John sat at the desk in his office seething for the second time in less than three hours. First the incident on the pond where some kid damn nearly drowned and now this new person, an attorney who was suppose to be here an hour ago, still had not shown up yet.

He leaned back in the chair running his hands through the thick brown hair that covered his head. "This is one of those days you should have just stayed in bed John," he told himself.

Looking around the office he realized how much things had gone to shit. Donna, his now ex-wife, had been gone for over a year. She left for the city, and another man, leaving John and small town of Mystery behind forever. It really would not have bothered him that much, but Donna had taken the boys with her. John had neither seen nor heard from Donna or the boys since she left. Just the short note on the table explaining her departure which she had been planning for months and the divorce papers a few weeks later.

She'd had ample time to put things in order with out John's knowledge. He was busy with the team most of that winter. They had a huge affair with the NY Rangers, so he was home very little and spent even less time with his wife, but he always made time for the boys. In truth looking back on things, John did not really blame Donna for leaving. He had tried to be interested, but failed miserably.

John still held his position of the town sheriff and despite personal problems, did his job well. The office work, however, which Donna use to take care of for him, had not really been touched. Except on the occasion when John needed to find something. The he just tore ass through the heaping files until he found what he was looking for. Whatever mess he made, stayed a mess.

When the town had finally approved a new attorney to be brought into the small town of Mystery. "And only two years after Bailey's death too," John jokedwith himself. He had asked if the new law person who was to set up shop at the police station for awhile could do some extra duties and help clean up the office.

Surprisingly enough she had agreed to the arrangement, but John would be forced to share his space with the newcomer at least until spring, when she could set herself up elsewhere.

Mystery was extremely small and the law practice was not likely to see much business. Still the mayor thought that every town should have at least one lawyer, so they decided to replace old Bailey. A big city lawyer had taken the position claiming to want to get away from big city life and crime. Funny John thought, Donna left because Mystery was too boring.

Thinking about it, John knew very little of the woman coming to town. She was 26 years old, extremely intelligent, and supposedly very independent. She was also now and hour and a half late.

The snow had started to fly a few hours ago. The pond was not frozen over in all spots yet, thus the reason for John's first call of the day. A few kids had been out skating on the thin ice not bothering to heed the signs that had been carefully posted around the area warning of danger. One of them fell through. John was lucky enough to take the call and when all was said and done he had not only saved the boy, but ended up soaked and freezing himself.

Doc had insisted on looking him over for signs of frostbite or hypothermia, but as John had assumed, the boy was fine, just cold and wet.

"Not a great way to start off your day." he said, standing up from his chair and moving to the window to get a better look at the storm that was quickly developing. Though he could barely see past the windowpane, John could make out a dark shape waddling through the snow toward the sheriff's office.

"Well it's about damn time," he mumbled under his breath.

The figure clambered up the steps to the door and pulled it open, practically falling instead of walking over the threshold. John turned from the window and left his office heading to the reception area when he heard the main door open, then slam shut. There was a little bit of heavy breathing coming from underneath a massive parka hood. He couldn't even see her face, it was so big.

He tried to stifle a smile as he was about to give this woman a lesson about his feelings on tardiness. "Where have you been? You should have been here two hours ago," John lashed out.

"Fine thank you," a small voice replied from within the confines of the coat. "I'm Brynn, nice to meet you too." She began to pull off her mittens, then attack the buttons on the huge coat she wore. After getting them undone and unzipping the beast, she removed the hood from her head.

John stepped back taking in the grizzly sight before him. Her face seemed to be covered with hair, matted and tangled in an array of patterns and it was the most awful color of red he had ever seen.

"If you must know where I have been," the woman said, throwing her coat on the floor, "I was in a car accident few miles up the road and my cell was dead. I would have called to let you know I was going to be late, honest!"

John's brain took in what she said and processed the information. He suddenly realized why she looked so bad. Her face and hair were covered in blood. It must have frozen as she walked making strange little patterns on her skin. "My God!" John said, taking her arm and leading her to the bathroom. "We have to get you cleaned up. You're a mess."

"Yeah, my head and face hurt too." She told him. John sat her on a seat in the bathroom and ran warm water into the basin. Grabbing a washcloth from a cabinet he set about cleaning her up as best he could.

"What did you say your name was?" he asked while he worked.

"Brynn, Brynn Ashton."

"I'm John Beibe. Town Sheriff."

"Nice to meet you, John Beibe, Town Sheriff. She stuck out her hand in his direction. He stopped long enough to take her tiny hand in his, then went back to his task.

"How bad is the car?" He asked.

"Worse than my face. It's totaled."

"What happened?"

"I lost control when the snow started, and hit a tree," Brynn explained, wincing as he hit a sore spot.

"Sorry," he stepped back reflexively. Rinsing the cloth free of blood he returned to her and began again. "So you just walked all the way here?"

"Yeah, my phone was dead. Oh hey, can I plug this in and check my messages?" Brynn unclipped the phone from her belt and help it up.

"Sure, just let me finish here. You have a pretty nasty gash on your forehead. I think you may need some stitches."

"Wonderful."

"By the way," John grinned at her. "Welcome to Mystery."

His comment made Brynn Laugh. "Gee thanks."

"I'm going to call doc about your head. Since you feel up to it, there's a plug over there you can plug in your phone and I have some semi fresh coffee in the kitchen." John pointed in the direction of the coffee. He stepped out of the bathroom and into the office leaving Brynn alone.

Sitting there on the little seat she took a few minutes to collect herself. All morning long she had cursed her decision to move to Mystery, Alaska. That was until she walked into this office and laid eyes on the finest male specimen she had ever seen, John Beibe, Town Sheriff.

"Well, you've got windburn and a few cuts and bruises from the accident, but other than that you'll live," Doc said, standing back to examine the two stitches he had to put in her forehead. "What you need now is a nice long soak in a tub to get the chill out of your bones."

"And the blood out of my hair," Brynn agreed. "I need to call the hotel and see if I can check in now."

Doc gave John a skeptical look. "That might be a real good idea. You need to find out if they have a room for you. The snow mobile club is in town this week and they usually fill the hotel for the duration of their stay."

The color drained out of Brynn's face despite the windburn. "Don't tell me that! First I have no car and now I have no home? I needed to stay at the hotel until I could find a place to live."

"You better call them," John agreed.

Brynn picked up the phone and dialed the number as Doc recited it to her. After a few minutes and some harsh language she put down the receiver. "They won't have anything until next Monday," she confirmed. "Anyone else wanna kick me in the head while I still have the doctor here to stitch it up?"

"You don't know anyone here in town do you," Doc asked.

"Yeah, sure. You and the sheriff here. Either of you boys want to put me up for the week?"

"Sorry", Doc said, shaking his head. "Can't do it."

Brynn understood. "I guess I could stay here for a few nights." She looked around, "It's not the Hilton, but it will do."

"Our hotel isn't exactly the Hilton either," John said, kneeling beside her chair. "You know, I have plenty of room out at my place and I'm hardly ever around. You're welcome to stay with me if you want."

Brynn looked up at her new God and began to give praise. "Thank you. Are you sure I wouldn't be a bother? I'll repay you for this."

" It's not a problem, John shook his head. "I have plenty of room and besides, we can ride to work together since you don't have a car."

Brynn wanted to kiss him and not just because he came to her rescue with a place to stay. Ever since she laid eyes on him, her insides had been in turmoil. He had beautiful blue green eyes, big ones with thick black lashes, broad shoulders and a barrel chest underneath his gray sweater. What lay under his jeans wasn't bad either. Brynn had taken the chance to ogle his backside as he bent over to pick up some papers he dropped on the floor. This is going to be a wonderful week, her mind sang.

"Do I have something on my face?" John startled her when he spoke.

Realizing what he said, it became embarrassingly clear she had been staring at him for at least two or three minutes.

"Uh no," Brynn tried to regain her composure. "I guess I zoned out for a few minutes there."

"Must be the blow to the head," Doc told John. "You better get her home and just watch her tonight to make sure she does not have anymore of those."

John nodded.

Turning his attention to Brynn, Doc continued. "Put some aloe on that face, it will help with the discomfort of the burn. Wash up and take it easy, if you have any dizzy spells or black outs have John call me ASAP."

"Okay," she agreed. "Thanks for everything."

He smiled at her sweetly. "Anytime, and welcome to Mystery."

Brynn smiled back as Doc donned his coat and went back out into the weather

"I have some bad news," John said slipping on his coat. "I knew the storm was coming so I took the sled in to work instead of the truck."

Brynn let out an audible groan.

"If you wanna wait here, I can go get the truck and come back for you."

Getting to her feet she walked to the door with her coat in hand. "If you can do it, so can I. Let's go." She wrapped the coat tightly around her body and followed John out to the snow mobile.

Once on the sled, she wrapped her arms around John and buried her head into the back of his coat to protect her face from further damage. No problems with the cold, she told herself, suddenly I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. A man I have just met is making me feel this way--I really do need to get out more.

Thankfully the ride was a short one. They pulled up outside John's house only five minutes after they left the office.

"It's kinda messy," John warned before opening the door. "I'm a bachelor again and have not quite remembered how to clean."

"Yeah I know," Brynn smiled. "I saw your office remember?"

Chuckling as he showed her into the house John began a quick tour. It was a very pleasant house actually, aside from the clutter. Large living room with a big fireplace and faux bear skin rug. A nice size kitchen and dining room, den and downstairs bathroom.

"The bedroom are upstairs along with the working bathroom," John explained.

Brynn raised an eyebrow in question. "What do you mean working bathroom?"

"Long story," he said, obviously not wanting to talk about it. "Look go on up and get cleaned up. I'll clean up a room for you and get us something to eat. After supper I'll go get your stuff from your car."

"Sounds great. Point me in the right direction."

John showed her up to his room and explained the master bathroom was directly off his room. He kindly gave her a flannel shirt and pair of shorts to wear after her bath until he could get her clothes, then he left her to get undressed.

Undressing and finding her way into the bathroom Brynn flipped on the light to reveal a large tub (large enough for two, her wicked mind spoke again). The shower stall was separate from the tub and stood in the corner and the commode was against the opposite wall. "Very nice," she said. "Now should I take a shower or a bath?"

The big tub won, it was just far too inviting. Brynn drew the water as hot as she could stand it and slipped in all the way up to her chin. The hot water stung her sensitive face, but the rest of it felt so good, Brynn let out a long sigh. She was so lost in the feel of relaxation she barely even heard the phone ring.

John hurried to answer the phone. He was upstairs and didn't know how many times it rang before he finally picked it up. "Hello?"

"So tell us, what's the new chick in town like? She hot or what?"

"Hey Skank, what's up?" John replied ignoring his questions.

"Well???? Describe her. It's been so long since we had anyone new come to town, I want all the details."

"All right." John gave up. "I suppose if I don't tell you, you'll come over and see for yourself."

"She's staying with you?" The disbelief was evident in his voice. "And here we all thought you were dead from the waist down after Donna left."

"It's not like that," John defended. "The hotel's full. Jesus, Skank quit thinking with your dick!"

"So what's she like," he persisted.

"She's small maybe 5 foot or something. Really long hair, not sure what color, it was all covered with blood when I saw her, but it's dark."

"Blood," Skank questioned.

"Yeah, she was in an accident ended up walking two miles into town. Got a really nasty cut on her head."

"Oh. Well hey, why don't you bring her over to the pub and introduce us?"

"Not tonight, buddy. She has strict orders from doc to get some rest tonight."

"Sure, keep her all to yourself you selfish bastard!"

"I gotta go, asshole. Maybe if she's up to it, I'll bring her by tomorrow night."

"Sounds good. And Johnny boy, have a good night." Skank disconnected the call, but John caught the sarcasm in his final comment.

He made his way back up the stairs, really not into the task at hand. He cleaned some things out of Michael's room so Brynn would be more comfortable. Brynn he though. Pretty name. Pretty girl. You are far too old for her he scolded himself, but hey, it was nice to know he was NOT dead from the waist down.

She'd never be interested in me anyway, John tried to put her out of his head, which was not an easy thing to do with her right in the next room, naked to boot.

Finishing up the room that was to be Brynn's, John went down stairs to busy himself making dinner for them. It would be nice to have a woman in the house again. He missed the way women smelled. They seem to leave their scent everywhere they go, just so you know they were there. He stood really close to Brynn in the office earlier just loving the way she smelled. John realized that just thinking about it caused a stirring in his jeans. "Well there's a new one," he said shifting himself in the now too tight material. "Think of something else, what would she like to eat?"

Brynn finished drying her hair and slipped on the flannel shirt John left for her. Looking at her reflection in the mirror she assessed the damage caused by the accident.

Her face was beet red from the windburn, there was a large bruise forming on her cheek from hitting the steering wheel and the ugly cut on her forehead from the glass. "Great," she said to herself, "what a way to impress the guy!"

Leaving the bathroom, Brynn went downstairs to find John. "Hey, are you still here? she called out, as she tried to remember her way around.

"In here." Brynn followed his voice to the living room. He was down on the hearth getting a fire going.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah," she replied going to stand by the warmth of the fire.

"I fixed you some soup. Thought that would help warm you." He fed more logs to the flames.

"I want to thank you for everything you've done, John. I really appreciate this, you'll never know how much."

Looking away from the fire to give her a smile, John almost lost his balance. She stood right next to him wearing HIS shirt and a warm sweet smile. The hair that earlier had been tangled and matted with blood was now clean and flowing all the way to her waist. It was so dark it looked black, with red highlights here and there that seemed to catch the light of the fire. Almond shaped eyes that were as green as the grass in summer, and a mouth that had a heart shape to it complete with pouty lips.

Tearing his gaze away from her when the tightness in his jeans began again, John replied, "It's not a problem. You better eat your soup before it gets cold."

Brynn turned from him and went to the couch folding her legs under the shirt as she sat to keep them warm. John followed her and handed her a bowl of steaming soup. "Thanks."

"I'm going to go get your cases now," he said heading for the door. "I'll be gone for awhile, will you be all right?"

"I'll be fine," Brynn nodded.

"See you later," John threw on his jacket and hat and practically ran out the door, desperate to get away from Brynn before he made a complete ass out of himself. All he could think about doing was taking her tiny frame in his arms and hugging her and kissing her full lips until he couldn't breath.

John decided it would be best if he made any and every excuse to stay away from the house while Brynn stayed with him. The last thing he wanted or needed was another heartbreak.

Brynn finished her soup and set the cup aside trying to puzzle out John's behavior. She didn't know him that well, but when she thanked him earlier he was looking at her with eyes full of what--It was almost like he was truly seeing her for the very first time. Then he ran out the door like his ass was on fire.

"Men," she mused. "I just don't get it." Getting off the couch, Brynn looked around the living room and found the stereo. She put on some soft music and turned off the lights. Relaxing by the fire seemed to her the best idea in the world right now. She loved fireplaces. They made the most wonderful crackling noise when there was a good fire going. She curled up on the fake bear skin rug and let the warm flames reach out form the fireplace and sooth her. Watching the flames dance, their light making odd designs across the room, her eyes drifted slowly shut.

John returned a few hours later with Brynn's cases in tow. He opened the door and set them at his feet. The house was dark and quiet except for soft music coming from the living room. He followed the sound to find Brynn lying on the rug in front of the fireplace asleep. John seized the opportunity to look at her, watch her. She was so beautiful.

Not wanting to wake her by carrying her to bed, John grabbed the blanket off the couch and spread it over her sleeping body. Then he went upstairs to take a nice long COLD shower.

Brynn shivered and rolled over on her stomach, stretching her muscles. She could feel the soft fur under her fingers and surmised that she was still on the bear skin rug in front of the fireplace. She must have drifted off to sleep while listening to the music and watching the fireplace last night. It was no longer night, however, she could see the streaks of sunshine coming through a slit in the curtains.

The fire had gone out long ago and there was nothing but ash where the warm glow had been hours before. Looking at the clock on the wall, Brynn saw that it was well after 9 am. John must have been up hours ago and already gone to the office with out her. That was fine, she needed time to relax and feel at ease in this new place.

Brynn sat up and realized her muscles were just as happy as she was to stay here today and relax. She must have done a lot more damage to her body than she had originally thought, she was sore all over. Lying on the rug close to where her head had been just a few minutes ago there was a note from John.

"I went to the station, I don't want to see you there today. You need your rest. I won't be home until 6pm. If you feel up to it, I'd like to take you out to meet some of the people here in town. Talk to you then. John." She read the masculine scribble on the paper.

"Short and sweet," Brynn said, getting to her feet, ignoring the groaning complaints from her muscles. If she was going to spend the entire day in this place, there were a few things she needed to tend to. "This place is a mess." Walking into the kitchen she threw the note into the trash and sat down at the table taking another sheet out of the tablet that she found there. She set about making a list of things to get done in the house. Brynn wanted to surprise John when he got home, and really give him a reason to want to take her out.

Completing her list, she stretched out her still aching body and ran upstairs to get a scrunchie for her hair. Piling the mass of brownish red on top of her head and wrapping the scrunchie around it, she set about the day's chores, starting with the kitchen.

Locating the stereo once again and turning it to a rock station for mood music, Brynn danced while she worked. Sweeping, mopping, washing windows, vacuuming, and straightening she went from room to room until the entire house, except John's room, smelled like lemon and positively sparkled.

The cleaning had taken up the better part of the day and when Brynn once again returned to the kitchen and sat down with a tall glass of water it was nearly 4 PM. "Time flies when you're trying not to die of boredom," Brynn mused. Her hair was tangled and what was still piled on her head was soaked with sweat. She still wore John's flannel shirt, which was covered with dust and grime. Time to clean me up now she thought as she finished her water. Turning the stereo up almost to full volume she then headed upstairs to take a shower.

This day could not have been any longer. John was ready to bang his head on his desk. He had been watching the clock for the past hour, the hand slowly ticking from one number to the next. The only thing he had accomplished today was having Brynn's car towed to town. He wanted to go home now, to see Brynn, and find out how she was doing. He almost called in today so she would not have to be alone, but decided against it. He had, after all, promised himself that he would stay away from her as much as possible.

As he watched the clock hit 4 PM he decided it was time to go home. All of his promises to himself, forgotten, all he wanted to do was go home.

He picked up his coat and went out the reception desk, he did not want anyone to get the wrong idea about him leaving early. This was a small town after all, almost everyone knew the new kid in town was staying at his place. "I have some things to do tonight," he told Betty the dispatcher, I'm going to go home now."

Betty nodded at him with a slight grin crossing her lips. "Are you going to bring the new "mystery" woman into work with you tomorrow?"

John frowned at the woman. "Well, this is going to be where she works, at least for now, so I guess she'll be in when she's up to it."

"Oh yeah, the accident," Betty agreed. "Well, you give her my regards and tell her we are anxiously awaiting her arrival here. I'm really tired of being unable to find my way to the bathroom in this place amidst all the paper."

"Clean it up then," John threw over his shoulder as he walked out of the door and into the cold afternoon. He jumped into the truck and slid the key into the ignition, but when he turned the key nothing happened. The day had been extremely cold. Not uncommon for this part of the US. The truck had simply frozen when the wind had picked up. There was nothing he could do about it now. John pounded on the steering wheel trying to will the truck to start, but just as he figured it did about as much good as blowing on the engine. He emerged from the truck and pulled his coat up around his face, resigning to walk home.

Trudging through the snow down the small town street John's mood became foul. Not only had the day lasted forever, now he had to walk home in zero degree weather. He heard a horn sound behind him and spun around to see an old beat up brown car approaching. "Just what I fucking need," John muttered. "A ride home from Skank."

"Truck freeze?" Skank asked rolling down his window slightly as he pulled up next to John.

"No, just thought I would walk home in freezing weather for the sheer hell of it dipshit! yeah the truck is frozen solid."

"Get in, I was headed to your place anyway, I'll give you a ride."

John walked around to the passenger door and got in the car. "Why were you headed to my place?"

"Well I figured you weren't going to bring the new girl out tonight, So I wanted to stop by and introduce myself."

John grinned a little despite himself. "You wanted to stop by and see if she was easy. You really have got to get your head out of your zipper my friend, this girl is likely to kick your ass."

"Kinky!" Skank whistled as he put the car in gear and headed in the direction of John's house.

John heard the music before he even got out of Skank's car. Maybe it was not such a good idea to let a woman he had only known for twelve hours, give or take, stay at his house unattended.

"Well at least we know she has good taste in music," Skank said opening the door and stepping out into the snow. "And we know she likes it really loud."

John shook his head at the statement and opened the door to the house.

Brynn showered and dried in record time. She knew John was not due home for a few hours, but she felt the need to get clean. Taking care of the house had been a nasty job. She opened the suitcase on the bed and rummaged through it to find something to wear. She opted for a pair of tight black leggings and a long cranberry v-neck sweater. She brushed her long dark hair and decided to leave it down for the evening. Makeup was not a big thing with her so she just brushed some mascara on her lashes and stepped back to survey her reflection. Despite the dark bruise on her cheek and the stitches across her forehead, she thought she did not look half-bad. "Not model material," she said to her reflection, "but you'll do."

The music was still blaring through the speakers downstairs and Brynn began to sing along with some of the lyrics as she put her socks on her feet. She wondered where John wanted to take her tonight. He just mentioned taking her out to meet some of the people in town, but as long as she was out with him, she really did not care where they went. If all Alaskan men are like John, she smiled, I've just died and moved my shit to heaven!

"Brynn????" She heard the voice from the stairs and it sounded a little angry.

"I'm up here." The noise from the radio died and she heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Is everything ok?" John asked coming through the door to her room. "I've been calling you."

"Yeah I guess I just had the music too loud," Brynn blushed a little. "I'm sorry."

"Not at all," John's demeanor softened the instant he stepped into the room.

"I took a look around downstairs, the house looks great! But you were suppose to rest today--remember?"

"I know, but I got bored," she replied. "Besides, if I'm going to stay here John, I needed to clean this place up. There were dishes in the sink that were about ready to turn on the water and wash themselves."

He grimaced at the mental picture. "That bad huh?"

"Worse."

"Hey where the hell is everybody?" Another voice came from the stairway.

Brynn looked at John quizzically.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I brought you a gift, feel free to return it anytime."

"Here you are." Skank stopped just inside the door and looked Brynn up and

down. "Hello there."

"Hi," Brynn said getting to her feet. "Brynn Ashton."

Skank took her hand in his and gave it a firm shake, showing his confidence to win her over in the blink of an eye. "Skank Marden, how lovely to meet you."

Brynn knew almost instantly what this man's agenda was. He was looking for a root, wherever, whenever. She had left New York in part to get away from men like this. They must be everywhere however, and total escape was impossible. Prying her hand out of his she turned away to get her boots.

"Where are we going?" she asked John.

"Well Skank brought me home, so I guess it's up to him."

"The pub," Skank told them still looking Brynn over from head to toe, then he added, "did it hurt?"

"What?" Brynn asked facing him again. "The accident?"

"No, the fall from heaven?" Skank used a line that not even the most doomed geek in NY would have dared use, and Brynn laughed despite herself.

"That was very sad. You need to get a new line, unless of course you enjoy wearing your ass on your shoulders."

"Never tried it," Skank never missed a beat. "Maybe I WOULD like it, wanna show me how?"

Brynn shook her head at him and pushed past him to leave the room. This evening was not turning out as she had imagined it would. She wanted to go out with John, but now they had butt boy tagging along. John shook his head again at Skank as he followed Brynn into the upstairs hallway. "I told you, this one is likely to kick your ass."

"Fuck that, ten bucks said by the end of the night she's begging me to take her home with me."

"I'm not making any such bet," John returned appalled, "but if I were a betting man, I would say that is one bet you are likely to loose. She's different."

They followed Brynn out of the house and into the night air again. Brynn opted for the back seat not wishing to subject herself to sit next to Skank. At least he was aptly named, she thought to her self.

Arriving at the pub, Brynn heard her stomach growl. "Do they have bar food here?" she asked John, leaning forward in her seat a little to talk to him.

"They have the best Pizza and wings around." Skank too leaned over and put a hand on her knee that rested between the two front seats. Brynn moved his hand and placed it back in his own lap then returned her attention to John.

"Is that true?"

John agreed. "They are pretty good. You hungry?"

"Starving!" Brynn jumped out of the backseat and hurried to the door of the pub. "Come on, let's eat!"

"The rest of the team is here," Skank told John as he watched Brynn go inside the pub. "They are just gonna love her."

"She has a wild spirit," John replied not really talking to Skank, but lost in his own mind.

"And you are smitten."

That brought John back to the present. "Not hardly, she's almost ten years my junior."

"Like they say, when you've got one that's too old, you trade it in on a younger model. She may be younger, but if she were staying with me I'd be all over that."

"You'd be all over a dead hamster as long as it was still warm," John retorted.

"Are you guys gonna sit in the car and make out all night long, or are you coming in?" Brynn yelled at them again from the door.

John jumped out of the car and went to her side, "You really are hungry, aren't you."

"I just needed to get away from him, he's a real pig." Brynn giggled as she linked her arm through John's "Come on, I ordered us beer, pizza and wings!"

Entering the bar, arms linked with Brynn and Skank trailing behind with a glum look on his face, John spotted the table full of the other hockey players on his team. Directing Brynn to the table he pulled up a chair for her then seated himself beside her.

"Johnny!" all the guys called out in unison as John sat down. Skank pulled up a chair on the other side of Brynn and sat down as well.

"What's going on, guys?" Skank asked before signaling the barmaid to bring a round for the table.

"Not too much," a tall man replied. He spoke in a voice much softer than Brynn expected from the sheer size of him. "I'm Tree," he said offering a gigantic hand to her.

"Brynn Ashton." She took the hand offered her, "Nice to meet you."

"You staying with Johnny?" A younger man with red hair asked her as he, too, offered her his hand. "Did you make it through the mess okay or is that how you got the cut on your head?"

"Very funny Birdie," John replied.

"Actually she made it through the mess quite fine thankyouverymuch! The cut is from an accident she was in yesterday."

Brynn rolled her eyes as if to say yeah, right and took a long pull on her beer.

"Watch yourself now darlin'," Skank warned. "This is not the beer you were use to back in the lower states, this is the good, kick ass Canadian shit! You may want to slow down, you're nothing but a half pint."

If there was anything Brynn hated, it would have to be someone picking on her height. She lifted the bottle to her lips once again and drained it as the others watched amazed. "Don't you worry about me there, needle dick, I can handle my own." She knew it was a load of bull shit, but he didn't, so it was all right.

The pizza and wings arrived along with another round of drinks. Brynn happily ate her share and drained another bottle of beer. She could already feel the affects, but she'd be damned if she was going to let it show.

The guys had become engrossed in a game of hockey on the bar TV so she removed herself from her seat to relieve her bladder. The beer had gone straight through her, but not before going sufficiently to her head, the rest went south.

On her way back from the ladies room, she noticed a jukebox in the corner of the bar. Going to the counter to get another drink she asked the barmaid to turn the machine on. This will really get them going, she thought with an evil grin on her lips, as she dropped her money into the machine. Fishing through the music listed until she found a suitable loud selection of modern rock, she punched up the number. Turning back to the bar maid again, she made a silent gesture to crank the music as loud as she could, then she hoisted herself up to sit atop the box.

Eve Six's Inside Out began, opening lyrics thundering through the small tavern effectively interrupting the boy's game on TV. As if they all shared a unimind they looked away from the TV and began making complaints that were not even close to audible above the roar of the music.

Brynn was quite pleased with herself. Sitting on top of the machine, smiling a wicked smile, she had managed to get the attention of the entire bar. The barmaid erupted into peels of laughter at the site of the men grunting like true Neanderthals at the interruption of their precious hockey game. Brynn signaled once again to the maid to turn the music down to the men she said, "You guys ever wonder why there aren't that many women here in Mystery?. That would be the true "mystery" huh? I'll let you in on a little secret, it's because the only excitement you guys provide is the occasional grunt when someone on your team scores a goal. The rest of the pleasure is to be derived from the vibrations on the jukebox."

"Alrighty then," John announced getting to his feet. "I think we are going to be going now, you've had enough to drink."

Skank was up and out of his seat before John could even finish his sentence. He bolted over to where Brynn sat and lifted her off the box throwing her over his shoulder. He returned to the table and grunted at the rest of the men who were still laughing at Brynn's previous comment. "Me got woman! Me take woman to cave and show her how to score goal!"

Laughter erupted once again from the group. "You will put woman down NOW!"

John said, the only one not laughing. "You take us home NOW! Got it?"

Skank released Brynn and let her slide to the floor. He grabbed his jacket

off the back of his chair turned back to John. "Lighten up buddy, we were just kidding around."

"I guess I'm just tired." John realized how gruff he had been with Skank and the embarrassment was beginning to show in his face from his overprotective act.

"It may be time to go," Brynn spoke trying to lighten the mood once again, "but I would bet money that I can score a goal faster than you can."

"Of course you could," Skank replied. "You're in a town full of men!"

"Not that kind of goal you pig, I mean on the ice. I could score a goal faster than you."

"You play?" Tree asked getting to his feet. For the first time that evening Brynn got to see his towering height. She craned her neck to look up at him.

"Yeah I play, it was a must, I grew up in a house full of boys who loved sports. With me being a girl and so small, they made sure I was tough enough to handle myself."

"I'd like to challenge you then," Skank said. "I will take that bet!"

"Great!" Brynn smiled at him. "Seeing as you were willing to make a bet with John earlier about me begging you to take me home with you by the end of the evening, I figured you'd be up for this. When's your next game?"

"Saturday," they all said in unison, the unimind thing again, Brynn thought to herself. "We play every Saturday." John explained.

"Well then Saturday after I come watch you lose Skank, I'll be on the ice, and you can show me what you've got." Brynn made a little salute to the rest of the group and slid her arms into her coat. "Ready sheriff?"

"You heard that?" Skank was still standing there in shock.

John bid his friends a good night and turned again to face Brynn. Trying to compensate for his previous behavior he lifted Brynn into the air and grunted to the group, then he stalked out of the bar imitating his best cave man walk.

The alarm had been going off for more than an hour. John got up when he first heard the beeping noise coming from Brynn's room, but she had yet to emerge by the time he had showered and dressed. He was staring to worry about her. Standing outside the door for about five minutes John practiced what he would say to her. "I was worried when you didn't shut off your alarm, so I came in to wake you and make sure you were all right"-- seemed about the best he could do. It was honest after all.

John opened the door and went inside the dark room. Brynn was lying on her side facing away from the door not moving a muscle. Walking to the bed, he leaned over her body and shut off the alarm. She was still breathing that was a good sign, so maybe he should just leave her alone. The office stuff could wait. The silence in the room was too heavy, however and Brynn woke with a start at the lack of noise.

She looked up into John's beautiful eyes and smiled. "What's going on?"

"The alarm, uh," damn it, what was I going to say to her? "It was uh, going off for a long time, I was worried that something had happened to you when you didn't shut it off. I came in to see if you were all right and I didn't touch you." He was rambling.

Brynn sat up and rubbed her eyes, "I never said you did touch me. I'm just not much of a morning person when I don't sleep well. When the alarm went off, well it kinda lulled me to sleep."

A deep shade of red had taken over John's entire face from the comment he had made to Brynn about touching her. Thank God it was dark in the room. "You can still sleep if you want. There's nothing that can't wait until another day. I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"I'd be even better if I had a cup of coffee. Think you can rustle me up one, sheriff?" Brynn tried to use a southern accent.

"I think I can handle that miss, how do you take it?"

"Hard and fast--oh, were you asking about my coffee?" She joked with him, making him turn an even brighter shade of red. "Cream and sugar and an ice cube, please." She got out of the bed and padded to the door. "I'm going to catch a quick shower, can you leave it on the bathroom sink for me?"

"I don't want to disturb you." he stammered. "I can leave it on the dresser in my room."

