her. She's a better person than I could ever be, and she makes me strive every single day to be better, so I can help all of you. In hindsight, my husband leaving was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it forced me to realize what I was truly appreciative of....my daughter, and I couldn't have gotten here today without her."

Violet got up and ran out of the theatre, trying to hide her face, and neither Noreen or Courtney followed her. Jay, from up in the booth, saw this and quickly exited to catch her in the main foyer of the building. He found Violet pacing in the main hall, where she was both crying and laughing.

"Vi?" he asked, cautiously approaching her, touching her on the shoulder gently.

"Jay?" she asked, turning to see him.

"You okay? I'm sorry if that was embarrassing, but-"

Without warning, Violet threw herself into Jay, hugging him tight, surprising him completely. Violet rarely even gave hugs to her mother, but she really needed it he figured, so he hugged her back and let her cry against him.

"It's so much responsibility," she whined, "I love her, but, uh....but I feel, like, you know...so....um...responsible for her well being, and that's tiring."

"I'm sure it is, sweetheart," Jay said, stroking her hair, "but-"

"and," she continued, interrupting him, "I wanna make her proud, and I'm glad she finds strength in me, because I sure don't find strength in me."

Jay knew Violet suffered from self esteem issues, but it had never remotely occurred to him just how big those issues might just be until this very moment. It now dawned on him just how little she actually thought of herself. He knew that finding Noreen had made her a lot happier, finding some reasoning for being the way she was and not feeling as alone now, but even still...Jay sighed and walked with Violet to the velvet covered staircase, sitting down together. He pulled his cap off and ran his hands through his hair, exhaling deeply, shaking his head.

"...I love your mother," he said, "more than others do. I know there's, um, kind of an age gap but it isn't huge by any means. Either way, what I'm saying is that I've known you basically your whole life, and...and she isn't wrong. I know you still find it hard to accept being who you are, but you know, you aren't alone. I had a lot of trouble in school myself, and I know how you feel about not feeling as smart as the stock you came from, as smart as the peers around you. It can feel crushing."

"Dad just left," Violet said, no longer stammering, "he just left, and I'm supposed to be there for my mom when I'm barely able to be there for myself? I love her, and I'm glad she pulls strength from me, but I'm a kid! Dad never cared. He claims he did, but he didn't. He didn't care. If he'd cared, he would've stayed for me at least, or he would've seen me sooner, but he didn't."

"Well, I know I'm not your father, but I care," Jay said, making Violet look at him as he added, "and I know it'll never be the same, but-"

"You've been around more than my dad has. That makes you the better man and I'm glad you're in my moms life," Violet said.

Jay smiled, knowing he didn't have to say more. The silence between them said it all. They waited for the show to finish, and waited for Nat to join them, but eventually, as everyone filed out, Violet grew frustrated. She wanted to storm back into the auditorium and see what was taking her so long, but Jay just grabbed her arm and kept her there. Violet got it then. Her mother was once again doing something for someone. Someone other than her. And she would just have to get comfortable with sharing her mother with the world.

                                                                                              ***

Corrine was packing her backpack, wrapping up her headphones and other equipment to take back to her dorm, when the door opened and Natasha entered. Corrine turned and smiled at her, as Nat pulled the earpiece off and handed it to her. The women stood there, looking at one another, until Corrine finally nodded and pulled her backpack on over her shoulders and headed towards the door.

"Thank you," Nat said, "Seriously, I couldn't have done the show or this live event without your expertise. Thank you, Corrine."

"Don't mention it," Corrine said, "I'll see you next week."

"Wait," Nat said, sitting down and pulling out a bundle of paper from a briefcase, "sit down."

Corrine did as she was told, and the two women sat there on the couch together.

"What's going on?" Corrine asked.

"I pooled all the money we made from this event, and a lot of the money we made from subscriptions, merchandise and donations through the site this past year, and...and I put it all in one collected bank account. In your name."

Corrine just stared at her.

"What?" she asked.

"All the money, it's...it's for you. After that discussion we had, you know, about your parents...it didn't feel right to just not do anything about it, so I took all the money I made from my job this year and I put it into this account. Sharla and Jay agreed to give up their shares for this year, since we're all still doing somewhat okay, so we could give all this to you, and keep you afloat financially. I'm taking a break from the show for a bit to spend the summer with my daughter. That being said, I won't have any need for your services until we return, so I got you a plane ticket and a nice hotel room on the islands, so you can go be with her, and you won't have to worry about your folks paying for your dorm because now you have more than enough money to pay for your schooling for a while."

Corrine couldn't believe her ears.

"What are you saying?" Corrine asked quietly.

"You're going to Hawaii for the summer, to be with your girl," Nat said, "Staying in a luxury suite, and you don't have to worry about affording your schooling when you get back. You said you were a fan of me, well I'm a fan of you, Corrine. What you've been put through, and yet you're still going, and that's so admirable. You wanted a parent, let me be that parent."

She handed Corrine the papers, and watched as Corrine sifted through them bit by bit, her eyes growing ever wider every few seconds. After she finished, she shut the envelope and looked at Natasha, then threw herself into her, hugging you tightly.

"Thank you," she cried, and Nat patted her back.

"It's no big thing," Nat said, laughing.

                                                                                           ***

Natasha got herself, Violet and Courtney fried chicken from a fast food place for dinner, and the three of them sat in the living room watching TV and eating, having a nice girls night in. After a while, the girls excused themselves to Violet's bedroom, leaving Nat all alone to watch TV and eat dessert by her lonesome, not that she minded. She wanted some alone time after that day. When Nat finally went to her bedroom around 11pm, she found Courtney staring in the hall bathroom mirror, trying to fix her hair, and Nat stopped and watched until Courtney noticed her.

"Oh, hi," Courtney said, "Thanks for letting me stay the night."

"It's no problem. Is Violet asleep?" Nat asked, and Courtney nodded.

"Yeah, she fell asleep pretty quickly after we went upstairs," Courtney said, "Your show was really good, Miss Simple."

"Courtney, can I talk to you?" Natasha asked, nodding down the hall, "in my bedroom?"

Courtney followed her, shutting the bathroom light off, and when they arrived in Nat's room, she shut the door and sat down on the bed. Courtney was afraid she'd done something wrong, and felt nervous. Natasha exhaled, and looked at her feet.

"...your father came to me a while ago," Nat said, "said business wasn't as great as it once was, that things were getting tighter money wise, and uh, and of course I know all about your mom. I mean, in the sense that she's not here anymore. Then Violet told me about, you know...you, and what you've been going through, becoming who you are, and I just thought to myself 'wow, women have it hard enough already, but this girl's gotta be having the worst time of any of us' because, it's bad enough to be a woman and get shit solely for that, but to be in your situation, that has to attract a lot of unwanted attention and that...I'm just in awe, honestly, and I'm so glad you're my daughters friend because...because it's good for her to have role models to show that other young women like herself, who fall outside the societal category of 'normal' or whatever, are honestly the strongest women there are."

Courtney wanted to cry. She sat down in a chair and watched as Natasha reached behind her on the bed and pulled a suitcase to her lap, opening it.

"I gave most of the money from this year to my editor, but since your father and I ran into eachother, I've been saving up, and hopefully after this next year, if things continue to go as well for me, between the two of us, we can afford to get you what you want. I think if we pool our funds together, we could afford the surgeries."

Courtney went white as a sheet.

"you...you'd do that for me?" she asked quietly, trying not to cry.

"Yeah, of course. Absolutely. Every women, regardless of their sexuality or their gender or their intellectual capacity, deserves to be happy and respected," Natasha said, "...so yeah, of course I would. I know you lost your mom, and I can't imagine what that's like, but I'm always here, if you need a motherly figure. We'll get you what you want, okay? I promise."

Courtney stood up and hugged Natasha, sobbing against her. Natasha smiled and stroked Courtney's long blonde hair, feeling like maybe now Courtney wouldn't feel so alone, just like Corrine. Courtney eventually pulled herself away and sat down beside Nat, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

"...I miss her so much," Courtney said, "and...thank you. Thank you for being there."

"Of course," Nat said, "I know what it's like to be left."

                                                                                               ***

The bell above the door rang, and Noreen looked around to spot Natasha coming in and seating herself at the small round table in the corner. Noreen had already ordered coffee for them both, and was eating from a box of donuts.

"Thanks for inviting me," Natasha said.

"I figured it was important for us to get to know one another," Noreen said, "So, did you do what you wanted? Did it go over well?"

"It went over great, actually," Nat said, picking a donut out for herself and sipping her coffee, "I figured everyone else in my life deserved to get a gift, since I got one."

Noreen raised an eyebrow.

"You got a gift?"

"I got a sister," Natasha said, making Noreen laugh.

And for the first time in over two years....things really were simple again.

How had they gotten here?

Sitting at this table across from her once beloved husband, Natasha couldn't believe she was about to nullify their marriage. Stephen was staring at the table, and wouldn't even look up at her, which made Nat all the more angry. Their lawyers weren't in the room - they said they'd give the couple a bit to say whatever they had to - and would reenter once they were ready to sign the papers. Natasha exhaled and leaned back, crossing her arms and tossing her bangs from her eyes.

"I just need to know why," Nat said, "That's it. I'll sign it, I don't care to salvage something like this, but before I allow us to get on with our lives, I need to know why. And don't tell me there's no reason, there's always a reason."

"I...I mean, yeah, there's a reason," Stephen said, "but you probably don't want to hear it."

"It's that bad?" Nat asked, whispering as she leaned over the table a bit.

"I wouldn't call it bad, but you would," Stephen said, "I don't know, maybe you wouldn't. You only ever see the good in people."

"That's not at all true, trust me," Nat replied, "It can't be worse than anything I've done or felt this past year."

Stephen sighed and stood up, running his hands through his hair as he began pacing in the room. Nat leaned back in her chair, putting her feet up on the table, crossing her arms again as she watched and waited for whatever it was Stephen was trying to find the right words to say.

"I don't...I don't know how to say this without sounding selfish," he finally said, "because, like, I wanted you to be successful, and I supported what you did, and I could see all the good it brought people and brought even to yourself. And yet, I felt like you ignored me. I know that's not the most original reason but, you went out to help everyone else, but you never thought about helping me. We were supposed to be a team, but I didn't fit into your world anymore, and it made me feel lost and confused."

"...that's...fair, yeah," Natasha said, "I mean, you're absolutely right to feel that way. I did get really invested in it, and ignored you, yeah. I won't deny that. But maybe if you had told me that instead of letting it fester inside you-"

"I did tell you that," Stephen said, surprising her.

"What? Wh-when?"

"At Violet's birthday, the year before I left," Stephen said, "I told you while we were in the kitchen, alone, and sure, it probably wasn't the right time, but I couldn't deal with it anymore, and so I told you and you said we would deal with it, and work at it, and then nothing ever came of it. Your sister found me crying in the backyard after that, and we started talking, and I realized she...she was far more open than you ever said you were. I think, after a point, being open to you became more of a character trait then an actual personality trait. You became the Nat you played on television, not the Nat I knew, and the Nat you played on television had no hang ups, had no family, all she had was good intentions, and Violet and myself suddenly were dead weight."

"That isn't true at all! I loved Violet, I love Violet, she's my entire world!" Nat said, standing up now herself and glaring at Stephen as she continued, "and sure, maybe I let what I was doing get in the way of my home life, but...but..."

Stephen stared at her, and realized tears were forming in her eyes.

"...I don't think we were ever supposed to be together," Nat said, surprising him.

"What?" he asked, half laughing in shock.

"I think...I think we married way too young, and...and then with Violet, it was like, well, this is what you do, you make a family, and sure we had things in common, but certainly not our aspirations for what we wanted out of life in the long run. And maybe all of this could've been easier to accept had it not been my own sister you shacked up with."

"Yeah, that...that probably sucked," Stephen said, leaning against the wall, sighing, "I'm really sorry, Nat, about everything happening the way it did. I should've just told you I was tired and wanted out, but even then it would've been painful."

"Not half as painful as what you did, I'll tell you that right now," Nat said, seating herself again, adding, "okay, I'm willing to take a good portion of the blame. Sure. My attention was divided, unfairly so, and I didn't listen enough to the people I should've...my family. But I need you to admit something to me before I sign this."

"What is that?"

"I need you to tell me you love me," Nat said, sniffling, "I know it sounds stupid, and I know we're not getting back together, and I know that it probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense after everything that's happened, but I really need to hear you say it."

Stephen smiled and approached the table, sitting down again and reaching across, taking Nat's hands in his own.

"I'm always going to love you, Natty," Stephen said, "even after everything, I'm never not going to love you, even if we're not together. You're the mother of my child, and even if we hadn't had a baby, I....I don't think I could ever not love you. You're such a good person, and I admire you so deeply for that. So yes, I will always love you, in some way or another."

Nat smiled as Stephen reached up and wiped the tears away from her face. Her fingers fumbled with the pen on the table as she picked it back up and pressed it to the paper.

"I'm sorry," Stephen whispered, "I really am."

