Ten-

Things just got a lot more complicated.

It started Monday. Crystal was giving me the cold shoulder, per usual, and I hadn't spoken to Trinity since our visit. Dawn texted me Tuesday and said Meet me at Starbucks ASAP. So I went. It went a little like this:

"How are you doing Colton?"

"Good, you?"

"Pretty good. I asked you here today because there's a... complication with the adoption."

"What kind of complication?"

"Chloe's pregnant."

Imagine my shock. "Tell her I say congratulations."

"I will. Anyways, they backed out of the adoption. I'm not sure what to do since this is all new to me, I've never had a family back out, just the parents that have. I'm sorry Colton, I'll start looking for a new family immediately."

Mom was ecstatic when I told her and kisses Skylar, who at 15 months still hasn't said her first word, all over. It kind of sucks. Kind of.

This morning, Wednesday morning, Trinity texted me. She told me it was an emergency and I need to see her right away. So I did what any sane man would do; I went to her.

It's dark now and I'm standing in front of the hospital I was just at a few days ago, Skylar in my arms. I should have had her elaborated, this is ridiculous. Graduation is tomorrow and Mom would literally kill me if I missed it.

The path to her room seems so familiar, like I've been walking there forever.

To my surprise, and I don't get surprised easily, Crystal is there. Crystal and Trinity and Doctor Logsdon and two police officers. Both Crystal and Trinity look like they've been crying, and Mr.Logsdon has a blank face.

"I'm sorry, this is a private meeting," one of the officers tell me, standing up.

"It's okay, I called him," Trinity says in a small voice.

The officer looks me up and down before sitting back down. I make my way over to Trinity. "What's this about?"

She shakes her head. One of the officers start talking. "I'll catch you up on things. Holly Marie Logsdon was kidnapped from the park on June 27th, 2000. Here's a picture of what she would look like now." The officer hands me a sketch kind of thing. I gasp, not expecting what I saw. "Dr.Logsdon here immediately told us that he saw a girl just like her not too long ago hanging out with his daughter. We brought Crystal into DNA testing and she's a match."

The picture I'm holding is scary accurate. It looks exactly like Crystal, and the baby picture of her taped to the corner is the same baby I see hanging on her wall at home.

"It has to be some kind of mistake," Crystal cries into her hands.

"The report that was put in fifteen years ago was three year old Holly was abducted from the park. She was with her mother, Diane Logsdon, and little sister, Trinity Logsdon. Diane took her attention away from Holly to tend to Trinity and when she looked back, Holly was gone. Witnesses said that they saw a young women give Holly a red sucker and said there was more in her car," at this part Crystal sobs. I know why. She always told me stories about when she was little. When she would get hurt or get lost, her mom always gave her a red sucker. Always. "The car was a black SUV and had a young man driving it. Bethany and Greg Evans match the descriptions perfectly." Her parents.

"This can't be happening," a Crystal mumbles, holding her hands against her ears. Shit.

"Crystal, breath, it's going to be okay," I whisper, rubbing her back in slow circles. She had to have missed her afternoon medication.

Crystal jumps up and runs out of the room. I decide it's best not to follow her. I could never handle her panic attacks like I wish I could.

"What does this mean?" Trinity asks, her tears gone.

"Greg and Bethany have been arrested for kidnapping."

"What about their other kids? Robert and Shawn?" I ask, thinking about Crystal's older brother's. Robert is 23, about to graduate college, and has a fiancée. Shawn is a sophomore in college. They visit almost every weekend and they treat me like I'm their brother.

The officer pulls out two other files. "Lance Kyle Green and Adam Nicholas Snider, both abducted at three years old."

My head is spinning with the new information. I stand up and make my way to the hallway. Crystal's on the floor, leaning against the wall, knees to her chest and hands pressed to the side of her head. I take a seat beside her and touch her shoulder. Without a word she grabs my shirt and sobs into it. My arms wrap themselves around her body, comforting her the only way I know how. I'm not good with words.

From the corner of my eye I can see two men walking towards us. They're eyes land on Crystal. They both bend down and pry her away from me.

I back away as her bothers talk to her. They got the news, I know they did by the looks on their faces. I don't see it. They all look the same. And I definitely can not picture Mr. and Mrs.Evans as bad people. They were the sweetest, most caring couple I've ever known. How the hell did they get away with kidnapping three children?

The three of them stand and make their way back into the room. I stay a few more minutes out in the hall before standing.

"...live with your family."

I find Crystal curled up on Robert's lap, listening intently on what the officer is saying. She snaps, "they are not my family."

"You can't force her to live with them," Shawn says from his spot beside Crystal and Robert.

"Since she's 18 we can't, but I think it would be better for her and the family to get to know one another. Her parents have missed her terribly."

Like it was scripted, a women comes barging into the room. She gasps when she sees Crystal, tears forming in her eyes. "My baby."

Crystal shakes her head. Before she can say anything Dr.Logsdon grabs ahold of his wife. "Diane, let her process."

"But she's our baby George, the baby I thought we lost forever."

Trinity grabs my hand, which makes me look at her in shock. "Do you want to go outside with me?" She asks in a whisper. I nod, pick up Skylar, and follow Trinity. She's winded by the time we get to the bench outside.

"Crazy shit huh?" I say, trying to lighten the mood. Trinity doesn't respond, she just stares directly in front of her, her face blank. "Did you know you had a sister?"

Trinity shrugs, and I think that's the only answer I'm getting until she says, "I remember vaguely, the women coming out of the car. I was hiding behind the slide. My parent's never talked about her, we never remembered her in any way, and I was starting to wonder if I had imagined her, like she was my imaginary friend or something. I can't believe she's Crystal." Slight similarities between them are the only thing I see. Their personalities are completely different, perhaps the result of being raised in two different homes.

