Almost three hours on the road from Pittsburgh to Erie and the young girl in the back seat was sound asleep. Her dyed black hair was covering a good part of her face as it was pressed in a small bead pillow, muffling her soft snores. The journey from Pittsburgh to Erie had not been the idea of the young girl but of her father who lived up in Erie, raising cows, sheep, goats and horses. He hadn't seen his daughter since the divorce and it had been his wish to see her, have her with him for a whole summer then she could go off to college and he would pay for it instead of her mother having to get another job to do so. So, to be able to afford college while working a part time job, Serenity had chosen to stay with her father for a summer so she could go to Penn State. The car turned onto a private road labeled 'Ray Drive' and slowly pulled up to a 125 acre farm.

"Serenity, come on. We're here." The masculine voice was accompanied by a firm hand shaking her leg for her to wake up.

Her brown eyes fluttered open and she rubbed her eyes before sitting up to look out the window. Examining the dirt road up to the house with a stable on one side and the barn on the other side, her mother's boyfriend, Jerry wouldn't take his brand new red sedan up the drive. The car was already partially caked with dried mud on the bottom near the wheels and he wouldn't risk making it any worse than it already was. Unbuckling herself, she opened the door as Jerry popped the trunk for her to get her other bags she had out so he could leave. Serenity moved from the sedan and went to the trunk to grab her bags since she knew Jerry wouldn't help at all. Rolling her eyes at him, she couldn't understand why her mother had decided to date him since he still lived with his mother up in Squirrel Hill for free while Serenity and her mother lived over in Sheradon, fighting to keep their apartment from month to month. Grabbing her bags, she slammed the trunk closed and watched Jerry lean out of the window.

"I'll be here to pick you up at 3p.m. On September 4th." Jerry told her the drove off.

Rolling her eyes at his lack of care, she turned and marched up the driveway to the smallish gray wooden house. In truth, she was nervous since she could barely remember what her father looked like at all despite that her mother had always said that she looked like him. Fidgeting, she came to the front steps and walked up them slowly, not completely ready to meet her father for the first time in fourteen years. Reaching up, she knocked three times loud enough so anyone inside could hear. No more than two minutes later an older woman opened the door, her blonde hair almost all gray with her small form hunched over.

"Yes?" The older woman looked over Serenity a few times before she motioned for her to come into the house.

"You've grown up a lot." The old woman mumbled as Serenity moved into the house and had the door shut behind her.

The house was almost plain except for the pictures that lined the mantle above the fireplace in the living room, she recognized several people in the pictures, a few were pictures of her when she was younger and others of relatives she had scarcely remembered. Her mother, Rina, hadn't really let her know about the relatives from her father's half of the family.

"Yeah, fourteen years will do that to a person." Serenity retorted dryly as she studied the walls and the floors.

All wood floors with decently up to date paint on the walls which meant that either the old woman didn't live in the past or her father didn't.

"Did you eat yet or are you doing one of those stupid diets?" Smiling, Serenity liked this old woman's spunk.

"No, my mother does that. Not me." Serenity laughed as she watched the old woman nod in agreement as she moved into the kitchen.

The kitchen had looked like it had recently been redone, an island bar with a stove in it with the pans hanging above it. The wooden floor almost sparkled and went nicely with the new appliances and the cabinets were stocked with food. Serenity would enjoy pigging out if she wanted to have movie nights.

"Good. Now, I serve breakfast at 7 am sharp. Lunch at 1 and dinner at 6:30. You need to be washed up and at the table at least three minutes before then for each meal. Got any questions?" The old woman grabbed a rag from the counter top and put it on her shoulder,

"So...uh...where's my dad and my room?"

"Right here." The deep masculine voice drew her eyes to behind her in the doorway to the kitchen.

A tall man in his forties, brown hair that was graying with brown eyes to match, he wore leather work gloves with faded levis and a white beater but, it did not diminish his imposing figure. He was a man built over years of hard work on a farm,

"I...uh...hi." Serenity's voice seemed to loose it's confidence as she looked at the man who she could see that she resembled greatly.

The full lips, the almond shaped eyes, the way he stood and the air he carried about him reminded her all too much of herself. Watching him as he pulled off his gloves and set them on the counter, his eyes searching before he moved quickly. Scooping her up into his arms and hugging her with all of the love she had missed over the years, she hadn't expected the hug but it felt right to hug him back and she did.

"I've missed you." His voice was gruff and raspy, she assumed he was trying to hold back tears.

