Thank you all those that have read this little side story so far. I deeply appreciate it.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Thank you. He's something of an enigma to Callie as she's expecting him to be like all the other guys she's met over the last three years of being creeps or perverts, but he's really not looking for that for one, his background, his breakup and this time seeing another doppelganger he doesn't see as a coincidence.

I can't remember if you said anything or not about this in "The Universe...", but this is on a pretty good start. Dusty seemed to

Challenge King: Thank you. I hope this and my future chapters are acceptable.

Rating: T


Chapter 2

Though the former waitress had concerns about the snowfall, the situation turned out that it slacked off considerably with only a light soft fall of flakes coming down. Only a few minutes after leaving the small dinner, Callie was pulling her car into a parking lot of a motel which brought a smirk across Dusty's face at the offered accommodations.

Callie noticed and questioned in a curt tone, "What?"

He shook his head and looked to the lovely pale young woman to answer, "Nothing, it's just that my dad used to do a lot of traveling before I was born and spent many a night in motels like this."

She smirked, toying with him with the question as she put the car into park and turned off the ignition, "To bed the ladies?"

He maintained his grin and replied with a jovial tone, "Not primarily. His job required him to be on the road most of the time… he would just happen to meet the ladies."

She was impressed that he wasn't easily offended with her remark and thought perhaps he wasn't so bad, though him being 'bad' had not entered her mind as of yet only a bit of weariness. She unbuckled her seat-belt and stepped out of the car with him following suit.

The dark brunette started on her way to the office of the motel, but stopped when she realized that he wasn't following behind him. She turned to look to see him just standing and looking up at the sky, holding out his hand to catch snowflakes on his bare hands.

She knotted her brow and curiously asked, "What are you doing?"

Dusty turned away from looking at the sky and towards the curious woman. "I told you, I didn't see snow where I lived—either place—that often. I'm just enjoying the novelty of it for a second. Don't you ever take a second and just marvel at it?"

Callie licked her pink lips and replied with a near snarky tone, "Trust me on this: it wears off pretty quickly. I've been for a while."

"It's only September. How much could it have snowed since you've been here?"

She motioned around to the piled up snow.

He shrugged a shoulder and remarked, "Point."

Callie started back on her way to the motel's office and Dusty fell in step behind her. She flung the door open for them to slip inside and she quickly approached the manger. She greeted him with a curt tone, "Hey Carl, my… my friend here needs a room. Are any available?"

The shaved headed man in his late twenties and wearing a light brown sweater vest and sarcastically remarked, "Yeah, I have a room available, yours. You owe me last week's rent, so I can't let you in either."

Callie put on a hint of a smile and rested her forearms on the counter. She started in a smooth voice, "I'll tell you what Carl, why don't you let me in and I can freshen up and in a—"

Dusty interrupted her, "How much does she owe?"

The dark haired narrowed her eyes and looked on him, clearly irritated that he was interrupting her.

"She owes me a hundred."

Dusty was already was reaching into his jean pocket to pull out some money as he asked, "Okay. I assume you take cash?"

Carl immediately realized that the teenager was going to pay Callie's balance and quickly pointed out, "Sure, but I don't have a room for you if you pay. I'm all booked up."

"That's just how it plays out I guess. Are you inclined to tell me any other motels in the area? Or the nearest bus station?

Callie looked to him and was about to point out that it wasn't necessarily advisable to go back out even if the snowfall had slackened, but Carl interrupted her with another suggestion, "He could stay with you if he's your friend. You got two beds and pay the extra."

Dusty raised an eyebrow and pointed out, "Ah… I'm a guy and she's a girl…"

The manger and the pale skin girl gave him a curious looks.

He innocently answered, "What?"

Callie and Carl continued to stare at him as if he was an alien that had just landed in front of them. The pale young woman questioned, "You have a problem rooming with a girl? Even for a night?"

"Yeah, I really do."

The dark haired girl just continued to look at him in a dumbfounded manner.

Dusty rolled his eyes. "Fine." He looked to Carl and asked, "How much extra for the day?"

"Fifty."

The younger man threw him a look questioning his sanity and answered, "For a day where hers was a hundred for a week? No thank you, I'll start walking."