"I am too," Nat said, as she signed her name, and then slid the paper to Stephen and handed him the pen, watching as he signed his own name. After they finished they sat there staring at one another, until the door opened and their respective lawyers reentered the room. After everything had been taken care of, Stephen and Natasha walked outside the room and stopped in the hall of the courthouse, staring at one another; Stephen's hands in his coat pockets, Nat's hands under her coat slung on her arms.

"Well," she finally said, "I guess I should get on my way. I'm setting up for my live show. You gonna come?"

"Would you want me to? Wouldn't it be awkward?" Stephen asked.

"Naw, it's fine," Nat said, waving her hand at him, "it'll be fine. Besides, I likely won't even see you in the crowd, so who cares. Besides, Violet's gonna be there, so she'll probably appreciate seeing you."

"She hasn't really seemed to enjoy the time we've spent together, so I don't know how true that would be," Stephen said, "but sure, I'll drop by. We'll drop by."

Nat wrapped her arms around Stephen and held him close, as he did with her. He smelled her hair, and remembered a time when he could get lost in her fragrance, a time that was all but lost to him now. She still smelled nice, but it didn't ignite anything in him now like it once had. After the hug broke, each one departed for their car in the parking lot. After watching Stephen drive away, Natasha turned her car on and sat there for a brief moment, trying not to cry. It was official. She was divorced. After all this time, she was finally separated from that part of her life, and she could begin to make a new part of her life. A better part. A part with less pain. A part with a real future, a real show, a real family. With Violet, with her friends...with Jay.

And suddenly things didn't seem so scary after all.

                                                                                              ***

Corrine was seated at the sound board table in the upper area of the arena, fiddling with settings, when the door opened and Nat entered. Corrine pulled her headphones down around her neck and looked up, surprised to see her. Corrine checked her watch.

"I...I thought you weren't coming until later," she said, sounding flustered.

"Well, it didn't take as long as I had thought it would," Nat said, "What are you doing here? I thought you were still working on-"

"I finished," Corrine said, "After our little spat, I finished quite easily, so I decided to come right over here and start getting things set up for the live show this weekend."

"Oh, well okay, cool, thanks," Natasha said as she took her coat off and collapsed onto the couch. Corrine turned around in her rolling chair, looking at Nat.

"Um, are you okay? I've never been married, so I've never been divorced so I...I don't really have any, uh, you know, experience in dealing with this sort of stuff and besides I've only really had one relationship and it wasn't even really a real relationship so I don't know that that counts but-"

"Corrine," Nat asked, looking up at her.

"Yeah?"

"...thanks for believing in me," Natasha said, "...thanks for being one of those people who just blindly believed in what I wanted to do and was willing to help me do it. I don't think I could've pulled this whole thing off without your input. Your expertise as an editor. And, uh, I'm sorry about that fight. I shouldn't have questioned you. You were right. I hired you to do the best job, and I shouldn't have gotten in the way."

This surprised Corrine, as she hadn't expected someone so attached to their project to admit they were wrong.

"It...it's okay, it's okay, really, um, I understand," Corrine said.

"I guess, when you annul your marriage, you sort of realize you can't be right all the time, even if you've made a career out of giving people what you assume to be solid advice," Natasha said, finally sitting upright on the sofa, pulling her legs to her chest and resting her chin on them, saying, "...you've never had a relationship?"

"Well, I mean, kind of, it's complicated," Corrine said, blushing, "I...I don't really wanna, ya know, bore you with it or anything."

"You won't."

"...it was someone I grew up knowing, and...and we don't know eachother anymore. They moved away. I...I was gonna...they asked me to move with them, but my parents said I wouldn't be able to finish school if I did."

"Why? Couldn't you just transfer your courses?"

"Uh, yeah, but they wouldn't pay for it if I went with this person," Corrine said, looking embarrassed.

"...oh, I'm...I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"No, it's...it's fine. We all lose the people we think we're supposed to be with, but I guess we wind up with other people we're supposed to be with, right? You lost your husband, I lost my....person....but here we are, making something together."

Natasha stood up and walked over to the chair, kneeling in front of it and looking at her.

"...why would they not want you to-"

"I don't...really wanna talk about it, okay?"

"Okay, I'm...I'm sorry. I just...as a parent, I can't imagine telling my child they couldn't be with someone they love, I mean, unless they were a predator or something," Nat said, "but it's okay, we don't have to talk about it. I'm going to run down to the snack machine and get some bags of chips and cookies and whatnot, maybe some sodas, you want anything?"

Corrine shook her head. Natasha stood up, wiped her pants off and headed to the door, opening it before hearing Corrine's chair squeaking as it turned to face the door. Nat stopped and looked back.

"You're a good mom," Corrine said, "...Violet is lucky, because...we don't all get good moms. I didn't...their name was Katherine. She gave me that glass turtle, remember? The one you saw in my dorm? We...we were friends growing up, and..."

"Oh," Nat said, everything suddenly clicking in her head, "oh god, I'm so sorry. Your parents shouldn't-"

"It doesn't matter," Corrine said, rubbing her nose on her sweater sleeve, "they already did, and it's over. It's easier to just stay hidden than lose everything."

"No, no Corrine, that's...you want a mom who will accept you? I can be that mom," Nat said, "I mean, that motherly figure, and you don't have to live under their thumb anymore. Don't do what I did. Don't make the mistake of doing something just because it's what others expect you to do. Don't get me wrong, I loved Stephen, but we probably wouldn't have stayed together if we hadn't...anyway, you don't have to stay hidden."

"I need to get back to work," Corrine said, spinning her chair back around, facing the monitors and sound board once again, as Nat stood up and exited the room. As she wandered into the hallway, she stumbled into Jay, coming in with a cardboard thing full of coffee cups.

"Hey!" he said, leaning in and kissing her cheek, "I'm surprised you're here! I ran out to get us all coffee, but I wasn't sure when you'd be back, so."

"...I need your help," Nat said.

"With what?"

Natasha just smiled.

"It's 4am, can we go home now?"Jay asked, leaning back in his chair, groaning.

Nat stood up and started pacing, then grabbed a nearby pillow off a chair, shoved her face into it and screamed at the top of her lungs. They'd been here, in this editing bay at the college, for 12 hours now. This normally wouldn't have taken so long, except that Corrine was adamant that something worked better than the way Nat and Jay thought it worked, and she wasn't budging until they at least agreed to try and see it from her perspective.

"You hired me to do this job, so I am doing this job, and my expertise within this field is telling me that this is the better way to edit this," Corrine said.

"I have a live show in 24 hours!" Nat said, "WE have a live show in 24 hours, and you're keeping me cooped up in here because you think a different angle and lighting works better than the one I've chosen? Why'd you even ask us to be here if you were just going to fight us on every goddamned turn!?"

"Because it's your show!" Corrine yelled, standing up herself now, "Because you have the right to an opinion, but I also am the professional editor here, so I have a right to mine and I'm telling you that the way you want this done is wrong!"

"Ladies!" Jay shouted, sitting upright, "Ladies, fuckin chill, okay? Holy shit. We've been stuck in here for hours with virtually no progress. This is the last scene of the last show of this run, and after this live show in 24 hours we can go our separate ways and not deal with eachothers bullshit again for a few months, but until that point, we need to come a common consensus, okay? Can we please just make this work?"

Nat folded her arms and looked at Corrine, who sat back down in her editing chair.

"Nobody ever believes in me," Corrine said quietly, "All my life, all the time I've been working on stuff, everyone's fought me every step of the way, even when they hire me to do the very thing they then fight with me about. It's outright exhausting trying to prove yourself over and over and over again. I get that I'm weird, but I'm also good at what I do."

"Nobody said you weren't, Corrine, but is it really worth keeping us in perpetual limbo over?" Nat asked.

"Yes! Because you want the very best, don't you? Well I'M the very best. This shot is the very best. I'm just doing what I think is the best for YOU," Corrine said.

Nat walked back to the wall and put her head against it, shutting her eyes and whining softly. Jay glanced up over at her.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

"Trying to remember a time when I wasn't in this room," Nat said, making Jay smirk; Nat exhaled and looked back at Corrine, adding, "Look, I have to do something before my live show, and I need you at that live show, so just...do whatever you want."

"No," Corrine said.

"Excuse me?" Nat asked, surprised at the abrasiveness of her tone now.

"I don't wanna win because you're too tired of arguing with me. I wanna win on the merit of my assumption being right. I want you to acknowledge that I'm correct," Corrine said, "That's what this is about. It's about...being heard."

Nat wanted to scream, but she didn't want to be that mean to Corrine. She could see a lot of her daughter in Corrine, and that made her a bit more sympathetic towards her than she would've otherwise been at this point. Nat had always prided herself on being nice, on being understanding, but Corrine was really testing her limits tonight, and she hated herself for getting so angry. Nat picked up Jay's wallet and pulled out a few bills, opening Corrine's front door.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," she said, "I'm going to the vending machine."

As Nat exited, Corrine looked at Jay and then looked away. Jay sighed and stood up, stretching; cracking his back and yawning, Jay was clearly worn out and didn't know how much longer he could spend in this place. Suddenly he heard Corrine sniffling, and he approached her, putting his hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away from it.

"It's nothing to cry about," Jay said softly, "We're all just really stressed and tired and it's been a hell of a few months. Getting this show together, getting the site up and running, and then finding out about her other sister...we've all been through the shit. You're fine."

"Nobody ever listens to me," Corrine said, "She's supposed to listen to people, that's what she does. It's her whole thing, right? To listen and understand and accept. So why am I the exception? I'm just trying to make her show the best it can be, and this is what's needed to do that."

Jay felt crushed. Corrine was losing her trust, her belief, in a woman who had seemingly dedicated her life to being there for others. This could not stand another minute.

"You know," Jay said, "I have a cousin like you. She's very introverted but she's so incredibly smart and talented at what she does. I think that's why I liked you right from the get go, because I could see her in you. Some would call you two stubborn, but I don't think that's the right word. I'm not sure exactly what the right word is, but it isn't stubborn."

"My parents, when they talk to me, hate me for choosing this career, this field of interest. They wanted me to be a doctor. I was supposed to be a doctor. I know all about medicine, I know all about anatomy. I grew up with my nose stuffed in medical textbooks, and instead I chose this line of work where people constantly undermine my professional opinion. Whether I'm a doctor or not, I'm still a professional."

"Absolutely," Jay said, "I'll be right back."

He turned and exited the room, finding Nat leaning against the wall a bit down the hall, sipping from a can of ginger ale and eating a payday candy bar. She offered him a bite, but he politely declined and folded his arms, staring at her.

"What?" Nat asked.

"You need to be nicer to her," Jay said, "You need to, like, listen to her, okay? She's...she's right. Not just about what angle is correct for the shot, but also about everything else. You wouldn't want someone telling you how to word something you say on screen, right? Well she doesn't want anyone telling her how to edit. She's smart, Natasha, she's probably too damn smart for her own good, and she deserves to be recognized intellectually. You need to go in and apologize."

"Excuse me?" Nat asked, burping and sticking the remainder of the candy bar in her back pants pocket, adding, "Are you fucking kidding me right now?"

"She's becoming disenchanted with you. You're supposed to be the one person in this world that still gives a shit, and hears people when they speak, and yet here you are, arguing with her. This is what she does for a living, and she's doing it for you, not for her. Sure, she wants to be heard, but she's also trying to give you the best product."

Nat looked at the floor and kicked it gently, nodding.

"Alright, that's...that's fair, yeah," Nat said, "It's been such a hard year."

"I know it has, but you have people who believe in you, and what's more important? Being right or being lonely?" Jay asked, and Nat nodded again.

"Point taken."

They headed back to the editing bay, and tried to open the door, only to find it locked. Jay knocked on the glass window and Natasha peered inside, spotting Corrine, huddled on the floor in a corner. Nat suddenly felt an awful sting in the pit of her stomach as she turned to Jay and sighed, running her hands through her long hair.

"Fuck," she whispered.

"Fuck indeed."

"Move," she said, pushing him away from the door and putting herself up to it, "Corrine? Sweetheart, it's Nat. Can we come back in? Jay talked to me, and you're right, okay? I'm sorry. We'll do things your way, alright?"

"I don't want your apology if it comes because Jay told you to," Corrine said, standing up and heading to the other side of the window, looking out, "I want you to apologize and recognize I'm correct because you actually think I am, not because you've been shamed into it."

"Jesus christ!" Nat screamed, "You have to be KIDDING ME! What does she want?!"

"She wants to be heard, genuinely heard. Her own parents don't even recognize what she's chosen to do with her life, and now her own co-worker, the person she should look up to, is doing the same thing? Do you really wanna be on the same level as the very people she's trying to escape?"

Natasha sighed and put her back against the door, sliding down it to the floor. Jay sat down beside her, and they heard the sound of Corrine doing the same on the other side of the door.

"It's not a personal thing," Nat said, "Corrine? You know that, right? This show is my everything. It's right up there just below my daughter in terms of importance to me. That's why I'm so overly protective...but maybe being protective is what's kept me from really connecting to others in the same field as me. I guess I should recognize that if I'm good at what I do, others are equally as good at what they do as well."

