Gurn

"Knock knock."

Gunner types one last thing on his computer before turning around to see who was at his cubicle. The visitor makes his eyes widen in surprise, and he immediately stands, smiling. "Well hi there, Cindy! What are you doing here?"

Cindy returns the smile and readjusts Kaylee on her hip. "Um... unfinished business."

Gunner isn't sure what she means, but doesn't pry. "Jason, he... told me about... well, about-"

"It's okay." Cindy cuts him off. "And thanks."

"Yeah." Gunner turns his sights to Kaylee and grins. "Boy has she gotten big."

Cindy chuckles. "She sure has. Haven't you, Pumpkin?"

Kaylee buries her face against Cindy's neck, keeping her head turned just enough to peek out at Gunner, her blonde pigtails bouncing as she moved.

Gunner's grin widens and he moves a little closer, trying to get a smile. "Aw... you're not afraid of ol' Gunner, are you? You shoulda seen me when I was out at the ranch."

Cindy rolls her eyes. "You mean the long hair and shaggy beard look? That woulda scared anybody."

Gunner laughs. "I was just trying to keep the bears away." Catching the glimpse of a little smile on Kaylee's face, he bends down a little more. "Aha... there it is!"

Kaylee finally straightens again, giggling at him. "Gah!"

"No... Gunner."

"Gurn!"

Gunner laughs. "Yeah, close enough."

Kaylee giggles again and reaches out to him. His eyes widen. "What, really? You want to come to me?"

Cindy grins and hands her over. "Looks like love at first sight, Gunner."

He sheepishly accepts the little girl, giving her a playful bounce before holding her up high and grinning up at her. She squeals and laughs, babbling some unrecognizable words. Her laughter is contagious and Gunner cuddles her close, giving her all the attention she was very skillfully trying to get.

Cindy rolls her eyes. "She's becoming quite the little ham."

"Yeah, but a cute ham." Gunner hands Kaylee back over and sighs with content. "So... sticking around?"

"Don't know yet." Cindy straightens out Kaylee's pink t-shirt. "All depends. I just wanted to at least stop and say hi to you."

"Alright... well maybe I'll catch you later." Gunner watches her walk away, only letting his smile fade when her back is turned. She was trying very hard to appear happy but he saw the depression behind her gaze and it worried him.

Making her route across the main floor, Cindy knew the way well. She passes the main hall, though, and takes the back way down to the lower level, avoiding the majority of people. She'd say hi to everybody else later, including Jason. She'd told him she wanted to visit, she just hadn't said when. It wasn't like her not to make plans with him, but this time... this was different.

Finding the right room on the lower level, her pulse quickens a little. This could be a really, really bad idea. Knocking, she waits until she hears the invite to open the door before slowly letting it swing open. Keeping her arms around Kaylee, her eyes find Trey and she gives him a good hard stare for a long moment.

"Don't try saying anything yet because I'm a woman and can out-talk any man I please." She adjusts Kaylee on her hip, holding her stare on Trey, determined to say what she wanted before he had a chance to stop her - or before she lost her nerve. "I know you hate me and never wanted to see me again. But whether you like it or not, I wanted to see you. Recently I almost lost Jason. When I found out about you, I was pushed away. Not long after I got home, I got word that my husband is missing in action overseas - most likely, he's dead." She shakes her head. "I started feeling sorry for myself. Then I realized that I still had blessings staring me right in the face - and you're one of them. You're still alive and still my son, whether you hate me or not. And I'll be hanged if I don't at least try to gain your trust, or friendship, or whatever I can get."

She takes a deep breath. "You can tell me off, you can scream at me, you can tell me you hate me. But I will keep trying until either I get somewhere with you, or I die. Maybe I'm stupid. Maybe I'm crazy. But I can't live with myself knowing that I willingly just gave up trying to get to know my own son."

Tears sting her eyes, but she refuses to let them overflow. She was so nervous and upset that she was shaking, and Kaylee starts to fuss. Calming her daughter, Cindy resumes her stare at Trey. "For starters, I'd like you to meet some more of your family. You have two more siblings on your father's side, but on my side, this is Kaylee. She's your half-sister."

