Author's Note: Within this story, I've made Julia and Vaughn related to one another as cousins. I thought it would be interesting. If you disagree, that's fine. Just know that I am not going to change it.

Anyway, thank you for reading and thank you for the comments.

If You Set Me Free, I Will Not Run
Chapter IV: A Lost Keepsake

"It's…just not right," breathed Sabrina, crestfallen and immensely sorrowful. From behind her glasses, she studied the beautifully painted canvas in front of her. She had finally completed it, but it just did not seem right to her. She wanted her work to represent Vaughn's personality, but it did no such thing. It was too bright and colorful. Was Vaughn's personality colorful? Sabrina didn't think so.

"What's the problem this time?" questioned Natalie in a bored tone, lounging on one of the chairs located in Sabrina's luxurious room. Natalie was a pretty lady that lived on Verdure Island with her older brother, mother, and grandfather. Natalie was very good friends with Chelsea, Julia, and Lanna. The girl was quite bossy and a bit of a perfectionist, but she was only like that to stay tough. Natalie was kind of a tomboy and the sarcastic type and was always teasing her older brother, but she had a kind heart. Plus, she had a thing for another one of Sunshine Island's residents, and his name was Pierre.

Sabrina flinched at Natalie's uninterested tone and decided that the carpeted floor was much more interesting to look at. Sabrina did not have any close friends and Regis was always trying to get her to make some friends. Unfortunately, the bookkeeper was always too shy to talk to people and often spent her time alone. Now, however, she was beginning to venture out and attempt to make friends on her own instead of letting them come to her. Nothing was going to happen unless she made an effort to create long lasting friendships. Sure, she had a few acquaintances, but they were not her friends. Natalie was an acquaintance, but Sabrina wanted to change that. So, she had invited the girl to come over her place to watch her paint. Surprisingly, Natalie was free and did not have any plans and took up on her offer to come over to the lavish mansion.

The bookkeeper did not appreciate how the pink haired shipper was often sarcastic about things. Sabrina did not care to use sarcasm very often and it was rare when she used it. The dark haired girl believed that sarcasm was inappropriate at times and did not need to be used frequently. Natalie, however, thought otherwise about it. Sabrina did not comment on her feelings toward the other female's personality traits and felt that she had no right to. Besides, she feared that she may ruin their beginning friendship. Sabrina didn't want that.

"W-Well, the problem…" Sabrina returned her gaze back to her canvas, pushing thoughts of Natalie away. "…is that I do not think that…that this represents V-Vaughn…um…V-Vaughn's personality." The girl could feel her face burning with a blush and she pressed her palms into her cheeks in a futile attempt to get rid of the redness.

Natalie pursed her lips and frowned, viewing the painting in deep thought. "Eh? It doesn't represent Vaughn's personality?" she questioned, befuddled. "Uh…was it supposed to represent Vaughn's personality?"

Sabrina bobbed her head in a nod. "Yes. It was." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, insecure.

"Isn't that an elaborately painted rainbow above a grassy hill with the sun setting?" Natalie asked, still studying the painting that Sabrina had created. It was an interesting painting to Natalie. It had a lot of detail and the shipper began to believe that Sabrina had real talent. The painting wasn't just a simple drawing, it was very fine and looked as if it were painted by a very talented artist. "I don't think it represents Vaughn on the outside."

"What do you mean?" Sabrina turned around in her seat to face the other girl.

"I mean, it doesn't represent him on the outside," Natalie remarked, shrugging her shoulders and still appearing uninterested. "It might represent him on the inside though, but I don't know. I don't really know the guy all that much. All I know is that he's a cousin of Julia's."

Sabrina ruminated about what Natalie commented about. The black haired female brought her attention back to the painting and breathed deeply. It was a possibility. Sabrina liked to believe that Vaughn was a very kind and sweet person deep down inside…very deep down, and that he was just cold and withdrawn on the outside for some reason.

A smile started to form on Sabrina's lips and she almost giggled with joy. It wasn't so bad after all. Maybe Vaughn would like it. The thought of pleasing Vaughn made Sabrina's heart swell with pure happiness. Sabrina was definitely going to give it to Vaughn the next time she saw him. It was still in the morning. Vaughn would be leaving today and wouldn't be back until next week. Maybe she could catch him before his ship departed for the city? She hoped so.

"Hey, what's that?" Natalie asked, pointing a slender finger at something on the floor.

Sabrina turned her head to where Natalie was pointing and raised her eyebrows high, finding a pendant there with a broken chain. It was a beautiful pendant that had been given to Sabrina when she was a young child. Her mother had given it to her and it was very important to her. What in the world was it doing on the floor like that?

"Ah!" Sabrina hopped out of her chair and scooped up the pendant, holding it in her palms delicately. "Oh no! The chain is broken! It…it must have fallen off of my neck when I was roaming my room!"

"Looks like it," murmured Natalie, shrugging.

"It's…broken!" Sabrina felt like she was going to burst into tears of misery.

Natalie held up her hands. "Hey, it's cool. I'm sure someone could fix it. Oh, hey, didn't you have to go to breakfast with your cousin this morning?"

A gasp climbed out of Sabrina's mouth rapidly and she almost dropped the pendant. Without thinking, she grabbed the canvas, rolled it up, and then took off out of the room, fleeing the mansion as fast as she could.

