"There is no need to be nervous." Charles told me from the driver's seat.

I sat staring out my window, going through all of the different horrible ways this could go down. I mumbled an incoherent response and tried to stop thinking of all of the negatives.

"Honestly, Cadence." He said cheerfully. "I wouldn't be bringing you to my home if I thought it would be unsafe for you. The Order has no idea that I know about all of their secret plotting. I can also promise that your father will be in too much of a stupor by this time to notice anyone coming to my home, not that he'd be looking for you to come there either."

I made a small laugh at the fact that he thought I was scared to go to his house because of The Order or my parents next door. "That is not what I'm worried about." I muttered.

He cuts his eyes over to me questioningly, then his face softened. "Oh." He said nodding his head. "You're concerned about Carrianne?"

"Well, I did break her nose."

"That was you?" He asked surprised. "What on earth led to that?" He didn't sound mad, just honestly curious.

"I don't know if I should tell you. I don't want to get her in trouble."

"Tell me." He said more seriously. When I hesitated he shook his head slowly. "Carrianne is not a bad person, Cadence. Please try to give her a chance. I know she has gotten in a lot of trouble over the last few years, but she has her reasons." He said the last part with a sad note to his voice.

I didn't want to make him upset, so I decided to change the subject. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"If you are part of The Order, then why would you want to help me? Even though I am your daughter, you don't know anything about me, and until today we had never met, so why help? Why go against the powerful organization that you run?"

He kept his eyes trained on the road, but I noticed his hands tighten on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning starkly white. "Cadence, you have every reason to believe that I am a bad man. I never wanted any of this. I wanted to leave this life behind with your mother and raise you and your brother differently. When The Order took that life away from me, I wanted revenge. I know the prophesy. I knew the second that I got the call that your mother had had twins that you were going to take down The Order. I was going to decline the offer to join, until I got that call. I wanted to be able to help you, and what better way to do that than to have my hand in The Order? Also, I've seen firsthand the terrible things they are willing to do. At least with a position with them, I had a chance to stop the corruption or at least warn the people that they were coming after." I nodded along with him as he spoke. I could see what he meant. I wanted to ask him more, but I didn't want him to feel like I was grilling him. He must have noticed my hesitation. "Surely you have more questions than that?" He prompted me.

I laughed a little under my breath. "Well, yeah." I agreed. "I have a ton, but I don't really know where to even begin. I mean, I did just find out all of this."

"I'm sure it is very overwhelming."

"Understatement of the year." I joked. He smiled and I couldn't help noticing how much he looked like Stephen when he did. That thought made me happy. My next thought, though, made me sad. "So, um, how did Derrek end up in all of this?"

"Like I told you, I was friends with his father." He replied. "I knew him very well, and when he died a few years ago I promised I would look out for his son. His mother is in and out of rehabs and is basically never around. He is an outstanding young man for having dealt with all that he has. When I found out you were coming here I asked him to look after you, and to make sure you were safe."

"So his dad was a Potente?"

"Yes."

"But not his mother?"

"No." He said. "Jan is very human. She doesn't even know about our existence. She and Derrek's father were never together, it was only a fling that resulted in his birth."

"Oh."

"You will forgive his deception, won't you?" He sounded hopeful.

I ignored his question and instead focused on the house looming in the distance. The closer and closer we got, the more my stomach began to twist. There was no scenario where this goes over pleasantly. Charles pulled into the garage and shut off the car. I noticed he took a deep breath before stepping out of the car as well.

I can't remember ever being this nervous about something.

I followed Charles through the large garage and through the door that led into the very nice kitchen. The counters were all a beautiful dark grey granite, and there was marbled floors throughout the room and leading into the living room. Charles tossed his keys onto the kitchen island and passed into the living room where I could hear the TV humming.

"Daddy?" A sickly sweet voice called out. I saw her before she saw me. Carrianne came skipping down the stairs, with a bowl of half eaten popcorn in her hand. "I was just about to watch a movie, do you care to join me?" She asked happily. Her happy face didn't last long when she noticed me standing in the doorway. "What is she doing here?" She almost growled.

Charles held out a hand a placed it on her shoulder. "We need to talk sweetheart." He cooed at her.

She shot her dagger eyes at me. "Whatever she told you is a complete lie." She spat.

Charles's shoulders sagged noticeably. This was not going as he planned. "Care bear, please have a seat." He said to her as he pointed at the couch. He turned to me and inclined his chin for me to do the same.

I very reluctantly walked over to their plush, white, wrap around couch and sat down on the very far edge, while Carrianne huffed and plopped down onto the opposite end. "What's all this about Daddy?"

Charles sat down on the coffee table in front of her and held her hands in his. "Let me try to explain it all, and then you can ask whatever you want, alright?"

She nodded her head, poking out her bottom lip as she did it. I had to admit, seeing them together, it made me a little jealous. It was obvious just from seeing the way that they interact that she was daddy's little girl and she had him wrapped around her little finger. I even felt almost bad for her that her whole world was about to be rocked.

