*/ Taking steps to crawl

[Margaret Stanwood]

•• Stanwoods Twins••

[/i][/b][/font]

I would like to reach out my hand
I MAY SEE YOU, I MAY TELL YOU TO RUN
you know what they say about the young [/center]

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------ Games? No, not games. Derek Stanwood was a boy who was always very honest, especially with his twin sister, Meg knew that but he was wrong about the situation this time. She was not playing games. She was not playing at anything. Meg had dragged Derek to the United States so that she... they, so that they could have a chance to meet the only real family they have apart from each other. And that is what she had done, so what if she had also befriended Shay Anderson in the process? There was nothing wrong with that. Of course, all Derek could see was an image of Meg using Shay but that wasn't it at all. Why was he so troubled by the idea of Meg getting to know them? Why did he feel so threatened by his own family? Why could he just accept it? Maybe even try to get to know them too? But nooo... The one time he had ever even met Shay, he was distant and cold shouldered as if she were just every other person Meg would introduce him to. He was polite as always, but aloof and Meg didn't understand why he didn't want to know them. She knew his fears, she had them too, but come on! Doesn't the curiosity just kill him? Meg felt like she was going to burst every time she hung out with Shay or had a brief conversation with Shawn, her... their father. But the reason Derek thought it was a game, was because it had been a couple months already and Meg still hadn't told them. She still hadn't told the Anderson's that she was a part of their bloodline. And part of her didn't want to.

------ She was not ready to tell them! She was too scared. She could not do it, not yet, the timing wasn't right. She still hadn't found out what happened to their mother. She hadn't landed a major role in a show or film or anything and yes that was important to whether or not she told them. You see, Shawn and Rachel Anderson gave her and her brother up and yet less than a year later had Shay and kept her. They obviously had the means to take care of them so why? Why did they give them up? What made them so easily dispensable? And Maybe, if Meg was on her way to being a star, if she were strong enough, determined and impressive, maybe then, when they found out, they wouldn't care so much that she lied to them. They would just be happy that she was related to them and then everything would be fine. And by then, Derek would have come around and he's so fucking smart with his straight A's that of course they will want him. Here's the thing about the twins. Meg is the popular one, Derek's the smarter one. Meg's the one who pretends to be confident, Derek's the one that IS confident. Derek loves his sister and clings to her to feel safe. Meg loves her brother and unknowingly uses his fear of separation to get her way, such as coming here. Derek worries about Meg and how far she might go, Meg admires Derek and his strength and worries he might realize he's better than her and leave. And that's why it was up to her to put the family back together. They might not want the two poor English twins yet, but when she gets better, then they will. They have to.

------ Maybe that was part of the reason Me had such a thing for Anchors. On her person at that moment she was actually wearing eight of them, one on her bag, one on her hat, one on her tank, one on each earring, one on her bracelet, one on her necklace. This was not counting the one on her lower abdomen. Maybe her obsession with anchors was because they're a simble for stability, something she has never had before, not with family and not with money since she was twelve. She just wanted a real home. But whatever, Meg was actually at the Anderson estate at that very moment. She was just hanging out with Shay for a bit before Derek grabbed her on his way back from the college. To both her and Derek's knowledge, Mr. Shawn Anderson was not at home and wouldn't be for awhile. What they didn't know is that he was already on his way back the large home. Meg smiled at Shay, oh and by the way, Meg was fairly certain her sister was the most beautiful girl on the planet. They were by the front door, as Meg was just waiting for Derek to show up, "So it is dorky, I'm not going to lie but Shay I'm telling you, this blacksmith would make you swoon, who cares if he's a rennie, I'M a rennie." Meg said matter-of-factly, in their conversation to the door. Her british accent, shining through all her words richly. "Not all of us become like," Meg swung the front door open she spoke, opening it to see Derek, "...My brother."



