Rosamunde watched as he looked at her car. Through her window, she could tell it was going to rain any minute. The clouds and sky had gotten steadily darker. She rolled up the driver's side window.

When he returned to the passenger window, she smiled and said, "I'd call a tow truck, but I've got no cell service..." Rosamunde dropped her phone into the cup-holder.

She frowned slightly as the clouds released their load. However, the cowboy before her didn't seem to mind. He introduced himself with a smile that almost made her heart melt. She returned a smile and said, "Rosamunde Troy. Nice to meet you, Jack."

Rosamunde reached into the backseat and pulled out white umbrella with colorful polka dots. With a grin, she handed it to him. "I know it's girly, but I won't tell anyone."

Justin touched a few dark strands of his hair, trying to see if there was any way it would look halfway decent. "Sarah will be so embarrased, starting at eight or nine to have someone who looks like me as a dad. She won't want to even look at me or touch me."

Jack laughed and took it, opening it up over his head. "Cell service isn't very good out here, especially with such clouds." he looked through her car at his horse pasture. All the horses had disappeared into the barn when the rain started. Smiling again, he cleared his throat. "Well, Miss Troy, if you like I can take you to my house and we'll see if a phone works there. And if you want I can see what I can do to your car in my garage. What do ya say?"

***

"Don't be silly" Maralyn said, trying to reassure him. "Sarah is going to love her Father no matter what he looks like."

"Well..." Jackson started. "Let's start from the top. Just how long have you been "working" with them? And what did they make you do? and how did you feel about it?" He then waited for Micah's response.

*******

Finally! Buck thought. We're here...now I can get some peace and quiet. I hope And indeed they had made it to the station. Buck locked Alec up in a cell and he took Ian into another room for questioning...

"Ok, Ian. Can you go over...step by step... just what happenned to you and your freinds at the park?"

*******

"Hey Miley..." Kahlynn said... "I hear Justin's home. Maybe we should visit him and make sure he's ok... He didn't look to happy at the hospital..." She was worried...very worried.

Justin looked at the dark scars on his head and fingered them, praying his hair would grow back, evemn if it wasn't thick. "Her friends would care. They would laugh at her because her dad looks like a freak. If we have a son someday, his hair is gonna be to his shoulders so that no one can accuse me of imposing a ridiculous haircut on him. They would see my hair and if his hair was super short and some baldness, they would accuse me of forcing it on him."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miley siad, "He isn't. He lost most of his hair. Anytime he thought he would have to shave it before this he would always panic. Not only that but he looks like this http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_LtJlllrcpmY/S ... +Beast.jpg but without the Metal and branches. And just a little bit of hair. I mean his hair isn't simply above the ear it's scalped ot above the ear. That means no hair in the back of half his head."
She led Kahlyn to Justin's house, got out her spare key adn could hear justin going on about how he wants his future son who doesn't even exist yet to have shoulder length hair so people wouldn't associate him wiht the type of dad who forces super short haircuts on their boys. "Justin? Maralyn?"
She picked up Sarah, who was in her baby pin. "Hey... Who's the big girl? You're growing up so fast. Yes, you are."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Micah looked at him guiltily. "Since I was five. I ran away this past summer, then enrolled myself into Ditto Town High."

Rosamunde laughed lightly as he opened the umbrella. With his invitation, however, a couple of warnings from her mother flashed through her mind. She looked at Jack. He didn't look threatening and he had already proved to be a gentlemen in what she saw of his personality. Staying in her broken-down car was certainly not an option.

With a smile, she nodded, "Alright." She rolled the passenger window up, grabbed her purse and stepped out of the car. Rain soaked through her hair and sent a chill through her as the drops landed on her bare arms. Rosamunde locked the doors and then ran around the car, coming up beside him to hide under the umbrella.

Jack smiled over at her charmingly, then lead her to his truck parked on the other side of the rode. He opened the drivers side and gestured for her to slip in. He followed after her, shaking off the umbrella before getting in and slamming the door. He tossed the umbrella in the back seat, then turned the key, his engine starting immediately. "We'll go and and see if we can call a tow from my house. If not I got some chains, I could always pull it to my place" he pressed the gas petal and drove only for a few yards and into the horse farms lane. "Do you like horses?" he asked, raising a brow at her.

"No Justin, your hair will grow back." Maralyn said and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, sir, it all happened so fast. My cousin Micah, and two other friends, Peter and Kahlynn went into the park, I staid out to see if I could call the you guys or stop the thugs. I'm not sure how Justin fits in, but I was caught by to of the hooligans, and then tossed in Alec's car. And...from there..I think you know it" Ian said, taking a breath

Justin tried to stop the tears from coming and tried his best to believe his wife. "I'm sorry. I am so weak."

Kahlynn entered quitely. She shot a concerned look at Miley when she heard the conversation, but she said nothing regarding that. "She's cute." Kahlynn said, smiling at the youngster.

**********

"So you ran away from them? I take it you weren't very happy with what you were doing then..." Jackson responded.

Micah folded his arms. "No Sir. A few times I stole willingly, but most of the time it was because my dad would beat me up if I didn't." Micah sniffed back a few painful memories with tears. "Then he would take me out for icecream and tell me to never attempt to run away. I had enough. So, I stole form him and came here. I moved in with my cousin! He came back and hurt some of people and it's all my fault!" He kicked the bars. "I should have gotten hurt, not them!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miley said, "She reminds me of pictures I saw of myself at her age." Then, she saw Kahlynn's worried look and handed her the baby. "Please watch her for me. I need to check on him."

Rosamunde tried to stay under the umbrella until they got to his truck. She slid over to the passenger side, trying not to drip water all over the place. "Okay, but don't hurt my baby. She's old, but she's still beautiful." Rosamunde laughed lightly.

To answer his question, she said, "Absolutely! Who doesn't?"

She looked out the window, then back at him, pulling her fingers through her wet hair. "This is your place?"

(mods please delete this post)

"Your car is very nice. I wouldn't hurt it" he reassured, then nodded. "Yup, it's mine." he said, pulling up in front of his house, hearing the tires slosh into the wet gravel. His two story home sat in front of them, rain dripping down it's roof. "My Mother and Father gave it to me when they moved to the city. I loved horses...and the outdoors gives me such an inspiration to paint I couldn't leave it." he looked over at her, his green eyes warm.

***

"Lay down, love" Maralyn said, leading him into their room. Sarah cooed from the cradle near by.

"Wow..." Rosamunde said as she looked through the droplet-covered window at the home. "It's beautiful."

However, she turned toward him again with a grin and said, "You paint?"

Miley rushed to Justin and Maralyn's room, as quick as she could and hugged him, causing him to grimace and hug back at the same time. She pulled away. "Sorry. Do you need help getting to bed?"
She helped Maralyn lay him in bed. "She's right. It will grow back. The wounds weren't deep enough for it not to. You might have some patches though..."
She stroked her older brother's tears and started crying herself. "You're the best big brother a girl could ever have."
Justin said, "I can't be when I'm scared like I am now."