Gray's POV

My half sister Ann smirked at me when she caught me staring at Mary. I saw her turn to Mary to say something. Mary shook her head. My eyes narrowed in Ann's direction just what were they talking about. I couldn't help but stare. For some reason they were dressed up, and Mary looked stunning. I watched as Mary's eyes widened, she was staring at the door. I turned to see what had gained her attention. For a moment I stood stunned, I could feel my eyes widen just as Mary's had.

Claire walked in looking like an actual girl! In the three seasons that she's lived here I had never seen her in anything but the oversized overalls, and out of control ponytails. But she walked in tonight wearing a silky blue dress, and her hair had a soft sheen as it framed her face. Karen was standing next to her looking smug.

"Dude,"Kai said. "Claire looks hot!" I turned to Kai.

"Kai you think that about all girls," I scoffed.

"Do not! But come on you gotta admit she's looking really good."

"Yeah whatever," I said

"So what's she like anyway?" Kai asked. "Don't you work with her like every day?"

"She's frustratingly annoying," I answered back. Kai smirked at me.

"Really? Doesn't seem like she'd be that way to me."

"That's because you don't have to work with her everyday," I snorted.

"I don't think I'd mind working with some one that hot everyday. Although I think I would get too distracted. I mean even in her overalls she's got a cute butt, don't you think?"

"I dunno I've never noticed. Besides you're engaged dude."

"Just because I'm engaged doesn't mean I'm dead. I can still appreciate some of Claire's finer attributes. Besides, what's the big deal? Do you have a thing for Claire or something?"

"Goddess no!" I scoffed.

Claire was now standing near the bar, Rick was standing very close to her.

"Please Rick, stop," Claire begged.

Rick growled something back to her that I couldn't understand, He reached out and gripped her arms.

"Ow! that hurts! Seriously Rick leave me alone!" Claire hissed. Claire may have frustrated me beyond belief, but I wasn't about ready to let her be bullied by Rick. I pulled Rick off from Claire.

"I believe she said to leave her alone." I said calmly.

"This doesn't concern you or your silver spoon!" Rick spat out. His free hand came swinging towards me and connected with the side of face. Damn that hurt! I lunged back at Rick, who was also lunging at me.

In the midst of the fighting, I heard Claire scream, and she went tumbling back hitting her head on the bar, and slumped to the floor. I could hear my sister screaming behind me. I shoved Rick out of the way and bent down with my father to look at Claire. She opened her eyes blinking. Her hand went to the back of her head.

"Ouch, my head hurts," Claire murmured. My dad helped lift Claire off the ground, she stumbled a bit, but then stood up. Ann, Karen and Mary were already standing there as well.

"Just what the hell happened?" Ann screamed at me.

"I..."

"This is not the time for that!" My father growled. "We need to get Claire to the clinic." He looked at my face. "You should get yourself there too boy."

"I'm fine," I answered back.

"You're bleeding!" Claire exclaimed.

"He deserves it!" Rick grumbled. My father turned to Rick.

"You, don't say a word!" My father yelled. "Come on we gotta get all of you to the Clinic. No more arguments!"

Claire's POV

I felt super self conscious in the dress Karen had forced me to wear. She had been looking through my boxes that were packed far away in the closet. I had almost paled when Karen had pulled the satiny blue dress out of box. I had bought it for a very special date, hoping that Aron would appreciate it. Of course he just as always he hadn't.

"Why do you insist on looking so plain all the time?" He had asked. The tears had welled up in my eyes. I had always had a more plain style. I thought that maybe this dress he would like. The sales lady had commented on how the dress brought out the blue tones in my eyes. "Seriously Claire this is an important night. Whatever, it's too late now, come on."

I had pushed the memory out of my brain at that point. I did not want to think of him. Not anymore.

The reaction I'd received from the Mineral Town boys was a far cry from what Aron's reaction had been. When we walked into the Inn, everyone turned to look at us. At first I thought they were looking at Karen, then I saw their attention was towards me. I blushed. I had not expected this kind of response at all, we walked up to Ann and Mary who were waiting for us at the table.

"Holy crap girl! You clean up nice!" Ann said. "Karen good work!" They high fived each other

"Really it's not THAT different," I insisted.

"Uh dear, have you looked at yourself in the mirror?" Mary asked.

"Not to mention that every guys head turned as you walked in," Ann teased.

"Whatever," I replied back. "I'm going to go get some of that juice, Karen would you like me to get you anything?"