------ Derek Stanwood had been at the college to hand in his paper for his history class as well as appeal to his advisor to let him take on another credit or two, hence his not being dressed in his usual apparel. He had agreed to meet Meg on the way back. She was on the way plus, when Meg asked something of him, he wasn't very practiced when it came to saying no. Except when it came to this "family" situation. As far as he saw it, Shay and Shawn were not family, Shawn was a sperm donor, just the same as a million other-- actually no. To him, Shawn was a dead beat. He could have taken care of Meg and him but he chose not to for some reason. And honestly, Derek didn't care why. Do you know all the things that could have been avoided had they been here, together. Could you imagine all that time Derek and Meg could have been best friends instead of apart. She wouldn't have been groomed as the future wife of a disgusting rapist and he would not have had to taken the blame over and over. He wouldn't have been locked in. He wouldn't have nearly died. He wouldn't be scared to even have a walk in closet, or start to sweat when he went down into a basement or cellar. He wouldn't have been the freak in the orphanage. He would be able to read better. He could have been so much... but no. Meg kept saying that this was their real family but she seems to have forgotten they had a real family. The Stanwoods. The ones who named them, the ones who loved them, adopted them together. The ones who died.

------ But, I guess that didn't matter at that moment. He just wanted to get her and go as soon as he could, she promised him he wouldn't be there. Of course, neither of them knew that he would be and that this relatively normal night would be the night to change their lives forever. Derek made his trek all the way up to the front of the building about to knock when the door opened on him and he saw his twin and Shay standing there. Derek raised an eyebrow slightly at Meg's words, "My sister?" He asked standing there looking at her before mentally shrugging it off. He nodded towards his "sister", "Hello Shay." He said forcing a small smile, despite how awkward he felt. He was not a good lier like his sister but I guess, he didn't have to lie. He just had to not tell, which he was perfectly happy to do. "You ready to go?" He asked Meg, turning back towards her but then looking up as he heard another person enter the room, even from where he stood just outside.

------------------------------------------

STATUS;; complete
TAGGED;; shay and shawn anderson
CREDITS;; format to me, inspired by everyone, graphics to me
LYRICS;; 'send me on my way' rusted root
CLOTHES;; Derek, Meg
NOTES;; late late late but yay I'm excited.
[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Shay Anderson]

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OCTOBER, 2007. LATE AFTERNOON. ANDERSON ESTATE.

[/size]
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- - - SHE WAS CONFUSED.

[/b][/font] for the first time in a long time, shay anderson was confused. she was never confused. she never had been, and most certainly never will be, the type of person to get confused. in her eyes, she always knew as much as she needed to. if she ever wanted to know more, she'd make an effort. she'd go to the library. she'd, y'know, actually care. nine times out of ten, shay anderson didn't care. unless she was interested, her attention was directed elsewhere. and she was happy like that. life was just that much easier if you focused on you, yourself and you. things would be dramatic and chaotic if she bothered to get involved in the petty drama that surrounded her. came with the lifestyle, which she understood. you get in or you watch from the sidelines laughing. she liked the sidelines better in this case. that was just the way things were with her. people got used to it. but, she was still not the person who got confused. remember that. if she wanted to know more, she would ask a question. but yet, here we are, with the female in question feeling rather bewildered about the entire situation. it annoyed her. which confused her even more - why get angry over something she could easily dismiss? that's how she got around everything else, after all. unless she decided to give the effort required to obtain knowledge required for any given time, chances are, she wouldn't be doing much. again, you're just going to have to get used to that.

wait. what situation? she was confused about the entire situation. what entire situation? i suppose that brings us back to where we began: the situation. like the creepy dude from jersey shore, she didn't like this current situation. it was the same situation she had endured at the end of the previous school year, the conflict which had destroyed so much. it sounds shallow, being so torn over social circles. she'd taunt it if it wasn't her. it was pathetic. who gives a damn who you decide to hang around with? it's not like anyone else really cares. she didn't. yet, here we are, talking about it. because, see, it went deeper than that. shay amber was a different person around different people. she was still her, don't get me wrong - it'd impossible to get her to be anyone else. but all ranges of character depth are dropped the moment you put partying above everything else. the people she had been circling with had never been interested in anything more than how many shots she could shoot. these rich, trust fund types were just as bad as the shak kids. they didn't care about you; they cared about what kind of time you could give. that was the situation that confused her. facinating, isn't it?

