Boston Airport was crowded with men in business suits on their way to early morning meetings, families urging their children to slow down after their overnight flights, and security guards patrolling the terminals, treating every individual as if they suspected them of being terrorists. The terminal stunk of sweat, cleaning products, and cheap food that they charged four times its worth. The plane engines vibrated the glass of the windows as a woman spoke over the intercom, announcing yet another terminal change on some unsuspecting passengers.

Amelia and Emery exited their plane, their necks stiff and their butts sore. Emery looked at her mother. She wore her usual black wig that she wore out in public to hide her unique, silver blonde hair. Her face looked tired, her skin was sagging like she wasn't eating enough. Maybe she wasn't. Her powers were taking a toll on her body and she had been using them a lot lately. Hopefully going back to her old pack would help, although she had a feeling it wasn't going to be that easy.

Amelia had told her almost everything growing up. Where she came from, who her father was, their heritage and where their powers came from. Being descendants of Rhea made them unique and coveted. What her mother didn't know was that Emery had done her own research, trying to figure out the origins of their powers and what made them so special. Why did they have to live on the run her entire life?

Emery could remember the night she found out. She had been snooping in a trunk of her mother's things, the only piece of furniture her mother carted with them everywhere they went. Her mom had always kept it locked, but she didn't know her daughter had taught herself how to pick locks. Getting into the trunk was easy. The contents were a bit more difficult to face. She found pictures, hundreds of photos of people she never met but heard thousands of stories about. Her uncle and his wife with their three kids, her cousins. An old picture of her late grandfather, countless family photos at bbqs, pack gatherings, and holidays spent together.

She couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. Her mother had always tried her best to give her a seemingly normal childhood but moving around every year or two, sometimes running in the middle of the night, didn't exactly give her a place that felt like home. In every single photo her mother was smiling. She was happy. Happy with her family and her pack. Sometimes, she felt guilty for existing, for ripping her mother away from her pack and her mate.

Amelia didn't like to talk about her father. Not that she never did, she was always as honest as she could be and tried her best to answer her questions but there was always a deep sadness whenever she spoke of him. Sometimes she found her mother late at night crying soundlessly. Like, if she allowed a single sound to pass through her lips her world might come crashing down. There had been a few instances where her mother would gasp in pain, clutching at her chest, which seemed to break her further, but she never once complained.

Her mother was the strongest woman, the strongest person she had ever known. So, when she had found that book, the one that spoke of the first pack, the first mated pair, she finally understood the true hardship and pain her mother was going through. She may not be able to understand the full ramifications, being mateless herself, but knowing the consequences of the decisions she made, made her love and admire her mother even more.

Amelia was quiet as they walked through the terminal to baggage claim. Emery took in the airport, breathing in the smell of jet fuel and body odor. She had never been to the states before, never met her family, not in person at least. Except for her Uncle, but that was almost a decade ago. She was so nervous, she believed she might actually throw up.

They were the last ones to arrive at their baggage belt. The flight they managed to get on at the last minute in London was barely half full. Most of the bags had already been carried off by their owners. Amelia caught sight of her old, wooden trunk, sliding around the automatic belt. It was the only thing she bothered to save from the London manor. Emery helped her pull it off the belt, settling it carefully on the thin carpet floor.

Amelia was busy typing away on her phone, texting Goddess knows who, when she looked up smiling.

"He's here." Amelia said, unable to contain her excitement. It had been nearly ten years since she last saw him.

Emery tried to ignore the bats beating in her stomach as she grabbed an end of the trunk, helping her mother outside to the curbside pick-up. Just as they exited the airport, out into the hot, humid, stinky air, a white minivan pulled up directly in front of them, throwing the car in park making the car stutter in protest.

Emery watched as a man got out of the van. His hair silver blonde with sea-green eyes was exactly like her mother. Amelia couldn't hold herself back, flinging herself into her twins' arms. Her Uncle looked exactly like the pictures she had grown up studying, his voice a bit deeper in person than she remembered over the phone during their weekly chats. Emery barely remembered their first meeting. The memories we're buried deep in her subconscious. She hung back, giving her mother a chance to reunite with her brother.

Amelia clung on to her brother, fisting his shirt in both her hands, terrified that it was all just a dream. He smelled exactly the way she remembered, only now additional scents lingered with his own, those of his wife and three boys. Damon looked the same to her, a few extra lines across his forehead, his hair was cropped shorter than she remembered him wearing it, but he had thickened out over the years, adding on more layers of muscle.

Amelia pulled back, for once she didn't care about the tears flooding her eyes. She was so happy and nothing was going to stop that. Damon looked at her in the same way, tears slipping down his cheeks, his lips pulled up into his goofy grin. She ruffled his hair out of nervous habit before turning back to her daughter.

"Baby, this is your Uncle Damon. Damon, you know Emery." Amelia introduced the two, wiping away the tears from her eyes.

"You've grown since I last saw you," Damon stepped towards her, pulling her into his arms.

Emery felt stiff in his arms, like he was hugging a wooden board, but once she took in his scent, she relaxed. He smelled a lot like her mother, just a bit more musky. Even though she spent every week of her life on the phone with her Uncle, talking with him about everything under the moon, it was still shocking to finally meet him in person. Oddly enough it felt right, like coming home for the first time.

Damon stepped back from his two favorite women in the world, smiling brightly at them. Emery looked so much like her mother, barely a trace of her father. The only piece of Gabriel he could see in the girl was her hair, which was a bit darker than their silver blonde with black roots. Halfway through her hair it transitioned from black to blonde, and of course her eyes, she had his exact shade of silver.

Gabriel wasn't a topic his sister brought up, ever. She never asked how he was or what he had done with his life since she left. He knew it would be too painful and he thanked the Goddess everyday he never had to tell her.

"Let's get out of here." Amelia said, breaking the silence, her eyes scanning their surroundings.

Damon nodded his head once in agreement. Together he and Amelia loaded the trunk into the back of the van before they all loaded inside. Emery took the middle row while his sister joined him up front.

"Since when do you drive the van?" Amelia asked, still scanning the few people outside the terminal as they pulled away from the airport.

"Cordie took the boys to their friends house this morning in the SUV. I didn't have much of a choice," Damon said, pointing out the obvious. No one knew she was coming.

Amelia barely had time to text Damon her flight's arrival time before boarding the plane herself. She never expected to come back, but with her powers taking an increasing amount of energy and the sudden increase in attacks, her options were limited. She needed help. For the first time in seventeen years, she was going back to her pack in search of answers.

"Who knows we're here?" Amelia asked him, her voice hushed.

Emery continued looking out the window. Her mother knew perfectly well she could hear, but pretended not to anyways.

"No one. I didn't tell a soul," Damon assured her.

"He'll know soon. There's a reason I've kept an ocean between us."

Emery's ear perked with interest. Was she talking about her father? Was she going to get to meet him? Did she want to?