"That's fine," she said stepping into the hall. "Give me an hour and I'll be ready. Is that too long?"

"No," John followed her out of the room. "I'll be downstairs, you want breakfast too?"

"I never eat in the morning, makes me ill. I'll just take some fruit to the office with me if that's ok." She went into John's room and to the bathroom to get her day started. She definitely needed to have some noise in her room from now on, a fan or something. It was just too quiet here. In the city she had the constant noise of traffic, or something, she even went so far as to put a fan in her room to drown out the noise from below her apartment. One thing was for sure, staying awake all night thinking about John was not going to make her stay here easy.

After showering and taking care of the morning duties, Brynn met John in the kitchen and together they set off for the office. Her day was bound to be a full one, John's office was in complete dishevel, and the paperwork was a cluttered mess.

"First things first," she said entering John's office. "I need to get my little desk in here. I'm going to have to clean up some of this shit before we can do that though."

"I have a call to do this morning, then I can come back and help," he offered.

"No need, I can take care of things on my own, so you take all the time you need. I know how to reach you if I need you," Brynn more or less dismissed him.

"I'd be more than happy to help you," John insisted. "You let me know what you need and I can do it."

Looking up from the piles of paper on his desk Brynn smiled at him, "You can promise never to let things get this bad again."

"I promise. I'll be back in a few hours." With that, he was gone.

She waved her hand at him and went back to sorting. This is going to take a week, she thought.

Pouring through pile after pile of files and papers, Brynn had arranged all of them into three neat stacks. Files, papers, and garbage. She started lugging the pile of files out to the cabinets to be put away, having to make two trips. In the reception area, the door opened and closed again, causing Brynn to look at her watch for the time.

"Hello?" She called out. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Brynn Ashton," a female voice answered.

Brynn came out of the back curious as to who would be looking for her. "That's me," she addresses a petite red head standing by the front door.

The woman reached out her hand, "I'm Mary Jane. My husband is the mayor of Mystery. I knew you would be coming in this week and wanted to say hello."

Brynn took the offered hand and shook it. "Thanks. You're one of the first women I've met here."

"Not surprising," Mary Jane told her, "This town is full of men, but when they see a woman walking down the street, it's liable to stop traffic."

"I've seen that one for myself," Brynn agreed. "John took me to the pub last night to meet the hockey team."

Mary Jane laughed. "How lucky for you. Oh I almost forgot, I brought this for you." She held up a nice looking bottle of wine, "Welcome to Mystery." Brynn took the bottle decked out with ribbons and thanked her for the thought.

"Well I have to be getting back to the school," she explained putting her mitten back on. "Just remember Brynn, Mystery is a very small town, not like any big city you are use to. Everyone knows everything!" It sounded to Brynn like a warning. Then the woman smiled at her, "We women have to stick together here. If you need anything at all please, call me. My number is on the card." She pointed at the bottle in Brynn's hand.

"Thank you." Brynn said again still puzzled. "I will."

Turing away from the door, Brynn put the wine bottle on John's desk and went back to work.

A few hours later with all the files and papers put away, John's office rearranged, and her desk set up, Brynn stepped back to admire her work. She called Betty in to look as well.

"Nice," Betty agreed taking a look around the space. "John's gonna hate it though, but hey, at least now I can find my way to the damn bathroom."

"Why is he going to hate it?" Brynn asked concerned.

"He's just not use to sharing his space anymore," Betty explained. "After his wife left him, well, that's better left unsaid. I hear you're staying at his place though, so maybe he won't mind sharing his office with you, either." She walked back out front to answer the ringing phone.

Watching her go with a look of disbelief plastered to her face, Brynn sat down at her desk and pulled out her headphones. Mary Jane was right, this is a small town. It was like it had been posted on the evening news that she had been staying with John. What was so wrong with that? He was just a nice guy helping her out of a jam, nothing more.

Maybe John was not prone to niceties such as ones he had showed her. Brynn touched the band aide on her forehead that covered the stitches and remembered the care he had taken to clean her up and calling the Doc about it. At first he had been ready to rip her head off for being late, then John just shifted his mood when he realized she had been in an accident. So concerned, then he came to her rescue yet again when the hotel thing fell through and she needed a place to stay. No, John was a good man by nature, she knew that much for sure. This whole thing must be because she was new in town, and a woman.

There was no question in Brynn's mind why she felt so comfortable with John and safe to boot. No other man in her life had ever shown her the consideration or concern, let alone the respect that John had shown her. In fact, her taste in men along with her track record with the beasts had been pathetic. She had buried all that in the past for four and a half years. Brynn had not had time or the patience to go through another bad relationship or another heartbreak.

Drifting further into the music playing through the head phones Brynn played through her mind her first and last relationships. There had only been the two after all, she could not kid herself anymore, she truly was pathetic.

The two she had however were bad enough to scar her deeply. In those two relationships, she had lost the ability to care, she had also lost trust, honesty and hope. So she threw herself into her work, even that in the end had not been enough to keep the demons at bay. Moving and leaving everything she knew was familiar seemed to be her only option. Here she was Mystery, Alaska--whoopee.

John entered his office and was awestruck as to how clean everything looked, just like the house. Even though Brynn had successfully got her desk and chair set up, the office seemed bigger somehow. Clearing up the clutter had made a huge difference. Brynn sat at her desk with her back to him and headphones on. He could hear the music from where he stood by the door so he knew she was unaware of his presence. Her head moved back and forth keeping time with the music John could hear. Smiling softly at all she had accomplished while he was away, John walked across the room and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Brynn let out an ear piercing cry and grabbed the hand on her shoulder, twisting it a little as she jumped to her feet and spun around to face the attacker. "John!!!!!"

"Ouch, ouch, ouch," John said trying to get his hand away from her.

"Oh My God, John, I am soooo sorry," she released him. "You just scared the shit out of me!" Brynn took off her headphones and set them aside on the desk.

Rubbing his hand and looking at her curiously John asked, "What was thatall about? You're in the sheriff's office for Christ's sake, not any real threat of danger here."

"I guess I'm just a little jumpy, maybe I should think about switching to decaf, eh?" She tried to joke.

John smiled at her humor but sensed there were things she wasn't telling him, things she obviously did not want to talk about. He decided to let it go for now, there would be time to get to know this strange yet enchanting woman. "I'm getting ready to go home, just wanted to know if you wanted a ride."

"Well I guess I could walk, but I'm not really dressed for it," she said still carrying her joking mood.

"I have practice tonight, so I won't be home till late." Did I just say that out loud? he thought to himself, "so I need to uh, take you there now."

"Yeah sure whatever," she grabbed her coat and walked to the door while she threw it on. "What time do you have to be there?"

"In a while," he said, not exactly sure why he was being evasive with her, when all he wanted to do from the moment he met this woman was open up and pour his heart out to her. For now, it felt much safer to keep his thoughts and feeling hidden. There would be time to talk with Brynn, she wasn't going anywhere, John was going to make sure of that.

He dropped Brynn off at the house and picked up his hockey gear from the shed outside the house. They had made the trip in silence, neither of them saying a word all the way. As Brynn walked to the door, she stopped before she opened it and turned around. The need to say something to him, anything, overwhelmed her. "John, do good tonight okay?"

She smiled at him and John thought he was going to fall on the ground right there in the snow. "Sleep well." Now that was completely lame, he told himself.

She nodded and went into the warmth of the house. God John thought just a smile and I go weak in the knees, I need to get a life. He suddenly had the urge to skip practice all together and spend the evening with Brynn instead. Too obvious, he scolded as he got into the truck. She would realize the effect she really has on me.

Brynn flipped on the light as she stepped inside the house, casting a warm glow throughout the foyer. She felt more alone in that moment than she ever had in the past four years. Being with out John now, three days after they met felt empty wrong somehow. This is not good, get hold of yourself girl, reality check--he's a very good man and completely not interested in you. You'll be leaving here in four days, now GET A GRIP!!!

It wasn't lost on her that John had been gone the entire day, not even checking in once with Betty. He was avoiding her. With her reality check firmly in place, Brynn set about making dinner for herself, a nice salad and pasta, maybe spaghetti and meatballs was on the menu for the evening. Anything to get her mind off that man.

Locating what she needed in the panty and cupboards, she set out the utensils and food for preparation. Brynn began to sing to herself, the last song she had heard at the office through the headphones. "It never fails, there's always one song you don't get to listen to all the way through and you end up singing it all day long," she said aloud, then continued the song, changing the words a little to suit her.

"She is everything you want.

She is everything you need.

She is everything inside of you that you wish you could be.

She says all the right things at exactly the right time.

But she means nothing to you and you don't know why."

Continuing to sing, Brynn placed the meatballs into the sauce she poured into a pan to simmer, adding green peppers and onions. As she was about to add the seasoning spice she stopped in her tracks as she sang the last verse of the song, thinking how ironic the words were.

"I am everything you want.

I am everything you need.

I am everything inside of you that you wish you could be.

I say all the right things at exactly the right times.

But I mean nothing to you and I don't know why."

Picking up where she left off with dinner, Brynn was stunned yet again how just the right music could speak volumes. That was why she loved it so much, when there seemed to be no words for her mood, she could always turn to music and find something perfect. Listening to songs had been a huge part of her life for the past few years. Spending a lot of time on her own, Brynn had turned to music. She wondered however about the words to the song that was running through her mind. Was that the way John saw her? She knew that there were men who found her attractive, but they were never really interested in her as a person even though she was smart, funny and had a lot to offer. Maybe John was just not interested in her as anything but a friend. I can deal with that too, Brynn told herself, he is a wonderful person after all.

John returned home late after practice just as he had promised. After stopping off at the pub to have a few drinks with the guys, he was confident Brynn would be in bed and asleep by the time he arrived home. It was after 11:30 p.m. Outta sight, outta mind, yeah right, he thought.

Opening the door and shutting it behind him quietly as possibly, John set his gear aside and went into the kitchen. The house smelled of Italian spices and tomato sauce. Brynn had obviously made dinner for herself. The thought of a woman in his house cooking and being domestic again made John's heart ache. It had been so long and towards the end his ex-wife had just given up on anything domestic, even cleaning and cooking. She would take the kids out to eat almost every night and stay out at a friend's house until John was home in bed. Even then she would put the kids in bed and sleep on the couch. John knew that things were coming to an end back then deep inside, but he could not bring himself to say anything to her to make her want to say. He couldn't even ask her why.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, John saw a sheet of notepaper on the table and went to check it out. Brynn had left him a note. He cringed again on the inside trying to hide his feelings even from himself. He picked up the paper and began to read:

John~

I made spaghetti and salad for dinner tonight, there was plenty so I fixed you a plate and put it in the fridge if you are hungry. I hope practice went well and all is good. See you in the morning.

B~

After reading the note two more times he carefully folded the paper into quarters and slipped it into his pocket. He did not know why he was doing this, but he wanted to keep it. He suddenly felt extremely childish.

John went to the fridge and pulled out the plate Brynn had set inside covered with the thin but effective plastic wrap. The plate was still a little warm but he popped it into the microwave to heat it up. After the food was ready he carried the plate up the stairs, he wanted to eat in his room and watch a little TV before bed.

Setting the plate on the dresser and removing the note from his pocket John brought the slip of paper up to his nose. Again he felt very childish for doing this, but he could not help himself. The paper smelled like Brynn, the scented oil she wore, woodsy and a little hint of musk. Someday he was going to ask her what the name of the stuff was.

John opened up the bottom drawer of his dresser and slipped the paper inside under a pile of sweaters. Just having it there made him feel a little closer to her. John looked up at his reflection in the mirror and smiled at himself, "Man I am pathetic!"

Still smiling, John went to the bathroom door deciding to take a shower before eating his supper. That would give the meal ample time to cool down and he was extremely sweaty after practice. Going to bed this way did not appeal to him any more than the locker room showers.

He opened the bathroom door just in time to see Brynn emerging from the bathtub. The only light in the room was from a single candle, but it gave off enough of a glow that John was able to get a good look at her backside. Her dark skin shimmered with the drops of water that still clung to her naked body. They seemed to dance in the light of the candle. John also noticed a white puckered mark than ran all the way up her right thigh across the length of her back stopping at her left shoulder.

Realizing that he was staring at her John began to fumble for something to say. "Jesus, Brynn, -- I'm soooo sorry." He turned his head away from her so he was no longer tempted to look. "I thought you were in bed, I didn't mean for this to happen!"

Brynn grabbed for the towel as soon as she heard the door opening. Wrapping it around her nakedness she tried to speak to him but it came out as nothing much more than a squeak. "No John, I'm sorry, I should have locked the door." She was flustered knowing that John had gotten a good look at her backside. She looked up from the floor and at John, seeing the look on his face even though he was turned so she could only see a profile, Brynn could not help but to laugh. Maybe it was nervous laughter, but it seemed to break the tension surrounding the moment. John finally returned his gaze to her and followed suit, he too broke into laughter.

"Oh John, I am really sorry," Brynn tried to tell him as she was wiping the tears off her cheeks. "But the look on your face was just too much. I had to laugh."

"It's alright." John tried to regain his composure. "It was pretty funny."

"Can I get dressed now?" She asked still giggling.

"Oh uh yeah," John turned from her once again, "I will just go and eat my spaghetti."

Brynn came out of the bathroom a few moments later still grinning and laughing softly to herself, walking past the end of the bed where John sat eating the meal she had prepared for him.

"This is really good," he said, his mouth full.

"I'm glad you like it."

John swallowed his bite and set the now empty plate aside. He looked at Brynn for a few moments and became a little serious. "I am really sorry for walking in on you like that, but can I ask you something?"

"Yes they're real," Brynn tried to make a joke so he would smile again. God, she loved his smile. Seeing that John was very serious now she relented. "Sure what is it?"

"How did you get that mark across your back? I thought at first it was a trick of the light, but it looks to me like it's a scar. A nasty one at that. Were you in an accident?"

The color drained from her face and her smile was gone in that same instant. John could sense the change in her almost as soon as the question had left his lips. "It's a long complicated story John, and right now I'm really tired, so do you think we could talk about this some other time?"

John nodded. "Sure. You're right, some other time. Now off to bed with you woman, get some sleep." John gave her another one of his heart warming smiles to let her know everything was alright. They said good night and Brynn went down the hall to her room. Two questions dodged in the same night, John mused. He wanted to know more about her, not pry into her personal life. Anything he could find to talk to her about was worth while, even if it was the weather. John felt that there was a history behind the marks she wore across her back and thigh, a history that she didn't want to talk about. He saw the look on her face when he had mentioned it. It was something that she was careful to hide from others. He had seen it however, and wanted to know more.

Brynn woke in the morning completely refreshed. The fan she'd found in the downstairs closet had provided her with the comforting noise she was use to while sleeping. Waking up before the alarm had a chance to go off, she climbed out of the bed and decided to go for a run.

The weather here was a lot different from the New York climate she was use to, but with some extra clothing and a scarf wrapped around her face, Brynn set out for her early morning exercise. This would give her the boost she needed to wake up and let her mind clear from the fog that sleep often causes. She knew she would need a clear head to deal with John and his questions sometime today. Brynn had a feeling that John wasn't likely to let her get out of telling him more about her life.

For all too long Brynn had kept her life a secret from just about every one. Not even her parents knew all that much about her anymore. There had been a lot of mistakes made and pain suffered on her part.

As she stretched out to get ready for her run Brynn went over in her mind how to avoid John's questions. These were things she didn't want to talk about, but she had the feeling that John would be relentless when it came to things he wanted to know. He had every right to ask her anything he wanted, she was, after all, staying in his house.

Thinking about the night she got the scar across her leg and back, Brynn suffered from the shivers. She'd been careful to hide it, never wearing shorts or half shirts that might show some part of the awful reminder of what had happened.

Feeling sufficiently warmed up for her run, Brynn opened the door and went out into the cold December morning. The sun was not up yet and she could see the moon in the clear sky. She jogged down the few steps leading from the front door and continued down the driveway. The cold seemed to not bother her at all, she had learned to see the beauty in almost every situation, and was lucky to be alive.

John rolled over in his bed and snuggled closer to the woman sleeping beside him. He smiled and began rubbing his large hand up and down her side feeling the soft warmth of her skin. She shifted slightly at his touch and let out a soft, low moan.

He went over and over the images in his mind of making love to her the previous night. The way she smelled, it was wonderful. The way she moved beneath him and moaned his name during her orgasm aroused him again, and he felt himself stiffen at the thought.

Letting his hand wander further down her side to her leg John continued his ministrations, moving closer to the juncture between her thighs. She moaned again and bought her hand to rest atop his under the covers, directing him to the spot she needed to be touched.

"John," she whispered. "I need you."

He smiled broadly at this. She wasn't one to beat around the bush, very direct and to the point. Her hand moved away from his after she put it in the right spot and traveled still under the covers to find his erection. Wrapping her hand around it lightly at first she massaged him from the base to the tip slowly, then increasing the pressure with which she held him, began stroking in earnest.

"MMMMMMMMM MMMMM," he groaned. "I like that."

"I though you might," she responded. "If you like that then you're going to love this."

Moving away from his hand she disappeared beneath the covers. "Where are you going?" he asked.

She didn't answer him, but he felt her move between his legs and start stoking him again. Then the sensation became wet and warm as she slipped the tip of his cock into her mouth. John involuntarily jerked up to meet her mouth as she worked her lips up and down on him, letting her tongue swirl around his shaft and sensitive tip.

He groaned again and again as she continued working him to the brink of orgasm, whispering her name in between. She was driving him wild, if she wasn't careful he was going to lose control. He wanted to be inside her when he came, and see her face as she felt him spill into her, making her orgasm as well.

John tried to pull her up from under the blankets, but she wouldn't budge. She just kept sucking and licking him until his body stiffened and he emptied himself into her mouth. The orgasm was explosive and his body jerked of its own accord repeatedly with the after shock.

"Brynn, that was amazing," he said when he was again able to speak.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

John sat up in his bed and looked around the room confused, before shutting off the alarm clock. Brynn was gone, correction, she had never been there. It was a dream. Rubbing his face John tried to recover from the graphic images swimming in his head. It seemed so real, he could feel her, hell, he could smell her.

Pushing the covers off him, John realized the dream had been a little to real for his poor depraved mind. He was covered with a sticky substance he immediately recognized as semen. "I had a wet dream," he said out load.

"I can't believe this! I haven't had one of those in years."

John got out of the bed and went into the bathroom to clean himself up. He wanted get clean and tear the sheets off the bed before Brynn came in to use the bathroom. How can I face her now? He though. I'm not even going to be able to look at her with out thinking about that dream. She'll know something's up just by the smile on my face. I hope I'm not as transparent as I think I am.

Brynn stepped inside the house and began her cool down. The run had been exactly what she needed to clear her mind. Walking in place for a few minutes while she kept track of her pulse, she heard the alarm in John's room go off. It was just a soft beeping down here, but she knew he would be awake now.

Shit, I wanted to get into the bathroom first, she thought. He better not use all the hot water. She was covered with sweat now. The cold air outside had not allowed her body to sweat properly, but now that she was inside the warm air of the house might as well have been a sauna.

When her pulse had recovered to a normal rate, Brynn went up the stairs to her room, pulling off her clothes as she went. She grabbed her robe when she had retired her running clothes to the hamper, and headed for John's room.

"John," she called out knocking softly on the door. "Are you up?"

There was no answer. She didn't hear the shower so she went inside, hopeful that he hit the snooze button and gone back to sleep. The bed was empty, and a light was on in the bathroom. "John, are you in here or what?"

"Yeah, I am, uh--just cleaning up a little."

Brynn surveyed the condition of the bed. The covers were all over the place.

"Have a rough night?"

"Yeah, you could say that," he said. "I'll be out in a few minutes." "No rush," Brynn said stepping over to the bed. She began to pick up the comforter and blankets that had been thrown to the floor trying to rearrange them on the bed. She stopped short when she picked up the blue flannel blanket and her hand landed in something sticky. Trying not to blow her cool exterior, she wiped her hands on the other side of the blanket, and set it back down on the bed.

"What are you doing?" John asked coming out of the bathroom.

"I was just trying to help you pick up some stuff in here. You may want to wash those blankets before you sleep under them again."

John's face became bright red with embarrassment. "I was going to strip the bed this morning anyway, those things really need to be washed."

Brynn giggled as she walked by John to go into the bathroom. "You could say that. I guess now we're even huh?"

"After last night, I guess we are. Maybe it's time for me to fix up the bathroom down stairs for you."

"I'll only be here for a few more days John, don't worry about it. I've seen much worse and far weirder shit than that." She went into the bathroom and closed the door. John stood there grinning after her, then he went to the bed and tore the sheets and blankets off and threw them in the hamper. He decided he really wasn't looking forward to Brynn leaving his house. He wanted her to stay.

On the way to the office that morning after showers and coffee, Brynn pulled out her cell phone and called her insurance company. She needed to get them here to do the estimate on the damages and get a new vehicle before she could really start a new life here in Mystery. John watched as she had an animated conversation with the insurance broker over the phone and saw the look of disappointment on her face when she flipped the tiny phone closed.

"They can't be here for at least a week." She was dismayed. "I need to get a new car sooner than that."

"This is really none of my business, but do you think you have enough in your savings to cover a down payment on a car? Then you could just stay with me until the insurance money comes through and then look for a place to live."

John asked hoping she would accept his invitation. "I'd also suggest you get an SUV instead of a regular car. The winters here are pretty severe, you'd be better off with a four wheel drive. After all, I've seen the damage you can do with the way you drive, trust me on the SUV thing!"

"Very funny... I have enough to cover a new car in the account, but it might leave me a little short, and besides I am having my things shipped here next week as well, what am I going to do with all of that stuff while I'm waiting to find a place to live? This just sucks!"

John smiled at her. "Things will work out. Just give me a little time to think things through and I'll help you come up with a plan of attack."

"Thanks John." Brynn replied, stunned by his sincerity. "I'm use to handling things on my own though, you don't need to concern yourself with this."

"I'm going to be honest with you here, we're friends right?" He waited for her to respond.

"Yeah I guess we are, I mean after all, you've seen my butt, and I've had your whatever that was all over my hand." Brynn smiled at him impishly. She wasn't about to let him live that down, at least not today.

He glanced sidelong at her for a second then returned his attention to the road ahead of him. "Then I want you to understand that friends are allowed to help each other out. You don't have to feel like you are imposing in anyway just because I want to help you get settled in here. And I'll let that little comment slide for now, but if I were you I'd think twice about bringing it up again. Paybacks are a bitch."

"Why John Beibe, are you threatening me? I didn't think that was the sort of thing friends did to each other."

"Not a threat love, a promise." John laughed as they pulled up in front of the station.

"You know," Brynn said, trying not to giggle too hard, "if you leave tissues or a towel by the bed, you can easily eliminate that problem, and not have to wash the blankets every day." John pulled to a stop and stared at her in disbelief as she hurriedly jumped out of the truck and bolted for the front door.

"You're opening up a can of worms you have no idea what to do with little girl," he said to himself as he followed her inside.

"Okay, I think I've come up with a plan," John said, sitting down on the corner of Brynn's desk. "What we need to do first of all, is get you set up with a new vehicle, the rest will just fall into place. The car is here in town so you can meet with the insurance agent when he comes to do the estimate on the damage. As far as your stuff coming, I've had an epiphany."

"Did it hurt?" Brynn asked with sarcasm putting down the phone, forgetting about the call she was about to make.

"You're just a regular smart ass today, aren't you? Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Continue," she said with a grin. "By all means."

"Well I was thinking, we haven't tripped over each other too much with the current arrangement, aside from last night, and I think it would be good, at least until spring, if you stayed with me. We could split everything and be like roommates. I'll clear out the stuff upstairs so you could have an office and room for your things. It'll be easier to do the bigger move in the spring when things have thawed a little bit here, and if you decide you like the arrangement, you're welcome to stay."

Brynn sat back in her chair and listen to him ramble. He was playing with a pencil and a paperclip he picked up from her desk top, fidgeting like a teenage boy asking a girl out on a date. He had given this some serious thought and it moved her deeply that he asked her to move in with him as "roommates". "Well, we'll have to talk about the specifics with the money situation, and I'll need to know exactly what is expected of me because I can tell you right now, I won't be doing your laundry as long as you have spooge all over your blankets."

He took his attention away from the paperclip and looked at her. "Is spooge a technical term? I don't think I've ever heard that one before."

"Seriously John, I think it is a wonderful idea. I'm all for it. We'll really have to discuss the financial part of things, but I'm in."

"Great." John handed her back the paper clip and pencil and stood up, "so get

your coat."

"For what?"

"We're going car shopping. I'm taking you to the nearest town with a car dealership and you can get one off the lot."

"Where is the nearest town?" Brynn asked.

"About 2 hours southeast of here, so get your ass moving." John shook his head walking to the door, "spooge huh? Like I said Brynn, paybacks are a real bitch."

Getting into the truck, Brynn lay her head back against the seat. It was going to be a long ride, so she might as well get comfy. "Aren't you needed here?" She asked John as he slid into the truck beside her.

"Well, I actually have a deputy, believe it or not, and when I go out of range for the CB," he lifted the little speaker that was clipped to his shirt, "they call me on the cell phone." He explained. "Things here can manage with out me for the rest of the day."

"If you say so Sheriff," Brynn lay her head back once again. "I think I'll just take a little nap on the way there."

"I don't think so, you're going to stay awake and talk to me so I don't fall asleep on this little journey."

"This was your bright idea John, so I'm in no way obligated to keep your ass awake. You're on your own, spooge boy," Brynn teased.

John rolled his eyes at her and pulled out of the parking spot. He followed some of the same roads Brynn had taken on her way into the small town, and then they reached, what was known in Mystery, as the highway. An honest to God two lane road that had been plowed. John took a left turn, and they were on their way.

They rode in silence for the first 30 or so miles, Brynn trying to doze here and there and John trying not to. When Brynn decided she wasn't going to be able to get any sleep, she sat up straight and looked out the windshield. There were only about 10 other cars on the road that she could see. "You all right over there Beibe?"

"I think I'll live, just getting drowsy from the road."

"Highway hypnosis. If you call this a highway, that is." Brynn nodded her head.

"Well, for me it really is a highway." John said nonplussed.

"You live your entire life in Mystery?"

"Yeah, I was born and raised in that small town, with my love of hockey and my job, I decided never to leave. I fit in there."

"You really do." Brynn surprised even herself with how accurate John's statement really was.

She couldn't picture him in NY City where she had spent the last 4 years. He'd go insane about 5 minutes after stepping foot inside the city. Brynn herself did not exactly fit in there, she had made them fit her. The struggle to keep up with that kind of existence however had been far to much for her. So while surfing the net late one night she'd come across a little ad for an attorney posted on one of the many Job Boards across the world. Brynn had made up her mind a few weeks previous to seeing the post, that she needed to get out. When she saw the name of the little town in Alaska looking for an attorney she was hooked. Inexplicably, she was drawn to this little town. Brynn called the very next day to see what was available and if they would like to look at her resume.

Mystery's town mayor, Scott, had been very pleasant and helpful, and upon receiving her resume by fax, called to tell her she had the job. There had been no doubts in her mind that she would go away and be happy, for a change, so she packed her little apartment and set out for Alaska. Living life the way she did in NY she had plenty of money saved for the trip and money to buy a house once she arrived and found something suitable. When she asked Scott about the property there, he had been less than optimistic. There were not a lot of properties around the town for sale.

Bringing herself back from the past and into the present Brynn asked, "How long were you married?"

John jumped as she spoke apparently she had been quite for longer that she originally thought. "Uh, 13 years." He replied. "You ever been married?"

"Nope, could never find someone to keep up with me."

"There must have been someone special though, you can have gone through 26 years and not have had a special relationship."

"I was engaged once, it didn't work out."

"You're real reluctant to talk about personal stuff, aren't you?"

"Let me give you a little insight to my philosophy on the past John," Brynn turned in her seat to look at his profile. He was beautiful, except for that ridiculous hat he always wore. She reached over and removed it from his head smoothing his hair for him. John flinched a little at her touch. "My philosophy on the past is this, what's happened in the past needs to stay in the past, it does no one any good to keep bringing things up that have already happened. You can't change them, so let them be."

"But the past is the link to who you are now." John argued with her. "By finding out a little about your past, I can better see the person you are now."

"Why are you interested in learning more about me?" The question came out with a little more bite than she had intended.

"Because we're going to be roomies," John countered, not letting her defensiveness bother him. "I'm not asking for intimate details, just a little about you, where you went to school, why you became a lawyer, what do you like to do for fun, stuff like that. I'd be happy to answer the same questions for you."

Brynn suddenly realized she started this conversation by asking John how long he'd been married. She had to give him a little information about her life, she was going to be living with him for the next few months at least, but no matter what she had made a friend in him and she did not want to let that go, ever. It had been a long time since she'd had a friend, someone to turn to, or have fun with, and she knew she could do both with this man.

"Well, I went to school in a small town in upstate NY, it wasn't as small as Mystery, but small enough. It was a college town. A large university was based just on the outskirts of the town so there were always lots of new people around. I graduated from both high school and college with honors, I attended the same college that I just explained was on the outskirts of my small town. After college I moved away from the town to NY City. I was looking for work as an attorney to make lots of money, what better place to go. For fun, I like to listen to music, dance, sing, read books, write and play on my computer." She stopped there hoping it would be enough information to keep him happy for little while, even though she felt like it sounded like an ad in a personals column.

"You forgot why you decided to become a lawyer," John said.

"The money I guess," Brynn lied.

John let it rest there, she'd shared more with him in the last two minutes than the entire 4 days he had known her. He didn't want to push it, even though he knew the comment about the money was a lie. "That wasn't so hard was it?"

"Not really," she confirmed. "How much further?"

"Not all that far, just a few more miles, you think you have an idea of what you want?"

"Well, I have you along to help me decide, so I haven't really thought about it much."

"What are friends for?" He glanced at her and smiled.

"Today friends are for helping to spend lots of money, spooge boy, you up for that?"

Brynn drove about 20 SUV's before making up her mind on a dark green Subaru Outback. John helped her decide what she would need as far as weather requirements and four wheel drive. Now he stood back and watched her fill out the paper work. Her dark hair was loose and falling to one side as she bent over the salesman's desk. The salesman, John noticed with a little pang of dismay, had been flirting with her most of the afternoon. The guy stood over her now watching her write on the forms. Without thinking John went to her side and put a hand on her back, "Everything going okay?"

"Yeah," Brynn replied not bothering to look up from the papers, "just getting ready to sign for her." The salesman had taken John's hint and retreated to the other side of the desk. "I want to take it with me today because I'm not making another trip out here just for that."

"I spoke with your bank Ms. Ashton, and I don't think that's going to be a problem," the salesman stated. "I have her in the back now getting her ready for you, should be done in about 20 minutes."

Brynn signed her name on the form and handed it to him. "Thank you."

"We'll be across the street having lunch at the diner, we'll be back for the truck," John informed the man. "Have it ready and out front when we come back."

His demeanor had changed from sweet and calm to rough and demanding in the presence of another man, Brynn noticed and laughed to herself, she thought it was sweet. Maybe he could care for her as more than a friend, or maybe he was taking on the father or the big brother roll. God, Brynn thought, I can do without that.

She followed him across the street and took the seat across from him in the diner. "What was that all about?"

"All what?" John replied innocently, knowing exactly what she was referring to.

"The little scene at the dealership. You got all sorts of weird over there."

"No, I did not., I just didn't like that guy much."

Brynn smiled at him knowingly. "Okay, well since you got to play 20 questions in the car on the way here John, I would like to know something."

"I told you that I'd answer anything you wanted to know." He looked at the menu in front of him trying to decide what to have.

"What happened to the downstairs bathroom? I went in there to clean it the other day and it was just trashed. It looked like someone had thrown a complete fit in there."

