"Why isn't she answering..." Emily wondered, confused and concerned, as she looked at the screen of her phone, which was on its third attempt to call Maya.

It was very strange to her that she didn't pick up the phone after the first couple of rings, since she always kept the phone close to her.

Now, Maya wasn't the type to be on the phone all the time, in fact, she hardly ever used it... or at least when she was with Emily, she only checked the time and nothing else.

No, the real reason why she did that was because of her mother, Kadri.

Kadri is... Emily had never been quite sure how to classify her.

She had always been someone who was reluctant to speak ill of someone. Until now, Suki had been the first in a decade to achieve this dubious distinction, and only after her attempt on Jane's life.

But... she couldn't deny that she felt a certain... dislike for the woman.

Maybe it was unfair of her, since she had so few encounters with her, and on only one occasion had they had any interaction with each other. But her almost constant absence from Maya's life was something that she didn't like at all.

She could understand that the woman was extremely busy with her work, but did she really have to be? Her husband, Albert, who was both Shana's and Maya's father, was a wealthy businessman who traveled all over the world. While this didn't make them filthy rich, it did allow them to live a comfortable life without having to sacrifice anything.

Of course, she knew that being a wife and a mother didn't mean that she had to give up everything except being a stay-at-home mom, but... 

Was it really any different having your parents absent from your life than not having them at all?

Emily was quick to shake her head at that kind of nonsense.

For one thing, Maya had never had to go through anything like what she had experienced. And for that, she was very grateful! She truly was!

Still... she couldn't forget their first and only conversation, a few years back, when she'd walked Maya home after spending the day together at the homeless shelter.

That day, she had been making tomato soup, and Maya had been standing behind her, watching intently as she cooked.

She had placed dozens of tomato cans, both full and empty, close to her so that they were within easy reach.

Unfortunately, she bumped into one and accidentally spilled it all over Maya's dress, making her giggle at her clumsiness.

She didn't attach much importance to the incident herself, just saying that she was sorry before she moved on... but that all changed when they arrived at Maya's house.

Seeing that her mother was home for once, Maya ran up to her with a smile on her face... and what she got in return was a slap.

Shocked, she stood still as Kadri began to scold Maya for not only dirtying her own clothes, but almost getting Kadri's dirty as well.

Of course, as soon as Emily recovered, she immediately jumped to Maya's defense, admitting that she was to blame for what had happened. However, while Kadri thanked her for taking care of Maya while she was gone, she bluntly told her that it wasn't her place to interfere and that she should mind her own business.

And even though she was technically right, Emily couldn't get over the abrupt and... unfair way she had handled the situation, reminding her of how the nuns had behaved when she was a child... but that was probably prejudice on her part, stemming from a lack of knowledge of how families actually worked in real life.

With a deep sigh, she ended the call, which had gone unanswered for more than five minutes now, and sat down hard on her bed, looking sadly at Jane, who was sitting cross-legged on her bed, looking just as sad.

"I can't reach her..." Emily said, stating the obvious, mostly to break the silence that had been building up in the room for the last hour, during which time she had gone from sending text messages to trying to call Maya directly, but getting nothing.

Jane looked at the phone with a mixture of curiosity and confusion, not sure what it was or how it worked, before looking back at Emily, "Isn't there any other way you can contact her? I mean, can't you just go to her directly?"

"I would have preferred to be able to say at least a few words of reassurance before meeting her face to face..." Emily started before she sighed, "But that doesn't seem to be happening, does it?"

Jane shrugged before falling back onto the bed, "No idea... you humans seem to have a lot more options than we do. But I think it is always best to talk in person. It is much easier to get the message across when you are face to face."

"That's true..." Emily admitted before she let out another sigh and stood up, "Well, there's no point in wasting time thinking about it. I'd better get going and-"

A series of loud knocks on her door interrupted her answer, making her curious and... alert, as this was something out of the ordinary.

"Who's there?" Emily demanded, her voice clear and firm.

"Me, Shana. We need to talk," the person behind the door, Shana by her own admission, announced in a forceful and commanding manner.

After a few seconds of silence, as Emily tried to think of something less rude to say than telling her to go away, Shana continued, her tone more hesitant, "If you want, of course, I won't force you, but I have something important I want to say, or rather clarify, because..."

