If you weren't aware, Mason has a daughter named Sophia. You can meet her in Out of the Ordinary.

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Carter couldn't help but smile at the noise that filled Captain's house. It was the type of noise that came with family and close friends all getting into heated arguments. The type of arguments that could end peacefully or with a smack across the head. But it was all fueled with a closeness that couldn't be broken.

It was the same noise that echoed from the backyard as the cousins all created chaos with water guns and water balloons. When asked how Kennedy and Harrison wanted to celebrate their seventeenth birthdays, they answered with a joint party with the cousins at Captain's house. It was the type of party no one wanted to end.

"Carter," Maggie said, following Carter into the kitchen with empty plates. "Is Yvette all right?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I saw her sitting alone and wanted to make sure."

"I can go see."

Carter loaded up her stack of dishes and pushed through the kitchen door to the back of the house. As Maggie had said, Yvette sat alone at a window seat that overlooked the back porch and yard. From her posture, Carter couldn't see any tension. She seemed to simply be thinking.

"Am I disturbing you?" Carter asked.

Yvette smiled and Carter never failed to admire this woman for her openness. She'd never once had trouble making a spot for her in the Owens, Keller and Evans clan. When Carter had learned of the many cousins she'd grown up around it made sense how she could feel comfortable with family chaos.

"Not at all," Yvette said. "I'd be happy to have your company."

Carter took the spot beside Yvette and gazed out on the water battle playing out on the lawn. Screams and insults were thrown as easily as water balloons. The hot sun made the fact of getting soaked a fun occurrence rather than an annoyance.

But Carter realized Yvette wasn't watching the water war, instead she watched the lone figure sitting on the porch swing on her phone.

Almost fourteen, Sophia looked more like a young adult than most eighteen-year-olds. Carter knew it was more than her physical maturity, it was how she carried herself. Her appearance was never unkempt or wrinkled. Everything about her was composed and contained. She didn't slouch but sat upright with her ankles crossed. Her emotions might play out on her face but rarely did they overwhelm her expression.

Having watched her grow up, Carter knew this was how she'd always been. In contrast to Kennedy and Harrison's boisterous nature, she'd seemed almost dull. But Carter knew otherwise, she wasn't sure she knew of a more brilliant person.

But Carter knew that the type of brilliance Sophia had was isolating.

"Any special thoughts on your mind today?" Carter asked.

Yvette smiled softly but this time Carter saw the worry in it.

"Not special," Yvette said. "It's thoughts every mother has for her child." She rested her hand on her fist. "Sending her to school with kids as gifted as her has kept her from being bored but..."

"But you're worried that when it comes time she won't know how to interact with normal people?"

Yvette laughed lightly. "You said it. The world is full of average people and she's going to have to figure out how to navigate it."

"How does she get along with your cousins' kids?" Carter asked.

In the backyard, Harrison let out a battle cry with Kennedy and charged a blockade. Sophia lifted her head but Carter didn't register any envy or even a hint of desire to join in the fun. After watching Harrison and Kennedy get pelted, she returned to her phone.

"They have a hard time relating to her," Yvette said. "Because she goes to an exclusive school and she finds their loudness overwhelming. Though she inherited her father's quick tongue, she didn't inherit his charismatic personality. It makes for sticky situations."

"Have you thought of transferring her to a more normal school?" Carter asked.

Yvette nodded. "I don't think she'd handle public school well. We've talked of Hamilton Prep. Kennedy and Harrison go there, they'd be able to keep an eye out for her. It would give her the exposure to more average people that I think she needs."

Carter watched Sophia, thinking of her time at Hamilton, the loneliness of it only broken with the strange antagonistic, though somehow companionable, interactions she had with Mason.

But Carter's situation was different, she'd been from a lower class in other students' minds, and she didn't have people she knew to help support her. The truth of it all was Sophia would spend much of her life feeling out of place with the people around her.

"What does Mason think of it?" Carter asked.

"I don't think he wants to put her in a place where she has to face so many challenges. He wants to protect her. But I think the shock of going from a gifted school straight into a college would be even more jarring in the long run. At least while she's still young she can make mistakes and learn with us there to help her through it. And with Kennedy and Harrison nearby as well. Next year that won't be a possibility with them going off to college."

Carter saw the wisdom in that but didn't pity the struggles Sophia would face.

She stood up. "I have the strongest urge to go talk to your daughter."

Yvette smiled. "If anyone could understand, it would be you. Because of Mason's father, he never lacked for friends and I grew up with a built-in group of friends." She sighed. "I understand my daughter in so many ways but there are some in which she is a mystery to me." She stared at her daughter. "I love her. Quirks in all."

Carter could see that love clear on Yvette's face. It spoke of wanting to protect her daughter from every struggle. But it was also backed with the wisdom of a woman understanding that some struggles had to be faced.

When Carter opened the glass door to the porch, Sophia raised her head.

"Mind if I join you?" Carter asked.

"Feel free," Sophia said.

Carter sat down and Sophia lowered her phone.