"That's exactly what happened. I threw a fit in there after I read the letter from my ex-wife basically telling me to go fuck myself."

"Ohhh, she left you a dear John letter huh?"

He looked up at her pun and smiled. "You seem to know just how to make even the worst situations livable, where were you a year and a half ago?"

"Well, I've lived through some pretty rough stuff, so I try to keep an optimistic outlook, keeps me sane."

When they were finished with lunch, they went back to the dealership to pick up the car. It had been washed and inspected and was ready for her to take home. "Now we can't have any enlightening conversations," John pouted.

"We can still can have enlightening conversations John, just not on the way home tonight. Isn't this beautiful?" Brynn ran her hand down the side of the Outback, whistling.

"You know what would make that vehicle even more beautiful?" John asked, admiringly. Brynn looked at him waiting for him to continue. "It would look really sweet with "MYSTERY POLICE" on the side."

"Don't even go there John. We're not making this the official town truck, sorry!"

He laughed and walked back to his truck, "You follow me, okay?"

Brynn opened the door and stepped up into the truck, "You got it, I'll be right behind you."

The ride back to Mystery was mostly uneventful, although Brynn noticed John had the service men at the dealership install a CB radio in her new truck. She switched on the little device and almost instantly heard John talking to her asking if she had found it yet and what she thought of it.

"Come in spooge boy, you're crazy!" she told him, speaking into the little mouthpiece. "What did you go and do that for?"

"The battery on these things doesn't wear out, you can still use them for a limited time even after the battery on the car has died. So you'll never again have the excuse that your cell phone died, thus never have to walk two miles after an accident."

She smiled at his thoughtfulness, wondering if it were interest in her or the whole big brother little sister deal. She silently prayed for the former.

Arriving back at the house she pulled her new truck along side John's and shut off the engine. "What a sweet ride," Brynn said jumping down from the truck. "This is a great vehicle! Thanks for all the help John, I really appreciate this."

"You are most welcome my dear, but repayment is expected you know."

"Oh yeah and how is that Mr. Beibe???"

"I want dinner, actually I want you to make dinner for me. What do you say?"

"I say it sounds like a plan!"

She took his arm and they walked together into the house. The relationship between them was clearly growing, they had bonded in the past few days. She made him baked chicken and fresh vegetables for dinner. When the meal was consumed and the dishes done, John grabbed some strawberries and the bottle of wine from the fridge and carried them into the living room where Brynn was stoking the fire. John had an agenda, he wanted to talk to Brynn about some more personal things, to get to know more about her. She would put up a fight and avoid any questions under normal circumstances, but he'd had a chance to see her the other night after she'd had a few drinks, you want to know what is on Brynn's mind? Just add alcohol.

"Come over here," he said setting the strawberries down on the coffee table. He went back to the kitchen and grabbed two wine goblets from the cupboard, washing them he took them back to the living room to begin the evenings agenda.

"What's this?" Brynn asked as John opened the bottle of wine.

"I thought we should celebrate. You buying the new truck and moving in here, becoming my roommate, it's been a big day!"

"Ok," Brynn agreed. "I think I can do that, at least tomorrow is Saturday and I don't have to get out of bed early."

"Well actually," John began,. "You remember the wager you made with Skank? That would be tomorrow dear, so if you want to get there early and watch him "lose" then you'll have to be out of bed by at least 9."

"Geeze, I thought you were going to tell me I had to be up by the butt crack of dawn or something, I think I can deal with 9, even if I do have a few drinks." John poured wine into her glass and then filled his own. He would rather drink a beer, but there was none available and he didn't want Brynn to feel like she was drinking alone. Raising his glass to indicate a toast he said, "to your new life here in Mystery."

"Cheers," Brynn agreed and took a long drink of the wine. "I wish we just had beer." She grimaced. "I really don't care for wine all that much."

John almost spit his wine out, "I was just thinking the same thing," he managed to say once he swallowed the liquid.

"Do you have any 7-up? It takes the bite out of this shit and makes it taste like a wine cooler."

"You know," John said putting his glass down, "I think there may be a bottle in the back of the cupboard from way back when." He went into the kitchen with Brynn in tow and rummaged through the cupboard until he found what he was looking for. "TAA DAA!" He exclaimed bringing the bottle into view. "Ask and ye shall receive ma'am."

"Thanks, but you call me ma'am again and people will mistake YOU for a woman by the tone of your voice."

"Ouch, ok well then, hey lady I found what you were looking for. Was that better?"

She punched his arm playfully and took the bottle of soda from him. She opened it up with a pleasant fizz of the carbonation and poured some into her wine then did likewise to John's. Using her finger as a stirring stick for both drinks she licked it off and handed John his glass, "Now tell me what you think."

He took a sip of the drink and nodded approvingly. "Much better. This is even good."

They retreated back to the living room to sit back by the fire. Brynn also liked her drink much better with the soda and they began to go down rather quickly. Before she realized it she was on her fourth glass and beginning to feel a little giddy. John also noticed the wine was having the desired effect. "You want another one he asked?"

"Ummmm, yeah sure," she said handing him her glass. "Pass the berries too while you're at it, spooge boy."

"That was uncalled for don't you think?" John smiled at her. "You need to get over it, really!"

Her eyes were glazed over slightly from the alcohol.

"I would just have loved to be a fly on the wall when that happened. What WERE you thinking about?, Don't think I'm ever going to forget that, John. Being your roommate now, I have that to hold over you as black mail."

"I was really hoping you had forgotten about that. I am only human Brynn, don't hold it against me." Sensing the time was right, John moved in for the kill. "Speaking of not forgetting things, I still would like to hear that story about how you got that scar. You said you would tell me some other time."

Brynn never missed a beat. "You have a good memory too, you want a story? You'd better fill my glass, then yours cause it's a long one, and by the end of it, you'll need a drink, trust me."

John handed her back her glass and the bowl of berries. "You go girl," he said returning to the bottle to fill his own glass. He knew he was going to regret indulging in the liquor tomorrow, but for now he was content.

"Well, it goes like this," Brynn began her tale with none of the hesitancy she had the other night when the subject was approached. The wine had taken her inhibitions and thrown them out the window, for the time being at least. "When I was a senior in high school I was what you might call innocent and neive. I was a virgin that was more interested in my education and after school activities than I was in boys. All of my friends were always razzing me about it, you see I was a cheerleader and played several sports and I just felt I did not have time for sex. That was until I met Andy. He was a sophomore in the college near our town, he seemed really interested in me and we started to spend a lot of time together midway through the year. It was very flattering to have an older guy interested in me. I was told that I was pretty, but this was something more. He really listened to me when I talked. One night we got into this conversation about sex and he pried it out of me that I was, in fact, a virgin. He seemed startled at first but then he really liked the idea and said he admired me for my dedication to my education. He then said he could see the innocence in my demeanor, he had not really noticed it before. What a load of shit that was! He knew exactly what he was looking for when he found me. I am getting ahead of myself here, that same night he invited me to a party at his frat house, the following night which was a Friday. I accepted and asked if I could bring a friend along with me. He said that would be no problem and gave me the directions to the frat house just off campus."

"I was just so happy to be invited, I never really gave it much more thought than that. I just wanted to go and I went. The whole thing about this guy was he was being initiated into the fraternity, he was not an established member. Part of his inanition was to seek out and bring to the other members of the group a virgin. A girl untouched is what they called me later in the evening. So you see he knew exactly what he was looking for."

John stared at her for a moment not sure he wanted to hear the rest of the story. It was quite clear where it was going and he did not know if he could handle it. Brynn held up her glass to him again. Already ready for another refill. As John set his glass aside he realized he too had drained his glass.

Brynn continued, "The friend I wanted to bring with me petered out and wouldn't go, so I went alone. I got there and everyone was really nice to me, I noticed there was only one other girl there besides me and her boyfriend or the guy she was there to see, kept trying to get rid of her. I just shrugged it off when they started giving me beer, I drank and drank and drank. It was my first time with alcohol and it made me feel tingly all over. Then I noticed that everyone in the frat house was sitting around the table looking at me in the strangest way. To this day I still can not describe that look they all had, like they were starving beasts, and I was the main course. It made me very uncomfortable, so I decided I should go. Andy assured me everything was fine and he didn't want me to drive in my condition, which was probably the only smart thought the guy had in his entire life. He literally picked me up and carried me upstairs to his room. He left me there alone for a little while and I fell asleep. When I woke up they were all around me, all of them. Just standing there staring at me. You see Andy's initation was not only to "deflower" a virgin, but to let his friends watch and then take turns after he was done. One of the guys grabbed my hands and held them above my head while another one tied my feet to something at the end of the bed." See, she lifted her pant leg to show John the mark still marring the skin of her ankle from the rope. "Rope burn. I tried to scream but they stuffed a piece of cloth in my mouth so I couldn't make any noise. Then I saw it, one of the guys standing up by my head had a knife. I really tried to kick and struggle then, I thought they were going to kill me."

"He used it instead to cut my clothes off, these guys were not all that brilliant come to think of it, anyway, they cut my clothes off and started to touch me. Andy did his thing even though I tried to struggle, when he got off me his friend was about to climb on, I got one of my hands loose and started hitting anything I could. Well the guy with the knife decided to calm me down using the blade. He told me to shut up and calm down then placed the blade on my thigh, feeling the cold blade on my skin I freaked and rolled to one side. He must have pushed down reflexively when I moved then didn't think to move the knife away from my skin as he stood up, so that's how I got that scar."

"It wasn't any normal knife either John, it was a complete Rambo blade, it sliced through my skin like I was butter. It went quite deep. The problem was, two more of them had their turn with me before they decided the cut, that in it's entirety, measured almost three whole feet in length when you consider it wrapped halfway around my body, was bleeding real bad and needed some sort of medical attention. So they threw a shirt that belonged to one of the guys at the house and a pair of shorts on me and dropped me off a block away from the emergency room."

"By the time I got to the hospital, I needed a serious blood transfusion and several hundred stitched and staples. The wound still became infected and I ended up in that same hospital for about 3 weeks. So John, this is a two for one, in all of this nastiness was also the reason I became a lawyer."

"These guys that did this to me had very important parents, all except one of them. So the school was very interested in covering the whole thing up, the small town that I lived in had only a few lawyers in one law firm, one of the lawyers in that firm was Andy's father, so I had to go outside of the community to hire someone, and even then, it did no good. They made it look like the whole thing was my fault. The guy that cut me had to pay the hospital bills, but that was the only restitution I got for it. No jail time was done by any of them and they all finished their college careers with flying colors. I became a lawyer because of the injustice I was shown by the law during this whole fiasco."

Again her glass was empty and her mouth dry from talking so much. When she handed her glass to John however, he didn't take it, his face was white and he just sat there looking at her.

"What's wrong? Hey you asked."

"I--I--I know," John stumbled. He reached out and grabbed a hold of her, pulling her into his lap. He held her tightly to his chest, "I am sooo sorry Brynn, I had no idea, I figured it was a car accident. I never imagined that something like this!"

"John, I dealt with this a long time ago, I don't want pity for things that I have overcome. This was just one of the many ugly things in my life, please just accept me for me, no pity no baggage. I can carry that shit on my own okay?"

He nodded, not knowing what to say to her, he just sat with her in his lap rocking back and forth in front of the fire. Sometime later, John realized she had drifted off to sleep while he held her, this night she did not sleep alone in front of the fire.

John curled himself around Brynn on the rug, he had been awake for over an hour but could not bring himself to move, or wake her. He just lay there listening to her breathe, thinking about all she had told him the night before. It made perfect sense to him now why she'd moved to Mystery and why she was so independent. She'd made it clear she didn't want his sympathy, she just wanted his friendship. John wanted more. He knew it would be risky in such a small town, to have a relationship with a younger woman, but he knew he had it in his heart to love her. The question was, did she have it hers?

Brynn snuggled closer, her face buried in John's burly chest. He wondered how she could breathe like that. Very gently he raised the arm that draped around her middle to smooth her hair out behind her, then he stroked her face. She stirred more in her sleep then opened her eyes slowly, blinking away the sleep.

"Morning," John said smiling down at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Mmmmm, nice and warm," she snuggled closer again. "Did you sleep at all, or did you spend the entire night looking at me?"

"Does it matter? I just woke up, but I liked watching you sleep, you looked so peaceful."

"I liked sleeping," she giggled. "I have a bit of a headache though."

"Too much wine concoction, next time I'll have to cut you off after three." He ran his hand through her hair again, and she made a purring noise deep in her throat as a response. "I want to let you know that everything you told me last night, will stay with me. I won't tell anyone."

"I know John, that's why I told you. Trust is something I'm just learning to deal with again, so be a little patient with me, okay?"

Putting his arm around her middle again, and giving her a warm hug, he replied, "Take all the time you need. Right now, we have to get up and get ready for the game today."

"Oh shit!" Brynn buried her face back in his chest, "I don't wanna go!"

"You made the bet Brynn, you have to live up to it."

"Oh, all right!" She sat up and threw the blanket off her legs. "I even slept in my clothes, I guess I really passed out last night."

"Out cold," John agreed. He smacked her on the bottom as she stood up.

Brynn grabbed her head as the pounding increased with each movement. "Oh man, I'm really going to need some aspirin before I do this."

The game was going well, John's team was ahead by two goals. Brynn stood on the bleachers screaming and cheering them on. Hockey had always been a favorite game of hers, even to just watch on TV. Football, baseball, and basketball did not cut it unless you were there in the stands to feel the excitement. Hockey on the other hand, was just as exciting to watch on TV as sitting in the freezing cold, hooting and hollering with the rest of the fans.

Brynn also liked to watch John skate, for some unknown reason it made her stomach tingle with a sort of excitement she thought had been long forgotten. On the ice, John skated around the backside of the other team's goal and snagged the puck, throwing it into the net. Brynn jumped up and down with excitement.

"Good game," Mary Jane was standing right behind her cheering as well.

Brynn turned around to face her, "Yeah this one is good, but the one after this is going to be interesting."

"What's going on?" Mary Jane asked.

"Well, you see, I made a little wager with Skank the other night. I told him I could score a goal faster than he could. So after the game, I have to prove it."

"I hope you show him up, otherwise you'll never hear the end of it," Mary Jane laughed. "I don't think you've met my husband." She tugged on the shoulder of the man next to her to get his attention. "Scott, this is Brynn Ashton, the lawyer you hired."

Brynn held out her hand to the man, "Nice to meet you in person mayor, we've spoken a few times over the phone."

"You like hockey?" he asked.

"Hell yeah, I grew up with it, ice hockey in the winter and roller hockey in the summer."

"You play?" Scott looked completely amazed at the thought of a woman playing hockey.

"Stick around for a little while after this game and I'll show you." Brynn giggled. If he beats me, she thought to herself, I'm going to look like a complete ass.

Brynn turned again to face the ice just as John's team scored the final goal, his team won 6 to 2. John waved to her a few times from the ice, then after the team settled down a little, he motioned for her to join them. Going down to the edge of the frozen pond, Brynn plopped in the snow and slid off her boots, then after lacing up her skates, she slid out onto the ice with as much grace as she could muster.

"Those aren't hockey skates," Skank said skating beside her.

"Geeze, ya think? My hockey skates are packed with my stuff that will be arriving next week, but these will do." She turned to face him, "I told you, you were going to lose today." She skated around him a few times getting use to being on the ice, since it had been awhile.

"That was all the luck you're gonna have today, cause I am gonna kick your ass all over this pond, little lady."

John skated up to them and handed a stick to Brynn, "You sure you want to do this?"

"Of course I want to do this," Brynn said as she took the stick. "I wouldn't miss the chance to make this poor excuse for a man look like shit at what he does best." She tossed Skank a nice little grin.

"How are we going to play this?" Skank asked.

"One on one baby, just the two of us and one goal, whoever scores first wins the bet." The rest of the team had gathered around them and listened to the terms, John handled the incoming bets from the other players.

After Skank pulled out his money and Brynn handed hers over to John, Skank asked, "How much money is at stake John?"

"Well including my five bucks, we have about, sixty-seven total," John said counting the wad of bills in his hand. "Between you and Brynn, there's twenty at stake."

"Oh, you are gonna lose this big time girl! What are the rules?"

"RULES? I thought this was hockey!" Brynn grinned at him. "There are no rules, anything goes. Just remember this before you pull anything cute, a woman never forgets when she has been crossed. It may take a week or ten years, but you WILL pay. Now, would you like to do this with a goalie or without?"

"With, I want to make this as hard as possible for you."

"Are you guys about ready?" John asked standing between them.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Brynn responded.

"I was born ready." Skank said.

Brynn rolled her eyes in disgust. "Once I win this, you're buying the beers at the pub."

John leaned over and gave Brynn a quick kiss on the cheek, "Good luck," he whispered. All the guys standing around the pond made crude remarks, which John gracefully ignored.

Holding the puck up in the air John said "play nice kids," then he let the puck fall to the ice.

Brynn was quick with her stick, but Skank pulled the puck away from her and headed for the goal. Not missing a step, Brynn was right behind him and heard him yell, "see, I told you this was going to be easy."

Not about to lose a bet to this jerk, Brynn stuck out her stick and got it right in time to interfere with Skank's skating stride, effectively tripping him. From there she snagged the puck and kept heading for the goal before Skank could drag himself to a standing position on the ice. Instead of going right in for the kill she skated around behind the goal and slipped the puck in along the right side as she came out, just as John had done during the game.

Skank stood there mouth open in amazement. "You cheated."

Brynn approached him slowly, "CHEATED??? How can you cheat when there are no rules?" Reaching him, she skated around behind him, giving him a little shove and sending him sprawling once again. She skated far out of his reach and went into an impressive spin.

"Show off," Skank grumbled getting to his feet.

"You're still buying," Brynn replied skating over to where John stood laughing with the team.

"This now belongs to you, you won fair and square." John said handing her her winnings and distributing the rest among those who placed winning bets.

"There was nothing fair about that," Skank whined. "She tripped me."

"You agreed to no rules, so she won." Tree said, amazed that she could even skate.

Hearing the clapping from the stands Brynn turned to see Mary Jane and Scott along with a few other people that had stayed to watch the little "match" applauding her accomplishment. She took a small bow.

After the showdown, they retreated to the pub for lunch and a few drinks. Brynn relented and used her winnings to buy the first round of drinks. Instead of getting a table this time, they stood at the bar talking and joking about the afternoon. The pub was full and Brynn had a chance to meet more of the locals. Instead of watching a game, the guys let Brynn play the jukebox, she took requests from everyone in the bar and played a few selections of her own. Halfway through her second beer Brynn grabbedJohn by the hand and led him to the middle of the room, "Dance with me,"she demanded.

"I don't do the dancing thing real well," John said trying to talk her out of it.

"If you can skate, you can dance. This is easy in comparison, come on, just humor me."

The song was a slow, mellow tune Brynn had selected just for this purpose. She wanted an excuse to get John close to her, the way he had been that morning when she woke up. John relented and took her in his arms and pulled her close. The song playing was "You've Got A Way" by Shania Twain. Brynn normally did not care for country, but there were certain songs that spoke to her, and after seeing the movie "Notting Hill" she had been hooked on this song. She felt, once again, that the words spoke right to her heart in this particular situation with John.

Together they moved across the dance floor just listening to the music. "I like this song, who played it?" John asked.

"Me, I have always liked this song, and I wanted to hear it." She said trying to sound nonchalant.

"Good choice." They did not speak through the rest of the song, just danced and listened. When the song was over they returned to the bar, and the rest of the group.

"AWWWWWW," Skank said as they approached. "That was sooo sweet, I think I'm gonna puke."

John placed his arm around Brynn's waist. "As long as you do it elsewhere, I really don't give a shit."

The pager on Brynn's waist was in vibration mode and it began to go off. John moved his arm and looked at her quizzically, "What the hell is that."

"Every girl's best friend, spooge boy, better than a man, if the batteries wear out, I just replace them with new ones," she laughed reaching under her shirt to retrieve the beeper. "Just kidding, it's my pager." She pushed a button on the top and retrieved the number, "It's my moving company, can I use your phone?"

Skank looked at John and grinned, "SPOOGE BOY??? What are you not telling me John?"

John pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Brynn while he gave Skank his best 'fuck you' look. Brynn took the phone with an evil smile and dialed the number on the little window of her pager. Plugging her open ear with a finger so she could hear the man on the other end, Brynn nodded several times and then said, "Yeah fine, I'll be here." She punched the off button and handed the phone back to John. "They'll be here with my stuff Monday."

"We've got a lot of work to do then," John replied taking the phone back from her. "We're gonna head out guys, behave yourselves." All he wanted to do was get away from them before they could razz him further.

"See ya later, Spooge Boy," Skank called to John's back. John responded by flipping him the finger.

Brynn picked up her coat from behind the bar and followed John out into the cold December afternoon.

"Boy, she didn't leave much when she left did she?" Brynn thought aloud as she cleaned out the dresser in the room that was to be her office.

"What did you say?" John asked. He was across the room from her removing things from a bookshelf and putting them into boxes at his feet.

"She didn't leave much when she left. This isn't going to take us very long."

"She'd been planning to leave for a long time, or so I gathered, so she had time to pack just about everything and get it out of here."

"It must suck being away from your kids, how often do you get to see them?"

"I haven't seen them since she left, haven't heard from them either." John finished the shelves and picked up the box, "I'm going to put this one in the garage, if you still feel up to it, we can get this bed out of here tonight too."

"Yeah, we can get the one out of the other room as well, I have a bed of my own."

"You'll need a place to sleep until your stuff comes." John replied piling more stuff on top of the box.

Brynn realized the effect this must be having on him, and felt bad for talking about it so carelessly. "John, we don't have to do this if you would rather not. I'm sorry I didn't think of the emotional stress this must be putting you through."

He set the boxes down by the door once again and came to stand beside her. "Brynn, I do miss the boys, but I have to start a new life, just like you are. I may not be making a huge move across the country, but it's time that I put all this behind me. She isn't coming back, and neither are the boys." He smiled reassuringly at her and put his hand on her head.

"Why do you still wear your wedding ring then?"

John looked at his left hand and sighed. "I'm not sure." He removed the band from his finger and set it on top of the dresser. "How's that for a good start?"

"You go spooge boy!" Brynn laughed.

"We have to talk about this whole spooge boy thing, Brynn. You're in for a serious payback one of these days. You totally embarrassed me at the pub today, I'll never hear the end of it from those guys."

"That was the point," she giggled. "As far as a payback, there's nothing you could come up with that would top that!"

"We'll just see about that," John said turning to go back to the boxes.

"All right then get your ass moving and get those boxes out to the garage." Brynn reached up and smacked his ass just as he had done to her earlier in the day.

They managed to clean everything out of both rooms including the beds and dressers. Brynn now had two nice size rooms at her disposal, one for her bedroom and the other for an office.

"Now that you have no bed, you can feel free to take my room for the next couple of nights," John told her. He had just finished stacking all the stuff in the garage, "I think you'll find it much more comfortable than the couch."

"Well, then where will you sleep?" Brynn asked.

"I'll take the uncomfortable couch, it's just for a few nights."

"That's exactly my point, it's just for a few nights, so I can take it." Brynn argued. "Besides I'm not all that excited about sleeping under your sheets." She smiled at him innocently.

"One of these days, woman, you'll get yours. The bed has been properly cleaned, and you have nothing to worry about, although, if you keep it up, you'll have plenty to worry about."

"Promises, Promises," Brynn laughed. "Why don't we call a truce and both sleep in front of the fire again? It seemed to suit us last night." It was the first time she had mentioned the incident since that morning. All day long she wanted to tell him how good it felt to wake up with him like that, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words.

John looked at her for a moment, "Yeah it did feel pretty good. I wasn't real sure how you felt about it."

"I thought it was nice, after telling you what I did, I really needed it." For some reason Brynn could not look at him.

"Like I said, what are friends for?"

Lying in John's bed that night, Brynn wished he had been in there with her, just to hold her like he had the night before. If it was that awful story I shared with him that got him to cuddle up to me last night, I have a few more life altering epics I could let him in on.

After a few hours of tossing and turning, Brynn decided to go downstairs. She hadn't heard movement For quite sometime and figured John was asleep.

As she crept into the living room she saw him spread out on the couch sound asleep. To her, it was the most wonderful thing she had ever seen, he was completely beautiful, eyes closed, breathing steady and even. She sat on the coffee table and watched him for a few minutes, until her eyes grew heavy and she knew she was ready to sleep. Instead of going back upstairs however, she pulled back the blanket that covered John's sleeping form. Climbing onto the couch carefully, trying not to wake him, she slid in beside him and pulled the blanket back around them both. John shifted, wrapping his arm around her, burying his face into her hair and then he was still again. Brynn let out a long sigh, feeling very good to be in John's arms.

Brynn was up early, trying to avoid questions from John about her appearance on the couch. She figured if she were up early enough, John would never evenknow she'd been there. She went into the kitchen and started breakfast, she usually didn't eat early, but she wanted to do something to busy herself. Her mind was spinning with thoughts of the man she now lived with. This was going to be very hard if she didn't get her head on straight. For two nights in a row, she had shared sleeping space with him, she now dreaded the thought of going back to sleeping alone. What other excuse could she come up with to have him there again tonight? Stop this, she scolded herself silently. This was getting out of hand, Brynn was going to have to find a way to tell John just how she felt about him. Every time she was near him, she felt a little weak in the knees, and her stomach did the whole butterflies thing. She had a huge crush on John, but she didn't know how to tell him.

Getting out some pans from beneath the sink, she cracked some eggs into a large bowl and began to beat them in earnest. Omelets would be on the morning's menu, she hoped he liked eggs. I have a crush on this man and I don't even know if he likes eggs or not! Brynn's mind was going like a tornado, she wanted to just come right out and tell him, John I have a crush on you in a big way, by the way, do you like eggs? She laughed out loud at the thought.

"What's so funny?" John had entered the room while she was deep in thought.

"Nothing really, just thinking of a joke someone once told me. Do you like eggs?" Brynn stammered trying hard to think of a joke in case he asked her to retell it.

"Yeah, I love eggs, what are you making there?" John asked standing beside her.

"I thought I'd make us omelets for breakfast. I was actually in the mood to eat this morning, so I got up early to make breakfast."

"I was wondering where you disappeared to. You left a cold spot on the couch when you got up." John tried to be as subtle as possible when approaching the subject of her sleeping with him last night. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her off.

Brynn could not turn around to face him. "I'm sorry, I just got a little cramped. You're right about that couch, it's not real comfy."

"Did you make any coffee?" Deciding she was not going to go into detail about sleeping with him, he wanted to change the subject. She would open up to him in her own time, just like she had the other night. He had a hunch however, that Brynn could care for him as much as he did for her.

"Yeah, there's some fresh in the pot."

"So what's on the agenda for today? We got just about everything out of those rooms last night, so all we have left to do is clean the floors and we're ready for your stuff." John said pouring his cup of coffee and handing one to Brynn.

"I thought I'd like to spend the day out on the ice, it felt really good to be out there again yesterday, and I'd like some more practice. Tonight I wanted to do some shopping, I Just realized, this morning, Christmas is only about a week away."

"Christmas?" John looked at her. "It can't be."

"Yeah, you know, Christmas, the birthday of the one and only Christ child, big fat guy in a bright red suit and eight reindeer. Ring any bells?"

"Is there anytime in your life when you have not been a smart-ass?" John asked grinning at her now.

"Actually, as a child I wasn't like this, but after smart-ass 101, my first college course, I'm an expert of sorts." Brynn giggled as she lifted the omelet out of the pan.

"The funny thing about that is, I believe you." John took his breakfast plate to the table and sat down. He knew Brynn was a good cook, two meals in a row she had managed to wow him. This was just another meal he looked forward to. Even Donna could not cook like this, he thought to himself as he took the first bite. "Ow ow, ow, this is hot." He stood up and got a glass of juice from the fridge. "I know it," Brynn said, "this damn stove is broken."

"What? That stove is almost brand new!" John said appalled.

"I know, but it just makes things so hot," her back was to him so he couldn't see her smile.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" John asked finally getting the joke.

"Now, would I do a thing like that? Brynn asked letting him see the big smile across her face.

"No, of course not."

After breakfast they went skating, John was happy to just be around her. There were lots of other people on the ice and Brynn played with some of the little kids. John watched her as she hung on to the hand of a three year old little girl and helped her skate around the slippery surface. The child fell numerous times, but Brynn just picked her up and they would start all over again. He missed the boys so much, his youngest boy had only been about ten months old when Donna left. He wished he could have all three of them there now, but as he watched Brynn, he realized that it was not Donna he could see holding onto the youngest boys, but Brynn. He decided he was going to have to say something to her, and soon. His feelings were becoming far to important to let this chance at a new life slip through his fingers.

John had always wanted a big family, which's why he built the house the way he had. There were plenty of rooms, and always the possibility to add on to it. When Donna left, she had taken away everything he had ever wanted, well almost everything. Brynn coming into his life was like a wake up call for John, and another chance at happiness.

"Hey!" Brynn startled him as she skated next to him with the child in her arms. "You in there sheriff?"

"Yeah, just watching everyone, this was a good idea. You look like a natural with kids."

"I've had lot's of practice, both of my brothers have large families, and they're so much older than I am, all of the kids were born while I was still at home." Brynn explained before spinning the little girl in circles. She set the child down and let her go back to her mother.

"You ever want kids?" John asked hoping it wouldn't be too personal.

"Someday, when I find Mr. Right, I think kids would definitely be on my agenda. But you know, you have to have sex to have kids, and I'm not sure I remember how to do that."

John couldn't believe how she was opening up to him with everyday that passed. "Been awhile for you too, huh?"

"Yeah, it's been four long years, but at least you've got your ways of release, spooge boy, I've seen the proof !"

He gave her a playful shove and she fell to her ass on the ice. "I've had about enough of you!"

"You've had enough, and I've just barely begun."

John stopped and helped her back to her feet. "So what are you saying you can't have release? That sounds a little odd."

"Well, I might be able to, but I've just never been able to get there, ever." Brynn blushed.

"NEVER? Not even on your own?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Never," she quietly whispered and skated away from him.

Well, I guess she had enough of that conversation, John laughed to himself. At least she is opening up to me, there's still hope!

Brynn left John home while she went to do some Christmas shopping. She knew there were things she had to get for her family, and the new friends she made in town, but she wanted to go shopping for John. He obviously had not celebrated Christmas since his wife and kids left, so she wanted to make sure this would be extra special for him. Before leaving the house she had instructed him to get a tree, he had argued with her a little until she reminded him of starting his life over. This would be another step toward what he wanted to accomplish.

Brynn drove for what seemed like years to the mall, where she quickly made sure everyone on her list was taken care of, She even did a few things for the children in town. She heard there was going to be a get together at the town hall on Christmas eve for the kids, so she wanted to make sure they really enjoyed themselves this year.

Brynn also picked up a little something for herself, for the adult Christmas party at the pub, then she headed off in another direction of the mall for John's gift.

When she arrived home, John had been a good boy and picked out a beautiful tree, it was standing in one corner of the living room. John smiled proudly when she entered the house. "See, I got the best one I could find."

"Doesn't it feel good to be in the Christmas spirit?" Brynn asked walking past him with her boxes and bags.

"Let me help you with those," John offered.

"Uh, uh," she continued, "you stay out of these, your gifts are in here too."

"You didn't have to do that for me." Brynn went up the stairs and put the packages in the room that was going to be her office.

When she returned to the downstairs, she gave John a serious stare, "I don't want to catch you up there trying to sneak a peek, you understand?"

"Aww, shucks ma, I just want one little peak, can I, can I, huh???"

"Come on," Brynn said shaking her head, "let's decorate that tree."

The rest of the evening they decorated the tree and sang along with Christmas carols that were playing on the radio. John really started to get in the spirit, he wrapped some garland around his neck as they were stringing it up on the tree. Feeling a little silly herself, Brynn played along and hung a few ornaments on his shirt.