Her voice trailed off as she spoke, and Emily was quite confused at how strange she was acting, "Uh... are you really Shana?"

"Fuck yeah, I am! Who in the hell do you think you are talking to? What's with the dumb questions? And you, why the fuck are you lookin' at me like that? Say something, goddammit!" she blurted out, reassuring Emily that it was indeed Shana. But at the same time, a small, frightened cry told her that there was another person behind the door... It sounded... familiar somehow...

"Emily...! I'm s-sorry! I'm stupid! Stupid! Stupid! P-please, don't hate me! I'll do anything, just please... don't..." the voice, clearly Maya's as she suspected, said before she started to cry desperately, which broke her heart.

Hearing Maya cry was something she felt was deeply wrong, something that should never happen. Even though she wanted to have a long, deep discussion with Maya about what had happened, she could not stand it any longer.

That's why she put everything else aside and hurried to the door, turning the key before opening it. When she did, she was faced with a rather... peculiar scene.

As she had expected, Maya was crying her eyes out, her face was a mess of tears and mucus. But what surprised her was that Shana was on her knees in front of Maya, with her back to Emily…

And she was topless as well.

Slowly blinking at Shana's naked back, Emily watched as she used her sports top to wipe Maya's face, "Look at yourself, for God's sake!  If this is how you end up the first time you get into a fight with your crush, how am I supposed to feel safe letting you out in the wild?"

Maya replied with a string of gibberish that Shana didn't bother to listen to, just kept wiping until her top was too dirty to clean, spreading the mess around more than anything else.

"Ugh... no fucking way I'm putting this crap back on..." Shana said in a disgusted tone, seeing the state of the garment, before instinctively throwing it behind her... right in Emily's face, who made a surprised sound.

Shana turned her head when she heard the noise and winced when she saw what he had done, "Oh shit, sorry, I..." 

But Emily, who was pulling the garment away from her face, didn't care about the matter, all of her attention was focused on Maya.

Kneeling down to Maya's eye level, Emily caressed Maya's face with her free hand.

"Maya..." she started, her voice soft and mournful, "don't cry... I'm sorry for the way I treated you... It's my fault-"

"Oh hell no, don't you fucking dare!" Shana cut her off, "She's the one who did the wrong thing, and she's the one who should apologize!"

Emily was taken aback by her reaction and looked at her with wide eyes, but they soon narrowed to a serious look, "And I was even more wrong, so I owe her an apology as well."

"Oh, please..." Shana said with a roll of her eyes, "She gave you the attitude and you set her straight, just like it was supposed to be!"

"I screamed at her! I told her to keep away from Jane! That was a very cruel thing to do!" Emily countered, trying to prove that it was her fault, but Shana looked at her like she was an idiot.

"Are you aware of the fact that normal people would simply refer to what you have done as scolding and punishing? Things that any parent in their right mind would be expected to do when a child starts to act out? You know, to keep them from growing into arrogant assholes..." Shana said as she crossed her arms under her chest, unconsciously propping up her bare breasts in the process.

"You mean the way you are?" Emily said instantly, unable to stop herself before it was too late, her words pouring out of her mouth like a torrent.

There was a brief silence, after which Shana nodded, albeit with a frown on her face, "Exactly."

The silence returned, and no one dared to break it... at least not the three of them.

"Um... can I say something?" a small, tiny voice said from within Emily's room.

All three heads turned towards the door and Shana, intrigued, walked to the door and looked in to see Jane who greeted her shyly, "Hey... nice to see you?"

She walked over to Jane and stood over her, her breasts casting a shadow over the miniature girl, "What?"

"Shana!" Emily said, startled to see her so close to Jane. "Don't..."

"Calm the fuck down." Shana huffed, "I'm not touchin' her."

Jane swallowed hard, mentally preparing what she was going to say. She also reminded herself not to make a joke or even mention the two huge things that were above her. She had no intention of being crushed by them.

"I feel like the situation is getting a little too... tense? This is a moment of reunion for them, a moment of joy. Could you... leave them alone for a few minutes? Just to let them calm down..." Jane said, trying to be as least antagonistic as possible to Shana, who was looking at her sternly.

After staring at Jane for a few seconds, Shana snorted and dropped her arms, "Fine. I know there's no point in standing here and staring, so I'm off to the shower. I kinda forgot to take one earlier. Now I'm drenched in sweat and smell like a rotten carcass..."