Corrine didn't respond, but they could hear her sniffling through the door, and Nat felt terrible. She'd been acting like an ass all night, and she wanted to make up for that.

"Corrine?" she asked, turning, putting one of her hands on the door, "can I make you a full partner? Would that make up for it? Give you actual stake in the company?"

"What?" Jay asked, surprised.

"I want to prove to you that I have faith and confidence in you and what you do, and what better way to do that than outright putting the company on the line?" Nat asked, "Corrine, what do you say? You were right, and you get a personal ownership stake in the company, yeah?"

A moment passed. Then another. Then the door unlocked and Corrine pulled it open and stood there, wiping her eyes on her sweatshirt sleeve. Nat put her arms around Corrine and pulled her in for a hug, rubbing her back and stroking her hair. Jay stood back and smiled, watching, appreciating this Natasha, the one he really knew. After this, they got the show finished and all decided to go out to a nearby diner for a really early breakfast. Sitting there across from Jay and Nat, Corrine felt like she had a new set of parents, ones that actually believed in her. Scooping pancakes into her mouth, she couldn't have been happier.

"What you got on the agenda now?" Jay asked, sipping his coffee.

"Take a nap," Nat said, leaning into him and resting, "and then I have to go to the courthouse to do something before the live show."

"What do you have to do?" Corrine asked, mouth full of syrup, making them laugh.

"...finalize my divorce," Nat whispered.

She would have to do this. It couldn't be avoided. But for the time being, she was going to simply appreciate the warmth of the moment, and milk this for as long as she could before life intruded on her once again.

After breakfast, Jay back to his apartment, having driven them to the diner and back to the college, leaving Nat and Corrine alone again in her dorm room. Nat was zipping up her coat and making sure she had everything when she felt something in the back of her pocket and pulled out a candy bar.

"Want the rest of this payday?" Nat asked Corrine, who laughed and took it happily; Nat pulled her beanie on and sighed, looking at Corrine and adding, "I'm really sorry. I behaved poorly, and I shouldn't be like that. I don't want you to not believe in me, but more importantly, I never want you to stop believing in yourself. And I'm sorry your folks don't appreciate you."

"It isn't just the career," Corrine said, "It's a lot of things."

"For what it's worth, my folks weren't super great to me or my sister either. We both grew up in a somewhat absent household, but I like to think that I'm making up for their shortcomings by being there for my own daughter, and apparently now other peoples as well. But, I guess if that's what I'm good for, then I'm glad to be good at something so worth being good at."

Nat walked to the door and, keys in hand, waved to Corrine as she opened it, but Corrine ran to her and threw her arms around her again, squeezing her tightly.

"I'm sorry too," she whispered.

"You don't have to be sorry," Nat said, "I'm the one who acted like an idiot. You're fine. Just keep doing what you do, and I'll see you at the live show."

Natasha left, leaving Corrine alone in her dorm. Corrine sat down and looked at Nat on the screen, and smiled to herself. As she bit into the remainder of the payday, she couldn't help but feel like perhaps she'd finally found the people she'd always wished she could have around her. Certainly, her own folks hadn't been the greatest, and she tried to go for as long as possible these days without even talking to them, but maybe now she could finally move on for good. Corrine scrolled the video back and played the beginning, watching through the video one more time before exporting, and then went to lay down on the couch.

It'd been such a long day.

When Nat arrived home, Violet wasn't there, and she realized it was already about 8 in the morning. She exhaled and headed upstairs, seated herself on the bed and looked at the phone near the bed. She picked it up and dialed a number. A few rings went by, and finally someone picked up, and Nat smiled.

"Hi mom," she said.

"This can't be a healthy working relationship, I'm sure we're violating some kind of rule," Natasha said as she took a sip from her coffee before setting it back down on the bedside table and glanced at Jay, lying in bed beside her, reading a magazine.

"When you run your own business, I think you get to make up the rules," he said, licking his finger and turning a page before adding, "Besides, it's not like we're doing it on the set."

"I guess I can't argue with that, even if I feel like I ethically should," Nat said, chuckling, checking her watch, "I think the girls are coming over here to do a project together, so we should probably get up and clean stuff."

"I should go check in with Corrine and see how the editing is going, and then go shoot Sharla's stuff," Jay said, climbing out of bed and groaning as he stretched, feeling Natasha's arms wrap around his midsection as he did. He smiled and held her hands, rubbing them with his thumbs.

"Will you be coming back?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure, we'll have dinner. I'll cook for everyone," Jay said.

After Jay got dressed and left, Natasha threw some things into the washing machine and leaned against it, thinking about how much her life had changed in just the last few months. She had a potential new relationship with someone she trusted deeply, she had a brand new sister, and her daughter was doing better than ever. The show had been running for about 3 months now, and it'd been almost that long since she and Noreen had found one another, and frankly, it was the best Natasha had felt in ages. Nothing, she knew, absolutely nothing could ruin the life she'd built for herself and her daughter now.

When the girls got home, Natasha was still cleaning up the living room as they walked in through the door. She turned the vacuum off as the door shut behind them, and she smiled at them.

"You staying for dinner?" she asked and Courtney nodded.

"My dad said it was alright, yeah," she said, "He said he'd pick me up after dinner, if that's okay, so you don't have to drive in the rain."

"That's fine by me," Nat said, turning the vacuum back on as the girls headed up the stairs to Violet's bedroom. She finished vacuuming, then sat on the couch and opened her laptop, brought up her e-mail and saw she had something new from Noreen. She smiled and clicked it open. It read:

"Natty,
I have a great idea! Why not do a live show? Instead of just getting people to pay you through the subscription service on the site, you could do a short tour around the city and have people come see you live and in person! Let me know what you think. Love you!
Noreen."

Nat loved that Noreen was pitching ideas, and she loved that she had a nickname for her. And in all honesty, a live show wasn't a bad concept. She quickly wrote back and said she'd talk to Jay about it. Meanwhile, up in the bedroom, Violet had set her things down and gotten out a large posterboard for their project. Courtney was sitting on the bed while Violet cleared out a space on the desk for the posterboard. When she turned to look at Courtney, she noticed she was chewing her nails, something she only did when she was nervous.

"Are you, uh, okay?" Violet asked.

"I guess so," Courtney said, "I don't know. I just feel really out of place lately. Seems like everyone is finally understanding themselves, and I just am having so much trouble comprehending where it is I came from or why I am who I am. It's lonely."

"I'm sorry," Violet said, sitting down on the bed next to Courtney and rubbing her back, saying, "I don't think you, of all people, need to understand yourself though. I think you understand yourself better than, uh, you know, the rest of us and, like....well, I think we need to find reasons for why we are the way we are because we don't understand ourselves. Does that, um, make sense? Like...you're perfect, you know yourself better than anyone else could ever hope to know themselves."

Courtney pushed some hair back behind her ear and wiped at the tears forming in her eyes as she tried not to laugh.

"Yeah, that...that actually means a lot, thank you," she said, turning and hugging Violet, who happily hugged her back.

"Besides," Violet said, "you're way cooler than all of us combined."

                                                                                               ***

"I'll have that drive ready for you in just a minute," Corrine said as she strolled across the dorm, "it's offloading everything I've exported right now, but it's high speed transfer so it shouldn't take long even if it is a handful of gigs."

"Take your time, I'm in no rush," Jay said, leaning against the wall and looking at the stuff she'd printed and hung up.

"So, are you and Natasha, like...a couple?" Corrine asked, and Jay shrugged.

"I guess. I don't know. We haven't really put a name on it, and probably for good reason. The last thing she tried to make permanent left for her sister, so I can understand some hesitancy on her part."

"In my experience, not that my experience is the end all be all but, I've found that human relationships often falter after a short amount of time has worn off. It's like the sheen of a new car. Once that newness wears down, it's hard to see what's worthy about keeping it running. But I also haven't had a lot of great relationships, romantic or otherwise, in my life so perhaps my opinion means jack shit."

Jay smirked, saying, "No, I think you're right in a lot of instances. I think that unless there's a deep connection that's not just surface level then it's very hard to maintain a relationship. But Nat hired me right out of film school, she's worked with me for a decade, she's...she's great, you know? We have a lot of respect and admiration for one another, and I think that's part of why we work so well together, romantically or professionally."

Corrine sat back down at her desk, checking the transfer on the complete episodes, before reaching under her desk and pulling out a box of saltines and eating them plain right from the packaging. She offered Jay a few but he just waved his hand, politely declining. Corrine shrugged and went ahead munching.

"So you've never had a good relationship?" Jay asked.

"Nada. My folks and I barely talk, aside from them paying for my schooling, and I don't really have any friends, and I've..." she stopped and finished chewing before clearing her throat and finished saying, "...I've never had any romantic partners in a...physical way, so."

"Really? Wow. That's kinda cool," Jay said as Corrine unplugged the drive at the sound it beeping upon completion and handed it to him. He stuck it in his coat pocket and added, "You know, for what it's worth I think we'd consider you a friend."

"You don't have to do that. You don't have to show pity to me."

"I'm not showing pity to you, Corrine," Jay said, laughing, "Jeez. We like you. That's why we hired you. Besides your qualifications of course. We liked how blunt and direct you are."

"That is, depending on who you ask, either my best aspect or my worst," she replied, chuckling herself, "I'll see you same time next week, right?"

"Unless something comes up, sure," Jay said.

He exited the dorm and began walking down the hall, heading back towards the parking lot when his phone rang. He tugged it out of his coat pocket and answered.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Something's come up," Natasha said, "I want to do a live show. My sister's over here right now, you should get back so we can discuss this."

Jay hung up and rubbed his forehead. He turned and walked back to Corrine's dorm, knocking. When she answered, she had half a cracker sticking out of her mouth, which she quickly pushed in and chewed.

"You wanna go for a drive?" he asked.

                                                                                             ***

"It's a good thing we have the internet to download images for this," Courtney said, clicking through a series of images in a search before selecting a few and printing them, "Could you imagine if we had to, like, cut up old nature magazines in order to do this?"

"Can I ask you a question?" Violet said quietly from the bed. Courtney turned from the desk and looked at her.

"Of course, what is it?"

"Well, you know how to, like...be a girl," Violet said, "You've put a lot of time and effort into, um, like, understanding it and stuff, you know? Do you think you could help me? I could never get the hang of makeup and I...I don't have the best fashion sense. But it still all needs to be comfortable."

"I'd be happy to help you," Courtney said, smiling, "Gladly! I mean, you need to understand there's no wrong way to do it. So even if you feel like you're not doing it right, you are, you're just doing it the way that's right for you."

"Okay," Violet said, "I just feel embarrassed because I was, you know, born a girl but because of being so stupid-"

"You're not stupid."

"You know what I mean. Because of how I am, I always felt, like, uh...disconnected, you know?"

"Believe me, I know. I think that's partially why we get along so well," Courtney said.

The bedroom door opened and Natasha was standing there in the hall, looking in, as the girls turned to look towards her.

"Um, Jay is coming back so we can discuss a business thing but after that he's going to cook for everyone. Noreen's in the kitchen with me. Just saying so you don't get, I don't know, surprised or something by all the extra people in the house, or if you get hungry when he cooks," Natasha said.

"Okay, thanks mom," Violet replied.

Natasha shut the door and headed back down the stairs. She found Noreen standing in the living room looking at all her photos hung on the walls.

"Taking in the scenery?" she asked, and Noreen laughed.

"Um, more like, I guess, noticing that you don't have any photos of your ex up," she said.

"Well of course, why would I, after what he did to us?" Nat asked.

"That doesn't bother Violet? Not seeing her father?"

"She saw him a while back and told me it was a wildly uncomfortable experience, so I guess not," Nat said, "They were never very close. I mean, when she was really little they got along good, but once she got to be like 7 or 8, I don't know, I think he was oddly ashamed of her mental faculties, even though he'd never admit it, and he didn't know how to overcome that shame or ignore it for her sake and just be a good dad."

"That stinks," Noreen said, "How do you feel about it all?"

"Honestly, at this point, I feel pretty okay knowing it's over. I've moved on. It's weird, big moments like that, that you'd expect to change your life in ways you'd never recover from - divorce, death, whatever - always only have a shock value that lasts a certain amount of time I've found. The first few weeks are weird, but quickly after life just goes on. I mean, maybe it's different for everyone, but that's been my experience."

"No, you're right," Corrine said as she unzipped her coat, Jay shutting the front door behind them; she went on, "when I was a kid, I knew other kids whose grandparents died and they acted like it was something their lives would never be the same because of, and then when my own died, I don't know...it was weird, like you said, but I didn't feel like my life changed all that much. Just people who'd been there weren't anymore, and that was that really."

"See, she gets it," Nat said.

"I do," Corrine said, seating herself on the couch and pulling out her package of crackers from her coat pocket, continuing to eat them, "You have a nice home."

"You know Jay's making dinner," Nat said, smirking.