to be honest, she found it repulsive. everytime she got around to forgetting, she kicked herself for being so worked up over something so juvenile. other than that, it confused her. why was she so conflicted? what was the point? what would she decide? as inconsiderate and headstrong as she was, shay anderson was still a teenage girl - she yerned for some sort of social acceptance. people lie when they say they don't give a fuck. she just did on a smaller level. that's fine if you do, too. but here it was, hanging over her head like some sort of diseased sheep. part of her was happy with her current place - she had friends she could be insecure with. she always had people willing to go out and get smashed in order to forget about everything else. partying was her way of dealing with the pressure and stress. being friends with girls like bailey mitchell and nina suresh allowed her to let her guard down. they didn't expect her to be witty and in-the-now of all the international peril. they didn't expect anything. everyone else just did - the dress, the non-stop shooters, the dirty dancing. she collapsed on one of these girls' floors more often than she slept in her own bed. it was always starbucks and shopping the following morning, usually blowing off their first class in order to deal with the monster hangover. it was that simple, mindless routine that made this lifestyle so easy. as bad as people want into 'this' world, how often it is really worth it? soon as she emerged into it, she discovered it was as empty as she felt. which is exactly why she had stayed here, at the top of the high school food chain, for as long as she had. regardless of the disappointment in face of said emptiness, it allowed her to be empty around other empty people. no one bothered to talk about it, but they felt it too. bring it up? you're gone. duck down and pretend your life is perfect? now you get it.

but, then there was the other side of things. when she had first come to valkyrie, at the end of her sophomore year, shay had blended easily with the artistic scene. within a couple of weeks, her nightlife was sitting in the center of mellow drinks and people, judging everyone else. maybe there would be time to see the latest art nouveau-inspired show at the museum; catch a silent flick at the old movie theatre. the routine of 'drink-starbucks-shop' was almost unheard-of. if she did hear of it, she mocked it. it's what her friends did. at the time, she'd been an unconfident, attention-seeking doormat. shut-up. it didn't take long, however, for shay herself to be snarking at every other starbucks whoring girl and her underfed friends. it's an easy thing to get into. be that as it were, she had often found the mellow drinks crowd to be more demanding than the a-listers that everyone seemed to fawn over. the freaks in flannel didn't get mentioned on scandal star very often. instead, they told you to read up on more foreign poetry and get involved in some sort of hippie-rally. cool. she liked protesting the norm. the empty and mindless bit just never atributed to this clique - if you could call it that. you can't be insecure around these people. although you can get upset and not be judged on your ability to knock back eight vodka shots ( which she could, for the record ). it was all of it. it was annoying. and it was fucking confusing.

the longer shay contemplated what she was never going to do, the more confusing it became. her witty comments weren't charming everyone; she didn't say any. she rarely spent time not introducing herself to people and ignoring their conversation. why? because she was always preoccupied thinking about this fuck-faced issue. no one cared, she didn't really. it was just constantly hanging over her head. she'd get a real distaste for the level of superficiality many of her so-called friends possessed, and dare to leave them in a gutter for the wanna-be hipsters. then they would say something ugly to her and she'd spit out the original distaste. it irritated her. i suppose you forget yourself if you're in the one in the center of some sort of unfortunate drama. maybe that's why all the queen bee types were all the same. but whatever. she could ignore it expertly. why? because she'd been doing that since september. no reason to stop now. distrastion she enjoyed best? company of neither trust fund whores or psuedo professional hipsters. normal-ish people. like margaret standwood, meg. she had been mindlessly small-talking her friend for most of the afternoon, simply hanging around the empty home she shared with her father. the only sour bit of the afternoon? her twin brother was picking her up. now, she wouldn't judge. derek standwood sounded like a lovely person the way meg described him. it was just when she met him - just once - that his gave her that familiar distaste. she hated when people obviously didn't like her. what wasn't there to like? honestly.

"So it is dorky, I'm not going to lie but Shay I'm telling you, this blacksmith would make you swoon, who cares if he's a rennie, I'M a rennie." as meg spoke, the irish model smirked. blacksmiths could be hot. will turner is one, and she loved her some tortured destined pirate. "i'm not one to judge. i like some good ol' fashioned swooning. i'd never say he was a dork," she turned her head as meg opened the door, unexpectantly finding derek standing there. arching an eyebrow, she smirked again. "well, not out loud, at least." leaning her weight onto her hip, shay merely nodded in response to his smile. what manners? "how's it going?" you know how you have to say that to everyone you see? she never understood why. it's not like anyone ever cared. 'take the beer and shut-up'. that's what goes through the bartenders' head everytime you arrive at the dive bar with an new ex-wife and no friends with couches you can sleep on. "You ready to go? looking at meg as derek spoke, she smiled lightly. it had been a good time that afternoon. "i think i got fired again." well, until those words. the husky, accented voice of one doctor shawn anderson interrupted the lovely scene. rolling her blue eyes, she looked over her shoulder to see her father, leaning nonchalantly on his cane, at the entrance of the foyer. he must have come through the back door. okay then."guy from radiology not play nice in the weekly bet?" the sarcasm was evident as she smiled; such banter was their conversation of choice. "he got to see the x-rays. it looked like a banana." she rolled her eyes again. typical of her father. she had taken after him in never introducing herself, yet she was civil enough to notice other people in the room. "you're late, anyway," leaving shawn raising his eyebrows, shay turned back to look at the standwood twins. "my dad and i had plans to grab some dinner, if you guys wanted..." raising her hand, pointing back at the crippled doctor with her thumb, shay rasied her eyebrows innocently. [/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