"The usual," she answered back giving me a brilliant yet mischievous smile. That was Karen though, always finding some sort of trouble. I walked up to the bar to order a grape juice and a glass of wine for Karen. I turned to see Rick walking up to me and groaned inwardly, Rick made my skin crawl.

"Well hello there gorgeous," Rick greeted.

"Hi," I said politely back, trying to get some distance between us. Rick leaned in closer to me. Oh Goddess! He's gonna try to kiss me! I instinctively eased myself back. Rick's eyes narrowed.

"Claire when are you going to go out with me?" Rick asked.

"We've been through this Rick, I don't like you." It had gotten to the point where I had to blunt with him. I tried to be subtle, and I had tried to be nice, but Rick would not let up.

"Why? What the hell is wrong with you Claire?" Rick said. Goddess how he reminded me of Aron, everything about him, his mannerisms, his facial expressions, everything. He moved closer to me.

"Please Rick, stop!" I insisted.

"Why do you hate me so much Claire?" He growled in a low voice. He reached out and gripped my arms tightly, pain coursed through them.

"Ow! that hurts! Seriously Rick leave me alone!"

Before I knew it, Gray was pulling Rick off me. I don't really know what else happened, I heard Rick saying something about a silver spoon, and then they were fighting. I tried to pull Rick off from Gray, but he shoved me back. I felt something hard smack my head, then did not feel nor see anything but darkness.

Trent's POV

It had been another slow dreary Winter day. Winter made me feel sluggish, especially since people seemed to visit me less. It would seem like they would get sick more, but people in Mineral Town tended to stay indoors, and not do stupid things in the Winter as much, usually. I sighed. So much paperwork. People think that being a doctor is exciting because you get to save lives; when in all actuality I found myself feeling more like a secretary than a doctor because of all the paper work I had. I set another stack in Elli's "In" box for her to file. At least I did not have to do that.

My door burst open, and several people started talking to me at once. Kai, Rick, Gray, Mary, Ann, Karen, Claire, and Harris, the town's cop were all speaking. My eyes flew to my beautiful Mary who had clearly been crying. Was she injured? I scanned over her, there were no obvious signs of injury.

"Trent!" Mary shouted out.

"What happened?" I asked looking at Gray who was bleeding on the side of his head, and had a nice bruise forming. Rick looked even worse than Gray. Claire was in Gray's arms being carried. Everyone started talking at once again.

"There was a fight! Claire got hurt!" I heard someone yell through the chaos of words.

"Stop!" I yelled holding my hand up. They all stopped talking. I turned to Claire who was still in Gray's arms.

"What happened Claire?"

"Well there was fight, I hit my head on the bar. I- I'm fine. They're worse off them me." Claire said nodding towards Gray and Rick. "Gray will you put me down now? I am more than capable of walking." Gray didn't respond, just looked up at me.

"Follow me," I said to Gray. Everyone started to move. "Just Gray and Claire!" I brought them into the back exam room. Gray set Claire down on the bed.

"Really doc, it's just a lot of fuss over a little bump on the head," Claire explained.

"Let me the one to determine that," I said to Claire gently. I turned to Gray. "I take it the fight was between you and Rick? Was it worth it causing an innocent bystander to be hurt?" Rick fought with nearly everyone in the town, Gray and Kai were the two worse ones when it came to Rick. They had come to blows more than once, usually not in such public settings where others could get hurt. Gray stood silently with a remorseful look on his face.

"Oh no Doctor it wasn't Gray's fault." Claire said wincing as I gingerly felt the nice goose egg on her head. "He was actually helping me."

"Gray was helping you?" I asked. Gray and Claire would often come to blows as well, but theirs would be a battle of wits and words instead of fists. I hid the smile that I felt coming. My theory was that behind all that bickering was they had an underlying attraction towards each other. It seemed this may have been proof towards that theory. It was then that I saw some light markings on her upper arms. "What happened there?" I pointed two her arms.

"That's where Rick grabbed her," Gray spat out angrily. My anger rose matching his tone. Rick was a trouble maker alright. How many times had I treated his younger sister Popuri for "accidents in the chicken coop?" I stopped, I needed to focus on Claire at the moment.

"You'll be alright. Might be a minor concussion. What you should do is ice that nice little bump on the back of your head for twenty minutes, every two to four hours, and you need some rest. Wrap the ice in a cloth before doing so though ok?" Claire nodded. I turned to Gray to administer to the cut he had on his face, taking my time, I didn't care how long Rick would have to sit and suffer.