Yesterday she and her cousin, Will, had agreed to spend more time with each other and had decided to have breakfast this morning. Will had been so gleeful when she agreed to do so, but now she wasn't going to see that happy smile on his face anymore. Sabrina felt so very bad. How on earth was she going to make it up to Will?

Just when tears were about to inhabit her eyes, Sabrina happened to hear a familiar voice from behind her. Ceasing her frantic trekking, Sabrina whirled around and could see Vaughn approaching her on the path. There was a blank expression glued to his face and he was holding something in his hand.

"V-Vaughn?" Sabrina stammered nervously, surprised that she was actually seeing him before he left for the city. Her heart started hammering against her chest like someone beating a drum frantically.

Vaughn did not speak as he stood before her. He stared at her for a long moment before reaching down and grabbing her free hand. Sabrina gasped softly from his touch and her entire face turned red, which Vaughn immediately noticed but did not comment on. Once he had her hand, he opened her hand and dropped something in her palm.

It was her pendant.

"You might have dropped this," voiced the cowboy, a grumpy look on his face. "Pay attention next time."

Sabrina shakily nodded her head, feeling like she was going to faint right then and there. Why did Vaughn make her feel this way? It was so aggravating! The bookkeeper closed her hand around the pendant and then opened it again, trying to see if the pendant was more broken than it was previously. The chain was still broken, but there was nothing else wrong with it. Sabrina gave a loud sigh of relief when she saw that.

"Must be important to you," Vaughn commented lowly, watching her reaction to the pendant.

"I-It is…th-thank you…" Sabrina stuttered, bringing her eyes to his. "Um…my mother gave it to me when…when I was little. It was before she left me and my father."

Vaughn was silent for a moment before opening his mouth and saying, "If it's that important to you, you should keep it safe." He cocked his head to the side and examined the pendant a little more. "Although the chain is broken…"

Sabrina blushed in embarrassment and closed her hand around the pendant once more, hiding it from Vaughn's wandering eyes. "U-Um, yeah," she squeaked out quietly, her heart still doing a frantic dance in her chest. "It's…it's been broken for a while; I can't…exactly fix it. I-I mean I've tried, but it always ends up breaking again." She shook her head. "A-And my father doesn't know about it, so I-I can't ask him to fix it."

The silver haired man became silent once again, an unrecognizable look dancing along his facial features. To Sabrina, he appeared indifferent to her situation. His eyes conveyed no emotion at all and that same cold look was still evident on his face. It made her uncomfortable. Should she hand over the painting or go to Nick's Diner to see if her cousin was still there waiting for her? Vaughn wasn't saying anything at all and he was now just staring directly at her. Sabrina was about to take her leave, but Vaughn grasped her hand again, which made her face redden yet again.

"I can fix it," he mumbled, prying her fingers open to snag the pendant from her. "Give me a few seconds."

Sabrina's eyes widened in shock. "O-Okay…!"

Vaughn quickly got to work in repairing the broken chain on her pendant. Sabrina was so fascinated that she was just staring at him without shame. The man moved so fast that she was unable to keep up. When he was done, the pendant was as good as new and he gave it back to her.

A strong gladness swept through Sabrina's entire being and she could not fight off the enormous smile that dominated her face. "Oh, thank you so much, Vaughn," she talked gratefully. "I-I am surprised you managed to fix it so fast!"

A light shade of pink touched Vaughn's cheeks from her gushing and he grasped the brim of his hat, pulling it down so that it covered most of his face. "Don't mention it," he muttered out, sounding a little bit uncomfortable.

Sabrina smiled softly at him, no longer so nervous. She cradled the pendant in her hand, extremely grateful that Vaughn did something so sweet for her. "I-I really thank you from the bottom of my heart, Vaughn," she vociferated gently. "This…this pendant belonged to my mother before she gave it to me. It's the only keepsake I have of her. I-I don't know why she left my father and I. All I know is that…she moved far, far away."

Vaughn appeared to be even more uncomfortable by her explanation, but he slipped his hands into his pockets and shook his head. "I apologize for prying," he curtly stated.

"N-No…!" Sabrina vigorously shook her head from side to side. "I-It's uh…not your fault! Y-You weren't prying at all, I…I voluntarily told you that! Thank you, Vaughn! You helped me immensely!"

"Again, don't mention it…" Vaughn grumbled, exasperated. He knew she thanked him too many times now.

Sabrina suddenly thrust her other hand out, the one clutching the rolled up painting, at the male. She lowered her head and shut her eyes tight, exclaiming, "I made this painting for you!"

"Huh…?" Truly surprised, Vaughn reached out and took the painting from the raven haired girl. He held it for a few minutes until he decided to unroll it and examine it. "Oh…" he breathed, taken aback by how detailed the painting was.

"I-I wanted to paint you something…" Sabrina blubbered at a fast pace, her face flaring up like a volcano. She kept her eyes shut, unable to witness the expression on his face. "I-I just wanted to do something nice for you! I painted it t-to represent your personality! U-Um…!" Sabrina was now rambling and did not know what else to say. So, instead, she turned and fled with her head down low.

She was completely unaware that Vaughn was wearing the smallest of grins.