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STATUS, complete.
TAGGED, them stanwoods.
LENGTH, 1779 words.
ATTIRE, hurr.
NOTES, SO fucking late D: i'm so rusty with shay. promise they'll get better<3
CREDITS, format and graphics to me.
lyrics to boys like girls - "hero/heroine"

[Derek Stanwood]

•• Stanwoods Twins••

[/i][/b][/font]
I would like to reach out my hand
I MAY SEE YOU, I MAY TELL YOU TO RUN
you know what they say about the young [/center]

------------------------------------------

------ Tension between the raven haired twins had been growing lately. It was clear they still loved each other but they weren't as in sync as they had once been and it was worrying them both, not that either would bring it up. It would solve itself right? At least that's what they were telling each other. Meg was convinced family would solve it. She didn't know what she was expecting exactly but she was expecting something and whatever it was, it would bring closure if timed correctly. And it was not the right time. Meg could understand Derek's mistrust of families in general. Not that she ever had much reason too but while she went through some horrible things in the home of the Wickhams, she could not imagining living Derek's life. Her first six years in with the Wickhams were alright, a little ignored but she more than made up with it with friends and everything. It was not until she was ten where things got bad, but she would admit, when they got bad, they got really bad. But Derek? He had never had a family past the age of four. After the Stanwood's died, he was never adopted. He just lived in that orphanage in London for the next four years with an abusive guardian. She didn't understand how Derek was able to survive what that man had done to him. And it probably goes into the reasons Derek grew up a bit on the socially awkward side, okay no, a lot on the socially awkward side.

------ It doesn't matter, what matters is that when Meg was eight and getting a horse for her birthday, Derek was locked in a dirt cellar in the dark, given a glass of water a day and a piece of bread a week for eight months. After five months some kids snuck him an oil lamp that he would hide when the man who put him down there came walking by, but till this day his eyes are very sensitive to light. Meg wanted to take him in to get his eyes checked but its not like they had the money or insurance for that. That's still five months of shadows, and eight months of seclusion. And if you watch he's always very careful to avoid basements, closets, anywhere enclosed and dark. He would probably rather die in a tornado than go into a storm cellar ever again. She admired him for surviving. She could understand his resistance to meeting the family that could have helped him avoid that experience but it's not like the Anderson's threw Derek down there! No that was asshole who ran the orphanage who was now spending his days in prison. It was in the past, time to move forward. Meg pulled her jacket over her shoulders, buttoning it up, careful not to screw up the strategically placed hat on her head over her fairly messy bun underneath.

------ Meg smirked slightly as Shay replied, "i'm not one to judge. i like some good ol' fashioned swooning. i'd never say he was a dork," Meg had been talking about the blacksmith at the Renaissance fair. He was tall and beautiful and tan and Meg couldn't help but admire his artistry. But when the door opened on her brother part of her was actually proud to see him. Mainly because he was in jeans and a semi-normal shirt. Modern day clothes suited him in an adorably awkward kind of way, plus it just meant he was expanding his life outside of fair. Plus usually he was told to wear his street clothes by Meg, brow beaten into it but she didn't even mention it to him today. "well, not out loud, at least." Meg couldn't help but chuckle at the fairly perfect timing set up. She looked over at Derek who looked sort of uninterestedly confused. Derek had never had the social skills his sister had. She knew when to be funny and when to be serious, when to be polite let something go and when to stand her ground. Derek was different. He didn't understand the blatantly disrespectful but he also didn't understand the blind undeserving reverence the wealthy or the powerful got. Not in this time period at least. In the 1500s you showed your king respect, even if unearned because if you didn't it meant execution but this was modern day America, just stating your opinion to a powerful or wealthy man had no legal ramifications so why were people always so much politer and quiet around them. It made no sense. Derek would tell someone when they're being an idiot, he'll tell them politely but he'll tell them.

