"Rhys, Maci is safe. She apparently stayed with a friend near Pasadena yesterday and should be with your mom real soon. I think she was enjoying playing with your heads for a little while, before deciding to surface again after her little walk out from the rehab."

Closing my eyes with sheer relief, I talk with the relief being at the forefront of a very long sigh. "Thanks, Will...thanks for everything." Opening my eyes and promptly ending the call, I seek out Clara with waves of relief still rushing right through me. "Mace has been found. She's okay."

Clara smiles, broad and brightly. "That's great news! Where is she now?"

Knowing that I've neglected Clara far more than I ever intended to during the preoccupied journey back home, I grab her hand and kiss it with tender guilt. "She's on her way to moms." Sidling up closer against her seated body, I just smile. I smile because Clara has put up with all of my quietness and my emotional distance, and I smile because she's now smiling at me. "Thank you."

Clara blinks, still smiling. "What for?"

"For being here." I want to also say 'for putting up with me' and for 'remaining close', even when I've struggled to do the same. But instead, I keep our hands entwined and my smile tattooed on my indebted lips.

As Slam continues to drive us through the San Fernando Valley; en route to my moms place in Porter Ranch, I watch Clara taking in all of the suburban scenery that's breathtakingly bound together with the Transverse Ranges mountains. With her hand in mine, she quietly absorbs the place that I hope she will one day eventually call home.

I remain silent beside her, just because I'm beyond exhausted and just want to peacefully enjoy the quiet solace I have with merely holding Clara's hand.

As the exhaustion and total relief settles itself down, Clara soon turns to me, looking a little awkward. "Maybe I should just wait in the car when you get to your mums?"

Surprised and more than a little confused, I express that right away. "Why?"

"I've never met your family before, Rhys...it's hardly the best time for me to be introduced to them, is it?" She's calm but obviously beginning to feel totally overwhelmed by the prospect of having to meet my family. And I get that, I really do, but I need Clara with me. I need her to navigate me through all the emotional shit that I'm just about to step right into. That's when the guilt hits me like a freight train. I've been distant and detached, and my actions have now made Clara feel like she is in the way.

I have to rectify that.

I have to rectify that, right now!

"Clara, I want you there with me. You've quickly become an important element in my life. Without you in it, things with Maci would have been much harder. Just having you by my side, helps." Maybe I should have told her this earlier, but I'm wholeheartedly telling her it now. Lifting her chin slightly, with the tips of my affectionate fingers, I look deeply into her worried teal eyes. "You make all of this easier, so I want you with me, okay?"

Nodding with a mildly given smile, Clara agrees. "Okay." Then her eyes and her slight smile slide away from me, returning their attention back to the comfort of the passing by scenic views.

I know I am asking a lot of my girl. Not even I can be sure of what we'll be walking into, so to expect Clara to happily want to do it, is a really big ask. And maybe that is wrong of me to ask her to do it? Maybe it is wrong to ask it of her, when I know she will want to do anything to help me. Maybe I'm taking advantage of what Clara feels for me, in order to bolster my ego through a really difficult situation?

But all that I have asked of her, has only been asked with complete honesty.

I trust Clara.

I value Clara.

Although being guilty of often shutting myself off when things get too hard to talk about, I do need Clara. I need her more than she's ever likely to know.

**

When we pull up onto the drive of Mom and Don's house, I quickly get out of the vehicle, just wanting to get this all over and done with as soon as possible. Protectively, I wrap my arm tightly around Clara's waist, wanting to silently assure her that together we will get through this. With determined will, we stroll towards the cherry wood front door. Ringing the bell, we wait, nervously smiling at one another before the door finally opens. When it does, my jaded mother is there to greet us with a kind and welcoming expression.

"Mom, I want you to meet Clara." I know my girl is anxious about meeting my family, so I make her my very first priority. Maci will be the centre of many conversations, I am sure...so for now, Clara comes first.

As worn out as she looks, Mom is warmly hospitable. "Nice to meet you, Clara."

Taking my moms hand, my girl is keen to sweetly respond. "You too, Mrs—" she suddenly looks embarrassed, dragging her eyes away from my mom, to me, then coyly back to my mom because she's hit an informational snag regarding what to address my mother as.

