Chapter one

"Cloie, come on!" Woalfe  snapped at his daughter.

Cloie grumbled and continued to read her book.

"Cloie, we're leaving, *now*!"

"Then go without me!"Cloie shouted back. She was in no hurry to welcome back her brother. Jacob Dylan was returning from studying medicine for the last three years, during which he only was at home  for the ocasional school break. Even those brief visits were enough for him to annoy her. Now he was coming back to continue study at the local hospital, which  meant living with them full time again. She remembered life with Jacob Dylan. Even her older brother Xaiden remembered life with Jacob Dylan. It was only Arianna that seemed to have a weird worship complex towards him.

"Cloie!" Woalfe shouted again, "Now!"

"Okay, okay!" She slammed her book shut and with as much almost-teenage angst as she could muster, she followed after the rest of her family. They climbed into their old white pickup, Xaiden in the middle of the front seat between their parents and Cloie with her twin sister Arianna in the back. Cloie stared out at the passing farm fields. It had been three years since they had built their home in the little town called Winchester Farms. Three years of blessed peace. Three years of no moving around, and three years of of no Jacob-Dylan. Three years of peace now gone.

"Could you at least *try* to be happy?" River said to her daughter.

"No," Cloie answered, blunt.

"If you ever want to come out of your room again you will," Woalfe warned

"I'll climb out the window."

Woalfe went to speak again, but River caught his hand. She squeezed it lightly and shook her head. She whispered to him, "Just let her be. You know how she always was with Jacob."

Woalfe sighed and said back, "I know. I know how Jake was with *all* of them."

Xaiden stayed quiet. He also remembered the years  spent in the shadow of his older brother, who was only three years older than him. It was years of mocking and torment, and even blame for the sudden death of their Grandfather. Cloie wasn't the only one not happy to have Jacob back. He just wasn't going to be so vocal about it, for his mother's sake. She had dreams of them all being a happy family again, and Xaiden didn't want to break them. He would do what he could to get along with his older brother, and to get Cloie to settle down as well.

They pulled into Magnolia park, where they were going to meet Jacob once his train arrived. They set up their picnic and settled in for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

************

Jacob-Dylan got off his train and walked up the dusty dirt main road. Although he would never admit it to his three siblings, he was actually relieved to be done his studies and be back home. He reached where he knew Magnolia park was and stood back as he surveyed the family he was back to live with again.

He could see the glare right away on Cloie's face. The battle between them would start again. No, he said to himself, this time he was going to make it work. He was going to find a way to actually be *part* of his family, instead of the odd outsider he had always been.

"Hi dad," He greeted, coming to where his father was playing guitar.

Woalfe looked up and smiled, "Hey, Jake, my boy. Welcome home!"

"You sound..um..good," Jacob said about his father's playing. The compliment sounded awkward and forced even to him and it embaressed him. Why could he not just relax and fit  into his family? "I'm going to go find mom." He quickly said, and walked away before his brother and sisters could notice him.

River saw her oldest son and ran up to him. "Hon! Are you too old for a hug?"

"Uh, no, sure, that's fine." He let his mother hug him.

River pulled him back and looked at him. She could see the uncertainty on his face. She knew part of the reason he had gone to school so far away was simply to be free of the family he had always felt an outsider in. "It's good to have us all back together again," River said,"*All* of us. No, come on, I have a great lunch packed for us!"

With a resigned sigh Jacob followed after his mother to eat with his family. He steeled himself to force happiness and friendliness.

***************

Once back at home, Xaiden  immediatly called out to his sisters, "Beat you at Game Box!"

Jacob already winced at the noise and commotion he remembered Xaiden always caused. He wasn't even back a day and he could already see how life was going to be like. One overly loud hyperactive teenage brother, one grumpy door slamming almost teenage sister, and one quiet little sister that for a  reason he couldn't figure out, still seemed to look up to him.

"You're on!" Cloie shouted  to Xaiden and raced her older brother to their game machine. Arianna eyed Jacob, who was hesitating by the door and hadn't even come  in yet.

"Are you going to play?" She aked in her shy manner. She understood that Jacob was different than them. He didn't like noise, especially the chaos that Xaiden and Cloie always seemed to create. He liked quiet things like chess and stargazing.

Jacob closed the door and thought about joining the noisey game playing throng. Even the thought of it gave him a headache. "No," he said to his sister, trying hard not to sound as snappish as he was beginning to feel, "I um, I have something I have to write. For the hospital. I'll play with you later, okay?"

Cloie shouted to her twin sister, "Arie, hurry up! You're my partner against Xaiden!"

Jacob Winced again at Cloie's echoeing voice. A headache was starting for real now. He retreated to where he knew the computer was.

Arianna went into the livingroom and settled  down with her brother and sister, picking up a controller. River decided to join them. Woalfe went over to his latest toy, a new drafting table. Jacob looked up from the computer and watched his family fall into their regular life routine...one he had not been part of for three years  now. Was he going to be able adjust and become part of it again? The game player went on, blasting noise into the room, then Woalfe switched on the stereo. With a wince and an annoyed sigh Jacob started up the computer and tried to hid in his world of medical logic and chess, blocking out the chaos that was his family.

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Later that night, after all the kids had gone to bed, River pulled her husband to her. "Isn't it wondeful to have our whole family together again?" Before he could answer she reached up and kissed him.

Woalfe laughed, "And what was that about?"

"That was about us celebrating." She took his hand and started towards the stairs with a coy smile.

"Oh...*celebrating*." He allowed himself to be lead towards their bedroom.

It wasn't until weeks later, that River realized the consequences of that one action.....and it was the last consequence she wanted at that late in her life....