------ Derek looked up as Shay acknowledged him, "how's it going?" Derek looked her a bit blankly. "Sorry, how's what going?" He asked, honestly. Meg rolled her eyes, he had only just recently gotten the hang of the phrase 'what's up?" which of course he always would respond with "A lot of things." She signed slightly, "It's like what's up Derek." Its not that Derek was an idiot. And he knew certain phrases, Britain wasn't that lax on American slang and in fact they shared many, it was just Derek never really conversed with anyone but those in the Renn Fair or Meg and he was fairly literal so every so often, things like "whats up" and other non-specific generic questions did not register fully to him. Derek nodded, "Oh.... nothing much." He added which made Meg grin wider since she was the one who told him to just say that when he didn't want to get into anything and just move on. Meg nodded as Derek asked her if she were ready to leave when they heard another voice enter the vicinity. "i think i got fired again." Meg already knew the voice as that of Shawn Anderson but it still made her nervous when she heard it. She turned around and watched the scruff doctor leaning on his cane. When Derek heard the voice, he stopped breathing slightly. He only heard the voice, not seeing him at first. It was different to avoid meeting someone when they weren't around but now that he heard him, Derek couldn't help but lean to the right slightly in order to see a rather tired, scruffy looking older man leaning on a cane. Hm... Meg never mentioned the cane.

------ Both the twins had to take a mental note that it was interesting because out of the three of them, Derek probably looked the most like the doctor. Both tall, lanky, blue eyes, similar bone structure in the face, aka ridiculously high cheek bones and long faces. Shay had the cheekbones too but her face wasn't as long and narrow as the boys' were. They all had the blue eyes. Don't know what to make of that. Derek shifted on his feet a bit as father and daughter had a small conversation, not listening to it as now he just really wanted to leave. Meg half listened, half watched Derek, she hadn't set that up, she hoped he knew that. Not that even she could put the idea past her. It is something she would probably do but she hadn't so she didn't want to be blamed for it. She looked over her shoulder at Shay when she spoke to her. "my dad and i had plans to grab some dinner, if you guys wanted…" Meg smiled and nodded right away, not even thinking. She just wanted to spend time with them, even if they didn't know. Derek looked up at the invite and saw Meg nodding her head. "Yes of course, as long as your father doesn't mind." "What?"

[/b] Derek asked accusingly towards her, he looked over at the two blood relatives and gave a smile, "Sorry excuse us…" He said politely as he led Meg over to the corner of the entrance room and lowered his voice. He looked at Meg frustrated but quiet enough to only be heard by her, "Why would you say that?"

------ Meg rolled her eyes, he knew exactly why she said that, "Because she invited us, we're completely free and it would be rude not to accept their invitation." She replied adding emphasis to the word 'rude,' mocking him slightly to which he gave her a stern look. He sighed slightly and shook his head, glancing over to Shay and HER father before looking at Meg, "It would be more rude to impose." Meg looked at him incredulously, "Impose? How is it imposing? we didn't invite ourselves!"[/b] "Because!" He started a bit louder than he meant to, he quieted his voice again, "Because she invited us, not him. Maybe he wants father daughter time?" Meg laughed slightly, "He's not really that type from I gather." "Then why do you want to go?" "Derek, I told them we're going, we're going."[/b][/color] Meg said firmly as a finish to their hushed mini-arguement. Derek shook his head slightly at her words still, frustrated and angry. Why couldn't she listen why could she just for once understand that he didn't have any interest in these people... He came across the world to be with her as she wanted to do this. No one was stopping her but he didn't have to be here did he? "You know He didn't want us then? What on earth makes you think he'd want us now?" He stated, harsh but trying to prove a point, only problem was that emotions had made that statement less hushed than the rest of their conversation.


[/size][/font][/justify]

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STATUS;; complete
TAGGED;; shay and shawn anderson
CREDITS;; format to me, inspired by everyone, graphics to me
LYRICS;; 'send me on my way' rusted root
CLOTHES;; Derek, Meg
NOTES;; I'm too lazy to change formats lol
[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Shay Anderson]

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OCTOBER, 2007. LATE AFTERNOON. ANDERSON ESTATE.