Then she stared at them and went on: "I want you two to be all lovey-dovey and ready for a good talk when I'm done. Anything to say?"

Maya slowly raised a hand, and Shana's eyes rolled again, "What?"

"So... are my boobs going to be big like yours when I grow up?" Maya asked shyly, trying to keep her eyes from focusing on the big boobs she didn't know Shana had.

"I'll take a shower!" Shana said with a mixture of embarrassment and surprise, before turning and walking away.

"She's oddly nice today... I'm a little worried," Maya commented to both Emily and herself as she watched Shana enter her room, presumably to get a change of clothes.

Nodding silently, Emily, still surprised to see Shana being so... civil, not only to them, but to Jane as well, put a hand on Maya's shoulder and led her back to her room.

Once inside, the two of them sat down on the bed. They were very close to each other, but they felt as if they were so far apart. They both wanted to apologize to each other, but they did not know how to broach the subject.

"Maya! I'm so glad to see you again! Won't you come and give me a hug?" Jane said out loud, as she had no intention of leaving the two of them to their own devices.

"Jane! I missed you so much!" Maya said happily and got up to walk over to her, smiling as she went.

But after taking a few steps, the smile faded from her face. She turned back to Emily, her eyes a plea for her to be allowed to greet Jane.

Stunned, but understanding the significance of the gesture, Emily smiled and nodded, tacitly agreeing that their fight was over.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Maya hurried over to Jane. Holding out her palm for Jane to climb on, Maya brought Jane to her chest and hugged her.

There was silence in the room, each of them lost in their own world, enjoying the beautiful moment, but sooner than she would have liked, Maya broke the embrace and handed Jane over to Emily. She took a few steps back and watched them from a distance with a sad expression on her face, leaving the two of them confused.

Maya closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again, her gaze determined in spite of the tears, "Emily... Jane... I am sorry."

Emily opened her mouth to say that she had nothing to be sorry for, but before she could utter a word, Maya shook her head, "No."

As Emily looked down at her hands, she saw that Jane was doing the same thing, but she couldn't accept it, "Maya, what you did was an honest mistake. You were just trying to help-"

"No!" Maya repeated, gritting her teeth, "Don't try to make up some excuse so you can forgive me! It doesn't matter why I did what I did! I put Suki before our relationship... and before Jane's life!"

"At that moment, I really thought I was right!" she said, pressing her palms to her eyes in a vain attempt to hold back her tears, "I was angry at you for not just giving Jane to me like she was a toy! If you hadn't forbidden me to see Jane, I would have been able to give her to Suki! I could have let her get killed just so I could feel good about myself!"

"Enough is enough." Jane said with a clap of her hands, "Stop this nonsense!"

"Huh?" Maya said, snapping out of her self-pity, "But I-"

"But nothing!" Jane thundered, pointing her finger at Maya, "I let you apologize without interruption because it was something you had to do, both because it was something you owed Emily and because you needed it yourself, but being sorry for something that never happened isn't going to help anyone."

"Now it's your turn!" she continued, turning quickly to face Emily, "And stick to what really happened! You are here to make peace, not to compete with each other as to who is the one who deserves it the least!"

The two of them looked at Jane in shock, and then they looked at each other.

"She can be pretty scary..." Maya said softly, feeling intimidated, and Emily nodded, "Small but fierce..."

"I'll show you just how fierce if you don't stop wasting time!" Jane roared before clapping her hands again, "Come on, hurry up. Those apologies won't happen by themselves!"

Not wanting to upset Jane any more than she already had today, Emily nodded quickly, took a deep breath, and began to speak.

"Maya... I owe you an apology, too. The things that I said to you were unacceptable and..." Emily stopped herself and held up her hand, cutting Maya off, "I know that you think that I was right, and to be honest with you, I do too. But the way I went about this, the tone I took, was unforgivable. And while I did it for Jane's sake, I completely failed to consider how you felt. And that... that's something that's indefensible. I'm sorry for that..."

When Emily looked up, her eyes locked with Maya's. Remorse for what they had done to each other filled them both. But they were determined to be sincere in their apologies to each other. They wanted to put all this behind them once and for all and go back to being as they had been.

After several seconds of them looking at each other silently, Jane rolled her eyes and said, "Must I always be the one calling the shots?! Come on! Get up!"