"I know, but I can only eat certain things with certain flavors or textures," Corrine said, "So unless he's some kind of magical chef that can easily prepare something each one of us can individually digest, I think I'll stick with my crackers."

"Fair enough," Nat said, sitting down beside her, saying, "But it's true. I thought my husband leaving would be weird, I thought it'd be something that I'd never come back from and would mourn forever, likely because that's what a lot of media has told women divorce entails, but...like...it was just like a roommate moving out, honestly, and in the end all it did was make me wonder if that's how easy it ultimately was, after the brief period of grief, then how good could we have really been together?"

"You could do an entire Q&A at the live show, get people to talk about these things, their experiences with them, in front of others and connect," Noreen said, "Really open people up."

"You want to do a live show?" Corrine asked, and Natasha nodded; Corrine shook her head, dumbfounded before adding, "That isn't like normal editing, that's...that's in the moment light changes and, and...and being on top of acoustics and-"

"You don't have to do it if you don't think you can," Nat said, "I just wanted to give you the option to say yes if you wanted to. I'd perfectly happy hiring someone to do the live shows and letting you stay in your comfort zone doing prerecorded material if that's what you want."

"I don't...I don't know how good an idea this all is," Corrine said, getting up and pacing, clearly starting to panic, "I just...I don't...that's a lot of responsibility and if something goes wrong, people will notice immediately because it's in the moment. I don't know...I..."

Noreen stood up and put her hands on Corrine's shoulders, turning her to face her, and looking in her eyes.

"You are safe here," she said, "You can say no. Nobody will judge you."

Corrine's breathing slowed, and she started to visibly calm down.

"I...I think I could do it, but it would require a lot of help and a lot of preparation," Corrine said, looking at Nat before shifting her view back to Noreen and whispering, "thank you."

Jay excused himself and headed into the kitchen to begin dinner, while Corrine joined him to get a glass of water. Natasha stood up off the couch and looked at her sister, impressed.

"That was good," she said, "You know, both you and Violet say you're challenged, but you both seem way smarter than most of the supposedly 'normal' people I meet day to day. How did you know to do that?"

"Challenged can mean a lot of things. I am good with words and good with relating to others that I feel I can relate to. But I'm not so good with numbers, and I can't do a lot of basic things that are required to manage my own day to day life, like taxes. Anyway, when I was a teenager, my dad used to get panic attacks, and I learned from my mom how to help calm him down. It was something she learned from his therapist."

"...I'm so glad you're in my life," Natasha said, surprising even herself at this rather open admittance.

"I am too," Noreen said.

Nat called the girls down to eat, and together, they all had a large family style dinner, something many of them hadn't had in ages. It felt nice, to belong to an entire unit once again, a unit that actually cared about one another, and wanted to help one another. Who knew, Nat thought as she ate and looked around the table at all these people she'd acquired, that broken families can create the best families.

                                                                                               ***

Bryan and Courtney were driving home in near silence, with the car radio tuned to soft jazz as the rain hit the windshield lightly. It was relaxing, and Courtney was appreciative of this solitude, especially with her father, whom she didn't get to see much thanks to work.

"Dad?" she asked, "Do I remind you of mom?"

"Not particularly," Bryan said, "Your mom was a great woman, but, uh...she wasn't nearly as brave as you are."

Courtney wanted to cry. She knew she was lucky, she knew that the support her father gave her was not the kind of familial support other girls like her got, especially from their fathers, and she couldn't be more thankful for it.

"You know," Bryan said, "the funniest part of all of this is that, when your mom first got pregnant, she asked me if I wanted a son or daughter, and I said I didn't care but she made me pick, so I said son. But I only said that because that's what society expects of fathers. They expect fathers to want sons. I wanted a daughter. Turns out I got what I wanted, even if it took a little while. Either way, makes sense you'd rail against society too. You're more like me in that regard, and I couldn't be prouder of you for it. What made you ask about mom?"

"Just...being at Violet's and seeing how many people she has in her life, it made me think about family," Courtney said, "it's just you and me, really. We're all we have. But, much as I'm sure having that many people is good for her, having just you is good for me. I think what we have works."

"I can always call up my brother, if you want more family around," Bryan said, and Courtney scoffed.

"God, no thank you. Seeing him once a year for the holidays is enough," she replied.

Bryan laughed as Courtney leaned into him and hugged his arm. While it was nice being a part of Violet's big family made up of assorted people, Courtney appreciated that her own was small. She missed her mom, she wouldn't deny it, but she was perfectly fine just having her dad. When she looked at photos of her mother, sometimes she saw aspects of herself, and this made her worry that it made her dad uncomfortable, but to hear him say that she didn't remind him of her made her happy. She didn't want to be like her mother, much as she loved her. She wanted to be her own woman.

And she was glad to know she was.

Just like Violet wasn't ashamed of her mental problems, Courtney wasn't ashamed of her biology. And why would they be. They were both women.

And women should never be ashamed of themselves for being women.

Noreen's eyes were wide, her jaw was slack. She knew it was true, she'd always known somehow, but to actually hear it said out loud...that simply created a whole new set of questions, a whole new reality that now had to be grappled with.

"You do understand, right?" Doris asked, and Noreen nodded; Doris smiled and continued, "We love you like our own, even if you aren't, so please don't think we're telling you this to hurt you or anything. We just think it's right you know that while we're not where you came from, we still love you like we would have our own baby."

Noreen was only 10 when she was told this news. Her parents, - could she still call them parents? - John and Doris Stack were sitting across from her in their living room, telling her that she'd been adopted. Noreen had always suspected something was amiss with her family, and now it was nice to have those suspicions confirmed. And Doris was right, it didn't change a thing. Noreen still loved them like parents, and would continue to well into her adulthood. After all, they'd been the ones who'd raised her, who'd taken her in, who'd loved her so deeply. So no, it wasn't this news that changed her life, in fact, it was the next thing John said that changed it.

"Your parents wanted kids, but they just felt they were too young then to have them. You would've been the oldest sister, and they didn't know the first thing about child rearing."

The oldest sister. Noreen had siblings?...not knowing her actual parents, that she could live with, but not knowing her sisters? That she couldn't accept. After all the bullying she'd gotten at the hands of her peers, and would continue to get for years, she had to know her sisters. But her parents wouldn't give her anymore information, much to her annoyance, and it wasn't until she saw Natasha on television one day as an adult that something in her head suddenly clicked for her, and she knew, she just knew, this was the sister she was looking for.

Suddenly Noreen's life made sense, and she was going to do whatever it took to get in touch with her.

                                                                                              ***

"She's not stupid," Noreen's teacher said to John and Doris during a sit down conference one day, "she's just...struggling. She's clearly got mental blockages, and I want to help her get past that and excel. I believe she has the capacity to do great things, be someone great, and all she needs is the right help."

"We know Noreen is challenged," John said, cupping his hands in his crossed legs, "we're aware that we're likely going to have to take care of her for most of her life, and we struggle sometimes to think how she's going to manage without us once we're gone. We've looked into housing options for challenged people, the intellectually disadvantaged and whatnot, but it's all so expensive. We're not poor, by any means, but we're also not rockafellas."

"I can help her, I know I can," her teacher, Katrina, said, "She's a bright, articulate young lady, she just needs some help getting her thoughts organized and out of her head in a way that makes sense to her. Every child has a different way of learning, and that's true even for challenged children. If anything it's more true. I have a cousin I helped growing up who was intellectually disadvantaged, and so I know what to do. I'm not saying one is exactly like the other, but I am saying that I think I'm fairly qualified."

"Well, if you think you can help," Doris said, smiling politely.

Sitting in the car on the way home, Doris and John didn't talk about the meeting. They hadn't known Noreen was challenged when they got her. She was a baby after all. It wasn't until she was 3 or 4 that they began to see signs, and truth be told, neither one cared. They loved her just the same. But the importance the rest of the world put on smarts made them nervous for Noreen's potential future, or lack of one. Doris opened her purse and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it up as John drove.

"She's a nice lady," Doris said, exhaling smoke out the passenger side window, "and I do think she genuinely cares and wants to help. That being said I won't deny that it makes me scared. Noreen is special, and I don't mean mentally, I mean she's actually special to us and I don't want the world to take advantage of her just because she thinks differently."

"I know what you mean, and I couldn't agree more," John said, "That's why we have to do everything in our power to make Noreen realize that who she is, what she is, is normal and fine. Getting help is something everyone does, regardless of their intellectual capacity, and she shouldn't be ashamed of that. If anything, needing help only makes her more like everyone else."

"Exactly," Doris said, taking another long drag, then holding it for a second before releasing, "...we're doing a good job, right? As parents?"

"I think so," John replied, rubbing his wife's leg and smiling at her, "I think, given the circumstances, she couldn't have ended up with better people to raise her."

Noreen began staying after school with Katrina, and as a result, she did in fact begin to do better. Katrina did actually have what it took to get Noreen to not only understand the assignments, but flourish within an educational facility. That's why, a few years later, when Katrina got into a bad car accident and died, Noreen retreated into her personal space. She felt like the only person who could ever understand how her brain worked was now gone, and without knowing her siblings, who could she really look to?

So Noreen began sitting inside. Watching television. Reading. Making crafts. And eventually, she wound up on the internet, using it as a tool to help her understand the world at large. It wasn't until Natasha's show went off the air and moved online that she finally found a way to contact her, and she wouldn't have done so if Katrina hadn't died. Katrina's death taught Noreen that you need to reach out to the people you think can change your life, while you still have the chance to do so.

And thus the commenting began.

                                                                                              ***

"Mom?" Violet asked, standing in the hallway outside Noreen's bedroom, cell phone pushed to her ear, "Mom?"

"Yeah, hi sweetheart, what's going on? Are you okay?" Nat replied.

"I'm, um, I'm fine, mom, yeah, uh and um....mom I need you to come over to, uh, where we are."

"...oh...okay," Nat said, "Where are you guys? Give me the address."

After she finished the phone call, Violet hung up and re-entered the bedroom. She stood and looked at Noreen, who was standing looking out her bedroom window at her father down in the garden. Violet joined her. Jay and Courtney went to wait outside for Natasha, leaving the two girls alone.

"It's nice, to, uh, to know where I come from," Violet finally said in a hushed voice, "You know, like, um, like...like discovering your origins, or whatever."

"I know what you mean," Noreen said, flashing her a big toothy grin, "When my parents told me I was adopted, I didn't care, but when they told me I would've been the oldest sister, that made me want to know my family. Your mother helped make sense of the world for me, because she made me realize it doesn't have to be mean, and you can be a good person for no discernible reason, expecting nothing in return."

"Your speaking skills are good," Violet said, almost embarrassed.

"I spoke like you when I was your age," Noreen said, "You'll grow out of it. It took some self control, but you'll get there. I just can't believe I'm finally going to meet my little sister. Has she had a good life?"

"She's...um....not really, not, uh, lately. Dad left a while ago, and uh, and for her sister, so that...that's been, um, uncool," Violet said, seating herself on the bed, adding, "I try to, ya know, like...make her, um, happy? Or at least, like, make her know I'm there for her? But..."

Noreen raised an eyebrow as she awaited the rest of Violet's statement.

"...I don't think anyone knows I'm anywhere except for Courtney."

"Well at least you have one good friend," Noreen said, "Growing up all I really had were my parents, and I loved them for their companionship, but it would've been nice to maybe know someone my own age."

"I always kind of, uh, wondered how I, you know, fit in, because mom and dad are..."

They waited.

"...normal?"

"That isn't the right word," Noreen said, "But I know what you mean."

"But now that I know you, it all makes sense," Violet said, "So, like, thanks...I guess?"

Noreen smiled and rubbed her nieces back. After all this time, after all these years, she finally knew what it was like to truly be related to someone, and it just so happened to be someone she saw a lot of herself in. The good thing was, Noreen liked herself, which made seeing herself in Violet only love her that much more.

                                                                                                ***

Before her husband left for her sister, Natasha and her sister, Ashley, had been fairly close. Some might even say they'd been best friends. But after that betrayal, they didn't speak, and Nat had only just begun talking to her ex, and only for the benefit of her daughter having a father in her life, fairly recently. Driving towards this unknown destination in a neighborhood she'd never been to before, she couldn't help but think about how different things would've been had she and Stephen had in fact had a second child like they'd planned to. What would Violet be like if she had a sibling? Course, she had Courtney to watch out for her, and Nat appreciated that friendship, but still.

Natasha felt madder at Ashley than she did at Stephen for the longest time, because Stephen was just a man she met, fell in love with and married. She could understand him making a mistake. But her own sister? Someone she'd known her whole life? Someone she'd trusted with her deepest, innermost secrets? That was unforgivable. Natasha chewed nervously on her lip as she pulled up the house and parked, spying Jay and Courtney waiting outside, playing cards. They looked at one another, then back towards the car, and stood up as Natasha exited.

"Where's Violet?" Nat asked as she came up the walkway.

"She's inside, upstairs. You should head on up," Jay said.

Nat pushed past them and headed inside, determined to figure out what this was all about once and for all.

Boy would she be surprised.