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- - - HER HOME LIFE

[/b] never had been the source of her problems. probably never would be. to be frank, shay anderson considered 'home' to be the one place free of annoying wastes of intelligence who didn't know how to cross the street. ever since her father had picked her, his practice, and his cane, up from ireland, it had been a good ol' time. it was easy here, living in the anderson household. she had always been the only one in the unhappy anderson family to get along with her father. who was it who stayed up late, discussing everything from incompetant radiologists ( which he still hadn't seemed to outrun ) to why rachel anderson was screaming this time? it wasn't rachel anderson, she could tell you that. and the only time she saw kelly, her younger sister, speaking to the cranky doctor was when she couldn't find over-processed mommy dearest. how anyone could produce a blonde...atomoton like kelly anderson...well, it was beyond her. she denied having a sister at all. same last name? uh, coincidence. duh. how common of name is 'anderson'? read, very. no, it had always been shay who spent time with her father. far from being 'daddy's little girl', he was the only member of the same family who she could relate with. it was always the two of them, antisocial pioneers of epicness.

none of that had changed. one would be devestated to have their family split in half like her's had; to move across the globe with one parent, while the other and the sibling remained somewhere in western europe. truthfully, shay hadn't spoken to her younger sister in over a year. mother? a drunken 'i miss you!' dial on her last birthday didn't really count. she requested to be friends on facebook, if she remembered correctly. whatever. it's not like shay didn't have more important people to be talking to. her hairdresser's second cousin's dead cat, for instance. the other females with the anderson surname did little but irritate her. so, no, shay had not been devestated when her parent's finally announced they were getting a divorce. it was a clean ordeal - no shouting over this, arguing over that. both shawn and rachel had signed the papers civilly. she whined for half of his belongings, he quietly agreed. no reason to drag this out for too long - rachel had wrinkled folds of skin to seduce, marry, and annoy, after all. even the custody didn't give anyone any gray hairs. kelly wanted to live with her mother. well, that's good, no one else wanted her. shay wanted to stay with shawn - a few 'buts' from her mother were long drowned out by a full-blown verbal attack from the doctor himself. for the first time in twenty years, he had acted like himself around the rest of his family. a nice and refreshing change. little had changed.

things just fell into place. they worked rather as roommates, than father and daughter. shawn had always treated her with respect, a certain tolerance saved from the rest of him family. in return, shay had been as flexible as possible. he was offered jobs from a multitude of hospital, from london, ontario to the capital of portgual ( she never did pay attention in geography ). he listed his top choices, always remembering to ask shay if she agreed. he didn't want to lose her, too. as annoying as rachel and kelly had been, they had been his family, after all. there are certain connections that come with such a title. when he settled on head of diagnostics in valkyrie, california, he had made sure it was okay with shay, too. they decided on a home together - modest-sized house somewhere in the valks, the wealthier part of town. again, nothing had changed since. they always talked issues over. if something was wrong, she eventually got it out of him. if, on the odd day, she was upset, he was always there with the awkward advice that never really worked, but showed he cared. unlike the rest of her friends, if you could call them that, shay did not suffer from a suffocating home life.

so, you see, that had never been the source of any problems. contrarily, coming home to a quiet, empty house was heaven. few people had seen the inside of her home. bailey and nina, obviously, on the odd night they decided to crash here, opposed to one of their homes. all depends on where in valkyrie they had been tearing up that night. and...meg. margaret stanwood was someone shay considered to be one of her better friends. as in, capable of more than a 'dude!' thought. the easy nonchalance that came with the stunning english girl, it was oddly comforting. like finding that happy medium she had been craving for so many months. standing inside of said house, it was the same. none of those haunting, roadkill-deserving thoughts hung over her. smirking in response to meg's own smirk, the model supressed a laugh. so, being a regular at the renaissance fair wasn't her idea of a good time. not all the time, at least. but she was open-minded. as long they could offer more than a drunken slur, she was ready. "Sorry, how's what going?" well, mostly.

