When Sara was growing up, her "magic crayons" helped her escape the pain. Now as an adult and the world famous Art Angel, can they help her to find the life she's always dreamed of?

Sara's cottage in Derby never seemed more empty and alone than it did the moment she returned. There was a cold and darkness now that neither a roaring fire nor bright sunlight could chase away. She dropped her bags to the floor, closed the prison door behind her and then went to her bed for another good cry. For the first time in two months, she knew no one would hear her cry and come through the door to hold her.

Sara chastised herself for carrying on so. She'd spent almost her entire existence alone and she'd survived, but now surviving wasn't enough any more. She'd tasted life, first at Jenna’s and then at Prue's, and the pain of going back to her previous existence was almost unbearable. It's been said that ignorance is bliss, and while Sara's ignorance of being loved and wanted was hardly bliss, the pain of losing those things almost made her wish she'd never known them.

Realizing if she carried on this way, the delivery boy who brought her groceries might well find her dead; Sara retreated in to the only safe place she knew, her artwork.

After sending off a quick email to Prue and Jenna letting them know she'd arrived safely, the Art Angel spread her wings and flew straight into a backlog of work two months old. The crayon magic was as good as always and before long she was lost in the worlds she sketched and painted, to busy focusing on trying not to disappoint her fans and customers, to give in to the pain she felt being separated from Prue.

The Three Musketeers resumed their nightly conferences, each now with a better visual of the person and the world on the other side of the screens. Each did their best to try and put things back right again as none of them really wanted to drag the other down with how bad they missed each other. Jenna kept Sara and Prue well supplied in photos as usual, and with the addition of Cathleen, the "snap-happy" mummy was sending them double the number of snaps and had twice as many cute toddler tales to tell.

Prue followed Sara's lead and dove muse first into writing a new TG novel. Carversion was the name of her latest science fiction/fantasy effort and like all Prue productions it was another "too real to be fiction" story chock full of fun, love, romance, drama, and mystery, sprinkled generously with puns and as always ending happily. Prue gave the girls a quick peek under the hood of Carversion, and both their motors purred contently. The Art Angel inspired by the sampling spread her wings and offered Prue a few inspired suggestions for cover art. Prue sent hugs and smiley faces to the Art Angel signaling her approval.

Prue announced that she was also working on a second project, a joint operation with hubby. Shortly after Sara left, they decided to contact their solicitor and have him begin searching for reputable adoption agencies in the hope that soon Chez Walker would have the pitter- patter of little feet. Sara and Jenna sent cyber hugs and wishes for their success. Jenna sent Prue the email address for Kim at Playland International, her own two children proof positive at the wonders this woman could work.
Sara was genuinely happy for Prue and her husband. She knew from personal experience that they'd be wonderful parents, and any kid growing up in that household would never want for love. Somewhere deep within Sara the little girl smiled that some lucky child would have a home, but then the smile faded away and tears fell as with all her heart she wished she could be that lucky child.

Sara never shared the little girls desires with Prue or Jenna, as she knew it would only make them sad and for her, misery didn't want company. She just continued to throw herself into her work, making no mention of the little girl's feeling toward Prue, save for the occasional "Yes mummy" when Prue would get onto her about her post- surgery care or not sleeping enough. It was offered as gentle teasing by Sara, and taken as such by Prue, but within both of them that single word touched a place in their hearts where the true meaning couldn't be denied.

Nearly six months had passed since Sara had returned from Chez Walker. She had managed to bury herself in her work and the Art Angel was once again making the world a more beautiful place by her original creations. She'd healed completely from her surgery and was now as fully functional as medical science had the ability to make her. She had reached the mountaintop physically, and while it did give her a sense of satisfaction, her heart and soul still ached for a life makeover that no surgeon's knife could give.

Not a day went by that she didn't think of her two months of life with Prue and it had taken all her strength to keep from calling her and crying I want to come home. Each time she lovingly caressed her golden angel she was reminded of Jenna and how wonderful life can be when you have a family to share it with. With each snap of Becky and Cathleen the Canadian shutterbug sent, the little girl within saw kindred spirits and wanted to play with them.

Her restlessness during the day translated into fitful sleep at night. Often she'd awake to find her self curled up in the corner of the room, trembling terribly and tears still fresh on her cheeks. Very seldom was she ever able to remember more than a snippet of the dream that put here. Sometimes she was back in primary school and all the other little girls were laughing at her, and other times she could hear the crack of her father's razor strap as he came up the steps to her room. The magical mall hop dream however had seemed to desert her as she'd not traveled its corridors for months, but when she received a special parcel from Prue, all that changed.