He started putting his wallet back into his pocket, turned and was about to head out the door when Carl challenged, "In this weather?"

Dusty pulled his gray hood onto his head and smirked. "I didn't get to play in the snow."

Callie slightly shook her head and offered, "Carl, just make it twenty-five."

The office manager contemplated it for a few seconds and soon realized that he was about to turn down payment for last week's rent and potentially some extra cash that really didn't cost him anything for him to stay. "Okay, twenty five and what she owes me."

The Angeleno smirked and walked back to the counter. Dusty pulled out his wallet from his front left pocket and counted off some bills to pay Callie's past bill and for him to stay the night. He handed them to the manger while slipping his wallet back into his pocket.

Carl happily took them then opened a drawer and pulled out an electronic keycard. He swiped it to activate it to the room then handed it to Dusty.

He smiled his thanks in taking the card then manager pointed out, "I need to swipe your card Callie; I had it deactivated while you were gone.

The fired waitress quickly pulled her card from her purse and he swiped it to reactivate it.

Callie quickly took it back and the unlikely pair headed out of the warm office and down the row towards her room. They stopped at the red door with a gold number five plaque bolted to it. She swiped her keycard then they entered.

The accommodations were small, but adequate to stay for the night, with the two single beds headboards pressed against the right wall, a microwave sitting on a mini-refrigerator at the center of the left side wall, a closet to the left of the appliances and the restroom on the immediate left of the entrance of the room.

Dusty closed the door behind him as Callie walked to the second bed and set her purse down on it. He took a seat on the foot of the first bed and rested his hands on his knees. He took several shallow breaths and looked around, avoiding looking at Callie.

She smirked while pulling off her coat and hanging it up in the closet. "You're really nervous being here, aren't you?"

He put on a crooked smile while sparing her the briefest of glances and muttered bashfully, "I've never spent the night with a girl—I mean, slept over—actually I haven't spent the night with a girl like that either… whatever." He clamped his mouth shut and looked wide eyed.

Callie licked her bottom lip, finding him amusing in his bashfulness. "What? You never crashed at your girlfriend's place or she at yours?"

The brown eyed teenager looked to her with a hint of hesitation playing on his face. "Ah, nope. Her parents certainly wouldn't approve of that. We've had movie nights at her place, but I'd always leave at the end of it."

She replied with a softly mocking tone, "That's the price for living with the parents. If she's a well known model as you say, couldn't she just afford a place of her own?"

"She could, but she doesn't have a real need to move out yet. She's fine still living with her parents. She has a good relationship with them and having them watch out for her is a plus. There are plenty of people in Hollywood and the industry that would love to take advantage of her, especially when she was younger."

The dark brunette glanced away and muttered, "It must be nice having parents that actually give a damn about you."

"Yes it is…"

Silence fell between them for several seconds before he glanced up and over to her. "May I ask you a question?"

"Sure, I guess, as long as it isn't too personal."

"Why are you letting me stay the night? You really don't know me. Aren't you concern something could happen?"

She grinned with just a hint of her teeth showing while she glanced away towards her bed before sitting down on the left side of the foot of it. She crossed her arms over her knees and leaned forward a bit. "If something happens, Carl could identify you."

"True, but that doesn't answer my question. Why?"

She cocked her head to the right and shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know. You've kind of sweet and kind of cute."

He raised an eyebrow and threw her a boyish grin. "Oh? I'm here because of my good looks?"

"It can be a dreary place and it is nice to have something nice to look at."

"I'm flattered."

"Don't let it go to your head… either one of them."

Dusty let out a hearty laugh at her quip and patted his own knee. He beamed a smile to her as he answered, "I won't."

Callie crossed her legs and rested her crossed forearms over her knees again and asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"It seems only fair."

"Why are you here? If you don't want to sleep with me, why did you follow me out of the dinner? Why buy lunch? Why pay the balance of my last week's rent? The real reason?"

Dusty took a deep breath then slowly let it out. He met her blue eyes, the same blue eyes that he had loved to look into for over the last year, then started to answer, "I—"

He was interrupted with a loud banging on the motel door. The pair glanced to the door and the Southern teenager asked, "Expecting company?"

Callie looked to him with mild concern and answered, "No." She called out, "Hello?"