shay didn't outright dislike derek stanwood. she barely knew him. but five minutes in the same room as meg's dorky ( albeit somewhat adorable ) twin didn't give her any excuses to spend more time there. a supressed laugh lined her face at the impeccable timing of their conversation. "i'm sure." the same amusement highlighting her voice, shay casually leaned against the doorframe, blue eyes looking from twin to twin. only did she look away when she off-handedly conversed with her father. as much as she loved the damaged doctor, he was a rather aquired taste for the general public. exactly as to why she rarely introduced him to her friends. even nina, whose father could be considered shawn anderson's boss, hadn't exchanged many words with him. it took a special kind of patience to deal with him. it had taken her nearly eighteen years to master, after all. looking back at the twins, the dinner invitiation still hanging openly in the air, she furrowed her eyebrows at the silent conversation apparently going on between them. to be honest, meg was the type of friend she would allow to suffer through more than thirty seconds of her father. derek, on the other hand, she didn't know. she knew next to nothing about him, apart from being a somewhat socially-isolated being who was more comfortable in any surroundings that weren't these ones. hm.

shrugging easily as derek quietly excused himself and his sister, shay looked back at her father. he was still standing in the same position, boredly leaning on his cane. she knew he was secretly wishing to lock himself in his study; to pour over patient zero's file, no doubt. but what shawn anderson wanted, and what he should be doing, were often two very different things. that came with living with him. as did structuring an actual life for him outside the office. his matching blue eyes innocently drifting out of the room, to the barely-visible door down the hall, he was only met with a stern look from daughter ( one he often wore himself ). "yes i invited them. and yes, you're coming. you can save someone later." her tone, while light, had a certain sharpness to it. there really was no room left for debate when it came to shay anderson. "i never said anything." "it's been how long, doctor? you know i can read minds." grinning as she spoke, shay pushed her hands into the pockets of her shorts, enjoying the ever-constant banter. it was always comforting. "so, i was thinking that new place down on..." "You know He didn't want us then? What on earth makes you think he'd want us now?" she trailed off, stopping completely mid-sentence, as derek's not-so-soft words broke the otherwise blissful silence.

turning on her heel, one swift motion, to face the arguing twins, shay stayed quiet. she searched each of them with her piercing eyes, an odd look reflecting on her face. way to kill the mood. digging her hands form her pockets, resting them in a loose cross over her chest, she looked over her shoulder, to her father. resting her weight on her left side, the same steely glint in her eye - the same couldn't be said for the crippled doctor. he, shawn, knew what shay was thinking - awkward, out of the blue, and totally inappropriate. his oldest daughter had the tendency to jump down something's throat, if there was even a dismal chance of something being wrong. it was unhealthy, but it was something he loved about her. but, her thoughts were true - 'what the fuck?' leaning on his cain, much to mirror how shay was standing, he looked at the stanwood twins with curious eyes. "keep talking like that, and he's never going to want you." breaking the silence with a loud, half-amused statement, shay watched derek for a moment, before sliding her gaze to meg. "assuming the 'he' in this situation isn't a waste of my time. who?" an odd hollowness in her voice, she maintained her pose, as her father did the same. judging by the look she was assuming he was holding, he didn't know what the fuck was going on, either.

not that she could always read his mind.[/font][/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

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STATUS, complete.
TAGGED, them stanwoods.
LENGTH, 1639 words.
ATTIRE, hurr.
NOTES, hope their responses were okay<3
CREDITS, format and graphics to me.
lyrics to boys like girls - "hero/heroine"

[Derek Stanwood]

•• Stanwoods Twins••

[/i][/b][/font]
I would like to reach out my hand
I MAY SEE YOU, I MAY TELL YOU TO RUN
you know what they say about the young [/center]

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------ Derek blamed them. He blamed them. Not Shay, of course, but Dr. Shawn Anderson and his wife or ex wife or whatever. He blamed them for everything that had happened. It was because of them they were adopted by parents who died. It was because of them they were separated. Because of them, Meg was adopted into a family that only adopted her for their son to have a wife as he got older. It was because of the man in front of Derek, that he was locked up in the darkness, starving, dehydrated and alone for months. Derek blamed them for that cellar, for the man who beat him. Let's face it, everything Derek had now he got on his own. And it was not much. It was a tiny run down apartment in a town he hated and a job at the Renaissance Fair. And Meg. But he found Meg, by chance yes, but they had been separated because of the Dr. and his wife of the time. It was there fault and let's face it, the only things they had ever given him was blue eyes and dyslexia. One more thing he could blame them for... His dyslexia was something he hardly ever spoke about. Not even to his sister. The thing was, that as a kid, he was a day dreamer. He still was to some extent. He loved history and he loved the idea of living in a time of adventure, chivalry, war, heartbreak, love, possibly magic. A time where most of nature lay in tact. A time in which epic novels were memoirs of knights. The tales and stories of books were what kept him alive as a kid. Books that he could hardly read. Most of tales he told to the other kids were of his own creation or had been read to him at some other point. He would try but it was hard. It was like everything was wrong with him then. And now. He's gangly. He's lanky. He has huge ears and cheek bones that could poke out eyes. He was socially awkward and horrifically claustrophobic from childhood trauma. He was a loser, all of this and he wasn't even smart. Maybe he was but it was hard to feel intelligent when sometimes you struggle to read Dr. Seuss books. Sometimes that's just how it was with him. He was nothing special, he was nothing normal.

