CHAPTER ONE

"Hello…Anyone here?" A blonde female had just entered Smurf's home, the Cody home. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder then threw it onto the wooden floor with a thud. Usually there was some sort of noise going on in the home but it was pretty quiet. She actually was surprised there wasn't some sort of party considering it was going on five o'clock and Craig loved having parties when the sun was up until the sun went down.

"Hello…Mom or Smurf, are you here? The door was unlocked so I came in if that's okay"

She walked past the living area and into the kitchen. Everything looked the same and hadn't changed since she left. Looking around, she walked over to the back door and stared out into the pool. A million memories went through her mind and she faintly laughed to herself for a moment. She noticed a reflection in the door and jumped a little. She looked to her left and saw a young teenager standing there.

"Um, hello…" He spoke, his eyes a little open at the surprise. He had on black shorts and a grey hoodie; he looked like he had just woken up from a nap. "How did you get in here?"

"Hi…I'm sorry. Who?" She had narrowed her eyes at him not in a mean way but a curious way. She also pointed to him. "The door was unlocked"

The blonde was dressed in short jean shorts and a light blue tank top with white lace covering the back. She was perfectly tan probably from spending most of her time on the beach. There were a few different tattoos that covered her arms ranging from a flower on her shoulder, a feather on her back shoulder and little ones here and there.

"I'm J…I don't think I know who you are?" He answered back.

"Wait J…Joshua? Julia's kid?" J nodded faintly and the girl's eyes lit up in surprise. "Oh my God…You're so big; I haven't seen you since you were like five years old. I'm Jessica, your Aunt Jessica I should say. You probably don't remember me"

Jessica had moved forward a little wondering if she was going to be able to get him into a hug. She held her arms out a little to show that she didn't mean any harm and wanted to get a better feel of who he was. J noticed her shift in movement and gave her a hug not wanting to seem rude even though he felt uncomfortable to do so.

After a moment, she pulled back and looked at him keeping her hands on his upper arms. "You look so much like her…Is she here?" Jessica moved away from him before looking around the place.

"She's not here anymore…She died a few months ago"

She stopped turning around and paused staring at him. Biting her lip, Jessica looked towards the pool again as if it were some sort of comforting thought. "I'm sorry; maybe I shouldn't have said it that way"

Jessica shook her head then turned to him with a sad smile. "No, it's fine. I always had a feeling like this that something was going to happen. I mean I hadn't seen your Mother in years though I tried so hard because I wanted to see you. I used to baby sit you at times when she wasn't…" She stopped talking realizing that it was going to sound bad. "Anyway how old are you now? Like fifteen?"

J had walked over to the counter and pulled one of the stools out. He still felt strange but she was family after all. He grabbed the other for her and offered for her to take a seat. She smiled and sat across from him. "Nineteen. How come I haven't heard anything about you from your brothers?" J did find it weird that he never heard of her before.

"Oh I'm like the black sheep around here considering I'm a woman and not a boy that she can control. No offense to you or anything" Jessica paused wanting to tell the truth

J had raised his eyebrows a little at her remark not expecting her to say something as such. He didn't know why but she just didn't seem like the type. Jessica didn't look much like his Mother though he could see a little bit of Smurf in her. She had long blonde hair that was wavy as if she just came out of the ocean. Jessica's eyes were almost like storm clouds as they were a mixture of blue and grey. He wondered more about her than anything else. She actually looked more like Deran and he wondered if they had the same father. Shaking his head, J didn't take any offense.

"They really don't talk much of me because I actually left the house once I turned nineteen and I come and go here all the time. I mean, I did not want to be like my brothers and stay here forever. It actually was the first time I entered rehab"

"Rehab? You are an…" He didn't want to say it out loud for her to be offended.

"An addict? Yeah, I'm not a shame to say it either so you don't have to tip toe around it unless you'd like to. Yeah, I just got out and I thought I'd stop by here to see everyone. As sad as it is, it was the sixth time I've been there but I'm feeling good about this one. I'm not sure if you want to hear this or not but I tried getting your Mother to go, I did once but then she left in the middle of it. This family is a mess whether we all want to admit it or not so I have my reasons for where I am at. Where is everyone anyway?"