                                                                                              ***

"That's her," Noreen said, pointing at her laptop as she and Doris sat at the kitchen table.

"That's your sister? You know this for sure?" Doris asked, and Noreen nodded; Doris smiled and rubbed Noreen's back, adding, "Well, if that's what you think then you should do what you have to to reach her. I fully support whatever it is you need to do to feel more comfortable in your personhood. If that means making contact with your siblings, I support that."

"Thank you," Noreen said, "...she looks a lot like me, except for our teeth. She has a perfect smile. She has a perfect everything. I'm the reject."

"You weren't the reject. If you were the reject, we wouldn't have taken you in, would we? We wanted you. That makes you not a reject," Doris said, and Noreen shrugged.

"I...I guess," she replied, "...what if she doesn't like me?"

"She's spent her entire career helping others understand and accept themselves, to better their lives. I think, if anything, her issue is she likes too much. I'm sure she'll be ecstatic to know she has another sister, especially after what her own did to her, if what you've told me is true. If anything, this doesn't make you the reject, this makes you the hero."

Noreen looked back at the screen and smiled.

"A real sister," she whispered, touching the screen gently with her fingertips.

                                                                                             ***

Natasha opened the door to the room and stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway, looking at Violet and Noreen sitting on the bed, side by side, hand in hand. She stared at them, and they stared back at her, and for one single moment, it felt like time itself had stopped entirely.

"Violet, you're okay?" Nat asked, entering the room now, "Everything's alright? I was so worried."

"I'm fine, mom," Violet said, standing up and putting her arms around her mother, "mom, this is Noreen."

Noreen stood up approached Natasha, the two of them standing, eye to eye, but neither said a word.

"What...what's going on here?" Natasha finally asked, and Noreen giggled.

"This is all my fault," she said, "I...I found your site, and your videos, and I started commenting, and your daughter and her friends came looking for me. But...that's exactly what I wanted to happen. I wanted, or, rather, needed, to meet you."

"What is this?" Nat asked, sounding a bit uncertain now as she put an arm on her daughter instinctively.

"Before your parents had you and your sister, they had another baby," Noreen said, "...I was that baby. They were too young, and uh, and they...um...well, they gave me up for adoption. I was taken in by Doris and John, who own this house. But...when they said I would've been the older sister of someone, I knew I had to track you down, especially after, uh, after learning what happened between your sister and husband."

Natasha couldn't speak. This wasn't happening. This was unreal. Another sister? A better sister? A sister who apparently spoke and acted like Violet, thus making Violet's mental challenges finally make sense in the course of their family timeline? No. This had to be a mixup or something.

"I..." Natasha started, but she didn't even know how to start, "...my sister was my absolute best friend in the world, and when she took my husband from me, I felt so sick, I felt so betrayed, and the worst part was, the only person I wanted to talk to about it was my best friend, but she was the one who'd betrayed me. I was so alone. I mean, I had Violet, I'll always have Violet, and I love her to the ends of the earth, she's my daughter...but she shouldn't have to bear my pain as well as her own adolescent torture."

Natasha reached out and touched Noreen's hair, almost as if this somehow made it more true. As if this texture could tell her this was real.

"...what's your name?"

"Noreen."

"Hah...we...we even have names with the same first letter, funny," Natasha said, "...why didn't you try to contact mom and dad? Why didn't you...you know, try to contact your parents?"

"Nat, why would I do that? I have parents, I don't have a sister," Noreen said, grinning as a smile broke on Natasha's face. As Natasha leaned into her new sister, squeezing her tight, the both of them crying heavily, Violet realized how well her mother had raised her.

Violet had done what her mother had taught her to do. What she'd tried to teach everyone to do. To help one another. To love someone else. But all this time, nobody had been loving Natasha in the way she needed. Nobody had been helping her the way she needed. Not until Jay helped her start the site, and not until she had tracked down Noreen. Now it was time for Natasha to be helped, and loved.

Yeah, Violet thought, she had a really good mom, and like Noreen had as a child, a great teacher.

Noreen Stack was sitting on her bed, as two strange teenage girls and a grown man stood in front of her, waiting for her to answer. She couldn't stop smiling at them, even with as awkward as she felt, which only made them feel weirder about this whole situation they suddenly found themselves embroiled in.

"Look, all we want to know is why you're leaving comments like that on my friends videos," Jay said, making Noreen blush.

"I...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to make anyone upset," she said, still grinning uncontrollably.

"We went through all this trouble to track you down, you could at least give us an answer, your comments are upsetting my friends daughter," Jay said, motioning with his hand to Violet.

Noreen and Violet locked eyes, and suddenly Violet didn't even need an answer. Suddenly she somehow knew everything. Her lip quivered, her eyes filled with tears, as Noreen nodded, almost as if she could telepathically understand what Violet was thinking. Almost like an admission of sisterhood or something. Suddenly everything about Violet made sense, in relation to her and her mother, and her placement within her family.

"She gets it," Noreen said, pointing at Violet.

Yes. Yes she did.

                                                                                               ***

"Well," Jay said, sitting with the girls as he clicked through the comments, sighing, "this is strange, you're not wrong about that. I mean, they don't come off as threatening or anything, but they do come off as...alarming? Stalkerish, almost? I don't know how to describe it, I just know it feels icky somehow."

"Icky is such a great word," Courtney said, standing behind Jay with her arms crossed.

"Isn't it though?" he asked, grinning at her.

"But, like, what...what do I do? Can we, uh, can we find out who it is?" Violet asked, and Jay shrugged.

"That's...you know, a little harder, honestly. I can see the e-mail address associated with their comment, because they had to sign up to the site in order to make a comment. This was how we decided to combat spam comments and trolls and bots. Not full proof, but it's something at least. So from there I could simply plug in her e-mail somewhere else, see what pops up if she's used it for anything else, or just e-mail her straight up."

"How could we guarantee a response?" Courtney asked, biting her lower lip.

"That's the thing, we can't, but it's better than just sitting here waiting for it to get worse, or having Nat discover it herself," Jay said, making Violet nod in understanding.

"I'll do it," Violet said, "I'll e-mail her. They, like, would, ya know, probably, um, respond to her kid? Cause I'm not, like, an adult or anything that she works with? I have no authority. That's less scary."

Courtney smiled. She was proud of Violet for showing this level of intelligence. She'd always known she was smarter than everyone gave her credit for, even herself. Violet, however, was terrified, admittedly, and unsure if she could even put into words how she felt. Could she even say anything that would warrant any type of response, or would she simply be dismissed and the comments would stop as a result? All she knew was she had to try.

                                                                                            ***

"Here's to the first day of real sobriety," Nat said, clinking her glass with Sharla as they sat at a table in a small restaurant, adding, "I can't believe I'm drinking fruit juice, but I suppose there's a first time for everything."

"Well, your liver will thank you," Sharla said.

"And really, don't they deserve better?" Nat asked, the both of them chuckling as a third chair was pulled up and Corrine seated herself, her black frizzy hair pulled back and tied up, her glasses constantly slipping down her nose.

"God, people actually come here to socialize?" Corrine asked.

"Where do you normally socialize?" Sharla asked, sipping her drink before setting it back on the table and leaning back, crossing her tan legs in her jean shorts.

"Chat rooms," Corrine said, "Sometimes I go to a seminar at the local library."

"You know how to have a good time," Sharla mumbled, making Nat smirk.

"Why am I even here?" Corrine asked, "I could be doing something for school right now."

"Because if we're all going to work together, we all need to really get to know one another," Nat said, "All I really knew about Sharla before a few weeks ago was how much of a health nut she was, and that simply isn't acceptable if she's going to be someone I see every day for god knows how many years on."

"All you need to know about me is that I wash my hair once a week, I only eat microwaved cup of soups and I collect glass animal figurines. I give my all to the work you assign to me, I don't drink and I can't talk unless there's an actual conversation. Small talk doesn't interest me in the slightest, and I'm not a big fan of politics. There, do you feel like you know me any better now?"

"Sadly, yes," Sharla said under her breath as she lifted the glass to her mouth.

Nat sighed and scratched her forehead. She was beginning to think that perhaps she wouldn't get the girls night out she'd so desired after all.

                                                                                                    ***

"This is the place," Jay said as they pulled up to the small, old looking home.

Violet had e-mailed the commenter, and surprisingly gotten a near instant response, giving them their address. Then Courtney, Jay and herself piled into Jay's little car and headed on over to the address in question. An old man was standing in the yard, watering the garden out front, while they could see an old woman through an open window, vacuuming.

"Are you sure you wanna do this? This might be weird," Jay said.

"I have to," Violet said, "I have to, um, make sure my mom is, you know, like, uh, safe and stuff."

Jay smiled. Violet, just like her mother, had a heart of gold. The three of them got out of the car and headed up the pebbled walkway to the front, passing the old man and knocking directly on the front door. The sound of the vacuum stopped, and the old woman opened the door, smiling at them as she wiped her hands on her house dress.

"Hello," she said, "Can I help you?"

"We're here to see Noreen Stack," Jay said, "Is she home?"

"She's upstairs," Doris said, "...what is this about?"

"She's been leaving comments on my friends videos, and they are making us somewhat uncomfortable. We just want to check in on her and make sure that everything is alright," Jay said, "Can we come in?"

"I think you'd better," Doris said, opening the door further for them, allowing them to enter as she straightened her apron, pulled it off and hung it over the chair, then said, "Noreen is our daughter. Well, adopted daughter, but still. She becomes obsessed with things easily, she gets very invested in people she's never met, but this is...different from those other times. Please, have a seat."

Jay, Courtney and Violet all sat on the long couch, as Doris sat herself in a big lounge chair, sighing.

"We adopted her when she was just a few weeks old," Doris continued, "she'd been given up, but no reason was ever given why. All we got was the name of the parents, and all we knew was that they didn't want her, but we wanted a daughter and we had had a number of miscarriages over the years while trying, so we figured adoption was the best route. After a few years, John - that's my husband you saw outside - and I noticed she wasn't progressing the way other children progressed. By the time she was a teenager, she was in therapy, constantly, and on heavy medication that she still takes to this day. But that isn't to say that those things make a person bad, because they don't, and because she's not. She's the most lovely young lady, and even if she isn't really capable of making it on her own or...or really being an adult, well, that's fine. As long as we can keep her safe, keep her medicated, keep her relatively happy, then life is good. But the laptop, the internet, is her only real access to the outside world. It's how she communicates with people. I mean, she can speak, but it's her main forum of socializing, and because of this she can become extremely interested in subjects, obsessed with people, and so on."

"...so she's got a fascination with my mom?" Violet asked.

"In a sense, yes. She's right upstairs if you'd like to speak to her. I'm sure she'd love to speak to you," Doris said, making Violet's heart drop into her stomach as she glanced at the staircase behind them; Doris added as they got up to head upstairs, "I figured this day would likely come, where someone would track her down, and I should be happy, but I also hope it doesn't change how she views the world too much."

With that, the three of them headed upstairs, bracing themselves for what revelations were in store.

Unfortunately, the revelation they'd receive was something they couldn't have prepared for.

                                                                                               ***

"Yeah, but what is a toxin?" Corrine asked.

She and Sharla had been arguing about this for the last 15 minutes, and at first it was entertaining, but by this point, Natasha was growing irritated, despite staying quiet and simply listening to the back and forth.

"You have these negative energies in your body, they make you sick, and you need to do regularly flushes to rid yourself of them to allow for more positive things to enter," Sharla said.

"That doesn't tell me what a toxin is! Draw a picture of a toxin! Explain to me in great detail what it is, because right now all you're giving me is vague pseudo science new age health mumbo jumbo!" Corrine shouted, almost laughing at the absurdity of the request, which in turn made Sharla laugh.

"I...I can't draw a toxin! First of all, I'm not a skilled artist, okay? Secondly, it...it doesn't really have a visual representation, it's more like-"

"If there's no visual representation then it isn't a real thing, is it? I mean that's the whole idea behind God! You just believe it's inside of you. Really, what you're selling is not medicine or a better lifestyle, but the idea that you're sick, and if you don't do something about it, you'll remain sick. The people you tell have toxins inside them could be sick for wildly different reasons, but because of your generalized statement, they'll likely never check up on it!"

"Okay! Shut up!" Natasha finally shouted, "Shut the hell up! Corrine, a toxin isn't real, yes, you're not wrong, and yes it's ridiculous to peddle such bullshit but that's the health and beauty industry for you, okay? They're so convincing because of all the lobbyists they have that sometimes they even manage to pull the wool over well meaning health gurus eyes like Sharla. And Sharla, you're perfectly willing to argue for what you believe in and ask that it be respected, but Corrine clearly is doing this not just because she disagrees with you - understandably - but also because she wants to see how far she can push you? She doesn't socialize, so this is all the fun she has, got it? Great! Now shut. the hell. UP!"

Natasha flopped back into the booth and sighed, lifting her glass to her lips and groaning.

"Of all the fucking weeks I could've started sobriety," she mumbled.

"Jeez," Corrine said, "Way to kill the mood."

