Calls

"Do you want anything to eat? Or some soda?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry. Thanks."

"Oh, okay. Do you want to watch a movie?"

"If you want to."

It had been going like this for an hour now; Shannon was constantly offering Kaitlin some form of refreshment or entertainment, and Kaitlin usually turned her down. When the redhead buzzed by again after making rounds of the living room, Kaitlin grabbed her arm.

"Shannon, sit down. We'll put in a movie, and just relax. You've had a hard night to begin with. Why make it worse?"

Shannon gave her a grateful look, and all but threw herself on the couch. She sighed and leaned into it, closing her green eyes. "I wish... I wish just for once, that we could all have a get together as a group, and not have someone fighting."

"Like Caleb and Adelle?"

"Not just them. If it's not Caleb and Adelle, it's Caleb and Joseph. Or Joshua and Adelle. Caleb and Joshua have gotten at each other before. So have Joshua and I." She sighed. again. "I guess I should give up. They're never going to get along. Why should we attempt it?"

Kaitlin smiled reassuringly at Shannon, "Well you do have something now that you didn't all those times before."

The redhead blinked, "And what's that?"

Kaitlin grinned, "Why, me, of course!"

Both girls started laughing, and Shannon put Phantom of the Opera in the DVD player. Sitting back down, she flopped back with a sigh. She stretched for a second, then hit the 'play' button on her DVD remote.

"I love this movie," She commented as the opening started to play. "It always calms me down for some reason. Have you ever seen it?"

The brunette nodded. "A friend back in Las Vegas drug me to the movie theaters. I've seen it on Broadway too."

Shannon's face fell again, slightly. "I want to see it on stage, so badly. I don't need the London cast, or anything. I just want to see the original. Joshua's always promised he would take me. He tells me he's saving the money, and he'll take me there for our honeymoon." She blushed slightly. "That's far away though."

Kaitlin raised an eyebrow. "Do you think you'll marry him?"

"I know I will."

"Has he asked you yet?"

"Not yet, but I think he will in a month or two."

Kaitlin blinked at the surety in Shannon's voice, "How do you know that for sure?"

Shannon blushed, "Well..."

Kaitlin blinked again, then shook her head. "Never mind, I don't think I want to know. So... why exactly do Adelle and Caleb fight like that, anyway? And why did she get so upset earlier?" When Shannon didn't answer at first, Kaitlin sighed, "You don't have to tell me if it's none of my business."

"Adelle... is complex. Her parents split when she was young, and her mother just... went to pieces. An alcoholic from what I know. I'm not allowed to stay the night over at her house often... not when her mother is there, at least. Adelle spends most of her time, and nights, with Joseph. They don't have a... sexual relationship... it's more that Adelle just needs a place to go."

They were quiet for a while after that, watching the movie in silence. When the movie ended Kaitlin noticed Shannon was crying. Shannon saw Kaitlin's concern and smiled through her tears. "I'm alright. This movie just... makes me cry for some reason."

"I... can see that. Why do you watch it if it upsets you?"

Shannon blinked, "Because I love it!... Wanna watch Moulin Rouge?"

"You have a taste for angst movies, don't you?"

Shannon smiled, "Sad movies make me happy!"

"You're twisted, Shannon."

The red-head beamed at her. "I know. I know. That's why you love me.

Shannon's church had been different from most that Kaitlin had ever been too. It wasn't full of stuck-up, Holy-Rollers such as some of the churches Kaitlin had attended in Las Vegas with her father. They were all hypocrites, Kaitlin decided. Her father practiced two different ways. In church, he was kind, free with his money, and religious. He sang the songs, bowed his head in prayer, thanked the preacher. But outside of the building, he cursed, he drank, he had affairs... It was the type of view Kaitlin had always had of churches.

Shannon's was different. It was full of small, down to earth people who instantly greeted her with welcome the moment she stepped through the door. The preacher didn't take forever and a day, the singing was good, and Kaitlin actually felt in a good mood as she left the building. What was even more surprising was the fact that Joshua showed up a few minutes into the service. He took a seat next to his girlfriend, and Shannon's eyes looked as though they were about to pop away from her skull.

Kaitlin's phone went off as soon as she walked in the door, and she assumed it was Caleb. He had told her he would call the next morning after church, and inform her of what happened after Joshua took him home. She hit the talk button. "So, you made it home alive?"

"... I always do."

The voice at the other end of the line was most certainly not Caleb Motomiya's.

"Dad!" She sputtered, almost dropping the phone, and backing up against her bed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm giving a call to my youngest daughter. Do you have a problem with that, Kaitlin Rose?"

Kaitlin groaned. Her father had always insisted that when speaking formally, she was to be addressed by her first and middle names. It was a practice that continually drove Kaitlin crazy. "Sorry. I thought you were someone else when I picked up the phone."

"That was apparent." The distaste in her father's voice was evident. He continued. "I have been giving thought so a matter, Kaitlin. I think you should come live with me."