"Hey," I nudge her, "I dated my baby's aunt."

Trinity scrunches her nose. "Isn't that, like, incest or something?"

I chuckle and shake my head. "Look at this as a good thing. You have a sister now."

She snorts. "I finally get a sister right before I'm about to die."

I hate when Trinity talks about herself dying. Her days are ticking by slowly, death glooming over them. She could just drop dead at any moment, and that thought kills me.

Skylar crawls between our legs and sits on her butt like she's expecting something. "Hey Sky." Trinity picks the little girl up and sits her on her lap. "Can you say momma? Mo-mma?" I smile at the two girls and capture this moment on camera.

"Momma."

Trinity's head whips to look at me, a huge grin crossing her face. "Did you hear that?" I nod. "My little girl just said momma! Say it again Sky, mo-mma."

Skylar says it again and again and I'm so glad that Trinity got to be apart of another one of Skylar's firsts.

Suddenly, Crystal comes bursting from the hospital doors, her brothers and Mrs. and Mr.Logsdon right behind her. I can't even imagine what they're thinking right now. They just found their daughter who's been missing for fifteen years. Mr.Logsdon has plenty of reason to hate me now, I've dated both of his daughters.

It's still weird thinking of Trinity and Crystal as sisters.

Crystal looks around, spots me, and comes rushing towards me. She cries in my arms once again and I can't make out her muffled words.

After a minute she looks up at me with tear-filled eyes and says, "I want to go home."

I look at Trinity and down at Skylar. "I'll be by tomorrow to pick her up."

Trinity nods, looking away. I stand up and tell Crystal to go to my car.

"I'll drive her car. Where are you staying?" Shawn asks. I give him the address for the hotel and wish him good luck with all this shit.

I bend down so I'm eye level with Trinity. "The adoptive parents dropped out."

Trinity's jaw drops. "What do you mean?"

"Chloe's pregnant, so they don't want Skylar anymore."

Trinity takes a moment to process the information, and then grins. "Did you here that Sky? You're staying with daddy!"

Skylar's smiles and claps her hands with a giggle. "I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night." I wrap my arms around both of them for a hug.

"You, too. And tell Crystal I'm sorry, for everything." I nod and make my way to the car.

Crystal's in the passenger seat, her head leaning on the window, eyes closed. She's so beautiful and strong. "Soooo, Chloe's pregnant."

She gives me a confused look, her eyebrows scrunched together. "The couple that was planning to adopt?" when she nods I continue, "the women is pregnant," I explain.

Her eyes widen in realization. "Oh. Good for her."

My eyes stay on the road as I instruct, "read the top email on my phone."

Crystal hesitantly grabs my phone from the center console and uses her thumb print to unlock it. She tries to hide the small smile of satisfaction, but I see it.

It takes her only a minute to read. "So you're keeping Skylar?" Her tone is neutral, which makes me confused. I thought this was what she wanted?

"I guess." Even though I haven't decided what I was going to do, I was expecting her to be a little more excited.

She leans her head against the window again. "I'm sorry, I'm just sick of today. I wish it was just one big nightmare."

I wish I could help. I wish I could go back in time and stop Crystal's parents from taking her.

Actually, I wouldn't. After dating Trinity I wouldn't even of thought about dating her sister. Crystal would have probably been sent to lacrosse camp, too. And I might have fallen in love with Crystal first. Then there'd be no Skylar. That sounds really selfish, but I like my life how it is.

I reach across the console and lace mine and Crystal's fingers together. When she doesn't pull away, I do a happy dance in my mind.

At the hotel I get a room with two beds. Crystal showers quickly and lays down in one of the beds in a pair of boxers, that I hope are an old pair of mine, and an old Beatles t-shirt. She curls up into a ball and I hesitate a moment before laying down behind her and spooning her. She only slightly flinches at my touch, and then relaxes into my arms. "I can't believe it," Crystal mummers quietly. I almost don't hear her.

"Shh, we can talk about it tomorrow." I kiss the side of her head and a few minutes later the only sound heard is the sound of her heavy breathing.

••••••••••••

Julie pulls my hand so I'm following her up the stairs. She's the cute, innocent girl on the outside, but she's all but innocent.

She opens a door with her butt, and that's when I hear it.

Crying.

It's coming from the door across the hall. "Hey Julie, I'll be right back."

She's already stripping out of her clothes. "Hurry back."

I gulp, shut the door, and knock on the one with the crying. "Occupied," a female voice says from the other side, sniffling. This must be the bathroom.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah! I'll be out in a minute!" When she's not out in two I find a key on top of the door and open it.

On the other side it's Crystal. I recognize her from the cheer team, and a few of my classes. Why is she all alone? And crying?

She looks up at me with wide eyes. "What the hell?"

"I'm sorry, I heard you crying and wanted to make sure you were okay." Her gaze is intense. Something bad happened. "What happened?"

She tells me everything. Her boyfriend, well, ex now, was trying to pressure her to have sex after only a week of dating. A mere ten minutes ago he was drunk and almost forced her into having sex, but she locked herself in the bathroom before he could do anything more then kissing her roughly and touching her breasts. I'm angry. Really angry, and I feel a need to protect her, even though this is our first real conversation.

We talk for hours. She has two older brothers, comes from a nice family, has a dog, wants to open her own bakery when she grows up.

I give her my number and offer to drive her home. "Have you been drinking?" She asks me.

I shake my head. "I'm not a big drinker." Before I walk down the stairs I check on Julie, who has found another companion for the night. Not that I care. I found someone much more valuable.