"It's Mrs Rivers, but please call me Carol." Mom is just as keen to free Clara from that informational snag, doing it with a warm little laugh.

"It's lovely to meet you, Carol." Instantly, the embarrassment and the coyness simply falls away from my girl.

Now that's thankfully out of the way, I move in to say a sonly 'hello' to my mom; hugging her tightly. "Is she here?" I ask, still keeping my mom in my arms.

Nodding, mom wearily answers. "She's just gone for a shower." I can see it in my moms dull eyes that she wants to say so much more, but is just too drained to do so.

"Is she okay?" I enquire, finally letting go of my weak and worn mother. "Has she used?"

"I'm not sure, Rhys."

Anger catapults itself within me. "If she has, Mom...I swear I'll—"

I'm just about ready to start rolling heads, but mom stops me from taking another single step. "Please don't, Rhys. Your sister is very fragile at the moment. We all now have to think of the life that she's carrying around inside of her. Maybe this baby is a blessing? Maybe it's just what Maci needs to turn her life around?" Dull yet there, hope forces my moms eyes to optimistically widen.

That's when Don decides to dampen down all of his wife's hopes as he walks towards us with heavy feet and smug strides. "Let's not run before we can walk, huh Carol? I for one, certainly don't see how Maci being pregnant is a good thing." It's rare that I agree with Don about anything, but on this occasion, I do. Saying nothing to him at this point, he looks at Clara with a glimmer of arrogant interest, then slides his eyes firmly onto mine. "You made it, then?" The warm welcome has most certainly now gone, Don has made damn sure of that.

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he has already irked me, I just give him a very blunt and tepid reception. "Don."

Equally as blunt and as tepid, Don is now fixed on Clara. "So who do we have here, then?" Still, no warmth being carried along with his voice and still no damn smile to relax my girl with.

Lifting my chin high and defensively puffing out my pride-filled chest, I strongly announce. "This is my girlfriend, Clara."

As intimidated as I know Clara now is, she still steps forward to meet my stepfather halfway for a courteous hand shake. "Nice to meet you, Don."

Holding her hand, he gruffly remarks. "Girlfriend, huh?" As Clara nods and becomes more awkward by the second, Don carries on with his gruff observations. "And you're British, right?" Still holding onto Clara's limp and uncomfortable hand, he then sarcastically side-smirks in my direction. "Maybe it's the accent that's keeping this one interested, then?" Only after his chastising of me, does he finally let go of Clara's hand.

Mom is becoming just as uncomfortable with us having to share the same breathing space, so tries to smooth things over with an overly nervous little smile. "Stop winding him up, Don! We don't usually see any of Rhys's lady friends, so we are pleased to have you here, Clara."

But Don is ignoring mom. "Lady friends? Is that what we call them now?"

The heat of dismay starts flooding my veins, so I slip a protective arm around Clara in the hope that her being close will stop me from knocking Don down onto his pathetic and bullish backside. "Because Clara is so important to me, I wanted her to see for herself just what a dick you really are."

Don jumps forward, his dickish pride suddenly dented.

Pushing Clara safely behind me, I get right up into Don's face. He's a big guy, but he doesn't intimidate me. Never has. Never will.

If he thinks that I'm going to take his sarcastic shit today, he's got another thing coming. I'll push him and his shit right down into this floor.

From the other side of the living room, an amused cackle cringingly echoes across the temper-filled space. "Well isn't this just a peachy little family reunion?" Maci is enjoying the furious floor show, her gaunt face is twisted up with a delighted sneer. "What? Not even a hug for your big sis?" Her sisterly eyes used to be a kind and bright shade of green, but now, they're just like stagnant cesspools. "To what do I owe the honour?" Her lifeless spheres bore deep into only me as she weakly walks nearer, demanding some kind of a reaction.

Bored with her games already, my voice is lacquered with fatigue and disinterest. "You know why I'm here, Mace." Now, I look at her seriously hard. "Where did you go when you left the rehab?"

Now in front of me with her emaciated frame, she eyes me with concealed abhorrence. "You look well." She quietly states with lips all cracked and sore.

