Send me Back

Sinking down on the couch Thirteen leans her head back closing her eyes. Her head was throbbing, and she felt so tired yet it was still the middle of the day. It was such a strange feeling.

Hearing Reese's voice boom through the living room Thirteen cant help but jump not expecting it, and not hearing him upset like that in a long time. She was already on edge today and now this seemed to just add now.

Looking at the TV and than to Ryder Thirteen's eyes hold many questions as what happend at the Zoo slowly slips away and for the time being she forget her worry of that.

"Does this mean we dont have to hide anymore? Why did Reese sound so upset? Will he try and make me stay in that room again? He's not going to send me away again is he?"

Trying not to pay to much mind to what was going on with Jade and Mick he cant help but keep his eye on the mirror and watch what was going on. Neather of them looked happy and Dan wasn't sure why.

Once Jade is in the truck and buckled up Dan gives her a side long glance. Feeling a little strange it felt like something was really wrong. Putting the car into drive Dan moves forward slowly He didnt want to pry but he didnt like this feeling eather.

"Jade...is everything ok? Was your dad ok with you coming along?"

Just drive

"Forget it!"

"Jade, don't you-"

"I'll be back later."

"Jade, get back here this instant!"

Jade continues her stomp towards Dan's truck, ignoring her father's tone of warning. Getting to the truck, she yanks open the door and slips inside, shutting the door just a little hard. Grabbing the seatbelt, she leans forward, trying to hide her tears. "Just drive," she mumbles.

Mick slams a fist into the doorframe of the barn. "Gah!" Knowing some of his brothers were around, he bites his lip and tries to return to work without making any more of a scene.


"Yeah, okay." Though a bit of disappointment shows in Ryder's eyes, he manages a smile. "I'm sorry." He squeezes her hand. "Let's go home. I better get myself cleaned up anyway." He stuffs the business card in his back pocket and leads the way back to the car.

It's a quiet ride, but once they get back to the house, the answering machine has caught a call, and Reese's voice is echoing through the living room. "...er you better have a good explanation, 'cause I do not like what I just saw on the television. I want you in my office because we need to talk." Click.

Ryder's eyes are wide and he goes right for the remote. Plastered on the screen is a news reporter with pictures from the earlier fiasco at the zoo. However, it wasn't the crocodile that was being broadcast at the moment. Rather, it was a humorous angle to a girlfriend getting scared by her boyfriend's stupid stunts.

"Well..." Ryder clears his throat as he sees a picture of him and Thirteen hugging. "I guess the jig's up." He turns to look at Thirteen. He had no idea if he'd be an Elite agent an hour from now.

Maybe Tomorrow

Getting into his truck Dan leans over and turns the radio on trying to find a good channel that would come in on the radio. The truck was old and could use a new sound system so it took a little playing around with.

Glancing out the back window and not seeing Jade return yet Dan continues to play with the radio. I was going to feel strange driving with a woman in the car again but he had learned so much in the time that had past. Now it was time to rebuild, and it was time to start again taking what he learned and living up to it.

Looking up again He can see Jade exiting the barn still talking with Mick though they looked like maybe they were yelling Dan cringed just a little. He hope he hasnt caused the fight saying it was ok for Jade to come with him. Just waiting he new one way or the other Jade would come and let him know if she could go or not.

Listing to Ryder and the manage of the Zoo talk Thirteen is quiet as she keeps her eyes to the ground only looking up a few times. Ryder could work here? Would he always be in danger with the animles? Thirteen new with TJY he was in danger as well but this seemed differnt. Everything would change and where....did she fall into it all?

Finally as they are done talking Thirteen slips her hand into his and looks up at him. Her head hurt, she had, had enough excitement for one day.

"I dont feel good, I think I just want to go home. Maybe tomorrow we can come back?"

You sure?

Ryder's shoulders drop just a little bit. They'd had a setback today and it was his own fault. He'd been careless, and now Thirteen would be scared of him in danger any other time. He swallows his pride though, and nods. "Okay." He wanted to keep her there a little longer... try to walk her around and show her the zoo wasn't a bad place. There were many happy animals here. He wanted to explain that if they released them, most wouldn't know how to survive. He wanted to show her the tiger cubs he'd seen the sign for on their way in. Personally, he wanted to walk around himself and check out the rest of the zoo. But it was his own fault she wasn't ready for that today.

"Come on." Putting an arm around her shoulder, he aims for the path that led back to the entrance. Halfway there, a man steps in their way, stopping them abruptly.

"Excuse me."

Ryder pulls Thirteen to a halt with him. "Yes?"

"You're the man that helped with the crocodile?"

Ryder quirks an eyebrow. He was half caked in mud - what else would he have been doing? "Yeah."

