When She Cries

"Woman! Would you sit down already?!" Alley huffed, becoming even more impatient. She should know by now that I was doing this on purpose just to annoy her. It was pretty entertaining, for me at least...

"Just a second," I said, grabbing another bowl of chips.

"You said that ten minutes ago!" Frank was now becoming impatient also. The only difference was that he acted on it, while Alley just glared at me. She usually got payback later when I was least expecting it...

"I'm coming, hold on, gees," I rolled my eyes, walking over to the couch.

"That's what she said..." Everyone busted up laughing, as Dad sent a glare to Johnny. "What?! We were all thinking it, I just said it!" He smirked, wrapping his arms around Lacey and pulling her into his lap. Human shield, of course.

It's been a few months since the Vegas trip, and things were calming down. Dad and I talked and figured things out the best we could. We promised to not keep anything more from each other, and to sit down to talk at least once a week. That once a week was usually Friday or on the weekend. No matter what plans he had, he would make sure we talked, even if it was over the phone. I had to admit, he was taking over his fatherly role pretty well.

With the new addition to the family, he was on his best behavior. That's right, little Kenny Sanders was born just a few weeks ago. Where the hell they came up with the name Kenny, I don't know, but I didn't say anything to them. I just thought it was kind of out of the blue... He was a really cute baby, though, and he already has us wrapped around his tiny finger.

Uncle Jimmy is still very protective of me and still keeps a very watchful eye on me, but knows how to just lay back and have fun. He's a huge goof ball at heart, but puts up his guard when we're out at one of the shows or something. When Dad's busy with something, he usually tells me to just spend the night with him and Lee; that's when it usually turns into a huge slumber party.

Brian and I are getting closer than ever. I always tell him he's the coolest uncle out of the group so his ego can inflate a little bit more. It's hilarious to watch him when I say that because he loves rubbing it into everyone's face. When he thinks they're laughing at Uncle Jimmy pouting, he doesn't know that I'm in the background denying the whole thing.

Johnny... Well, Johnny's just Johnny. He's always been there for me when I need him and makes sure that I'm doing okay. He's always kind of just been the mediator of the family. I love him to death, just like the rest of them, though. He might be a small guy, but he has a really big heart.

Now, for Zacky. We've had rocky points, but he was still the first one I bonded with when I got here. That was never going to go away, no matter what happened between us. It took me a while to bring my guard down around him again, but we finally worked things out. We're back to the same where I can go to him for anything. He's usually the one I go to when I feel like talking about my past. I know Dad feels left out when I do this, but he also knows I'll come to him and talk to him about it also when I feel comfortable with it.

The girls over all have been on my side since day one; it seems like we've kind of formed an alliance. When they thought Dad or one of the guys was being too hard on me, they would let them know. No, they would make sure I wasn't in the wrong before they started hell, or they would do it just for fun. They were all in some way a part of a mom to me. If I couldn't go to one about something, I could go to another one. That's what was so great about my family...

Alley is still a ball of energy, she keeps me on my toes, that's for sure; quite literally, actually. She was the final push to get me back into dancing, and I was glad she did. I can't exactly do what I was able to do before, because I was used to dancing with 'broken' feet. Now that they were fixed, it took a lot of getting used to. Of course, any professional dancer would tell you that I would never dance again, but then they would have my family telling them that if I could dance with broken feet, I could dance now after having my surgery.

You could say, in a way, I was at peace in life now. I felt like I had a reason to live again, and that I didn't have this black cloud hanging over me, constantly following me. No, no life was perfect, but mine wasn't not worth living for. I had a family that loved me, a best friend that I could always count on, friends of the family that were just like family to me and took care of me, plus things were evening out. It was a pretty damn good life for me, more than I could ever ask for.

"Would you sit your ass down so we could watch this damn music video?" Brian huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't see what you guys are so excited about," I said, shaking my head.

"You're dancing in our music video. What the hell isn't there to be excited about?" Frank said, looking at me like I was on crack.

Yes... They had talked me into dancing for their music video Helena. I was very shocked, but there was no way Frank was going to let me say no. In fact, he even went to the lengths of kidnapping me, and taking me to where they were filming the video, before he even clued me in on what was going. Nice going, Frank...

Just as I was about to sit down, the doorbell rang. Everyone groaned and cursed as I just laughed. "You're doing this on purpose!" Uncle Jimmy said, pointing an accusing finger at me.

"Actually, I have no idea who's at the door. But we shouldn't keep them waiting!" I cackled as I ran out of the room, escaping all of their reaching hands.

When I opened the door, my blood ran cold. "Hello, Elle," Mike smirked.

That was the only thing I heard, before the sound of a gun being fired.