Okay so, this is my own story that I'm trying to set-up.

Please favourite, follow and review! Although reviews would be helpful so I know whether to continue properly or just start from scratch.

All characters are mine and if they resemble or remind you of another character, then tell me. If it's confusing then ... it's a work-in-progress is my only defence.

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Rachel had no idea how on earth her great weekend with her daughter at their home-away-from-home had ended like this.

~Time is Just Starting ~

Prologue

Rachel had no idea how on earth her great weekend with her daughter at their home-away-from-home had ended like this. She'd expected the arguments, debates and general bickering between her daughter and niece. She'd expected the barely edible food her sister had attempted to make before giving in and allowing the teenagers free reign of the kitchen. She'd expected the trip to the beach; she'd expected the meet-and-greet with her sister's friends.

What she hadn't expected was her ex to make good on his threat and for that particular story to hit the media.

Rachel stopped her pacing of the kitchen and stood with her arms folded, looking through the arch into the family room. Gathered around the coffee table in front of the sofa on cushions were her three closest family members: her younger sister Lucie, her seventeen year old daughter Keri and her fifteen year old niece Anya. They were in an intense game of blackjack with not a lot of poker-tricks being invoked as all three were pulling various faces, trying to look at cards, talking loudly to disrupt concentration and just generally playing dirty.

It was the scene Rachel had honestly never thought she'd get. Being from a rich, reserved family with a strict childhood she'd never thought she'd see familial chaos. She'd never imagined she'd be playing card games whilst Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was playing in the background and all of them were lounging around in shorts, sweatpants and hoodies. It was an indescribable feeling to watch her daughter laugh and throw light-hearted insults at her cousin whilst her sister sneaked a look at the centre deck. Rachel hated to do what she was about to do but she had no choice.

She opened her call log and searched for the international number. It rang eight times before someone picked up.

"Doctor Joseph Spencer," The greeting was formal and American.

"Look, I don't know how you did what you did but don't get all high and mighty. Give me some time to sort out visas and travel arrangements."

"How long is some time?"

"A few months, I'll let you know when I get the visa."

"Don't forget, goodbye Raena." He hung up before Rachel could remind him that Raena wasn't her name anymore.

She dropped the phone onto the counter and wiped her face with her hands before looking back through the arch. She focused on Keri, her daughter. The seventeen year old was currently competing with Anya over who could catch the most popcorn in their mouth. They were shoving each other, overbalancing and tripping over cushions as they threw popcorn into the air trying to catch it. They were yelling numbers to keep track but also to try and ruin the other's concentration.

Rachel couldn't help but smile at the scene. She watched as Keri tripped over a cushion and dropped the popcorn in her hands, scattered more popcorn and crushed discarded popcorn with her bare foot. She laughed when Keri wiped the crushed popcorn onto Anya's leg which promptly descended into a wrestling match.

She couldn't believe she was going to ruin this just to save her own skin, admittedly it would also protect Keri but the teenager wouldn't see it that way.

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Seventeen and a half weeks later it was the day after Boxing Day and this time instead of Rachel and Keri going down to Pensacola, Lucie and Anya had come up to Alexandria. Rachel had banned Lucie from the kitchen, given command of the turkey to Anya and command of everything else to Keri within an hour of returning from the airport after a disastrous attempt at making grilled cheese sandwiches.

Keri and Anya had put out the fire Lucie had started after ignoring Rachel's warnings, accidentally of course.

This time round, Rachel was wondering why she'd been cursed with such a sister. Not only had Lucie somehow picked up on the barely existent trail Rachel had left behind but now she'd locked them inside Rachel's study and was demanding to know what was going on.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" Lucie asked and Rachel shrugged.

"Nothing, why do you assume something is wrong?"

"You've been – not exactly acting weird but something's off with you. You keep looking at Keri as if you're never gonna see her again. Please don't do a repeat of what you did in Russia, it killed all of us to see that." Lucie said and Rachel tried not to show how much the comment stung.

Although Keri had accepted her, she'd never fully forgiven Rachel for what she'd done. Once broken, it was nigh on impossible to regain the level of trust they'd once had. Of course, Rachel and Keri had a close relationship but it wasn't quite the same between them as it had been before. All Lucie'd managed to do, Rachel thought, was make her remember exactly why she'd been against it in the first place.

"Rachel ... you're not leaving again are you? Damn it, she won't forgive you a third time!"

"No, I know Lucie. But this is different,"

"Explain it to me." Lucie said simply leaning against the desk and folding her arms whilst Rachel collapsed into her soft leather spinny chair.

"Joseph wants custody of Keri."

There it was. Out in the open and she couldn't take it back, she knew that much from the way Lucie's dark grey eyes darkened.

"No. If Alexei wanted custody of Anya, I wouldn't let him. Damn, there's no difference here. Keri's as much my daughter as she is yours and there's no way in hell that son of a bastard is getting custody of her."

"It's not that simple Lucie."

"Then enlighten me Rachel!"

