I'm truly sorry for not updating, but I have a confession. I've become obsessed with Percy Jackson. Sorry, but it's true. I forgot SWAC and I feel terrible.

Anyways, here we go.

Sonny blinked, coming back to the reality of her mother going for the front door cautiously. She didn't pick painful things up like in movies, and she didn't just throw the door open either. Stupidity had been one thing that stopped spreading after her great grandfather, whom trapped himself in a dried-up wishing well and was stumped on what to do. Standing up, of course, was a reasonable option.

Connie jammed her eye up against the peep-hole and nearly stopped breathing. She made short rasping noises in her throat like she had seen a ghost and fumbled with the door handle, which refused to open. Sonny, realizing her mother's inability to function properly, walked to the door lazily and flipped the lock. She reached for the handle just as the door pulled open.

A rugged, tired looking man stood in his military uniform, a crooked grin on his face. His blue eyes twinkled with excitement, which the boys back in the corps wouldn't understand or recognize from him. He dropped his bag off of his shoulder and wrapped her in his arms before she could process what she was witnessing.

He lifted her off the ground as gently as he could and refused to let her go ever again. Her face was contorted with confusion, joy, and an odd twist of pain deep in her gut. This was her Chad; she knew he was still alive, yet some logical part of her had doubted. Maybe, at the time, it had seemed like the only sane side, but had it really been so?

He held her closer and dropped his head on her shoulder, just wanting to remember the feeling of being in her arms. It was comfort, if to be described fleetingly. It was warmth, good cheer, and that peace that overwhelms a person in the arms of love.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again," She managed pulling away to look in his eyes.

"I won't," he promised, pulling her back in. His eyes shut themselves as he breathed in the familiar scents that lingered in the house. "I won't." He peeked at the rearranged furniture oddly and contemplated what to say, only deciding not to in the end. His hands limped as he backed away to look at her again. "God, I missed you."

She was too stunned to speak, just wrapping her arms around her neck. Her mouth was open ever so slightly, about to whimper or something along the lines, but silent tears ever-gently rolled down her cheeks. Not continuous streams or heart-broken sobs, but tears of joy and of shock. Her throat was jammed with a tight scream that bobbled around, providing only enough room for rasps of air.

Over on the sleeping bags, a blonde with a very confused look on her face and the hair of a very friendly hamster's nest glanced around the room. She scratched her head and yawned. Tawni's eyes snapped down to Zora as she kicked her thigh. Tawni poked Zora's head roughly, and the younger girl propped herself on her elbows, her features an exact replica of Tawni's.

"What?" Zora yawned, glancing at Tawni.

"You kicked me," the blonde accused, poking her again in the arm.

"You snore," Zora reasoned, shrugging. She dropped her head back on the pillow and hugged it, imagining her old gnome friend that had been smashed by the evil Dakota Condor. Tawni curled her lip and sneered before her eyes caught the group huddled by the front door. With eyes as wide as frying pans, she jabbed her finger into Zora for a third time.

"What?" she groaned into her pillowed mask.

Tawni grabbed her short ponytail and pulled her head up, releasing a squeak from Zora. Both girls paused what they were doing.

Chad gave them a weak smile, holding steadfast in a hug he had been yearning for. A thought occurred to him quickly and he became anxious. What had they done with Ziva?

Sonny sensed his worry and she gazed into his eyes. "What?" She felt a sense of dread. Maybe he had to go back, or he had messed up royally while over there saving America and giving them so many rights. Whatever it was, she didn't want to hear it. Not right when he got home.

Connie waved her arm at the two girls on the floor, who hurriedly gathered their items and left the house behind the older woman.

Chad shook his head. "Nothing. We'll talk in the morning," he promised. A sly smile spread across his face. He scooped her up in his arms, to her complete surprise, and carried her down the hallway toward the bedroom. They spent the night in each other's company.

I was going to write some big, epic chapter, but I don't currently have it in me. Sorry. My life's crowded so I literally have to schedule in some typing time. It stinks.