"Do you want to talk to me?" she asked.

"If you're willing to talk," Carter said.

Something Carter had learned early on with Sophia was that her question, though they seemed a bit rude to others, were simply her way of seeking information. And so Carter learned to answer as straightforward as possible.

Though she felt they shared similarities in the level of intelligence, Carter was also aware that emotions played a large part in her everyday life as logic did for Sophia.

"Okay," Sophia said. "Please just give me a minute to win these three chess matches."

To her credit, it was a minute later that Sophia set down her phone.

"What did you want to discuss?" Sophia asked.

Carter found Sophia to be a wonderful oddity. She spoke with and conducted herself like someone much older. Carter knew when she used the word discuss, she meant that in the literal sense. Small talk bored her and Carter had been on the receiving end of her bluntly expressing this fact if the conversation veered into that avenue. Though abrupt, Carter also understood that Sophia never meant offense but felt she was simply giving information.

On the flip side, Carter found her more than willing to answer a question even if the topic was more mundane.

"I'm curious why you aren't joining in with the water fight," Carter said.

Sophia looked out at the laughing faces and shrugged. "It's simple. I don't find amusement in getting attacked, wet, or having to spend the rest of the day in sopping clothes."

"You could always borrow a change of clothes," Carter said.

Sophia shook her head. "I don't feel comfortable wearing someone else's clothes."

Carter nodded to this. "Do you ever feel you are missing out?"

Despite the simplicity of the question, Sophia didn't answer right away. She sat back and Carter knew she was giving the question her full consideration. To her, it was a question of logic, not feeling.

"At times I do feel like a math equation while the rest of the world is a painting," she said. "I understand that colors have a numerical value but don't fully understand how those values create a picture."

The strangely poetic response almost made Carter smile. This girl was an unusual mix of deep contemplation and honest heart.

"Is that ever hard?" Carter asked.

"Of course, when two elements can't connect it creates discord. For me, it means I don't understand why someone reacts certain ways."

"Such as?"

"Last week, one of my cousins asked what I thought of her new sunglasses. I answered that they were too big for her face. I explained that they diminished her naturally attractive features and she should go with a smaller scale. She got angry at me, but I thought I was helping her."

"I can see how you would be," Carter said. "But oftentimes people want a simple positive answer."

"My mother said the same thing. But I find it hard knowing when someone wants facts or simply to be appeased."

"That's a hard distinction to make at times. Something that might help is asking questions. Ask the person if they want facts or encouragement."

Sophia absorbed with silently and Carter could see her storing away the suggestion.

"Thank you," she said. "I think that will be helpful."

She smiled at Carter. It was something Carter knew she didn't do easily, not like her mother. Her smiles were given when a true connection was made. This Carter knew she inherited from her father. Mason might have spent years smiling to crowds but his true smile was a rarity that Carter only discovered until their friendship became deeper.

"I learned about Schrodinger's Cat last week, do you want to talk about it with me?"

Carter smiled, seeing how Sophia's eyes brightened. This girl had a heart hidden behind a wall of logic but when found, it was an inviting place. "I do."

For the next hour, Carter fell into an intense discussion of theories and parallel universes.

The conversation eventually ended when the light faded and the water warriors decided to waddle into the house to change and eat cake.

"Thank you for talking to me," Sophia said.

"Always a pleasure," Carter said.

When they headed inside, Sophia wandered off to find her mother, and Carter's path was intercepted by Mason.

"What's the verdict?" he asked without preamble.

"I think Hamilton is a good option. It won't be easier for her though."

Mason looked at his daughter and Carter could see his heart in his gaze.

"I know. But for her, I don't think life is ever going to be easier."

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Dorky Donkey!

(Okay, yeah definitely questioning that one and why that would even be a thing inside my mind. Like why? Why JOY!! WHY ARE YOU SO WEIRD! Whatever, I'm accepting myself but mostly I'm moving on)

Very rarely do I make demands of you besides the demand of your first carton of ice cream and everything. But today I am making a demand. I want to know your thoughts on this chapter. You've seen Sophia through Carter's eyes, what do you make of her? 💬💭🗯🧐

It's really bizarre for me writing things out of order because most of you who read update by update have already seen Sophia in high school in Like Father Like Daughter. In that chapter so many people called Sophia Carter 2.0. Looking at it from your view point, where all you've known so far is Carter's in-your-face sass and sarcasm it would make sense to view Sophia with the same tone.

But as a writer I saw her being very different in tone to Carter and realized that seeing them together you'd now see the contrast between them. Carter reacts from emotion, Sophia reacts from logic and a lot of not understanding people around her.

I'm not sure I'm making sense here but anyways I wanted to introduce Sophia through the perspective of Carter so that we could see how, though they share similarities, they are distinctively different. I don't know if that helped or made sense to you. Let me know.

Also I think the rationale tone of this author's note makes up for the completely insensible greeting to it. Thank goodness for balance!

Vote, comment, follow but only if you're left-handed. Right-handed people will just have to deal!

Real photo of Mason protecting his daughter.