not sure where i want to go with this, but who doesn't love a little next generation action?

hey, stay young and invincible
'cause we know just what we are
and come what may, we're unstoppable
- 'stay young' -oasis.

Out of everywhere Harper Crane had travelled, her favourite place in the entire world was her family's chateau in Normandy. Stone terraces looked over the sprawling twenty-four acres of sparkling ponds, horse stables, and rose gardens. The Seine flowed in the distance. The air smelled sweet, the grass was greener, and the sun shone just a little bit brighter.

As a child, Harper had pretended she was a princess, away all year at finishing school in Westchester, only getting to return to her castle for one month in the summer. But she was twelve now, and twelve year olds didn't indulge in silly day dreams.

Her twin sister, Ava, however hated the chateau. She complained how the horses stunk, the ponds had frogs, and that twelve bedrooms was much too big for a family of five. She sulked the entire three and a half weeks spent in France until they went home to their Hamptons estate, where people spoke English, the air smelled like the ocean, and there was a good beach party every night.

This year, their older brother Thomas had brought his friend Seth, and the girls' friend Stella and her parents were coming as well. At last minute, their father's friend Kemp had had to go to Tokyo for business, so his son Carter was also joining them.

Unbeknownst to the parents, Thomas and Carter were rivals, having been since at least the fourth grade, when Carter beat out Thomas for the last spot on their class's soccer team. Tensions between the two had only escalated in the four years since then. From sports, to girls, to parties, the two turned everything into a competition.

The secretive and flirty glances between Carter and Ava didn't solve any problems either, because as everyone knew, Thomas Crane did not play when it came to his twin sisters, especially if one of them was fraternizing with someone as smarmy as Carter Hurley.

"It's great to be able to fill all of these rooms," Massie Block-Crane sipped a glass of red wine. She sat on the terrace overlooking the stables, where all of the children were currently hanging out.

"This better not turn into a 'we need more kids' discussion," her husband, Landon, chuckled.

"Maybe it's just Claire making me feel like this," Massie pouted at her friend's six-months pregnant belly. "The kids grew up too fast. The second we got here, they took off. Remember when they used to enjoy hanging out with us? When Harper promised us she'd never move out?"

Claire placed a hand on her stomach while the other hand fanned her face. "You forget all the bad parts of pregnancy while you're not pregnant. I am way too hot."

"Yes, you are," Derrick murmured into her ear, but his wife was quick to swat him away.

"Too hot," she insisted. "No skin to skin contact."

Rejected, Derrick leaned back in his chair. Brown eyes scanned the sprawling grounds. "Where's Stel? And the rest of them?"

"Stella and Harper are probably off plotting some scheme, the boys are with the horses, and Ava is sulking in the woods, counting down the seconds until we land in the Hamptons," Massie said with a roll of her eyes and a slight smile.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

Harper, Stella, Seth and Thomas were lounging in the loft above the stables. Sunlight streamed through the cracks in the wood, casting shadows amongst the hay and old horse gear.

"Where's Ava?" Stella fiddled with the wildflowers she'd picked earlier, weaving them into a crown. Harper felt the slightest bit envious, as she usually did, at how stunning her best friend looked, even with bits of hay tangled into her golden curls.

"The farther away, the better," Harper rolled her Caribbean blue eyes.

"Come on, Harps, that's your sister," Seth insisted. Harper occasionally felt lost looking into Seth's dark brown eyes, and right now was no exception. She couldn't even think of a single retort –a Crane being speechless, a first, certainly.

"Better question, where's Hurley?" Thomas's lip automatically curled into a sneer at the mention of his rival's name. At ten, they'd simply been competitive. But now, at fourteen, they were rivals. Enemies. The mere mention of Carter's name made Thomas's blood boil.

"The farther away, the better," Harper repeated. She and Thomas were Blocks through and through –scheming, conniving, and holier than thou.

"Not in the mood for a fight today, Tommy?" Stella arched a perfect eyebrow, a challenging note to her voice. She was the only person in the entire world who could call Thomas Crane 'Tommy' and live to do it again. The two lived to provoke each other. She stood and stretched, causing everyone to take a moment to admire her endless legs.

"Not with Hurley," Thomas drawled, picking up a discarded leather riding crop. He smacked her with it, not too gently, and grinned. "With you, maybe."

"I'm not a horse, Thomas," Stella whirled around, starry blue eyes sparkling with rage. Thomas lifted the crop to smack her again, but Stella smacked it out of his hand. "Don't you dare."

Seth and Harper exchanged a look and a nod, and climbed down the ladder into the stables. Stella and Thomas could go on forever like that. It was usually best to leave them to it. "Where to?" Seth raised an eyebrow.

"The meadow," Harper instructed. She had a feeling her sister was there with Carter, and wanted to catch them in the act. The two walked through the manicured lawn in silence.