Kaylee sucks on her fingers and gives Trey and inquisitive look before fingering one of her pigtails, then pointing at him. "Who da?"

Cindy nods. "Trey."

Kaylee scrunches her nose and giggles. "Tra!"

Cindy wanted to laugh at the mispronunciation, but her stomach was churning and her palms clammy. She knew it was risky bringing Kaylee with her, but it's what she wanted. She was prepared to be yelled at, cursed at and/or have the door slammed in her face. But it didn't make her stance any less determined.

This, not This

Looking up as Eric enters the office Angel gives a smile noting his limp as he walked. It had been a long time since he came in and asked for anything for the pain. Motioning for him to sit down he new good and well she wouldn't give him anything without looking at what happened first.

   "Let me take a look first and than I can."

Taking a look at the affected area Angel runs her hand over it as gentily as she can knowing it was tender. Seeing the swelling, black and blue make Angel gives a nod. He'd gotten kicked pretty good today and she believe him when he said it she just had to make sure it wasn't hurt any worse and the pain was being masked.

   "Alright let me give you a few pain killers to hold you over till the swelling goes down. Just make sure you are switching between heat, and ice on and off alright?"

Turning around and going to the locked cabnit Angel pulls out an empty pill bottle and another filling the one up with a few pulls. Writing up a quick label she puts it on the bottle before turning around and going back over to Eric. Handing it to him she gives a smile. She new everything Eric had been through as of late though she didn't know how he was doing now.

   "Just make sure you taking these for this.."

Angel points in his leg.

   "Not this."

She than points at his heart.

   "Now I wouldn't think you would but its part of my job to say it anyways."

Hearing someone approach Dan can see Dylan out of the corner of his eye. Finishing up with the whole he was patching on the barn Dan puts the hammer down and turns to him giving a smile. He was happy to see Dylan up and moving around. He still was slightly pale, and thin but he looked much better than when Dan had first picked him up at the gas station.

   "You're very welcome Dylan. Your like a brother to me, and I'd hate to see anything happen to you. I said I'd always be here for you and I meant it. You're a good kid Dylan."

Dan really meant it too. Dylan had made some bad chooses but no one was perfect. He'd been there in life and he got over it and became a better person with God. He could only hope the same thing for Dylan and help him along that path all he could.

   "How are you feeling? Any better?"

   "I think I have a spot in my ever so busy life to hang out with you tonight."

Walking with Jason Katie gives a small smile. It felt good to have Jason ask her if she wanted to hang out with him tonight though at the same time it was still strange to not just think thats what would happen. Maybe all this time her just took him for granted.

Coming to a stop at the end of the hall and hearing Jason's question Katie thinks for a long moment. Was she really ok? No not really but did she need to worry Jason with that? She didn't think so but to say she was ok would be a lie.

   "Yeah I think I'm alright. Just since we woke up I've been feeling...well rather lack of feeling. I think I just need to get use to it and things will be ok. It's just...quiet right now."

Helping a few other customers that wanted drinks and declining some shots that a few of the guys wanted to buy her Beth moves about the bar, every now and than looking over at Zach she would give a wink or just smile sweetly to him.

Finally finding a free moment she comes back over and leans on the bar twords him a little bit. One would think with everything else Beth was doing his question had been missed but Beth's ears were sharp and she never missed when someone was talking to her.

   "Of course I still want to go and if it's with you thats even better. How about tomorrow? That is my next day off."

Pain

Eric's pace doesn't slow until he was stepping up onto his porch. His leg throbbed, warning him to take it easy, but he didn't care. Getting inside, he slams the door shut and sinks down to sit on his bed. Looking over at the mirror on the wall, he glares at it. 

For years he had fought the stigma of being a truck driver. For years he had fought against people thinking that all drivers were dumb or that they only took the job because there was nothing else. When he started out on the road, it was because he couldn't yet function well enough for anything else. Then it had gotten into his blood. He hadn't stayed with it because he was incapable of other jobs. He'd stayed with it because he knew it inside and out, it was good money and he was good at it. He was dang good at it! 