Sara's birthday was just round the corner and Prue wasn't about to let it pass without a proper gift. When the parcel arrived and Sara opened it to find a beautiful wrapped box from Prue, the young woman immediately went online to tell her friend that shouldn't have, but the little girl inside was bouncing to get her little hands on that paper and rip it to shreds.

The young woman and little girl combined forces to anxiously tear past the wrap and then slowly opened the box that remained. When Sara pushed back the paper she smiled brightly, for there within was a beautiful blue jacket. She immediately slipped it on and then purred, as the soft wool material was comfortable and snuggly warm. Sara moved over to the mirror, turning this way and that admiring the cut and color as well as the feel.

As she continued to look at the jacket in the mirror she was swept by a wave of déjá  vu. Checking the tag, she noted it was made in New Zealand. Perhaps she'd seen it, or one like it, in a catalogue, advertisement or a store window while she was visiting Prue. After a few moments, she dismissed WHERE she'd seen it as unimportant, and just concentrated on thanking Prue the wonderful gift she'd given her.

That night Sara returned to the magic mall hop dream, and while she didn't get any closer to solving the mystery of the shop owner, she did solve the mystery of her new blue jacket. When she awoke that morning and remembered the dream, she remembered where she'd seen that jacket before. She had been wearing one similar to it along with her best skirt and blouse as she walked through mall. The only difference between the jacket Prue had sent and the one she graced her imaginary mall in was the black stripes. Prue's didn't have it, her other one did, but still the resemblance seemed just too uncanny to be coincidence.

As soon as Prue came online, Sara thanked her again for the jacket but then asked her why she'd chosen it as her gift. The screen remained blank for nearly a minute before Prue answered but when she did, she told Sara that she'd went to bed one night desperately trying to come up with a proper gift for her. While she slept she dreamed she was shopping in a department store and then like the red sea parting, suddenly all the racks gave way to a single one that held no other clothing save for a smart blue jacket. As soon as she saw it in the dream she knew it was the perfect gift for Sara. The next day she went shopping at the mall and unbelievably she found the exact jacket she dreamed of and in Sara's size.

Sara listened to Prue's tale in stunned disbelief and then told her own as she informed Prue that the jacket she'd sent her was not only the same one in Prue's dream but aside from the missing black striping, the same one in her own mall hop dream. Prue was as shocked as she was and assured Sara that she hadn't even remembered her wearing a jacket in the dream, let alone its color and style.

When Jenna came on shortly thereafter, they both relayed the story to her and asked for her take on it. Jenna had firmly subscribed to the theory that Sara's dream had been stopped at the same place each time because she wasn't ready yet for what came next. While Jenna didn't have any more idea than they did on how Prue nearly picked Sara's dream jacket, she did think it fitted into her original hypothesis. Sara already had the blouse and skirt she wore in the dream, but she didn't have the jacket. If Jenna's theory were correct, Sara would finally be able to move forward in the dream because now she was properly dressed. As for the black stripes, she was as puzzled to their significance as they were. Ultimately it was just a matter of Sara's next mall dream and seeing if she'd finally get to the end.

Three nights later the dream returned, everything preceding the same as always until she entered the shop. For the first time since she'd had the dream something changed, a very big change, for their beside the little old man she'd grown to know so well stood someone else she also knew well.

She followed him out from behind the counter and suddenly Sara found herself not twenty feet from her own mother. She smiled at Sara and walked toward her. Sara was frozen and speechless. It was unmistakably her mother, but not the tired frightened woman that had ran Sara away from the house, but the loving young mother who made Sara her first dress and believed in her. Sara noticed as she grew closer that she was carrying something with her. When she realized what it was her eyes begin to fill with tears, for there in her mother's arms was Sara's rag doll Maggie. It was the doll Sara's mother had lovingly made for her and sadly it was the same one Sara's father burned before her very eyes.

When Sara's mother reached her, she offered the doll to her daughter. Sara reached out and took it, clutching it to her chest; she rocked the only baby she'd ever called her own. Sara's mother then wrapped arms around her and held her tight. She kissed Sara on the forehead and then whispered softly in her ear. "It's time to go home Sara. It's time to go home."

Sara looked into her mother's eyes. She had so many questions she needed to ask her yet she was unable to move or speak a word. Her mother then released her and headed back toward the old man at the counter. When she reached him, he smiled and nodded. Sara thought she heard her mother say thank you to the shopkeeper and then suddenly a ball of white light enveloped the woman and she was gone.