The two jumped to their feet, instinctively moving in response to the command.

"Now, will you accept the apology? Are you ready to forgive?"

"Yes!" they both said at once, unable to think of any other answer.

"Excellent! Now hug! Hug each other! Hurry! Hurry!" Jane urged, and the two of them immediately threw themselves into a tight embrace, pressing themselves against each other as they did so.

"Now kiss each other, kiss!" Jane pressed, grinning as she thought her plan was finally going to come to fruition.

"Wait. What?" Emily asked in confusion after realizing her strange request, but Maya, still instinctively responding to Jane's commands, pressed her lips to Emily's in a kiss.

They stayed like this, staring into each other's shocked eyes, before Maya's brain re-connected and she realized what she had done, yelping as she threw herself back.

As Jane watched the scene unfold, she exclaimed, "Yes! That's what I've been waiting for!" to the great embarrassment of both of them.

"Now I understand why that thing wanted me gone..." a voice said before they had a chance to speak.

Emily and Maya quickly turned to the door and saw Shana, clad in a robe, with a towel on her head and a beer in her hand. She was leaning on the door frame with one arm and looking at the three of them with a weary expression that made them feel completely embarrassed.

"It's not what it looks like!" Emily said instinctively before closing her eyes when she realized it was the wrong thing to say.

"This isn't exactly what I meant when I told you to be all lovey-dovey..." Shana replied, "But as long as you don't get her pregnant, I don't give a damn." She then opened the beer can and took a swig.

After that, Shana pushed herself away from the door and walked into the room. She sat down at Emily's desk, put her bare feet on it, and leaned back. "But I think this is enough to bring this stupid story to a close, no? Now is the time to clear up a few things that have been going on for far too long..."

Emily didn't know what was going on anymore, there was too much happening that she couldn't follow. She turned to Maya, hoping to find an ally in her confusion... but was disappointed to see Maya rubbing her lips with a fingertip, eyes blank.

When Emily saw Jane looking excitedly at everyone in the room, looking like Maya on Christmas Eve, she knew that looking around for help was a lost cause.

With a sigh, she turned to Shana, who was still drinking, a few more cans having appeared on her desk.

"What's going on with you today, Shana? You're acting strange...has something happened?" she asked, ending with a worried tone, her mind searching for reasons, even things like terminal illness and such.

"Oh... you wanna know?" Shana replied as she drank, "Well, I'll tell ya!"

Looking Emily straight in the eye as she leaned forward, she said, "It's because I need someone to be Maya's keeper, and you're the only one I can trust!"

"I-- what?" Emily said in a mixture of confusion and shock, not at all expecting this answer.

"Her bitch mother always leaves her alone, like a dog!" Shana said as she went back to her former position, "Just today I had to take her out to eat because she had nothing to eat at home!"

"Hey! That's unfair! When Mommy comes back, she always fills up the fridge and the pantry with food! And she always leaves me money for emergencies!" Maya jumped to her mother's defense before looking down in embarrassment, "It's my fault... I always spend it on stupid things..."

"It's me," Shana said, taking a swig and meeting Maya's eyes before putting the can down, "I'm the one who buys you the groceries while you're with Emily. I'm the one who leaves money in your drawer so that you can buy whatever it is that you want to buy. She won't."

Maya gasped in surprise, unable to speak, so Emily took the opportunity to ask a question, "If that's true, then that means you care about Maya, right? So why don't you spend some time with her? I mean, I love being with her, but you're her big sister, so... why?"

"Cause I can't!" Shana said and slammed the can down hard on the desk, spilling half of the contents all over the place, "That bitch won't let me! Last time I tried, she told the police I was trying to kidnap her! I spent a week in jail for it when I was 18! Dad finally bailed me out, but not without telling me how disappointed he was in what I'd done and telling me to stay away from his family!"

"Was... was it when you promised to take me to the amusement park?" Maya asked in horror as a memory began to surface in the back of her mind, "But Mommy said that you forgot about it and went on vacation with your friends..."

"Friends? What friends?" Shana laughed in disbelief, "Mommy dearest made sure that she told everyone what a no-good I was. No one approached me, let alone befriended me..."

"And how come I never heard anything about it?" Maya said in an angry tone as she refused to believe it, "Someone would have asked me if it was true!"