His fist slams down into the mattress. He felt so stupid. He'd opened himself wide for Stacy to see - multiple times, including just two nights ago. He had sat with her and shared with her openly about his past. She knew good and well that he already felt dumb the way it was. And today... today she'd thrown it right back at him. Why? Why had she done that? Did she really not care like he'd thought? Had she just been playing him? But for what purpose? 

Though still fuming, some of his anger was slowly dissolving into a more depressing level. Maybe he really was worthless. Maybe Stacy hadn't really meant it that she was grateful he was in Ashlee's life. Maybe she would prefer that he didn't influence her daughter at all. Maybe he really didn't have a place here like he'd thought. Maybe he did belong back on the road. 

It was quite a conclusion to come to - very far from Stacy's original comment. But in Eric's mind, it really was what it all boiled down to. Everything was connected. Whether Stacy had intended to hit him below the belt or not, she had. Whether she'd intended to hurt his feelings or not... she had. 

Growling, Eric stands up again. Feeling hurt was worse than feeling mad. He'd obviously opened himself up too far and let himself be too vulnerable. Trudging to the bathroom, he strips down and tries to check out his leg. Already, his thigh was swollen and purple. Tundra had done a great job. Eric felt like going out and just offering himself up as a punching bag today. 

Pulling his jeans back on, he tucks in his shirt again and heads back outside. With each step, the throbbing worsened. All he needed was some pain killers and a good hot bath tonight. That's all. And he'd be fine in the morning...

"Angel?" He taps on the door of her office and opens it slowly. Seeing her at her desk, he forces half a smile, trying to hide what was going on inside of him. "I, um... I got kicked a while ago." He gestures to his leg, knowing that she knew good and well it was the same one he'd injured before. "I'm okay but I was wondering if you had anything for the pain?"

Dylan ambles slowly from his bunkhouse, carrying a couple school books under his arm. After a morning of working in the barn, he was exhausted and a little bit nauseous too. But he knew he needed to get some school done - he was so far behind already. 

After getting settled back in his own bunkhouse again, he'd avoided too much contact with other people. Though no one seemed upset with him, there was still a little bit of tension that he hated. It was his own fault and he knew it - but he still hated it. He just wanted things to be normal again. But... they probably never would be now. 

Hunting for a good spot to sit in the sun, Dylan spots Dan over by the barn. Another person he'd been avoiding. Signing, he knows that he can't avoid Dan forever, and... there was something he needed to say to him anyway. 

Walking up to Dan slowly, he keeps his hands busy holding his books. Though still thin and rather pale, his eyes were finally bright again, proving he'd come a long way in the last couple weeks. Now it was depression that was knocking at the door. 

"Hey, Dan?" He didn't want to bother him. "Um... I just... I haven't seen you much and, well..." His eyes drift to the ground. "I just wanted to say thanks... for... well, you know. If it weren't for you, I might not be alive right now." 

"Mmmm, tonight?" Jason thinks a moment as he walks slowly. "Hadn't really thought about it. Maybe do something with you?"

Getting to the end of the hall, Jason suddenly realizes that Katie had cuddled into them as they'd walked, almost like she was searching for reassurance or something. Stopping before going out onto the main floor, Jason looks down at her, giving her shoulder a little rub. "Hey... are you okay?"


"Of course I'm enjoying my day off." Zach grins and accepts his soda, smiling even more. It was kinda fun to just be able to walk in and have her know what he wanted.

"I was wondering when you had off next.... thought maybe we could get together at the animal shelter... if you still wanted to do that?"

Royal mess

Hearing everything Eric had to say Stacy couldn't help her eyes getting larger and larger continue to take steps backwards as Eric came closer till she was backed against the wall. Wildly searching his eyes there was something Stacy hadn't noticed before...Eric's anger had made him down right good looking, more so that she already though he was. 

About to give a protest on what she though of him Stacy was cut off as Eric's lips met hers. Feeling the rough warmth of them Stacy couldn't help but bring her arms around him and return the kiss. Her anger still there but a softness shinning thought as well.

