The Sawyer House In Appleby, Lincolnshire

do you even know how hard that is to do ummmm

Yeeees Rachel is implied to be experienced so.

With a crack, Amanda appeared at Sawyer's doorstep. Florence had grown quite a bit in the years and Amanda was starting to lack the strength to hold her for too long. Her arms, still full with baby chub, were wrapped tightly around her mother's neck and her blonde, curly haired head nestled firmly under Amanda's chin. Somehow the little one slept like a rock when they apparated. Amanda had found some good news for Rachel, which she thought Rachel definitely deserved.

Behind her stood Jennifer and Matt. Matt had come, acting as if he was there to entertain Florence while his mother spoke to her friend. In reality, he was hoping to search out and comfort Emily. He honestly was a kind older brother to Florence, and didn't think twice about how he and her lacked any similarities. Trevor's hair had always been in the middle of brown and blonde, so he figured a gene must have just slipped by.

Jennifer on the other hand put two and two together very quickly. She noticed her father 'accidentally' falling asleep on the couch more and more often, and her mother locking herself in her office for 'business calls' even more often. She still loved little Florence and her parents, but her innocent and cheery outlook on life had diminished quite a bit.

Knock knock

Rachel opened the door, and nodded at Amanda nonchalantly. Since Amanda was the only one whom she could call a best friend at the first time, she was the one who wrote to her about what had happened first.

"You brought all the kids." she said, letting them in the house, and going into the kitchen to fix some tea. She could understand why she wanted to bring Florence, but not Matt and Jennifer. In her opinion, that was not appropriate.

Amanda smiled apologetically, sensing some discomfort, and shooed the older kids off. "They kept asking and I final broke, I hope you don't mind too much. But I brought good news!"

Jennifer made her way to the family room, searching for Anthony. "Hey you." She stood in the doorway, uncomfortably playing with a lose thread on her shirt. She had just thrown on a simple gray, sweater-y material crop top and a navy blue and white striped tank top, jeans, and a pair of navy blue flats with bows on the toes. Her hair was styled similar to Amanda's now, her bangs cut to the side and her hanging straight and long a few inches past her shoulders.

Matt just headed back outside. It seemed as though a cat had his tongue, and his heartbeat was a million times louder. He felt like a fool- he took a half hour longer than Jennifer to dress and all he had put on was a tan button down, jeans, and a pair of converse. He took a seat in front of the front door and decided to just wait till his mother finished her visit.

"Well, it's not a problem, as long as we can talk in private. And, what is it?" Rachel said, as she fished around in the cupboard for a tea bag. The kitchen was a mess. It was half cleaned, half messy and chaotic. She was in the middle of cleaning it from top to bottom, when Amanda had called on her.

"I'm sorry it's such a mess... we're trying to clean this place out so we can sell it." she served her a cup of the hot tea.

~

Victor and Anthony were upstairs in their room, trying to clean it out as well. All sorts of junk were littered about, the room being covered in books, school supplies, clothes... Both of them looked up when they saw Jennifer. Victor nodded at her, pushed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose, and went back to work. Anthony managed to say hello to her.

~

"I haven't seen you in a while."

Emily had grown pretty. She had inherited the best features from both her parents-her hair was a pretty strawberry blonde, and she had her father's large brown eyes. Her nose had a saucy tilt to it from her mother, and a wide smile.

Emily sat down beside Matt, and smiled at him. "You look nice."

"I don't mind at all. Trevor's been on such a cleaning rampage it hardly looks like anyone lives in our house... this is a welcome change." Amanda shook her head sadly, but continued in a much more upbeat tone, "But I found an open position at one of my locations on the Isle of Man. We'd be honored to have you on the editing staff."

~

Jennifer frowned, not once did when she was over throughout her childhood did she see the boys cleaning. "Anything I can give a hand with?"

~

The world could have ended right there and then and Matt would have happy. But of course it did not, which he was even happier about.