This is why I hate being this close to my sister. To see her like this, leaves me feeling a mixture of many emotions—disgust, pity, helplessness, devastation, guilt, fear, disappointment, resistance—I strongly feel them all. Holding my chin stubbornly high, I push down all that I am currently feeling. "I wish I could say the same about you." Then my eyes look away from Maci. They have to. Her protruding bones covered by unwell skin is just too hard to look at for any longer.

"Always the charmer." She snidely jeers as her eyes veer over to Clara. "Who's this?"

With the same pride and protection that I'd just thrown at Don, I am quick to fill Maci in. "That's Clara, my girlfriend."

Laughing and now thoroughly enjoying looking my way, she soon asks with a disbelieving drop to her voice. "Your girlfriend?"

"Yes, my girlfriend." Ordinarily, it feels beyond good to say that...but here and now..it sounds suffocated by deriding comments and scathing sarcasm.

With a sway of her malnourished hips, Maci moves to be closer to Clara, just so she can get a judgemental eyeful of my girl. "You must give great head, Clara...we don't usually meet any of Rhys's conquests."

That's it! I've heard enough of her shitty spite! "That's enough, Maci." My warning is loud; loud and controlled.

Still, Maci's eyes don't deviate away from Clara. "Mmm...loyal too!"

Pulling Clara tightly against me, more of my protectiveness towards her pours out from my mouth. "Ignore her. She's just being her usual and incredibly immature self." Giving Clara's waist a small and tender squeeze, I then reassure her with one of my loving smiles. My girl doesn't deserve any of this. I seem to have dropped her right into a family war zone.

To my surprise, Clara is gracious with just how resilient she can be. "It's fine, no harm done." She calmly says, looking right at my sister as she does.

"Damn! You're British! Then you must give great British head!" Persistent with her pettiness, Maci is laughing in an over the top way.

I am close to wringing that scrawny neck of hers, I really am. "I mean it, Maci...stop it!"

"Or you'll what? Put me back into another rehab?" The laughing has stopped. Now, there's only pure and manic aggression. Pure and manic aggression that spittles out of her mouth that's laced with the strongest of venom.

Releasing Clara from my hold, I am now just as furious. With two bold paces, I am standing right in front of my sister; glaring down at her addiction infested face. "I put you into rehab because you need it."

Now it's Mom's turn to get involved. "Your brother only does what he does, Maci, because he cares."

The manic cackle returns. "No, mother! He does what he does because he likes to be in control! There's a big difference. He doesn't care about me. He hasn't seen me in nearly seven months. That isn't a brother who cares. That's a brother who just wants to keep me out of the way because he doesn't want his precious Rhys Ryan name to be tarnished by his inconvenient sister. He cares more about his fame than he does about me." Words alone can be cruel, the way in which Maci says them, is even crueler.

With that, Don does what he always does—leaves us to thrash shit out. "I'm going out. Call me when they've gone." He grunts.

Poor mom looks guiltily conflicted—torn between her children and her husband. Quick to kiss his cheek, she calmly tries to be his wife. "I'm sorry, Don. I'll call you when things have quietened down."

"Okay." Don agrees, giving only my mother a fleeting smile before he hurriedly leaves. As the door slamming echoes all around us, the quietness equally surrounds us. The temporary disruption by Don, just kind of pauses everything.

Maci suddenly looks more jaded than ever. With a weak slump down onto the comfy couch, she speaks with the same jadedness. "I'm staying here, Rhys. I'm not going back to rehab. I'm not seeing any more shrinks or therapists. I just want to be here with Mom and have this baby."

Finally, my sister acknowledges the precious life inside of her. Finally, she's talking some sense. "Are you still using, Mace?" I have to ask. I have to know whether Maci is aware of just how much this pregnancy changes her current situation.

Without hesitation, Maci tells me. "No, I'm not."

That's all I wanted to hear.

All I needed to know.

"And you won't, right? It's no longer just you anymore, Mace. You have a baby inside of you. If you want to give yourself and your baby a real chance, you have to stay off the drugs." Sitting down beside her, I'm closer to my sister than I have been for a very long time. "If there's no rehab and no shrinks, I want a doctor coming in to see you daily. That's my one condition, right?"

