Okay, so now is the time I have to give a big appology. For two reasons. One - I know this is waaay over due. I promised to get it out before Christmas, and that just didn't happen. Unfortunately I wasn't too well, and my writing went to complete pot for at least a week. By the time I was back in the swing, I had so much stuff to sort out for going home and such, that writing just had to take second place as much as I hate to admit it. Since then, I have been trying to get up to date, but it's been difficult to get back into the story.
Right, so first apology over. Second is to anyone that replied to the fic between when I last posted, and the 23rd Decemeber. It would appear that the thread has been pruned, and although I DID save the pages just after Christmas in anticipation of that happening, it would appear that my computer decided to have a fit and didn't actually keep anything in it's memory. Usually I would thank everyone that has replied personally, and I'm sorry I can't do that this time. I DID read it all, and I'm grateful for any and all I received. It's great to know that people are reading, and it helps me so much to keep up the motivation for continuing.
So therefore, a general thanks to anyone that's replied at any point through this fic, believe me, your feedback is much appreciated
and I'm glad you've been enjoying the story, hope you will all continue to do so.
anonymousarfan and cocopucks - waiting's over
Hope you like the new part.
Ok, well this was originally going to be an even longer chapter than it is now, there's another 5 pages of shorthand pad to write up and add to before the original chapter is completed, but I realised that it worked splitting the chapter now, and this way I can post for you guys sooner. The next chapter I hope will be out fairly soon, but I have a chapter of Dreams and Reality to get out first, and I'm off home for the weekend, so all I will promise is that I will do my best.
Alright, enough of me nattering, here's the new chapter, hope you all like it
As always, I'd love to hear what you think
Chapter 10
“I’m not too sure about this guys…I mean what if we’re wrong about them… I mean sure they seem nice enough, but what if they’re agents or something like that…?” Maria’s eyes were wide, her pitch high, and it was only too obvious that she was panicking.
“Maria please…” Unusually, it seemed to be Isabel who was taking the task of trying to calm her down.
Michael couldn’t help feeling proud of her…he knew full well that his sister was just as nervous as his girlfriend, but she was making a real effort, and managing to keep it together… She was being so strong… He went to reach for his sister, but at the last minute realised with a shock that he wasn’t needed…
Alex was stood next to Isabel, one hand closed around that of hers, his other arm around her shoulder. He was determined to give his girlfriend all the support she needed…
Isabel smiled as she felt the squeeze of his hand, looking at him gratefully and re-gathering herself before trying once more to calm Maria. “I don’t know what they’re hiding Maria, but they aren’t agents…” She shook her head as she tried to make sense of her own feelings. The couple were hiding something yes, and that in itself worried her, but she had seen the look on their faces… Liz and Max were no more FBI spies than she were the King of England… “I know you’re struggling with this, and believe me, I am too, but somehow I get the feeling that they’re just as scared as us… Whatever their secret is, I don’t think it’s going to harm us, and I think they were just as nervous being around us as we were of being around them…”
Alex nodded. Personally he had to say that he liked the new kids. Their situation was unusual sure, and without a doubt that had warranted further investigation on it’s own, but after the research he had done the previous night, he was satisfied that they were genuine… He looked at the others. “I think that it’s natural that they’re nervous… I mean they’re in a new area, new school, new people, and I can’t imagine that they’re used to getting the best responses when people find out they’re married… I mean it’s not exactly normal…”
Maria nodded. “That’s exactly my point! Nothing about this is normal, and the way they acted…”
Alex sighed. “Maria, they acted like two kids that had something to hide…but that doesn’t mean they’re a threat to us…” He shrugged. “I know that you guys might feel a need to assume the worst, but seriously, everything that I’ve learnt about them backs up their story… Now maybe they have a few skeletons in the closet, and right now I don’t have a clue what that might be, but I don’t think they mean you any harm, and I really think they could do with some friends right about now…”
Michael grunted but made no sign to show whether he was agreeing or not. He looked at his friend though for a moment. “Did you check up more last night…?”
Alex sighed, recognising the business-like tone that Michael had adopted. “Sure… I came up with school records going further back, pictures on some school websites, a record of marriage and even some stuff on their adoptions…” He shook his head as he looked round at the others. “I’m telling you guys…everything backs up their story…”
“But it’s basic stuff…the kind of thing that the FBI would set up if putting someone undercover…” Michael insisted, obviously not ready to let it drop yet.
