Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home. *** Claire is lost and scared and utterly alone. Her family is in shambles after the death of her older sister Ina, and she's left to pick up the broken pieces of herself as her life heads into a downwards spiral of loneliness. Her heart leads her to 5:48, a little cafe by 33rd street, where she finds her new home. With a broken heart and a speech disability, Jasper has his heart and mouth sewn shut by the winding threads of hurt and fear. Painting and serving coffee in cafe 5:48 are one of his last few saving graces, but the smile he's been painting on himself will soon fade away as everything he's ever held dear slips away from his grasp. Ezra is out-of-sync and oddly cold by the way life has treated his young self. Abandoned by his single mother at an early age, he has grown up thinking that he is a mistake. His constant shaking hands are a reflection of what he often thinks of himself, but the delightful pastries he bakes for 5:48's customers are a reflection of what others see of him. Drew is a quirky rarity. He is a dash of loud, a pinch of exuberant, and a cup of eccentric - just like the meals he serves in the cafe as the only chef there. Behind his playful grins and outlandish clothes, however, are his jutting ribs, hollowed cheeks, and too-thin arms. Sometimes he cannot stomach being in his own skin as much as he cannot stomach food. This family has gone a long way from finding each other, and they'll be going a long way together too as reality comes catching up to them, threatening the newfound happiness they've found with each other. Secrets are revealed, pasts become presents, and lives are changed. Slowly but surely, they find their way back home. *** NOTE AS OF 08/2026: This is the old version of the story from 2012, posted in FULL. Another story that will be considered a reprise of this old version is in the works, and will be posted under the name "Hiraya House."

collection of poems and quotes that i love

Seventeen-year-old Denali can lift trucks with her mind and see remote locations on a whim, but these skills won't save her if the American Psi Council discovers she is trying to prevent a bombing in Washington, DC. She shouldn't ask her strong, strict trainer to risk his life to help her...but she will.

Coby is living a perfectly ordinary life. But then a bleeding woman appears on her doorstep, and her mother inexplicably knows what to do. Soon everything Coby thought she knew about the world she lived in will be called into question as she works towards one goal: saving her family.

Working for a world-leading mafia, Harry knows how to kill, how to hunt his victims, and how to avoid any company of any kind. He's used to a lonely, quiet, and harsh environment. He is the best at what he does. And everything he does becomes problematic when he's assigned to protect the boss's daughter from world-known killers. Catalina tries to understand him, eventually failing because instead she falls for a man so willing to resist her. [Contains Mature Content]