"This is great," John told her while he took the ornaments off his shirt and hung them on the tree. "I haven't had this much fun at Christmas in a long time. Hell, I haven't had this much fun in a long time period."

"Glad I could help." Brynn said jingling the bell on top of the Santa hat she wore.

After the tree was completely decorated, they sat together on the couch admiring their work. John sat with one leg up in the couch and the other on the floor and he motioned for Brynn to sit between them so he could hug her.

"I'm so glad I met you. You really brought some thing's into perspective for me."

"You've done the same for me John," Brynn said returning the hug. "You and I make a good team." She couldn't believe she had been about to say couple.

John held her there, between his legs, letting her turn around to get more comfortable. He reached for the remote and turned on the TV, together, they watched "A Christmas Carol".

John went to work bright and early Monday morning, leaving Brynn at the house to wait for the arrival of her things. He walked into the office in a rush and sat down across from Betty. "I need your help," he told her. "Christmas is only a few days away and I have no idea what to do for Brynn."

"Christmas?" Betty looked at him skeptically. "You haven't celebrated Christmas in two years John. Last year we had to remind you why we were taking the day off for Christ' sake."

"I know Betty that's my point. I need to do something for Brynn, last night we decorated the tree and everything, and she did her shopping. What am I going to do for her???"

"John, I really like her and since she's been here, I've seen some positive changes in you. At least this year I won't have to worry about having my pay docked for taking the holiday off."

"Betty, this is serious," John looked at her perplexed. "I have no idea what to get for her."

"Let's be candid here, shall we? You really like this girl, don't you?"

John lowered his head and asked, "Are you going to help me or not?"

"I'll help you if you answer the question." Betty replied.

"Yes, I really like her, I can't get her out of my head and it's driving me insane. I have no idea how to tell her. She makes me feel like I'm 17 again, asking someone to the prom."

"I thought so," Betty shook her head in approval. "Now, let's go look for something to get that special lady."

John returned his gaze to her and grinned. "Thank you so much Betty, this means a lot to me."

"Well God knows John, all anyone has wanted for the longest time is for you to be happy again, ever since Donna took off on you--even before that, something was missing. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but it seems like this girl has exactly what you needed."

"I still don't know how to tell her," John sighed. "I can't just come out and say it, we've built this really great friendship, and I don't want to ruin that."

Betty picked up her coat and turned again to John. "I think that little lady is just as smitten as you are, trust an expert."

John smiled at the thought and followed Betty through the door.

Brynn stood on the front steps and watched the moving truck back up to the door. When it had come to a complete stop, two men jumped out of the large truck, one from each side. As they approached Brynn she explained that everything was ready for them to move the stuff in, they just had to take it upstairs and she would direct them further from there. They lifted the gigantic back door of the truck revealing all of her treasured belongings. Brynn didn't realize how much she'd missed this stuff until she saw it now.

She never spent a lot of money on material things while she lived in NY, even though she made plenty of money. Keeping things simple was more her style, so the things she did buy and spend a lot of money on, were extremely important to her. All of these things she could count on one hand, her computer, the computer desk, her bed and her sofa. Seeing these things now gave Brynn a feeling of home, she could feel this was where she belonged, in this town, in this house.

As the men lay out a metal walkway from the truck to the house to aid in the moving process, Brynn heard the phone ringing.

That must be John she said to herself, as she ran back inside to answer the phone.

Reaching the phone, a little breathless, Brynn answered on the fourth ring. "Hello?" there was no answer, so she tried again. "Hello?"

"Uh, hello." A female voiced answered. "I must have dialed the wrong number."

"Well, that all depends on who your looking for," Brynn replied cheerfully. "You've reached the Beibe residence."

"I have the right number then, I didn't realize John had remarried." The woman sounded very disturbed.

"Oh, no he hasn't, I'm his roommate, Brynn. John's not here right now, he's working, but I can certainly take a message for him if you'd like."

"I think that would be a good idea," the woman responded, still sounding slightly upset. "Can you please make sure he gets this message, it's very important and I don't want to call him at work."

"Sure, I'll make sure he gets it as soon as he gets home."

"This is Donna, I'm coming into town tonight, and I need to see him. Like I said, it's very important."

Brynn grabbed a piece of paper and a pen off the table and began to write the message verbatim. "Ok, Donna, can I have your last name please?"

"Beibe," she replied. "I'm John's ex-wife."

Brynn started to shake, she had no idea why, but she could hardly finish writing the message. "And where can he reach you tonight Donna?"

"Just tell him I'll be staying at Mary Jane's, my flight will be in this afternoon around three o'clock. He needs to meet me there as soon as he possibly can after he gets out of work."

"I'll tell him as soon as he gets here," Brynn replied. Now she was the one that sounded upset.

"Thank you Miss--."

"Ashton," Brynn whispered. "Brynn Ashton."

"Thank you Miss Ashton. Goodbye."

Brynn just hung up the phone, she couldn't say anything else, but as she turned around to put the message on the table she could feel the tears running down her face.

"This one is just great," Betty said holding up the little red negligee.

"Betty, I am not buying the woman underwear." John looked at her in disbelief.

"Well, it's only underwear if your not doing it right," she hung the garment back on the rack. "But if you insist on something more "proper" then let's see what else we can find. What does she like? Is there something that you can think of that stands out?"

"Well," John replied, looking deep in thought, "she has this dolphin tattoo on her shoulder, and she always wears dolphin earrings, so my guess would be that she likes dolphins."

"Very observant John," Betty nudged his side. "Those are usually things only other women notice, you must really like her."

She led him to the jewelry counter in the department store and showed him a few things she thought Brynn might like.

"I like that necklace," John said pointing to a gold filigree chain with a tiny dolphin pendant.

"Oh yeah, so do I." Betty picked up the delicate piece and turned it over in her hand, "She'll just love this one John."

"Can I have this gift wrapped?" John asked the clerk. The woman behind the counter rang up the sale and gift wrap the purchase in beautiful Christmas paper with a shiny gold bow. "Perfect!" John said taking the package from the woman. "Thank you."

"This is perfect," John told Betty, "thank you so much for helping me with this."

"Anything to get away from the office for half the day, now just promise me you'll wait until Christmas to give it to her."

They walked back to the truck and headed for to the office, John's mind racing the entire way. Once he gave the necklace to Brynn, he would have to tell her how he felt about her. He didn't want to rush her, but he wanted her to know how much he wanted to be with her.

With tears still running down her face, Brynn retreated to the upstairs to direct the movers. They saw her crying, but said nothing about it, just went about their job like she wasn't even there. While Brynn directed them and placed things where she wanted, she decided to just let her tears flow, get them all out before John came home.

She turned on the stereo to drown out the sounds of her sobs as she worked, practically throwing things here and there. Brynn was not really sure why she was so upset about Donna coming back to town, but she was. It was almost like she was losing John, although she never really "had" him, so what was there to lose? The thought of her being here made Brynn feel extremely threatened. If only I'd told him how I felt, Brynn chastised herself, I wouldn't have anything to worry about.

She set up her computer desk, and computer in her office, put together the bed in her bedroom, and put her dresser in the appropriate place. After unpacking her clothes from the cases, she filled the dresser and hung up her work clothes. The movers came in to tell her they were finished, and Brynn hunted around for her wallet to pay them. While she fished in her wallet for the exact amount she asked, "What time is it, anyway?"

"It's almost three o'clock," one of them told her. "Cheer up lady, everything will be okay."

Brynn smiled at the man and thanked them for their help. She turned back to her office to finish setting up her computer, if things didn't work out here, there were always other places she could move to. She might need the computer set up so she could surf the net incase John wanted to get back together with his wife.

"Where the fuck did that come from?" Brynn asked out loud. "She just got back into town and I've got them moving back in together and patching things up." Shaking her head in disgust, Brynn sat down on her queen size, canopy bed and started, once again, to cry.

"I'm gonna head home," John told Betty after he finished the days paper work.

"When is the Christmas party at the pub this year?"

"It's going to be Saturday night, and the party for the kids is Sunday at town hall."

"Who plays Santa these days?" John asked slipping his coat on.

"The judge. Last year he was a hoot, he may be a pain in the ass when it comes to most adults, but he has a heart of gold when it comes to the kids around here."

"I know," he replied. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, and Betty, thanks again."

"Anytime, it's nice to have you back John." She gave him a smile and went back to bookkeeping.

When John returned home, he was in a wonderful mood. He stopped along the way to grab dinner and some flowers for Brynn. Knowing her she will have worked all day to make sure everything is put away and nicely arranged John thought, so she'll be in the mood for something nice. There was no sign that the movers had even been there, he hoped everything was all right.

Brynn heard John drive up to the house and put on her best "everything's fine" face. She didn't want him to know how upset she was over this Donna thing. During the day she toyed with the idea of not telling him, but this was such a small town and sooner or later he would find out. Then he would be angry with her for not telling him, so she chucked the idea. She would come right out and tell him and whatever happened, happened.

"Brynn, how did everything go?" John called out.

"Great, come on up and see for yourself." She replied.

Taking the stairs two at a time John found her in her office and looked around amazed. "You did this all by yourself? This looks wonderful."

Brynn had put her prized computer against the far wall, with the window right beside it, and her other prize piece, the sofa, placed on the opposite wall. The room looked totally different and John was duly impressed.

"If you think this is good, come see my bedroom." She took his hand and led him to her room, when she flipped on the light John was flabbergasted by the sight, she had a huge canopy bed that was strung with white gauzy see through material, it was the most wonderful and inviting bed he had ever seen.

"This is beautiful," he managed, trying to push thoughts of making love to her in that bed out of his head. "I really like that bed."

"Oh, this bed is one of my favorite possessions. It cost a bundle, but I had to have it." Brynn went over and sat on the soft white comforter. She patted the spot next to her indicating for John to sit. He took the offer and sat down next to her.

"Brynn this is wonderful, it's so soft." He ran his hand over the comforter and again tried to push inappropriate images from his mind. He lay back on the bed and looked up at the canopy.

"John," Brynn said folding her hands in her lap and looking intently at them. "John I need to talk to you for a minute."

Sensing the change in her, John sat up straight again and looked at her.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, I had a phone call today, a very important phone call."

"Who was it? How important?" John's head swam with different images now, someone had made her a better offer, which would not be hard to do, but she was going to leave him now. Shit! He thought, how could I have let this happen?.

"It was a call for you actually." Brynn could feel the tears getting close again, but she would not let them spill out. Not in front of him, not like this.

"For me?" John asked. "Who was it?"

Brynn looked up from her hands and into his eyes. "It was Donna."

John's face dropped. Brynn couldn't tell if it was relief or anguish that she saw in his eyes, but she had to look away. "What did she want?"

"She wanted to talk to you, actually she wanted to see you. She's going to stay with Mary Jane and asked me if I could let you know as soon as you got home from work. She said it was very important, and she needs to see you right away."

John stood up from the bed and headed towards the door, stopping midway he turned back to look at Brynn. "I'm not sure what time I'll be back, but I bought dinner, it's on the kitchen table, you can go ahead and eat with out me. I got you some flowers too, sort of another welcome gesture."

"Yeah, ok," Brynn replied, trying not to sound too disappointed. "Thank you."

He turned away again and walked out the door.

"Her timing could not have been worse," John said to himself as he approached Scott's house. John's only reason for being there was the hope that Donna had brought the boys back with her. Whatever the news, he knew it wasn't going to be good.

He knocked on the door of the house and waited. The porch light came on and Mary Jane appeared in the doorway. "John, we've been expecting you. She opened the door wide to allow him in. Donna's in the other room."

"Are the boys with her?" John asked before coming through the door. Mary Jane just shook her head indicating Donna was alone.

John entered the house and went to the living room. He looked at his ex-wife sitting on the couch drinking a cup of coffee. "I think we should talk privately," Donna said not getting up.

"Hello to you too. You leave with out a word, just a shitty ass letter, send me the divorce papers and now here you are and you can't even say hello?"

"This isn't easy for me John, but I had to talk to you in person. This is very important."

"Then just tell me Donna, I want to get home." John was cold and bitter to her, she had caused him so much pain and seeing her now, he felt nothing but anger toward her.

"I'm getting married."

John laughed. "Is that what you came all the way to Mystery to tell me? They call it a phone Donna, try using one sometime, even just to let me speak to my children."

"John I didn't come here to tell you that I'm getting married, I came to talk to you about the kids."

"Why didn't you bring them with you? It would have been nice to see them after all this time." John could feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke about his kids, but he didn't want to lose control in front of the woman that ripped his heart out and threw it on the floor without so much as a back ward glance.

"Well Mike and Joey didn't want to come, they wanted to stay with David, that's the man I'm going to marry, and the baby doesn't even remember you John. He's called David daddy since he started to talk."

"Did you come here just to rip open an old wound? I was just starting to get on with my life without you and the kids, what the fuck do you want with me?"

"I want you to sing off on the kids so David can adopt them after we're married." Donna studied her coffee cup. She would not meet his eyes. She already knew what she would see there.

Despite his best efforts, John could not help the tears that streamed down his face. "You want me to give away my flesh and blood? You came here to ask me to give up my kids? You are a bitch of the lowest fucking order Donna." He turned away from her and walked out the door.

John walked around town for a few hours until he could calm himself down. He didn't want to go home, to Brynn with the anger he felt, she didn't deserve that. This was his problem and he would deal with it. When he did feel like going home it was rather late. He wanted to wake up Brynn, he desperately needed a friend right now. He was going to have to make a decision, not a pleasant one, but he would have to do something and he wanted to talk with Brynn about it.

John didn't even reach the stairs when he broke down into a fit of sobs once again. He clung to the banister for dear life as he let the rage and anger turn to grief. His son's hadn't even wanted to see him, they would rather have spent the time with their new father, a man they'd only known for a few years. He was the one who'd been there from the time they came into the world. His body was racked by the sobbing as he took a seat on the step.

"John?" Brynn said running down the stairs to find him. "John, what's wrong?" She reached him and touched his shoulder. She had been lying in bed when she heard him come in, the crying brought her out of bed and downstairs in a hurry.

John couldn't speak, he just turned on the step and grabbed Brynn around the waist, using her shirt to muffle the sounds of his grief.

She stoked his hair and spoke soothing words to him until the shuddering had stopped. When she felt him relax a little, she took his hands from around her waist and pulled him to a standing position. She never spoke, she just led him up the stairs and into her room.

Placing him on her bed and removing his shoes, she made him lay down. John's sobs had gone for the most part, but she could tell he was still crying softly. Crawling up on the bed next to him she wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him the only way she knew how.

"John," she spoke softly while stroking his hair, "when you are ready to talk about it, whatever it is, I'll be here. I am your friend, I won't judge you, but I can help if you want to let me."

He shook his head in acknowledgment. He found her hand in the dark and held onto it, lacing his fingers with hers. "Thank you."

Brynn held him until she was sure he had fallen asleep, then she detangled herself from his hands and arms to cover them with the blanket. Snaking her arms back around him and finding his hand once again, she kissed his forehead, and snuggled in to his warmth. She'd wanted him to be with her again tonight, but she never wanted to see him like this. The images in her mind played over and over again, the selfish thoughts she was thinking while John was gone, wondering if he would come back tonight. Donna must have done something really terrible, and she hoped she had the chance to find out what happened.

Who in their right mind would want to hurt this man? Brynn hugged him tighter and she felt him grip her hand. She leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek, but John had woke from his dream and turned his head toward her. Their lips met. Startled and more than a little embarrassed, Brynn tried to pull back, but John brought his hand up and gently pulled her back into the kiss.

When they woke in the morning, not much was said about the night before or the kiss. John didn't feel like talking about what happened with Donna and neither one knew how to approach the subject of the kiss they'd shared. They worked as usual and went about life as usual for the entire week. To Brynn, John seemed a little distant, but when she tried to get it out of him, he would put on a happy face and pretend all was well. After awhile she just gave up, telling herself he would tell her when the time was right for him.

John was going through hell. He kissed her, he actually found the nerve somewhere in his being to kiss Brynn. She didn't say anything about it good or bad, so he didn't know what to think. She didn't make him leave the room, in fact she let him stay cuddled in bed with her the entire night, and she did return the kiss. It must be a good sign. On top of the kiss, he had to deal with Donna's request. What was he going to do? Part of him said just give up the kids and get on with your new life, but the other part argued and wanted him to keep his kids. He just didn't know if he wanted to keep them for the right reasons. If the reasoning was because they were his flesh and blood, that was all right. But, if the reason was to be spiteful to Donna, then things were not all right.

He started several times to talk to Brynn about these things, but this was his problem. He just didn't feel right bringing her into them, after she had only been in town for two weeks. John also felt guilty because he was, in fact falling in love with her. He couldn't help himself, he knew that for a fact because he'd already tried. At first the excuse had been she was to young, and then he tried to tell himself she wasn't interested in him. Despite all of that, he was falling head over heels in love with her.

Christmas was in a few days, and with the gift he would give her on Christmas day, would come his confession of his feelings for her. John was more than ready to bare his heart and soul to her, no questions asked, nothing expected in return, he just needed to get it out in the open. Tonight, was the annual Christmas party at the pub. He had been looking forward to it all week, although when discussing the event with Brynn, she'd been a little hesitant about going.

"Are you ready?" John called from the stairs.

"No, you go on ahead John," Brynn returned. "I have a few more things to do and I'll be right behind you in the Outback."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yeah, nowgo! I'll be there soon."

"Ok, see you in a bit then." He walked the rest of the way down the stairs and out the door. The evening was already not going as planned. He hoped to show up at the pub with Brynn. For some reason she hadn't been looking forward to going, so John made up his mind that if she weren't there in an hour, he would come back and get her.

Brynn had made all the right calls, and picked out the perfect outfit for what she had planned tonight, but as the time grew nearer to her little surprise, she became more hesitant.

"What are you doing?" She asked her reflection. "Aside from making a complete ass out of yourself for the rest of the town, that is." Looking at her reflection in the mirror she checked to make sure the scar was not visible through the stockings she wore. Lord knows the rest of the outfit doesn't cover much. Her "Santa" outfit was bought from a specialty place at the mall, she had been planning her little "show" since she saw it in one of the shops. It consisted of a Santa hat, a very short, ruffly dress that had a bustier for the top and a small but form fitting coat. Together with the thick figure skating stockings and the thigh high boots, she looked... like a complete tramp.

"That's not a good way to think," she scolded herself. "This is a joke, some cute little stunt that John will think is funny and hopefully a few other people as well." Taking a final look at her reflection, she went down stairs.

"Where's Brynn?" Skank asked John as he approached the bar.

"She said she'd be here in a little while, she was still getting ready when I left the house." John replied after ordering a beer.

"Well,. I hope she makes it before things get too crazy. The past few years things have been great," Skank said holding up his beer to toast. "To John, welcome back to land of the living!"

The entire hockey team was there a well as the rest of the adult population of Mystery. Brynn stood behind a small curtain that has been set up for her, shaking and wondering what she was doing. Never in her life had she done something like this. She had performed a few songs on kerokee night at one of the local bars in her hometown, but this was different. She was about to make a spectacle of herself.

"Can I have your attention please?" Scott was at the microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time... ever... We have some live entertainment for tonight's festivities. It seems Santa has sent one of his helpers to celebrate Christmas with us this year. Please welcome Santa's own little elf, and the newest member of our small little town, Brynn Ashton."

John's head spun around at lightening speed at the mention of Brynn's name. She appeared on the makeshift stage and John didn't know whether to hide behind the bar, or kiss her. He definitely liked the way she looked, but he didn't like the fact that other people could see her. The shouts went up from around the room as people, the men in particular, got a look at Brynn's outfit. John's temper flared as more comments were made.

The lights went down, music started and Brynn began to sing. The song she had chosen for this occasion was "Santa Baby", most recently redone by Madonna. Brynn sang her heart out, going occasionally into the crowd during parts of the song, to emphasize something she really wanted "Santa Baby" to bring her. Everyone in the tavern was in good humor and laughed heartily thought the performance, everyone except John. He stared at her like he was ready to kill her. Brynn didn't let it wipe the smile from her face however, she just did her little skit, and ended by doing a little hip shake in true Betty Boop style.

Everyone clapped and whistled, cheering her skit and wanting an encore performance. Brynn politely declined and hopped down from the little stage and went to the bar to see John.

"Hey there," she said approaching him. "Can I buy you a drink sheriff?"

"No thanks," his tone was very clipped. "I have one."

"You can buy me one," Skank offered. "I'm not gonna turn down a beer from a lady."

"Let me know if you find one," John said and walked away.

"What was all that about?" Brynn asked Skank. "He's in a foul mood."

"I think your little dance set him off," he replied.

"You're kidding me right?" Brynn couldn't believe that he was angry with her. "It was all for fun, to make everyone laugh, why was he so upset about it?" Brynn ordered and paid for two beers, handing one to Skank.

"Don't let it bother you too much, he's been a little strange since Donna came back to town."

"Is she here tonight?" Brynn couldn't help but ask. She'd been dying to get a good look at the other woman.

"See that woman that John's talking to now? That's her."

Brynn spun around in time to see Donna throw her arms around John's neck and hug him tight. "Oh shit!"

Skank laughed at her outburst. "She's not all that Brynn, there's nothing to worry about."

Realizing she had spoken her frustration at seeing the two of them together out loud, Brynn turned backed to Skank. "Oh, I'm not worried. John's a big boy and we're just friends, so it's no big deal."

"Yeah right!" Skank laughed again.

They talked a little more and then Brynn went around to see if anyone else was unhappy about what she had done. Everyone laughed and told her how great it was, no one here had ever had the balls to do it before tonight. She took the compliments and wondered about small town mentality. Would everyone be saying these same things tomorrow when she wasn't around? Why had this offended John so much?

Brynn continued to make her rounds through the pub and talk to people here and there, wishing them a Merry Christmas and hopes for a prosperous new year. Turning away from one of the tables, she came face to face with Donna.

"Hi," Brynn said putting out her hand. "I don't think we've met."

"No, but we've spoken on the phone, last week, I'm Donna Beibe." She took Brynn's hand in a firm but distasteful handshake.

"Oh, right," Brynn tried to feign ignorance about the woman's identity.

Letting her hand fall away, Donna asked, "You live with John now?"

"Yes, he was nice enough to help me out, and we've managed to become good friends." Brynn folded her arms across her chest in a defensive posture. She wasn't sure where this woman was heading with the conversation, but the mention of her living with John immediately made Brynn wary.

"John has a knack for helping the needy," Donna antagonized. "He's really got a big heart for those down on their luck."

Brynn could not believe what she was hearing. Her eyes rolled at the innuendo Donna had made. "Is that why he married you?" Brynn shot back in her defense.

"Excuse me?" Donna asked, shocked.

"You may be able to talk down to others like that, but don't expect to do it to me and get away without getting some mud on your face as well."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, and frankly, you're quite rude."

"RUDE? You think this is rude? You oughta get out more, honey." Neither woman was in the mood to back down now, they were in this discussion for the long haul, claws and teeth bared.

"You're the one that came from the big city, running like a child from your problems. Now look at you, you could have been a whore in the city, you might have been able to make a little more money than you do here, but then I wouldn't be the farm on it."

"Running from my problems huh? You have no idea about me or "my problems"and I wouldn't start wielding the knife about running bitch, you're the one that ran away from your husband, taking away his reason for living. Don't go getting a big head and think I'm talking about you, I'm referring to his children!"

During the course of the night John had found his back to the hockey team after Brynn had departed to make her rounds. They all stood by the bar talking and sharing a few laughs.

"Hey Johnny," Tree said shaking John's arm, "take a look, cat fight."

John turned away from the bar and saw Donna and Brynn face to face. Donna had her finger pointed at Brynn, her face red and distorted with anger.

"What the fuck?"

"You have no right to judge me!" Donna yelled at Brynn. "You don't know anything about it."

"I know that things were going just fine here until you showed up, now John's all upset, because of something you did!" Brynn replied, not backing down. She argued for a living and would be damned if this bitch got the best of her.

"What the fuck is going on here?" John interrupted the two women mid conversation. They both turned to face him, shock written all over their faces. Apparently they had forgotten there were other people in the room.

"John, you wanna call off the attack hound?" Donna asked motioning to Brynn. "This bitch just walks up to me and starts ripping me a new asshole and I haven't even done anything to her."

Brynn looked at her, the shock at her lie replacing the shock of John interrupting them. Deciding it would be better not to try and defend herself at this point, Brynn just shook her head and mumbled, "Yeah right!"

Turing back to Donna she continued. "Liars go to hell, this isn't over by far Donna. You'll get yours." She turned away from them and walked out the door, completely forgetting about her coat.

Getting into the Outback and fishing under the seat, she retrieved her keys and started the truck. The cold hadn't even touched her, she was still too heated up over the conversation. She had a feeling John wasn't going to be impressed with her when he got home, if he was angry with her before, he'd be down right seething by the time he got back.

"Brynn???" I know you're here, come down here right now! John yelled as soon as he walked into the house, not bothering to take off his coat, hat or boots, he just stormed in and started yelling.

Brynn had just finish taking off her outfit, and stood looking at her reflection again wondering what would happen, when she heard the shouting. She pulled on a silk robe and trying to tie it with shaking hands, went downstairs to face John's wrath. "What?"

"Where exactly should I begin?" He asked when she appeared.

"You could start by taking off your coat and boots, making yourself a little more comfortable." Brynn tried to lighten his mood, it backfired and he came back at her with more ferocity than he'd started with.

"What the fuck were you thinking? First that little show on the stage, and then you go off on Donna? I thought we were friends! How could you do this to me?"

Brynn turned and started to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going?" John grabbed her arm and spun her to face him.

"I refuse to talk to you when you're like this. We can't solve anything while you're still this angry, and I'm not going to waste my breath trying to explain what I did what I did, or why."

"We are going to discuss this NOW!" He roared. "You will not walk away from me."

Brynn tried to pry his fingers from her arm, but John only squeezed harder, making her cry out in pain. "John let go of me, you're hurting my arm."

"I want to talk about this now!" He said softer, but through clenched teeth.

She suddenly became very frightened. She'd only know John a short time, and had never seen him angry. Brynn thought he was a good man that would never harm her, but she'd misjudged people before, so she could be wrong about him too. "Let go of me."

John grabbed her other arm and backed her up against the wall. "I'll let go of you when you tell me why you did this to me."

"I didn't do anything to you, I did these things for you!" Brynn cried out in shock as John pushed her harder into the wall. Tears sprung to her eyes involuntarily. "Please let me go, you're hurting me."

"You did what for me?" He asked ignoring her plea. "You humiliated me not once, but twice!"

Brynn's fear had peaked and she was no longer in complete control of her senses. "I'm sorry, I thought you would like the little song and dance, I didn't do it to embarrass you. I did it because I thought you'd like it," she babbled on. "I'm so sorry."

John loosened his grip on her arm slightly but still held her against the wall. A few moments passed and Brynn looked up at him, trying to see where he was going with this. His eyes weren't fixed on her face, but lower. She followed his gaze down her body to see what had his attention. When he had grabbed her other arm and pushed her against the wall, her robe had gaped open in the front, she wasn't wearing anything under the garment, so John's gaze had fixated on her exposed breast.

Looking away from him again, Brynn turned her head to look at his hand around her upper arm. She silently prayed she hadn't misjudged him. Trying to fight off a panic attack, Brynn began to take deep breaths, in through the nose out through the mouth, she chanted to herself. Knowing he could easily take advantage of her didn't help her any, she never imagined things could ever be like this between them. John knew things that she's been through, he knew how deeply she's been affected by them. Imagining John taking advantage of her the way others had, nearly pushed her over the edge.

John released her completely. "I'm sorry," he said backing away, still looking at her breasts. "I think I had one too many tonight, you're right, we should continue this in the morning." The anger was completely gone from his voice, what replaced it, Brynn couldn't recognize. To her it was just different.

Brynn pulled the fabric closed around her naked torso and nodded. "In the morning."

He walked up the stairs not saying another word. Once he was out of sight, Brynn slid down the wall to a sitting position, she shook uncontrollably, the breathing technique forgotten. The tears had been falling before, but now there were rivers of them flowing freely down her cheeks.

Brynn rolled over and opened her eyes, she thought it was the alarm going off that had brought her out of her slumber, but it was the ringing of the phone next to her bed. She thought about just letting it ring, but then decided it would be better to pick up the phone. Otherwise whoever it is might just keep calling.

"Hello?"

"Brynn?" A man asked.

"Yeah, who's this?"

"This is Scott, I just wanted to tell you again how wonderful that performance was last night, I don't know how long it's been since I laughed that hard."

"Thanks," Brynn sat up rubbing her swollen eyes. She spent most of last night crying, and now she was suffering from the effects.

"I was wondering," Scott said after a pause. "We're having the party for the kids today at town hall, I know you can't do the exact same skit you did last night, but I'd like to know if you could do something for them as well."

"I don't know, Scott."

Before she could say another word he jumped in again. "You have a great voice, and the kids have never seen someone they knew get up and put on a show like that. We have the plays and stuff here at the school, but it's just not the same. I think they would really enjoy it if you came to sing for them."

"I thought I'd pissed people off last night by doing that," Brynn said.

"Not a chance, people around here will be talking about that one for years to come. Everyone loved it! You picked the right crowd to do that show."

"Thanks, but I'm not sure if I have enough time to plan something for the kids."

"You just tell me what you want done, and I've got a whole group of people here willing to help."

Brynn had an idea, and Scott's enthusiasm was contagious. She explained what she would need, and how she wanted it set up. Agreeing to meet him at the town hall at 2 PM, Brynn said goodbye and hung up the phone.

She looked at the phone for a few minutes, surprised. Not everyone was angry with her, just the most important person in her life. Remembering the events of the previous evening, sadness overcame Brynn once again. She rubbed her arms to ward off the cold chills, but winced as she hit the spots where John held her against the wall. Two nice size purple bruises marred both upper arms.

"I really am sorry about those." John was standing in her doorway watching her. She hadn't heard him approach, and didn't know how long he'd been there. He walked to the bed and sat down on the edge, next to her. "I seriously overreacted last night, and I want to apologize for it."

"John, I should apologize to you, I didn't mean to humiliate you."

"You didn't, you made me feel uncomfortable, but that's not your fault, it's mine. I just didn't like everyone else seeing you like that."

"Like what? It was suppose to be funny, you know, a little Christmas humor." Brynn was baffled.

"One of the things I like most about you is, you're so completely clueless sometimes. You dress the way you did last night and think it's funny. Like your making fun of yourself. What you didn't see, is the way every man in that placed looked at you. You were so beautiful up there in that little outfit, I found myself unable to look away. Being a man myself, and knowing how the others were looking at you, made me uncomfortable."

Brynn was shocked and flattered. He liked the way she looked.

"I took things out on you last night that were completely unrelated to your performance."

"What about Donna? I'm not sure what she told you John, But I was defending you, not just myself."

"I'll take care of her, but I want to fill you in on what's been going on." John stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts. "That night I went to see her, and I came home a mess, she asked me to sign off on my kids so when she gets remarried, her new husband can adopt them. I walked out on her, never gave her my answer until last night. I had to do some thinking on it before I could make a decision."

Brynn reached out and touched his arm, just wanting to reassure him some how.

"What was your decision?"

"I told her I'd do it, but she had to let me see the kids one more time. I have to tell them myself why I'm doing this."

"Is that why she hugged you last night?" Brynn asked.

"Yeah, not only that, but I think it had something to do with you. Donna's a strange woman, she doesn't want me, but doesn't want anyone else to have me either. I'm not saying that you want me, or anything, but she got a little territorial last night. She was in the wrong, not you."