Maria nodded nervously. “Yeah…Alex, I don’t want to say that what you’re finding is all a set-up…I know that you’re going to have checked the information from alternative sources…” She was unsurprised to see her friend nodding at this. “…but, there’s something about them…I can’t put my finger on it, but I know that they’re hiding something…” She shook her head. “I mean the marriage thing for example, why so young…?”
Isabel gave a wry smile. “You heard them, they love each other…” She responded, imitating the tone in which the two had spoken. Inside her head she was confused…usually she would have been the first person to be backing Maria…to be blowing this up out off all proportion, but somehow, for some reason, she was finding herself supporting them… She agreed with the others that the pair were hiding something, but somehow, every time she thought she was about to get upset about it…every time she thought she was about to begin to panic, she just got a feeling that it would be ok…
Maria shook her head, obviously not convinced. “I don’t know…I mean it would be so much more normal if they were just pretending to be sixteen…” She commented. She had to admit that the night before, when they had all been talking, she had begun to take a liking to the new couple, but their reaction as the group had tried to find out more about them just seemed to ring alarm bells in her head… Not really for her, but for her boyfriend and his sister…
“I know that Maria…” Alex responded, obviously trying to be patient with her. But seriously, all this stuff I’m finding, all the background…if they have been undercover, they’ve been so for a long time…”
Michael shrugged. “But couldn’t it all just be background stuff that the FBI have set up…to make us think that…?”
He nodded. “Well yeah…but there’s just too much of this stuff… I mean sure, they’d give them families, homes…school records and exam passes, but there’s stuff here about Liz having run for prom queen… She didn’t win it, because a senior was usually queen, but she’s there with the other contestants, smiling for the camera… On another site I was able to get up an online yearbook, and there in the awards, were Liz Davis and Max Evans – they were voted cutest couple and most likely to stay together…”
Isabel gave a little smile. “Wonder if those that voted knew how right they’d be…” She commented lightly.
Her brother was unimpressed. “So you’re saying you’re convinced they’re genuine…?” He asked flatly.
Alex nodded again. “Honestly, yeah… The only things I can find that looks strange, are the fact that they’re married –especially since Liz is only fifteen – I did a little digging and it’s nowhere near as simple as I thought...the-“
“What’s the other?” Michael asked interrupting impatiently.
Isabel glared at her brother. If Alex had wanted to say something, she was willing to bet that it wouldn’t have been a waste of time…”
Her boyfriend didn’t really seem phased though, making no comment but simply moving onto the next point he had to make. “Ok, the other thing I found I have to admit did seem a little strange… I found something mentioning Max having stood for class president…
“So…?” Isabel didn’t understand.
Grinning, Alex held up his hand. “Wait a moment, I’m getting to why it’s strange…” He looked around. “You see a found a couple of articles from the school paper, plus a mock poll…he was going to walk it easily, and then he just pulled out…”
“Was this when he left with Liz…?”
“No…before…He was still at the school, just pulled out without any warning…I mean why would he do that…?” He shook his head.
“Because you have something to hide…” Isabel responded. She was surprised to find her voice seemed reasonably steady and she heard no sign of shaking.
Alex nodded. “Question is, what…?”
Maria took a sniff of her cypress oil and then looked up at him suddenly. “Wait a moment, you said Liz Davies…?”
He nodded.
“That was her name before…? Davies…?” Isabel looked at her boyfriend for confirmation.
Again Alex nodded. “Right…Liz Davies and Max Evans…all the information is there, pictures, records… I’m telling you Michael, there’s just too much of this for it to be a hoax… Not even the FBI would go to all this bother. It’s time, effort and money that’s a waste. I mean so what if someone hasn’t stood for prom queen…most girls don’t. And if someone is going to stand for class president, and they look like they’re winning, it’s crazy to have them pull out like that. No, this isn’t some elaborate back-story, this is their lives…” He shook his head again. The more he thought about this, the more certain he was Liz and Max weren’t a threat, and the more certain he became about that, the more awful he felt about having delved into their background…their private business… “If we want to find out about them, we should try talking to them…prying into their background like this just isn’t fair…”
Michael took no notice of his protests. “What information did you find under her old name then...? I presume you found something…?” He looked at Alex expectantly.