As Eric pulls away and Stacy is just left standing there her heart thumped loudly in her chest as she used the wall to hold her up. Confusion for how she felt coursed through her vain though the urge to run after Eric and protest was there she just stood not moving. She felt shaky, everything almost spinning, and her feelings it was something she hadn't felt in a while and it confused her.

Finally exiting the barn Stacy makes her way to the mess hall to grab something to drink. She felt pretty light headed and needed something before she passed out. Not to mention on top of everything she was still upset about the phone call. Now everything was a royal mess and no one new why.

Impulse

Eric's eyes widen in a form of shocked and offended anger. Had Stacy just thrown him a direct insult about his truck driving? Seriously? After all this? After spending time together, getting to know each other and forming a mutual respect for each other? After her telling him she approved of him becoming a father figure to Ashlee? After all that, she decided to throw his lack of education in his face and make him feel worthless? Had he been that wrong about her?

No matter the reason for her sudden about-face, Eric would have hurt less had she outright slapped him. If she'd wanted to press his buttons, she'd done a good job. "Yeah, us truck drivers are pretty close to the scum of the earth." His tone was laced with icy sarcasm. "We ain't got no brains to do nothin' but run our eighteen-wheelers across the country." 

Leaving his broom near a stall, he sets his hands on his hips, taking a step towards Stacy. His wide eyes had narrowed by now, proving his irritation. His leg was killing him, he was confused and offended, and he didn't have time to stand here and take this from her. "I don't now why I didn't see it before now, but you're just like everybody else, aren't you? All you see is diplomas, money and status. All you see is the outside." He takes another step, now only inches from her. "Which is worse? The way I look or my career choice? My clothes or my lack of college education?" 

Another step forward, he forces Stacy to back up. He'd been a sour mood already, and she had just pushed him over the edge. "Well let me tell you something, Stacy Cullen. There's a whole lot more to this broken down cowboy than a driver's license and a blank wall where there's no diploma hanging."

One more step and he's backed her up to the wall. "I don't know which is worse. You being upset with me now, or you pretending all along that my lack of brains didn't matter." With each word, his anger rose a little more. He'd been put down too many times not to stand up for himself. He'd been called stupid too many times not to fight back. Stacy hadn't said it outright - but it had been implied, and that was just as bad, if not worse. How dare she, especially after all he'd shared with her about his struggles after his accident. This is where it stopped. 

"I may just be a dumb truck driver to you. But let me make one thing perfectly clear." 

Raising his forearm above Stacy's chest, he forces her against the wall, his blazing eyes piercing her own. "What you see on the outside ain't nothing compared to what I got on the inside. And maybe it's about time someone taught you that lesson." 

Acting on pure angry impulsiveness, Eric keeps Stacy pinned tightly while leaning his head down. Pressing his lips roughly to hers, he spends no energy on gentleness. Raw passion explodes as he sets about to prove his point - there was much more to him than just being a truck driver. And today, right now, he'd make Stacy see it, whether she wanted to or not. Forcing his kiss deeper, irritation and pent-up frustration drives him.

Until he realizes that all of a sudden, his kiss of anger is being returned. 

Generously.

Jerking his head back to break the kiss, his eyes lock with Stacy's. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest, and his gaze now held a strange mix of lingering anger and new confusion. Why had she kissed him back? Why did he suddenly feel bolts of electricity shooting down his spine? Why was his hurt and irritation now so confusing? 

Quickly releasing Stacy from the wall, he takes a step back and blinks. His mouth opens to say something, but he didn't even know what to say now. He'd proven his point. That was all there was. She'd have to decide for herself if he was still just a stupid cowboy or not. 

Spinning on his heel, he stalks out of the barn, favoring his sore leg. This whole thing was utterly ridiculous. Every bit of it. From the very beginning. Stupid. Muttering under his breath, he aims for the shelter of his bunkhouse.

Trucker

Take back by Eric's own tone Stacy lets out a huff and folds her arms across her chest. She couldn't believe her ears and she was frustrated at his accusations about college degrees seeing as she had her own.