"Strange woman." Brynn agreed.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you last night, when I had a chance to think about it, I realized what must have been going through your head. I would never hurt you like those assholes you told me about, I was just surprised when..." he stopped talking and began blushing.

"What?" Brynn asked, wanting him to continue.

"You have rings in your nipples, that shocked the hell out of me," he finished when he found the courage.

Brynn laughed. "I keep forgetting how things are here. I guess you don't have piercing parlors on every corner."

"No, I've never seen anything like that before, I've read about it, but never thought it would look so... erotic." Now he was blushing in earnest.

Brynn giggled some more. "Thanks, that means a lot to me."

"So who was that on the phone?" He asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Oh, It was Scott, he wants me to do a performance for the kids at their Christmas party today."

"You're not gonna do the same one?" John was a little shocked.

"No, ya fool, but as long as we're on good terms again, I'll need your help to get ready." Getting out of bed, Brynn went into her office with John close behind. She flipped on her computer and sat down while the machine came to life.

"What are you doing?" He asked watching her.

"I need to find some music to play, I have the perfect song in mind, but I need to find the music."

"Great, what do you need me to do?"

"For right now, I need you to dig through my closet and see if you can find my white dress, it's long and full at the bottom, with long sleeves. It should be easy to find." Brynn returned her attention to the computer and began surfing the net for what she needed.

When John and Brynn arrived at town hall, everything was set up just as she had asked. The stage was covered with silver garland and big stands of silver hung from the ceiling.

"Is this ok?" Scott asked when he saw them.

"This is perfect," Brynn told him.

"What are you going to do, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well, it's a song from the movie Anastasia. It's called "Once Upon A December", not exactly a Christmas song, but its very nice just the same."

"It's beautiful," John agreed, "I got to listen to her rehearse it."

"Excellent," Scott replied. "I know the kids are just gonna love this!"

The afternoon went perfect, Brynn did her song for the kids, and they were just amazed. Some of them came to her after to tell her how much they like it, others just flocked around he, not saying anything, just hanging onto her skirt. The three-year-old she had skated with a few weeks previous, Katie, wanted Brynn to carry her most of the day.

Both Brynn and John stayed for the entire party, and watched the judge as he passed out the candy canes and presents dressed as Santa. "This is great," she told John.

"I wish the boys were here at times like these."

"I know, but you've got to move on after you say your good-byes. If you're really going to do this John, you have to do it. If you have questions in your mind, then tell Donna to pack it in her ass!"

John put his arm around her. "I know. I know."

That evening they sat on opposite ends of the couch, watching it's a Wonderful Life and eating popcorn. All the lights were off, the only illumination came from the television and the lights on the tree. Brynn was bored with the movie, it was great, and a classic, but she'd seen it thousands of times and couldn't get into it. Picking up a piece of popcorn from the bowl, she threw it at John instead of putting it in her mouth.

"Hey," John said picking up the piece and tossing it back at her. "What are you doing?"

"Throwing popcorn at you, bonehead, what did it look like?"

"I'm glad that we're ok." He said seriously.

"Me too, but let's not get serious, it's Christmas eve, Santa comes tonight!"

"You're too old to believe in Santa."

"You're never too old to believe in Santa." Brynn retorted as she tossed another piece of popcorn at him.

Instead of grabbing the popcorn and throwing it back at her, he grabbed her foot and began tickling it. Brynn let out a scream and tried to pull her foot away from him. He held her foot in place however, and after seeing how ticklish it was, he moved up her leg pulling it toward him. Brynn was lying flat on the couch now, unable to stop the onslaught as John tickled her unmercifully.

"Don't," she said in one breath and, "stop," came in the next.

"Okay," John said, "I won't stop...." he moved up further until he was straddling her, tickling her torso. She moved back and forth, thrashing against the restrains of the couch trying to find relief from the onslaught. John would not give, he told her that one day he would pay her back for all the "spooge boy" nonsense. This was not ideal, but it would do.

"Please John!" Brynn said breathless, but John wouldn't give. He was going to tickle her until she was with in an inch of peeing her pants.

Suddenly, Brynn reached up and grabbed his shirt, one hand going under it to his stomach instead of finding the shirt itself. Her body went stiff and she started to shudder beneath him. John was startled and stopped tickling her. "Brynn are you all right?" He asked rubbing his hands up and down her sides now.

The most wonderful feeling she ever had consumed her entire body. Her body spasmed once, twice and then a third time, while she repeatedly said John's name. She didn't understand what had happened to her, until it was over.

John got off her after the shaking subsided. " Are you all right?" He asked again.

"I think so," she smiled. "I can't believe it."

"The way you were moaning, and saying my name," John stuttered. "Was that what I think it was?"

Brynn nodded. "Do you think I'm the only person that has ever had an orgasm during a tickle fest? That was my very first orgasm, ever!" She shouted. "WOOHOO!"

"Merry Christmas," John said, looking at her in disbelief. He sat back down on the couch next to her and wrapped her in an embrace. His mind was running wild again, if she sounded like that during and orgasm while being tickled, what would she sound like while making love? He tried to push those thoughts away, for now. He had just given her, her first orgasm, it didn't matter how, what mattered was the fact that HE did it.

Brynn was up at six am, it was Christmas day, and she wanted to open presents. She went down stairs to make coffee, and then she ran back upstairs straight to John's room. She hadn't slept much last night, and it wasn't because she was excited for Christmas. Thinking about John last night, when he had given her an orgasm just by tickling her had been the culprit for her sleepless night.

Running through the hall Brynn, opened John's bedroom door and jumped on his bed. "Come on, get up. I wanna open presents."

"You're worse than a little kid Brynn," he said covering his head with a pillow. Grabbing the pillow and hitting him with it a few times she got him out of bed. "I even made coffee for you, how good am I?"

"Pretty good," John agreed yawning. "I'm gonna need some."

After coffee had been consumed, they sat in front of the tree. "I like the lights," Brynn said. "That's one of my favorite things at Christmas. Everyone has beautiful lights up all over the place. What do you want to open first?"

"Doesn't matter to me, I haven't done all this in awhile, so I'll follow your lead." Despite having started shopping a little late, both Brynn and John had managed to get quite a few gifts under the tree. The guys from the team had also dropped off presents for them the previous night, as well as some other locals John was quite friendly with.

Brynn started to separate gifts, but they promised to take turns opening them, so they could each see what the other one got. "Okay," she said looking at the two piles. "You start."

John picked up a package and read the tag. "From Tree." He shook the box and smiled. "I bet it's a nice bottle of champagne for the New Year." Tearing open the package he confirmed that it was in fact a bottle of champagne. "Tree always gets me the same thing every year, he's so predictable." John explained with a smile.

Brynn nodded and picked a gift from her pile. "From Skank." Brynn tore open the wrapping with out any of the shaking John had done, inside the box was a very beautiful, yet skimpy red negligee. John started laughing.

"When I went shopping with Betty for your gift, she tried to talk me into getting you that."

"Oh, Skank'll get his, about the time he opens his gift from me, he'll get his."

They continued opening presents from everyone else, saving the ones they had for each other for last.

"Here," Brynn handed John a large box, "this one's from me."

John took the box and looked at her, a small smile playing on his lips. He ripped open the package and took out its contents. "It's a hockey jersey!" John said holding it up. "This is wonderful!" Peeking around the shirt to look at Brynn, John noticed she was trying really hard not to laugh.

"I'm really glad you like it."

"What's going on?" John looked back up at the jersey, not getting the joke. "What's wrong, I really like it."

"Turn it around John." Brynn said unable to hold back her laughter any longer.

John did as she instructed and looked at her again. "You're really asking for it Brynn." On the back of the jersey, where his last name should have been, it said "SPOOGE BOY".

"You still like it?" Brynn asked.

"Yeah, I still like it, I don't think I'll be wearing it to practice anytime soon, but I still like it. Now it's your turn." He reached around behind him and grabbed the small box. He looked at it for a moment beforehanding it to her. "You actually have two of them, this one is for now, and there will be another one later when the time is right."

"Ok," Brynn said. She took the package from John and opened it. Looking at the delicate necklace inside, she put a hand to her lips and sighed. "John, it's so beautiful. Thank you." Taking the necklace out of the box she held it out to him so he could put it on her. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

"You're more than welcome." John did the small clasp at the back of her neck and kissed her cheek. "You're worth it."

"All right now you have another one as well. I'm gonna go ahead and give mine to you know, cause you just never know when your gonna need it." Brynn handed him the package.

"Why do I have the feeling this is another one of your jokes." John asked skeptically, as he opened the package. Looking inside the box he started to laugh. "Oh, Brynn that's so sweet. My very own spooge towel!" The blue towel did, in fact, have "spooge towel" embroidered on it.

"I had that done because these things can get mixed together in the wash, and I really wouldn't want to dry my hands or any of the dishes on your spooge towel."

John slapped her with the towel. "I still love both my gifts. You made them special."

"You're welcome John, Merry Christmas." Brynn leaned over the boxes and kissed him on the cheek.

Brynn's first Christmas in Mystery, was one of the best she could remember. After opening presents in the morning with John, they had gone to the Burns' house to have Christmas dinner. Joanne made a wonderful turkey, complete with all the trimmings and Brynn and John brought a blueberry pie, they had made the previous evening, to share. They ate and talked about the Christmas party and Walter playing Santa, at the large dining room table.

After the meal and wine had been consumed, Brynn and Marla offered to do the dishes, while Joanne cleaned the table and kitchen and the men retreated to the living room. While Brynn washed the dishes and handed them to Marla, she thought about what John had said this morning while they were opening presents. He had another gift for her, and would give it to her when the time was right. What could he possibly have for her? What did he mean when the time was right? Brynn was at a loss. She was so deep in thought, she absentmindedly reached up and fondled the dolphin pendant John had given her that morning.

"Hey," Marla said. "You gonna wash them, or daydream?"

"Oh," Brynn said putting her hands back in the dishwater. "Sorry, I was just lost in thought there."

"I could tell." Marla smiled. "I get that way sometimes too." She leaned in close to Brynn before continuing. "So are you and John a thing now, or what?"

Brynn looked at her surprised. "Why would you think that?"

"I see the way he looks at you, and I can see the way you look back." Marla whispered conspiratorially. "I think it's great, he really needed someone."

"Marla!" Joanne said coming into the kitchen. "You need to stay out of other people's lives."

"I was just asking," Marla replied, sounding slightly exasperated.

Coming to the sink and standing next to them Joanne smiled. "It's true about the way he looks at you though. I think he really likes you."

The three of them laughed and joked together as they finished the dishes. When everything was washed, dried and put away, they joined the men in the living room. "Come here," John said, upon seeing Brynn enter the room followed by Marla and Joanne. He patted the couch beside and Brynn took her seat. She leaned a little on John and rested her head on his shoulder. She felt tired after the large meal and the activities of the day. Brynn desperately wanted to go home and find out what John had for her, she loved surprises, but hated waiting for them.

After a Christmas toast and a plate full of Joanne's famous Christmas cookies, John decided it was time to head home. It was getting late and he still had so much he wanted to do. He'd tried to think all day how he could set things up perfectly for Brynn but after thinking most of the afternoon, however, he decided it was best to just do it, forget the planning and come right out and tell her how he felt about her.

John was quiet during the ride home. Brynn watched him several times to see if she could see what was going on inside those expressive eyes of his, but she saw nothing. "So, when are the boys going to come see you?"

She asked to break the silence.

"I think they arrive tomorrow, then they'll go back on the 31st with their mother." John replied. Brynn could see how tense he was, he'd been that way since they left the Burns'.

"What's wrong with you?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Getting home."

"Why?"

"You're like a kid going through the explanation stage," John said and finally grinned at her.

"Well you seem so lost in thought over there, it's just not like you."

"You'll see when we get home."

Brynn sat back with a long sigh and decided to let it go until they reached the house, something was on his mind in a big way. If he said she'd see when they got home, she'd wait.

John entered the house behind Brynn, shucking his coat and boots before entering the living room to start a fire. Brynn stood by the couch watching him intently, his hands were shaking as he opened the door, and now as he was trying to strike the match to light the fire, he swore under his breath.

Finally getting the match to light, he threw it into the fireplace amongst the papers and kindling wood. It caught almost immediately. Brynn moved to stand behind him as he watched the fire and added a few pieces of wood.

"What's wrong John?" She asked sitting next to him on the hearth.

He shook his head in resignation. "You know, you can read me like a book. You seem to know when there's something on my mind."

"I think it's a good thing," Brynn replied, still looking intently at him.

Turning to face her completely, John took her hand in his. He looked at her small fingers as he gently stroked them with his own. "I have tried to think all day how to tell you this, but I guess the best way is to just come right out and say it. You once said to be patient with you, because you were just learning how to trust again, I'm asking that you be patient with me, my self esteem is not what it use to be, so it may take me a few minutes to get this out."

Brynn nodded, almost afraid of what he was going to say.

"You and I have developed a great friendship. Since the first day you came here, I could tell that we were going to get along just fine. As we spent more time together, my feelings for you got deeper." John met her eyes.

"What I'm saying is that-- I've fallen completely in love with you." He let out a long sigh after he'd said it, and a look of relief passed over his features. As if this were a huge weight he'd been carrying around for the past few weeks and was just told he could finally set it down. "My other Christmas present to you is my heart."

Brynn's eyes were wide and she, too, began to shake. "John, I-- ."

"You don't have to say anything now, I don't want to rush you. I just wanted to tell you. Please don't run away from me, if you don't feel the same, just tell me and we can still be friends. I don't expect anything from you, I just want you to know that I love you."

Unable to speak, Brynn moved closer and put her arms around John's neck, pulling him into a hug. Tears of happiness filled her eyes, but she was still hesitant about falling in love with this man. They'd only known each other a couple of weeks. She wanted desperately to have this kind of love in her life, she needed it so much after all she'd been through.

When she regained control of herself, she pulled back away from John and touched his face. "I do feel the same about you John. But, I'm just going to need some time to let this all sink in. I don't want to rush anything, or make any mistakes."

"Take all the time you need, but there will be mistakes along the way, that's one of the things that makes us who we are, and one of the things that makes me love you." Taking her hand from his face he pulled her closer to him once again. He ran his fingers through her long hair and placed gentle kisses on her cheek, working his way toward her mouth.

When their lips met, Brynn knew it was not the first time they'd shared a kiss, but it was the most wonderful kiss she'd ever had. He gingerly licked her bottom lip, requesting entrance. Brynn obliged him and parted her lips to his searching tongue. Her arms snaked up around his neck once again as he deepened the kiss, tongue questing and exploring the moist, dark recess of her mouth.

When they both pulled away, breathless and Brynn smiled at him. "I think I'm going to enjoy this whole love thing."

"You certainly deserve to enjoy it."

They tried to spend the night in their own separate rooms. It took them quite awhile to reach their beds, as they stood in the upstairs hallway kissing and talking. John wanted to give her the time she needed, but at the same time wanted her in his bed. Brynn had not had a sexual relationship in four years, and told John as much. She was more than a little frightened of getting into that part. Every other time Brynn had gotten to the sexual part of a relationship, things had gone down hill, she wanted to be sure that with John, things would be different.

There was no mistake, she wanted John in every way possible, but she felt in her heart, she wasn't ready for sex with him yet. With every touch, her body told her otherwise. It was practically screaming for him from the day she set foot in his house, but she couldn't be ruled by raging hormones. This was far too important to her, and to him. Brynn knew that things weren't always going to be perfect, she wasn't that naive. But taking things slow couldn't hurt.

John agreed with her, he wasn't about to rush her or push into doing anything she wasn't ready for. He was content just having told her, and knowing she felt the same for him. So they stood in the upstairs hall for almost an hour talking and kissing before going to their own rooms to try and get some sleep.

Once in her room, Brynn lay flat on her back in the big bed, looking at the canopy and smiling broadly. This was actually happening. John loved her, and she loved him. She could feel that this was the person she was meant to be with, she'd felt it almost right from the start. "What the hell am I doing in here by myself then?" She asked. Brynn got up from the bed and went to the door. When she open it she came chest to face with John.

"I was just going to see if-I wanted to see if I could just, you know, hold you tonight? We've done that before, and you liked it." John asked running a hand through his hair.

"I was just going to come and see if you wanted to do that very same thing." Brynn took his hand and pulled him into her room.

"I like your bed better," he said wrapping his arms around her waist and shutting the door with one foot. "This is the perfect place for us, no unwanted memories to come in between what we are going to build."

Brynn held him tight and allowed him to carry her to the bed. He set her down and she moved off to one side to make room for him to lie down beside her. "I'm not going to sleep in my clothes again, so you'll just have to deal with it." Brynn told him giggling.

"Well, I was just going to sleep in my boxers, does that bother you?" John asked her seriously as he moved to lie beside her.

Reaching up and touching his face Brynn smiled again. "No it won't bother me John, I don't think, right now, anything would bother me." He leaned over her and captured her lips with his own, drawing her into a deep, sensual kiss.

Brynn watched, enthralled, as John removed his clothes and slid under the comforter, then she took stood from the bed to remover her clothes. He watched her in amazement as she shed first her jeans, and then her top.She walked around to John's side of the bed in just her bra and panties and picked up his flannel shirt from the floor. She slipped it on and stood there looking down at him. With one gentle finger he traced the scar on her upper thigh. "I want to help all the wounds heal," he said still looking at the mark.

"You're on the right track." She lifted his hand and kissed it, then crawled over him to lie on her side of the bed. Reaching over him she turned out the bedside lamp and kissed his nose. "Good night."

"Sweet dreams," he murmured and pulled her close to his side, wrapping a protective arm around her. It felt so good to be there with her now, John drifted almost instantly into sleep.

The next morning arrived quite early, as both John and Brynn had not gone to bed until late. They were up and around as soon as they woke up, trying to make the house look nice and set things up for the arrival of the boys.

"What time will they be here?" Brynn asked washing the breakfast dishes.

"Donna said they'll arrive about two at the airport, so we have some time."He waggled his eyebrow at her.

"I think it would be best, while the boys are here at least, if we went back to sleeping in separate rooms. They are going to be staying here right?"

"Yeah, they're suppose to, but Brynn, if I'm getting ready to let them go, I don't see why we should sleep in separate rooms."

"I'm not so sure you're going to let them go John, and if you chose to keep them in your life, I'm going to help you file the papers for visitation. I think it's best, until things are established, to keep things simple for them. Think of all Donna has put them through, you don't want to add to that, do you?"

"Well, no I don't, but I told Donna I would sign the papers."

"You don't have to do anything right now, you make the decision after you see the boys. You only have her side of the story, those boys may miss you like crazy, but she wouldn't let them come. It wouldn't be the first time she's lied to you John."

He walked over to the sink and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the back of her neck. "That's just another thing I love about you, you're so practical and smart."

"I just don't want you to jump the gun, those are your kids as much as they are hers. I don't want to see you or them torn apart because of her selfishness."

John squeezed her tighter. "Well, we could have a few babies, too, you know."

Brynn stiffened slightly. "We would need to get married first, and I don't think a proposal should be brought up right now. Let's deal with this situation, and see how the boys are, then after you make the final decision, we'll move on from there."

"Are you trying to tell me you don't want to marry and have babies with me?"

Turning around to face him she put her soapy hands around his neck and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I would love to marry you and have babies with you, but like I said last night, this is going to take some time. Let's deal with things as they come."

"All right," John agreed. "I'll give you some time, but just as soon as I can, I'm going to ask you to marry me. I'm not exactly a young man here, and time's a wasting."

They kissed again, softer and more sensual this time. Brynn knew this was the man for her, and she would say yes when he asked her to marry him. But she had a feeling that things were not going to be so easy with the boys. Donna had proved she could be a bitch, and Brynn suspected that the boys would still want to see their father. She was determined to help him fight for them if necessary. Once that was taken care of, they could go on with their lives.

Brynn and John sat at the terminal waiting for the boy's plane to arrive. Donna paced restlessly back and forth in front of them, arms crossed across her chest and an intense look on her face.

"Why did she have to come along?" Donna asked pointing to Brynn.

"I want her to meet the boys. I think it will be good for them to know her while they're here. Does it bother you?" John responded in an uninterested tone.

Donna rolled her eyes and Brynn grinned at her. She had been holding John's hand since they entered the airport, she wanted to give him the emotional support she knew Donna would be unable to provide.

"So I guess you guys will be tying the knot sometime in the near future?"

Donna sounded like the question left a bad taste in her mouth.

"When the time is right, yes, we will be getting married, not that it's any of your business. I stopped being your business when you walked out on me and kidnapped my children." John still held his disinterested tone when speaking to her.

"I really don't care what you do, I was just trying to make polite conversation."

The woman standing at the counter next to the arrival area, announced through a hand held microphone that the plane had arrived. John and Brynn got to their feet and approached the gate.

"Remember John, Timmy doesn't talk as well as Mike and Joey did when they were three. He has some sort of speech impairment that he sees a therapist for, so you may not be able to understand him all that well until you get use to the way he talks." Donna explained, flustered.

"Geeze, what other psychological damage did you put these poor kids through?" Brynn asked.

"Fuck you Brynn," Donna retorted.

"Ladies, let's calm down." John intervened, but not before shooting Brynn a look of thanks that told her he was thinking the exact same thing she voiced.

People began to come through the gate indicating that the plane had begun deboarding. Brynn could feel John tense. She warned him before leaving the house earlier, that what Donna said might be true, the boys may not be looking forward to seeing him after all. She didn't want him to have expectations that his children would be unable to fulfill. The last thing she wanted was for him to be disappointed.

A stewardess came through the gate with a small child in her arms and two more at her sides. "There they are," Donna announced.

"DAD!" The oldest of the three came running through the crowd toward them.

"DAD!" The middle child followed the oldest boy's lead as he too came running through the crowd to greet his father. The stewardess set the youngest down and watched as he wandered over to where his brothers had gathered.

John went to his knees when Michael had called for him. He spread his arms open wide as the two boys came running to him and threw their arms around him in a greeting. They both began talking at once to him.

"Dad, I've missed you so much, I didn't think we were ever going to see you again." Joey said

"Do they still have the Saturday game dad, can we go skating while I'm here?" Mike asked.

John touched each of the boys in turn, tears running down his cheeks. "My boys, my sons," he chanted over and over as he looked at them.

Brynn watched as Timmy, the youngest approached warily at first. He had seen his mother and the two strangers, and he saw how his brothers reacted to the man. He toddled over to the group and Donna spoke to him.

"Timmy, this is your father."

"Daddy?" He asked pointing to John. Instead of going to John, or to his mother, he went directly to Brynn. She squatted down to one knee so she could be more on his level.

"Hello Timmy, I'm Brynn."

The child shook his head. "NO." He held out his arms indicating he wanted to be picked up. Brynn held out her hands to him and he threw himself into her arms. Brynn picked the toddler up and he cuddled into her, laying his head on her shoulder. Brynn looked at John, who had been watching all this and he shrugged.

Timmy pointed again to John. "Daddy."

"Yes," Brynn agreed. "That's your daddy."

"You mommy." He said still laying his head against her shoulder.

"No, I'm Brynn. You're mommy is over there. See her?"

"No, you mommy now." He demanded.

Donna hung her head in defeat. She had never bonded with Timmy the way she had with the other two boys. They had left Mystery when Timmy was only 10 months old, and when she arrived in New York, she was so busy that she had to leave him with a sitter most of the time. The effect was showing now, at the most inopportune time.

Brynn carried Timmy to the truck while John talked back and forth between Mike and Joe. She tried to set him in the car set they had bought for him that morning, but he out up a fight. "I sit with mommy." He demanded.

"Mommy's going in another car Timmy," she told him even though she knew he wasn't talking about Donna.

"Are you dad's girlfriend now?" Mike asked.

"I guess you could say that" she told him, looking at John for guidance.

"Mike, Joe, this is Brynn, and yes, she's my girlfriend."

"Are you happy?" Mike asked his father.

"I am now," John told them as he got in the driver's seat.

"Me too," Joey said buckling his seat belt.

Mike had a plethora of questions for his father during the ride home. He wanted to know why John had never called them, and how come he didn't come see them. John tried to explain the best he could, that he didn't know where Donna had taken them, or how to reach them. He didn't want to put their mother in a bad light, but there was really no way around it, and still be truthful.

"Yeah," Joey said after John finished answering Mike's questions. "Mom's a real bitch sometimes."

Brynn spun her head around to look at the middle boy, and John laughed. "I see he still has a problem with his language," John said looking at Mike in the rearview mirror.

"So you guys glad to see your dad after all this time?" Brynn asked.

"Oh yeah," Mike and Joey replied in unison. "We've really missed this place and dad. Timmy doesn't remember it much. But we do."

Brynn nodded and looked at John, he glanced back and nodded. "Do you still skate and play hockey in New York?"

"No," Mike said. "Mom doesn't like us to. She says its too violent and she isn't going to pay for us to be involved with such a violent sport."

John had to keep himself from slamming on the brakes. "That's really too bad Mike," he said instead. "You were really getting good on those skates. I bet, if you'd been able to stay here, you'd be the youngest one in the Saturday game."

"Dad, I didn't want to go." Mike sounded very sad. "Mom said it would be for the best though."

"I know Mike, it's ok. Everything is going to be just fine." John told him, trying to take away some of the sadness.

Timmy sat still for a short while, then he became restless. "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy."

Brynn looked at John unsure of what she should do. This whole thing was so new to her, and she didn't want to over step her bounds.

"Go ahead and answer him," John told her.

She turned in her seat again to look in the back, as soon as Timmy saw her turn he held out his hands to her. "Mommy!"

"Honey, can you say Brynn? That's my name. Brynn."

"Mommy," he shook his head again. "I want you to be mommy."

Mike looked at her for a moment. "He's a little strange. Mom never spends any time with him, he thinks that our nanny is his mom too."

"Yeah," Joey agreed. "It's like he's never going to stop being two, even though he's three."

"Okay," Brynn said turning her attention back to Timmy. "You want me to pretend I'm your mommy?"

"No pretend." Timmy said. "You mommy." He gleefully clapped his hands together through the mittens he wore, and laughed a sweet laugh. It was clear to Brynn all three of these children needed some stability in their lives. Moving away from Mystery was not the only selfish thing Donna had done, she had put herself above her children.

Once they reached the house and brought all the boys stuff inside, Brynn and John went about setting up sleeping arrangements for them. Brynn now had what use to be Michael and Joey's room, and there was still a crib in the nursery.

"How are we going to do this?" John asked looking around the room.

Brynn was carrying Timmy around on her hip, as he refused to let her out of his sight. "Do you sleep in a bed or in a crib like this at home?" She asked him.

"I sleep with you." He stated, quite clearly.

"Well, we could put Mike and Joe in my bed and I could sleep with you." John said putting an arm around her.

Timmy pushed John's arm away. "My mommy."

"Or I could sleep on the couch," John laughed at his youngest son.

"Let's just see what happens. I figured the boys would be more resentful to me, but they seem to be doing all right. Go ahead and put them in your bed, and we'll see what happens with this one."

"I have a feeling he's going to try and steal you away from me," John said ruffling Timmy's brown hair. Out of all three of the boys, Timmy was the one that looked most like John. He had the same big expressive blue green eyes and the same wavy brown hair. Mike had brown hair, but more of his mother's features and Joey was almost blonde.

Mike and Joe had been playing in the snow outside since they arrived home and Brynn had to call them inside to eat supper. She managed to get Timmy on the floor long enough to cook, although he hung onto her leg as she tried to get around the kitchen. John watched her from the kitchen table as she talked with the toddler, and sang him little songs. The boy was entranced with Brynn, he just looked up t her with such awe, and it made John's heart ache.

"So are you guys excited about your mom and David getting married? She told me you really like him." John said once they had all sat down to eat supper.

Mike just shrugged. He seemed to be the spokes person between him and Joe.

"Are you going to be in the wedding?" Brynn asked as she handed Timmy another piece of chicken she cooled off for him.

"No kids allowed," Joey said. "It for adults only."

"That bites," Brynn said. Mike and Joe laughed.

"When are you and dad going to get married?" Joey asked.

"Maybe in a few months. We're not really sure yet." John told him.

"Can I come to your wedding?"

"Yes Joe, when your dad and I get married, I'd like it very much if you could be there. You too Mike."

"We come as a set," Mike told her. I heard David tell one of his friends once that we're the baggage that comes along with mom."

Brynn looked at John her eyes wide. He shook his head.

"Mike, you're not baggage, you're people." Brynn explained once she was over the initial shock. It was painfully clear that Donna had lied to John. This was also the reason she had been so nervous at the airport this afternoon. These children missed their father, and didn't really care all that much for their new life.

After dinner, John and his two oldest sons went into the living room to talk for a little while. He had a lot of catching up to do with them, so Brynn gave them their privacy. She ran a bath for Timmy, and sat on the edge of the tub while he played in the water. While she watched him, she felt sad, wondering how different he would be if her were her son. She could see how insecure he was by the way he clung to her. If this were her son, she thought, he'd be secure and well loved.

After taking him out of the bath and drying him off, she changed him into a clean diaper, as no one had bothered to potty train him. The pajamas were next and then finally lay with him on her bed. He watched her as he lay on his belly, thumb in mouth, to make sure she wouldn't go anywhere. Brynn stroked his silky hair and sang softly to him until his eyes closed, and he drifted into sleep. She found herself unable to leave him after he'd closed his eyes so she cuddled with him until sleep took her as well.

John woke her a short time later, as he crawled into bed beside Timmy. "He go to sleep okay?"

"Yeah," Brynn said rubbing her eyes. "I gave him a bath and lay down here with him, and he fell right to sleep." She rubbed his back. "John-,"

"I know," he said cutting her off. "I'm not signing anything."

She moved her hand from the baby's back to stroke John's cheek. "I knew you'd do the right thing. These boys love you so much."

"After talking with them Brynn, I really need to see them more."

"I know, I'll help you fight for them. I don't think visitation is enough John. I watched this one all day, he's so insecure. I think you should go for custody."

"I don't think I'd get it, it's so hard for fathers to win those kind of cases."

"Well, in the case of the other two, Mike and Joe, they could ask them who they wanted to live with. This little guy will be a bit harder, but..."

"But what?" John encouraged her to continue.

"I don't want to let him go John." As she spoke Timmy stirred in his sleep and sought out her warmth in the darkness. He snuggled into her, and she felt John replace her hand and he began rubbing his back.

'He certainly likes you a whole lot, he won't let me get near him, but he wants to be with you."

"John, do you remember what I said this morning about us getting married?"

"Yeah, you said you wanted to give it some time."

"I've had a change of heart. I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, there's no doubt in my mind about that. I'm in love with you. For the sake of us, and for the sake of these boys, I would love to marry you." She spoke from her heart, and knowing the court system, it would be easier for John to get custody of the kids if he were remarried. But Brynn also knew herself, she wanted to be a part of this man forever. Not only did she love him for everything he was, but she was also falling in love with his kids.

He found her in the darkness, and leaned over Timmy to kiss her. "So you'll marry me?"

"Whenever you're ready, so am I."

Brynn was able to get an early start on her day, she didn't sleep well the night before so she took advantage of the time and began work on custody papers in her office before the sun had even crested over the horizon. She sat at her desk with a cup of steaming coffee within easy reach, pouring through law books and filling out paperwork. This was extremely important to John, so she was intent on having things be as exact and precise as humanly possible. Besides, she had grown very fond of Timmy in the short time he'd been there. It was painfully clear the child had not received the amount of love a child that age needs. Aside from being taken away from his father at such a young age, Brynn figured Donna didn't pay attention to him much.

Whenever her thoughts turned to Donna, Brynn could feel an uncharacteristic rage build inside her. It wasn't like her to down right hate someone and not at least give them a chance to prove themselves, but as far as Brynn was concerned, Timmy's actions were all the proof she needed to know Donna had not been a good mother.