I watched in silence as he told her everything. Her face changing multiple times from disbelief, to anger, to hurt. My heart tugged for her because I knew exactly how all of this felt. Living so much of your life, believing one thing, only to find out that it was all a lie.

"I don't believe you." She said with tears in her eyes when he finally stopped speaking. "You're lying, or I'm dreaming, or something."

"Care bear, I am so sorry. I should have told you the truth so much sooner, but I hope you can understand why I didn't."

"Mommy wouldn't do those things." She defended Annabeth.

Charles took a deep breath. "I know for a fact that you aren't having that much trouble believing it. Just think of all the pressure she has put on you. You know in your heart that what I am saying is real. It's all very scary, but all very real."

She turned her gaze to me for the first time. "You knew about this?"

I shook my head quickly. "I only found out the other day about Charles and you being..." I let the sentence drop when she started crying. "I'm really sorry this is all happening."

"Cadence, you have nothing to apologize for." Charles interjected.

"I know, I just meant, I understand how you're feeling right now." I told her.

She stood up quickly, tossing her father's hands aside and wiped away her tears and smeared mascara. "You know nothing about me, or about the way I feel." She said acidly to me, then turned to her father. "I'd like to go to bed now." She said, her voice distant now. She didn't wait for a response or look at either of us again. She simply turned and slowly made her way back up the stairs, closing her door quietly behind her.

"Well," Charles said turning to face me now. "I must say, that went much smoother than I'd expected." He joked.

I laughed too until I saw the sadness in his eyes he was trying to hide. I walked over to him and put my hand on top of his shoulder. "She will forgive you." I whispered.

"How can you be sure?" He asked looking at the ground.

"Because you're her father, and it is clear how much she loves you."

"I hope you're right."

"I am." I smiled and he looked up to me to return the gesture. "I am also feeling pretty beat."

He stood and put his arm over my shoulder leading me toward the stairs. It was slightly awkward for the first few seconds, but then I warmed up to the contact. "I will show you to the guest room." He said cheerily again, obviously trying to hide his hurt. "I hope that you'll be comfortable here. If you decided to stay, you know, long term after this, you could decorate it however you like."

I just nodded along, not wanting to bring him down even more by pointing out the fact that his wife would probably have an issue with me just moving on in. I'm sure he had a plan in place for that, but I wasn't sure what it was, and I didn't really feel like asking.

We passed by a door with a large wooden 'C' cutout hanging from the center that I could only assume to be Carrianne's room. We both stiffened a little as we heard the muffled sniffles from the other side of the door.

Charles let me go and opened up the very next door for me.

Great. The room would be directly next to Carrianne's.

I stepped in and was slightly amazed by the room. It was bigger than I'd expected, and very nicely decorated. Although, that part wasn't very surprising. The whole house was pretty swanky. The room had taupe walls and white crown molding. There was a large queen sized poster bed in the center, with a thick cream colored comforter. All around the room there were beautiful paintings. Mostly all landscapes, but they were breath taking. Charles caught me staring at a one of them and he crossed his arms to admire it also. "Carrianne is quite the artist, huh?"

"Carrianne painted these?" I asked surprised.

Charles nodded his head and then walked over to the closet, pulling the double doors open. I followed him over and watched as he pulled a big brown bag out from the top of the closet and laid it on top of the white dresser. "I bought you a few things in preparation of you coming. Now that I have met you, I know that this stuff isn't really going to be your thing, but it will do for tonight until I can go out and pick up some other things tomorrow." He said awkwardly as he moved over to the doorway. "I'm very happy you're here, Cadence."

"You can just call me Cade."

"Ok, Cade." He smiled. "Sleep well."

"Thanks." I replied as he closed the door behind him.

Once he was gone I opened the bag, shifting through some of the clothes inside. I had to stifle a laugh. It was clear he had bought these things thinking I'd be a little more like Carrianne. Everything was very girly, frilly, and pink. I pulled out a little silk pajama set. It was a white spaghetti strapped top with two tiny yellow boys on the straps, and a pair of ruffled yellow shorts with pictures of white bows. It was certainly going to be the most girly, and probably most expensive thing I'd ever worn.

I changed quickly, and had to admit that they were surprisingly comfortable. I went to the bed and pulled back the thick covers. This room reminded me so much of a nice hotel. It even had a radio clock on the nightstand. I was thrilled when I turned it on to find it does work. It's been days since I was able to listen to any music. The sound of Nickelback filled the room, and I tried to ignore all the feelings that the songs brought up in me. I was just about to climb into bed when I noticed the window.

Curiosity got the better of me and I crept to the window, slowly pulling the blinds up.

Sure enough, this room looked right into my old bedroom, just like Carrianne's room had. I sighed as I stared into my old room, the blinds still wide open from the last time I had been there.

I was struck with the thought of how much everything had changed since the first time I stood in that window, looking over to this house.

Who knows how many more things will change now.

(A/N: Hey guys! I love you all so much that even when I feel like death, I deliver my update! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I don't usually add notes to my chapters like this because  I find it distracting, but I wanted to ask something. I've been having a harder time lately deciding what  I want to do with this story, so y'all let me know what you'd like to see happen, who'd you like to see more of, just anything you want!)