   "Now you wait a second not everyone who has there degree doesn't end up broke and they don't all flaunt it."

Throwing her hands up in the air Stacy just couldn't believe this. She was so mad so anger that she didn't even stop for a second to think non of it had to do with Eric he just happened to be there and she could yell at him.

   "Anyways I'd rather have a chance of getting a good job and getting on with life than ending up being a truck driver. Never settling down, and always moving around."

Once the words had come out of Stacy's mouth she cringed a little bit. She new she hadn't meant them as they sounded and they probley hit Eric wrong too but it was to late. The words had been said and all she can do is stand there still madder than a wet hen.

Bee

The dull thud wasn't heard by anyone else, but the pain couldn't compare. Tundra skitters to the back of her stall, her hindquarters still lethally aimed towards the door. 

Eric swallows his urge to scream. He'd been kicked before plenty of times - but this one had come unexpectedly and straight to his left thigh. Though his leg had healed since his trucking accident, it was still quite sensitive, and a blow from a horse's hoof was enough to send the pain shooting through his entire leg. Tundra was a fairly new addition to the barn and had come to them with a problem of not liking people or other horses behind her. It was something they knew they'd have to break her of quickly, but it hadn't happened soon enough. Eric hadn't been careful and had only been coming to give her grain - which was now strewn across the stall floor. 

Sucking in his breath, Eric leans on the wall for a few more moments before limping back out into the aisle and shutting the door. He'd have a hefty bruise for sure - worse, just because it was his bad leg. It was just what he needed. Taking a couple minutes until the pain partially subsided, he grabs a broom to sweep out the aisle. It was usually something Dylan did, but right now, he just needed a simple task to keep moving so his leg didn't get stiff. He'd take a better look at it later. 

It wasn't five minutes before Stacy's sudden entrance into the barn startles him from his work. Straightening and gripping the broom tightly, his brow furrows. He hadn't ever seen her this riled, let alone been the brunt of her anger. 

"Now hang on." Eric's eyes narrow at her tone. "I did no such thing. Yes, I told her college ain't for everybody, but that's true. Be glad I didn't tell her how I really feel - that college graduates like to flaunt their diplomas to the world but wind up broke on school loans." He shakes his head in annoyance. "There's plenty bigger things to get a bee in your bonnet over. Don't snip at me for giving your daughter my honest opinion. I was just having a conversation with her."

Anger

...It wasn't much later after being in the barn with Eric that Ashlee was heading back to her and her mom's bunk. Eric's words lingered in her mind. She know she had a ways to go but the question of college still lingered in her mind and really not wanting to go was there too.

Entering the bunk Ashlee spots her mom at one of the tables with a bunch of paperwork spread across the table. She wasn't sure if now was a good time to talk to her mom or not but she figured she should at least try.

   "Hey Mom, do you have a second to talk?"

Looking up from the paper work she had been working on Stacy does her best to give Ashlee a smile. She didn't want to worry her daughter and she didn't really want to tell her about the phone call today unless she had too. It was just something Ashlee didn't have to worry about.

   "You can always talk to me you know that Ash...I always have time for you. Whats up?"

Sitting down on the car that was across from her mom Ashlee folds her hands over the table and just gathers her thought for a moment. She had lots of idea and stuff she wanted to say but she had to get it all together. 

Finally thinking there was no better way than to just say it Ashlee looks up at Stacy and searches her face for a long moment, She had no idea how this was going to go over.

   "I've been thinking about school and...I'm not to sure if I want to go to college anymore."

Stacy can't help the look of shock that passes over her face. Ashlee had always talked about college and what she wanted to do. Stacy couldn't help that now she had changed that option and it made her upset just a little. Schooling was important and she wanted Ashlee to have the best.

   "What do you mean you don't want to go to college? You've been talking about it forever and its important."

   "...well I like being here and I was talking to Eric and he said he doesn't think all people need to go to college and He's love to have me stay here and help around the ranch. I think I'd like to do that."