A young man shouted from the other side of the door, "Callie, open the door."

Callie curiously looked to the door, "Jake?"

The rapid knocking became louder to a near banging and he shouted from the other side in an impatient tone, "Open up Callie, I need to talk to you."

She looked to Dusty, unsure what she should do as she could hear the trace of anger in her voice. She didn't get to say anything as the gentleman on the other side of the door called out again, "Would you open the door Callie?"

Dusty narrowed his gaze on the door and whispered in a near ominous voice, "Pack your things."

"What?"

He turned halfway and stared her directly in the eyes and stated in crisp voice, "Pack all of your things and head out of the window. He wants his money or your blood and since you don't have his money… I'm not going to let him have your blood, so go."

She paused at the intensity of his eyes and confused how he could have known such a thing. He maintained his stare and she felt the need to heed his advice, especially with her pause in answering caused the man on the other side of the door kicked it and screamed, "Callie!"

The blue eyed girl quickly grabbed her worn burgundy suitcase and began packing what little belongings she had in the room.

Jake sounded like he was pressing his face against the door and shouted, "Come on Callie! Open the door!"

She was about to shout something back to stall him, but Dusty held up a hand and shooed her to continue her packing and escape. She heeded his nonverbal advice and turned to the zipping up her bag. She pulled her coat back on, threw her purse on her shoulder and grabbed her bag then headed for the window.

Dusty stood up and headed for the door just as Callie opened the window and crawled out of it.

Jake shouted again, "Callie, would you open the do—"

He was cut off when Carl approached from his right while simultaneously the door opening to reveal Dusty wearing a bright smile and answered, "Hello? Can I help you?"

Jake's jaw slacked and looked the nineteen year old, completely dumbfounded at the surprise appearance of the unknown young man. "Who are you?!"

"I'm Dusty. Who are you?"

Jake took advantage of his height over Dusty to look over the shorter young man's shoulder to look inside the motel room and the window open. He clenched his jaw tightly at seeing his girlfriend's absence when he had seen her car in the parking lot. He spat while meeting Dusty's eyes, "Where's Callie?"

The younger man furled his eyebrows and asked in a dumbfounded manner, "Who?"

Jake looked at the shorter fellow in disgust then attempted to shove Dusty out of the way, but the younger man remained in place and grabbed Jake by the collar of his jacket. He slightly lifted him off of his feet and shoved him away, sending the taller guy stumbling backwards.

Dusty took only one step forward so he was straddling the threshold into the room and raised his hands. He stated in a calming voice in the hopes that the irate older guy would do the same, "Buddy, you need to calm down—"

Jake did not take his advice, growled and charged back at the opening and Dusty, but the teenager took a step back and slammed the door shut just in time for Jake to collided face first into the red door. He screamed as he stumbled back and grabbed his bleeding nose.

Carl had enough sense to walk away with the intention of calling the police.

Dusty opened the door to see Jake taking several steps back and holding his face. The older one of the two growled and charged again at the shorter young man.

The Southern teenager raised his right foot up and kicked out at Jake's chest. He connected with the clearly unhinged guy and sent him flying nearly a dozen feet in the air before sliding across the snow covered pavement.

Jake rolled to his right and gripped over his chest, whimpering in pain as he felt that his ribcage was broken. He wasn't to far off as he did have several cracked ribs. He coughed several times, fortunately not coughing up any blood.

As the confrontation played out, Callie had rounded the motel and reached the far end of the parking lot. She spotted Jake's truck/jeep parked parallel to the neighboring road and in the direction of the parking lot exit. She saw the opportunity and ran to the truck, lugging her burgundy suitcase by her side.

Dusty approached Jake as the older guy tried to fight through the pain, but stopped just as he reached the lying fellow's feet when he heard the engine of the truck start up.

Callie looked out of the driver's side window with a wicked grin towards Dusty.

The former Carolinian gave her a two finger salute with a playful smile on his face while she pulled away.

Once she had pulled out onto the road and floored the gas.

The Southern teenager looked down to Jake and softly mocked, "Now you be a good boy and stay down if you know what's good for you."