"Why thank-you, stranger. Suppose I could say the same about you. My mom is uh, in the kitchen with your's." He looked down at his fraying shoelaces. "How are you faring?"

Rachel looked surprised. When Amanda offered to find a position for her, she did not expect to have that something beyond entry level. This was a good fit for her. But, she still looked at Amanda, and quivered slightly.

"Amanda, are you sure this will be alright? I... do not want to trouble you." She passed the milk and sugar to her.

~

Anthony shook his head at her. "Don't trouble yourself." But a minute later, he looked back up at her.

"Wait, if you could help sort our clothes, that would be great..."

Victor rolled his eyes at his brother. "That's the easiest job!"

~

Emily's smile flickered. "You know, I am going to miss him, Matt. I... I should have showed him more love... shouldn't have ignored him, when he did everything for us. But how much does he really love of us if he left us in this position?"

Amanda shook her, adding quite a bit of sugar as she spoke. "Hun, no trouble at all. You qualify for it, and you should see some of the people we're forced to hire. You're one of the few I'd to have."

~

Jennifer shrugged with a laugh, "I'd rather do something minuscule than just watch you guys haul ass. Where should I start?"

~

Matt looked at Emily with sad eyes. "It's not fair to blame yourself. How often were you home? Holidays. Anyone ought to be honored to have such an awesome girl as yourself as their daughter."

He gulped when he realized what just came out of his mouth.

"The Isle Of Man is so far away..." No, Rachel wasn't going to let an issue like that hold her back. There was nothing left here for her or her family. It was time for a change.

"I'll take it! We'll move as soon as we find a place!" Rachel said, finally smiling since the incident.

~

Anthony pointed at Victor's clothes. "You can start with his stuff. If you organize it by dark, lights, and colors we can wash it later."

They were quiet for sometime, before Anthony spoke up, slowly.

"Jenny... things are changing. For all of us." Victor glared at him.

"No shit, Sherlock." he snapped bitterly.

~

Emily laughed a bit. "What happened to you, Matt?! Did you get nicer this past year or something?!"

"Wonderful! I know it's nothing exciting, but I was hoping you'd say yes." Amanda exchanged a wide smile.

~

Jennifer was silent for a minute, tossing a pair of boxers into the colors pile.

"Sometimes the obvious is something that needs to be stated. But... I know. Change never used to be as glum as it is now."

~

"Who knows, my sister probably casted some spell on me in my sleep!" Matt laughed, glad she didn't pick up on any weirdness in his voice.

"Nothing exciting?! I haven't worked in years! This is excellent!" Rachel exclaimed happily. She gazed around the house, beaming. "I finally can't wait to get out of this dump."

~

"This didn't happen when we were growing up." Anthony complained as he unearthed a dusty set of playing cards. He cheered up when he saw them.

"Hey, do you guys want to play cards?" Anthony offered but Victor shook his head.

"We have to get this done, Anthony." Victor was usually no nonsense, but today he was a complete stick in the mud.

~

Emily laughed as well, and she felt much better. "How did you do on your OWLs?"

Amanda sighed dreamily, "You'll have a pretty fresh start, too."

~

Jennifer's eye lit up at the playing cards, childhood memories flooding back. The time she and Anthony got caught screaming 'BS' was the clearest.

The never pair of boxers were thrown into Victor's face. "I'd love to play! A short break never hurt anyone."

~

"Eh, pretty average. Not bad, not spectacular." Matt shrugged. In truth, Amanda had been all over his ass for weeks, sending owl after owl remind him to study. He ended with O's in four of his classes, E's in the rest, minus the A in potions. He swore he'd never pick up a quill again in his life.

Victor looked annoyed, but he threw his books aside and he sat down next to them. Anthony tapped his finger with them, and the cards began to shuffle slowly.

"What do you want to play?" he asked them.

"Not BS." Victor said.

~

"Same here," Emily said more honestly. She mostly got E's and A's, with one O in Astronomy, and one P in Ancient Runes. "I kind of want to be an Astronomer when I grow up... or go into Divination!"