"You've had it easier than me. For starters, Alexei doesn't know Anya exists. He knows you were pregnant but he doesn't know if you had an abortion or a miscarriage or if Anya survived; also he knows barely anything about you. To him you're Luciana Lachkov, waitress and bar maid. Joseph knows Keri exists and damn it he found me! I haven't seen him in twelve years, I didn't even know he knew we'd left Russia! He knows I have a shady past, he knows that when we met I was on the run, he's connected enough dots to be of a threat. Not just to me but to Keri. If I don't give him what he wants ... he'll destroy Rachel Cassidy and he'll get custody over Keri anyway. Biological father beats aunt in a custody battle plus I wouldn't allow him to know about you and Anya anyway. Knowing Joseph and what he'll go to to get custody, he'll make sure you go down with me and that Anya gets thrown into foster care or deported back to Russia. You know as well as I what would happen to her if she ended up back in Russia."

"Yeah, I know. I almost killed you when I found out how Keri managed to get herself over here in the first place. Damn Rachel, I still haven't gotten over that."

"I know, I hate that it happened to her as well but we got lucky. They thought her more valuable to be sold exactly as they'd found her so at least they didn't touch her. Though aren't you a little proud of the hell she raised?" Rachel asked and Lucie smirked.

"Maybe a little, we taught her well." Lucie replied probably reminiscing what she'd taught Keri during the times Rachel had been absent.

Rachel stayed quiet hoping that Lucie had forgotten but it was a futile hope indeed. Lucie's dark grey eyes snapped back to settle on Rachel's chocolate brown ones.

"Tell me Rachel. Tell me what he has on you that has you giving in to him." Lucie almost pleaded and Rachel sighed, running a hand through the copper-brown hair she shared with her sister.

"Joseph knows that I'm not what you'd call legit. Raena di Mare has no official documentation, Raena Kovalevsky died three years ago, Rachel Cassidy was born two years ago. He knows that when we met I was on the run, he always assumed it was from 'the mob' and I never corrected him because in the general sense he was correct. He was always curious about my job and dealings in Russia, the one that kept uneven hours. He knows that Rachel Cassidy works at the NSA which is true and because he assumed I was on the run hiding in Russia, he now assumes that I'm leaking U.S intelligence to old colleagues in Russia."

"So he's smart enough to get the general sense of your work but all of his deductions, schematics, assumptions are way off point." Lucie decided and Rachel nodded.

"Now do you see? If he takes this to the media, they'll have a field day and I'll be fired. I probably won't see the light of day except through the bars on my window, you'll be under suspicion with me because you're my sister and god knows what'll happen to Keri and Anya. Anya will most likely be deported, to either Russia or Italy; Keri ... there are a number of places she could end up, the nicest of which is in Joseph's custody anyway. He's made sure that every option is worse than giving her to him."

"So you're actually giving in to him?"
"I have to. Not just to keep him quiet but to protect Keri. I choose the easy way and she ends up with him, I choose the hard way and she'll end up with him anyway. I can't put her through that. I've put her through enough."

"Yeah you have." Lucie said which made Rachel feel so much better.

"But I understand what you're doing. If I were in your place, I'd probably do the same thing." That made Rachel feel slightly better and more secure in her decision. Of course, everything concerning Joseph would require another set of eyes to look at it from a different angle to guide her to the right decision. She could do it herself but she preferred to have someone removed looking at the situation to make sure she wasn't blinded by any of the factors. Thinking back on it she wondered why she'd kept it to herself in the first place.

"So what are you doing now?" Lucie asked and Rachel sighed before standing. She crossed to the door and wrenched it open, stepping out of the way. She looked down at where Keri and Anya were sprawled on the floor. It appeared that Anya had been on her knees listening through the keyhole whilst Keri stood behind her listening through the wood with a glass tumbler.

Now they were untangling themselves, Anya massaging her jaw whilst Keri flexed her wrist.

"How much crap are we in?" Keri asked as she stood up, looking Rachel in the eye despite being an inch smaller than Rachel's 5'7". Rachel stared back at the icy light blue eyes that seemed to challenge her the way they challenged everyone. Anya rose to her feet, three inches smaller than Rachel and not quite brave enough to make eye contact.

"No more than usual for you although I don't like having my conversations being eavesdropped on." Rachel started, coolly noting how Anya shifted uncomfortably, edging away slightly.

"If you're gonna talk about me, I'd prefer you said it to my face." Keri replied, not looking away. Those cold light blue eyes were one of maybe three pairs of eyes that unnerved Rachel, something about the way they followed you without faltering, no emotion flickering in them at all got under her skin like a knife.

"Fine. You're going to live with your father – "

"He's not my father. I won't even call him my sperm donor until I have a paternity test." Keri shot back and Rachel couldn't help but be proud that she'd given her daughter the sharp mouth that permanently got her into trouble.

"Your father in England." Rachel continued feeling slightly put off by the way nothing flickered in Keri's eyes, she only tilted her head slightly.

"An early flight on the third, you won't be back until Easter. Don't eavesdrop again, go to bed. Anya, make sure she goes and stays." Rachel finished looking at Anya, meeting the fifteen year olds dark blue eyes for a second before she was pulling Keri out of the door with her.

"You know, giving my daughter the task of controlling your daughter isn't very fair." Lucie said and Rachel turned once she'd closed the door. Lucie was still leant against the desk with her eyebrows raised slightly.

"I know, but Keri has a soft spot for Anya. She'll do what she asks, within reason."