Putting down her pen and removing her glasses, Brynn sat back in her chair and sipped at her coffee while she watched the sun rise from the window in her office. She pinched the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger and let out a long sigh. Looking at the clock she saw she had been up for more than 3 hours. "It's going to be a long day," she voiced aloud.

"Not if you get back in bed with me and sleep while you can." Brynn almost spilled her coffee in surprise when John spoke from behind her. "Maybe you should think about switching to decaf," he said walking closer to her.

"I didn't hear you come in," Brynn replied setting her cup on the desk. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I would get a jump start on some of the paper work that I need to do for custody. I've never really dabbled in family law, so I needed to do some research."

John closed the distance between them and put his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them gently. "Can't sleep, huh? I have a remedy for that, but you'll have to get naked." He leaned closer to her and kissed her neck.

"Will I be able to wake up to a pervert every morning now that we are making our relationship official?" Brynn giggled.

"Only if we can convince the "Klingon" he needs to sleep in a bed other than yours." Brynn laughed at how apt the nickname seemed for Timmy.

"Seriously John, this is going to take a lot of time and patience. I have a feeling that Donna is going to be a real pain in the ass about this whole thing."

"That's a good bet," John agreed, stepping back again. "I really don't know how she'll be when I tell her. I use to think I knew her, but when she left the way she did, I realized I never knew her at all. Maybe I was selfish and never saw how this place affected her."

"John, don't go blaming yourself because of her shortcomings. None of this is your fault, she was the one that left." Brynn told him. John slowly shook his head from side to side and let out a long sigh.

"What are you planning for today?" Brynn tried to lighten the subject.

"You've got the boys for a few more days, I think maybe you should take them skating today."

"That sounds like a plan to me," John said brightening at the thought. "But tonight, I think I should go and have a little chat with Donna. I want to get this over with as soon as possible."

Brynn went to where he stood leaning against the door jam and slipped her arms around his waist in an embrace. "You want me to go along for support?"

Returning her hug, John kissed the top of her head. "No, I think I better do this alone, she'll be even worse if you're there."

She nodded in agreement, laying her head against his chest, listening to the steady sound of his heart. Finally Brynn stood back and took his hand. "Let's go make breakfast for the little bohemians."

John followed her downstairs in silence where together they prepared the morning meal and waited for the boys to wake up.

Digging through the garage John diligently searched for skates that might fit the boys so he could take them out to the pond. He actually wanted to get out of the house for a little while so he could have a chance to think,

this was as good an excuse as any. He was dreading having to approach Donna with the subject of the kids, it made his mood sour. John had never been good at any conflicts when it came to women, and this was bound to be one hell of a conflict.

As John dug through box after box of his old hockey gear to no avail, he realized he was going to have to go out and buy new skates for the boys. Putting the lid back on the last box, John turned to leave the garage but spotted an old box of Donna's stuff that she had decided not to take when she left. He lifted the lid off the box and peered inside. There was a stack of photos on top of some clothes that she had not taken with her. The picture that lay on top was one from their wedding day. He lifted it from it's storage place and wiped away some of the dust that had settled on it. God, he thought. She looked so beautiful that day. Looking inside the box once again, John took out another picture. This one was one of Donna and himself in the hospital, the day Michael had been born. In the picture, John held his new son proudly with his free arm around his wife. She looked like she had been through hell, but wore a smile just the same. John stood there for a long time just looking at the picture, remembering that day. How proud he'd felt to become a father, and how soft and tiny the child was. He was so lost in thought, he didn't hear Brynn come in behind him.

"Penny for your thoughts, fifty bucks to act them out." Brynn said as she stepped inside the garage door.

"Huh?" John asked turning to face her. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Nothing." Brynn looked at the picture John held in his hand and became very quiet. "I... I just wanted to know if you found anything out here, or if we were going to have to take the boys shopping."

"No," John said. "I didn't. I'll take them shopping, not a problem."

"I didn't figure it was. Don't you want me to come with you?" Brynn asked, more than a little perplexed at his reaction to her.

John carefully lay the pictures back inside the box and closed the lid. "Well, I can do it, so why don't you just take care of whatever you need to do here or at the office."

"Oh... Okay." Brynn turned away from him, and walked back to the house. A chill had come over her and she wasn't entirely convinced that it was due to the weather. Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, she went inside. Something was going on with John, she could feel it and whatever it was, it didn't feel good. Brynn understood he had a lot on his mind, but for him to shut her out was unacceptable.

John came in the house close behind Brynn, just in time to see Timmy jumping off the arm of the couch, hitting his knee on the coffee table on the way to the ground. Timmy shrieked in pain and began to cry.

"Jesus Christ!" John yelled as he went to his youngest son. Brynn ran in from the kitchen to see what was going on.

"What happened?" She asked kneeling down beside Timmy.

"What happened?" John raged. "What happened was you weren't watching him. You were too busy following me out to the garage to see what I was doing."

Brynn reeled back away from him like he was a king cobra, ready to strike at her any second. The shock and hurt his words had afflicted on her was evident in her expression. "I'm sorry," was all she found herself able to say.

"You should be." John retorted as he picked Timmy up and carried him to the kitchen. Brynn watched from a distance as he lifted the boys pant leg to look at the cut on his knee that was quickly leaking blood. "Oh, this is just perfect. Now I have to explain this to Donna. What a great start to a custody hearing, my youngest son falls down and cuts himself due to the negligence of my girlfriend. Wonderful."

"John," Brynn tried to defend herself. "He is a little boy, they fall down and get hurt all the time, it's nobody's fault, it just happens."

"You don't have any children, so how the hell would you know?" He yelled back.

Brynn retreated from the kitchen, not wanting the boys to see them argue. She slowly walked up the stairs to her office, completely unsure of the reasons for John's actions. Sitting in the chair at her desk, Brynn let the shock of his change in mood consume her while she listened to John slam cabinet doors in the kitchen looking for something to clean Timmy's wound. She knew she hadn't done anything wrong, yet she felt guilty. She had gone out to the garage at the urging of the two older boys, to see if John had found them skates and she was already back inside when Timmy took his fall. It was true that she didn't have children of her own, but she had dealt with kids all her life. Did John expect her to watch them every second?

The noise downstairs had stopped, but Brynn didn't dare to go down yet. Instead she picked up the phone from her desk, intending to call a friend from NY. She needed to talk to someone. Putting the phone to her ear she heard John's voice, he seemed more calm now.

"Yeah, dinner tonight. I need to talk to you about a few things."

A woman's voice answered and Brynn immediately recognized it as Donna's.

"Won't your little woman have a fit?"

"This is between you and me, it has nothing to do with her. I just need to see you Donna, there are some things that were never resolved between us that I need to tell you."

"Well, I guess I could go to dinner with you. Where do you want to meet and when?"

"I'll pick you up, and we'll go someplace out side of town. Someplace nice, and ask Mary Jane if she would mind taking the boys for awhile."

Brynn quickly put down the phone, not wanting to hear anymore. Not only was he going to take his ex-wife out to dinner, but he didn't even trust her with the kids now. Getting to her feet, she went to her room. Once again she had been wrong in her judgement. She had given her heart away, and was left now with nothing. All of this had moved so fast, too fast apparently, now she had to pay the price once again. Deciding not to feel sorry for herself, Brynn went to her closet and grabbed a duffel bag from the top shelf. She hadn't even noticed the tears that streamed down her face as she grabbed a few things out of the dresser and placed them into the bag. Unable to hold in her feelings any longer, Brynn threw the bag into the closet once again with as much force as she could muster then threw herself onto her bed and sobbed.

John climbed the stairs slowly, he realized how awful he had been to Brynn and wanted to apologize to her. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, but there were things he needed to take care of before he could start a life with her. Before he could reach the landing, he heard the sobs coming from her room. He quickened his pace and went inside without knocking. "Are you alright?" He asked sitting beside her on the bed. Before giving her a chance to answer, he began again. "I'm sorry Brynn, I've just been going out of my head today." I had no right to take it out on you, you didn't do anything wrong."

Brynn rolled onto her back and looked up at him. Maybe she had been wrong about the conversation on the phone, maybe he was going to take her along and that's why he'd asked Mary Jane to watch the boys. John reached over and brushed a tear from her cheek. "I don't like to see you cry, or upset." He told her. "I'm sorry, can you forgive me?"

She waited for him to continue, to tell her about the conversation with Donna, but he said nothing. "What is going on?" She asked finally. "Why did you turn on me the way you did? I just can't understand that."

John put his hand on her forehead, smoothing the hair back away from her tear stained face. "I don't understand it myself, I just lost it there for a minute, but I am sorry. I'm so concerned about getting the kids, and now we have decided to start a life together, it's all so overwhelming. I just don't want to make stupid decisions, I've seen enough of those to last me a lifetime."

"That would make two of us," Brynn replied. "So what about today, are you going to take the boys skating?" She didn't want John to know she had over heard his conversation. It was an accident after all and it might upset him again. She decided to see if he would tell her on his own, what she already knew.

"I have to take them shopping first, then I'm going to take them skating and maybe out for the evening to see a movie. We won't be back until later tonight. You'll have the house all to yourself." He leaned over and hugged her tightly. Brynn returned his hug with less enthusiasm and let out a long sigh. "So we're okay?" He asked sitting up once again.

Brynn put on her best fake smile and nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak to him.

"Good." He stood up and went to the door, turning back to her before leaving. "I love you, ya know."

"Me too," she replied, turning her eyes away from his gaze as she spoke. "John?" She stopped him before he'd had a chance to open the door. "Do you know how important honesty is to me? I told you about my issue with trust. I just want you to talk to me about these things, before you blow up about them. That's why honesty is so important to me, you can't have a relationship without both honesty and trust." Brynn was trying to be fair and give him another chance to tell her where he was really going that evening.

John smiled at her. "I know baby, and I promise to not let anything like this happen again. Now why don't you try and get some rest, you were up very early this morning working when you should have been sleeping in my arms."

Brynn nodded at him again and lay back on the bed, watching as he shut the door behind him. The decision had been made for her. She would not take being lied to by anyone, especially someone she loved.

Getting up from the bed, Brynn went downstairs to see the boys before they left. She hugged them in turn kissing their foreheads and whispering a heart felt goodbye. Lifting Timmy into an embrace, she felt hot tears stinging her eyes. She blinked them back and bit her lip and the child hugged her tight. "I love mommy," he said touching her face. "My knee all better now."

"I love you too little one." She pinched his nose with her thumb and forefinger. "You take good care of that knee."

"Mommy sad?" He asked, looking at her carefully with big, three year old, but knowing, eyes.

"No baby, just tired." She replied careful not to let her voice betray her. Setting him back on his feet Brynn turned to John and hugged him as well. "Goodbye," she whispered.

"I'll be back," John tried to joke with her. "You act like you're not going to see us again."

Brynn backed away from him and smiled. "Just do me a favor, take good care of them."

"I think I can handle it," he smiled. "It's just shopping and skating." He kissed her then looked at her quizzically. He had a feeling that things were not all right. Brynn returned his smile and watched them as they made their way out to the truck, then she closed the door and went upstairs to finish packing.

John watched as the boys ran here and there in the store, picking out what they would need for skating on the pond. He'd told them earlier that he would keep the things he purchased at the house for when they come back to Mystery. He would at least be able to get visitation out of Donna, that much was for sure. His mind kept wandering back to his conversation with Brynn just before he'd left the house, the way she'd talked about honesty. It made him feel terrible not to tell her that he was going to see Donna tonight, but the way John wanted to go about talking to her was extremely important. He would get a lot further with Donna if he treated her like a friend instead of an enemy. Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer, John told himself.

It was as if Brynn had known he was not being truthful with her and it bothered him. The way she'd said good bye to him and the boys was also eating at him, there was something not right about it. It seemed so... final.

As he took the gear to the counter to pay for it, Timmy tugged at his pant leg and held up a small but beautiful flower that came from a bucket filled with other similar ones. "For mommy," he said.

John took the flower and smiled. "You've got that right little man. We'll get this one for mommy." John now wished he'd allowed Brynn to come with them. He missed her, and after the argument they'd had, he still felt terrible. He didn't think Brynn would understand why he was doing what he was doing with Donna, so instead of taking the time to explain it to her, he'd lied, and felt horrible about it. "Shit!" John breathed aloud, dropping the flower. He grabbed Timmy's hand and called to the other boys.

"What's up dad?" Mike asked.

"I need to go take care of something," he tried to explain. "I'm gonna drop you boys off with your mom and Mary Jane for a little while, then I'll be back for you to take you skating."

"Jeeze dad," Joey complained. "I thought we were gonna have fun today, now you're gonna drop us off with girls??? This sucks!"

"Joey, I promise I won't be long, I just have to check on something."

"It's Brynn, isn't it?" Mike asked. He seemed to have an understanding way beyond his age. "She seemed kinda weird after you took her head off."

"Yeah Mike," John lowered his head. "I was too hard on her, and I need to go make sure she is ok."

"Yeah, you were," Joey agreed. "You were a big ass!"

Standing up and ignoring his son's use of profanity because it explained his actions earlier so well, he paid the clerk for the purchase and picked Timmy up to carry him to the truck. How could he think that Brynn would not understand what he was trying to do? How could he treat her the way he did and think that a simple apology would make up for it? Somehow she had known what he was planning to do, and she'd tried to give him a chance to tell her on his own. Instead of telling her, he'd lied, right to her face. Hustling the boys into the truck, he got behind the wheel and took off as fast as he dared with his kids inside.

Brynn put her suitcase and duffel bag by the door and went to the kitchen table. She took a sheet of paper out of the tablet that was there and sat down to write John a note. She hated doing it this way, it was so... Donna, but she didn't want to have to hurt the boys, especially Timmy by leaving when they were around. This was hard enough as it was. In the past few weeks with John, she's once again found hope, now it was gone. Silent tears slid down her face as she began to write.

John~

Please know first and foremost, I love you. I really thought I'd found love and happiness with you, but as I told you earlier, I can't have a relationship without trust and honesty. You lied to me. Why? I was going to call a friend in New York and picked up the phone in the middle of your conversation with Donna. I knew and I tried to give you the chance to tell me the truth, but you didn't trust me, or believe in me enough to tell me.

I don't know how you can claim to love me and not believe in me. It hurts more than any wound I have ever suffered because I believed you. I trusted you.

I hope someday, you can understand why I am leaving like this. I don't want the kids to be hurt, especially Timmy. I didn't want to hurt any more either, it was hard enough saying goodbye to the four of you today when I did.

I'm leaving the paperwork I finished for your custody hearing, I cannot represent you now, but you'll have these as a reference. Good luck.

I will never regret my time in Mystery, or my time with you. I only wish it could have lasted longer. There will always be a place inside my heart that belongs to you. I will always love you.

Brynn~

Brynn put down the pen and wiped her face. It had taken more than she thought possible to write that letter. Slowly, she stood from the chair and put on her coat. Picking up her cases, she took one last look around before opening the door and heading out into the cold.

John pulled to a stop in front of Mary Jane's house and was out of the truck before he'd even completely turned off the engine. He helped the boys out and took them up the steps to the front door. "I shouldn't be too long," he told them while knocking on the door insistently. "I want Brynn to come skating with us, so I'll bring her back with me."

"Cool," Mike said. "Just hurry up, we get to see mom all the time."

John smiled down at him and then looked up as Scott came to the door. "John, we didn't expect you for some time."

"Scott, is Donna here? I need her to take the boys for a little while so I can take care of some things."

"Yeah, she's here. Is everything all right?"

"I don't know, I just need to go for a little bit, then I'll be back to get the boys," John said ushering them inside. "Tell her I'll be back as soon as I can."

Scott shook his head in agreement. He knew John well enough to not ask any questions right now.

After the boys were safely inside, John turned back to the truck and headed for home. Good thing I'm the sheriff here, he thought, or I'd get a ticket for sure.

John pulled to a stop in front of his own house less than five minutes after leaving the boys. The first thing he noticed was Brynn's truck was not in her parking spot. Turning off the engine, John got out of the truck and slammed his fist against the side of the vehicle before going into the house.

He'd really fucked up and he knew it. "What the hell was I thinking?" He asked no one in particular, as he went inside the house. Even though John knew Brynn wasn't there, he went up to her room, calling her name. Stepping inside and looking over the room, John realized what had happened. There were things missing, her closet door stood open wide, and there were clothes on her bed. She had packed some of her things and left.

"FUCK!" John yelled, his distress evident, although there was no one there to hear it. Brynn had left him. She had packed what she needed and left, that's why she was saying good bye to them earlier. The thoughts came together in John's mind all at once and he felt like he was going to pass out. His new life and his chance at happiness were gone, because he'd lied to her, and she had known it.

The emotions inside him had reached a breaking point. He wanted to hit something, make it hurt as much as he did, but instead he gave into the tidal wave and let the tears flow freely. His own stupidity and pride had brought him to this point. It wasn't so much that he didn't think Brynn would understand what he was going to do with Donna, it was his own need for pride in himself. He'd wanted to handle it on his own. What John had said to Brynn earlier that morning came back to him. He didn't know Donna at all even though he'd been married to her for thirteen years when they'd divorced, but he knew Brynn well enough in the short time they'd been together to know that something was wrong when he left the house today.

Picking up a pillow off Brynn's bed, John made his way down stairs. He clutched the pillow to his chest as he walked slowly, breathing in the unmistakable scent that was completely her. "God, I love her, and now I've lost her." His affirmation echoed back to him as he entered the empty kitchen. John sat at the table still cuddling the pillow when he noticed the letter that sat in the middle of the wooden surface. "No, no, no," he chanted, as he willed his arm to raise and move the paper closer to read it. "Not again, please God, not again."

His eyes blurred with more tears as he read the words on the paper, still unable to believe she was gone. When he reached the bottom of the letter, his anguish enveloped him. John sank to the floor and clutched the pillow tighter, calling out for Brynn as if she could hear him. The cold tile beneath him made no difference as he lay there sobbing. "But I love you," he whispered when his voice finally gave out from yelling. "I love you so much."

Brynn checked in to the hotel in the same town she bought her truck. She was going to stay in Mystery, but there was too much of a chance of running into John or Donna there, so she decided to go to Anchorage for a few days to get her head together. Most of the afternoon, even while driving, she had been crying, so it didn't shock her when the bell hop at the hotel asked her if she was all right.

"I'll be fine," she told the young gentleman as he opened the door to her room and carried her bags inside. She gave him a tip and closed the door behind him, thankful to be alone. Going to her bed she noticed a long mirror along one wall and took in her reflection. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, and she was as white as a sheet. "No wonder the poor guy asked if I was all right," she mocked her image. "You would scare small children right now." Thinking of small children made her think of Timmy, and she began to cry all over again. Lying on the bed Brynn curled into a fetal position and sobbed until her body refused to make another tear drop. Twice she almost got up from the bed to check out of the hotel. She could go back and tell John she was sorry, and everything would be all right. Then she would talk herself back to reality and realize that everything would not be ok. He'd lied to her, for whatever reason, he'd lied.

John forced himself into a sitting position on the kitchen floor. It seemed like he'd been lying there for hours. Wiping his still damp cheeks on the sleeve of his coat, John got to his feet. He'd promised the boys he'd take them skating, and he was going start keeping his promises. John knew how deeply he'd hurt Brynn and he didn't want to make the same mistake with his children.

After splashing cold water on his face, to make himself look presentable, he left the house and went to get his kids.

Donna opened the door when she saw John's truck pull up outside. "Everything okay?" She asked as he approached.

"I'm not going to be able to make it to dinner with you tonight, something's come up." John informed her.

"I figured, you still want the boys?"

"Yeah, I need them to be with me now more than ever."

"Don't get any ideas into your head John, you promised you'd sign the papers once you got to see the boys." Donna became very defensive.

John wasn't in the mood for a confrontation with her right now, he just wanted to get his kids and take them skating, like he said he would. "Don't start with me Donna, I'm really not in the mood for your shit. Just get MY kids ready and send them out here."

She backed away from the door and Mike came outside. He looked at the truck then back at his father. "Where's Brynn? You were gonna bring her back with you."

"Sorry Mike, not today," John managed to say before his bottom lip began to tremble and he had to turn away from the boy.

"Let's go," Joey called out as he ran down the steps to the car. Mike caught up with the younger boy and grabbed him by the coat.

"Don't even think abut asking dad where Brynn is, he's really upset. I swear if you even mention her name, I'll punch you right in the head."

"Jesus, Mike." Joey tugged himself free from his older brother. "I won't, but you don't have to be such a big ass. Timmy is gonna have a melt down if she's not with dad though."

"I know," Mike said, putting his arm around Joey now. "It'll be hard enough on dad to have Timmy talk about her, I think she's gone."

"That just sucks!" Joey exclaimed, then jumped into the truck. "Just don't hit me or grab me like that no more."

John picked up his youngest son and carried him to the truck. "Where mommy?" Timmy asked as John buckled his safety belt.

John just shook his head and closed the door. This was going to be infinitely harder than he'd imagined. The boys had already become attached to her, and now he was going to have to tell them she was gone.

Brynn slept fitfully on the bed in her hotel room, still in her clothes and curled up in the same fetal position. She woke in the middle of the night with the lights still burning brightly in her room. Her head ached and her eyes were so swollen she could hardly open them. Getting off the bed, Brynn read the digital read out on the bed side clock. "2:47 am. Well this just sucks." She called down to the front desk to get some aspirin sent up to her room, then she fetched the ice bucket from the night stand and went into the hall to get some ice to put on her eyes. She knew she would be unable to reclaim sleep again tonight, so she tried to make herself as comfortable as possible. She needed to get her shit together and move on with life once again.

It was hard to imagine her life now with out John, she remembered thinking the same thing a week before and laughed at the irony. Going back to her room with a bucket full of ice, she grabbed a towel from the bathroom and lay on the bed, placing the towel of ice over her face to relieve the swelling in her eyes and cheeks.

Just as Brynn was getting comfortable on her bed, there was a loud knock on her door. "I'll be right there," she said pulling herself up from the bed once again. "Room service has such lousy timing." The knocking sounded again, more urgent this time. "I'm coming!" Brynn responded.

Finally reaching the door, she pulled it open and was surprised by who waited for her at the threshold. It wasn't the bell-hop or concierge, as she had expected to bring her aspirin. Skank stood outside her hotel room door, looking completely unsure about what he was doing in this place, at this hour. "We need to talk," he finally said and pushed past her into her hotel room.

When John and the boys returned home from skating that night, he decided to tell them that Brynn was no longer there. They were going to find out sooner or later that she wasn't coming back, so he figured he better just come right out and tell them. Mike and Joey had already figured it out for themselves, so John took Timmy into the living room and talked to him with out the other two boys present.

>From the time they had come through the door Timmy had been wandering around the house calling for Brynn. John watched him while he spoke with the two older boys about the situation and it tore his heart out to now have to tell the little Klingon she wasn't coming back. John didn't know if Timmy would completely understand what he was going to tell him, until he actually said it. Timmy wasn't a fool, and although his speaking skills were lacking, his comprehension was in perfect order.

Once John told him that Brynn would not be coming back, the child threw a temper tantrum the likes of which John had never seen before. He threw himself on the floor and screamed at the top of his lungs that he wanted mommy. No matter what John did to try and console the boy, it did nothing to stop the shrieking. Finally John retreated away from Timmy and went to the kitchen, figuring that he would either cry himself to sleep there on the living room floor, or eventually hurt himself and decide it wasn't worth it.

Timmy chose to do the former, and cried himself into oblivion in the middle of the living room floor. John scooped him up and took him upstairs to bed.

When John returned to the kitchen, he found Mike and Joey sitting at the kitchen table reading the letter Brynn had left for John before her departure. Mike was explaining to Joey what she had written and what it all meant. When they saw John enter the room, Mike placed the paper back on the table and looked at his father with concern.

"You still love her, don't you dad?" Joey asked, a little confused by the letter.

John sat down with his sons and sighed. "I do still love her very much, but I did something very bad, I lied to her. I didn't do it to hurt her, but it did." John could feel himself heading for another emotional break down, but tried hard to hold it in while he spoke with his kids. He needed to be strong for them now, after all they had been through in the past two years, he didn't need to add to their emotional distress with his own problems.

"I really liked her," Mike said thoughtfully. "Do you think she'll ever come back?"

"I don't think so Mike," John replied. "I think she was very hurt by my actions. If it were me in her place right now, I'd don't think I'd come back."

"Then go get her." Joe added. "You just said you still love her, so go tell her that, and then bring her home."

"I wish it were that easy," John smiled at the boys reasoning. "If it were, we'd be where ever she is right now, and not here."

"It'll be okay dad," Mike said hugging John. "We're still here." Joey joined them and hugged his father tightly.

"Thanks guys." John was very near tears again. "I think it's time for bed, why don't you guys go on up and brush your teeth, and I'll tuck you in."

Breaking away from John Mike headed for the stairs with Joey behind him. "That's okay dad, we can manage."

John watched them as they disappeared up the stairs, then he turned again to face the table. The letter still lay where the boys had put it, and John reached out and grabbed it. He read the words she wrote again and then placed his head in his hands. He was a wreck. Trying to put his emotions in check, John got up from the table and went to the living room to start a fire. What was it that Brynn said she loved about the fire place? He thought as he put the papers and kindling in the center of the rack and lit the match. She liked the way they crackled, his mind finished. She said it was soothing. Once the bright orange flames began to burn through the small strips of wood and paper, John added bigger logs and replaced the gate, sitting back on his heels to watch it burn. It was crazy how everything now reminded him of Brynn. He wondered where she was at that moment, and what she was doing. Was this hurting her as much as it did him? Did she even miss him?

John tried to shake all thought from his mind, and concentrate solely on his kids. He needed them and desperately had to find a way to get that through to Donna. He didn't really figure she was going to understand, if she didn't get how much his kids meant to him in the years they'd been married, she wasn't likely to ever comprehend that fact.

John backed away from the fireplace and sat on the couch, still watching the flames dance in their cast iron cell. The movement they made was hypnotizing and he began to relax. His mind finally cleared and his eyes grew heavy as he watched, then he drifted into a restless sleep.

"We need to talk," Skank said and pushed past Brynn, entering her room.

"Come on in Skank," she replied, shutting the door quietly behind him. Turning to face him, she watched as he took a seat on her bed. Then her tired mind swam back into focus. "How the hell did you know where I was?" All of a sudden she couldn't believe he was there, nor did she like the thought of him being there.

"I saw you leave town today." Skank looked up at her from his place on the bed. "I didn't know what was going on, but I could tell something was definitely wrong. You looked like shit!"

"You're a real charmer," Brynn said as she sat on the bed with him.

"What the hell is going on Brynn? I saw John at the pond after I saw you leaving town, and he looked worse than you did. I've got to tell you, he wasn't like this when Donna left. Why did you leave him?"

"You seem to have it all figured out Skank, why did you even need to come here?"

"I'm not stupid, after I saw you leaving town, and then I saw John at the pond, I put two and two together. I figured by the way he looked you must have jumped ship. I didn't even bother to go ask him, he was with the boys and I thought it would be in bad taste to open a fresh wound like that."

"Since when are you concerned about good or bad taste?"

"Look Brynn, I'm just here, as a friend, to talk to you. John is one of my best friends, and like I said, I've never seen him like this before. Not even when Donna left him and took the boys." Skank tried to convey his sincerity to Brynn but could tell she was still skeptical of his intentions.

"You still haven't told me how you knew I was here," Brynn said rubbing her temples. Her headache had grown increasingly worse in the past few minutes.

"It took me awhile to find you," he confessed. "I must have stood outside your door for a good half hour, trying to figure out what I was going to say to you. This was the closest town to Mystery, so I thought I'd start here. Thank God they only have 4 hotels in this town, or I'd still be out there looking."

"Why would you even bother?" Brynn asked. She still couldn't believe he'd tracked her down. If it was this easy for him, then John would be able to find her as well. She'd have to think about changing hotels later in the morning.

"I told you," Skank began. "John is one of my best friends. He was so happy with you. I don't know what happened between you guys, but I do know that John finally told you how much he cares about you. He talks about you all the time, it was beginning to drive the rest of the team nuts! So, tell me what could have happened to make you leave? That man loves you for Christ's sake."

"This is really none of your business Skank. I think it's great that John has a friend like you, but John's and my personal life is none of your business."

"This is going to put him through hell Brynn, as his friend it IS my business." Brynn looked at him, disbelieving. This could not be the same man that had tried to pick her up a few weeks ago with cheesy come on lines that would have put the most pathetic, leisure suit looser to shame. Skank reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently.

"Talk to me Brynn. I can only dream of what you and John have. Things like that just don't happen to guys like me. I can't just sit here and watch the two of you piss it all away." His devotion to his friend and his sincerity to her broke through the wall Brynn had erected since finding him on her door step.

"He lied to me Skank." Along with the wall coming down, her tears fell as well. She told Skank everything that happened from the time she woke up the morning before, right up to him showing up at her hotel room. Skank listened patiently and hugged her as sobs once again wracked her entire body. When she was finished, he handed her a tissue and she accepted it gratefully. After blotting her eyes and wiping off her face, she turned back to Skank and smiled a little. "I'm sorry, but you asked."

"And you needed to tell someone." He replied taking her hand again. "I may be a jerk most of the time Brynn, but that doesn't mean I don't care about my friends. I'm sure John had a good reason to lie to you, at least in his own mind, it was a good reason. I know him, and he would never do anything to hurt you."

"But he doesn't trust me with what's in his heart. I can't be with someone who doesn't have that kind of faith in me."

"He's a man." Skank said smiling at her. "He just didn't think before he acted, we're all like that most of the time. Look at me, I never think. Why do you think I'm sitting here right now? I didn't think about finding you, I just did it!"

"I don't know Skank, he's been a little strange ever since Donna came back. I think he still has feelings for her."

"Don't even go there." He warned. "There is no way that woman can even come close to holding a candle to you, especially in John's eyes. That man is with out doubt, completely and totally in love with you. Come on let's get your stuff and get you back home where you belong."

Brynn took her hand away from him and shook her head. "No, I'm not going back. I told you, I can't live with someone who doesn't trust and believe in me."

"You know he does Brynn, just give him another chance." Brynn stood her ground. "No! I'm not gong back, and you have to promise me as a friend that you won't tell him where I am."

"He needs to see you, you guys need to work this out." Skank pleaded.

"Promise me you won't tell him."

"I can't do that." Skank stood up and headed for the door. "Please Brynn, just think about giving him one more chance to prove himself to you. He's a good man, better than most and he loves you. Just remember that we're all human, and make mistakes from time to time." Before she had a chance to say another word, Skank opened the door and was gone.

Brynn sat on the bed staring at the door, almost unable to comprehend what had happened in the past few hours. Skank was actually a nice guy when you got away from all the bullshit, and smart too. "Skank the philosopher," Brynn mused aloud over his departing remarks. "Who would've known?" Looking at the clock again, her head began to pound. "Where the hell are my aspirin?"

John woke with a start and tried to sit up, only to find he was already in a sitting position and he had an extremely sore neck. He looked around a little confused from sleep then slowly, it came back to him, he'd fallen asleep while watching the fire and thinking of Brynn. He raised a big hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it hard, trying to work out the knot that settled there from the position he'd slept in. While he sat there massaging his stiff neck, John thought about the kids. He needed to talk to Donna today. He wanted to tell her honestly how he felt, and could only hope she would understand.

The boys were already up and in the kitchen, apparently they had tried very hard not to wake him. John pushed himself up off the couch with a low groan of discomfort, and went to get them ready to go to the Pritchard's.