Sara awoke to find herself standing in the middle of her bedroom, clutching a small pillow to her chest, as if it were the doll she'd been holding in the dream, and her mother's words still crystal clear in her mind. "It's time to go home Sara. It's time to go home."

Sara still half-dazed from her dream state, gently sat the small pillow down as if it were her long lost dolly and then shuffled into the bathroom to dash a bit of cold water in her face. By the time she returned to her bedroom she'd succeeded in chasing away the sleep from her mind, but the dream and her mother's presence in it haunted her.

She plopped down on her bed and tried to sort the lot of it out in her head. "Every time the dream had been the same right down to the last detail, so why did it change now? And what a change! My mother? What on earth is my mother doing in my dream? It's been fifteen years since I've seen her and now suddenly she appears in a dream, looking like she did when she used to say I was her little girl? And how could she tell me it's time to come home? Her last words to me were to not come back as there'd been nothing to come back too! If I go back to that place my father's liable to finish the job he started the night I left!"

Sara shook her head and sighed. She didn't know what it all meant, but she did know what to do next and that was to seek out the two people who'd been through it with her since the beginning. This was clearly a job for the Three Musketeers.

Fortunately for Sara it was the weekend and both Jenna and Prue were online when she logged in. She immediately called a conference and spent the next twenty minutes typing the details of last night's dream. The three then began trying to discern the significance of Sara's mother's sudden appearance, and the true meaning of her message.

Jenna still believed the blue jacket that Sara had seen in her dream (strips or no stripes) and then later Prue sent her was some sort of catalyst to her mother's appearance, as if for some strange reason it was all part of the plot, but she still had no clue as to what the connection between them was.

Prue's theory as to why Sara's mother appeared to her as she did when Sara was a small child seemed sound reasoning to all of them. Pure and simple, it represented the time when the little girl was loved and accepted by her mother. She was a warm, friendly face that Sara would welcome and trust. Obviously her mother desperately needed her daughter's trust when she delivered her message.

As for the true meaning of that message, Jenna and Prue reluctantly agreed the most logical answer was the simplest: Sara really was being summoned home. Sara wasn't any more thrilled with that conclusion than her two friends were. They knew all to well what Sara had endured during her fourteen years there and none of them wanted to see a replay of the final act, but for Sara's mother to call her home, she clearly had to have a reason.

The next hour was spent trying to discern what that reason might be. Prue suggested that perhaps her father had finally come round and realized how wrong he'd been and he wanted to welcome his child home. Sara was ready to dismiss that idea almost as soon as YIM displayed it, but both Jenna and Prue reminded her of the stories that Sara's TG sisters had shared with them about returning home and finding absence had truly made the heart grow fonder, and their family more accepting and tolerant. Granted that was the exception rather than the rule, and Sara's father definitely didn't sound much like the exception, but she should consider all possibilities.

Sara acknowledged it was possible and then sought the more probable. Jenna didn't wish to be harbinger of bad news, but she felt compelled to share a dark possibility with Sara. She wondered if her mother's message to come home could have been triggered by the illness or possibly even near death of either of Sara's parents. It might be the last chance for any of them to try and put things right.

Sara pondered that possibility carefully. Over the last fifteen years she'd thought about some solicitor tracking her down one day to let her know her parents had passed on or were dying. She wasn't sure how she'd feel about it all. That night her mother helped her to escape she showed Sara that she did believe in her and really did care about her. If Sara could, she'd like to go back to at least show her mother that she'd taken advantage of that chance and made a decent life for herself.

As far as Sara's father was concerned, she had but one thing to say to him and that was a question that had haunted her long before she'd left: How could any parent ever be able to hate their own child? She didn't expect to him to be able to answer that, but there was almost a sense of self-satisfaction just in the asking.

As she considered the significance of that alternative, Prue raised another. Perhaps it didn't matter what Sara would find there or how well she'd be received. Maybe it was all a matter of closure. Perhaps she needed to return one last time if nothing more than to properly end this chapter, put the ghosts to rest and truly get on with her life.
For Sara that was probably the best argument of all. Sara had been running all her life. She'd run into the worlds she colored as a little girl to escape the pain and cruelty of the real one. She had run from her house that night to escape the abuse that was destined to kill her. She'd been running for fifteen years from the memories and the nightmares that haunted her. She'd run from anyone who ever tried to get close to her save for Jenna and Prue, and when Prue reached out to get closer to her than anyone in her life ever had, she ran from her too. She'd been running from everything and everyone, including her own destiny.

By the time the conference finally ended Sara knew she had to go back. It didn't really have anything to do with the dream or the fact her mother had appeared in it. It was about doing what Sara needed to do to make things right with her. Perhaps if she went back to where the running started she could finally make it stop.