"Yeah, lighten up Nat, bitches can't even catfight around you for fun?" Sharla said, both she and Corrine smirking, as if this was a huge joke they'd now played on her.

"I really regret starting this business venture with you," Natasha said, half smirking herself.

                                                                                                 ***

"Look, all we want to know is why you're leaving comments like that on my friends videos," Jay said, making Noreen blush.

"I...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to make anyone upset," she said, still grinning uncontrollably.

"We went through all this trouble to track you down, you could at least give us an answer, your comments are upsetting my friends daughter," Jay said, motioning with his hand to Violet.

Noreen and Violet locked eyes, and suddenly Violet didn't even need an answer. Suddenly she somehow knew everything. Her lip quivered, her eyes filled with tears, as Noreen nodded, almost as if she could telepathically understand what Violet was thinking. Almost like an admission of sisterhood or something. Suddenly everything about Violet made sense, in relation to her and her mother, and her placement within her family.

"She gets it," Noreen said, pointing at Violet.

Yes. Yes she did.

"What? What do you 'get' Violet?" Jay asked, looking at her.

"Do you know what it's like to be called stupid?" Noreen asked, before Violet could even answer, "Do you know what it's like for everyone around you to assume that you're incapable of any level of intelligence? It's even worse when you managing to string together coherent sentences and sound like you aren't disabled, because the only disabled anyone respects or even believes are the ones where it's visible."

"I'm...I'm sorry," Jay muttered, "I didn't..."

"She knows," Noreen said, looking at Violet again, "She knows what it's like, don't you? You stutter, you stammer, your brain doesn't fire as fast. I'm lucky, I know that. I have my mental blockages, but overall I don't instantly come across as challenged, like people assume you to be. I don't know why my parents didn't want me, and I...I guess it doesn't really matter, but it made it feel like the world itself didn't want me. Made it feel like maybe I didn't belong to existence because of my mental instabilities, my poorly functioning brain, and then I found Nat's videos."

Violet smiled, tears rolling down her face as Noreen crawled off the bed and walked to the window, looking out as she continued.

"Nat tells the world we all belong, she tells the world that we're better than it's made us believe to be. All the lies it's told us, they're just that...lies. I'm not 'stupid'. I'm different. That helped a lot. But you know what helped even more? Was realizing that I knew Nat from somewhere else. I did a lot of research after becoming aware of her, gathering information like her birthday, what hospital she was born at, and realizing her birthday and mine were similar, and we were born at the same hospital. I'm a few years older than her, obviously, but...it made it feel like I had a real connection with someone who truly wanted me to believe the best about myself."

She turned and looked at Violet, before walking across the room, getting on her knees so they'd be eye level and putting her hands on Violet's shoulders.

"You always wondered, didn't you? Why you had problems but your parents didn't? Because it should be genetic, shouldn't it? Your grandma died before you could meet her, didn't she? You never got to know it came from her. That she had issues too, like you do...like I do. Now you know, don't you? You know where it comes from? I'm so sorry to have burdened you with this."

"Wh...what does that even mean?" Courtney asked, pulling Violet away from Noreen, almost as if she were protecting her. But Noreen just smiled and wiped her eyes on her shirt sleeve.

"But we're both still here. We're both proving everyone wrong. And at least now you get to know where you came from, which is something I'll never really get," Noreen said, "You get it, right?"

"Violet? What is she talking about?" Jay asked.

"...she's my aunt," Violet said flatly, trying to hold in tears as Noreen nodded.

"Tell your mother she lost a sister when her husband left, but she has another chance," Noreen whispered, and without any warning, and against any and all expectations to her actions in the past, Violet flung her arms around Noreen's shoulders, feeling Noreen squeeze her tightly as they sobbed together while Jay and Courtney stood in awe. This was going to change....everything. But Violet didn't care. She did finally understand herself, and she finally felt good about herself in ways Courtney and even her mother could never make her do.

This, Violet realized, this is what home feels like.

430 subscribers, and only two episodes had been released. This was going better than Natasha had expected it to. Of course, Jay had told her that most people were tech savvy and would therefore easily migrate to a new platform to follow someone they liked enough, but even still. Two episodes and already that many subscribers? Ridiculous. The inbox for the website they'd created was already flooded with many e-mails - either subscriptions to the newsletter, the site itself or simply congratulatory sort of stuff - and she was having a hard time sifting through all of it. It was while doing the third episode that Jay finally snapped.

"We need to hire an editor," he'd said, making Natasha groan.

"I don't want to bring more people on, we already brought on Sharla, and that was more than I wanted," Nat whined, "Do we need to hire an editor?"

"Dude, I can not make everything and edit it, I simply don't have the drive to do that. It's too much work for one man, even one as great as I am," Jay said, making her laugh as he added, "I'll vet some folks, we'll find someone, okay?"

"We could just put an ad online," Nat replied, "We could just...you know, throw something up somewhere saying we're looking for someone to do a small editing job for us. Who knows what kind of response we would get."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of. Who knows what kind of response we would get. We could wind up with a lunatic if they're not carefully vetted," Jay said, "I'll ask my former film teacher at the local college if he knows any good students. He's trustworthy, and I know he wouldn't just turn someone awful loose on us."

The door opened and Violet and Courtney entered, pulling their packs off and dumping them on the floor. Violet sat beside her mother, who kissed her forehead, as Courtney collapsed in a chair, exhaling loudly.

"Long day?" Jay asked, going back to his work.

"Exhausting," Courtney said, "Why is school so hard? I mean, they hide behind this excuse that they're preparing us for the real world, but I guarantee you that nobody in the real world is going to ever quiz me on the street about Sherlock Holmes and its literary qualities and influences. Why do they make us study this?"

"Life's a mystery," Jay said, smirking as Courtney glared at him.

"Hey, it's a little late for jokes, alright?" she replied, making everyone laugh.

Natasha took the girls out for pizza that night, while Jay went to speak with his former film teacher. He and Nat made plans to meet the following day and go over some potential editors, which made Natasha extremely nervous. She was terrified of bringing in too many people. She was afraid that, somehow, it would make things too crowded, too complicated, too tense. While she sat downstairs and tried to relax that evening after dinner, Courtney and Violet were upstairs and looking at her website on Courtney's laptop. Sitting on the floor together, scrolling through the comments left by viewers, Courtney just shook her head in awe.

"This is so cool," she muttered, "Your mom is so cool."

"My mom is pretty great," Violet said.

"She's going to wind up really reaching a much wider audience than she ever would have on public access," Courtney said, "...this comment is weird."

Violet scooted closer and together they read over the comment, which read:

"I can't believe it's you. I can't believe you're real. I can't believe I found this. Please know that I look up to you. I am your biggest fan."

Violet and Courtney looked at one another, both perplexed. Who was this commenter, and how could they find out?

                                                                                                  ***

Jay knocked a few times, but nobody answered. He glanced at Natasha, who shrugged and so he knocked again. Again no answer. They were standing in the hallway of a college dorm, with kids milling about all around them. Jay checked the paper as Natasha sighed.

"Are you even sure this is the right room?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yes, I'm sure," Jay replied, sounding annoyed.

"What's her name?"

"Corrine Welkes," Jay said, "She's supposedly the best editor he's got. Top of her class, already getting gigs here and there, really making a name for herself."

Finally as he raised his fist to knock one final time, the door creaked open and the face of a young, pale woman peeked out through the crack at them. She pushed the long errant bangs of black hair from her eyes and looked back and forth between Jay and Natasha.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"We're here to talk to you about an editing job," Jay said.

"...okay, come in," Corrine said, opening the door, letting them come inside.

The dorm was completely dark, except for the Japanese paper lanterns she'd strung up across the room, and a batch of computer lights here and there at a work station. She was dressed in an oversized flannel and khaki pants, certainly no slave the fashion, and her hair was black and frizzy and huge. She sat back down at her desk, as Jay and Natasha pulled up neighboring stools and seated themselves.

"What is this job?" she asked, squinting her eyes before adjusting the large glasses sitting on her face and saying, "hey...you're that lady who went whacko on TV."

"I am indeed that lady who went whacko on TV, you got me," Nat replied, chuckling, "not really my finest moment, and after I went whacko at a school assembly, it cost me my job, so. That's actually why we're here. We've started doing my show again but we're putting it on the internet, and we need you to edit it for us. It's simply too much work for us to take on ourselves."

"...does it pay?"

"I mean, sure, why wouldn't it?" Nat asked, "and as profits continue to go up, your pay will increase. It's a joint venture between everyone involved. But I would need the work done well and on time."

"You think I'm not good?" Corrine asked.

"I...I didn't say that, I'm just ensuring that if I'm going to pay you, that you'll do it," Nat said.

"...okay," Corrine said, her buck front teeth biting her bottom lip, "...I want half of my paycheck made out to a separate address though. Can we swing that?"

"Sure, whatever works for you," Jay said.

As Jay and Corrine spoke about specifics, Natasha got up and strolled casually around the dorm, taking in all the posters on the wall - mostly film posters of classic or independent movies - and shelf after shelf of books. A few small glass animals adorned the shelves here and there, and she smiled at that. She liked seeing younger people having an interest in stuff grandmothers would have an interest in. As she picked up a glass turtle and looked at it in her palm, she heard Corrine behind her.

"I got that from a friend in Hawaii," she said, surprising Nat, making her turn, startled, to face her.

"R-really? Well that's pretty cool," she replied.

"I don't get to see her much now, so it's kind of special to me," Corrine said, "it also got me interested in other tiny glass animals. I have a giraffe and a dog and lots others. But the turtle is the best on by far, just because of the memory of who gave it to me."

Natasha smiled and placed the glass turtle back on the shelf.

"I totally get that. I have things that mean a lot to me because of where they came from or who they came from, so I understand completely."

"Can I ask you a question?" Corrine asked.

"Sure, what?"

"Why'd you go whacko?"

Nat sighed and leaned against the wall while Jay filled out some papers for Corrine to sign. Corrine chewed on her nails nervously, her bouncy black hair bobbing as she bit on her fingertips.

"...I think I started to really, like, push how I felt about things down at a certain point, and it finally exploded when he left, culminating in that outburst. But, oddly enough, the truth is freeing. Not the rage, the rage is bad, and I'm trying harder to control that now, but the truth proper is...very weirdly freeing. To finally accept that I feel things, and that it's okay to feel things. You'd think I'd have figured that out a long time ago considering how much of my career has been based around telling complete and total strangers how they feel is valid and that they should take care of themselves, but...I don't know, I just never really extended that lesson to myself, I suppose."

"it can be bad to feel things sometimes," Corrine whispered, "especially when they're things that can get you hurt."

Natasha looked at her, confused, but nodded. Jay called Corrine back over to do the signing, and as she watched them, it slowly dawned on her just what a couple of weirdos she'd gotten herself involved in, and how little this new family resembled the one she once had with her husband. She then crossed her arms and smiled. She really wouldn't have it any other way.

                                                                                                 ***

"It would be very hard to track them down, considering this isn't public access," Courtney said as they glanced at the comment again and again; she tossed her hair and added, "because it's global, it could be anyone from anywhere and we'll never know."

Violet groaned and flopped onto her back on the bed, leaving Courtney on the floor.

"I'm my moms biggest fan," Violet said, making Courtney smile as she continued, "but I, like, wanna know who...uh...who it could be, because...because it...it might be someone we, um, we know or something. Or maybe, like, not, and maybe uh, maybe they are dangerous and scary?"

"I highly doubt someone has it out for a woman who had a public access show," Courtney said, snickering.

"But I have to know, cause, I, ya know, um, like I don't...I don't want someone to hurt my mom," Violet said, sitting up on the bed now, sniffling as though she were going to cry, "I don't...I wanna...make sure she's safe. She's always, like, made sure I'm safe, you know? It's only fair."

Courtney smiled and stood up from the floor, seating herself on the foot of the bed and holding Violet's hand.

"Then we'll do whatever it takes to track them down, okay? Maybe we can ask the guy who's working with her, Jay? He's a tech guy. Maybe he knows what to do," Courtney said, "Whatever it is, Violet, I'll help you keep her safe, I promise."

This eased Violet's worry. Not much, but it did.

                                                                                            ***

"What a weirdo," Nat said under her breath as she and Jay sat in his car in the parking lot of a fast food taco place, both eating equally unhealthy things for dinner; she wiped her mouth on her arm and said, "I just...she's so odd. But you say she's the best, and she did show us that reel of hers and it was really good, so I guess we can't really say no to someone with that level of expertise."

"She was odd, sure," Jay said, taking a big bite, "but often the weirdos are the best in the entertainment world, so I say welcome aboard. It isn't like Sharla isn't weird."

"Are you kidding me? Sharla's the most normal one of us all," Nat replied, laughing as she pushed taco meat into her mouth, "She's literally the most level headed, seemingly human one out of the whole group. She's an actual person and we're all just...just weird cardboard cutouts of people."

Jay finished his food and laid back in his seat, sighing, resting his hand on his chest and exhaling.

