Before she knew it, she found herself driving to Jace's childhood home the day before Christmas. He had grown up upstate New York, like Carleigh had. That was how he'd known about the waterfall trail, which made sense in hindsight.

Kasey couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Her leg was shaking the entire drive. She wished she could have more time to compose herself before seeing Moira and Andrew again.

Jordan's family wasn't the problem- Kasey liked them, and they'd liked her when they came to the show. 

It was more Jace's parents that Kasey was concerned about it. Andrew hadn't even attempted to hide his dislike of Kasey the last time they saw each other. Who knew what he would have to say now? 

Too soon, Jace was pulling into the long driveway. The house was bigger than Kasey expected it to be. Carleigh's house wasn't as large, and Kasey's childhood home looked more like a tiny house you would see on a Christmas card.

They both unloaded their bags. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Kasey to stay over for more than just a day, but somehow, Jace had done it. Kasey still wasn't quite sure how she ended up here. 

She grabbed her duffel bag and the large bag of gifts that she'd brought and then followed Jace to the front porch, where Jace rang the doorbell.

Kasey could hear footsteps running to the door, and then Ally opened it, beaming. "Uncle Jace!" the girl squealed. "Daddy, Uncle Jace is here!"

Jordan appeared not ten seconds later with a woman. "Hey, Jace," he greeted. "And Kasey, it's nice to see you, too."

"Hi," Kasey said bashfully, giving a small wave. 

"Well, come in," Jordan said after a pause. "Mom's just making lunch, and dad's watching a movie, I think."

Jace nodded for Kasey to step inside.

"Kasey, this is my wife, Rachel. Rachel, this is Jace's girlfriend, Kasey Winslow."

"It's nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you," Kasey said, shaking Rachel's hand. 

"Likewise, it's good to finally put a face to the name. Ally has been talking about you constantly since she saw Hamilton." 

Immediately, as she walked inside, she was hit with the scent of Christmas trees and fire. The house was warm. The entryway was large and imposing, but as she followed Jace to the back half of the house, it slowly got less intimidating.

The kitchen was homier than the front hall had been, that was for certain. On the refrigerator hung pictures of Jace, and Jordan with his family. There was even a faded, yellowed picture drawn by Jace, when he was a little kid. 

"Jace!" Moira exclaimed, setting down the bowl of pretzels she'd been holding. She embraced her son tightly, and then turned to Kasey. "I'm glad you could make it, both of you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds," Kasey said.

"Oh, please, Mrs. Reynolds is my mother," Moira scolded. "Why don't you show Kasey her room, Ally?"

Ally beamed, and pulled Kasey back around to the front hall and up the winding staircase. After walking past four doors, she finally ducked inside one of the last rooms on the left. 

"This is the guest room," Ally informed Kasey. The room was mostly bare, except for a wooden side table and set of drawers. The walls were painted a pale green color, and a matching blue and green pastel quilt was spread out on the bed. 

"Where am I sleeping?" Jace demanded, ruffling Ally's hair. "I thought she'd put Kasey with me."

"She didn't think there would be enough room in your bed, silly," Ally giggled. "It's even smaller than the one I have at home."

"Don't bash the twin size bed, Ally," Jace groaned. "That bed was my childhood."

"It's weird," Ally protested.

"I have nothing against him having a twin bed," Kasey laughed. "Maybe it'll be a good thing. It'll keep me from stealing all of the gifts that he gets."

"That's what grandma said," Ally said, nodding. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Kasey quickly unpacked the few outfits that she'd brought. Jace told her that they were staying three days, roughly. Afterwards, she headed downstairs.

"Lunch is ready," Moira announced not five minutes after Kasey sat down at the table, watching Ally fold an origami flower. 

Kasey ended up sitting between Jace and his father. 

Lunch was simple- sandwiches, with pretzels and grapes. Kasey was relieved it wasn't something too fancy. Elaborate meals always made her nervous that she would screw up. 

"So, Kasey, where exactly are you from?" Moira asked, as she spread mustard on her bread. 

"Well, I was born in Canterbury," Kasey said, quickly swallowing the water she'd just taken a sip of. "I don't know if you've heard of it."

"No, I haven't. What's it like?"

"It's a smaller city, with most of the old architecture in place. It's between a town and a city, if that makes sense, I suppose," Kasey replied, trying to sum up Canterbury in non-complex terms.

"Is your accent what's commonplace in the UK?"

Kasey hesitated for a moment. "Generally it depends what region of the UK you're from, all the areas sound very different depending on where you go. However, when you're admitted into drama school, they teach you a different accent. It's basically the internationally accepted accent, called Received Pronunciation."

"I actually didn't know that," Jace commented.

"It's not really a thing that British people talk about, but when you work internationally, as an arts performer, you are generally taught RP when you get into university," Kasey explained. 

"Does that mean that you use different accents when you're working?" Ally asked, wide-eyed.

"No," Kasey laughed. "I started to lose my Canterbury accent before university, just because I was moving around so much. When you don't have people that have the same accent as you, it's harder to keep it."

"Do you think you're losing your British accent altogether?" 

"No, but it's definitely something I make an effort to keep. It's important to me, if that makes any sense," Kasey said. 

"Perfect sense," Jace reassured her, smiling.

Andrew just cast Kasey a dirty look. 

It was going to be a long few days.