Disclaimer: (in German accent) I own nutzing!!

Category: P, and HR of course

A.N.: This is an idea that just popped into my head. I plan for this
to be short, but just bare with me, OK?
Also, ~~~~~~~ = scene change and >>>>>>> = time change.
 
 

                      Bittersweet Remembrance
                        (by JQDreamweaver)
 
 
    In a two-story New Mexico ranch house, a young red-headed 12 year
old stomps madly from his room in search of his 11 year old foster
sister. When he reaches her room, he attempts to open the door and
discovers it's locked.

    *That's funny,* he thought. *I thought Doug told her she was too
young to lock her door.* Frustration adding to his fury, the foster
child began to bang on the door.

    "Ray!! Open this door right now, we gotta talk," he yelled
through the door. "This is it, Ray! I've told you time and time again
not to dig in my stuff, and you still do!" As he continues to bang on
the door, it suddenly opens a fraction, allowing a small blonde head
to poke out. The young girl's blue eyes held a sparkle of mischief as
they glared into the brown eyes that burned with anger.

    "You ain't got no proof that I did any such thing, Benny!" she
shouted from her partially open door. Benny winced at her yelling so
close to him, then decided to one-up her by getting even louder.

    "No proof?! Ray, you left stuff from my binder scattered all over
the floor of my room! And, no, the dog did not do it because that
binder was in my bookbag on the top shelf of my desk!" Ray, realizing
her mistake, turned a bright red and bit her lip in thought.

    "Well, umm...uh..." Quickly her embarrasment turned to
anger. "Well, what do you matter, anyway?! You can't do anything to
me!! You aren't really my brother! You're just the kid that Momma
agreed to take care of when she signed up for that stupid program!
And the reason you were in the program in the first place is 'cause
your own daddy don't want ya', so there!" she screamed and slammed
the door in his face. Benny's face turned beet red as he cast his
eyes to the floor, blinking to hold back the tears of hurt her sharp
words had caused him. He turned to walk away then spun around and
kicked the door.
 
    "That ain't true!" he yelled, wiping his nose to stop from
sniffling. He couldn't let her see that she'd hurt him. "You know it
ain't! Papa comes visit as often as he can, and he brings gifts
whenever he can afford it! He's just been too poor to take good care
of me since Momma...since Momma..." As his tears choked his throat,
he turned and ran, screaming, "Oh, what do you know?!"

    The kitchen screen door slammed shut, and the blonde head once
again poked out of her door, blue eyes filled with regret and remorse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    In the horse barn not far from the house, Doug Wildey hung up the
barn phone with a weary sigh. As he rubbed his eyes and thought of
how the boy would react to this news, he heard someone sniffling in
one of the stalls. His heart dropped at the thought that the boy
might have overheard the conversation. Striding swiftly to the stall
that held Emily, the new mare, Doug leaned over the stall door. His
eyes softened at the sight of Benny's tear-streaked face.

    "Benny?" he said softly. "Is everything alright?" he asked
tentatively, hoping that the boy hadn't heard the phone conversation.
Benny shook his head, but never took his eyes off Emily. He was
stroking the brown skin of her neck, and when his tears starting
rolling again, he buried his face in the mare's dark brown mane.
Opening the stall door, Doug stepped in and put his hands on the
small boy's shoulders. "What happened, Benny?"

    "Her skin reminds me of Momma," came the soft reply. Doug smiled
tenderly.

    "I know. That's why we let you name the mare after her, remember?"
Benny nodded. Kneeling down, Doug gently coaxed Benny to turn around
and face him. "Tell me what happened, son." Benny wiped violently at
his eyes.

    "It's Ray. She's so mean!!" he said through sniffles. Doug sighed.

    "What'd she do this time?" That daughter of his could be nothing
but trouble sometimes. He rubbed Benny's small shoulders as the boy's
eyes fell to the floor.

    "She said Papa doesn't want me," Benny said as the tears welled
up again. Doug felt a pang of guilt at the reply. He pulled the boy
into his arms and hugged him tightly as the tears came pouring down.
He was going to give that girl the whooping of a lifetime for doing
this, especially on a day like today. He closed his eyes and squeezed
the boy tightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Just at sundown, Ray heard the kitchen door open from her seat
in the big chair in the living room. She put down the remote and
looked up as her father came in carrying a very tired and highly
upset Benny.