The gangly boy sighed and nodded. He knew there was little point in holding it back, it would only serve to further annoy Michael, and would do Liz and Max no good either. “Yes, I found stuff, but it’s all normal…there’s nothing revealing or suspicious…” He told his friend, hoping that he would leave it there.
Apparently Michael had other ideas though and looked at him again. “So, tell me what you found!” He ordered him.
Isabel glared at her brother. “Look, you may have been in charge of our group as such for a long time, but you’re not going to speak to Alex like that. She insisted, her anger apparent from the glint in her eyes. “Now apologise!”
Her boyfriend looked awkward. “There’s no need Izzy…it’s ok…” He told her quickly, trying to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand. He and Maria knew only two well that brother and sister both shared a sharp temper that it was ill advisable to get on the wrong end of. The last time the two of them had taken up against each other…well, it wasn’t exactly something they would forget again in a hurry. “Look, I managed to get up all the things you would expect…a foster record…further school reports…” He shrugged. “There’s nothing special, it’s all just basic stuff…”
“What happened to her parents…?” Isabel asked softly. She couldn’t help feeling for the young girl, having gone through her own life without much in the way of parents. Hank was supposed to be looking after them now of course, but she’d hardly call him a father figure… Sometimes she wondered what had happened to her parents…if they had truly been in the crash as they now suspected, and more importantly, if there was any chance they had survived…? From the fact that she and Michael had ‘hatched’ alone, she had to admit the possibility of the latter was slim to non-existent, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t dream…
Alex shook his head, reaching out to squeeze her hand as he realised what she was thinking. “I don’t know Iz…the records don’t say anything about her parents, just that she went into care when she was around five years old, and then was emancipated just before her fifteenth birthday. They got married a couple of days after her fifteenth birthday – although why the judge allowed it I’m not too sure…”
Maria looked up. “You said they wouldn’t need permission…”
He shook his head. “No, I said I didn’t think they would…” He corrected her. “I’ve done some more research, and if they’re sixteen they would still need parental consent, and since Liz was still fifteen, they would need a judge’s consent too…”
“So it’s not as simple as it sounded and they didn’t correct us!” Michael pounced on this. “If it’s unusual, surely that’s a sign that something is wrong…”
Isabel rolled her head at his words. “If I remember rightly, they didn’t exactly get much chance to correct us…the conversation had already moved on and they probably didn’t think it really mattered…” She shrugged. The more she learnt about the couple, the less scared she felt somehow and she was beginning to agree with Alex. Their lives were their business…
“So what, the question I want to know is how they got a judge to agree to the marriage…?” Her brother insisted.
“There are lots of possible reasons…maybe they simply talked it out – you guys have seen them, it should be plain to anyone that they love each other… Or then again maybe they played the pregnancy card even though they knew it wasn’t true…” Alex shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know how they did it, and I have no way to find out because those files will be locked away under firewalls and security systems that even I would struggle to break through since it’s all legal stuff…” He took a breath. The fact is though, that they did… I don’t see that this means they’re FBI agents or anything else Michael, they’re kids, teenagers who sure won’t have an easy time…”
“What about all the travelling though…?” Maria now asked. It wasn’t that she wanted there to be something in her fears, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
“Right, moving around so much certainly isn’t normal!” Michael pounced back on the first excuse he was given.
Alex groaned. He knew Maria was scared, and it wasn’t as though she was claiming that what he was saying was untrue, but he could have done without her reminding Michael of the one outstanding factor that couldn’t be explained.
“Well…?” Michael looked at him expectantly.
Alex shook his head. “I don’t know…” He shrugged. “It’s as simple as that… Nothing that I’m finding in research is giving me any reasons for that, and I have to say Michael, the more I find out about them, the more uncomfortable I am about this whole thing…”
“So you do think there’s something strange about them…?”
“No…” He tried to explain patiently. “I think that it is wrong to be prying into their private affairs like this… If you really want to find out about them, why not do it the old fashioned way…let’s get to know them…talk to them some more…”
Immediately Alex said this, Michael was ready to rebuff, but then as he was about to open his mouth, he stopped, thinking… What other choices did they have…? Not many that he could see… He nodded slightly. “Ok, so that’s what we’ll do, but be really careful, and make sure you don’t do anything suspicous…”
Isabel rolled her eyes at her brother. “You’re the one that’s incapable of keeping a low profile – you refrain from doing anything suspicious…” She threw back at him.