Jenna and Prue had to support her decision because in their hearts they knew it was the right one. They could only hope that doing the right thing wouldn't end up going terribly wrong for Sara, and they both prayed the angels would watch over their Art Angel and keep her safe from demons past.

Sara did decide however to wait a few weeks before making the trip. One, she had the cover art for Prue's Carversion to finish and two, she was curious to see if the dream would return again. She was anxious to see if her mother would return and perhaps this time tell her more. She was also sure this wasn't the ending of the dream, as somehow she knew the old man behind the counter still had a role to play yet. It was a mystery worthy of a Prue production and like all Prue's tales, she could only hope it had a happy ending.

Two weeks later the cover art for Prue's Carversion was complete and Jenna and Prue quickly christened it another divine creation by the Art Angel. THE dream hadn't return to her with or without an appearance from her mother. Perhaps the next move was up to her and ready or not she was making it.

That night during conference she set up her itinerary with Jenna and Prue. It would take a good 8 hours to get to the village from her home in Derby, and her parents house was about ten minutes from there. If she left by dawn, she could make it there by early afternoon. She really wanted to get there before her father came home from work. IF she were going to be welcomed by either of them, it would definitely be by her mother. Hopefully she'd get the chance to talk to her mother, tell her about the life she's made for herself and most of all to say thanks for giving her that chance to go find it.

With her father, it would be touch and go. If he so much as threatened to lay a heavy touch on her, she was going to be ready to go. By getting there before he got home, she hoped to get an idea from her mother if her father had changed at all.

She had no reason to expect it to go well, and she'd probably be back on the road again before sunset. After the long drive there and the emotionally exhausting reunion, she really wouldn't be up to the long drive back, so she'd probably stop at inn for the night and then return to Derby the next morning.
In the most unlikely of possibilities, that is should things go fairy tale well, she might end up spending a few days there, in which case she'd get word back to Jenna and Prue as soon as she returned.

Considering Sara's father's track record for abuse, and the emotional magnitude of the journey that Sara was about to embark upon, neither Jenna nor Prue liked the idea of Sara being cut off from them for the duration. The obvious solution was for Sara to carry a cell phone with her.

However, they both knew all to well how Sara felt about telephones. Even though both Jenna and Prue knew Sara's voice quite well from their face to face meetings, she still never talked to them over the phone or for that matter have a phone in her house. In the past Jenna and Prue had accepted her choice without argument, but this was one time they had to clip the Art Angel's wings.

Both Prue and Jenna said it was just too dangerous for any young woman to be traveling alone on the road these days without a phone. It wasn't just about what transpires at her parent's house but what could happen to her on the drive there or back. It wasn't safe and if one or both of them had to fly in to ride with her because she wouldn't carry a bloody cell phone, then they'd do it.

Sara rolled her eyes and shook her head at the comments. She knew they said them because deserve or not, they loved her and she also knew they full well meant it too. Sighing in defeat, she agreed to get a cell phone and to give one of them a call from wherever she was spending the night. With a little more prodding she reluctantly agreed to call them any time in between if she needed them.

Later that day Sara made one of her rare excursions into town and secured a cell phone, hoping the only time she'd need to use it was to let Prue or Jenna the motel she was spending the night at. Anything more than that was too much to hope for, anything worse was too scary to think about it.

Shortly before dawn Sara stepped out of her cottage looking rather smart. She decided that if she was going to face her parents, she was going to face them looking her best. She'd pulled her golden blonde hair up into a ponytail, holding it in place with her favorite bow, and brought out her sky blue eyes with the help of Max Factor. Her choice for attire was no choice at all, as she easily selected her favorite skirt/blouse combo and tall black leather boots. It was unseasonably cool for early fall and Sara picked up the wool jacket that Prue had sent her as she walked out the door.

The garage housed the perfect car for the pink winged Art Angel, a BMW-Z4 convertible in of course, metallic pink. Sara didn't go out for a spin often but when she did, she enjoyed making "Pinky" purr.

Sitting in her car letting the engine warm, she reached up and caressed the golden angel that Jenna gave her. The token of her friends love stayed close to heart and gave her a connection to Jenna far better than any she'd get from the new cell phone sitting in her purse.

Prue's blue jacket was draped over her shoulders, offering her Prue like warm hugs on the cold morning. She had brought the jacket with her for warmth and for style as it played well off her skirt and hair bow. Lost for the moment was the role her jacket had played in her dream, but in time it would prove to be invaluable in Sara finding her ultimate destiny.