The front door of the old house slowly began to open and a girl with wavy, dirty blonde hair emerged. Wide-eyed and in reminiscent of the home she thought she left behind. It was still fairly early so she wasn't expecting to see anyone yet. She didn't want to wake anyone but at the same time she couldn't wait to see all the people she thought she left behind. It has been months since she was last in Anubis house and almost as long since she last saw the residents of the boarding house.

Her return was a secret, no one expect Trudy, but she promised she wouldn't spill, and Victor, but he has never been much for sharing. It was almost the end of the first month since school started so her return was definitely not something that anyone could have expected or planned for. Things had worked in her favor though and now she was back.

She was still standing in the entryway with her bags but decided she would wait at the bottom of the stairs. It would still be a surprise nonetheless even if it would probably be less exciting than she had imagined but it can't be helped. The trip from the airport to here took a lot less time than she had anticipated; it was only six in the morning, plus it was Saturday, so she expected it would still be a while until she saw anyone.

She was about to take a seat when she unexpectedly heard the door upstairs towards the girls' rooms open. She didn't recognize the girl who came out; she had dark curly hair and brown eyes, and she was oddly dressed in her school uniform.

The girl caught sight of her at the bottom of the stairs. The confused and curious look she saw on the mystery guest's face matched how the girl at the top of the stairs was feeling as she ascended down.

"Hi," said the dirty blonde in a somewhat overly cheerful voice.

"Hi," responded the dark haired girl, cautiously before asking, "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm-" she was interrupted before she could introduce herself.

"Nina," the interruption came from the hallway to the boy's rooms and had a mixed tone of surprise and daze. Both girls turned towards the hallway to see who it was, but the lack of a British accent made it pretty obvious.

"Hey Eddie," replied Nina with a bright smile. Eddie was standing wearing a look of absolute, frozen shock on his face. Nina found the look somewhat amusing and let out a small laugh as she began to walk over to him.

Eddie regained most of his composer and ran towards her. They embraced and Eddie lifted her slightly, which surprised Nina and caused her to slightly squeal.

"Nina. It's actually you. You're here," said Eddie as he began putting Nina back down but still embracing. The moment had passed but Eddie still held Nina and though she knew it had been too long she just let it be.

"Do you guys have any idea what time it is? What's with all the noise," the questions came from upstairs, and caused Eddie and Nina to finally let go.

They looked up to see Patricia at the top of the stairs. It took her a moment but she quickly recognized the girl standing in the entryway with Eddie and KT, who was still standing in the middle of the stairs.

"No way. Nina!" said a surprised Patricia.

"Patricia! I see you're as snarky as ever," Nina teased.

"And I see you're as American as ever," responded Patricia before running down the stairs to greet her old friend. She moved KT to the side and the two old friends quickly embraced.

"What are you doing here," asked Patricia.

But before Nina had a chance to answer the other house members began to come out. It was obvious all the noise had woken them and they must have been curious of the sources.

From the top of the stairs there was a load squeal followed by a "No way," all from a dumbfounded Amber.

"Nina you're here," said a shocked, but happy, Fabian from behind Eddie, from the boys hallway.

"I'm here," responded an excited Nina.

"Nina!" yelled an overjoyed Amber, Joy and Mara as they ran down the stairs to greet her.

Amber was the first to reach her and practically tackled her in an embrace. Mara and Joy came from close behind and joined in the hug. They waved Patricia over and like that Nina's return was official with a full-blown Anubis girls group hug. It took a moment but the girls finally broke from their group hug and were just smiling and giggling, all being evidently happy.

Thinking the time was right the boys decided it was their turns to join in the welcoming. Alfie was the first to of the trio to welcome Nina back with a hug and adding, "welcome back, you were missed."

Jerome followed suite, making a new group hug between the house jokers and Nina, and said, "yeah not having the Nerdy American around was quite dull."

"Thanks, I think," responded Nina, "I missed you guys too."

The three broke and the only one remaining to welcome Nina back was Fabian. The pair just looked at each other from across the way for a moment. Fabian was still in shock at the sight of Nina and just stood where he was with his mouth slightly dropped open.

"So are you just going to stand there in awe all day," Nina teased as she slightly opened her arms in anticipation.

Fabian snapped back into reality with a chuckle at the statement and said "of course not." With that the two old friends shared a strong hug.

"Welcome back," said Fabian softly.

"Glad to be back," responded Nina.