Jennifer shrugged, combing her fingers through her hair. "All I know is BS and Spoons... oh, and Go Fish."

~

"Wow, that sounds like it would be a blast. The stars are so pretty, I can't even imagine getting paid to work with them. I have no clue what I want to do with myself." Matt barely could decide on what to eat for breakfast, let alone what he wanted to do for a living.

"I know, we can teach you how to play poker! It's really easy!" He looked over at Victor excitedly. "Victor, go get the poker chips, and I'll show you to play."

Victor was grumpy as he got up. "I feel like the little brother now." But he went over to their closet and dug out a dusty box of poker chips.

~

"Well, you better think about it now. They make you grow up fast around here." Emily said practically. That was the general attitude of the Sawyer household.

"All I know about poker is you need to have a poker face, but I don't think it'll get me that far." Jennifer smiled, the memory even clearer. "Do you remember that time when we were little, Anthony? Your mom caught us hollering BS and flipped shit?" She smi

~

Matt shook his head, giving her his infamous joker grin. "I dunno, I still feel like I have some kid left in me."

"Yeah, I remember that." Anthony laughed, as he dealt the cards to everyone, and Victor distributed the chips. "She still thinks that game is actually Bible Studying and-"

Victor cut him off. "Your nostalgia is cute and all, but I'm ready to make some extra money." and she threw a Sickle into the pot. Anthony threw a couple of bronze Knuts in beside them.

~

Emily laughed a bit. "I think we all do, except perhaps my dad." Her voice lowered a bit. "Don't tell anyone this-my mum didn't want anyone to read the letter my dad left, but I found it anyway."

"Well aren't we cocky." Jennifer threw in four Knuts, hoping to bet more once she learned how to play. "So what do we do?"

~

Matt furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh... man. How bad was it?"

"It's pretty easy, once you get the hang of it. All you have to do is..." And Anthony went on to explain the rules since the author of this post is not in the mood for it.

The first round began, and Victor immediately chose to fold his cards. Anthony, who wasn't quite a safe player, began to add his chips into the pot.

~

"He insulted her, and call her a 'worthless piece of shit'. And he insulted the rest of us, saying that were just angsty brats that meant nothing to him." Emily said, spitting out each of the words.

Jennifer took a look at her cards, and threw a handful of chips into the pot."

~

"Please don't be mad at me to judge and say this but what a bloody douche." Matt cracked his knuckles, staring off in space. "When I was around you guys as a kid, you seemed more like a family than mine ever did. Apparently your father doesn't realize how thankful he ought to be."

When Anthony and Jennifer flipped their cards, everyone say that Jenny had the higher hand, and Anthony pointed at it. "Out of all of us, you have the highest hand. That means you get to take everything that's in the pot right now."

"Including our money." Victor added, looking quite distressed at the fact he lost an entire Sickle.

~

"But he does have a point. My mum-and all of us, really managed to steal away the best years of his life. What does have to look forward to now?" Emily argued in her father's defense, though she looked somber as she did.

Jennifer grinned, "Well go figure." She cupped her hands and scooched everything, except the boys' money, in the middle her way. "I still like Go Fish better."

~

"The best years of a father's life should be his kids, I mean, right? You were the best years of his life." Matt ran his fingers through his short hair, frowning.

"What? Go Fish is boring!" Anthony said. Victor happily took his money back, but he nudged his towards Jenny, as he drew a pair of new cards.

~

"I don't know if you quite understand, Matt. Our parents are people and they have interests and loves outside parenting. Sometimes, mum and dads don't even want to be parents." Emily explained patiently to Matt.

Jennifer ignored the Knuts and just smiled as he drew cards. "I dunno. The simplest things can still be pretty fun. Just gotta make it that way."

~

Matt sighed, cracking his knuckles again. "And I get that. But it doesn't mean they have the right to gallivant around and leave people behind. It's not the fair any of the parties involved. It's not even a parent thing, y'know? It's a moral." If only Matt knew some of the gallivanting his mother had done.