     "Dinner is in 15 minutes," Doug said as he set Benny on the
couch. Kneeling down in front of Benny, he said, "If you want, you
can eat dinner in here tonight. You've had a rough day and deserve a
rest, OK?" Benny nodded, his face downcast but otherwise emotionless.
Doug stood up and turned to Ray, his eyelids lowering into a
glare. "And you, young lady, will wash up and be at the table as
usual. Afterwards, you and I are going up to your room to have a
little talk, understand?" Ray nodded, her eyes wide with fear, and
sunk into the chair to pull away from her daddy's 'mad eyes'. When
Doug left to help get the kitchen ready, Ray slid down off the over-
stuffed chair and went sit beside Benny. She watched him carefully as
he pulled his knees up and crossed his arms over them.

    "Papa called," he said out of the blue. Ray blinked before asking,

    "Did you get to talk to him?"

    "No, but Doug did," he replied, taking deep breaths to try and
keep the tears from falling again. In the end he buried his face in
his arms as he said, "You were right. He doesn't want me." He wasn't
sobbing like earlier, but his voice broke constantly while he spoke.
Ray shook her head in confusion and sudden fear.

    "That's not true. You said it yourself, he visits all the time."
She searched her mind frantically to try and figure out why he would
say that. Slowly and softly she said, "I know what I said earlier was
wrong, and I'm sorry. I just-"

    "You don't understand, Ray," he interrupted her. "When Doug spoke
to him on the phone earlier, Papa said he wouldn't be coming visit
anymore." Ray felt her heart drop. "D-doug tried to tell me th...that
Papa just couldn't afford the travel expenses anymore, but I know the
truth. He doesn't want me. He never wanted me." As the words sunk in,
Ray felt tears sting her eyes.

    "I'm so sorry, Benny."

    "Yeah, what for? You were right! I'm just the boy no one wants-"

    "That's not true!" she nearly shouted. He looked up, and she felt
her face redden. "I...I never said no one wants you." Her face
softened as she wiped away her tears. "And I'm sorry for what I did
say. I didn't mean to hurt you, I just got so angry..." she trailed
off. Slowly, she slid over and put her arm around Benny's shoulder.
"We've been friends since you got here, Benny, and the last thing I'd
want to do is hurt you. And I think Daddy's right about your daddy.
He was always poor, you know that. Maybe he just can't spare the
money anymore." They sat in silence for a moment, Ray's arm around
his shoulders, while Benny thought about what she said.

    "Would you?" he asked quietly. Ray's mind took in the question
and she tilted her head to the side. Looking into Benny's brown eyes,
she smiled and tightened her arm on his shoulders.

    "In a heartbeat, Buddy. In a heartbeat."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    In the living room of the Quest compound, Benton Quest opened his
eyes and smiled at the portrait of his wife hanging over the fire
place. He wiped away the tears of the past, letting the pain of that
memory wash over him while the more recent pain pushed forward.
Shaking his head, he concentrated on the good memories. His late
wife, Rachel Wildey Quest, had been his best friend for as long as he
could remember. She was  always there for him to lean on when times
got off, and he had done much the same for her particularly when her
mother died of cancer while they were both in college. Sighing, he
wiped his eyes again, took one last look at his wife's sapphire blue
eyes, stood up, and headed to the kitchen to get a drink while he
finished reading the most recent scientific journal he'd received. As
he passed the stairs leading up to the main bedrooms of the compound,
he heard someone's door slam before the person stomped across the
hall. Looking up, he saw as his 16 year old son Jonny began banging
on one of his best friend's door.

    "Jessie!" he heard the boy yell. "Open the door, we gotta talk!
You've been digging through my laptop files looking for my journal
again, and don't try to deny it!" As an all-too-familiar argument
ensued, Benton shook his head and walked into the kitchen, smiling
all the while at the bittersweet memories.
 

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comments, flames, buckets of money? (although legally i can't take
the last, but hey! if you're willing to send it, i'll be more than
willing to take it!)

Hope everyone liked this. I started writing at 10 pm and was done by
1:42 am. Ugh. Late night. Later, guys.