It was late. Her father would be home soon. Vanessa, who wore her father's old baseball jersey and a pair of plaid pajama pants, slipped from the balcony to their little apartment and made sure the door slid closed behind her.

The rusty red carpet was old and worn, but it felt soft and comforting under her bare toes. They hadn't been able to afford to redecorate since moving in (not that any of them cared enough to bother with it) and the floral wallpaper that lined the walls was stained yellow with age. The lonely lightbulb that hung from the centre of the ceiling was naked, and the intensity of its glow waned progressively as she walked across the room. Unconcerned, Vanessa slammed the palm of her hand against the wall beside the light-switch. The sound of her skin smacking against drywall resounded prominently throughout the apartment and, suddenly buzzing with renewed energy, the light shone vigorously once more.

"There," Vanessa nodded, satisfied, and tossed a couple pieces of bread into the toaster. There was nothing quite as delicious as a good snack before bed.

The home she shared with her brother and her father was a quaint, two bedroom arrangement with kitchen, dining room and living room all rolled into one. Since there were three of them and only two bedrooms, Mr. Rae slept on a Hide-a-Bed in the living room, which Vanessa pulled out and prepared for him every night before he returned from work.

While she waited for her toast to pop, the auburn haired girl collected some blankets and pillows from the hallway closet and dutifully laid them out for her father. He was always so tired after work. She liked to do simple things like this for him, so that he didn't have to.

The voice of Alex Trebek wafted through the old-fashioned television set and Vanessa, thoroughly distracted, stood in front of it with her hands on her hips and an expression on her face that suggested she was thinking very hard. Every once in awhile, she would shout out questions at his answers and then swear and slap her knee whenever she got something wrong. Which was most of the time.

Game shows were a guilty pleasure of hers. A passionate soul with a competitive spirit, Vanessa watched them like her grandmother watched soap operas; and always whooped with delight whenever she happened to get an answer right. This was a rare and, thus, a ridiculously happy occasion, and one of the reasons she enjoyed watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire, because she always managed, at least, to get the $100 question. Sometimes, when Mr. Rae didn't have to work so late, the three of them would even make a family night of it and, while Vanessa enjoyed spending quality time with them, Mr. Rae and John Jr usually knocked her random guesses out of the park with the correct answers. This never failed to infuriate and frustrate her, as Vanessa failed to comprehend how, exactly, a nine year old boy could be smarter than she was.

John Jr was a bit of a nerd. He read a lot for a child his age (way more than Vanessa ever had) and, while he enjoyed cool things like being loud and watching baseball and cheering his sister on at the skatepark, there were things about him that Vanessa found it difficult to understand. He liked science. He liked vegetables. He didn't like her drum set.

"Tolkien for 250, please." The contestant chose her category. Vanessa bit her lip and blinked at the TV.

Mr. Trebek's voice crackled through the speakers. "The Wizard of Isengard."

Vanessa's brow furrowed with concentration. She had seen the hobbit movies, but couldn't remember the name-

The smell of smoke and burnt toast permeated the air. Vanessa wrinkled her nose in distaste and glanced up from the TV when the smoke detector that hung above the stove started wailing. Her ears rang with the penetrative noise.

"My toast!" Vanessa groaned, stomach rumbling in disagreement, and ran to flip the lever on the toaster. Long overdue, it popped; black, brittle and glowing orange.

A loud crash resonated from within John Jr's room. The little boy burst into the hallway, wearing nothing but a simple pair of oversized navy boxers and white socks, and raced to the kitchen. There was a healthy sized fire extinguisher tucked under his arm.

"Where's the fire?" he asked his sister, brown eyes wide and dancing in his skinny head.

"There's no fire," Vanessa sighed and, collecting a tea towel from a drawer, waved it enthusiastically underneath the smoke detector, "The toaster didn't pop when it was supposed to."

"Oh," John Jr said, dropping the fire extinguisher, as well as his guard, and going to open the balcony doors, "Didn't dad tell you the left side's broken?"

"Uh," Vanessa thought about it for a minute, "He might have. I probably wasn't listening."

John Jr laughed and watched as his sister attempted to silence the obnoxious smoke detector. After a moment, he snapped his fingers, as though he'd just been struck by a brilliant idea, and disappeared down the hall. He returned seconds later holding a small fan and, after plugging it in, set it on the counter and pushed the power button. It hummed to life, and effectively blew the smoke (although, the stink of it stayed behind) across the room.

The smoke detector ceased its irritating wail.

"Dad'll be home soon," John Jr observed quietly. He glanced from Vanessa to the TV. "Are you watching Jeopardy?"

She smiled at him, "Yeah."

"Do you…" John Jr started slowly and then, when she started giggle at him, continued with a defiant confidence, "Do you think it would be okay if I stayed up and watched it? Til dad gets home. Then he can send me to bed if he wants."

"Oh, I dunno," Vanessa sighed heavily, as though she were going to deny him, even though she had every intention of saying yes.

"Its not a school night!" John Jr. protested hopefully.

Vanessa stood there, staring down at him with as hard of an expression on her face as she could manage. Her lips twitched and she punched his scrawny arm good-naturedly, "Oh, alright."

"Hey, that hurt!" John Jr scowled, even though it hadn't hurt at all. Bouncing on the spot in the same way he'd watched some boxers on TV, John Jr raised his fists and swung his arms exaggeratedly in his sister's direction. Vanessa laughed and skittered out of the way, towards the television, where Alex Trebek had long since revealed the identity of Saruman the White.