Hearing her response, Michael glared. “I mean it Isabel – no use of powers – complete lock down unless absolutely necessary ok…?” This wasn’t a question or a request, this was Michael taking charge and the others knew better than to argue with him.
His sister nodded. “Fine…”
“I mean it, no putting on your makeup – no messing with your clothes or hair – everything by the book!”
Looking over at him, Isabel could see how seriously her brother was taking everything and although she might have liked to prolong the discussion – maybe even annoy him a little, she knew how important this was and nodded. “You got it bro…”
Michael nodded, apparently satisfied and looked round at his friends. “Ok, we’ll meet back at lunch as usual…” He instructed before grabbing his bag and heading off down the corridor
**********
Stacey’s eyes were wide as she looked at Pam. She had to be kidding didn’t she…? She searched the face of the blond for any sign of amusement but she found none. “You’re not serious…?”
Pam Troy nodded her head enthusiastically. “The new guy yelled it at Kyle when he was trying to chat her up in the Crashdown – or so I heard anyway…” She smirked. “I guess appearances can be deceptive…”
Stacey shook her head. The whole thing just seemed so…well fabricated… It didn’t seem real that was for sure… “And you’re sure he wasn’t just saying it for a laugh…the girl didn’t correct him and laugh it off…?” She checked again. It didn’t seem like something that someone would say for a joke, but pretty much any possibility seemed more likely than the idea that he had been serious.
“No…in fact, someone told me that she even confirmed it…” Pam’s eyes were wide, a look on her fact that suggested that butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Her words however, rather spoilt the effect. “So, how many months along do you reckon she must be…?”
“You think there’s a bun in the oven…?” The second girl asked.
Pam smirked at the old fashioned term. “Well, think about it…what other reason can you think of – why would someone get married at their age…? There has to be a story there…”
“I guess…” Stacey didn’t sound so certain. “So you’re thinking he’s just with her to do the honourable thing…?”
“And to make sure he continues to get what he wants of course…I mean he must think she’s good in bed to go through it right…?” She pointed out slyly. She had only seen the girl at school once the day before, but she had been setting her eye on her supposed brother, and after this news, she was going to enjoy making her life miserable.
Stacey fluffed up her hair and preened herself in the mirror, licking her finger and wetting her eyebrows as she guided a few stray strands back into position. “Well, all I can say is it’s a good job we found out now…” She looked at her friend. “You do realised that Suzy had been thinking of asking if she had done any cheerleading before – she’s the perfect size for the top of the pyramid apparently…”
“Not for long…” Holding her hand out in front of her, Pam mimed a pregnant woman.
Stacey couldn’t help laughing. “Pam…”
“Oh come on, I mean can you imagine what it would have done to our rep if Suzy had gone along and asked her before finding this out…? Pregnant teenager is hardly group A material…”
She couldn’t deny this. “Ok, I get what you’re saying sure… It just sounds so crazy…I mean you saw her yesterday…squeaky clean, good student, hair tied back neatly…” She shrugged. “I can’t say I wouldn’t have agreed with Suzy before hearing this… She’s small, and we do need someone lighter than Tonia – there’s no way we’re ever going to be able to do the pyramid in the middle of a game with the team we have…”
“Yeah, but she so wouldn’t have fit into our image anyway…” Pam argued.
“Maybe not, but you heard Mrs Laws the other day – the team has a low grade average – she wants to see a greater variety of girls on the team – she would have killed two birds with one stone as such…”
“Whatever…” Waving her hand to dismiss it, Pam shrugged. “As long as we didn’t ask her, there’s no harm done, and I sure can’t wait to hear the whole story about her now…”
“From Kyle…?”
“Who else, you know he’s going to be bursting to talk. After all, it’s not like he’s going to want people thinking that she rejected him…”
“True…”
“He can’t have it spoiling his reputation now can he…?” She grinned, eagerly anticipating digging up further dirt. Max might want people to think he was happy, but she was going to show him what he was missing, and while she was at it, she might just let everyone know the truth about little miss goody-goody two-shoes…
**********
“You can get her, you’re welcome to her…” Kyle smirked. “Of course you do realise that she has to be damaged goods…personally I wouldn’t touch her, but then each to him own…”
“You seemed taken enough with her last night…before she turned you down…” One of the other guys pointed out.