He would not talk to Donna in front of them, but he had to talk to her as soon as possible. He hoped Mary Jane would be around to watch the boys. Going into the kitchen John picked up the phone and dialed the number. He asked for Donna when the phone was answered and spoke to her briefly about the talk he still needed to have with her. She agreed to meet him, the hesitancy in her voice was thick enough to choke on, but John didn't really care. He wanted to get this off his chest as soon as possible. Hanging the phone up after talking with Donna, John turned to face his children. "I want you guys to know what's going on." He said sitting down and passing Timmy more Cheerios. "I'm going to talk to your mother about spending more time with you. Now that you guys are here, I don't want you to go, but I'll settle for seeing you a few months a year if I have to."

"But dad," Joey said. "We want to come live with you here. We don't wanna go back with mom. Can't we just visit her instead and live with you?"

"That's what I want, but it's more complicated than that. When people who have kids get a divorce, it's usually very complicated. Both parents want to have the kids live with them, and that's just not possible, so they have to come to some kind of agreement to be able to share the kids."

"Dad," Mike spoke up. "It's not like we're cars, how can you share us?"

"Well," John laughed at his son's analogy. "During your vacations from school, you guys could come here and visit me. The rest of the time you'll spend with your mother, or the other way around."

Mike had drifted into the into the living room as John spoke to grab their coats and hats. He returned handing Joey his jacket and slipping on his own. "I hope it works the other way around," he said tugging his hat onto his head. "I would rather live here and visit mom."

"Me too Mike," John agreed getting up from the table. "Me too."

When the boys were ready, John headed to Mary Jane's house, where he dropped off the kids and picked up Donna. She slid into passenger seat and closed the door looking at him skeptically. "Where are we going?" She asked buckling her seat belt.

"I don't know, I just thought I'd drive for awhile while I talk to you." He replied, pulling out of the driveway.

"What's this all about John. I thought we had a deal?"

"I don't want a deal. I want my kids."

Donna gaped at him. "You're telling me that you're not going to sign the papers?"

"I'm not signing anything," he replied. "I want them to live with me, and that's what they want to. If you insist on taking this to court, then I'm ready, or we can set up some kind of an arrangement, either way I'm not signing off on my kids."

"You lied to me, you bastard." Donna whispered, her anger evident.

"I seem to be doing that a lot lately." John knew Donna had no idea what had happened between Brynn and himself, but the fact that now she was calling him a liar made John cringe with self disappointment.

"This is what you wanted to take me out last night and tell me? I can't believe you would go so low as to try and take me out to dinner to soften me up, then drop a bombshell like this on me. You can go right straight to hell John, I'm not letting you have my kids."

John pulled to a stop in front of the deserted pond. The weather had grown warm enough in the past hour or two to turn the snow that fell into rain, so there was no one in sight. Putting the truck into park, he shifted in his seat, turning to face Donna. "You wanna talk to me about lies? Why didn't you tell me you were having an affair with Charlie Danner in my own house, in our bed? Why didn't you have the guts to tell me to my face that you were planning on leaving me? Why did you lie to me about the kids not wanting to see me? And yet you have the self righteous nerve to sit there and call ME a liar? Both Mike and Joey are old enough to know where they want to be Donna, and they want to be here with me. I've put up with enough of your lies and games over the past 15 years to last me a lifetime, so you are the one that can go to hell."

"Those are MY kids, I'm the one who carried them for nine months and gave birth to them." Donna replied trying hard not to cry.

"I think it's about damn time you stopped thinking about yourself. Look what your new life has done to those kids in the past two year. I mean, come one, do you even spend any time with Timmy? He clings to the first woman he sees and declares her his new mother. Brynn gave him more attention and love in the past few days then you have in two years. You are a spoiled selfish bitch, and I'm not going to just sit by the way side and watch your stupid bullshit ruin the lives of my children."

John never raised his voice above normal speaking level, but Donna looked like he's just reached put and smacked her hard across the face.

"Fuck you," was her only reply.

John sat back again in his seat and laughed. "Not on your best day. So what's it going to be Donna? Are we going to do this the hard way, or would you rather just settle it and let the kids get on with normal life?"

Donna opened up her door and stepped out into the cold rain. "Like I said, Fuck you!" She slammed the door and walked back the way they had come.

"I guess we're gonna do it the hard way," John said as he watched her go. He put the truck in gear and drove off in the opposite direction from which Donna had gone, heading into the center of town.

John sat in the small diner picking at his lunch. He didn't feel much like eating, but after leaving Donna, this was where he ended up. So he ordered some lunch and sat in his booth brooding about his conversation with Donna. John was so lost in thought, he didn't realize Skank had approached his booth and was standing next to him.

"John," Skank said, after he stood there a moment and had not been acknowledged.

John looked up startled. "Skank, what's going on? I didn't even see you come in."

"I could tell," Skank replied. He took the seat opposite from John. "I wanted to talk to you."

John looked at his long time friend for a moment, taking in his appearance. His eyes had large dark circles under them and appeared to be bloodshot from lack of sleep. His clothes looked like he'd slept in them, or he'd just put on the same ones he'd wore yesterday after doing God knows what.

"Did you hear me? I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, I heard you. Man Skank, you look like shit. What happened? You pull another all nighter with some beautiful young lady?" John said, trying to hide his emotions from his friend.

"You could say that. I was with Brynn." Skank replied, his face serious.

All rational thought left John for a brief few seconds and he balled up his fist, punching Skank square in the face. A few seconds after that John was out of his seat grabbing the front of Skank's shirt, growling at him in disgust. "Jesus, you couldn't even wait until my bed cooled down, could ya? You had to have a go at her yourself."

"John, John, John." Skank held his hands up to his face, assessing the damage caused by John's blow. "It's not what you think. Let me explain."

"What's to explain? You've wanted to fuck her from the moment she stepped foot in this town, and now you've done it. Tell me, was she any good? I never even got the chance, you fucking bastard."

"I went to talk to her," Skank tried to explain. "I tried to get her to come back to you."

John released Skank from his grip, shocked by his words. "You did what?!"

Picking up a napkin and placing it to his split lip, Skank looked around the diner. Everyone there had been watching the little scene play out, and now, they turned their heads away from the two men and went back to what they were doing. When he was finished mopping the blood from his face, Skank looked back to John. "You wanna sit down and talk about this like adults?"

"I'm sorry," John said taking his seat. "The past twenty four hours have been hell on me. I didn't mean to punch you. How did you know about what happened?"

"I saw her leave town," Skank explained. "Then I saw you at the pond, and you looked like death warmed over. I just figured it out, so I went looking for her. I wanted to talk her into coming back because you're my friend, and I didn't want to see you go through this."

John felt completely ashamed of himself for hitting Skank without giving him the chance to explain. "I'm really sorry Skank, I just jumped the gun."

"I know, if I were you, I'd have done the same thing."

"So what'd she say?" John asked, impatient to hear some good news.

Skank went through the entire conversation he'd had with Brynn a few hours before, word for word with John. He watched as John's mood fell from elation to depression as Skank told him Brynn did not want John to know where she was. After he had finished, Skank paused waiting for John to speak. "Don't lose hope John, you need to go there and tell her yourself how you feel."

"She doesn't want to see me," he replied down trodden. "I won't go if she doesn't want me to."

"I think she does John, even if she doesn't know it. You guys have something special, and you need to prove to her that you're a good man. Don't let this go because of one misunderstanding."

John shook his head in defeat. "No, she's right. I don't think I can be what she deserves." John stood up from the booth throwing some money on the table for his uneaten meal. "I fucked up, Skank. Now I gotta pay the price." He turned away from his friend and left the diner.

Brynn sat on her bed in the hotel room typing away on her laptop, desperately trying to find a new place to live. She dreaded the thought of having to move again, especially back to New York, but she had no idea where else to go. Her tears had stopped in the wee hours of the morning with Skank's departure, but now there seemed to be an empty place inside her that nothing would fill. She wondered as she typed in a new address on the computer screen, if Skank would say anything to John and if he did, would John come looking for her? She was going to try and change hotels, but was just to tired to even bother.

Finally closing the connection through the modem, Brynn shut the top of her lap top and got off the bed. She used the phone to call a local moving company to take her things out of John's house and move them to her parents place back in New York. It was short notice, but she had to go somewhere, and staying here was not an option. When Brynn was able to reach the movers, she agreed to pay them twice their normal rate to go today to get her belongings. It was a high price, but it would be worth it in the long run. The sooner she was out of this area, the sooner she could begin to heal from the wounds her short time with John had caused.

Brynn moved to the bed and lay on top of the tacky printed red comforter. It had been a long day already and it was only noon, she thought as she tried to close her eyes for a nap.

John made his way through town and back home at a slow pace. He was in no rush to get home, no one waited there for him. He went into the house and took of his coat, throwing it on the floor. He wasn't in the mood to do much of anything. He had lost the woman he loved, most likely his kids as well, and then he punched a good friend in the face. "Damn," he said aloud. "I'm just on a roll." He climbed the stairs to his room, intending to take a nap. Sleep seem to drive all rational thoughts out of the mind, it was the subconscious that took over when you slept, and anything was a welcome change from his current position. Instead of going to his room to lay down, he made a quick turn into Brynn's room. It wasn't really her room anymore, just her things remained. Once that was gone, John would have to deal with the finality of her being gone from his life for good. Things had been so much easier for the past few weeks. He'd found love again, and just as quickly as it had come, it dissipated.

Going to the stereo, John turned on the CD player that Brynn was so fond of. She loved music and said it spoke to her even when the most carefully chosen words had failed. He pushed the play button deciding to listen to whatever CD was already in the player and lay down on the big canopy bed covered in white. A soft rhythm came from the speakers and John smiled, this was perfect napping music. As he lay there thinking, trying to let sleep claim him, a woman voice accompanied the music, soft and low. John listened to what she said and let out a low moan. "Why now? Why did it have to be something like this?"

"I didn't hear you leave.

I wonder, how am I still here?

And I don't want to move a thing.

It might change my memories.

Oh, I am what I am.

I'll do what I want.

But I can't hide."

"I won't go,

I won't sleep.

I can't breath,

until your resting here with me

I won't leave

and I can't hide,

I can not be

Until you're resting here with me."

John groaned louder as the singer finished the verse to the song. He rolled onto his side and picked up a white rabbit Brynn had on her bed, throwing it as hard as he could at the stereo. He hit his mark and the music came to a halt. John lay his head back against the pillow again and sighed with relief.

The knock on the door brought him out of the bed and down the stairs with a speed he was unaware he was capable of. Reaching the door and throwing it open, John wasn't sure what or who he was expecting to be on the steps, but his heart sank when he saw who had knocked on the door. The huge truck caught his eye before the man standing on the steps. Big red letters on the side of the truck spelled out Drummon's Movers.

The man on the steps looked up at John when the door opened. "We're here to move Ms. Ashton's things." He said in a low grumble. "Can you tell us where to start?"

"You can start by getting your ass off my property." John all but shouted at the poor man.

"Woah, mister. Calm down. We just need to do our job."

"Get you ass in that truck and get the fuck out of here," John said this time in a menacing whisper. "I'm the sheriff in this town and if you don't do exactly what I tell you to do, I'll have your ass thrown in jail. Understand?"

The man held up his hands in a show of defeat and backed his way down the steps. "Have it your way." He took a cell phone out of his shirt pocket and flipped it open, dialing a number as he walked.

"If your calling her, tell her to have the balls to come and get her things herself." John yelled after him. He regretted saying it as soon as the words left his mouth. She'd left because of what he'd done. No wonder she wanted someone else to come get her things. He slammed the door shut behind him and locked it. He was going to make sure they didn't take her things today at least. He needed just a little more time to figure out what he was going to do.

As John walked through the kitchen, the phone rang. He snatched the handset off the wall mounted phone and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

"John?" Brynn asked, sounding a little scared. "Please let them in to get my things."

"No!" he replied. "I can't--not yet."

"I just want them to get my things so I can move, I don't want to bother you again. Let's just get this over with."

"I don't want it over with. Please come home," he begged. "I miss you so much."

"Please don't do this, John. I can't and you know why."

"I made a mistake," he argued. "I made one mistake, please let's just start over."

The other end of the line was silent. John didn't know if she was still there, but took the chance to tell her how he felt. "Brynn I love you, I didn't think about what I did, and that's no excuse, but please just come home and let's sit down and talk this out. I love you so much, please." He paused listening to the sounds of muffled sobs on the other end, then more silence. "We can work this out. Baby come home."

"I can't." Was the only reply, then the line went dead.

John hung up the phone and stood still for a few moments. He needed to decide what to do. All day he'd been feeling sorry for himself, thinking about all he'd lost in the past few years. Now that he'd been able to hear her voice, there was no way he could let her walk out of his life without a fight. He just wasn't sure where to begin, and his mind swam with thoughts. Brynn had taken the time to at least listen to what he'd had to say over the phone, she didn't hang up on him when he'd tried to explain how he felt. This gave John the hope that he needed to stop feeling sorry for himself and take action. Pacing now, back and forth in the kitchen, he thought about what to do.

Deciding on a strategy, he picked up the phone once again and dialed. "Skank, get up. We have some things to do." John said when Skank answered the phone.

"What's going on?" He asked sounding very tired. "What's wrong."

"We have to go shopping my friend, then you're going to tell me exactly where I can find Brynn."

"All right!" Skank replied. His fatigued tone left him as John mentioned finding Brynn. "It's about time you got off your ass and did something about this."

"Save the lectures for another time Skank, just get up. I'll meet you at your place in a half hour." John hung up the phone and smiled his first real smile in the past 24 hours. He would convince her to come home, or at least give it his best shot.

The walls are closing in, Brynn thought as she got off the bed and began to pace back and forth like a caged tigress. She had just finished her conversation with John, begging him to let the movers in to get her things. She had heard the sincerity and desperation in his voice as he spoke. Now it seemed like the walls were closing in around her, making her restless and agitated. She was going to have to make a decision about her current situation. It was either go back to John, or leave this place now and forget about her things.

From the way John had spoken to her on the phone she knew he still loved her with everything he was. Nothing had changed at all. The changes had all been in her overactive imagination. Yes, John had in fact lied to her, but she never even bothered to ask his intentions, or why he had lied. Brynn had automatically placed him a category along with every other man she'd her given her heart to and abused the privilege. She had judged him unfairly, and not let him present his side of the argument. Her mind went into lawyer mode as she paced restlessly from one end of the room to the other.

"Shit!" Brynn said, exasperated. Sudden realization came to her when she thought about what she had done. She had walked out on the only person that she had every truly loved with all of her self, without even bothering to ask one single question that could have saved her a lot of grief and tears.

Brynn stopped pacing and set her restless movements to a productive activity. She went to her bags in the closet and threw them on the bed grabbing everything her small hands could carry at the same time. She was going to go back to Mystery and make things right again. She, at the very least, had to know why John had lied. She owed it to both of them to stop running now and face up to her life.

John dove through the streets of the town with reckless abandon. A light snow fell, making the road a little slick, but he had driven these roads all of his life and knew he could handle it. All he cared about now was getting to Skank's. He wasn't sure why he'd asked Skank to go with him, but he felt like he could use all the friendly support he could get. This was going to take every ounce of energy he had left.

Pulling up in front of the small trailer near the center of town, John shut off the truck and hopped out and headed for the front door. It opened before he got to it and Skank stood just inside waiting for him.

"You sure picked one hell of a time to do this Johnny boy," Skank said, as John climbed the steps. "I just turned on the news while I was waiting for you. We're in for one hell of a storm here."

"We're always in for it here Skank, you know that." John replied shaking some of the snow from his hair.

"Not like this John, take a look." He pointed toward the television and sighed. "This one is going to be bad. Looks like we have two storms coming at us from opposite directions."

John followed Skank's finger and watched the weatherman talk excitedly as he pointed to some weather maps on a blue screen behind him. "Shit," John sighed. "I'll be driving out of one and into another."

"That's what I've been talking about. Maybe you should wait John, it's not worth risking your life over."

"The hell it's not." John argued. "I love this woman Skank. I never even tried to go after Donna when she left, I refuse to make the same mistake twice."

Skank shook his head and placed a hand on John's shoulder. "I'm sorry buddy, but I'm not going out there in this shit."

"I agree. You should stay here, I'm not going to risk your life as well." John agreed.

"What did you want to go shopping for?"

"I wanted to show up there tonight with her engagement ring. I really wanted to show her that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. But I guess that'll have to wait. I just wanna go and talk with her." John turned away from the TV to look at his friend. For the first time he noticed the bruise on Skank's chin and bottom lip from the punch he'd delivered this afternoon in the diner. "Jesus man, I'm sorry about that." John felt the same self-disappointment he'd felt earlier in the day when the incident happened.

"Don't worry about it," Skank said rubbing his chin. "I told ya, I would've done the same thing if I were you. It just didn't come out right when I was trying to tell ya what I'd done."

John smiled at Skank. "I know, I still should have given you the time to explain though. I really hope you wouldn't go that low for a piece of ass."

"Buddy, I have to tell you this, Brynn is prime, choice cut steak. I'm nothing but lunchmeat. She would've kicked my ass if I'd tried something like that."

Laughing at the analogy, John moved back to the door. "Wish me luck Skank."

"You're going to need to know where she is, remember?"

"That would probably be a good idea," John agreed. "Otherwise I'll be floating around in the middle of a storm trying to find her."

"She's staying at the Radisson in Anchorage, room 427. Now go get her and bring her home. I'm tired of watching you mope around from having your heart broken."

John reached in his jacket and withdrew a small notebook he used mostly for police duty and began writing down the information Skank gave him. Closing it once more, he returned to his pocket. "Thanks for the help buddy, I owe you one." He opened the door and stepped outside. The snow had started to fall in earnest now, and the afternoon sky looked dark and threatening. "This is going to be a fun ride," he said over his shoulder as he made his way to the truck.

Brynn looked around her room one last time to make sure she had everything before turning off the light and closing the door. She walked slowly down the hall to the elevator, she was beginning to question her decision to go back. Hefting her bags back up on her shoulder she picked up her pace, sure she was doing the right thing. She loved John after all and wanted to make her life and his right again. Going back was not an option, it was a must.

Reaching the elevator, she pushed the button for the main floor and waited for the car to reach her. Next to the elevators was a huge picture window that gave her a nice view of the city from this elevation. There was also a nice view of the mountain tops far to the north. As she looked at the snowy white peaks, Brynn noticed the sky over head. Large black clouds covered the sky, low and menacing.

"Oh this is going to be a good time," Brynn whispered. She heard the dig on the elevator and turned her attention back to the task at hand. She moved now with much more urgency. The view from the window had not been good. She hoped she could outrun the storm. If she moved quick enough, got checked out of the hotel and hauled ass, she may just be lucky enough to make it back to Mystery before things got ugly.

The snow was getting heavier by the minute. John's tires slashed their way through the powdery white that covered all of the roads now. He prayed that the highway would be in better condition than the roads leading out of Mystery. Just in case, he reached down and flipped on the CB radio, he didn't want to have to fumble for it if something did happen. He knew that going out in this type of weather was risky at best, but he had to do this. If he waited any longer, he was sure he would lose his nerve and chuck the idea all together. John questioned himself even now, not knowing if this was the right thing to do, but if he didn't try, he'd never know. Deciding he would rather go and make an ass out of himself than sit at home and wonder for the rest of his life, John kept going towards the highway.

He thought about meeting Brynn, and all that had happened in the short time they had been together. He also thought about why he had not been honest with her about talking with Donna. For some reason, he convinced himself that it was the right thing to do. Not knowing how Brynn would react to such and idea, John went from his experiences with Donna. She was the kind of person to lose her mind with jealousy at the thought of John taking another woman out to dinner for any reason. So to spare himself the argument or discussion with Brynn, John had just gone ahead and done what he thought was the right thing. He had realized Brynn was different from Donna in obvious ways before this little incident, why he didn't see all of her differences until it was too late, was completely beyond him. In relationships, John had little experience. There were a few girls he had dated in high school, but nothing serious, until Donna. He'd spent his adult life thus far with her, or mourning her loss. So when Brynn came into the picture, John did what he'd done in the past when he was with Donna. Unfortunately it was the wrong thing to do. Brynn was a unique individual, and she needed him to be honest and up front with her at all times, where as Donna would just as soon not know what he was up to and be left alone. So the mistake had been made. John couldn't change the past but he could sure as hell apologize.

John brought himself back from his thoughts and realized the wind was beginning to pick up with the force of the storm, making it even harder to see through the windshield. He briefly wondered how he managed to keep the truck on the road when he was lost in thought. Lifting his foot off the gas pedal, John decreased his speed to an acceptable level before replacing pressure once again. Twilight was approaching, making it even harder to see as the light from the already dark sky dwindled into nothing but complete blackness.

The usual ride into the city was about a two-hour treck, with the current weather conditions however, it was likely to take him almost 4 hours. Trying to see through the snow, he squinted a little to block out some of the snowflakes that bombarded the windshield. He was getting restless knowing how long the trip was going to take him. He wanted to talk to Brynn now. This trip was a necessary evil, so he tried to relax back in his seat and prepare himself for the journey. "I really wish I had a team of dogs and a sled right now," John chucked softly, in an effort to ease the tension that was gripping his shoulders and back.

Brynn got to her truck and threw her bags in the back seat before hopping behind the wheel and starting the vehicle. While she let the engine warm up, she looked through the windshield up at the sky. Night would be coming soon, making it even more difficult to drive if it started snowing hard. She began to tremble as she remembered her accident when first arriving in Mystery. She was driving right along, and the snowstorm had come out of no where and it hit hard. At first she was driving along fine, and then the next minute, she couldn't see the road, everything just looked white.

Shaking herself from the memory, Brynn remembered she now had four wheel drive. John was suppose to show her exactly how to use it and when to use it. With the pending storm brewing overhead, she looked down to her gear shift and saw the bright orange letters that signified four wheel drive mode. "Fuck it," she said aloud, and with her foot on the brake, she pushed the stick to the 4WD position. Brynn released the parking brake and lifted her foot of the pedal and pulled out of her parking spot in front of the hotel.

Once out on the road, Brynn switched on her radio to see if she could catch a local weather report. If this storm was as big as it looked to be, everyone would be talking about it. Instead of a weather report, Creed, My Own Prison blared through the speakers. Deciding the music would help calm her nerves, she let it play on. This radio station would have a weather report sooner or later.

Humming along with the tune, Brynn began to relax little by little. She thought how foolish it was to take this risk, but how worthwhile it would be if she could just fix things with John. She wanted to hold him and tell him she loved him. That alone seemed to validate the journey.

Passing a gas station, Brynn looked down briefly at her gas gauge then smiled. Three quarters of a tank was plenty to get back to Mystery. The song ended and Brynn got what she had been waiting for. The announcer sounded a little frantic as he told the listening public about the two storms that were heading right for each other. "This looks to be the biggest storm of the season folks, if not the storm of the century."

"Just friggin' skippy," Brynn said to the radio. Looking in her review mirror, she watched the lights of the town slowly disappear behind her. The snow was falling lightly now, so she pushed her foot down harder on the gas pedal, trying to cover as many miles as she could before things got really ugly.

The announcer on the radio went through commercials for some of the local stores and restaurants before getting back to the music. Brynn was thankful for the distraction once the music started again. Anything to keep her mind off the upcoming disaster was a good thing.

It had taken John the better part of an hour to reach the entrance to the highway. Once he saw the road, his hopes were gone. No plows had cleared this road either, so it was going to be just as slow going as the small road that lead to and from Mystery.

John began to feel like the fates were playing a cruel trick on him. Giving him the hope of mending things with Brynn, then putting him through hell trying to get to her. He turned onto the highway anyway, determined not to give up. He had gone this far already and there was no sense in turning back now.

There seemed to be more snow collected on the highway from the winds and the new steady pounding of white stuff coming down. John was sure he was pushing drifts of it with the front fender. He hoped the old truck would hold out. They were supposed to be getting new trucks in the spring for himself and his two deputies. This one was about on its last leg.

John turned up the CB radio and listened to the intermittent chatter back and forth from other motorists, talking about the weather. Some of the local authorities were warning people to stay off the roads. John didn't feel the need to worry about such warnings. All he had to do was flash his credentials, and they would let him pass, that is if he were even pulled over. He assumed there wouldn't be a whole lot of police activity out on the roads tonight.

Once he reached the city, he could always get a room at the hotel if Brynn didn't want to see or talk to him. He didn't like the idea, but he kept it in the back of his mind as a possibility.

Brynn looked out in to the twilight night that had fallen around her. There were no other cars on the road with her and she was beginning to think this was indeed a very bad idea. Huge fluffy flakes fell at an alarming rate and the sky was growing darker by the minute. The land, as far as Brynn could see, was covered with the powdery white stuff, there seemed to be no end to it. She suddenly felt like she was back in the ice age, when thick glaciers covered most of the earth. She felt very alone and isolated on the small highway back to Mystery. She had been driving now for over an hour, but she eventually had to reduce her speed to a steady 25 miles per hour when the snow had begun to fall harder. She had not managed to cover as much territory as she had hoped earlier before the onslaught began. She still had such a long way to go to get back to John. Even in four wheel drive, the truck would sometimes lose its grip on the slick pavement that covered the road, so Brynn decided to decrease her speed even more. There had been no snowplows down this stretch of the road, and at least 5 inches of snow had already fallen here. Looking in her review mirror, Brynn watched the snow in her wake. It kicked up like massive waves on the ocean, before settling down once again, making it look like no one had even come through here.

Brynn glanced forward again, afraid to keep her eyes averted too long from the horrible driving conditions that lay ahead. The snow fell across the beam of the headlights in a steady flurry. It was mesmerizing as Brynn watched it, she could see nothing else, just snow.

There had been no more reports on the weather since the last one. Brynn just listened to the music that played, but as the weather continued to deteriorate, she turned it so low it was barely audible over the thumping of the windshield wipers. Now traveling at a snail's pace of 15 miles per hour, Brynn dared to look down at her gas gauge and had to keep herself from slamming on the brakes. In the time she had been traveling, the truck had eaten up almost the entire tank of gas. She now had just one quarter of a tank of fuel left. Brynn knew there were no gas stations on this stretch of the road, and she didn't know any of the surrounding roads.

Fear ripped through her as she tried to inch her speed back up to 25 miles per hour, but visibility had diminished with the light of day, and she was unable to maintain any speed for very long for fear of going off the road.

"Fuck," Brynn whispered as the snow fall grew even more dense. She could barely see where her head light beams ended. It seemed like they were being sucked into a vacuum of nothingness, and she was following their lead.

Brynn sat in the truck and banged on the steering wheel for the fifth time. She had run out of gas a few minutes before and had to maneuver herself to what she believed was the side of the road. Now she sat in her truck looking out as the snow covered the windshield. Afraid to run anything in the vehicle, she turned off the wipers and the radio. The heat was no longer any good to her. The engine was not running for any source of heat. It was going to get cold in the small space fast.

Reaching into the back seat, Brynn grabbed her bags and hauled them into the front seat. She opened them and took out a few items that might help to keep her warm until someone came along, if any one came along. Putting on another sweater and a pair of sweat pants over her jeans, she picked up the last item and slid off her boots. An extra pair of socks couldn't hurt either. She slipped them onto her feet and quickly pushed her feet back into her boots.

Looking forward, then turning into her seat to see out the back window, Brynn tried to catch a glimpse of some on coming head lights, but all she saw was snow. It fell harder and harder by the second, and the winds churned what had already fallen, around in impressive patterns. Brynn still wasn't all that impressed by the turn of events. She hoped that someone would come along soon to help her.

"Why in the hell didn't I call John and tell him I was coming?" She asked herself. Then answered in the next breath, "Because you were afraid he'd tell you not to bother." At least if she had called John to let him know she was gong to come home, he'd have someone come get her if she wasn't there by morning. Now here she sat all alone, no one knew where she was, and she wondered if anyone really gave a shit.

Brynn looked around the truck hoping to find something to help her out of this precarious situation, but all she found were a few road flares. "Someone would have to come along to see a road flare," she said to the inanimate object she held in her hand. "But I guess it couldn't hurt." Brynn opened her window slightly, afraid to let any of the warm air escape, and lit the flare. She tossed it through the opening in the window and watched it as it fell into the pile of snow in the middle of the road, and went out.

"FUCK!" Brynn screamed. "This is just getting better and better all the time. Oh yeah, Brynn, what a brilliant idea. Go home to John in the middle of a fucking snowstorm. WooHoo girl, you certainly get the award for the dipshit of the week. If you hadn't been such a bitch, you wouldn't even be here. You'd be home lying in bed with John all nice and warm. Hell, for all you know you'd be having the best sex of your life with him tonight. Fucking moron."

Brynn stopped ranting when she realized she had been scolding herself out loud. Silent once more she shook her head in resignation. Laying her head back against the seat, she tried to sleep. There was nothing more she could do right now. If someone came by, hopefully they would stop and help her. If not, she would freeze to death.

The cold seeped into every bone in her body. Brynn roused herself from her light sleep and shivered. It had gotten colder than she expected in the truck while she slept. Sitting upright, she checked her watch to see how long she'd been asleep. Only about an hour had passed and she rolled her window down a little to see the road. No tire tracks could be seen through the thick snow. It had fallen so hard it was now almost to the bottom of the running boards on her Outback. The extra clothes she had put on did little to help keep her warm. It was so bitter outside and the wind didn't help matters much.

Brynn rubbed her eyes and wonder how long it would take her to freeze to death. How painful would it be? Would she drift off to sleep once again and just never wake up? Trying to shake such thoughts from her mind, Brynn rummaged through the truck once more to try and find something, anything to save her life. Reaching for the glove box, Brynn noticed the CB radio and tried to remember what John told her about it. It would run off the battery as long as it still had life. Brynn opened the glove box and took out all of the paperwork that had come with the vehicle, hoping to find the book on the CB. In the middle of all the papers she found what she was looking for. Opening the book, she read through and found out the basics on how to operate the contraption. Brynn threw the book on the passenger seat and reached for the hand held speaker. After turning the CB on, she put the speaker near her mouth and began to talk.

"Hello? Is anyone there? My name is Brynn, I'm stuck on the highway, my truck is out of gas and it's getting real cold out here. Can some one answer me please?"

She released the button and listened for an answer. She didn't get one.

"Please, someone? I need help here. I don't think there have been any cars down this road in over an hour, and I am about to freeze to death. Hello?"

She released the button again and was answered by a continuos drone of static air. Dead air she thought.

Returning the speaker once again so she could talk, Brynn began to pour her heart out into the dead air. If no one was going to answer her, she might as well say what was on her mind.

"John, I don't know if you are anywhere to hear this or not, but I was on my way back to Mystery to tell you how sorry I am. I love you and I judged you with out even thinking. I really wanted to be able to tell you this in person, so I didn't call. If by some miracle, I make it through this alive, I'll be there as soon as I can to tell you. I just wanted to let you know, I love you, I miss you and I need you. I know I should have called, but I was in such a hurry to go, I just left. I didn't even know about the storm until it was too late. I ran out of gas on the highway, and now I'm stranded. I didn't even find the CB until just a few minutes ago and I've been sitting here for over an hour." Brynn giggled at herself. "I feel ridiculous for doing this now, but I wanted to say these things while I still could. I'm sorry I was so stupid, and I'm sorry I hurt you. I just didn't understand until this after noon when we spoke. I heard the sincerity in your voice when you asked me to come home. I should have said yes right then and there. I should never have left in the first place. God John, I love you. I am so sorry." She released the button and hung the speaker back on the clip. Trying to save the battery, Brynn turned the power to the CB to the off position and settled back against her seat once more for a nap.

During his drive, John had turned down his CB radio. The endless chatter was just too much for him to take while he was trying to concentrate on the road. It had been silent for the past hour however, and John was content to listen to the hiss of dead air.

The road conditions had grown steadily worse and John wondered if he would ever actually make it to the hotel to see Brynn. Thankfully he had survival packs stocked in the back on his truck, so he was sure he wouldn't starve or freeze, but he may get stranded. Being prepared in this part of the world was something John had grown up with. His own father and grandfather had drilled him from a young age to never go anywhere, especially this time of the year with out having plenty of survival gear. He had a sleeping bag, provisions for a fire and enough food to get him through at least three days. He didn't plan on being stranded at all, but if the occasion ever came up, he would live through it.