Dusty didn't wait for a response and started walking over to Callie's left behind car and opened the driver's side door. He slipped inside the seat with his left leg hanging out of the door on the snowy pavement then reached underneath the steering wheel and pulled it open to reveal a bundle of wires. He reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out his pocket knife to cut the desired wires. A few seconds later, he put his knife up and hotwired the car to start.

Jake finally pulled himself back on his feet and began to stumble towards Dusty, but he pulled his leg in and nearly closed the door… then he swung it open and slammed into the angry older guy, sending him tumbling back onto the ground. The younger man closed the door and kicked the car into reverse then out of the parking lot in the hopes of catching up with the former waitress.

She was a good head start on him, but he could see the back of Jake's truck in the distance. She didn't look like she had any plans to stop, perhaps assuming that Jake somehow would be right behind her. As violent as Jake had demonstrated with just her refusal to open the door, he didn't blame her for getting as far away from him as possible.


Over the course of the next eight hours, they crossed the state of Missouri and through Illinois to reach somewhere in Indiana as the sun finally began to set. At one point he had to stop to refill her car which cost him precious minutes and losing sight of her, but out of instinct or perhaps lead by a higher power, he continued forward in more or less a straight line where the road would take him.

As he drove down a smaller two lane road in near pitch darkness, he almost missed seeing a parked truck on the side of the road, but slowed down in time to pull up behind it. He instantly recognized it as the truck that Callie had stolen from the guy that she owed money. He cautiously got out of the car and reached to the small of his back. He pulled out a silver elaborately engraved Colt M1911A .45 and slowly approached the side of the vehicle with his weapon raised in a proper two-handed grip that his father had shown him many times, guided and backlit by the headlights from Callie's car. He reached the driver's side door and took a cautious look inside through the windshield, but found it empty.

Dusty looked around to see if he could spot her, but quickly assumed she was walking down the road. He headed back to her car, holstered his weapon and slipped inside before starting it up again. He pulled the vehicle around the parked truck and started on his way again in the hopes of finding the dark brunette in the dark.

He finally stopped when he noticed a truck stop, making the assumption that the blue eye girl would stop here for shelter from the winter night. He pulled into a spot away from the various trucks and got out, glancing around to see if he could spot her. Failing to see her, he headed for convenience store/truck stop in hopes that someone had seen the dark brunette. He had a momentary feeling of fear that she could freeze to death out in low temperatures.

A good twenty minutes later and several miles from the same truck stop that Dusty had found, Callie was settling herself into the seat of a bus, waiting for it to start on its way to her next destination. It was a minor miracle she had found one heading in her desired direction at this time of night. She glanced out the window and let her mind wander.

"I assume that this seat isn't taken?" Dusty casually remarked as he took a seat next to her.

The dark brunette looked dumbfounded at the teenager dropping next to her. She muttered, "Dusty?"

He boyishly grinned to her. "Hi. So, where are we heading?"

She gulped several times like a fish out of water then answered without thinking, "I'm going home. My dad had a… how did you find me?"

"I hotwired your car and followed you all the way from Missouri. You just kept driving, so I couldn't catch up until I found Jake's truck abandoned on the side of the road. I followed out the road until I hit that trucking stop. I asked if anyone had seen you—you are quite the looker after all—and they told me where you headed, so I'm here."

She studied his handsome features, taken aback that he was actually sitting with her. She finally uttered, "Why?"

"I wanted to see if you were alright. It's cold out there and you might have frozen to death."

"No, I mean why did you follow me all the way from Missouri?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out…" He paused and put on a big grin. "So we're going to Philadelphia? That's what the ticket master told me this was heading."

She paused in answering, wondering whether or not she should bother to push him for an answer then realized his latter question. "We?"

"I'm on this bus and sitting next to you, so… you're going to see your father?"

She decided to ignore the fact that he apparently was going to ride with her and answer his second question, "Yeah, he had a stroke."

His hesitant smile faded and replaced with a sympathetic gaze and slight frown. He spoke barely above the sound of their soft breaths, "I'm sorry."

She smacked her lips and turned to look back out to the night. "Whatever."

"People expect you to be sympathetic when something happens to someone even when you can't stand that person's guts. It's the Christian way, but people forget that we're not perfect. We're only… we're only human."

The blue eyed girl turned away from the window to look at his sympathetic eyes.

"He really hurt you didn't he?"