------ Meg blamed them for giving them up but the rest of her troubles belonged to herself. Somehow it was her fault the people who initially adopted them, the Stanwoods, it was her fault they died. It was her fault she was adopted and he wasn't and they were therefore separated. She should have done something to prevent the adoption and then she would have been there to stop the man from hurting Derek and they would have been family all of their lives. She would never have been the reserve wife. Her second adoptive parents would never have been able to let their son touch her. She would have been better. She should have been better. It was her fault, all of it. But that was just one other reason she had to come to Valkyrie and bring her brother despite the kicking and screaming. If she could get them to be a family again, a real family with parents, another sister, the whole she-bang than maybe, just maybe it would help make up for her mistakes. You know? Maybe if she could make the broken family, and fixed one everything would be okay. Everything would be better and she wouldn't feel so lost and alone all the time. She knew Derek loved her but she needed more than that. She needed to know that her birth family thought about her at least once and awhile. Meg needed people to approve of her. It was a compulsion and the drive behind wanting to be a star. She loved the acting, she loved acting all on its own but she definitely wanted the prestige and fame along with the successful FILM actress as opposed to the stage. Not that she didn't love the stage too. But there was a different level of being known.

------ Meg's pale crystal blue eyes locked onto her brother's bright ocean blue eyes as his words appeared louder than they meant to be. She kept his gaze as she took a deep breath. Derek watched her as he could see her fear that the others in the room may have heard them. It would be a lie to say he wished he could take it back but it was about time it all came out into the light. Besides, he was really a horrible liar. "keep talking like that, and he's never going to want you." The Standwood twins heard Shay's words off to the side. Meg glanced over at her quickly, her eyes flickered between Shay's and their father's before dropping to the ground. Derek kept his eyes on Meg, shaking his head slightly. "Meg, bad timing or not its here..." He said softly but still loud enough to be heard throughout the room. Meg didn't know if he was right about that but she didn't see how they would get out of the situation without giving them some sort of plausible excuse and she just couldn't come up with one in time. "assuming the 'he' in this situation isn't a waste of my time. who?" Meg looked over at Shay. How did she just say it? How do you look at someone and tell them, "I'm your long lost sister whom apparently wasn't important enough for our father to tell you about." Or "I'm your daughter, your first born actually, I forgive you for forgetting all of my birthdays." But apparently, Derek had his own ideas on how to confront the issue. With controlled spite.

------ Derek could not help but to scoff at Shay's question. He tilted his head back and looked at her and glanced back at Shawn before shrugging, answering the question she seemed to ask Meg, "Why don't you ask the man you call Dad?" He replied plainly with a bit of bite in his tone. Meg shot Derek a warning look, "Derek!" She exclaimed softly. "What? I'm sorry Meg but if he has no inkling even who we are yet then its more proof that I was right and we should just go back home" Meg rolled her eyes, and turned towards their probably highly confused relatives, "I'm sorry, he's usually a lot more controlled than this. And I'm usually a lot more honest."She said calmly, about to try to really explain. But Derek stood behind her and looked directly over at Shawn, the sperm donor, "Are you really going to play it off like you have no idea why two eighteen year old black haired, blue eyes fraternal twins, one boy one girl would be acting a tad bit irate at your door or were really so insignificant that you don't even remember?" Meg looked to the ground. She would have said something to again try to make his tone less harsh but he had a good point there. So this time, all she did was look back at the man on the cane, expectantly.

[/justify]

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STATUS;; complete
TAGGED;; shay and shawn anderson
CREDITS;; format to me, inspired by everyone, graphics to me
LYRICS;; 'send me on my way' rusted root
CLOTHES;; Derek, Meg
NOTES;; I'm too lazy to change formats again and yay 3rd post of the day
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