"Did you find her?" Heather asked eagerly. She and the Marshall's (including Lily), had agreed to meet at the small local diner. Again, it was a very old fashioned place, owned by the same people who owned The Peppermint Twist and consisted of the same theme. It's main meal was burgers and a jukebox that played Elvis was in the corner. The floors were checkered and coke posters over flowed the walls. The group was comfortably seated at a booth, sipping water as they waited for their burgers.

"Not yet, but we're getting on the trail, have you sent the letter?" Jeff replied.

Heather nodded.

"Good," Lily grinned, pulling out some papers, "We think one these might lead to her."

Heather glanced at the foster homes crowding the lists.

"Do you have any idea where she might be?" Andrew asked.

She shook her head, "If I knew, I'd tell you."

"Aren't they supposed to keep siblings together?"

"Aparently not." Craig stirred his water with his straw.

Andrew swallowed, hesitated, then countinued, "What happend?" He asked.

Heather bit her lip, "Are you sure you wanna know?"

The four of them nodded.

"Can I trust you?"

Lily reached across the table and laid her hand over Heather's, "Of course."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My mother..." She closed her eyes and breathed in, fighting back tears. Lily quietly reassured her and urged her to continue, "My mother died three years ago. My little brother was two. She had been sick off and on, under went test after test, but no one could figure out what was wrong. Eventually, they decided it was some sort of form of cancer. Soon, she became constantly sick. She died in the hospital a year later."

The brothers exchanged glances.

"Your dad?" Jeff whispered.

Heather breathed deeply. Don't cry, Her mind whispered, We're concrete, remember?

"My dad," She began, "...His heart broke when my mom died, but he still did his best. He tried so hard, then one day, a year after mom, there was a terrible accident. Luke, Jane, Ben and I were all in the car, but we all came out fine....Dad...I'm sorry," she wiped her eyes, "I really am trying," she looked up at them, her eyes were glistening and red, but only one tear was visible on her cheek, "It's just...I-"

Lily interrupted, "It's alright, maybe we should take a break from the story." She glanced at her brothers, who nodded, "Why don't you and I go into the girls' room and clean you up?"

Heather stood up and followed her, "Thank you."

Lily smiled sadly at her, "No problem."

When they got into the girls' room, Lily dampened a paper towel and handed it to Heather.

"Here," She said.

Heather quietly thanked her, then dragged the towel across her reddening face. Still, only one tear had managed an escape.

"You okay?"

Heather nodded, "Come on, our burgers should be ready." She grabbed Lily's arm and dragged her out of the bathroom, relieved it was over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The brothers decided that they should enjoy their meal on a lighter note, for Heather's sake. So they started talking about what ever was going on with the Boy Scouts. It didn't particularly interest Heather, but it got her mind off of things. Everything was going splendid, until Craig glanced down at his watch.

"Uh...guys," He showed his watch to his brothers.

"Oh crud!" Andrew said.

"Mom said, 3:30, didn't she?" Jeff asked, the picture of worry.

"Yes," Was Craig's short answer.

"What time is it now?" Lily's voice shook a little.

"3:50."

"So, you're twenty minutes late for something, what's the big deal?" Heather inquired.

The brothers stood up and started grabbing their things.

"Uh, we have to go Heather, common Lily," Andrew said, reaching to pull his sister.

"Do you need a ride back home?" Jeff asked, his voice quick and panicky.

Heather shook her head, "I can walk home, no biggie." If it wasn't for the fact they were in a real rush, she probably would've asked for a ride, but something strange was going on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her walk home was anything but fun. She had dragged her feet after the siblings had sprinted off in the direction of their house. It wasn't even a "Race you" kind of run, it was a full blown "We're dead" kind of run. What could they possibly be missing that was worth sprinting to get home? Maybe Great Aunt Matilda was due to arrive at their humble home, at 3:30 on the dot, but 20 minutes never killed anybody. This was pretty unlikely, considering Heather was nearly positive they didn't have a Great Aunt Matilda. A thought had occurred to that she might follow them, see if she could find out why they were in such a rush, but trusting them interfered as she slowly inched home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The children burst through the door and came to a screeching halt. There mother was on the couch, crying.