"Sorry to break it to you like this, sis. But no one is going to give a damn about the words of a little girl." Shana said, waving the can in front of her before taking a drink, "Your mother could say you're dead and nobody would care if you start shouting that you're alive."

"This is so fake! If you're going to talk trash about Mom, at least have something believable! Am I right, Emily?" Maya said, proud to have shattered Shana's lies, and she looked at Emily with a smile on her face.

But when she saw Emily looking away, hugging herself and trying to calm down, her smile faded.

Images of her childhood at the orphanage flashed through Emily's mind, reminding her of how many times her words had been ignored, or dismissed outright as lies, while the words of the nuns had been believed instead.

"She's... right...", Emily could barely say before falling back into silence.

Shana shot her a curious look, wondering why she was reacting the way she was, but she didn't have time to dwell on it before Maya regained her attention.

"But-but why would she do that?" Maya asked as tears welled up in her eyes, "It was something I had been looking forward to for weeks! She knew how much I was looking forward to going to the park with you! She knew! Why did she do this? Why did she have to do such a terrible thing to you? She could have just said no! Forbid me to go with you! Why did she do such a thing?"

"To ruin both of our lives, maybe." Shana shrugged before taking the last sip, finishing the can and setting it down on the desk, "She always hated me as much as she hated my mother. She never made a secret of it. Sending me to prison and making you and Dad hate me at the same time was probably the best day of her life... after my mother's death, of course."

"No... that can't be true!" Maya argued back, denying what Shana had just said.

She refused to believe that her mother was such a monster that she would ruin people's lives just to spite someone who was no longer alive.

"Mom is not a bad person! She cares about me! She LOVES me!" Maya cried, begging Shana with her eyes to tell her that this was all a joke... nothing but a terrible, cruel joke.

But Shana was angry, and she was also drunk, so she was ruthless as she went on.

"Oh, really, huh? Then why the hell can't she spend five goddamn minutes with you? How long has it been since the last time she spent any time with you? How long has it been since the last time she told you that she loved you? Has she ever said that to you at all?" she pointed out as she opened a new can of beer.

Maya was shaking, trying to answer, but she could only say, "I... I don't know..."

"My thoughts exactly..." Shana said, rolling her eyes before taking another gulp of her beer.

"But I am her daughter! That's gotta mean something... right?" said Maya, trying to find something, anything, to justify what she believed.

"I am technically her daughter too..."  Shana said and tried to drink some more, but she missed her mouth and spilled the beer all over herself, which made her angry, "But that didn't stop her from kicking me out of the house on my 18th birthday with nothing but the clothes on my back, did she?"

She tried to drink again, but the can was empty now and she threw it at the wall in anger, "She doesn't give a damn about you! You're just the trick she played on Daddy so she could take his money! As soon as she has no more use for you, she will throw you out of her life, just like she did me!"

Emily, who had stood aside in silence, was horrified at such revelations, her hands over her mouth open in shock, but for Maya it was even worse.

It was as if her world had come crashing down, shaken to its very foundations.

In the blink of an eye, all the certainties in her life had vanished.

Worst of all, she couldn't even deny it, trying to cling to the false belief that her mother cared. Everything Shana was saying were things she already knew and thought, but refused to acknowledge, in the hope that if she didn't accept them, they would just remain assumptions... but that was just naive foolishness on her part.

Unaware of their thoughts, Shana tried to reach for the last can, but her hand passed through all five as if they were ghosts, "But I ain't gonna let her! I ain't gonna let her ruin your life like she ruined mine!"

Grunting, she leapt forward to catch it, but the can swerved out of the way and she fell flat on her face.

"Shana!" Maya cried in alarm, lunging for her and trying to pick her up, but she was too heavy for her to carry.

Seeing the situation, Emily shook off her worries and went to help Maya pull Shana up, leaning her against the wall.

"Big sis, are you okay?" Maya said, taking Shana's head in her hands and seeing that Shana was crying, "Big sis?"

"And that's why I... I have to train you... I have to make you strong... Maya..." Shana said in a light voice, her eyes not focused on anything in particular, "I need to make sure... you can handle it... when the time comes..."

Then Shana threw up in her lap and fainted, falling to her side.

As she watched Maya shake Shana worriedly, while Emily tried to stop her, saying that it was a bad idea to shake a drunk, Jane couldn't help but sigh, "Well, this has been quite an eventful day..."