He scowled at him. “That was before I knew the truth, and she didn’t turn me down!”
“Sure looked like she did from here…” His friend responded, provoking a number of nods from the rest of the team.
Kyle glared back at him. “She’s a complete tease, and that Max must be a right sucker…what a mug to let her tie him down like that…I’ll bet the baby isn’t even his…” He looked round at the others. “I mean you saw her, she was doing everything except throw herself at us…and she’s supposed to be married…what a slut…”
Despite the fact that a lot of the guys in the group didn’t actually agree with this, feeling that Kyle had been the one putting pressure on, and knowing that she had in fact turned him down, they all knew better than to dispute what he said and simply kept quiet as Kyle continued his monologue.
“I wonder how long it will be until she’s showing anyway…?” He wondered out loud.
A number of the team voices their opinions relating to this, and one even started a book.
Kyle had just placed a tenner down for her showing within two months, and was turning to talk to Keith again, when he instead found himself facing Pam and Stacey. He flashed them a girls…you two look fantastic today…”
Neither of the girls was impressed. “Give it up Kyle…you had your chance last year, and you blew it!” Pam stated, her friend nodding in agreement. They might both have been part of the cheerleading squad, and certainly they hung around with the jocks at lunchtime and such, but they had long since learnt that they should look somewhere else if they wanted a long-term relationship. Currently, elsewhere meant the local college, or had been for Pam until she saw Max…now she knew exactly who she had her eye on… Meanwhile, Stacey was quite happy with the relationship she was already in. Either way, neither girl would even consider giving Kyle a second chance.
He rolled his eyes. “Anyone would think I asked you out on a date or something…all I said was hi, and complimented you on your appearance…”
Stacey shook her head. “We know how your mind works…and it’s not going to work on us!”
Kyle shook his head but decided to play along. “Aww…girls…that hurt…” He brought his hand up to his chest, holding it to his chest almost as though he had been shot, in a mocking way.
Both laughed. They were two of the few girls that would dare talk to him that way… To most, given that he was captain of the football team, Kyle was like a God…but to them, he was simply one of the group. “Aww poor baby…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you…” Pam responded, patting him on the back. “…especially not after your rejection last night…” She added slyly, waiting in anticipation of him taking the bait.
She wasn’t disappointed, receiving an almost instant response. “What? You must be kidding girls…I wasn’t rejected…” He told them smoothly.
Stacey pretended to look puzzled. “Really…’cause that was what I heard…” She responded.
Kyle shook his head. “You heard wrong then…” He put a thoughtful look on his face, pretending to consider what they could be on about. “Of course I did have some girl that was chatting me up and flirting…” He shrugged. “She was a bit of a tart really though…” He looked at them as though he had only just thought of something. “You might have seen her yesterday too, now that I come to think about it…It was the new girl from school…Evans was it…?”
“Liz Evans…?” Stacey kept a puzzled look on her face as she continued to play dumb. “She didn’t exactly seem like the type of girl to be flirting…” She shrugged. “Maybe you got the wrong idea…?”
“No way…she was all over me…” Kyle insisted. “You should have seen her…”
“Hmm…yeah…” Pam raised her hand to her mouth as though to cover a yawn and put a slightly bored expression on her face. She knew full well that Kyle wouldn’t be able to keep quiet for long if they kept this up.
“I’m telling you girls…she was practically throwing herself at the whole table…” He looked round at the other guys, searching for some support. A couple of them gave a hesitant nod, but nothing more really.
Stacey began to snigger, but tried to cover it with a cough. “Sure Kyle…whatever you say…” She shrugged. “She just didn’t seem like that sort of girl…”
“Well she didn’t seem like the sort of girl to have got knocked up either did she….?” Kyle asked smirking.
Pam let her mouth drop slightly, opening her eyes and giving the impression of supposed amazement. “What do you mean?” She asked, continuing to play dumb.
Stacey took her cue. “No…I mean she can’t be, don’t be so silly…” She told Kyle in a chiding tone. She added a wagging finger, as though telling off a little boy as well, knowing this would further antagonise and frustrate the jock.