She pulled a page from his book and ignored his question and remarked, "I guess we are going to spend the night together."

He slightly bowed his head and wore a tight smile. "I guess we are."

"You're not going to touch me when I fall asleep are you?"

He grinned. "I was going ask you the same thing if I doze off first. I was going to ask you that back at your motel room before we were going to go to bed. You did after were keeping me around because of my looks."

She rolled her eyes then rested her head back on the headrest just as the bus started pulling out of the terminal.

He playfully chuckled and shook his head.

They quietly sat, Callie apparently not up for even small talk as she tried to settle in her seat to go to sleep. He was curious about the guy he had put on the ground and how deep was the relationship between he and his riding companion, however this wasn't the time to push for answers. The Southern teenager glanced over to his riding companion that had finally fallen asleep as the time ticked towards ten that evening. Soon she was drifting off to dreamland and it wasn't a pleasant one.

He could see every moment of it.

Three years ago or so…

Callie was standing just within the threshold of her father's home office back in Philadelphia. Her hair was shorter than currently to just a few inches past her shoulders and dressed head to toe in black with a leather vest, shirt, mini-skirt and hose. She sniffled, nearly to the point of tears yet having an overwhelming sense of rage coursing through her. In a strain and fed up voice, she answered, "You know what, fine. If you don't want me here, I will go. I will leave."

Her father got up from behind his desk and walked around the right end of it to approach her and ask with a sympathetic voice, "Callie, why does everything have to go from extreme to the other with you?"

She took a step back and whimpered, "No, stay away from me."

Mister Ross gently placed his hands on each of her upper arms and responded with a soft, fatherly tone, "I'm just trying to help you. I know it's my fault you're like this… I've indulged you—"

Callie had glanced to her left as he started to speak, but then looked to him and shoved him away while shouting with venom dripping off of her voice, "God no! I hate you! I hate you and I always have."

He softly laid a hand on her shoulder, hoping the contact would be a comforting one and not one to jar her. Fortunately, her body took it as a comforting one and she relaxed to a more peaceful sleep.

The Californian quietly sat there for the rest of the night contemplating the piece he saw as the bus continued on its journey of over a thousand miles. Did she really hate him simply for cutting her off financially? Why had she been so quick to deny that he hadn't indulged her in life to that point? What did he mean by her going from one extreme to the other? He knew he didn't have all the pieces and having too little information to draw a conclusion from was a very dangerous proposition. He could have looked deeper, but he didn't want to invade her privacy that way.

He looked toward the front of the bus and sat quietly. Besides not having to eat, he really didn't sleep and used the time to contemplate why he was sitting here with her heading towards the East Coast. He had offered her a little company, a little bit of cash and helped her escape from her clearly demented boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, but was his work done? Should he just leave now? She just had to sit here until she reached the bus station where she would be picked up by a family member and that would be that, but… if her father was seriously ill, perhaps he was meant to go with her for him? All of them were good questions and he didn't have any satisfactory answers to them, so he did what he thought was the logical thing to do: stick around to see how this story unfolded a little more.

If he was going to be up, he thought he should at least look like he was sleeping as to not arouse the few other passengers' suspicions if they woke up in the middle of the night. He slumped a little in his seat and pulled out his rectangular smart phone and a pear of earbuds. He slipped them into his ears and turned his phone to find a local radio station. A small smile formed when he found a local AM station broadcasting one of those spooky overnight shows that talked about aliens and government conspiracies which he was always mildly entertained and fascinated. He cocked an eyebrow and settled further in his seat when he heard the topic was on the secrets of the Nephilim.


During the course of the night, Callie had slumped in her seat with the soles of her feet against the back of the seat in front of her and knees halfway up her chest and that was how she woke up in the early morning. She opened her eyes, staring at the roof of the bus.

He pulled out his right earbud, looked at the profile of her face and quietly asked, "Are you alright?"

She turned her head and for a moment she looked to him with a lost and innocent face before she put her mask back on. She cleared her throat and answered in a dismissive tone, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He waited for her to say something else, but she kept her focus up at the ceiling of the bus and remained quiet. He turned his attention back to the front of the bus and picked up listening to another AM station's local morning news as they rod for the last leg of their trip.