Normans return to Kate was as I presumed, a deflating balloon. It was him sashaying past her to the kitchen, whilst she was down on her knees with arms spread desperate to cuddle him.

Kate slumped down disappointedly and watched as he walked to his food bowl, as if he had never left, and began to eat his second lunch.

"Well. I guess he's happy to be back" she muttered.

"Where's my hug" I ask her.

She smiles and jumps to her feet, and throws herself at me, one arm extending to encase Veda too.

As Kate releases us she looks us over with a beaming smile "oh you guys don't half look alike... it's striking how much"

"Snow White got the lions share though" Veda comments "I'm more like my father"

"Snow White" Kate asks me.

I roll my eyes and gesture toward the teenager who had thrown herself onto Kates couch. "She's a little mean"

Kate takes my arm and drags me into the kitchen "So she's more like Moira than expected"

"Apparently I've just discovered her long lost soul eater"

"I'm not sure I can handle two of them" Kate says, taking two mugs and filling them with steaming water.

"Veda do you want tea... or water or something" Kate calls over the living area.

"Sis has been giving me nothing but full fat soda... I'm Dying for something civilised and lovingly prepared"

I look to her open mouthed "Um excuse me... I bought bottle water for you at every stop"

"And a full fat coke at every meal time" she added.

"There's nothing wrong with that..." I lie. I mean it was full of sugar... but I was keeping this kid alive wasn't I?! Like I said, I didn't like being responsible for little people or little things... anything reliant on me and my responsibility.

I had kept both of my charges alive and fed, and as I overhead Allie say once when Bastion wouldn't eat anything but chicken nuggets "a fed child is best" and I wasn't sure if it helped soothe Harpers worries, but it definitely did mine.

Kate placed tea bags in the steaming water and swirled them around with a little silver spoon. "So, you didn't end up leaving her with Moira then" Kate said quietly.

I leant against the kitchen counter "no, she wasn't home. My mother decided to take a summer trip for the first time in her life"

Kate stops stirring the tea and pours in a little milk. "She went home to Transylvania did she"

The smile that lifts my cheeks is one that Kate could always pull out of me. "I missed you" I confess.

She looks up at me with her big green eyes and smiles back chuffed "Aww Mills that's made my day. Clearly Norman didn't, so I'm glad someone did"

I can't help but look beyond Kate to the refrigerator behind her, there on the door is magnet with Wrens favourite takeaway menu stuck under it. The magnet is a Christmas tree, with a farms logo beneath it. For our first Christmas together she had taken me to a Christmas tree farm with her family, so they could pick out a tree. It was a family tradition that I adored being part of, if only once... because Christmas had not been such a big deal with Moira Dawson as a mother.

Christmas with the Nomikos had been... absolute chaos... but by far the best Christmas I've ever spent.

Wren. The thought of her stirs a melancholy, that I am not with her, and where my heart swears I should be.

Kate clocks my gloomy expression and looks over her shoulder to see what I'm looking at. She nods to herself knowingly and walks over to the refrigerator to put the milk away. When she turns back she shakes her head at me, her blonde bob barely moving against her cheeks. "Why are you guys on a break... it makes no sense. You are no doubt both pining over each other"

I snap out of my thoughts and focus back to Kate "because we both had some heavy stuff to work out, and staying together at that time was dragging us both down. I didn't want Wren to end up resenting me, and I didn't want to resent her either. It was a case of-"

"Right person, Wrong time" Kate finished.

"Exactly. I love her... I just felt like I wasn't what she needed... not yet. Now I have to wait... and see if she will ever understand and open that door back up. I've text her so much with no reply that I know I have to leave it now. She's clearly not ready, and until she is... I won't push it. I just want her happiness, that's all"

"Well... if it's meant to be it will be" Kate reminds me warmly. "And until then... what are we gonna do with Veda... you going to give her your room... and sleep on the couch"

Shoot, I hadn't told Kate about my moving officially away to Portland. I was a little useless this summer.

I wrinkle up my nose which Kate observes and sighs at. "You're leaving again aren't you" she deflated.

I lift my tea and sip it slow. "Portland... that job I told you about that Wren helped me apply for. I just secured a place to stay, and I can take Veda with me too. I would try and arrange Vedas future with Moira but I can't contact her. Even her phone is ringing out"

"I hear Transylvania has sketchy reception" Kate replies.

"Until I can talk with her...I have to take Veda with me. I was hoping my mother would sort out the legalities and get her enrolled for the new term, but if I can't reach her in time I'm going to have to go ahead and enrol her in Laurelwood"

"I can't get over it... you left here with Norman and came back with a teenager" Kate laughed "it's quite funny really"she mused.

"It's not" I say nudging her sideways.

We both stood, tea nursed in our hands as we watched Veda and Norman on the couch. Veda was running a piece of string along the arm and he was lunging it at with wide eyes and a flicking tail.

"You have been allergic to being responsible your entire life, for even yourself at points... and yet here you are. Even in high school you burst the bag of flour you were meant to have as a child with Bobby James for three days. You remember that" she asks me.

"Yes, I failed the class and ate my child as pancakes" I remember fondly. "It meant I didn't have to devote three days being a Mom to a bag of flour with a creepy face painted on it, nor extra time with Bobby blow job"

Kate burst out laughing and Veda looked up "where's my tea" she asked.

Kate took her mug and walked it over. Veda thanked her and took a sip before turning on the TV and finding something to watch.

Kate walked back over "why was he called Bobby blow job... I can't even remember"

"Because he never went further with a girl than a blow job... it's no surprise to learn he's into dudes now"

"Interesting" Kate mused.

"And it's not that I'm allergic to responsibility... it's just that my mother was wound so tightly at all times... that I was desperate to be anything but her. I think my lack of maternal instinct is more to do with her, and less to do with me. I'll unpick that in therapy. I start next week"

Kate places her tea down excitedly and hugs me with her arms flung around my neck tightly "this is exactly what you need. I'm proud of you"

"Thanks Kit Kat"

"So, next stop Portland then..." she asks pulling back and holding tightly onto my shoulders.

"To Portland" I confirm.

"Staying where" she asked curiously.

I could now die of embarrassment for what I was about to tell her "To stay with Wrens grandparents... and yes I know how messed up that sounds. Let me make this worse...and don't say a word Kate" I threaten, holding one finger up over her lips. I pause and cringe inside to add "I'm also going to work at her old high school...where it turns out both of her sisters will be attending"

Kates eyes widened and she batted my finger away from her lips "Holy shitting fuck flying balls"

Veda appeared beside us "she's whipped ain't she Kate..."

Kate shook her head at me "Millicent Dawson... I do believe you are"

"Bite me" I said to them both.