"...maybe we're all whackos, and that's why we get along," Nat said, "Maybe we just...needed to find one another to finally have people we trusted in our lives. I don't think I should be looked up to, of course, lord knows I have made a mess of things, but-"

"That isn't fair, dude, you didn't make a mess of things, your ex did. He's the one who walked out on his family, for his own wifes sister, okay? He's the one who fucked up, not you. You're a good person, Natasha. You're such a good person that it's, like, sickening. That's why you draw people to you. They feel safe around you, because you are a safe person. That's the best gift someone can give someone else, is that feeling of safety."

Natasha looked at Jay, who was sitting up in the car now, looking at her. He pulled his cap off, running his hands through his hair and sighing.

"Like, I not only was grateful because you let me work with you, but I was just so...inspired by the fact that your show existed primarily to help other people. You weren't doing it for the money. You've told me that before. You've told me how you did it because people needed help, they needed guidance, and the world was letting them down, and that's just not okay, and you're right, it's not okay. So you stepped up and you said 'listen, these people who are lying to you, religious leaders, politicians, your own family? they aren't the ones you should be listening to. you should be listening to yourself'. You didn't even tell them to listen to you, you told them to listen to themselves, and that's what's wild. It would've been so easy to simply usurp an authority figures place with yourself, but you told these people the only authority that mattered was their own."

Nat put her food down, grabbed the back of Jay's head and pulled him in, kissing him. Jay was surprised, but he didn't resist. She climbed out of her carseat and into his lap, kissing him passionately, feeling his hands in her hair now. It started to rain outside, but they didn't care. She knew Violet was home and safe. She knew the show was well on its way to being a success.

Right now was all that mattered.

Right here.

Her own happiness for a change.

                                                                                             ***

She shut her laptop down and sat cross legged on her bed.

A knock on the door came, and she glanced over at it, as the door swung open and an older woman entered, cheerful and bright.

"Are you still hungry?" she asked, and Noreen shook her head.

"No thank you," she said, "...I found her."

"You did?"

"She's uploading videos to the internet. She has her own website," Noreen said, making the woman smile and nod.

"Well that's great to know," she said, "I'll bring you your medications and a glass of cocoa."

With that the older woman exited, leaving Noreen to lay back on her bed and stare at the mobile hanging overhead. She'd finally found her. After all this time, after all these years, she'd tracked her down, and they didn't even live in different cities or states. All this time they'd been that close to one another...amazing. She smiled and shut her eyes. Doris would be back with the cocoa and her anti-psychotics in a matter of minutes, and she'd take both and go to sleep, knowing full well that now that she had Natasha to guide her...

...there was nothing she couldn't do.

Why was someone knocking at Natasha's door? It was only...oh, it was 11. Natasha groaned as her hand left her bedside clock and she stumbled out of bed, pulling on sweatshirt and heading down the stairs. Violet must've gotten a ride to school with Courtney, as she wasn't home, and Natasha certainly hadn't gotten up to drive her. Why was she so tired lately? It didn't make sense. Now that she set her own schedule, did this mean she'd sleep later and later? Waste entire days? She didn't like that idea. Another knock at the door as Natasha reached the landing of the stairs.

"I'm coming, hold the hell on," she said loudly, approaching the door and undoing the locks, tugging it open to find Sharla on her porch; she squinted, making sure she wasn't imagining this, before asking, "...the hell do you want?"

"Wow, you're so approachable," Sharla said, "Can I come in?"

Natasha moved aside as Sharla entered and pushed a brown paper bag, full of breakfast foods from a nearby diner into her chest. Natasha followed Sharla into the kitchen, and watched as Sharla stood in the kitchen, admiring it.

"How are you in such good shape if you eat this kind of crap?" Natasha asked, rooting around in the bag blindly.

"I don't eat it, I brought it for you," Sharla said, "I had a shake."

"Your life must be miserable," Natasha replied, sticking a hashbrown in her mouth, "So what do you want?"

"Jay tells me you're starting an online show," Sharla said, "Not surprising, seeing how things went at the network. Are you interested in taking any other members on? Because I'd love to be a part of an online network, not hounded by Lawrence or his bullshit. I like the idea of owning my property, instead of renting my creativity to someone who doesn't do any of the work."

"Wow, bitchy," Nat said, chewing as she sat down on the kitchen table, "I suppose we could make that work. Did you get fired too?"

"No, I'm actively pursuing other avenues," Sharla said, "from what Jay tells me, what you two are cooking up sounds pretty appealing. The idea of making your own schedule, owning your work, being able to do or say whatever you want. Not that what I do requires such freedom, I just teach people how to live healthier, but it's still worth being my own boss for."

"You talk to Jay often?" Nat asked, furrowing her brow.

"Only when he comes into the building," Sharla said, leaning against the counter, "Why?"

"No reason, just didn't know he had any other friends," Nat said.

"I'm pretty sure you're the only one who has one friend," Sharla said, smirking, "but he admires you, he respects you, and I think his judgement is good enough for me. I'm willing to hedge my bets on your online work, if you're willing to let me."

"We don't even really like one another," Nat said, "Why would I do that?"

"I like you, when did you ever get the idea I didn't like you?" Sharla asked, "Do you not like me?"

"...I don't really like anyone, it's nothing personal," Nat said, "Having your marriage fall apart kind of destroys your faith in people."

"That's fair."

"We can talk about an arrangement, if you really want to, but I need Jay to be here to do that," Nat said, picking up her phone from the table, "Let me get him on the horn so he can get over here."

As Nat sat there, waiting for Jay to answer his phone, she noticed something else. A note left on the fridge door, in someone's handwriting that wasn't Violets. She stood up and walked towards the fridge, picking it off the fridge from the magnet and reading it. It was very pretty handwriting, and it looked fresh, so it had to be from that morning. It simply read, "Picked Violet up, gone to school, have a good day, Courtney."

"Hello?" Jay asked, finally picking up.

"It's Natasha, I need you to come over, we have a situation," she said, "and it's standing in my kitchen admiring my blender."

                                                                                               ***

Sitting on the floor of the school hallway, each checking their notes for the upcoming class, Violet and Courtney were both stressed out, each for their own reasons. Today was the day of The Test, the one most of the students feared taking, mostly because of how damaging it could be to their self esteem. Violet had never taken The Test before, she'd always been exempt, but this year she wanted to finally see it through, even if the results weren't what she wanted. Courtney, on the other hand, was terrified she'd do worse than she did the year before, but things had been so different back then, and maybe she'd feel more at ease this time around.

"Do you think," Courtney started, erasing something on her paper, "that you're really okay with this?"

"I have to be," Violet said, "I have to, you know, face uncomfortable things, right? Like, um, it...it isn't good to just...you know...avoid things, that...that make me feel bad. I have to do this."

Courtney smiled and rubbed Violet's back, nodding.

"Proud of you Vi, that's a really positive attitude," she said.

Violet smiled and continued focusing on her notes, as they waited for the bell to ring, signifying the time to take the test. She was proud of Violet, certainly, but Courtney couldn't help but worry that if things came out in a negative way that Violet wouldn't be upset, and the last thing she wanted was for her best friend to be upset. Especially about something like her mental faculties...

                                                                                                 ***

Sitting in the kitchen, Sharla and Jay were going over a contract of some kind while Natasha paced, continuing to eat from the bag Sharla had brought with her. She was listening, but only just barely, seeing as she trusted Jay to know what he was doing and trusted Sharla not to screw them. However, after a bit, Natasha sat back down at the table and looked at them.

"Does this mean you'd be my employee?" Nat asked, and Jay laughed.

"That isn't really how it works. We're all co-owners," Jay said, "That's how this works. Everyone who signs up at the start is going to be considered a 'founder' of the 'network'. This means we don't pay one another, we all get pay evenly distributed from what we make on the site through merchandise like t-shirts, mugs or whatever other miscellaneous stuff we can conjure up."

Nat nodded, glancing across the table at Sharla as Jay handed them each a pen and passed the papers between the three of them.

"Upon signing this, we're agreeing to be owners together, and we can only negotiate on this after the first year is up," Jay said, "If you're unsure of things, don't sign it. Otherwise, go nuts ladies."

With that, the three of them signed the papers and when Jay finished his signatures, he stacked them all back together, slipped them back into an envelope and put it back into a carrying case. He glanced between the women, both of whom shrugged.

"So," he said, "Who wants to get drunk to celebrate?"

"That's a great idea," Nat said, "I'm buying."

"I could go for a drink, sure," Sharla said.

                                                                                                  ***

Violet wanted to hide.

No, worse than hide, she wanted to disappear. She knew she had to take the test, she knew she had to confront that fear head on, but now that she'd been graded...god her insides were simultaneously churning and on fire. Sitting under the bleachers as it rained around her, she couldn't stop feeling sick, like she was going to throw up, until she heard the sound of someone climbing under the bleachers with her. Violet turned to see Courtney climbing under and settling down beside her.

"I take it it didn't go well..." Courtney said.

"See for yourself," Violet said, handing the paper to Courtney, who took it and read it over.

"...this is...unnecessarily mean," Courtney said, sounding surprised, "like, wow. They're recommending you leave most of your classes for slower learning classes. They're not even, like, trying to hide the fact that they have a low opinion of you."

"It isn't their opinion..." Violet said, sounding remarkably sure, "...it's more...they told me that, um, I was bringing down the grade point average of the school, and that...that I uh, I should, you know, do it so the school doesn't lose funding."

"...what?" Courtney asked, sounding genuinely disgusted now, "that's...just despicable, holy shit. Well, that's discrimination, and we can-"

"Maybe it's just easier."

"Accepting peoples preconceptions about you is not easier, it's simply letting them get away with having bigoted ideals and sends the message that they can treat everyone they view as different like that. You don't want this to happen to someone else, do you? You need to stop it when it starts with you," Courtney said, "I promise, I'll ask my dad and-"

"Courtney, I'm stupid, and I'm sick of pretending I'm not," Violet said, near tears as she grabbed her bag, her paper and got up, heading out from under the bleachers, "Please leave it alone."

As Courtney watched her friend rush away, she felt sick. All she wanted was for Violet to be happy with herself, and that would never happen at this school. At a place where everyone assumed she was dumb, and had now convinced her she was stupid as well. Courtney wouldn't just let them get away with this, she would find a way to make this right, and make Violet realize she was not stupid.

                                                                                               ***

"Holy shit," Jay said, sipping his beer, "It feels good to be an owner of something."

"You're telling me," Sharla said, "I've never really owned anything. Still paying for my car, still paying a mortgage, but at least I'll own my career now."

Natasha was sitting in the booth, turning her glass around and around, looking at the little umbrella in the top. Jay excused himself to go get another beer and some snacks from the bar, leaving Natasha and Sharla alone. Sharla swirled her straw around inside her cocktail and stirred her ice, then took a sip before opening her mouth.

"Aren't you happy?" Sharla asked.

"I...think I have a drinking problem," Nat said, "I didn't take my daughter to school today. I don't even remember last night. I was using alcohol as a way to cope with being left, but now I think it's become more than just a crutch. I'm worried, I guess."

"I can help you get sober, if you want," Sharla said, "I can be, like, your sponsor. Anytime you want to drink you can just call me or whatever and I'll come hang out."

"What are you doing here, seriously?" Nat asked, sitting up now, staring across the table at Sharla, "Like, we never really spoke much, we don't even run in the same social circles, so what are you honestly doing here with Jay and I?"

"I...respected you," Sharla said, glancing down at her glass, sighing, "I really admired the way you just...opened yourself up, no matter what the results were, and used your pain to push forward and help others recognize their own. I'm a fitness instructor, Nat, I'm...everything about me is so fake, and so carefully curated. I churn out social media posts that are so perfectly framed, expertly worded, showing off my latest exercise routine or diet effort and...and I feel like I'm lying to people. I don't want to lie to people anymore. I want to help people, genuinely help people, the way you do."

Natasha was floored. This was the last thing she ever expected to hear coming from Sharla. Sharla had always seemed so well put together, so happy with herself, smug almost, that to learn she admired anything about Natasha shocked her to her core.

"Honestly," Sharla said, circling the lip of her drink with her fingernail, "after what happened to you, I started to question myself, and question all the relationships I'd had with people up to that point, and whether or not I was really putting myself into them the way I should be or whether I was simply dating to avoid being alone, because I work so hard on myself constantly as it is that I can't stand to spend time with myself, because I hate what I've become. I hate what this career has made out of me. So I date people so I can be someone else, part of something else...but that can't be healthy. How do you do it, Nat, how do you admit that you need to be alone, but enjoy it?"

"I..." Nat started, "....I don't know. I don't like myself much either, for what it's worth. But I especially hate who I pretended to be when I was married. Who I was around him...that wasn't me, I simply conformed to his concept of me, how he viewed me, because I figured in order to be loved I had to be the ideal version of who they thought I was. But now that I'm alone, I'm focusing more on my daughter than myself, because I'm terrified to look inwards and find out that the real reason I pretended to be someone else was because there's nobody really there to be."

Sharla stood up and came around to the booth, scooting into it and looking down at the table, before finally just laying her head on Nat's shoulder, taking Nat by surprise. Nat smiled and stroked her hair, trying to comfort her friend...and her new business partner.