"Oh Smurf went to the grocery store and everyone else is doing their own thing I guess"

"J who's bike is that in the driveway honey?"

Smurf's voice had come on the heels of his sentence and they both turned to the hallway's direction. Jessica was bracing herself to see her Mother again because it had been so long. When Smurf turned around the corner, she had paused looking at the girl in front of her.

"Hi Mom…" She said quietly feeling uneasy.

J noticed that was the only one that was calling her Mom as everyone else just said Smurf. He looked between the two of them and wondered if he should let them have their moment. He stood up and spoke, "I'm going to let you two have your moment or whatever" Even though he wanted to see what would happen no one said a word.

"It's okay, you can stay in here" Smurf said.

Smurf had placed the bags on the countertop and she walked towards Jessica with a smile. Her daughter had stood up from the stool and had placed her arms around her. It was an awkward hug but they both equally felt okay with it. J had watched them wanting to know more about the story as he didn't have a clue of what was going on.

"It's been how long? I feel like I haven't seen you in years" Pulling away, she grabbed the bags and put them on the kitchen island to be closer.

Jessica had slowly sat back down and reached for one to help her unpack. "It's been awhile, probably close to a year…How come you didn't tell me about Julia?"

That was the first thing on her mind because she couldn't believe that her sister was dead and she missed her funeral. Sure she was in rehab but she could have worked something out to leave for the day. No tears could even form as she was too distracted by the fact that she didn't know.

Smurf had paused momentarily as J looked at her before sitting back down as well. "I didn't want it to interfere with what you were doing. Deran had told me you were in rehab and I was afraid it would interfere with you getting better"

It in fact was the partial truth. Smurf and Jessica had a troublesome relationship due to both parties. She also didn't see the point of telling her because she knew that she wouldn't have come anyway. Jessica left on some bad terms plenty of times and this was one of them.

"A phone call would have been nice. I just wish someone would have told me, I would have sent flowers or something. It would be the least I could do, I lost my sister as well" Her eyes had glanced towards J and there was a little hostility in her voice. Not at him but her own Mother.

The front door had opened much to Smurf's delight as she knew it was one of the boys. Craig had turned the corner like Smurf and paused when he saw her sitting there. "Holy shit…You came back"

He looked stunned as Smurf did earlier but not as much. She carried on with putting the groceries away but kept her eye on them. "Yeah I did and it looks like I'm beating you in the tattoo game"

Jessica smiled as now she had much more tattoos than he had. They used to be in the competition to see who would end up having more but she was winning. She had greeted him with a hug and their height difference was major. He clearly towered over her and it she had to lean on the tip of her toes to give him a proper hug.

"Well little sister, I'm going to hold you on that bet and I promise I will have one by the end of the week"

"You still can't top me, how many do you have, like two? I've got at least ten so you've got a lot to go before you get to my ranks"

Deran had been walking inside of the Cody home glancing over his shoulder. "Whose bike it that?" He was partially jealous though he didn't ride motorbikes often. Hers was a light blue and white Kawasaki Bike that looked like it would be killer to ride.

He then saw a blonde haired female talking to his brother and he knew exactly who it was. Deran's pace had picked up as he wanted to see his sister. He had texted or talked on the phone with her a couple of times but she kept her distance from everyone in the family.

Jessica turned her head still talking and noticed her brother walking towards her with his own smile. It led to J's curiosity even more that they were full blooded siblings due to the fact that she seemed more excited to see him more so than anyone else. Their features were obvious as well but he would wait for the right opportunity to ask.

"You grew! You look taller than the last time I saw you" She joked.

"Yeah well that's what happens when you only get to talk to me on the phone every so often"

"I didn't know you two talked that much" Smurf commented looking over at them. He had found out she had gone to rehab when he ran into her neighbor while out and about. He told Smurf of course and she had called him once while there. Jessica had stayed in it for at least two months before going to a halfway house for five.

"I told you how I found out about everything" He said taking a seat at the kitchen table then looked back to Jessica. "You're sticking around this time right?"

It was an answer that she didn't have at the moment. It was hard being around everyone and being a Cody in general. "I don't know, I got a new place so I've got a lot of unpacking left to do and stuff"

Smurf shook her head then looked towards Jessica, stopping what she was doing. "At least stay for dinner, I'll make something so we can all catch up"