Emaciated and exhausted, my sister nods with a weak smile pulling up her pale lips. "When did you get to be so damn bossy?"

"Someone has to boss you around, Maci Ryan."

"Clara? Come on over here!" Maci calls out, now wearing a slightly bigger smile. With just a little apprehension, Clara does come over. Once she's within touching distance, I hold out my hand to her. As her fingers envelope themselves around mine, I pull her down into my seated lap, and as I do, my sister starts talking. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, it was totally rude of me." Then Maci does something that surprises us all—she apologetically places her hand on Clara's.

Gracious yet adorably shy, Clara smiles. "There's no need to be sorry."

Happy that she's cleared the air, Maci looks at both myself and Clara with an intrigued grin. "So, you guys...you're serious, then?"

As new as the concept may be, I'm happy for both my sister and my mother to see for themselves just how much Clara means to me. So with a cheeky little kiss on her exquisite neck, I grin. "Yeah, we're serious." That's not only for moms and Maci's benefit, it's for Clara's as well. She more than anyone, needs to understand that I'm completely serious about her. That I'm completely serious about us.

And my girl totally reiterates what I've just said with a content little smile adorning her very lovely lips. "Yes, we are serious."

Grinning still and feeling more relaxed than I have for hours and hours, I kiss Clara's neck again. "I'm so glad you said that, the last fifteen hours haven't exactly been the greatest." In fact, the past fifteen hours have been incredibly testing.

Testing on my brotherly loyalty.

Testing on my relationship with Clara.

Just all out testing and stressful.

Maci seems to be relaxing as well, now pulling a blanket across her painfully thin legs. "How long are you staying for, Clara?" She asks with tired interest.

"I'm flying back to England on Saturday."

Hearing Clara say that, is just like a sucker punch to my stomach. Not wanting her to see the hurt that her words have just so suddenly caused, I slowly help her from off my lap. I'm only just getting over all of Maci's drama, I'm not yet emotionally equipped to deal with Clara leaving at the weekend. I know I'll have to confront it real soon, I just can't confront it today. I can see Maci is needing to rest, so I lean over her and gently kiss her forehead. "Get some sleep, we'll come back tomorrow. You need to rest, you're growing a baby in there."

Maci smiles with a weak little shrug. "It's just a blob, Rhys...I'm only about six weeks pregnant."

Grinning, I annoy her by playfully messing up her slightly damp blonde hair. "You're growing a blob, get some rest." I tell her, trying to persuade my sister in a lighthearted manner that she really needs to start taking care of the tiny little life inside of her.

Looking up at Clara, Maci rolls her eyes. "See? He's so damn bossy!"

For the past ten minutes, I feel like I have been in the company of the sister I used to lovingly know. It's been so long since we've been in a room together, just talking and laughing with each other, that it actually feels like a little part of Maci is slowly returning to both me and my mom. Feeling the way that I do, makes me want to show my mom just how happy I unexpectedly am feeling, so I drape my arm happily across her shoulder with the biggest of sonly smiles. Mom cuddles me back, half smiling/half sighing. I don't think she can even believe how well the coming together of her estranged children has actually gone. Yeah, we have a really long way to go, but today has been a promising start. The damage that exists between myself and Maci, isn't going to be healed overnight. Her addiction isn't going to be healed in just a matter of weeks, either...all of us have huge mountains to climb.

But for now, I'm willing to set aside all of my disappointments and resentments that I have for my sister. Now, I'm ready to try and be her brother again. Maci's body and mind may have been ravaged by the insane amount of drugs she has taken over the years, but I am now wanting to believe that she is willing to fight back. That she's willing to fight for her baby. I know I have sometimes failed her as a brother, but I don't intend to fail as an uncle.

I also don't intend to fail as a boyfriend. Which is why I'm going to take Clara home. To the home that I intend on sharing with her one day. When she agreed to come to LA, I promised her quality time together. Despite the Maci blip, I'm now eager to pick up from where we left Echo Lake. We only have one more week left. A week where I am to try and convince her that LA should be her home.

That I, am her home.