Toby POV

I awoke to the sound of thudding noises from outside. I peek out the window and see Chelsea, nails in mouth,high on a ladder, fixing up the old barn. Each hit she took on each nail was sure and definite. She didn't hesitate, she lined up the hammer to the nail and struck.

I heard someone swearing up a storm and saw my nephew Mark had just struck his own hand. Chelsea looked over at him and nearly keeled over in laughter. She said something I couldn't hear and Mark threw a dust rag at her.

She gagged in disgust and nearly toppled over in her attempt at the throwing it back. The tap on the glass window took me by surprise as I impossibly tried to reach her before she could fall off. Instead Mark reached up and steadied her. A swipe at his head with the rag was his reward. When Mark pulled the recovered rag back he stepped into a bucket falling with enough noise it rivaled that of the hammering. Chelsea jumped nimbly off the ladder and helped him sort out the mess, laughing all the while.

I heard a gasp behind me and saw Kalie in the doorway pointing.

"Daddy can smile?!" She shrieked.

Realization hit me when I thought back to the last time I'd smiled, the day before Renee died.

Selena came in the room with her brows furrowed. When she looked out the window her features shifted to a scowl. "They're going to get themselves hurt out there! Why don't you hire someone to repair it for them!"

"Because she'd probably turn them away like a wildcat the moment she heard they came from me."

Selena took a step back and lowered her eyes. "She wouldn't do that."

"Oh yeah? Watch this." I picked up the phone next the bed and pressed the intercom button to staff.

A formal male voice came back in response. "How may I help you sir?"

"Can you send out someone to give Chelsea and my nephew something to drink?"

"Yes sir." With that the phone clicked off and I directed Selena towards the window.

The maid scurried out with a jar of lemonade and two cups. When she arrived at the barn Chelsea and Mark looked at her curiously. The minute she started talking though Chelsea went into a rage and knocked it out of her hand sending her running back to the kitchen. Mark took cover under the barn.

"Oh." Selena was holding her hands to her mouth wide eyed.

"Remind me to send a bonus to her in the mail with a written apology."

"That was stupid." I looked at Kalie. Bold as her mother and then some. "Of course someone's going to get upset if the only contact they get is through others."

Selena shushed her. "It's not as simple as that Kalie."

Kalie rolled her eyes and left mumbling "Stupid people can't understand simple things."

Selena got red in the face. "That child..."

I sighed. "Some days I can't tell who's the bigger influence, Chelsea or you."

Selena looked at me enraged. "I beg your pardon. Obviously, it's the reckless daughter who's the reasons for her outbursts!" As if to punctuate it, the window smashed.

"Shit! Chelsea!" Selena and I looked out the now broken window at a sheepish Mark and Chelsea who resembled a veteran soldier ready for war.

"Chelsea Tao!" Selena shrieked loud enough to send my ears ringing.

At the sound of her name, Chelsea squared her shoulders and looked Selena dead in the eye. Not an easy feat for someone standing four floors below the one shouting.

"How dare you! To what extent was it necessary to break this window?"

Chelsea slipped into a well practiced predatory smirk and cupped her ears. Selena burned red and stormed down the stairs, worried for the worst, I followed.

Selena had already started her rage off when I got to the area below the window. Chelsea stood tall in front of Selena, never breaking eye contact. She gave off an even bigger appearance than normal. Behind her stood Mark. He looked small in comparison and if hadn't been for years of experience in noticing the barely there, he very easily could have blended in with the background.

Chelsea was standing almost protectively in front of him. Like she was shielding him.

"You! To what extent does your rebelliousness extend? Do you enjoy making a fool of yourself like this and destroying what isn't yours? Does that make you happy? Never in all my life have I seen someone behave so foolishly!" Selena roared out her anger at Chelsea yet with each sentence she finished Chelsea visibly grew more angry and Mark seemed to shrink more into the scenery.

"You!" Chelsea mocked. "To what extent does YOUR rebelliousness extend?" Chelsea barked out a harsh laugh at the end of her sentence.

"Rebellious? Me? That would require some form of authority to rebel. For all extents and purposes, I see no such thing in front of me." Chelsea paused as if in thought and glanced at me then continued like a bulldozer as she quickly looked away. "You are nothing to me other than a being I can't stand. As for fools, I see one who stands like a peacock right now. A fool who shows false compassion and does nothing but get in the way of others attempting to get things done. Do you know who that might be Selena?"

The look Chelsea gave could very easily have frozen the Earth's core if that was her target, unfortunately, it stood against a force much hotter than that in its fury.

"False compassion? No one else in their right mind would deal with someone as increasingly impossible as you if they felt nothing towards them! You..To what extent will you try forcing away people who care for in your attempt to make yourself seem pitiful? And who wouldn't stand in the way of someone who's only attempt to get things done is set the world on fire?"

Selena words seemed to spark off Chelsea and the air seemed like it was burning.

"You are not my mother! You're not my family, and you're definitely no one I one I would even consider a friend! If for some reason you do feel anything about me than rather a fool you must be an utter moron! Seeing how my mom wrote out this house for family use in her will and her names on the land deed, this house does in fact belong to me! If you've got a problem with it, leave. Oh and excuse me, I wasn't aware rebuilding a barn qualified as mass world destruction!"

"Clean up your mess, child." Selena turning away went briskly back to the house Chelsea screamed an elegant 'go screw yourself' as she left.

I made to leave but at the last minute decided to listen at the corner.

"Chelsea…" Mark began.

"Dude shutup. Seriously."

"I'm sorry, it slipped, I swear."

Chelsea laughed. "No shit. Mark I swear, only you can send a hammer through a third story window after tripping."

"You tripped me!"

"And you almost made me fall off a ladder."

"Key word, almost!"

Chelsea shrugged. "Hey, I didn't think you would actually trip."

"Who doesn't trip when you put a board right behind them when they're backing up?"

"Me." Chelsea laughed.

Mark pointed at her defensively. "That's because you're a freak."

"Apparently, now I'm a pyromaniac and a fool too!"

"Selena isn't very bright but somehow I can see you setting the world on fire."

"Hey! You can't say you've never made a flamethrower out of Axe before!"

Mark laughed. "Never. Not once. Especially not in front of a stack of hay."

Chelsea threw a bucket at Mark and he promptly ducked as it missed and hit another one full of nails with a bang.

"Holy crap. Chelsea, your aim."

"Leave me alone Mark."

"No seriously, I was right there."

"I'm going to hit you Mark."

"I'm just saying-"

He yelled a cry of indignation as Chelsea socked him in the arm. "Let's get back to work"

"Aren't we going to pick up the glass?"

"Hell no, If Selena thought the window was her's then Selena can pick up the glass."

"You're screwed up." Mark joked.

"Only sometimes."

They then went back to hammer nails and boards into place. I sighed. Guess I'll have to trouble that poor maid again…

A/N *bows in apology* I got uber busy so I wound up completely putting this off. I've started working on the next chapter already but it may be a while before the next update. I realize this is short so I apologize for that too. I may just start combining chapters to make them longer.

I apologize but I don't think I'll be doing the responses to reviews anymore unless there's no other way to respond to it. Never the less, thank you so much for putting your time and patience into Try!