"Here." The man offers him a business card. "I'm the head manager here. I just fired our chief reptile caretaker. You want the job, it's yours."

Ryder's eyes widen as he look at the card, then back at the man. "Well, I-"

"Call me sometime this week. If I don't hear from you by Saturday, I'll find someone else. But we could really use someone like you. The pay's not bad either." The man nods at them both before turning to head back to the office building.

Ryder moves forward slowly, one arm still around Thirteen, his other hand holding the car. "That was... interesting." A lump rose in his throat. He was an Elite agent. How could he give that up to work at a zoo? At the same time though, what good had he been doing at TJY since he'd come to the States?

He stops near the exit gates. "You sure you don't wanna look around?"


“Hey, Dad…”

Mick wanders down the aisle, taking off his leather gloves. “Hey, Babe. What’s up?”

Jade musters up another smile. “Just wanted to let you know that I was gonna hitch a ride with Dan to town. Be back in a while.”

“Wai…uh…” Mick holds up his hand. “He… needs help?”

“No.”

“You need something in town?”

“Not really.” Jade shrugs. “Just… want to get out.”

“I got a couple horses that could use the exercise.”

“Not that kind of “out,” Dad. I’ll be back later, okay?”

“Um… no.” Mick shakes his head. “I’d rather you didn’t go with him.”

Jade stops from going back outside. “What?”

“I said I’d rather you didn’t hitch a ride with Dan.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so.” Mick plays the father card. “Look, just trust me, alright? You need to go somewhere, you can take a horse, or I’ll even let you borrow the car. Just say so.”

“Dad!” Jade throws up her arms. “What is your problem?”

“I don’t need to explain myself.” Mick eyes his daughter as he aims for the open barn door, not realizing that Dan is anywhere close. “I have my reasons and that’s all you need to know.”

Jade grits her teeth, crossing her arms. “What, is this about last night or something? You don’t like it that we had a good time? Jealous? Over-protective? What is it?”

“I heard you did have a good time,” Mick retorts. “Which is more than I got out of you.”

Jade frowns. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Look, your behavior could have been a little more conservative last night, that’s all. I don’t think you should be flaunting yourself at Dan at every opportunity.”

“Flaunting?!” Jade’s eyes widen. “What were you doing? Spying? Who did you send to check up on us?!”

“No.” Mick sighs with frustration as he stops right at the barn entrance, trying not to become too agitated. “I just don’t understand, Jade. Did something happen last night that you don’t want to talk about? Is there some reason you want to get all cozy with Dan all of a sudden?”

Jade’s face turns at least three shades of red. Her voice comes out in a low hiss. “I cannot believe what you are insinuating. I was perfectly behaved last night, and if you think that anything other than some friendly conversation went on last night, you should be ashamed of yourself because you obviously don’t trust me, or the others who were there too.”

“All I heard is that you were the biggest flirt at the alley,” Mick retorts in exasperation.

Jade’s jaw drops. “Wha… who… who told you that?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does!” Jade’s eyes flicker with anger as he recalls some of the scenes from last night. “It was Jason, wasn’t it? You purposely had him keep an eye on me, didn’t you? Like a little snitch, you had him watch me, then report to Daddy when we got home, is that it?”

Mick’s temper is nearing its limit and his jaw muscles work back and forth. “Apparently you needed to be watched.” He hadn’t been happy to hear that she’d been a royal flirt, and he swings the conversation back around. “As for today, the answer is still no. You need to go to town, go. But not with Dan.”

“I’m eighteen years old!” Jade raises her voice. “I’m not a little girl anymore and you can’t just order me around!”

“You’re here? At this ranch? It’s my word that goes,” Mick reminds sternly. “Now if there’s anything else you’d like to tell me that you’ve been hiding, now would be a good time.”

“Else? Else?!” Jade doesn’t realize she’s almost standing outside now. “First you accuse me of doing who knows what, now you think there’s more?”

“I know when you’re keeping something from me, Jade! I’m your father. If you’re not going to tell me, I’ll find out the hard way, but I don’t think you want that.”

Jade can feel the lump rising in her throat. “It’s none of your concern.”

“It is, if it has to do with you and an employee of mine, it does.”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

“Then tell me what’s going on!”

“So I flirted! So what?!” A tear rolls down Jade’s face. “Who are you to judge, huh? You don’t know half of what my life is like, so don’t stand there and pretend you know all the ins and outs of what your little girl needs. You’ve got some freakish idea that I’m going behind your back with your ranch hand and I don’t even know why.”

“Do you deny it?!”

“Yes!”