"Mom!" Lily cried as she rushed towards her.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Mrs. Marshall exclaimed as she returned her daughter's hug.

"Why are you crying, Mom?" Andrew asked, worried.

"Is he back yet, are we really that late?" Jeff asked.

"No, kiddos, you're alright," She explained, "I was crying because I was worried you wouldn't be home in time. Lucky for us, your father's late too."

"You'd better start dinner soon," Andrew advised, "that way it's ready for him and he won't..."

Mrs. Marshall held up her hand, "Yes, I know. Lily would you like to help me?"

Lily nodded and headed into the kitchen.

Jeff breathed in deeply, but exhaled a little shakily. They let the feeling of safety sink in before it was brutally ripped away from them again.

Sure enough, a few minutes later the door crashed open. Lily and Mrs. Marshall winced.

Keeping her head down, Lily laid her father's plate on the table.

"Dad," She said quietly.

"What?" He growled.

She bit her lip and kept her eyes down, "Your...Your food is re-ready."

He sat down at the table and noticed a tear splash onto the corner of his plate.

"Aw, now don't cry darling," Lily looked up to see a sweet, comforting smile. But his face quickly change, "Or I'll have to give you something to cry about." He raised his hand threateningly and Lily cautiously backed away, wiping her tears. She pulled the end of her sleeve down over her arm again. Mr. Marshall noticed this and seemed satisfied. "Good girl," He grinned. He uncapped a bottle of beer and began to drink.

By now, Lily was backed up against her brothers. Jeff wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders.

"Oh, don't look so serious!" Mr. Marshall laughed, "I'm not going to hurt anyone." A wicked grin came to his face. No one was buying it, "At least, not now."

No one moved.

"Can't a man eat his dinner in peace? MOVE!" He barked.

All four kids ran up the stairs as quickly as they could and hid...again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I found her!" Lily exclaimed. They had been searching for days. Her brothers rushed over. She was pointing at a profile on Facebook, "She's goes by Jane M.L. on Facebook, that's why we couldn't find her, we were searching for Jane Letty. I guess her middle name starts with an M."

"Now what?" Andrew asked, "we still don't know where she lives."

"We send her a message," Lily smiled triumphantly.

"Oh yes, because people randomly give out personal information to strangers over the internet who claim to know their long-lost sister. Brilliant." He threw his arms in the air.

Lily shot him a disapproving look. His sarcasm was not appreciated. "You're not doing much to help, got any better ideas?"

Craig interrupted before a fight broke out, "Look," he said, "send her a message and explain who we are. Tell her that we can do anything she wants us to do to prove we are who we say we are. Give her the phone number, too. It's our best shot."

Lily nodded and began her message.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heather tried to contain her excitement. She and the boys were at the ranch, sitting on a fence.

"Has she replied?" She asked, beaming with anticipation.

"Not that we know of, it was only this morning." Jeff replied.

"Oh! I can't thank you enough, you've no idea how much this means to me." She practically threw herself into him, which caused some difficulty with balance, considering they were on a fence.

Jeff laughed, "You're welcome, anything for our 'buddy'."

She smiled.

Andrew smirked, "Yeah, anything for you, squirt."

Heather kicked his leg and giggled when he jerked back.

"Hey! That is considered rude!"

"So is name calling," Craig pointed out.

"But that was different!" Andrew insisted.

Heather tried not to smile, "No, it wasn't, don't kid yourself."

"Children, children, stop your bickering," Jeff chastised.

Craig shoved him in the shoulders pushing him off the fence.

"Ow." He said from the ground.

Heather laughed. All the while hiding the fact that she was a smidgen away from crying for joy.