Letting her down, he looked at her, sized her up before grinning.

"Jesus, you look nothing like your mother." Serenity smiled and blushed,

"Yeah, she's told me several times."

She also shared his smile, the full, bright smile that was contagious. The old woman shooed them out of 'her' kitchen so she could get lunch ready for them while they went outside so he could show her around the farm.

"Who is the old lady?" Serenity asked as he walked her towards the barn first on the right left of the house.

"That's Joanne. Old biddy's been around since before you were born. Joanne was my dad's best friend til the day he died." She listened as she explained and wondered if she could call him dad or have to call him by his given name, Alex.

"You know what I do, right?" He asked her and she shook her head at him then she noticed a white building right behind the barn, it couldn't have been seen by the road or even coming up to the front of the house.

"Milk, now that I see that building." Serenity quickly answered and received a nod from her father.

"Goat and cow with the sheep a little thing on the side. Thought about adding Alpaca but decided against it." Entering the building, she saw the cows eating lazily with a few of them with their calves, it was a happy sight.

"This is what you do all day?" She asked him and he shook his head,

"No. I have a few other helpers who come and help me with broken fences, lost animals, and in the spring this place is bustling with newborns. It's a sight." Alex smiled as he though about it, it was one of his favorite things about owning a farm other than taking care of the animals.

"Do I get to help with anything?" She asked tentatively, hoping that she was allowed to at least do something to preoccupy her time instead of stay inside all day.

"Sure, I can only teach so much since I'll be busy and so will the boys." Alex shoved his leather gloves over his hands and patted a heifer on the neck as they exited the building and started walking towards what Serenity assumed was the stable.

It was a big red building with stalls on either side of the large pathway through it, there was a gray mare in her stall eating quietly by herself.

"Martha is on quarantine, she had a nasty cold of sorts and she's almost ready to go back out with the others." It seemed as if on cue, a young man came in.

He wasn't as tall or handsome as her father but, he carried himself with such confidence and swagger than Serenity had to roll her eyes. His dirty blonde hair was cut short to his scalp and he had a five o' clock shadow on his cheeks and jaw line. He looked like he thought he was God's gift to women which made her sneer a little, he hated men like that.

"Hey Sharp, were you out running Hillarie?" Alex asked as he saw the young man coming into the stable with a beautiful brown mare's reins in his hand.

"Yes sir. She was getting a little antsy and wanted some time with the saddle." Sharp had already taken the saddle off of the mare since she was bereft of one.

His blue eyes studied Serenity far too long than she would have liked and her father wasn't paying attention to the look because he was fixing some equipment near her. All she could do was hope he would look over to her soon or him for that matter.

"And who is this lovely young lady?" Sharp asked huskily and the tone had Serenity shivering in an emotion close to disgust and fear.

"This young lady is my daughter Sharp, remember that." Alex warned, his voice taking the tone Serenity had been hoping for but, it didn't stop Sharp from looking at her.

"Sharp is one of my helpers around the place. He is the youngest among the hands so keep away from him, he had a reputation with the local girls that will not extend to you." Alex stood up straight and shot Sharp a look that told him that he needed to keep his eyes and hands to himself which he promptly did by avoiding his gaze.

"My daughter will be helping around here a little with small things. You will show her the respect you show me and help her if she asks for it." The tone was still tense for Alex, he wanted his point to be taken seriously by Sharp so he would stay away from his daughter in the sexual aspect or he might have fingers broken.

"Yes sir." Sharp nodded and took the reins from Hillarie and let her trot out of the stable so she could rejoin the rest of the horses out in the pasture.

"Do you have your license?" Serenity's father asked her and she nodded,

"Mom let me get it last year." Nodding to her answer he continued;

"Well then I'll take you to town sometime this week so you can get there if you ever need anything." Alex told his daughter as he turned to her.

"Okay. I have all of my stuff so I won't need things for awhile." Serenity went over to the stall with Martha in it and the mare turned to look at her.

Huffing softly, the mare turned and moved over to the opening in the stall, watching the young girl in front of her curiously. Serenity wasn't as tall as her dad who stood at 6'1", she stood at 5'6" which was close to her mother's 5'8". Reaching her hand out, Martha moved forward and pressed her snout against the offered hand. Rubbing gently, Serenity decided she would figure out how to groom these horses, how to feed them and how to properly ride them.

"Lunch is ready!" They hear Joanne yell and so Serenity followed her father out of the stable and into the house with Sharp following her movements with his eyes.