Please

Looking up at Ryder she saw he was ok, but it didnt stop the fear she had inside. Being pulled into Ryder's hug Thirteen feels a little bit of comfort in his arms but her heart still raced and she still felt a little shaky.

"I'm not mad at you. I am just upset in general with this whole thing."

It was true, she was upset with the zoo, she was upset with herself for not being stronger, she was upset with Ryder but not mad. Everything had just been piled into one and that made it worse.

"Next time?? Does there have to be a next time, I..."

Thirteen cuts her words off before she says them. It wasnt always about her and with this situation it wasnt eather. If she said what she wanted than she would sound selfish and she didn't want that.

"Can we go now please?"

Next time

Ryder's eyes widen as he gets hit in the arm, and his initial reaction is to recoil in irritation. But then he sees Thirteen's tears. Hearing her wavering voice, he suddenly realizes what he'd just done. And he feels terrible. "Aw, Thirteen."

He hangs his head, closing his eyes for a moment before looking back up at her. He hadn't been thinking. He thought she'd be okay at the back of the crowd, and to him, fooling with the crocodile wasn't anything to get excited over. But he often forgot that to other people, it was scary.

Reaching out, he pulls her into a hug instead of chiding her. "I'm sorry," he apologizes. "I wasn't thinking." Pulling back, he ducks to see her eyes, wiping away some of her tears with his thumb. "I'm okay, see? It's nothing to be scared of... remember all those stories I told you about me and crocodiles? This is just another one of those." He tries to get her to smile. "C'mon, ay? Don't be mad at me. Next time I won't leave you with a mob, k?"

Punch

Giving a chuckle at Scott's comment Dalton falls quiet for a long moment as he works on the program some more the music in the background providing the best mood. Finally though taking a swig of MD and than standing to streach Dalton pases the floor. He needed to stretch his long legs after being cramped up for so long.

"Mmmmm...Mexican, I havnt had that in a while. I dont see a problem in my end but when I see Dani later tonight I'll run it by her just to make sure she had nothing planed and than I will let you know tomorrow morning if thats not to late?"

Things had been going pretty smooth with Dani and Dalton. He still had some wrinkles to iron out but with Dani's pashents and Scott's tips here and there he was learning.

Looking over at his younger friend Dalton's lips turn up in a small smile that was gone as quick as it had come. It was nice having Scott back and they got along so well. Dalton hadn't had that close friendship in so long it felt nice to have someone else there. To see him getting healthy again, and smile it was nice.

Looking down at Jade Dan thinks for a long moment contemplating his options. It couldn't hurt to have her along and it wasn't that far into town.

"Yeah sure you can, just one thing I ask dont be a passenger seat driver."

Giving Jade a small wink and offering his hand to her to help her up Dan gives a small nod to his truck.

"If you wanna run and tell your dad you are going to head into town with me he is inside the barn. I can wait in the truck for you!"

Dan's drawl didnt always come out but in certin times, like when he was trying to be a gentility it shone bright and strong. One of his best trates.

Standing where Ryder told her to stand Thirteen felt nervous and confused as well. So many people were around it was hard to see anything but infront of her almost like a closed box that she was trapped in. Why was Ryder leaving her and going twords that Croc? Why wasn't he letting her come, and making her stand alone in a place she didn't know with people she didnt know. It was almost suffocating.

Continuing to watch Thirteen cant help the beating of her heart that pound faster and faster echoing in her ears. Watching Ryder her eyes grow big as she holds a gasp, tears roll from her eyes as a gear takes hold of her watching the Croc lunge for Ryder and bearly miss him. Gasps keep coming from her mouth, and little shreeks from her as well but the crowd around her drowns her out.

Finally as Ryder gets the Croc tyed up and starts talking to the keeper Thirteen pushes her way through the people and to the back of the crowd. She had to get air, everything was spinning as the tears still fell from her eyes and this fear still had a hold of her.

Looking up and seeing Ryder coming twords her again a muddy mess she dosnt not smile as her eyes are red, and her cheeks streaked with tears. Everything inside of her was screaming and this place that could of been filled with wonder turned into a place that this one person didnt like.

Continuing to look at Ryder Thirteen can feel the tears from even more in her eyes as she thinks of what the possibility that could of happened. Forming her fist into a ball Thirteen cant help her emotions that she didnt know what to do with and reaching out she gives a punch to Ryder's arm her voice giving a weaver.

"Why did you do that? You left me in a place I didnt know, with people I didnt know, and than you made me so scaired because I could of lost you...."

Thirteen looks up at Ryder, she didnt know how to express how she felt, it was a fear differnt from the other times she had felt. This time it was a fear that someone she cared about could of died, she could be left alone for good with the pain of loss.

"...I want to go home please. I dont like it here."