a/n I purposely updated because this 'strike' thing is stupid, and I'm not taking part in it! So I forced myself to update! Thanks to XODaniiOX, BourneBetter67, JenniferRayne, WinchesterAngel3389, darkangelmel, HardyGurl21, gothicxxbitchxxfromxhell, NellyLove and KiwiStar for reviewing. I love all of you for reviewing, but your not the only reason I do it, because I, unlike some people *Cough Strike10 cough* write for fun, but you make it even more fun =) thank you!

Madison called Jake, as promised, and got questioned like never before.

"Alright, I'm glad you called, but why now?!" I he asked, his tone harsh,

"I needed help," her voice was just above a whisper, she was afraid that anything she said would give him more reason to yell.

"I understand that, but why did you wait until now? All of this could have been avoided."

"I…" she trailed off, not even knowing the answer herself,

"You what?"

"I needed to get away…" she concluded, her voice not rising at all.

"Away from what?"

"Evan and Taryn! Don't you know how much it hurt to know he was still going to get married to her?"

"I can imagine-"

"Yeah, imagine, Jake!" she said, almost yelling.

"Where are you heading now?" He changed the subject quickly, not wanting to make her sad or angry.

"Home,"

"You're going back to Missouri?"

"No, not that home… California home."

"Okay, call your dad when you get there, he wants to speak to you."

-

Evan looked at the house numbers intently, waiting for the number six. The taxi driver had driven in the other end of Rose Avenue and the street was rather long. Going 10 miles an hour in the street was making Evan all the more anxious. Many times he contemplated just getting out of the taxi and running to Maddie's house, but he didn't want to look too eager. His mind was ticking, what if she isn't there? What if she absolutely hates me? What if she doesn't? So many questions were running through his head that he couldn't work them all out. He didn't know when one ended and the other began, much like the houses on the street.

To him, houses blurred into each other, making it look like one big apartment complex, he knew that's not what it was, but that's what he saw.

-

Maddie was walking back to her mum's place, taking in the surroundings of her childhood home. When she looked far down the road, what she saw was a group of kids playing with chalk, a boy riding his bicycle… All the old fashioned stuff that no one seemed to do anymore. She shook the thoughts from her head as she turned into Rose Avenue, a place she thought she'd never return to. But she was going back, again. She couldn't not go back; her childhood was in that house, even if it was horrible.

As she walked the somewhat short distance from the end of the street to her mother's house, she thought about how much longer it seemed when she was a child. The house's seemed so much bigger, not that they were by any means small, the walk surely took more than one minute. She shrugged to herself and let out a huff of air, it was now or never.

Just as she was about to open the front gate and be greeted by the fluffy white dog she had encountered on her first return, she noticed a taxi pull up in front of the house.

-

Evan felt his heart speed up as the numbers began to get smaller, now in the twenties. The cab slowed down to heavy traffic pace as the driver made sure he didn't miss the house. Evan wasn't going to let him miss it though; he'd been counting since before 100. As they reached the teens, Evan saw a small brunette turn the corner, and if he didn't know Maddie so well, he would have thought it was a teenage girl. Her hair was messy, as though a brush had gotten nowhere near it. Her shoes were clearly falling to pieces, the soles stayed on the ground even when she lifted her feet and the tip of the shoe hadn't much material left. He watched as she went to open the white gate of number six, only to stop when the cab pulled up in front of the house.

He took a deep breath and stepped out of the car, ready to stop her if she decided to run into the house. But as soon as she rushed through the gate he froze, unable to move.

a/n Poll on my page! Please vote! And you should all listen to Miz's music, it's epic.