John heard the buzz from the CB stop indicating that some one was going to talk, so he turned up the volume, incase someone needed help close by him.

"Hello? Is anyone there? My name is Brynn, I'm stuck out on the highway, my truck is out of gas and it's getting real cold out here. Can someone answer me please?"

John knew from the sound of her voice before she even said her name, that it was Brynn. She was stranded and needed help, but where? She said she was stuck out on the highway, which highway?

"Shit," John said as he reached for the speaker. Before he could depress the button, Brynn's voice came back again.

"Please, someone? I need help here. I don't think any cars have been down this road in over an hour and I'm about to freeze to death. Hello?"

John thought about what to say, what he should do. He depressed the button and spoke frantically into the piece. "Brynn, honey where are you? What highway are you on? Brynn this is John. Can you hear me?"

Apparently she had not been able to hear him asking her questions to better find her location because when he released the button she had already begun speaking again.

"...Mystery to tell you how sorry I am. I love you and I judged you with out even thinking."

John sat back in his seat a little trying to pay attention to the road and Brynn at the same time. She sounded like she was giving up hope of being found. John's heart raced at the thought of her being stuck out in the middle of this massive snowstorm all alone. As Brynn finished her monologue, John once again tried to let her know he was there and he was on his way, but the radio went dead again. Things that she'd said while speaking made John think she was on her way home to him. If that was true then there was only one highway leading to the road into town, and he was already on it.

"Oh God," John whispered. "I hope I haven't already passed her." She said she'd been sitting there for over an hour, and had not seen anyone, and he couldn't remember seeing anyone on the side of the road.

John pushed ahead through the thick drifts of snow, realizing he himself only had less than a half a tank of fuel. It wouldn't be enough to make it to town in this weather, especially if he stopped to help Brynn. They would have to hole up for the night and wait for the weather to clear before trying to reach the town.

All he was concerned about at that moment was finding her and making sure she was all right. After that everything was small potatoes.

Ahead in the distance, John saw what looked to be a huge mound of snow in the middle of the oncoming lane. As he drew closer at his infuriating slow pace, John realized it was in fact a vehicle. "Brynn," he whispered.

Pulling the truck to a stop along side the road, John jumped out and ran to the snow covered truck.

"Brynn, honey are you in there?" John was franticly wiping away the snow that covered the windows to see if it was her truck and if she was inside. He saw her curled up in the drivers seat when he cleared away enough snow, and she raised her hand a little and smiled.

John pulled open the door and Brynn looked shocked. "John! I thought I was asleep when I saw you there. What are you doing here?"

John reached inside the truck not saying a word and pulled her out into a hug.

She relished his warmth against her cold body and clung to him with all the strength she had left in her. He shut the door and carried her to his truck, putting her inside on the driver's seat. She scooted over to allow him to get in behind her and out of the storm.

"I can't believe you found me and so quick. What were you doing out in this weather?"

John crawled in behind her and pulled her into his lap once he had the door securely closed. "I was doing the same thing you were. I was coming to talk to you, I wanted you to come home."

"Skank," Brynn whispered as she lay cradled against John's chest. Letting the warm blast of air from the heater warm her even more. "He told you where I was."

"Yes, he did. But none of that matters now, you were coming home. I heard you on the radio. I tried to answer you, but you didn't give me enough time."

"I don't care," Brynn answered snuggling closer to him. "I'm just so glad you're here. I wanna go home John."

"Well, we can't tonight. I don't have much gas left either. Four wheel drive eats the hell out of a tank of gas. I think it would be best if we stay the night here and when the weather clears, we'll head to the closest place to get some gas, then we can go home."

Brynn sat up straight as he spoke. "We can't stay here, we'll freeze." She sounded frantic and afraid.

"We can use each other for body heat, and I have stuff in the truck so we won't starve or anything. We'll be good for a few days, if need be. But we're going to need to take the sleeping bag back to your truck and bunk down for the night. I'm afraid there isn't much room in here with all the stuff I have."

Brynn smiled at him the fear and tension gone now that John was here with her. "I should've known, Mr. Winter would be prepared for anything."

"You bet your sweet ass, baby." John reached around the seat and grabbed the sleeping bag. "You ready to go? I don't want to waste much more fuel."

Opening the door and sliding off his lap, Brynn stepped outside again and headed for her truck. Everything was going to be fine now, John was there with her.

Brynn hurried across the deserted highway to her own truck and climbed inside. John was right behind her and together they prepared the backseat. They lay the backseat down flat and spread the sleeping bag out so they could crawl inside. John had the good sense to grab some of the food from the truck and after Brynn was securely inside the sleeping bag, he gave her some of the provisions. Brynn took it and ate it, not daring to ask John what it was. She didn't want or need to know as long as it was nourishing.

Taking Brynn's empty water bottle outside, John packed snow into it and tucked inside his coat to melt. Once he was back in the truck with Brynn, he opened the sleeping bag and slid inside next to her. It was a comfortable fit, Brynn was small enough to curl right into John's larger form. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and they lay there in silence for a few minutes, content to listen to each other breath. They knew this was going to be a long night, it wasn't very comfortable but at least they were there together.

Brynn looked up into John's blue green eyes and watched him for a moment before she smiled. "I'm so glad you're here. I couldn't have gone through this alone."

"I know, baby. I wanted to come talk to you and I wasn't going to let the weather stop me. What made you decide to come home?"

"I heard the desperation and sincerity in your voice today when we were on the phone. I knew I would never forgive myself if I just walked away and never asked you why you lied to me. I love you John. I can't imagine things with out you now. It's funny because we've only known each other a little over a month."

John waited for her to finish. While she spoke, he stroked her hair and face. He had never been happier than lying here listening to her voice, soft and sweet. When she was done, John let her words sink in. "I'm kinda glad you got stuck on the side of the road, Brynn. If not, we would have crossed paths and probably never known it."

Brynn giggled at the thought. "I can just see it now, me getting to your place and you not being there. I would have no idea that you'd have come to get me."

"Skank knew, so I guess you could have gone and talked to him." John said trying to quell the shivers that still continued to rack Brynn's body. He pulled her closer to him and tried to share his body heat, but the layers of clothes they both wore were preventing the transfer. "We are going to have to get rid of some of our clothes. We can't share body heat through all these layers."

"You're kidding," Brynn said. "I'm already freezing, taking off my clothes certainly isn't going to help matters much."

"You'd be surprised what it will do. Just take off your clothes." John unzipped the sleeping bag as he spoke and began to take off his jacket and sweater. He left on a thin tee shirt he wore and began to work on his snow pants and jeans.

Brynn sat up and watched him work. She took off her two sweaters and both pairs of her pants, leaving her in her bra and underwear and socks. Her feet were the coldest thing in her body, and she wasn't about to take those off too.

When John had finished taking off his pants, he zipped the bag back around them and hugged Brynn tight to him once again. She lay her head on his arm and put her arms around his waist.

"Better?" John asked when she was comfortable again.

"A little, I'm still very cold." She sighed.

"I can warm you up," he teased. "Wanna try it?"

"Try what?"

John let his hand move from around her and began to rub up and down her side. He leaned forward slightly and captured mouth in a deep kiss. Brynn returned his kiss with enthusiasm. It felt like her life depended on that kiss and she wasn't about to let it go for anything.

John broke away breathless. "God, I've missed you." He reached around and grabbed her bottom, pulling her closer to him so she could feel his erection.

Brynn smiled at him and pushed her hips forward to make better contact. "Is this what you were talking about to warm me up?"

"Ummhmm," John moaned, kissing her again. "You wanna try it?"

"I don't know John," Brynn looked a little sheepish. "I'm not exactly "prepared" for this kind of thing."

"I'm not worried about protection Brynn, I just want to make love to you. If you don't want to, I understand, but it'll kill me to lie here all night like this." He grinned at her to let her know it was all right if she wasn't ready.

Shifting her position in the sleeping bag, Brynn rolled onto her back and wiggled around for a few seconds. Then she looked triumphantly at John and with drew her hands from under the blanket, holding her underwear. She tossed them in to the front seat and pulled John down for another kiss.

"I take that to be a yes," he replied pulling back from her kiss.

Brynn nodded and moved closer to him to soak his heat into her freezing body. "I'm going to freeze to death soon if we can't get some sort of heat going here."

Smiling, John moved his hands across her body. He leaned over and gave her a kiss she would never forget, playing his tongue across her bottom lip, until she opened her mouth to accept it. He stroked her tongue with his own, sensually moving his hand along her upper thigh. Brynn responded to him by snaking her arms around his neck and opening her thighs to allow him better access. This is what she had dreamed of, although the setting was somewhat different in her dreams. This sleeping bag in the back seat of her Outback would do just nicely though. Just to be with him, feel him like this, was more than enough for her.

Trying to move to accommodate the situation, John shifted to one side to let Brynn's legs open with ease, then he slipped his own knee in between them when she was comfortable. He still kissed her with all the passion he had held back for the past few weeks, but he felt awkward about touching her intimately. He had fantasized about it, but now in this situation, he was unable to follow through with his fantasies.

Brynn was breathing heavily and her hips began to rock back and forth trying to come into contact with John's hand. He pulled away from her kiss and looked at her eyes, heavy lidded with desire. "Are you sure you want to do this here? I pictured something a little different for our first time together."

"So did I," she spoke low and soft. "But I don't care where we are John. It's still you and me. This is what I want."

He needed no more encouragement as she finished speaking, he kissed her again, nipping at her lower lip and moving his hand up to cup her full breasts. He fondled the soft flesh through the material of her bra and moved his hips against her leg, trying to quell some of the discomfort from his erection. Brynn moaned at the contact and reached under the blanket to touch him. She felt the soft material of his flannel boxers in a vast contrast to his straining hard on. Reaching inside the button fly, she stroked him gently from top to bottom, then back up again, causing him to pull away from kissing her neck and throat.

John elicited a low grumble that Brynn translated as a moan of pleasure. He went back to work on her breasts, pulling the strap to her bra down her arm to free the flesh he sought. Brynn's nipples were already fully erect from the contact and super sensitive. Rubbing them with the ball of his thumb John watched her face for a reaction and was rewarded when she arched her back, forcing stronger contact. She still held him under the blanket, and was careful with her ministrations, not wanting this to end any time soon. John lowered his mouth to her breasts and took one pink nipple in his mouth, tugging gently on the ring he found there with his teeth. Brynn panted now, the pressure of the orgasm building to untellable levels. She ached for release.

Sensing her need, John trailed his hand across her belly, pulling on the ring he found there as well, before travelling further to give her what she needed. "Please John," she panted. "I need you so bad, please." Her hips began the rocking motion once again seeking his hand, anything she could find to make her come. John was more than happy to oblige. He dipped is finger inside her wet sheath and Brynn arched her back again causing a deeper penetration. Her juices flowed freely now, soaking John's hand with her essence as her orgasm rocked her entire body.

John watched her as she came, looking at her face and body while she spasmed from what he had done to her. He continued to work his fingers in and out of her making sure she would be completely ready when he entered her.

As Brynn came back to earth from her climax, she wound her fingers in John's hair, urging him closer so she could kiss him. Letting their tongues duel, Brynn began to stroke him again, slowly and gently with a loose hand. Just enough to cause maddening friction for him. "I want to feel you inside me," she whispered.

John groaned again at her words and moved himself to kneel between her spread legs as best he could in the cramped confines of the sleeping bag. "I've wanted to feel you for so long. So many times I've thought about feeling your body around me when I would lie in bed at night."

Brynn reached up to him and touched his face. "I love you John," she whispered. John rested his weight on his elbows, trying not to crush her beneath him as he positioned himself at her slick opening. Moving very slowly, he began to enter her, allowing her time to adjust to his girth. Brynn tossed her head back and clenched her hands around John's arms. It had been so long since she'd taken someone into her body, and John was far larger than anyone she had ever been with. The stretching was painful at first, but warmed into a sweet pleasure as he moved further into her channel.

Laying his head against the seat next to Brynn's head, John groaned into her ear once he was all the way enveloped inside her. "I don't know how long I am going to be able to hold out baby, you're incredibly tight. Just hold still for a minute and let me relax a little." He soothed her whimpers by stroking a hand through her long hair that fell over the edge of the seat they laid on. "Am I hurting you? We can stop."

Brynn shook her head vigorously, then turned her head to nibble on his ear. "I don't want you to stop. I've wanted this for so long." John began to move, slowly at first, in a rhythmic in and out motion. He drew Brynn into a deep kiss, letting his tongue mimic the movements his shaft made lower in her body. Brynn tried to moan her pleasure, but was caught in the kiss so her moans were lost in John's mouth. Gripping his arms even more tightly, Brynn once again began to quake with the powerful force of another orgasm. Her innermost muscles tightened around John's length, buried deep inside her and she broke the kiss to gasp for air and shout her approval.

The milking sensation John experienced as Brynn reached another climax, was too much for him and he tried to pull out of her before he came. Brynn responded by locking her legs around his waist forcing him to plunge into her once again and empty his hot seed into her body. His body stiffened with the release and he rocked back and forth with the motion of her hips until they had rode the orgasm out together.

Not wanting to withdraw himself from her body yet, John rolled onto his back, bringing Brynn to rest on top of him. They lay there, bodies still connected and very still until their breathing and heart rate returned to normal.

Brynn raised her head and looked at John's face, which was covered with sweat and a little red from the efforts of their lovemaking. "You were right. I'm not cold at all anymore," she smiled.

"I thought that might warm you up. I know I'm all nice and toasty now." John replied raising a hand to run his fingers through her tousled hair. John had been smiling when he first replied to her, but his expression changed to one more serious. "Why didn't you want me to pull out. I thought you were worried by the way you talked when I first suggested we do this."

Brynn shrugged her shoulders. "I was at first, but it felt more natural to let you come inside me. I didn't want to lose that feeling of being completely filled by you. Besides, I plan on spending the rest of my life with you, if you don't have any objections, so why not take the chance?"

"You won't hear any objections from me. I didn't really want to pull out, but I thought you'd want me to. I'm glad you stopped me. You felt incredible." Brynn leaned down to kiss him. She still worked her inner muscles around his softening member to try and get him worked up again. She was in no way ready for this to end.

"What are you trying to do to me girl?" He asked with an evil grin. "Have I created a monster?"

"Not really, I just don't want to get cold again." Brynn smiled down at him and began to work her hips in small circles.

Grabbing her hips and pushing her down, John applied the right amount of pressure to stimulate himself again. Brynn could feel him growing once again still inside her and her smile widened. "Baby, you are going to kill me like this, but what a way to go."

Brynn shifted in her sleep and slowly regained consciousness due to a dull ache between her legs. Smiling to herself, she thought about the muscles that had been neglected for so long, which she had sorely abused throughout most of the night. As she opened her eyes, she saw the dawn had broken through the blackness of night and the windows of the truck were frosted over, making starburst designs on the panes. They had steamed up the windows good during their lovemaking. The smile on Brynn's face grew even larger, remembering their intimacy. She vaguely wondered if it were still snowing, but didn't feel like getting up to take a look. No matter how warm they had made the small interior of the truck last night, it was now back to a freezing temperature outside the warm confines of the sleeping bag and she was still very much naked. Turning her head to the side, Brynn looked at John while he slept on. The nights activities had taken its toll on him as well and he lay very still, lost in dream land. Brynn traced the outline of his jaw with her fingertip as she watched, listening to him breath. Feeling his beard under her finger she thought about how rough the tiny hairs had been on her neck while they clung together in the throws of passion. It was a price she would gladly pay again, anytime he wanted.

Brynn had no idea that sex could be as wonderful as John had made it for her in the predawn hours. He was extremely attentive to making sure she was satisfied, before tending to his own needs and wants. His touch had been gentle but sure, his kisses were full of passion and the lovemaking, well, that had been exquisite. It was like Brynn could feel the love he felt for her with every movement of his body inside hers.

As she lay there lost in the memories, still touching John's face, Brynn was unaware that he had opened his eyes and was watching her intently. When John moved his hand under the thermal sleeping bag to cover her hip, she jumped and let out a long sigh as she came back from her reverie and focused once gain on his face.

"Been awake long?" He asked, while drawing lazy circles on her hip with his fingertip. He liked the soft feel of her skin to his rough and callused hands. She was like pure silk, just begging to be touched.

"Not really. I was just laying here thinking." Brynn tried to hide her smile from him, but to no avail. She was like an open book when it came to John now. There was nothing she would ever be able to hide from him.

Already knowing the answer, John decided to ask anyway. He wanted to hear her say the words. "What were you thinking about?"

Brynn's smile grew bigger still, knowing what John was after. "I was thinking about you and about last night. I never knew things could be like this. It was a little awkward being our first time together and stuck out here like this, but I don't think I would have changed a thing. What an interesting way to stay warm."

"No problem ma'am." John brought his hands out from under the sleeping bag and laced his fingers behind his head in a relaxed, proud of himself pose. "It's all part of John Beibe Survival 101. I give classes weekly."

"You must have women lining up for that one," Brynn teased. "I'm surprised you still have the stamina to use it in real life circumstances."

Tucking his arms back inside the sleeping bag, John found Brynn's sides and tickled her for her comment, then he pulled her over to rest on top of him. "You'd be surprised what I have the stamina for." He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

"Nice try Beibe, but I will be lucky if I can walk today after last night's gymnastics." Brynn playfully slapped his hands away from her breasts. "I think we better start thinking of a way to get out of here, I need to take a nice hot bath."

John's expression changed from amusement to one of concern. "Did I hurt you that bad? You should have said something last night."

Brynn noted the concern in his voice and gave him a soft smile, reaching up to twine her fingers in the brown wavy hair that covered his head. "If I wanted or needed you to stop, I would have said so. I just used muscles last night that hadn't been used in a long time. I'm just a little sore."

Raising his head off the seat, John pulled her closer so his mouth could reach hers. Just like Brynn remembered from the previous night, his kiss was full of love and passion. It made her feel like the world outside the truck didn't matter at all, that it was just the two of them, lost forever in their own little world. Unfortunately Brynn knew that was impossible, as lovely as it sounded. They would eventually have to get up, get dressed and see if they could find a way out of this mess. John could sense what she was feeling, as if they were now bonded in inexplicable ways. "Still worried about getting out of here?" He asked pulling back from the kiss and pushing Brynn's hair back out of her eyes.

"Yeah, I am. People are going to start looking for you pretty soon, so you're going to need to check in and let them know you are okay. I need to get my truck out of this snow heap and get some gas. Not to mention that I'm starving and in need of some real food." As Brynn finished her sentence, they both heard a noise outside the truck. The front drivers side door flew open and a state trooper peered inside. He looked in the back where John and Brynn lay, still in a naked heap in the sleeping bag. The young officer blushed at the sight before him, then he cleared his throat and spoke.

"You folks, uh, okay? I saw both of the trucks and thought someone might need assistance." Brynn was suddenly overcome by the need to laugh. Here was an authority figure, feeling the need to explain himself to two naked people in the back of a stranded Outback. She knew both of them could be cited for indecent exposure or lewd behavior, but at that time, she just didn't care.

"The truck ran out of gas in the storm last night officer. My truck still has plenty, so we should be able to handle it." John tried to explain, not bothering to sit up or remove Brynn from astride him.

"I see the other truck says Mystery Police, are you the sheriff over there?"

"Yeah," John replied. "That would be me."

"Well, uh, should I call someone there for you? I have a radio in my truck."

"That's all right, I have one in mine too, as soon as we get up, I'll give a call to let them know I'm okay."

That was the last straw for Brynn. Hearing John talk about the experience like it was a night out at the local bed and breakfast, she lost the ability to contain her laughter any longer. The trooper looked at her quizzically, obviously not getting the joke.

"You two better get dressed and get going. The snow has stopped for now, but it looks like it may start again soon," he told them, eyeing Brynn suspiciously.

"We'll do, officer." John replied, trying to stifle some laughter of his own. The trooper stepped back and shut the door to the truck.

"Well Brynn," John laughed. "I'd like to thank you for almost getting us arrested. That guy looked like he thought you were on drugs or something."

"I'm sorry," Brynn finally managed when she gained her self control once again. "But the way you talked about this whole thing. "Oh as soon as we get up officer," like we're laying around waiting for breakfast in bed. It was just too much."

John grinned at her. "Speaking of getting up, if we're going to be unable to play right now, you need to get off me, and we should be going if more weather is coming our way." Brynn moved herself off from John and lay next to him again looking for her clothes. She knew her underwear were in the front seat, but she couldn't find her bra or her jeans. Loathing the idea, but doing it anyway, Brynn slipped out from the warm sleeping bag to find her clothes. John followed her lead and after crawling out himself, began his own search of the Outback for his clothing.

Once they had found their discarded clothing and gotten dressed, they left the Outback and returned to John's truck. They needed to find a gas station to get some fuel for Brynn's truck and a place to eat.

Brynn slid into the passenger seat and waited for John to start the engine. The cold had chilled her once again and she began to shiver. All she really wanted to do was go home and take a long hot bath to soak the chill out of her marrow.

John started the engine and swung the truck onto the highway. The snow plow had come through sometime as they slept, piling over a foot of snow against the side of John's truck. The thick brown colored sludge tried to prevent the truck from making it on to the road, but it eventually was no match for the sturdy tires and four wheel drive. Heading back the way he had come the night before, John went a few miles down the highway and then turned off on a side road. Up ahead, Brynn could see the sign for a small gas station and breathed a sigh if relief. She wanted to get this over with and go home. John heard the frustration in her exhale and placed a hand on her knee. "You'll be home soon," he told her with a small smile. "Then you can recover from the past few days."

"I think I need it. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until just now. Do we have anything to do today?" Brynn asked, trying to gauge what the rest of the day held for them. "Hey, who has the boys?"

"SHIT!" John slammed his fist against the steering wheel as he drove into the small service station. "I forgot to tell you about what happened with the boys. I was otherwise preoccupied." He smiled at her trying to relieve the startled look on her face. "I had a talk with Donna about the boys and she wouldn't let me see them again. They leave to go back to New York today."

"Well, so much for going home," Brynn said, understanding his frustration. "I say we gas up, get back on the road and head to the airport. I want to see them before they go just as much as you do. I need to apologize to them as well."

Brynn stepped out of the truck once they reached John's house and followed him up the steps to the door. They silently walked inside, both dreading having to say goodbye to the boys this afternoon. Not knowing when they would see them again was the hardest part of all. Brynn was no expert in the matter but she had heard of family court custody and visitation cases going on for what seemed like forever. Neither side willing to compromise with the other. She knew John wouldn't behave that way, he would have the boys best interests in mind the whole time, but she couldn't vouch for Donna. Her behavior so far led Brynn to believe that she would just about anything to spite John and keep him from his kids.

Brynn watched as John stripped out of his coat and boots and made his way to the stairs before turning back to face her. "I need to take a shower, I know you wanted to take one too, so how about we take one together? It'll save time and I promise to behave myself." He raised three fingers in the symbol of the scout's honor.

"That sounds good to me," Brynn sighed as she took off her own coat and shoes and went the where John was standing waiting for her. "I think what I need right now is about four days of nothing but sleep, but that will just have to wait."

"Come on," he said taking her hand and pulling her up to stand beside him on the steps. He leaned in and gave her a kiss. No matter how long Brynn lived or how old and senile she became, she would never forget that kiss standing there on the stairs in John's house. It was a kiss that made her weak in the knees and made her heart pound faster. Then and there she knew that no matter what else happened to them in this life, they would be together.

Pulling away from the kiss John noticed the smile that danced about Brynn's features. "What's that for he asked?"

"Nothing, I just realized something." Brynn replied, walking up a few more steps.

John followed her like an obedient puppy. "What was it that you realized?" he asked, not wanting to let her off the hook.

Turning to face him, she put her hand on his shoulder. "I realized that you and I are going to be together forever. I liked the idea of that, so I smiled."

"I like the idea of that too," he said, kissing her on the end of her nose.

They showered together and despite John's promise, they once again made love. Despite their time limitations, they made the time to share each other's pleasure and love, making a vow to each other never to let things get out of hand again, and never to allow anything to come between the love they shared for each other. None of these things were spoken, but as they finished making love, and lay together on the bed holding each other, it was something they both felt.

Getting up once again before sleep claimed her completely, Brynn busied herself with getting dressed and tried to push all thoughts of the boys from her mind. It was going to kill her to see Timmy leave with his 'real' mom, but she knew she had to choice in the matter. Legally she wasn't even John's wife yet, so there was nothing she could do but wait and take this whole ugly affair to trial.

Sensing her distraction, John embraced her. "Things will work out for the best. They always seem to. Two years ago, I never would have seen Donna's leaving as a good thing, but now that I've met you, I know that everything happens for a reason, even if we don't know what it is right away."

"I agree." Brynn replied simply. "I'm sure that in time we'll have the boys back again."

The drive to the airport was made in silence. Brynn let John drive, not trusting her eyes to stay open long enough to make it anywhere safely.

Walking into the airport, John checked the monitors to see what gate they should go to, to find Donna and the boys. She had told him the day they were leaving, but nothing more about the flight. Although it wasn't a huge airport, Brynn didn't relish the idea of having to go on a search for the kids and taking the chance of missing them.

Once John spotted a flight that looked like the one they would be taking, both of them set off in the direction of the gate. As they approached, Brynn knew they had gone to the right one when she heard a small voice yell out enthusiastically. "MOMMY!"

Brynn looked around the seats and almost instantly saw Timmy squirming to get down from Donna's lap so he could come to her. Giving up, Donna set the boy on his feet and he dashed across the lobby throwing himself around Brynn's leg, all the while he chanted; "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy."

Brynn bent down and hefted the child in her arms giving him a firm squeeze. "Hey there turbo toddler, did you miss me?"

"Yes!" Timmy replied as he instantly wound his hands in Brynn's long hair. She had been keeping it up while he was staying at the house because it seemed to fascinate him, but she also saw that it might be a comfort issue with him now, something that was completely Brynn and no one else. So that was why she had decided to keep it down for him when they'd left the house today.

John was busy with he other two boys who had rushed their father before Timmy had even noticed Brynn. They were full of questions and once again, John tried to answer them in turn. "Yes, Brynn is back for good this time. No I'm sorry, but you can't stay here with me, I wish you could. Yes, I will see you very soon, I promise."

Donna slowly came over to the group, glaring as she walked. "I didn't think you'd be here today." She said as John stood up holding Joey in his arms.

"I wanted to say goodbye to my kids." He replied quietly, not wanting to cause any kind of scene. "You may think you've gotten away with some thing here, but these kids are just as much mine as they are yours, I will not let them go again with out a fight."

Donna paid no notice to John's warning, but instead turned her attention to Brynn. "Ahh the prodigal lover returns."

Brynn ignored her and kept talking to Timmy. She wasn't going to let Donna get to her now, there was just no sense in it.

"Flight 1475, nonstop service to New York is now ready to begin boarding." The young woman standing by the gate announced over the load speaker.

"That's us." Donna said approaching Brynn to take Timmy.

Brynn squeezed the child tight to her and gave him a kiss on he forehead. "I will miss you little Klingon."

Once Timmy realized what was happening, he turned to Donna and began to scream at the top of his lungs. He gripped Brynn so tightly around the neck, she was afraid the child was going to inadvertently cut off her air flow. "STAY WITH MOMMY," he screamed over and over again. The excitement and the suddenness of the situation brought Brynn to tears. Having this child hold onto her and beg to stay with her was more than she could handle.

The two older boys, seeing the outburst, decided to make the best of the situation and they themselves began to yell and cry. "We don't want to go. We wanna stay here with dad."

Donna glared at John as she tried to wrench Timmy free from Brynn. "This is all your fault, John. If you'd have just stayed away, I wouldn't have to go through this right now."

"Don't ask me to feel sorry for you, I want them to stay with me too, so I have no pity for you at all." John replied, still holding Joey even though the child was almost hysterical.

Brynn held Timmy to her and stroked his hair as he wailed. The tears flowed down her cheeks at the thought of having to break him away and give him back to his mother. Other people in and around the boarding gate had come to a complete stand still to watch the scene that was playing out before them.

Donna gave Timmy one final tug before throwing her hands in the air. "Fine, you want them, take them. It's about time I had the chance to live my life for me, so if this is what you want John, then fine, I don't care."

"You never did," John replied, going to seat where they all had been sitting and picking up the boys carry on bags. "You can see them any time you like Donna, and don't worry about their things, I'll make sure everything is replaced."

Donna stalked back to the gate to get her seat on the plane and never looked back at John, their children or Brynn. Brynn thought it would probably be a very long time before they heard anything from her, if they ever did at all.

On the drive back to the house, Brynn let caution go to the wind and sat with Timmy cradled in her lap in the back seat. He had fallen asleep with his hands fisted in her hair. She had never been more happy than she was in that moment. She had everything she ever wanted, a caring man in her life and three adorable children. This was the life she had always dreamed of.

Five Months Later...

Brynn lay on the couch waiting for John to get home from work. Timmy lay along side of her sleeping, his little bow lips that matched John's were curled into a smile. Things were definitely good in dream land today.

Brynn had taken to being a stay at home mom instead of a lawyer after the wedding. Once she and John had been married, there was really no need for her to continue working. And in her current condition, John insisted that she stay home. Although she was only five months pregnant, she had already begun to show a lot, ensuring that this was going to be a difficult pregnancy for her. She rubbed her hand over her distended belly and felt a few soft nudges in response. Brynn smiled. The boys liked to put a glass of water on her belly and watch the child within react to it. They would also put their head to the bulge and talk to their yet unborn sibling.

John peeked into the living room and smiled when he saw Brynn laying on he couch with his youngest son to date curled up beside her. "How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat at the end of the couch and reached up to stroke her belly.

"About the same as I was feeling when you called me an hour ago." Brynn smiled at him, knowing it was only natural for him to feel overly protective of her while she was pregnant. He had been going out of his mind as of late. He would have rather stayed home with her everyday, not wanting to miss a second of the pregnancy, but they both decided it would be more logical for him to take time off after the baby came so he could help her with the boys while she was adjusting to a newborn.

"Did you see Doc today?" John asked.

Brynn rolled her eyes. "I told you the last time you called I went to see Doc. I also told you that, yes he did another sonogram to try and figure out why the baby is so big."

"And you told me that we would discuss it when I got home. Is everything all right?"

"Everything is fine John," Brynn replied taking his hand. "I was just laying here thinking about something though. You told me the day we were married that you now had everything you could ever possibly want in life. If you already have everything, then what could I ever possibly give you?"

John smiled, knowing what she was getting at. "A baby girl?"

Brynn nodded her head and brought his hand up to her lips. "Actually I did even one better than that John," she said after placing small kisses along the back of his hand.

He furrowed his brow looking at her quizzically. "How could you do one better than a baby girl? You know how badly I wanted this?"

"Well," Brynn said trying to draw out his suspense. "It's not just any big baby I have here." She pointed to her belly. "So instead of giving you one baby girl, I'm giving you two. So that would make me... just about amazing!"

John's face light up and the smile that spread across his face made Brynn giggle with delight. "You mean, we're having twins? Twin girls?"

She nodded. John looked from Brynn's face down to her belly. "No wonder you started to show so early." He carefully stroked her again and felt the answering nudge against his hand.

"It also explains why Doc though the baby had a heart murmur. So, we are going to have two beautiful healthy baby girls born on October 1. Doc doesn't want to take any chances so I get to set my date and have them taken by c-section."

John couldn't say anything, his happiness had stolen all words from him. Instead he just leaned over and placed two kisses on Brynn's abdomen, one for each of his unborn daughters. Looking back to her eyes, John once again found his voice. "Now I truly have... everything."