Volcano

Mick can hear the strain in Rosetta's voice and it chips off another piece of his heart. He tries to keep his tone steady though. "Yeah... I got enough time to talk to him. Put him on."

Waiting until he hears the boy's voice, Mick tries to be as upbeat as possible. "Hey, BJ! I miss you so much. But I'll be home soon, okay? Have you been behaving for Mom?"


While in the house, Mick was unaware of the episode going on outside...

"Dylan, no! It's not worth it!"

Not listening to Adam's call, Dylan keeps going, his sneakers pounding on the hard ground. Breathing heavily, he reaches the end of the driveway. Freedom. But one more step is all it takes. It had rained two days ago. And last night, the temperature had been cold.

As Dylan's foot hits a patch of slick ice, the world turns upside down. Sprawling hard on the ground, the wind is knocked out of him. Trying to pick himself up, he lets out a cry as pain shoots through his shoulder.

Adam skids to a stop and kneels next to him. "Where are you hurt?"

"Get away from me," Dylan growls. This had been his one chance to get away from here, and one wrong step had cost him his freedom.

"Just settle down," Adam chides firmly. "You really wanna go? Go. But nothing's waiting for you out there than the same thing you came here with - trouble and a life worth nothing because you threw it away." He pauses, seeing the shape of Dylan's arm. "And on top of that, you'll be walking around with a dislocated shoulder. Now come on."

Dylan winces as Adam helps him up. He'd try to bolt again, were it not for the excruciating pain. "What do you care?" he grumbles. He'd been here close to two weeks and this was the closest thing to a conversation with Adam as he'd had.

"I guess because I'm wired that way. I care about people and I care about where they end up. You've got too much potential for me to just walk away." Adam positions Dylan next to him and feels his shoulder. "This is gonna hurt."

Dylan braces himself for the yank, crunch and pop. His eyes water from the pain, but he doesn't utter a sound.

Adam stops and just studies him for a long moment. "You need to put some ice on that. Follow me."

With his head down, Dylan trudges after Adam.


Sparky walks past the kitchen in time to realize that Rosetta and BJ were around the phone. From the look on Rosetta's face, he could only imagine that it was Mick, so he keeps on walking, not wanting to intrude.

Scanning all the faces of those who were gathering to eat, Sparky tries to decide where he wants to sit, but spotting only a few empty chairs, he wanders to the outskirts, nearer the hearth. Sitting at he smaller table, his mind wanders to and fro. He thinks about when Mick might be back and how that will change things again. He was just getting used to the new routines, but once Mick was home, things would change back to the way they were. It should be that way... Mick was the man in charge. But at the moment, the men were looking to Sparky for direction, and he was filling the role as need be. He'd done it before... and just like before, the position would be removed once Mick was back. Sparky didn't like the little pangs of selfishness that wanted to escape, and he tried to smother them with thoughts of the positive aspects.

Fiddling with a salt shaker, he doesn't notice when the food is being served. His thoughts bounce from his own dilemma to Faith and the question of why someone as sweet as she, needed to go through a physical nightmare. It didn't seem fair. But God never promised fairness and Sparky knew it all too well.

He then thinks of Dan and Jade. That brings his mind full-circle back to Mick and when he returned. How would that affect the young couple that had obviously fallen for each other? Sparky didn't want to see either one get hurt - they'd already both faced enough in their lives without this being hard too.

Sighing, Sparky folds his arms to rest his head on them, closing his eyes. The older he got, the more engrossed he became in trying to fix the problems around him. But sometimes, there was just nothing he could do. It was harder now than it used to be to let go though.


Gunner waits for Bree to return, his grin a wide, silly one. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be. He holds up his keys. "My turn to drive."

It was a quick drive to the little diner, and they take up their normal spot by the window. Ordering floats that don't float while keeping straight faces was their routine, and it didn't change, even when they had a new waitress today. By the time she came back with their floats, she was so confused that Gunner made a note to be sure and leave a good tip for putting up with them.

Most of the time, dates over lunchtime were fairly quiet as Gunner and Bree took time to relax from the workday. Neither minded the long breaks in conversation, but today Gunner was in rare form, his goofy side coming out more than normal.

With his elbows spread on the table, his head was bent low so he could still manipulate the straw in his glass without using his hands. His hat was still backward and he glances up to Bree, then back down almost cross-eyed to his float. Blowing slowly through his straw, bubbles started to form. As the ice cream and foam rose, it came dangerously close to the rim of the glass, but he continued to blow, seeing how much of a mountain could be created before it overflowed.

At some point, one of the bubbles bursts, sending rootbeer spray onto his nose. Up until this point, his face had been sober, but that did it. An uncontrolled laugh comes out, but unfortunately, his mouth was still around his straw. The sudden burst of air causes a brief but powerful eruption, sending ice cream froth and rootbeer into the air like a mini firework, splattering in a sticky mess all over Gunner's side of the table.

Having sucked in as a reaction to the volcano, Gunner's mouth was now full, but his laughter was hindering him from swallowing. His silent laughter makes his face grow redder and redder until he turns his hat around to cover it up, desperately trying not to spit out what was in his mouth.