...A few minutes later Stacy walked quickly to the bar anger in her eyes. A mixture of what Ashlee had told her and the early conversation made it worse. To think Eric would encourage her not to go to college. What right did he had to go over her head on something like this. 

Spotting Eric in the barn Stacy walks over to her the anger clear on her face as she sets her hands on her hips. She was fuming she new it, but she didn't care Eric was going to get a peace of her mind.

   "Eric, what do you think your doing encouraging Ashlee not to go to college? Oh all the stupidest things you could of done. Don't you understand how important it is for her to go so she can have a good life and not be stuck in life. Well....what did you think you were doing?"





  

Wouldn't Complain

Eric grins a little, knowing that thinking about the future was never easy, let alone for a person as young as Ashlee. It was commendable she was thinking about college, but she certainly had plenty of time to keep thinking about it.

"Well... you got a few years to straighten it out." He finds himself enjoying the opportunity to have this conversation. Maybe he really did have a bigger role here than he'd thought. "Me, I ain't had much use for college myself. I mean, nothing I ever did needed an education to get. Horse racing, truck driving and working here."

He picks up Static's foreleg, cupping the hoof to clean it out. "Not that it ain't worked for other folks. Can't imagine having a doctor that doesn't know what he's doing or something, ya know. Or an accountant that doesn't know numbers. I just figure college isn't for everyone. If it's what ya wanna do, go for it. If it's not... I say don't waste time and money. Besides, you don't have to go right out of high school anyway. Lots of people wait a year or two even after that."

Finished with the hoof, he sets it back down and straightens up, arching his sore back. "That's just my two cent's worth though. Somebody doesn't wanna go, I wouldn't make 'em. If somebody does, I ain't gonna stop 'em." He turns and grins at Ashlee, tossing her a wink. "I certainly wouldn't complain about you staying here and working."


"Oh come on." Justin gives Mackenzie a light shove on the arm. "It's not an 'orange gloppy thing.' It's a sunset."

Mackenzie had followed Justin down the long hall of paintings, trying her hardest not to show that she was quite intrigued with this place. It wasn't much to look at from the outside, but on the inside, it was full of light and color and all sorts of interesting looking things. Justin had gotten her a map when he'd paid their admission, and she saw there was much more than paintings too, but she'd only nodded when he'd asked if going down this hall first was okay. She'd remained quiet as they'd walked - to a stranger, she was a very uninterested girl. But deep down, she really was excited to be in the museum for the first time.

Glancing up to the painting again, she cocks her head. "It's just a smudge of orange and pink."

"It must be where you're standing." Justin takes her by the shoulders and moves her directly in front of where he stood. "There. Now see it?"

"No."

"You have no imagination."

Mackenzie frowns. "I do so."

"Alright, then what do you see, besides a splotchy thing, oh, Miss Imagination?"

The challenge brought on a new spark of interest, and she squints at the picture. "I see a clown."

"A clown?! Where on earth do you see that?"

Mackenzie folds her arms. "If you're not creative enough to see it yourself, I can't show you."

Justin can't help laughing outright. "You got me there."

After that, Mackenzie began to interact more, and quite soon, she and Justin were having friendly arguments over just about every abstract painting, and a few that weren't abstract too.

"You kidding me?" Justin leans so far to the right that he almost falls over. "A dog? Seriously?"

"Uh-huh. Right there." Mackenzie points. "He's sitting up with a bone in his mouth."

"It's green!"

"Can't a dog be green?"

Justin grins. "I guess he could be at that." Glancing at his watch, he sighs. "Well, we're running out of time."

Mackenzie tries not to act disappointed. "Are we going back to the park?"

"Yep. Otherwise your dad might think I kidnapped you."

"Been there done that." Mackenzie rolls her eyes. "We better go."



..."So did you two do anything interesting?" Carson gives his daughter a sidelong glance as he drives.

Mackenzie shrugs. "We went to the art museum."

Carson's eyebrows rise. The word "unconventional" comes back to him once again. "Did you talk a lot?"

"Nah."

"Oh. Well, do you like Justin?"

"He's okay."

"So you'll go again?"

"Whatever."

Carson sighs. So much for learning about the session today. He'd just have to keep on trusting Justin.