"Jeez," Jay said, upon re-approaching the table, "All it takes is a few drinks and you guys get intimate huh? Nice."

"Shut up," they replied in unison, laughing.

                                                                                                   ***

Sitting in her room that night, waiting for her mom to come home, Violet couldn't help but sit on her bed, swaddled in her blankets, headphones on without playing so she could hear the sound of the rain outside her bedroom window. She suddenly heard a knock at her window, and looked towards it to see Courtney standing in the tree outside her bedroom window. Violet crawled to the side of the bed and undid the latch, so Courtney could pull it up and climb through into the room.

"Why are you in my tree?" Violet asked.

"Because I figured nobody would answer the door if I knocked," Courtney said, shaking her head and pulling leaves and twigs out, adding, "Violet, please just listen to me. I've known you for like a year now, and seriously, you're not whatever they think you are, okay? You just learn differently, and there's nothing wrong with that. Fuck their stupid grade point average, alright? That doesn't justify their treatment of you, and you don't exist solely to make a school, or anyone for that matter, look better, okay?"

Courtney knelt at the end of the bed and put her hands on Violet's shoulders.

"You are Violet, and simply existing in a world that hates us is more than enough honestly, because all we're doing by being here is proving them wrong when they say we shouldn't be," Courtney said, "I know what it's like to be different, to be treated poorly. That's why I want to support you, and tell you there is nothing wrong with you, but there's something wrong with a school that tries to tell you there is."

Violet smiled wide and put her arms around Courtney, hugging her tightly. This surprised Courtney, as Violet wasn't often good with affection, but she happily hugged her back. They were best friends, they were all the other one had, and they needed to be there for one another.

The Simple girls rarely had friends outside of one another, but with Sharla and Courtney respectively, it felt like their world got a little bit bigger, despite the ugliness that existed around them, and they were grateful for it.

Nat was right, Courtney and Sharla had realized.

It really was easy to be nice to people.

"Do I have to do this?" Violet asked, sitting at the kitchen table as Natasha prepared her breakfast. As she finished and set the plate on the table in front of Violet, Nat took a seat at the table across from her daughter and sighed.

"I think it's important that you have your father in your life, even if seeing him is painful for me," Nat said, "Because this is about you, not me. You deserve to have him around."

"But he...uh....he doesn't..."

"He doesn't what, kitten?"

"He doesn't like me," Violet whispered, and Natasha laughed.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked, "He loves you to death. It killed him having to leave you, believe me, that was the one silver lining for me, was the pain he got from not being able to be around you anymore. Your father adores you, sweetheart, so just try and work with him, okay? Don't be stubborn like me."

The doorbell rang, and Natasha stood up, heading to answer it as Violet dug into her scrambled eggs and buttered toast. She could hear them speaking hushed to one another in the foyer momentarily, until they both entered the kitchen. It'd been almost a year since Violet had seen her father, and now seeing him standing here, she realized how little she recognized him. He had short pepper grey hair and stubble, wearing jeans, boots and a button down shirt with the collar done up, he didn't even look like a father, which made her feel all the more awkward.

"Hey hunny," Stephen said, sitting down next to her as Natasha poured him and herself cups of coffee; he took it from her and sipped, then smiled at Violet, adding, "You look very good."

"Thanks," Violet said, focused on eating.

"How's school been?" he asked.

"I have a friend," Violet said.

"Well that's excellent," Stephen said, "Everyone should have at least one friend."

"Yeah, I wonder what that's like sometimes," Natasha said, making Stephen smirk.

Just then there was another knock at the door and Natasha excused herself once again to answer it, leaving Stephen and Violet together. Violet finished eating the eggs and moved onto finishing the toast as her father cleared his throat, took another long sip of coffee and lowered his voice.

"Sweetheart, I know this must be awkward, so we're gonna do whatever you want okay? This weekend is all about you, I just want to make you feel comfortable," he said, "So if you have any suggestions for things you'd like to do, I'm all ears."

Natasha and Jay came back into the kitchen, Jay holding his laptop bag in one hand and a lot of charts under another arm.

"Oh," Jay said, "You...you didn't say you had company."

"It's fine, it's just my ex," Nat said, "Sit down Jay, you want some coffee?"

"Uh, sure, yeah," Jay said, setting his stuff down at the table and sitting down across from Stephen and Violet, next to where Nat's seat was; he turned his attention back to Nat as she got him coffee and he said, "So I brought over some charts, metrics and stuff about how this is going to work, financially and otherwise. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not anymore than anyone else," Violet said, surprising her folks with her articulate statement. With that, she got up, and excused herself to the bathroom before getting her bags. As they hard her rush up the stairs, Stephen pointed at the charts and looked at Jay as Nat sat back down, giving Jay his coffee mug.

"What's this all about?" Stephen asked.

"We're taking the show online," Nat said, "That way we have full creative control, are entitled to all the benefits and can say whatever we want without fear of being silenced."

"That's a great idea," Stephen said, "You can probably reach a broader audience anyway, given the proliferation of internet access in the household at this point. Everyone uses the internet, not everyone watches public access television."

"My thought process exactly," Nat said.

Violet came back down and said she was ready to go. Stephen stood up, said goodbye to Nat and took Violet's bags out to his car. Nat got up and walked around to her daughter, pulling her in close for a hug, which she happily gave her mom. Natasha stroked Violet's hair and whispered into her ear.

"If you feel uncomfortable at any moment, and it all becomes too overwhelming, just say the word and I will come get you, okay?" she said, and Violet nodded; Nat smiled, kissed her daughters forehead and added, "Love you kitten, take care and I'll see you soon."

"Love you, um, too, uh, mom," Violet said, following Stephen out to his car.

Natasha watched them pull away from the kitchen window, until she noticed Jay was turned in his seat, looking at her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"...I really don't know," she mumbled, "Alright, let's look over these charts."

                                                                                             ***

As Violet sat in the passenger seat, she couldn't help but feel like a stranger to her father.

To be fair, she felt like a stranger to almost everyone, her mother included in many aspects, but this was different. This was her father. This was one of two people she shouldn't feel like a stranger to, and yet she did. She watched him fiddle with the air conditioning and start playing music at a low volume, so as not to overwhelm her, and she realized she didn't know a single thing about him. He and her mother had clearly loved one another so much they decided to have a baby, but she didn't know much beyond that he was her father, and maybe she should take the time and make the effort to get to know who he really was, and what really made him leave.

"D...dad?" she asked.

"Yeah pumpkin?" he asked.

"Um...wh...why did you, uh, leave us?" Violet asked, and Stephen sighed.

"Um, I....there were a lot of reasons, but I guess really what it comes down to is simply not feeling like I was important to your mother anymore," he said, "she had her show, and of course you and her were always closer than you and I have been, and I just felt...abandoned. When you build a life with someone only for them to then cut you out of it - intentionally or not - it messes with your self worth. But I never stopped loving her in some ways, and I certainly never stopped loving you to death."

"Then why didn't, um, you know, uh...why didn't you come back?" Violet asked.

"Adult relationships are complicated, there's a lot of factors," Stephen said.

"They aren't more complicated than any other kind," Violet said, "They...that's just, um, an excuse that, like, adults use, you know? To like...uh...not...not want to figure things out. My friend at school, she was born a boy, and our friendship is not complicated at all."

"Well, it's not romantic, so."

"I...I guess, sure," Violet said.

He had a point. Platonic and romantic were different, and perhaps that wasn't a very fair comparison. Violet pulled her sweaters long sleeves over her hands and flapped the ends of them, smiling at the stimulation. Stephen exhaled and turned the radio off as he came to a stop at a red light.

"Look, sweetheart," he said, "what happened to this family was my fault, okay? Even with what I just said, I made the decision to drastically alter things. Your mother isn't in the wrong, and you especially aren't. We both love you tremendously, you're the best thing in our lives, okay? Now do you have any idea what you wanna do for the day?"

Violet thought for a while, and then nodded.

"I wanna go to the zoo," she said.

                                                                                             ***

Jay was typing away furiously on his laptop, sitting at Natasha's kitchen table as she paced around the kitchen, drinking her third cup of coffee, a box of open Biscotti's on the table that they'd both been picking at. Jay finally paused and looked up at Nat.

"Christ," he said, "You're making me anxious and I've only drank one cup."

"Was I wrong? To do this to her?" Natasha asked, "I mean, I just...I figured she'd need her father. My sister and I grew up with our father distant and aloof, and it kind of fucked us up. All we ever really wanted was for dad to, like, notice literally anything that we did, and it killed us that he didn't. I'm just trying to make sure she's covered emotionally, you know?"

"Nat," Jay said, standing up and walking to her, stopping her, his hands on her shoulders, "All you do is think about other people. When you're not doing your show, you're expanding that energy on your daughter. It's admirable as hell, but it's perfectly fine to be selfish once in a while. What do you say we knock off work and go somewhere?"

"Like where?" Nat asked, brushing her bangs from her eyes.

"I don't know, man, anywhere. Just...somewhere where you don't have to worry about how poorly you might be doing things for others. Let's go to an arcade or something," Jay said, "I'm itching to play some Pinball."

"Alright," Nat said after a moment, grinning, "Yeah, that'd be cool."

They grabbed their respective coats and headed out the door, climbing into Jay's car and heading off to the downtown, where the biggest (and one of the only remaining) arcade was. Upon entering, the flashing lights nearly blinding them and the sound of machines in every direction pounding at their eardrums, Jay and Natasha couldn't help but feel like kids again themselves. Jay led her over to the pinball section, and together, side by side, they picked tables and began playing.

"You need to relax once in a while," Jay said.

"It's so very hard when the world is constantly fucking you up the ass," Nat replied, making Jay cackle.

"I mean, sure, you're not wrong, but trust me, you won't be able to commit yourself to the work you need to get done if you're constantly questioning every single thing you think or say. You need to be able to focus."

"We were best friends, man," Nat said as she flayed on the flippers, scoring more points, "We were best friends until we had a kid, and then suddenly we were parents, and parents can't be best friends, they have to be parents."

"That isn't true at all, my folks are absolutely best friends. I think it just depends on how you approach it."

"I know I let my work get in the way, and I know Violet became my end all be all concern," Natasha said, pulling the spring back and releasing another ball, "but...I don't think that's exactly a bad thing, right? I mean, I was being a mom, you're supposed to be there for your child."

"Nat, you're a great mom," Jay said, "and I'm sure under the right circumstances a great wife too, and you know I'm on your side and not his. Lord knows I was there, I saw how much he hurt you. You don't owe him anything. Certainly not an explanation. Lord knows he didn't give you one."

Natasha stopped and looked at Jay, who also stopped and looked at her.

"Why are you helping me so much?" she asked.

"...because you...you hired me right out of college, and I had, like, no experience and I just want to give something back to the person who gave me everything," Jay said, pulling another few quarters from his pockets and splitting the stack between the two of them; he added, "Because when you give so much and nobody gives anything back, that isn't being a good person, that's being taken advantage of. You deserve better than that."

Jay turned, pushed another quarter into the slot and continued playing as Natasha stood and stared at him. This young guy she'd known for so long, who had been with her show since it started, was now her closest friend and business associate, and she smiled, because she realized then and there that she'd lost a husband, but gained a new best friend.

                                                                                                ***

"Why did you want to come to the zoo?" Stephen asked as he and Violet strolled through the exhibits, finally stopping in the reptile section, where they watched a large python squirm around in its enclosure. Violet sipped her drink as Stephen bit into his sandwich they'd bought there, and she sighed.

"I guess because it's, um, like...what you...you know...are supposed to do with your parents?" Violet said, "I don't...I don't know what a family does together."

This statement broke Stephen's heart, and he started feeling like he and Natasha had somehow failed her as parents. She watched the python snatch a mouse that was dropped in its case, and watched it eat the mouse entirely, while Stephen ate his sandwich and watched his daughter.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, "I'm sorry we weren't-"

"Don't be sorry," Violet said, her voice cold and flat, "...you're no different than most parents."

When they went to Stephen's apartment that night, and after Violet had fallen asleep, Stephen called Natasha, but she didn't answer. He paced in his kitchen and prepared to leave a quiet somewhat irritated voicemail for her, but instead he hung up and sat down at his kitchen table, sighing and running his hands through his hair. How could he tell her this sort of thing? That their daughter felt like she didn't have a family? He'd done enough damage already, and decided he'd handle this himself.

He looked over at the couch and watched Violet sleep, her headphones playing white noise as she snored, and he smiled. He really did love his daughter, just like he'd loved Natasha. Violet was so much like her, that it scared him. He stood up, walked to the couch, sat down on the ottoman and stroked her hair gently. How could he have walked out, people had asked him, because they assumed that once you have a marriage or a family that your own wants immediately vanish, but in the end it had been pretty easy, aside from inadvertently hurting his daughter and wife.

He didn't regret doing it, but he did regret having to do it.

And he felt like perhaps that, if nothing else, at least cleansed him of some guilt.