The expression on Kyle’s face told the pair they were indeed succeeding in their aim. He frowned and looked from one to the other. “Ok, well if she’s not up the duff, give me one reason for her being married…?” He challenged them.
“MARRIED?” Pam shook her head at him. “Ok, now you’re crazy!”
He shrugged. “Fine, believe me or not, I don’t really care. The fact is that I know what I heard!” He looked at the two girls. “That guy with her yesterday, it wasn’t her brother, it was her husband!”
“You don’t say…” Pam’s tone suddenly changed and she grinned at Stacey. At least now they had the story from the source… She might do a little expanding of course, but it wasn’t bad…
Kyle suddenly realised what they had been doing. “You played me?” He asked, stunned.
Stacey nodded and laughed softly. “Don’t take it too hard Kyle…we just wanted to get the info right from you…”
“So why didn’t you just ask?”
Pam giggled. “Well it’s more fun this way…” She commented lightly.
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Maybe for you…” He muttered, thinking for a moment before shaking his head and looking back at them. “Anyway, I’m assuming from all this you agree there’s a story there…”
Pam nodded knowingly. “Oh yeah…there has to be…”
**********
Liz came to a stop, just outside the school gates, and looked over at Max. It was plainly obvious to her husband that she was nervous and he slipped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her up against his side and pressing a kiss on the top of her head. “It’ll be ok…we’ve done this before…” He told her softly.
His wife nodded, but still the smile on her face did not reappear. She looked down awkwardly, fiddling with her rings. “I know that…I know we’ve done this before, but there never seemed like there was a possibility of us staying before…” She shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know, there’s just something different about this place…”
Max nodded. “Well that’s good isn’t it…if you think that we’re going to be successful…?” He was surprised that she hadn’t voiced this before, assuming that what she meant was that she was having a ‘feeling’, but still, he couldn’t deny it was a good sign if she was. The idea that their search might finally be over… He looked down at the petite brunette who stood beside him, the concern plain in his eyes. “Baby…?”
She first nodded, and then shook her head. “It is…it is good, but then I think about the fact that we could be here permanently, and I think about the rumours that are going to go round and…” She trailed off.
“What is it…?”
Liz swallowed, resting her head against his chest. “There’s going to be all the rumours about me being pregnant again…” She looked up at him. “They’re one thing when I know we’ll be gone in a couple of months… Maybe that sounds silly, because I always knew they were going to resurface at the next place we went to, but at least I knew I only had to endure so long with each group of tormentors…”
Setting his bag down on the floor for the moment, Max wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his body and dipping his head to kiss her gently on the lips. “I know it’s not easy baby…I wish people wouldn’t say it…” He sighed. He could never regret having asked her to marry him…but sometimes, he did wonder if it might have been better to wait a little longer. He was ready, and she had been apparently, but in the eyes of others, there was something very wrong about their relationship and it seemed that they would never be accepted as they were… He held her in silence for another few minutes, shaking his head. “Give it a few months though, and they’ll have to accept that they were wrong…”
His wife shook her head. “They’ll just say I lost it, or that we simply had a scare…” She argued…
Max sighed and shrugged. “Ok, well so what if they do then…?” He looked down at her. “It doesn’t matter what they say honey… Or what they think…? It doesn’t matter why they think we got married, because we know the truth…” Reaching down, he took her hand in his and smiled as he brought it up to his lips. “I love you Liz Evans…my stunningly beautiful wife…I love you, and that’s never going to change…” Dropping her hand gently, he lowered his head and once more captured her lips in his. “All that matters is that we know the truth…I love you and that’s all that matters…”
Liz couldn’t help smiling as she pulled away from their brief kiss. She looked up at him. “I love you too Max…” She told him softly before taking a deep breath and looking forward toward the school building that stood in front. She chewed her lip for a moment and then swallowed. “Ok…I’m ready…”
the other story has been updated again today. And as far as whether Max and Liz are aliens in this...well like you say, guess you'll have to wait and see 
I have never had so much feedback for a chapter - I LOVE it. Thanks so much guys 
. I know that I left you hanging for ages and I'm sorry about that but I guarantee that I won't abandon either of my current fics. The other reason this took so long is that after the last chapter, I wanted to get this next one just right. 
lol...? 
really...? I've only seen it asked for once, and I was amazed then, but I'm glad people like it so much. Welcome to the story.
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