Unwanted phone call

Continuing to brush the horse Ashlee lays her other hand on his neck to keep him calm. Next to being in the tack room Ashlee love being right here brushing the horses. Just the smell it was another thing that Ashlee sure did find comforting.

Hearing Eric's question about school Ashlee thinks for a moment. School was going good she was passing all her classes but for the last few days a new question was looming in her mind. The thought of college. She'd always told her mom she would go and even though it was still a little ways away if she was going to go she needed to prepare. Just now she wasn't so sure. What she once wanted to go for just...didn't seem like it fit anymore.

   "School is going ok. I'm still passing all my classes so thats good. I am sure if I wasn't you might be the first one to know about it because Mom wouldn't let me help anymore. Out back behind the barn is pretty peaceful too."

Ashlee starts to brush the horse again as she talks gently smoothing the horses coat to make it shiny and soft.

   "When I am out there...sometimes it makes me think that I don't want to leave here in a few years to go to college. I use to be so sure about what I wanted and now...I'm not so sure. I feel like I fit here and I could do this as my job. I's just confusing I guess sometimes trying to straiten it all out."

   "No Rich, I don't even know how you got this number."

Stacy paces her bunk the phone held up to her ear. The conversation on the other end having been going on for at least five minutes now. Stacy had been shocked to hear the familiar voice on the other end. A voice she thought she would never hear again and now wished she hadn't.

   "It doesn't matter if you have seen the error of your ways or not. You haven't been in Ashlee's life for the last fourteen years and she is better off that way. You can beg and plee all you want you gave up your right to see her along time ago."

She new her voice was going up in pitch and really she didn't care. She was angry and if she could be beyond angry she would be and on top of the anger there was hurt as well. It was like a scab being ripped open. She'd loved Rich with all her heart, but she never would of sacrificed her baby's life for that love. It was unfair that he had made her choose.

   "Fine go try and get a court order Rich, I really don't care because I'll fight it tooth and nail and you will lose. You have no right to be calling me or putting us through this. No you'er not her dad, your her father and thats where it ends."

Stopping at the window and looking out across the way to where she could make out Ashlee and Eric working with one of the horses her heart aches a little more. She could remember when Ashlee was little how she would cry because she couldn't be like the other kids. Her questions of why she didn't have a dad and how she would never be able to go to the father daughter dances. Stacy could still remember the crys and the tears she had to whip away. It only made her anger grow.

   "It's not your right, not anymore. You where never there for a scraped knee, when she was sick, to go places with her, to whip her tears away and answer her questions of why she didn't have a daddy. No Rich you lost that right a long time ago and thats finale. I am done talking about it."

Hanging up the phone with a loud slam Stacy sinks down onto the bed and runs a hand over her face. That was the last conversation she had dreamed or wanted to have ever and now that she had it just put her in a sour mood. She didn't understand why this had to happen, why now after all this time. This was the last thing she wanted.

As Jason puts his arm around Katie she brings her hand up to his. That was the first bit of affection he had really shown since he'd woken up. They had cuddled on the couch a little bit but in public it almost had started to feel like they went a couple. But having this little bit now Katie soaks it in all she can.

   "How about next time I just call to talk. Than I wont have to not tell Rick anything."

Walking with Jason Katie leans into him a little bit trying to feel some kind of emotion like she use to from him. Though it was a lost cause she tried anyways, it was just habit and she really couldn't help it.

   "So what are your plans for tonight?"

Hearing Zach's voice Beth gives a smile looking up at him. It was a nice surprise to see him come in at this time. She remembered he had mentioned he had off today but she hadn't thought he would be in to see her. For sure she had thought he had better things to do. But now he was here and she was glad.

   "Hey Zach! It's pretty slow going today but could be worse. How are you enjoying your day off?"

Turning back around for a moment Beth grabs a glass and pours some soda into it before sliding it over to Zach. Giving a smile to him she was proud she new what he drank. Not that it was hard or a big mixture or anything. It was out of the normal for a place like this though and sometimes it was the smile things that were harder to remember.