"Excited for your thirteenth birthday?" Seth broke the silence.

"I would be if my sister wasn't also turning thirteen. I just know she'll do something to ruin the day for me."

"I've known you two my entire life. She isn't that horrible."

"She is! You don't see it, no one does," Harper grumbled. Seth stopped, causing Harper to stop too. His dark eyes scanned her and the corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk.

"Just so you know, you're my favourite twin."

Harper felt that feeling again, the one she often felt when she was alone with Seth. Like someone had cut off oxygen to her brain –everything was fuzzy and her thought process was slow. "I…thank you," she murmured, a blush creeping up her porcelain cheeks.

It was suddenly so silent in the meadow that Harper was sure Seth could hear her heart beating. Gently, Seth cupped her face and kissed. Harper didn't know what to think; it was like all was right in the world. She didn't even care if her sister and Carter Hurley were together and she was missing it.

Nearby, someone cleared their throat, causing the two to break apart. Harper forced her gaze away from Seth's to her father, standing a few metres away, looking very, very angry. "Dad! I –we, um-"

"I came out to tell you all dinner was ready," his voice was low and controlled, a sure sign that he was angry. Harper wanted to protest that she was the good twin, that that voice was reserved for Ava and occasionally Thomas, but never her! "Go inside, Harper."

"Dad, it wasn't Seth-"

"Your mother needs help setting the table. We'll talk later."

Harper knew now was not the time to test her father's patience, and with an 'I'm sorry!' look at Seth, she started the long trek back to the house. Her only hope that her father didn't kill Seth was that Seth was Josh's only child, and her father would never do that to his friend.

She passed Ava and Carter Hurley on her way back to the house. They were standing way too close and whispering into each other's ears. Harper couldn't even take pleasure in the fact that she was right about her sister dating someone as trashy as Carter Hurley.

Over dinner, Massie and Claire asked about how the children had spent their day. No one was very specific. Landon was silent and Harper feared that he would never speak to her again, as only a twelve year old can. Seth sat as far away from her as possible, though Harper hoped it was because she was sitting with Stella and he was sitting with Thomas, and those two always put distance between each other at the dinner table. No one seemed to notice Carter and Ava were missing.

After dinner, Seth and Thomas went out to ride their horses, while Harper and Stella left to pick more wildflowers. The adults retired to their bedrooms, no longer able to stay up as late as they once had.

Massie rinsed her toothbrush off and wandered out of the ensuite. Landon was lying on the bed, a book open in front of him, but not reading. "Thinking about the company?" She asked, knowing her husband's mind never took a vacation, despite his body being thousands of miles from New York.

"I wish. Massie, I caught Harper and Seth kissing today."

"Oh?" she raised a plucked brow, settling into bed beside him. "Well I'm sure it wasn't the first time."

"What?!" Landon's Caribbean blue eyes looked startled.

"I'm kidding, darling," she giggled. "Although I'm sure it's starting. Thomas and Seth are fourteen, the girls are twelve, Stella and Carter are thirteen."

"Nonsense. They're children. They're our children." Landon was usually a realist, and rarely indulged in denial, but at this moment he revelled in it.

"Didn't you lose your virginity at fourteen? To that dancer?"

"Alicia Rivera," Landon said grimly. If Thomas was anything like his father, and he really was, their innocent boy was likely a man.

"And the girls…well, Seth is a wonderful boy. Josh and Olivia have raised him right. Carter, on the other hand…"

"He's not like his father," Landon insisted. Kemp had gone through a slew of women since his divorce from Carter's mother.

"I think he has his eye on Ava."

"I'll kill him. He's going to turn out exactly like his father," Landon's eyes blazed. Nothing was more important to him than his children, except maybe his wife.

Massie laughed. "Oh, darling, this protective father thing is going to drive them away from you. It's why my father and I weren't close growing up."

"I want the best for my kids."

"They're no worse than us at that age, surely. Don't you remember all the trouble we used to get into?"

Landon paused, thinking. "I don't think we were that bad. And when I'm through talking to our children, they won't be either."

"When did you get so old and stuffy," Massie touched his face lovingly. Fine lines marred his beautiful eyes and grey coloured his temples. "I sure am happy you've gone grey instead of bald, though."

Landon laughed, intensifying the wrinkles around his eyes. His wife could bring light to any situation. "I just worry."

"Of course you do, you're their father. But you're forgetting, these are the children of Massie and Landon Crane. They have good heads on their shoulders."

Landon placed a soft kiss on his wife's lips. "And what beautiful heads they are."

in case there was any confusion, as i tend to be confusing:

ava and harper are twelve, thomas is 14, they are massie and landon's children.

stella is thirteen and is claire and derrick's child. they are expecting a second child.

seth is 14 and is josh and olivia's child.

carter is 13 and is kemp and skye's child, although they're divorced.

hope that cleared anything up!